> Little Dragon Daycare
>  by TAD2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Daycare Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"SPIKE!" Yelled a tall woman dressed in a pair of tan slacks, a baby blue polo shirt, and a pair of sneakers, her hair was 3 different colors, gold, pink, and lavender. She got no response, the woman sighed as she walked across the toy filled play area, gracefully dodging crayons, a pile of story books, and all manner of toys that should of been put up the day prior as she made her way to the staff area of the daycare, which was behind a normal wood door with a albeit not so normal locking door nob. The woman fished out a not so normal key that glowed a bright blue light when she inserted it into the nob, she turned the key and the door opened. She walked into the room and sighed at the sad sight in front of her. 

Slumped over his desk, was her boss Spike Drake, a man in his mid 20's, and after an unfortunate accident involving one of their kids they look after, his hair was a emerald green color along with his eyes, both of which used to be a dark brown color. But after the initial freak out, Spike decided that he liked the change, and even after the kids parents said they could fix it, he refused. Spike was dressed in the same clothes as the woman but unlike her, he was wearing a apron. She walked over to Spike and tried to wake him up. "Spike, come on its time to wake up." Said the woman. 

Spike groaned in his sleep. "No, put that down, that's my trumpet with a cake in it." mumbled Spike.

The woman sighed as she tried again. "Spike, seriously its time to wake up, the kids will be here in a hour and you need to get cleaned up." 

And again Spike just groaned. "Please, I'll be good, just don't set the house of cards on fire." 

The woman looked at Spike confused. "What the hell are you dreaming about?"

"Nothing just wanted to see if you would make me a cup of coffee." Said Spike who was completely awake. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms as he loosened up his back muscles. He looked at his assistant. "Good morning Cadence, you been here long?" Asked Spike. 

Cadence sighed. "No, but did you fall asleep here last night?" 

Spike sighed as he nodded. "Yep, Smolders older brother got a call saying that he had to work late last night, so I took care of her for another 3 hours after you left." Spike then yawned. "What time is it?" Asked Spike.

"About 8 in the morning." Said Cadence. 

Spike sighed as he got up from his desk, he leaned back as the sound of his spine popping echoed through the building. "Ok, how bad is the play area?" Asked Spike.

"Crayons, story books, most of the toys, all scattered around. You get cleaned up, I'll get the play area cleaned up. Who's supposed to be here today?" Asked Cadence.

Spike turned around and rummaged around the cluttered desk filled with drawings, playdough sculptures, and a pile of papers the Spike used as a pillow. After a minute of paper spelunking Spike returned to the surface holding a clip board with the schedule of the kids that are supposed to be attending today. "Lets see, today is...."

"Wednesday." Said Cadence. 

"Right." Said Spike as he looked at the Wednesday list. "So today we have, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Apple Jack, and Rainbow Dash." Said Spike, he looked at Cadence. "But remember there's always a chance that an emergency might happen and someone will need to drop off their kid." Said Spike. 

Cadence nodded. "I know, did you ever find out what happened to Mister Torch, he's always very forth coming about Ember?" 

Spike nodded. "Yeah, he was needed at his job for something big, but it was all cool, Ember is nice to be around, as long as you don't call her cute to her face, even for a 6 year old she has one hell of a right hook." Said Spike as he rubbed his jaw. "So do we have everything ready for their lunch and emergency dinner?" Asked Spike. 

Cadence shrugged as she walked to the fridge and took inventory of what they had. "It looks like were out of Fluttershys favorite snacks, and we're running low on AJ's dried apple bites." Said Cadence as she closed the fridge and walked over to the pantry opposite of the fridge, she looked into the storage room. "We also are about to run out of the grape juice boxes, but we have enough to last us until the weekend, and we are completely out of the cake mix, Pinkies not going to like that. Aside from that were pretty stocked." Said Cadence. 

Spike nodded. "Good, I'll go to the store on Sunday and stock up, how's the weather today, you know Rainbow and AJ are going to be full of energy, and I rather not have to call a contractor out here to fix the wall again." Said Spike. 

"Sunny all day, but we might have some rain Friday." Said Cadence. 

"Ok, if its raining, do you think we can get them to sit down for a movie if I make popcorn?"

"Probably, you know they love your cooking, but what movie?"

Spike thought for a second. "How about SAW 3?" Joked Spike. Cadence walked over to her boss and gave him a slap to the  back of his head. "Your right, how about Finding Nemo?" 

"Better." Nodded Cadence. 

"One last thing." Said Spike as he looked at his check list. "We should have a new hire coming in on Thursday for an interview and to see how she deals with the kids. Her name is Celestia Solaris, so be on the look out for her tomorrow." Said Spike as he placed the clipboard back on the desk.

"On it, now go to your apartment and get cleaned up. Plus since Fluttershy is coming why don't you bring Silvia today." Said Cadence. 

Spike sighed. "OK MOM." Said Spike, as he walked over to the door that led to the play area, pulled out a key, but instead of just putting the key into the nob, Spike actually moved the head of the key until the works home lit up on the stem of the key. "Seriously, I will never understand how my grandfather got this place." Said Spike as he inserted the key into the door and opened it.
> They Arrive Pt.1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike opened the door and walked into his apartment. As he entered his home he sighed as he remembered how he got it. Originally his grandfather Scorpan owned it, he was the adventurous one of the family, he had traveled for most of his life, and when he did return it was always accompanied by a new story to tell. The one person Scorpan loved to tell his stories to the most was his only grandchild, Spike. Scorpin was a man of many secrets, but the stories he told were always the best, stories with, demons, dragons, magical talking ponies, and all manner of monsters. But no creature is immune to the effects of time. When Spike turned 22 his grandfather passed on, and in his will he asked for all of his stuff to be donated or sold, all except for his apartment and a large building both which he wanted Spike to have. 

Spike had always wanted to take care of children, so after getting a degree in child development, he decided to open up a daycare, and taking inspiration from one of the stories Scorpan told, Spike decided to call it The Little Dragon Daycare. The only problem was to have a daycare you need to have a place for it. So Spike made a choice, he would utilize the last gift from his grandfather to start his dream.

When Spike drove from his new apartment and arrived at the address of the building Scorpan had given Spike, there was a note and a small baggie with 2 keys, one gold and one silver, taped to the door. Spike grabbed the bag and pulled out the keys, both glowed green, which freaked out Spike, so he dropped them. Spike panicked as he grabbed the note on the door and began to read it. "Spike, if your reading this then I'm going off to my last adventure, one of which I no doubt will not return from. The building in front of you is special, and what I'm about to tell you will no doubt sound like the writings of a mad man, but knowing you, you probably went for the keys first, so lets start there. The 2 keys I left you are no ordinary keys, they have been imbued with magic from a race of anthropomorphic magical ponies. The gold key is mine, I had the maker link the key to the front door to my apartment, the door to my office in the building, and the front door of the building, as well as all the doors that have a lock. The silver key is just a spare, that unlocks all the doors of the building. If you touched them then they are now linked to you and you alone, this will allow you to easily travel between the two.  And before you gasp at how crazy this all sounds take a key and go inside. I left another note on the office door for you." Spike sighed and decided might as well, he drove 2 hours for this.

Spike picked up both keys from the ground and placed the silver one in his pocket. Using the gold key Spike opened the front door and walked inside, but instead of finding a room full of junk, it was completely empty aside from a single note taped on the door opposite of the front door. Spike walked over to the new note. "Spike, if your reading this note, means you decided to actually come in, I see your just like me, adventurous. Good that will help you soon. There is one more note I left you on my desk behind this door but first I need to teach you how to use the key. Step one take the gold key in grab it on the head and tip." Spike followed the instructions. "Step two, turn the head of the key, until the word 'Office' glows on the stem." Spike turned the key and become shocked when the word 'Home' glowed but as he turned the key head the word changed to 'Office'. Spike turned it more and the word changed again to 'Front' and then to 'Normal' then back to 'Home'. Spike looked back to the note.

"But knowing you as well as I do, you probably decided to see what the key could do, but stop messing around, all this writing is giving me a cramp. Once you get the word 'Office' put the key into the lock and go inside." Spike turned the key to 'Office' and opened the door. Spike walked in and right in front of him was a large mahogany desk with a large leather chair, sitting on the desk was a single lamp that was left on, and Scorpans last note. Spike took a seat in the chair and picked up the note. "Spike. My boy, you are the only one in the family that ever actually listened to any of my stories, but I doubt that even you believed them, but the truth is, every thing I told you in those stories were all true, dragons, demons, ponies, magic, other worlds, all that jazz is real and this building is the focal point for all of it. Every day I would travel to another world and explore, to access the..." Spike then became confused when there was just a large blob of running ink, he read the next paragraph hoping for some explanation. "Sorry about the blob. I fell asleep while writing, give me a break I'm writing this at 92 years old, falling asleep randomly is common for people my age...Where was I... Oh right, the front door is the main gate way, between all the worlds, and be prepared for creatures to randomly pop in, but don't worry the worst thing that will happen, is a dragon will sneeze and you need to go to the hospital, or a demon tried to suck out your soul energy, or you get bucked by a pissed off centaur, or... actually you know what its a learning curve. I don't want to see you for at least another 70 years. Spike, I know you are able to work with this, and I hope you make the most of this gift I have given you, I know you'll make me proud, I love you Spike. From Grandpa Scorpan. P.S You will always be my favorite little dragon." Finished Spike. 

Spike sat back in the chair as he tried to process all of this. "Well, he was right, I can work with this." Said Spike as he was devising a plan.



 

Back to the present, Spike was brought out of his memories when he heard a knock on the door behind him. He turned around and saw Cadence standing there in the door way looking upset. "Spike you left the door open, and you've been standing there for the last five minutes." 

Spike scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, just remembering how I got all of this started." 

Cadence sighed at her boss. "Yeah, I've heard the story, your grandfather gave you access to a magical building that allows for cross dimensional travel, and instead of using it to explore like your grandfather, you decided to turn it into a multidimensional daycare, that might I remind you opens in less then an hour, one of which after your first week of opening, you had to place a ad in the paper looking for a assistant, where instead of putting the truth of what this job entailed, you wrote 'looking for a person with a lot of babysitting experiences and good with 'special' children'." 

Spike chuckled. "Well, its not like I was going to get any responses if I put, 'Need help taking care of the children of creatures from different worlds, must be able to work weekends. Nobody likes to work weekends." Said Spike, knowing exactly what part Cadence was talking about. Spike sighed. "But then a beautiful, smart, caring, sweet... How much more do I need for you to stop giving me that look?" 

"Three more." 

"Attentive, playful, well trained, teenager walked in to my daycare looking for her first job in the field of child development. She just got lucky that she was perfect for this special job." Said Spike.

Cadence sighed as she dropped the upset look. "Ok, but seriously, I cant get to the play area while your door is open." Said Cadence as she pulled out Spikes key and tossed it to him. "I expect to see you back in the office in twenty minutes with a ferret in your apron." Said Cadence as she closed the door to Spikes apartment.

Spike sighed. "I really am lucky to have her with me." Said Spike, but what she said was true, the daycare is opening soon  and Spike needed to be ready for a long day, Spike walked to the bathroom in his apartment and started the shower, removed all his clothes showing off his well toned body, he placed all of the dirty clothes in a hamper and walked into the shower to cleanup. 



 

Spike walked back into the Little Dragons office dressed in a fresh pair of clothes with a small wire cage inside of the cage was a small hamster bottle hooked on to the cage, as a 20 inch long female ferret was curled up in a ball. Spike sighed as he walked over to the desk and placed Silvia's travel cage on it, Spike opened the cage door, stuck his hand into the cage, and gave the ferret a small scratch on her tube like body. "Silvi, its time to wake up." Silvia yawned as she stretched her body, she scurried to her bottle and took a few gulps of water, she then ran back to Spikes arm, and rubbed her head on Spikes middle finger. "Good morning Silvia, did little Sophie take good care of you last night. I'm sorry I couldn't come home last night, Smolder had to stay here for a lot longer then normal." Spike then laid down his hand, Silvia boarded her owners hand and using her small claws she scurried up his arm, down his apron, and took her position inside of Spikes apron pocket. Spike sighed as he watched his roommate going back to sleep. "You are the worst roommate of all time, you don't pay rent, you can't do the dishes, and you're too noisy." Just then Cadence walked into the office and saw Spike standing there. 

"Hey Spike, feeling better after a good shower?" Asked Cadence. 

Spike turned around and nodded. "Yeah, sorry for making you clean the play area by yourself, but by the time Garble came to pick Smolder up it was way to late, and I was going to collapse." Said Spike. 

Cadence nodded in understanding. "It's fine, Smolder can be a handful when she's alone, you know that she likes to have Yona, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, and Silverstream around."

"Yeah, I know." Suddenly the bell tied to the front door chimed. "And that's our cue." Said Spike. 



 

In the magical world of Equestria, a gray coated unicorn mare with gray and purple mane and tail was walking down the street with her lavender colored unicorn daughter, who was dressed in a little yellow sundress. This was Twilight Velvet and her daughter Twilight Sparkle. Velvet looked at her excited daughter. "So Twilight are you ready to go see Spike today?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes mommy, I hope Cadence will be there to, and all my friends." Said the little filly. Velvet giggled at Twilights giddiness.

"Well, you won't have to wait long." Said Velvet as she pointed to a building with a small cartoon dragon, (yes its Spike) painted on the glass door. "There it is." 

"Yay." cheered Twilight as she ran to the door and used her magic to push open the door to the establishment, but she was still a little filly and her magic was not so powerful besides the moments when she would have a surge of magical power.

Velvet caught up to her struggling daughter and giggled at the sight of her trying to concentrate, "Sweetie, your going to get a head ache, if you keep trying to over do it." Said Velvet as she pushed open the door to the day care.

Spike walked out of the office and smiled at todays first arrivals. "SPIKE!" cheered Twilight as she launched herself straight for him. 

Spike was fully aware of the fillies usual greeting so he caught her mid air and let her latch herself around his neck as he supported her legs with his arm. "Hi Twi, how are you today?" Asked Spike.

Twilight giggled. "I'm great, but mommy has to go to work." Said Twilight.

"Aw, that stinks, but at least you can spend some time with me today, doesn't that help a little?" 

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, but I want mommy to know how great you are, but all she see's is you smiling and then she leaves."

Spike nodded. "I know, but maybe she already knows how great I am, she lets me take care of the worlds greatest filly after all, and that's a big responsibility." Said Spike as he walked over to Velvet. "Isn't that right Ms. Velvet?" 

Velvet giggled at how silly her daughter and Spike could be together. "Yes, she is a big responsibility, and I only trust the greatest to look after her. So Spike, here is her current story book." said Velvet as she teleported a large chapter book into her arms. "Her new favorite toy, Smarty Pants." a raggedy horse plushy with a small wood book and a pair of polka dotted pants was added to the pile. "Her blanket." A purple and pink blanket with stars was added to the pile. "And here is Twilights fee for this week." Finished Velvet as she placed a sack of 20 gold bits, onto the book.

Spike smiled. "Thanks Velvet." Spike then looked down at the filly vice around his neck. "Twi, your mommy is about to leave, aren't you going to say goodbye?" 

Twilight gasped as she let go of Spikes neck and turned around on his arm, she reached out her arms for her mother. Velvet walked closer to Twilight as the little filly latched herself around the mares neck. "I love you mommy, have a good day at work." Said Twilight. 

Velvet giggled as she returned the hug. "I will, now be good for Mr. Spike, and no more magic, I don't think he wants to look like your friend Rainbow Dash, and besides green is his color." Said Velvet. 

Twilight nodded. Suddenly the door bell rang and in walked a pair of centaurs, one was over 7 feet tall with long flowing but slightly curly orange hair and tail, with a skin color fur lower half, she was dressed in a T shirt with a big red apple on the chest, and a set of saddle bags on her lower body, next to her was a 4 foot tall centaur with a blond mane and tail while her fur was a orange color, she was dressed in a small T shirt with a trio of little red apples and a cowboy hat a few sizes to large for her. Velvet lowered her daughter to the ground as she greeted the older centaur. "Hello Pear." 

The older centaur looked over at Velvet, she cantered up to the mare and pulled her into a small hug. "Hey Velvet, If your here that means Twilight is here to." Said Pear Butter as she looked at the small filly next to her mother. "Hi Twilight." 

Twilight waved. "Hi misses Pear." Twilight then ran up to the smaller centaur and wrapped her arms around the front 2 legs of the little centaur. "Hey AJ."

The smaller centaur smiled at the filly as she returned the hug . "Hey Twi, you the only one here?" Asked AJ.

Twilight nodded, them she grabbed AJ's hand and the two ran off into the play area. Spike looked at the two run off as he chuckled, he looked back at Velvet and Pear Butter who were just talking about their husbands, aside from a daycare, the place was the unofficial interdimensional moms gossip club. The 2 women giggled as Velvet waved at a smiling Twilight, she looked at Spike. "Spike, I'll be back around 5 tonight, but if Night Light gets off early he will be by to pick up Twilight, call me if that happens, Ok?" 

Spike nodded. "Of course, have a good day at the book store, and thanks for donating all those picture books, the other kids love them." Said Spike, as Velvet walked out of the establishment, Spike looked over to Pear Butter. "Hi Mrs.Pear." Said Spike.

Pear butter sighed. "Spike, please just call me Pear."

Spike chuckled. "I would but Bright Mac might kill me if I do, I know how he gets when some one gets close to his Buttercup." 

Pear growled at the man. "But right now, I'm more scared of you, Pear." 

"Better. So..." Said Pear as she reached into the saddle bags and started to pull out everything for Apple Jack. "Here is this weeks order of AJ's dried apple bites." Said Pear as she handed a large bag full of dried apple wedges. "Here is her blanket for nap time, freshly cleaned and washed..." she handed Spike a large blanket with little apples design. "Her brush." She pulled out a brush from the bag in the shape of, you guessed it an apple, "And here is her latest Epi pen. Thanks for letting me know the one you guys had was expired." Said Pear handing over AJ's emergency Epi pen.

Spike nodded. "On it, I'll go place it in the medical cabinet right now. Would you mind looking over them for one minute so Cadence can finish up in the back, I'll be right back." Pear nodded as Spike walked to the office, pulled out his key and opened the door.

A few moments later Cadence walked out of the office, where she was immediately tackled by the small but albeit powerful little filly. "Cadence!" cheered Twilight as she sent Cadence to the floor. She looked at Cadence with big eyes as she latched herself around the teenagers neck. "HI!"

Cadence giggled at the little filly as she returned the hug. "Hi Twi." She looked over the other rooms occupants and smiled. "Hi AJ. Hi Pear." 

"Good morning Cadence." Said Pear.

AJ walked over to the teen and smiled like Twilight. "Hi Cadence." Said AJ as she gave Cadences waist a small hug.

A few moments later Spike walked back into the play area, and saw his assistant on the ground but smiling with a little filly neck tie and a centaur belt. Spike chuckled at the sight as he walked pass the human, pony, and the in between, and walked over to Pear. "Ok, I did a small check of what we had in the fridge, Gallus's lunch is the only one with strawberries this week, so we should be fine. But if something does happen I'll call you." Pear nodded as she waved at her daughter. 

"Thanks Spike, I'll be back around 5 as well. Have a good day." Said pear as she tried to push open the door but she couldn't budge it open. She sighed, "Someone is trying to come in."

Spike nodded. "Looks like it." Said Spike, the doors have a fickle rule to them, if two people are trying to use it at once it just locks itself. Spike walked over to Pear and pulled her away from the door, and when he did a pair of small little creatures flew in to the daycare. The 2 flew over to Spike and landed on his shoulder. The first one was a women with crimson red hair, daisy ear rings, a small dress made of leaves, and a set of fairy wings, this was Posey and next to her was a smaller fairy girl with pink hair in a dress made of leaves, and this was her daughter Fluttershy. Spike smiled at the 2 as he whispered to them. "hi Posey, hi Fluttershy. Sorry about that, Pear was just leaving and the door is very finicky." 

Posey smiled as she nodded. "Its fine Spike, this usually happens every time to at least one family, but I'm sorry for the interruption." Said  Posey looking sad.

Spike sighed as he used his finger to lift the woman's head up. " Posey it's fine, if anything my grandfather should be the one to apologiz. He then smiled at Fluttershy. "Hey Shy, guess what?" 

Fluttershy looked at Spike confused. "What?" 

Spike smiled as he reached into his apron and let Silvia crawl her way up to Spikes other shoulder. "I brought Silvia today."

Fluttershy gasped in surprise, as she flew straight for the ferret, and embedded herself onto the ferrets nose as she hugged Silvia's face. "SILVIA!" Cheered Fluttershy.

Spike chuckled at the little fairy's change in attitude when she is near animals. Normally Fluttershy was very quiet, and over all shy, living up to her name sake, but when she's near animals she does a full 180. Spike watched as Fluttershy flew onto Silvia's back as she grabbed a hand full of Silvia's fur. Silvia then reared up on her back legs like a horse as Fluttershy cheered. "Hi Ho Silvia, Away!" Then Silvia scurried down Spikes back, and legs, once they were on the ground Silvia galloped straight for the others in the play area.

Posey sighed at her daughter. "I'm sorry Spike, but she has always been the outgoing one in the family." Said  Posey.

Spike laughed fully. "Its fine  Posey, but honestly its my fault, last time it was raining, I decided to rummage around in the basement and I found my grandfathers old projector and a set of western films from my world. Fluttershy took a liking to the Lone Ranger and now she's the Lone Flutters, with her faith full ferret steed, Silvia." said Spike. "Do you have Fluttershy's stuff for the week?" 

Posey nodded as she pulled out from her dress a small blanket the size of a tissue, but this had butterfly's, then a small which was micro sized for Spike, rabbit plushy, and lastly a bag of Fluttershy's favorite snack, sunflower seeds. "Remember she only gets two a day at most, anymore and she won't eat dinner." Spike nodded. Posey then flew from Spikes shoulder to Pear's as the 2 greeted each other, Posey hugged Pears ear, as Pear used her pinkie finger and wrapped Posey around her back. "Hi Pear." 

"Hi Posey, how are you?" 

"I'm good, but I got big news."

"Really, what is it?" Posey flew up to Pears ear and whispered the secret. Pear gasped as she looked at Posey who just nodded. "REALLY! That's fantastic, does Fluttershy know?" asked Pear while trotting in place.

"No, not yet, but I was planning on telling her soon." Said Posey. 

Spike was a little confused at the interaction between the two. "Um...I know its not my place to snoop into my clients business, but I have the feeling that its something big." Said Spike. 

Pear walked over to Spike and whispered into his ear. Once she was done Spike looked at the fairy and nodded. "Congratulations, I promise not to tell Flutters." Just then Spike heard the phone in the back start ringing, meaning someone was coming in or something had changed. "Sorry I got to take that." 

Both women nodded as Posey flew off of pear and on to Spikes shoulder. "It's ok I need to get back to Gentle, I'll be back in around 5." Spike nodded as Posey flew to the door and left, once the door closed Pear pushed open the door and left as well. Spike looked at Cadence who was reading a story to all the kids. "Twilight your in charge, don't let Cadence do anything stupid while I'm gone."

Twilight gasped as she saluted Spike. "Yes sir."

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Oh real confident in my abilities there boss, now go answer that call." Said Cadence. 

Spike chuckled as he went into the back to answer the call. Cadence returned to the story she was telling. "Ok where was I...Oh, so the overworked dragon was sleeping on a mountain of papers while his beautiful, kind, smart, and attentive assistant had to pick up his cave for him..."





Spike walked into the office, headed for his desk, and searched through the pillow of papers that Spike still needed to organize, all while the phone was ringing. Spike was going to regret his next action but it was a necessary evil, Spike swept his arm over the top of the desk sending the papers to the floor and about 20 feet to the left. But the plan was a success if the phone was actually on the desk, which it wasn't, it was hanging on the wall right by the office door. Spike sighed, walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello, this is Little Dragon Daycare, Spike speaking."

"Hello, my name is Moonlight Sonata, I was wondering if you would be willing to look after my little Moondancer, I talked to some of my friends and all of them recommend the Little Dragon?" Said a women's voice.

"Of course." Askes Spike as he pulled open a drawer on the desk and started to fill out a application form. "Let me ask a few questions before hand. Does Moondancer have any allergies?" Askes Spike.

"No, not that I know of." 

"Ok, what are some of her likes and dislikes?"

"Well she likes to read and sing, but she hates mushed peas, everything aside from that she is ok with."

"Noted, what species are you, Moondancer, and her father?" 

"Oh, I'm a Unicorn, My husband is an Earth pony, but Moondancer is a Unicorn also."

"Ok." Said Spike as he flipped to a page with common question for unicorn applicants. "Ok, how old is Moondancer?" 

"She's 4 years and 5 months old." 

"When was the last time she had a magical surge?" 

"Is that really necessary to know."

"It is, one of the kids I look after turned my normal brown hair and eyes to a light shade of green on her first day." 

"Oh, the last one that I knew about was a few weeks ago, she accidently turned the small pond at the park nearby our house into jello." 

Spike muffled a laugh. "Ok, one last question. What day would you like to bring her in to let her get a feel for the place?" Asked Spike. 

"Um... yeah about that, I'm kinda in a rush, and I need to drop her off right now." 

Spike sighed. "Ma'am, I cant possibly allow you to bring her into day." 

"Please, Velvet recommended you, saying that Twilight refused to let anyone else take care of her."

"Wait you know Velvet?"

"Yes, I'm the co-owner at the book store we run." 

Spike sighed. "Ok, but our policy is emergencies cost double the daily rate, so instead of 3 bits its going to cost 6."

"Oh, thank you so much, is Twilight there?" 

"She is, but she's with my assistant and 2 other clients children plus a ferret. Don't ask."

"Perfect. Thank you again, I'll be there in less than an hour, again thank you so much."

Spike sighed. "Not a problem, we close at 6pm so be here before hand or give me a call to inform me if I need to make her some dinner."

"Wow, Velvet wasn't kidding, you really do everything." 

Spike chuckled. "Thanks, have a nice day Mrs. Moonlight Sonata."

"It's actually Miss, my husband died three years ago." 

"Oh I'm sorry."

"Its fine, I have moved on, but I will always love my Moonballad."

"Of course." Suddenly there was a large crashing sound from the play area. "I got to go, it looks like my next client has shown up, talk to you when you get here." Said Spike as he placed the phone on the receiver. Spike sighed one last time as he walked out of the office, but he was hit with a small ball of blue feathers, with the slightest hint of what looked like a rainbow, it hit Spike right to the face, sending him to the ground.

Everyone gasped when they saw Spike go down, Cadence walked over to Spike and pulled the little ball of feathers off of him, as a woman with a light scarlet and orange short bowl cut hair style, moderate cerise eyes, two large cornflower blue wings, and two large bird like legs ran over. "Spike, I'm so sorry, can you hear me?"

Spike was dazed as he looked at the woman. Spike chuckled. "Sorry grandpa, but I'm coming for a visit, I see an angel in front of me." Then Spike groaned as the world came back into focus, he looked at the woman looking over him. "Hi Windy, where's rainbow Dash, and why did someone throw a ball of feathers at me?" 

Windy sighed as she propped Spike up. "Spike, I'm sorry that Rainbow ran into you." Windy shot the ball of feathers a glare. "I keep telling her that molting is a normal thing in every harpy's life, but she refuses to believe me."

Spike sighed. "Ok, that explains the ball of feathers, but not the hitting me in the face." 

"Well the moment she saw her friends she bolted out of my arms, and might of flew into the wall, then into you." 

Spike groaned. "Is there any one hurt?" 

Windy laughed. "Aside from Rainbows ego and you, no." 

Spike sighed in relief. "Good." Spike looked at the ball of feathers. "Rainbow, come here." Said Spike.

The ball of feathers whimpered a little, but complied, as a pair of blue wings sprouted out of the ball and it flew to Spike, landing on his lap, then two magenta eyes popped out of the ball looking sad. "I'm sorry Spike, but I don't want the others to think I'm uncool." said the ball as tears pooled at the corner of its eyes.

Spike sighed as he looked at Rainbow Dash. "And why would something so natural as molting make you uncool?" 

"Because...I don't know it just does."

"So, just because you look different on the outside, you think all your friends who like you for you, will turn on you for seeing you go through something that just means your growing up?" 

"Well, I, um." Rainbow growled as she latched her arms right around Spikes neck. "I'm sorry, ok, I hate it when your right." Spike returned the hug. 

"Rainbow, if someone only likes you for what you look like, then their not actually your friends, people who like you for you are your true friends, no matter what your going through." Said Spike, as he removed the little harpy from his neck and wiped her eyes. "But, instead of running in to me first, maybe you should ask them how they feel about your current look." 

Rainbow turned around and looked at her friends, who were all just smiling. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions, I really like spending time with you guys, and the thought of you not liking me anymore was scary." Said Rainbow. 

Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy all walked over to Rainbow. "Don't worry, Rainbow you are our friend, we will never not like you." Said Twilight as she gave Rainbow a hug. 

"And besides your cute this way, but your still you underneath." Added Fluttershy. 

"But you will always be the same slow overgrown canary as always." Finished Applejack. 

When Rainbow heard that comment from the centaur as she flew right into AJ's face. "Oh you want to go at it cowpony?" Said Rainbow in her usual tone. 

Spike smirked as did both women. "Awe, but I don't want to make the little humming bird cry." Retorted AJ.

"That's it, you, me, three laps, winner gets to- Nope!" interrupted Spike. "No one is having a race right now." 

Both girls looked at him. "But why?" asked the two in unison. 

Spike got to his feet and offered Windy his hand to help her up. "Because the last time you two had a race it ended with me needing to get the wall repaired." Said Spike. Both Rainbow and AJ winced at the memory. "We are still waiting for Pinkie and Rarity to arrive, then we got a new friend coming in for her first day, I need you 2 to be on your best behavior, then after she gets settled in, I'll make everyone lunch, only then are we going to go outside and play." 

Rainbow huffed. "Fine."
> They Arrive Pt.2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash was sitting on the floor of the play area pouting, probably, it was kinda hard to tell from underneath all of her molting feathers. As her mother Windy walked over to her, pulled her into a big hug, and gave her one last kiss on the forehead. "Rainbow, sweetie, mommy has to go to work, those clouds won't move themselves." Said Windy.

Rainbow struggled in her mothers grasp trying to get away from her. "Mom stop, my friends are watching." Protested Rainbow. Spike, Cadence, and all the girls giggled at the sight of the normally tomboy harpy getting all of her mothers love. 

"I don't care, I want you to know how much I love you." Said Windy still snuggling her little ball of feathers. But the bell chimed again and in rolled a large light cobalt gray blob of slime with only a pair of bifocals resting on its top layer, and once the large blob was inside a smaller pink blob rolled in.

Spike sighed as he walked over to the blobs. "Good morning Cloudy." Said Spike as he looked at the large blob. He then looked down at the smaller blob giving it a big smile. "Hiya Pinkie." Both blobs started to jiggle as they both started to change shape. There were only three rules in the daycare and they were written on a plaque right by the front door, '1: no large magical spells for obvious reasons' then there was a picture of Spike with his normal hair color. '2: No arguing, yelling, or hitting others.' This would normally happen when Spike had to take care of dragon whelps who were having a greedy moment, but that only happened a few times. '3: All creatures must be in a physical form at all times and must be solid, Slimes especially.' This last rule was to insure that they were not accidently walked in, drunk, flushed, diluted, anything that deals with a liquid like substance like the body of a slime. The large blob shifted into the upper part of a human women while leaving her lower part like a blob of slime, moving the bifocals to rest right on her nose. The little pink slime changed into a little human girl with the majority of her excess slime making up a large head of puffy slime hair.

"HiyaSpike,aretheothershererightnow,dowehaveanycakemixiwanttobakecakestoday,arewegoingoutsidetoday,havewealreayhadstorytime?" Asked Pinkie.

Spike sighed. Pinkie was the only creature in his care that didn't need to breathe, so normally it was like listening to a run on sentence without spaces, but Spike has had a lot of practice with her. "Yes and no, We're still missing Rarity and a new friend that's going to be joining us today, sadly not we ran out last time we baked, yes, but after lunch, AJ and Rainbow are going to race each other, and we'll probably have it later." Said Spike. 

Pinkie nodded. "Ok." She then looked over to the girls and in a feat that only creatures with no bones could ever achieve she ran straight into Spikes legs and phased around them, once she was around his legs she reconnected behind him and continued to greet the girls. Spike sighed at the pink blob, as she ran to her friends, he then looked to the woman shaped blob. 

"And, how are you today Cloudy?" 

"I am well Spike, but thy husband has fallen ill the past week, and with my other children, thy nerves are running low. Pinkie only allows for thee to watch her." Said Cloudy.

Spike nodded. "Well I'm sorry to hear about Igneous, I hope he gets well soon. Do you have Pinkies fee for the week?" Asked Spike.

Cloudy nodded as somewhere in her body she moved a single thumb sized emerald into her palm. "Yes, we have a emerald this week, will that do?" 

Spike nodded, every world has a different currency, ponies have one ounce gold coins called Bits, centaurs are mostly trade focused so when Pear pays for AJ she would normally supply a large stock of the daycares vegetables. Fairies use seeds, so in exchange for Fluttershy's fee, Gentle gives Spike a few rare seeds every week, but when your daughter is only 3 inches high its not much of a problem, harpies are a avian species that are best known as scavengers, so Windy would find Spike a few little trinkets that he would later say he found in his grandfathers place and then sell them, slimes in general don't really have things, but Cloudy and her husband Igneous lived in a boulder field so occasionally they would find a gemstone that they would use as compensation for Spikes services. Spike took the gemstone and examined it, it was bright green, well cut somehow, probably due to the slime, and weighed about 4 or 5 carats. He placed the emerald into his pocket. "Its perfect Cloudy, what do you want me to feed Pinkie today?" Asked Spike. Slimes also don't really have a stomach per say its more like their able to dissolve what ever they want when they roll over it as they move.

"How about she eats a good chunk of granite today?" Asked Cloudy. 

Spike nodded. "That's fine, I still have some granite slabs in the basement, but I only have enough for a few more meals, I'll buy some more this weekend, but I think the seller is getting suspicious, not many people buy over a ton of granite when they own a daycare."

"Tis life." Shrugged Cloudy.

Spike nodded. "Yeah, but Its should be fine, I'll see if Yona's parents could start supplying some rock slabs in exchange for a reduction in their fee, granite is a lot more expensive then you think in my world." Said Spike. 

After letting go of her daughter Windy remembered that she still had Rainbows stuff. "Spike, I forgot to give you Rainbows stuff for the week." Said Windy as she walked over to Spike as she still needed to give Spike rainbows stuff. 

Spike turned around to face the harpy. He realized that he still hasn't gotten Rainbows stuff for the week, after the whole molting issue. "First, here is her blanket." Said Windy as she grabbed under her wings and pulled out a rainbow blanket. "Here is her file, she's very picky about who touches her talons, and their getting sharp, could you try and file them down?" Asked Windy.

Spike nodded. "Not a problem, I still have a falconry glove my grandfather left me in the desk." 

Windy smiled. "And lastly, me and Bow are still looking for one more thing, we'll bring them by when we come pick her up tonight." 

Spike smiled. "That's fine, have a good day, but one last question, how long does molting last?" 

"Oh not that long, she was starting to molt right after last time, and that was a few day's ago, so by the end of the week she should be back to normal." 

Spike nodded. "Ok." Spike looked back at Cadence who was playing with Twilight as AJ was stretching trying to get ready for their race this afternoon, Fluttershy was talking with Rainbow and Pinkie who was talking nonstop to both of them.  Spike then smiled, but then smirked. "Windy, Cloudy, I need to go store all this in their cubbies. Watch this." Spike then walked over to Pinkie and whispered something into her slime ear. Pinkie nodded as she slowly changed into a little version of Spike, as the real one went to the back room to store all the stuff. Both women giggled at Pinkie who was acting and sounded just like Spike. 

Pinkie Spike walked over to Cadence. "Cadence I need to head to the back and store the kids stuff." Said Pinkie, Cadence nodded completely aware that it was Pinkie.

"Sure thing 'boss' but by the time I finish talking you will already be back." Said Cadence, so distracted by the slime Spike to notice that the real one was right behind her.

Pinkie fake sighed. "Fine, but can I get a hug?" asked the real Spike. 

Cadence sighed still thinking that it was Pinkie, but nodded. "Its fine."

"Cool." Said Spike as he wrapped his arms around Cadence.

Cadence was shocked that Spike was giving her a hug as she blushed. "Spike?!" 

Spike chuckled as he nodded and released his assistant. "Rule 74, never take your eyes off of anyone in the play area, kids are quiet and prone to hiding."

Cadence sighed as she facepalmed. "I hate your surprise lessons."

Spike smiled. "Rule 75, expect the unexpected, especially in our line of work, and even more so in this place." 

Everyone giggled at Spike and Cadence. But Windy and Cloudy needed to go. "Spike, I need to go help Bow." Said Windy, she then looked at her daughter and gave her a goodbye wake. "Bye Rainbow, mommy and daddy will be back to pick you up later, be good." 

Rainbow smiled as she waved goodbye. "I will mommy, love you." Said Rainbow. Windy smiled as she opened the front door and left. 

Cloudy was needed to tend to her husband. "Pinkamena, I must depart, your father is still unwell, have a joyous day with thy friends. I shall return before sundown to retrieve thee." Said Cloudy.

"Ok, tell the others to have a good day as well." Said Pinkie back in her normal little girl form. 

Cloudy nodded as she opened the door to her world.

Spike sighed. "Well now we're only missing 2 others. I wonder who will show first?" Asked Spike. 

Cadence looked over at her boss slightly confused. "Yeah, you mentioned a new kid, why didn't you mention it earlier?" 

Spike groaned. "Because I didn't know about it earlier, that was what the call was about, apparently, Velvet recommended us to her business partner Moonlight Sonata, and something came up, so as a favor to Velvet I let her bring in her daughter Moondancer on short notice."

"Why? You know we can't do that. It takes a while for a kid to get used to us." 

Spike nodded. "I know, but if it helps Twilight knows her." Said Spike, he then looked down at the filly trying to levitate a small toy block. "Twi, by any chance do you know a little filly named Moondancer?"

Twilight gasped as she nodded. "Yeah, she's auntie Sonatas daughter, why?" 

"Well, Ms. Sonata had to run some errands, and she needs to drop off Moondancer today."

"Really?! That's great, I can't wait to tell her all about you, Cadence, and the girls." She then looked at Spike. "And your going to like her, she's just like me." 

Spike picked her up. "She is?" Twilight nodded. "Well, I know that's a lie." 

Twilight looked sad. "I'm not lying."

Spike nodded. "Yes you are, and do you want to know why?" Twilight nodded, Spike smiled as he pulled the little filly into a hug. "Because, no one is like you. You are unique in every single way." Twilight giggled as hearing this as she wrapped her arms around Spikes neck.

Suddenly the front door was pushed open and in walks a tall unicorn mare and in her arms was a small unicorn filly wearing a black turtle neck, but the weird thing was they looked to be a exact copy of each other, both had yellowish fur, with amaranth, violet, and purple manes, and dark purple eyes the only difference was the filly had the exact same mane cut as Twilight. Spike released Twilight and walked over to the mare, but when he approached the little filly tried to hide. The mare sighed, but smiled at Spike. "Hi are you Spike Drake?" Asked the mare. 

Spike nodded. "Yep, and seeing as your not trying to steal my soul energy, I'm guessing your Moonlight?" 

Moonlight nodded. "Yes, I'm so so sorry for the inconvenience, here's a sack lunch I made for her, because I know its almost lunch time, and here is 6 bits like I promised." Said Moonlight using her magic to levitate Spike as sack lunch and a hand full of the bits to him.

Spike nodded, but then remembered that AJ had a food allergy. "Sorry to tell you this but we cannot accept the lunch you made." Said Spike as he handed the lunch back to the mare. 

"But why?" 

"I'm sorry but one of todays kids has a deadly food allergy, so we don't take the risk of exposing her."

Moonlight looked worried. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I'll take it with me when I leave." 

Spike smiled. "Thanks, sorry for not telling you but I thought Velvet might of mentioned it." 

" Its fine, now I have a lunch, but what about Moondancer?" 

"Well, believe it or not I am actually a trained chef, I needed some way to pay for college, books cost an arm and a leg, and I have always loved to cook, second only to taking care of kids. So I can probably make her anything she wants." 

Moonlight sighed in relief. "Thank goodness." Moonlight then looked down to the little filly in her arms who was trying to hide from the stranger. "I'm sorry about her, she is very shy when she meets new people. Moonie mommy needs to go help aunt Velvet at the store today, but don't worry I'm leaving you with the person that Velvet lets watch Twilight." Said Moonlight. 

The little filly turned her head to look at the stranger in front of her. "Really?" 

Spike smiled as he nodded. "Yep, my names Spike, and what's your name sweetie?"

"Moondancer."

"That's a very pretty name."

"Thank you." 

"I hear you might know someone here today, would you like to talk to them?" Moondancer nodded. Spike looked over at Twilight who was still playing with Cadence. "Cadence can you bring Twilight over here?"

"Sure." Cadence looked down at Twilight. "Come on Twi, I think your friend Moondancer is here." Said Cadence as she picked up Twilight.  Cadence and Twilight walked over to Moonlight and Moondancer. "Hello my name is Cadence I'm Spikes assistant, but I'm more like his babysitter."

Twilight, Moondancer, and Moonlight giggled, as Spike groaned. "And there goes any chance of a new client respecting me." Joked Spike.

"I'm sorry, but really this guy is the big cheese, without him this place wouldn't exist." Said Cadence. 

"Thanks." Said Spike. He then looked at the filly. "Moondancer, would you like to talk to Twilight?" She nodded. 

Spike pointed to the floor, telling both women to put them down so they could talk. Both nodded and let the fillies talk. Twilight was happy to see her friend. "Moonie." Cheered Twilight as she pulled Moondancer into a hug. 

"Twilight!" Cheered Moondancer. 

"Let me introduce you to Spike, and Cadence then you can meet my friends." Twilight then pulled on Spikes pants leg. Spike bent down to their level as Twilight went into her explanation mode. "This is Spike, he is really cool, kind, funny, a little dorky..."

"Hey."

"A great cook, and I like him very much, but he doesn't like it when I use a lot of magic, so make sure you don't try a big spell." Said Twilight.

Moondancer looked full at Spike and became confused. "Spike, what are you? Are you a furless earth pony or something?"

Moonlight glared at her daughter. "Moondancer that's rude, say your sorry." 

Moondancer looked down in sadness as she grabbed the hem of her turtle neck. "I'm sorry."

Spike smiled at her as he lifted up her head. "Hey, its fine, I'm probably the first and only human you have ever seen, but let me say I was completely wrong about something." He then looked to Twilight. "Your right, she is just like you." Twilight smirked in victory. "Well again, I'm a human, I come from a world we call earth, and by any chance have you heard of Scorpan the explorer?"

Moondancer gasped as she nodded rapidly. "He is my favorite legend ever, but how do you know him?" 

"Well, I'm his grandson, and this used to be his old office, where he would plan his adventures." 

Moondancer then latched herself to Spikes leg as she had stars in her eyes. "Oh my gosh. Please tell me everything, please, please with a donut on top."

Spike chuckled as he nodded to the little fillies joy. "Sure but not right now, we kinda stole twilights spot light and you still need to meet the others." Said Spike. 

Moondancer nodded as Spike returned to his full height, as Twilight walked over to Cadence and pulled on her pants leg. Cadence bent down. "This is Cadence, she is the best at story time, she's funny, kind, smart, loving..." This went on for a few minutes. "And she's Spike's girlfriend."

"What?!" Yelled Spike and Cadence.

"What, aren't you and Spike friends and your a girl. So your his girlfriend, right?" 

Spike sighed as he looked at Moonlight. "The only thing we do not do is teach them about romance." Moonlight giggled. 

Cadence sighed. "Twilight." 

Twilight shrugged not getting the problem. She then grabbed Moondancers hand and the two ran to the others. Cadence sighed. "I'm going to make sure nothing happens, it was lovely to meet you Ms. Moonlight." 

Moonlight nodded as Cadence walked to the kids. "She seems nice."

"She is, took to this whole thing faster then I did."

"How so?" 

"Well, when I got this place, a dragon that my grandfather knew walked in looking for him. but when I saw him I freaked out and hit my head, seeing a mythical creature walk in my daycare was at the time crazy. But when I hired Cadence she stared down a demon like it was nothing." Said Spike as he blushed slightly.

"So, can I leave Moondancer here?" Asked Moonlight. 

Spike nodded. "Well, I don't think Twilight is going to let her go anytime soon, but by all means try and take her." Said Spike, Moonlight giggled. 

"No its fine, Velvet is waiting for me, and I can tell she is going to like it here. I'll be back the same time as Velvet, I'll also make a list of everything you might need to know about her." 

Spike nodded. "Ok, have a good day." Said Spike. Moondancer nodded as she went for the door, but when she tried to push it open it wouldn't budge.

"Spike I think somethings wrong with the door."

Spike sighed. "Nope, there's nothing wrong. It just means Rarity and Cookie are trying to come in." Spike pulled Moonlight from the door, it opened and in walks a pale fuchsia colored woman with a grayish indigo beehive hairdo, a long, thin spaded tip tail following behind, as a pair of bat like wings were folded up against her back. Next to her was a smaller little girl colored white with large purple curled hair, a shorter spade tipped tail, and a little pair of wings on her back.

Spike was pulled into a hug by the older demon, as she tried to kiss Spike, but Spike has had months of practice fending off the advances of the succubus. Spike was not blind, Cookie Crumbles was beautiful, and she could easily have any human man she wanted, the only problem is she wanted Spike. But Spike was a professional. Spike pushed himself out of the hug, as he glared at the demon. "Cookie, for the last time, stop it." Said Spike. 

Cookie sighed as she wrapped her arms around Spikes neck, giving him puppy dog eyes. "But Spike, your so cute and I can't resist your soul, its so bright and warm." Just then the little demon flew straight in between Spike and her mother.

"Mom, stop it, he's mine." Glared the girl. 

Spike sighed as he plucked the little demon girl out of the air. "No I'm not, Rarity, for one, you are way to young." Said Spike as he got free of Cookies grab. "2, I like to have my soul in one piece, and 3, I am terrified of Hondo." Said Spike. Hondo is Cookie's husband, 9 feet tall, a very possessive regular demon, making Rarity a hybrid, and to top it all off, he was ripped. Spike had some muscles from running around after kids all day, but Hondo could lift a elephant with one hand. 

Rarity whined as she started to cry. "So you don't like me?"

Spike sighed, Rarity was very emotional and a drama queen. Spike wiped Rarity's eyes and looked into them. "I never said that. Rarity you are very cute, and I like you very much, but I don't like you the way you think you like me." Spike then pulled her into a hug. "But, I know one day you will find a guy or girl that will make me look like nothing." Said Spike. 

Rarity shook her head. "No, your the greatest, and I don't care if your older, I love you." Said Rarity as she kissed Spike's cheek.

Spike sighed as he just let the little girl believe what she wanted. But then Spike pointed at the other girls playing with each other. "Rarity, how about you meet our new friend Moondancer." Said Spike. Rarity nodded as she released Spike and flew over to the other girls, who all smiled at the arrival of their last friend.

Spike sighed as he looked at Cookie and Moonlight. "Moonlight, this is Cookie Crumbles, Cookie, this is Moonlight Sonata."

The two women looked at each other. "I see we have another pony joining the club."

"Club?"

Spike nodded. "Somewhere in the last seven months of me running this place, it has become the interdimensional mothers gossip club, where mothers come to gossip about their lives/worlds/ and or husbands."

Moonlight nodded. "That's neat, I can't wait to meet everyone." Moonlight then remembered that she was running late as it was, she gasped, gave Spike a quick kiss on the cheek, waved to Moondancer one last time and ran out of the daycare. 

Spike looked at Cookie. "Did she just?" Cookie nodded. "Ok just wanted to check." Spike sighed. "Do you have Rarity's stuff?"

Cookie nodded. "I do, here is her blanket." Said Cookie who pulled a small blanket with a diamond print. "Here is her brush, remember she likes her hair brushed at least 25 times." She pulled out a pearl brush in the shape of a diamond. "Cant forget about Opal." Said Cookie as she put a small stuffed cat plushy on the blanket, she then pulled out a vile of a pink liquid. "And here is her snack." 

Spike sighed. "Who is it this time?"

"Oh its mostly mine, with a hint of Hondo's mixed in." The only race that Spike was unable to cook for were Succubae, but thanks to Rarity being a hybrid, she is able to at least eat some food, but she still needed to eat soul energy, and since Spike refuses to let her siphon off the other girls or himself, Cookie or Hondo prepare Rarity's snack every time they brought her in. 

Spike nodded. "Ok remember next time I need Rarity's fee."

"On it." Said Cookie. Demons had a very weird currency, fire stones, stones that have been roasted in the fire pits of their world, where they absorb the energy of the fire. 

"The one's you gave me last time are starting to dim, and I can't afford interdimensional electric bills."

Cookie nodded, She then pulled Spike into one last hug. "Fine, but only if I get a hug back." Said Cookie. 

Spike sighed. "Fine but no soul sucking." said Spike, Cookie nodded as he returned the hug, and true to her word Cookie didn't try to siphon his soul, but he could feel her shaking as she tried to resist. Spike released his hold on her before she lost control. Spike knew that Cookie was one of the few succubus that had so much self control, unlike one of the older succubus he looks after. Spike knew from some notes that Scorpan left, that Succubi that provide their own soul energy for their young are always drained afterwards, and the only way they can bounce back quickly was to eat. Spike took a good look at Cookie and noticed that she looked very tired as a few of her hairs were sticking out from her beehive and there were slightly concealed bags under her eyes. Spike sighed. "Cookie, did you make Rarity's snack this morning?" 

Cookie nodded as she yawned. "Yep, and with Sweetie Belle finally eating on her own, its leaving me really drained, that's why I needed to add some of Hondo's today, I'm running on fumes." Said Cookie as she yawned again. 

Spike sighed. "You have a long day today don't you?"

Cookie nodded again. "Back to back meetings, no time for lunch, and only 15 minutes for a brake today." Cookie Crumbles was actually a very important demon in the demon world, she ran a business that was tasked with the distribution of clothing to many of the clothing shops in her world, and the fact that she now had a second mouth to feed was really draining her.

Spike knew he was going to regret this, but she was actually a good friend and she needed a pick me up. Spike looked at Cookie. "Cookie, I hate that you have to go through that." Said Spike as he gave Cookie another hug. "Take as much as you need, but leave me enough so I can actually walk afterwards, I still need to look after the kids." Said Spike. 

Cookie was shocked, Spike had never let her feed on him, but from seeing how his soul reacted to what he said, he was telling the truth and he was worried about her. But Cookie was not one to just eat a meal without really knowing. She looked at Spike. "Spike, are you sure, you've never let me eat you?" Spike nodded.

"I'm sure Cookie, and besides my soul will reform later." Said Spike, it was true once some soul energy is taken from its host, the remaining soul will start gathering some soul energy of those who have passed from the area and replenish it's self, real creepy if you ask me, but it's better then the alternative, death. Spike then looked at Cookies face. "But this is only a one time thing, understand." 

Cookie nodded as she hugged Spike back. "Thanks Spike, I promise I won't take much." Said Cookie as her body started to siphon some of Spike's soul. Spike groaned at the feeling, for ever second of losing some of his soul felt like losing an hour of sleep, but every second Cookie looked more energized. After a few seconds of Cookie eating Spike's soul, she released Spike from her embrace. She looked at Spike who was smiling at her, but it was all a front for her benefit, she looked at his soul that was easily half the size it was originally.

Spike continued to smile, even though he felt like he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. "Are you full?" Asked Spike more worried about Cookie than himself.

In truth she wasn't, but she stopped when she noticed the state Spike's soul was in, but she was in a better place then Spike was in, so she nodded. "Yes, thanks Spike." 

Spike smiled. "Good to hear, now you better get going or your going to be late." Said Spike as he placed his hands on Cookies shoulders, this was for two reasons, 1 he was actually very weak and couldn't stand on his own let alone walk, 2 Cookie was actually going to be late. Spike pushed her to the door, ignoring the sounds of her protest. "I'll be fine, don't worry Cookie, I'll see you around 6 like always, have a nice day." Said Spike as pushed her out of the daycare.

Now that all of today's kids were here, it was Spikes job to make sure everything runs smoothly, then Spike actually thought about what he just did. He let a succubus take a good chunk of his soul, he still has to watch 7 little girls for 8-9 hours, cook for them, and everything else that goes along with looking after the 6 different races. It was going to be a long day for Spike.
> The Dragons Lair
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike looked back into the play area. Twilight was introducing Moondancer to all of the girls. Spike sighed. He just let a succubus eat a good chunk of his soul energy and he still needs to watch all the kids until their parents get back. He looked at the clock on the wall and noted that it was 5 till 10. 'Ok, its 5 till, we have lunch at noon, after that we're going outside to play and burn off lunch for an hour. Then maybe we'll do art time, I want to see what Moondancer can do. After that, it's story time which always lead's to nap time. I'll wake them up at around 3.' Thought Spike as he was trying to figure out what to do with the kids. 'That leaves, two hours before lunch, and two hours after nap time. I can't do a movie, that's for Friday, if it rains. I could play with them until lunch, yeah that sounds good, I'll keep it to a relaxed pace though, I might not be able to stay awake if I don't. So that leaves around 2 hours after nap time to deal with.' Spike shrugged. 'Knowing my life, something will come up that will make the day interesting.'

Spike walked over to Cadence who was giggling at how creative Twilight was describing the others. "What's so funny?" Asked Spike. Cadence pointed to Twilight as she was introducing Moondancer to Pinkie Pie. 

"This is Pinkie, she is a Slime with a unique pigment, she is really fun to play with, she is always happy, loves to bake, and funny." Said Twilight. 

Pinkie walked over to Moondancer and grabbed her hand. "Hi!Canithrowyouaparty?Whatkindofcakewouldyoulike?Ipreferchocolateororredvelvetorvanillaheckilikeanycakewhatsyourfavoritecolor…" Spoke Pinkie going back into her happy way of talking.

Moondancer looked confused, she looked at Twilight who looked sheepish. "I might of forgot to tell you that she doesn't need to breathe, so talking to her is kinda a challenge. She asked if she could throw a party for you, what kind of cake would you like, she prefers chocolate, red velvet, and vanilla, she wants to know your favorite flavor, and your favorite color?" 

"Oh." Said Moondancer as she looked back at the slime and smiled. "Sure I would like a party, I like everything besides strawberry..." AJ stomped her hooves at the mention of strawberry. Moondancer looked at the weird act. "Um is she ok?" Asked Moondancer worried about AJ. 

Twilight gasped. "Sorry I forgot to mention that AJ is allergic to strawberries. She hates it when we mention them." 

Moondancer looked at AJ and smiled at the centaur. "Sorry, but if it helps, I don't like them either." Said Moondancer.

AJ smiled and nodded. Moondancer looked back at Pinkie. "Like I said, I like everything aside from 'that', and I like lavender, crimson, and cream." Said Moondancer. 

Pinkie nodded as she bounced away to start planning. "Ok?" Said Moondancer questioningly at the actions of Pinkie.

Twilight shrugged as she pulled Rarity in front of Moondancer. "Well hello dear, my name is Rarity." Said Rarity.

"Hi, my name is Moondancer." Said Moondancer, she looked at Rarity's little wings and tail. "Are you a demon?" 

Rarity nodded. "Yes, my Daddy is a regular demon and my Mommy is a succubus."

"Cool." Said Moondancer.

"Thanks." Rarity looked at what Moondancer was wearing. "Dear, why are you wearing that sweater?" 

AJ rolled her eyes. "Here we go again."

Moondancer looked at her sweater confused. "What's wrong with my sweater?" 

Rarity shook her head. "Nothing, nothing at all, but it doesn't suit your colors at all."

"It doesn't?" Asked Moondancer. 

Rarity nodded. "Yes, see your coat, its a light cream color, it goes well with your mane colors, but the addition of the black sweater just detracts from your look, if you want, I could draw something up that would look good on you." Asked Rarity.

Moondancer looked hesitant. "Thanks, but I like my sweater." Said Moondancer. 

Rarity smiled. "Ok, but if you decide you want to change, my offer is open ended."

Moondancer nodded. "So let me go over everyone's names one more time... I know Twilight, the Centaur is Applejack, Pinkie is the slime, Fluttershy is the fairy on the ferret, Rainbow Dash is a harpy, I think, and Rarity is a demon succubus hybrid, is that right?" 

All the girls nodded. "Yep that's everyone today."

"Wait, today?" Asked Moondancer. 

Spike nodded. "Yep, you see, the Little Dragon Daycare, is actually open to all creatures from around 15 different worlds. Ponies, centaurs, slimes, demons, harpies, fairies, minitours, gargoyles, ghost, and dragons, all come to this place to drop off their kids. Today its usually just the eight of us here, but tomorrow, we should have a dragon, a wolf girl, and a pair of ghosts joining us." 

Moondancer looked at Spike and Cadence. "How?"

Spike shrugged. "Beats me, Scorpan gave me this place, but he never told me how it works."

Moondancer shook her head. "No, how do you handle all of us?" 

Spike laughed. "At first I couldn't. Actually, Twilight here was the first kid I ever watched, and imagine my surprise, when a walking, talking, anthropomorphic pony, that can use magic walks in to my new daycare, looking for someone to watch her little girl that couldn't control her magic.  

Twilight blushed. "Hey!" Yelled Twilight.

Spike laughed. "Twilight, on your first day, you changed my hair and eye color, somehow became a ball of fire, and tossed me into a wall, all because you missed your mommy."

Twilight grumbled. "But I didn't hold it against you. You were upset, left alone with a stranger, and were still having magical surges, besides from the stories grandpa Scorpan told me, I walked away better off then he did when he first met a unicorn." Said Spike. "But it took some getting used to. Aside from Twilight, I accidently sneezed Fluttershy away, Rainbow cut me with her talons, Pinkie was having trouble with her solid form and I accidently walked on her, Applejack almost killed me when she got startled, and Rarity almost killed me by eating most of my soul the first time." Spike looked at all the kids. "Actually, I'm surprised I'm not in the hospital or dead?" Spike shrugged. "But then again, I have always had a knack for surviving. But as business grew so did all of the challenges that came with dealing with all the kids."

"Like what?" Asked Moondancer.

Spike shrugged. "Fires, broken walls, possession, you know, normal stuff."

Moondancer looked at him. "That's not normal." 

"It is here." Said Spike. 

Moondancer looked at all the girls, they all nodded. "It's true." Said AJ.

Spike chuckled. "But, I learned to live with it, and after finding a journal from Scorpan and some equipment, it got easier. Falconry glove for Harpies and some magical charms for ghost. But some stuff I needed to do myself, updated fire suppression system in the building and basic carpentry skills to fix walls. But soon all the work started to pile up, and the kids just didn't stop coming, so after my first week running the place, I had to hire a assistant."

"Babysitter." Said Cadence.

"Soon to be jobless." Said Spike.

"Assistant."

"That would help me keep this place afloat. So that's how Cadence joined up, and only on very rare occasions do I ever regret giving her the job." Said Spike smiling. But then the smile was gone. "But now all the works starting to pile up again, so, I started to look for another assistant." Just then the front door bell rang.

"Hello?" Asked a voice. "Spike, Spike Drake, are you here?"

Spike looked at Cadence. "Um... we aren't expecting anyone else today are we?" 

"Nope, and no one has called, did you remember to pay the bills this week?"

"Yep." Spike sighed as he got up. "I'll go see who it is. You stay with the girls." 

Cadence nodded as she went back to talking with the girls.

Spike walked over to the door to see who was asking for him. There in the door was a tall woman, a very tall woman, standing around 7 feet tall, she was dressed in a pair of purple slacks, a yellow blazer, and a pair of high heel shoes, her hair was a mix of cyan, mulberry, and harlequin, and her eyes were a moderate heliotrope. She looked human, but when Spike got a better look at her, he noticed that her ears were pointed. She was an elf. The Elf world was one of the few worlds that Spike has never seen personally, but from the stories Scorpan told him, Elf's lived almost like humans, but they have integrated magic into daily life, and that there were a dozen different elf races.

Spike was actually surprised to see an elf in his daycare. "Hello." Said Spike as he walked up to the woman.

She looked at Spike. "Hello." Said the woman. 

Spike sighed. "My name is Spike, and welcome to the Little Dragon Daycare."

She shook her head to get focused. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting to see a half elf. My name is Celestia Solaris. It's nice to meet you." Said Celestia as she held out her hand. "I'm here for my interview."

Spike sighed. "First off, I'm not a half elf." Said Spike as he moved his hair to show his normal human ears. "Second, I thought you were suppose to come in on the 17th."

"It is the 17th. Wednesday the 17th of October, we talked last night?"

Spike sighed as he groaned. "Fate has a weird sense of humor." Mumbled Spike. He looked at Celestia and smiled. "Sorry, I must of got my days mixed up, but since your here already, lets head to the back office for the interview." Said Spike as he walked to the back office.  

Celestia nodded as she followed Spike.

Spike was walking past Cadence. "So who was it?" Asked Cadence. 

"The new hire."

"The new hire? But you said that she was coming in on Thursday."

"Sorry, last night was a little hectic, and I must have wrote it down on the wrong day, but she's here now." Spike smiled at all the girls. "Girls!" Said Spike as Celestia walked over to him, all the girls looked at Spike. "Everyone I would like you all to meet Celestia Solaris."

Celestia smiled. "Hello." 

"Hi." Said all the girls. 

"Girls, I need to head to the back room to give her an interview. Cadence is in charge, so go nuts." Said Spike as he started to chuckle.

Cadence smirked. "Oh, so I'm in charge." She looked at all the girls. "Attack the lazy dragon!" Cheered Cadence. But no one moved. 

Spike chuckled. "That's not going to work, I'm the one who runs this castle." Said Spike. He looked to all the girls. "Girls, attack the princess." Said Spike. 

All the girls looked at Cadence. "Attack!" Cheered Twilight. As all the girls dogpiled on to Cadence who was giggling. 

Spike chuckled. "Cease fire." Ordered Spike, all the girls got off of Cadence. "That is how you control the dragons horde." Said Spike. 

Celestia was laughing at the display. "But seriously, listen to Cadence till I get back."

All the girls smiled as they nodded. "Ok Spike."

Spike smiled at their response as he pulled out his key and opened the door to the back room. Spike walked in to the office as Celestia followed. 

Spike grabbed a folding chair and opened it for Celestia as Spike sat in his desk chair. "Ok, so lets start with some basic information. Name?"

"Celestia F. Solaris."

"Age?"

"Very rude to ask a lady, but 25." Joked Celestia. Spike chuckled. 

"Race?"

"High Elf."

"Magic?"

"Fire, water, earth, levitation, and solar."

"Solar?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, its an ancient form of magic that allows the user to create a miniature solar body." Said Celestia as she pointed a finger and a small sun appeared above it. "Not many uses, but very fun at parties."  

"Education?"

"Just completed my bachelors in child development, and I'm CPR certified." 

Spike nodded. "Ok. Now for the practical part of the interview. Follow me." Said Spike as he walked over to the kitchen. Celestia followed. 

"First off, lets see you cook a basic lunch."

Celestia smirked. "I would, but I don't know any medical conditions for who I'm cooking for." 

Spike smiled. "Good, you take into account the person your cooking for, that's important. One of the kids we look after for a few days a week, has a deadly allergy to strawberries." Said Spike. 

"You also didn't tell me what they ate yesterday." Said Celestia. 

"Correct. it is important to add variety in a child's meal plan." Said Spike.

Celestia looked into the fridge and pantry to look at the food supplies. Celestia smirked as she started to pull out some basic ingredients, and started to cook.



 

Once Celestia was done, she presented her creation. "We have a simple grilled cheese sandwich, with a very light but very nutritious soup, and for dessert, we have a simple fruit salad, no strawberries, only cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, diced apples and a pinch of cinnamon." 

Spike looked at the meal. "Processed cheese?"

Celestia shook her head. "Never, and besides you didn't have any."

"Soup?"

"Chicken stock, carrots, celery, one clove of garlic, and very little spices; pepper, sea salt, and a dash of paprika." 

Spike nodded as he took a bite of the sandwich. "Very good, but you lied to me."

Celestia nodded. "I did. Picky eaters are hard to deal with, so the simple solution is to mask the ingredient with flavor blockers. The kid gets to enjoy the food, and the body gets to enjoy the nutrients that it has missed. For the sandwich, I added a slice of tomato, which works well with the sandwich, if you actually know its there, but its not too over powering when it comes to flavor when compared to melted cheese."

Spike smiled as he took a spoonful of soup. "Very light but super strong on flavor, and very aromatic, and good job on using sea salt, instead of normal salt or kosher." Spike finished by eating a few pieces of the fruit salad. "Apples are just the right size for a child, the cantaloupe is very fresh and flavorful, and the watermelon is just the right texture that it doesn't turn to mush the moment you fork it. But in all honesty the grapes don't work with this particular combination of fruits."

Celestia looked saddened. "Oh."

"Next time think about using some oranges, cuts down on the sweetness by adding a hint of sour." 

Celestia nodded.

Spike smiled. "Ok, we have a few unique eaters in our care. One is a slime, and the other is a demon succubus hybrid. Do you know what that means?"

Celestia shrugged. "Slimes don't really eat, they dissolve what they roll over, but the succubus is new to me." 

Spike nodded. "Understandable. Rarity is the hybrid, her father is a demon, while her mother is a succubus, meaning that she has to eat soul energy."

"Soul energy?"

Spike nodded. "From what I can tell, all living creatures have soul energy. A succubus needs to eat this energy on a regular basis. Normally this would be provided by the succubae's mate, and for the children by the parents. So normally when Rarity comes in her mother Cookie Crumbles prepares a vile of her soul energy, to make sure she doesn't hurt one of the kids, or more likely me."

"You?" Asked Celestia.

Spike nodded. "Yes, she kinda has a crush on me, and the first time I took care of her she almost drained me dry, I was in the hospital for a few hours, and I'm full grown. Now imagine if she started on one of the kids, who have much smaller souls." 

Celestia nodded. "Got it, don't let her eat your soul."

Spike nodded. "We keep her vile with the ice cream in the freezer. Apparently it freezes like water, and she says it taste like cherries, I don't question it, and I'm not going to try it for myself. Now follow me to the basement."

"The basement?" Asked Celestia hesitantly.

Spike started to laugh like a psychopath. "Yes..." Said Spike but he went back to normal. "I want to see if you can lift the granite slabs... you said you could levitate things using your magic right?"

Celestia nodded, still unsure if Spike was nuts. "Good, last time I had to bring up a slab, it took me, my assistant and a Centaur to haul it up here." Said Spike as he opened the basement door. Spike flipped the light switch and walked down the stairs with Celestia following behind.

Once they reached the floor, Celestia looked around at the basement. It was practically empty, there were a few stone slabs leaning on the wall, next to them was a washer, dryer combo, and a very weird machine with a lot of wires and pipes, in the corner.

"So this is the basement. We mostly use it for laundry, and extra storage." 

Celestia walked over to the machine in the corner. "What's this?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike walked over to her. "That's the FSPG."

"FSPG?"

"It stands for Fire Stone Power Generator. My grandfather was the last guy to own the place, and he told me that the bill for the power was more than this place was worth. So after the first bill he started to think of a way to really not have to sell a lung to stay here. So he talked with a friend of his, and he made this machine." 

"But what does it run on?"

"Fire stones, it's in the name. I get them from Cookie. Just toss them into the machine and we got all the power we need to keep this place running for a few weeks at most. Also don't touch it, It's old and I don't think I could fix it." Said Spike as he pulled Celestia over to the washing machine and dryer. "We do quick laundry loads, mainly grass stains, lunchtime messes, and the occasional Pinkie stain, it saves their parents the hassle of washing the clothes." Spike then pulled her over to the rock slabs. "And this is Pinkies lunch." Said Spike. "On average they weigh around 200lbs and walking up a flight of stairs is dangerous. So we normally get AJ to pull it up the stairs once I move it and tie it up."

"You make her?" 

Spike shook her head. "Of course not. I would normally take Pinkie down here and let her dissolve her slab, while everyone else ate upstairs. But AJ offered to help us haul up one so Pinkie could eat with them, she normally pulls a plow that weighs twice that. Also I talked to her parents, and all they called it was light training. Trust me I felt the same way as you are right now, but I tell her she doesn't have to." 

Celestia sighed. "Ok." Said Celestia as she moved her hand towards one of the slabs, she made a fist, and the slab was incased in a golden aura. It was hovering off the ground. "But I think I got this." Said Celestia. 

Spike smiled. "Good. Lets head back up stairs."  Said Spike. Celestia nodded as the two of them walked up the stairs.





Once they were back, they walked back into the kitchen. "Put it down, right here." Said Spike pointing to a empty part of the wall. 

"Yes sir." Said Celestia.

"Spike, I don't make the kids call me sir unless it's play time, I don't make Cadence call me sir, and I'm not going to let my newest assistant call me sir."

Celestia nodded. "Ok, Spike." Said Celestia as she lowered Pinkies slab.

"Good, now follow me, we have a few stops before you meet the kids officially." Said Spike. 

"Ok Spike." 

Spike and Celestia walked to the storage area for the kids stuff. "Here are all the cubby holes we have for all the kids we take care of. Normally we put in a change of clothes, for if the set they are wearing get dirty, their nap time blankets, any tools required for general maintenance or hygiene; nail files, brushes, tranquilizer darts, and their stuffed plushies."

"Wait what was that last one?"

"Stuffed plushies."

"Before that." 

"Brushes."

"After that."

"Tranquilizer darts."

"Yeah that one." 

"Have you ever had to get a 10 foot tall dragon whelp to let go of all the toys its hoarded?" 

Celestia shook her head. "Well, I have, it did not go well, her father gave me that just incase she goes through another greedy moment."

Celestia looked at all of the cubby holes. "Wow, how many in total do you look after?"

Spike shrugged. "In total, 27. Normally we have about 7 or 8 kids on any given weekday, most of which come on set day's. We might get the occasional emergency call, and someone has to bring in their kid off schedule. We're ok with that, but we make them pay double, and they have to let us know what we need to do, for their kid. It usually consist of telling us when they will pick them up and what they ate the day before." 

"So when we walked into the front area, I noticed six kids and a ball of feathers, is that all for today?"

Spike laughed. "No today we have 7 kids, that ball of feathers is a harpy named Rainbow Dash, she's just molting right now."

Celestia giggled. "Oh I'm sorry." 

Spike smiled. "It's fine. Also good luck." Said Spike smirking wildly.

Celestia gulped. "Luck?"

Spike nodded as he pushed her to the door. He opened it and tossed her out of the back area. "Yep, this is what I call the Dragons Lair. You have to survive, for 2 hours with the kids, by yourself." 

"What?" 

Spike nodded. "Don't worry, me and Cadence will be here as back up, if you are nocked out, or worse." Said Spike, as he took a seat on the floor.

Cadence walked over to Spike and sat next to him. "Yes, he is a jerk, but I went through it, and Spike had to do it for a week, its like initiation."

Spike looked at all the girls. "Moondancer, can you come here?" Asked Spike. 

Moondancer walked over to Spike. "What is it Spike?" 

Spike pat the free spot next to him and Moondancer took the seat. "You said you wanted to know about my grandfather Scorpan right?" Asked Spike. 

Moondancer nodded. "Yes."

"Well, I have about 2 hours, and besides you might go easy on the newbie." Said Spike. Spike looked to the rest of the girls. "Girls. We have a trespasser in the Dragons Lair." Said Spike.

All the girls looked over at Celestia, as they grinned evilly. Pinkie was the first to walk over to Celestia. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie..."

For the next two hours the sound of a chainsaw, gunshot, car horn, cannon, cats and dogs, and the obligatory Wilhelm Scream was all that could be heard from out side of the Little Dragon Daycare.
> New Princess of The Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...But after living a long life of 92 years, full of adventures, he passed on. Sure it was sad, but it wasn't all bad, thanks to him, I was able to start up the Little Dragon." Said Spike. He just finished telling Moondancer the short version of his grandfathers life. He looked over at Moondancer, who was looking at him in awe. 

"That was amazing, but do you ever miss him?" Asked Moondancer.

Spike nodded. "I do, but I knew he loved me, and I hope he knew I loved him too. But he's never truly gone." Said Spike as he pointed to his heart. "I will always have him with me in my heart."

Moondancer moved her hand over her heart. "I know how you feel, I lost my daddy when I was small. I don't remember him very much, but I knew he loved me." Said Moondancer as she started to cry, but she kept smiling.

Spike sighed as he wrapped Moondancer into a small hug, he wiped away her tears. "Hey, its ok to be sad." Said Spike. "My grandpa was kind, funny, creative, caring, smart, playful, and a hundred other things. Sure I miss him, but I show my love for him with this place."  

Moondancer buried her face into the hug. She continued to cry. "I miss him." Said Moondancer. 

Spike sighed as he just sat there and let the little girl cry herself out.

Spike looked over at Cadence. "Rule 77: Emotions are powerful things, especially in children." Said Spike. Cadence nodded. 

For the next ten minutes Spike just let Moondancer cry, and she soon ran dry. But once she was done, Spike's shirt was now little more than a wet rag. But Spike didn't care, he could always head to the apartment for a second and change his shirt. But right now, what was more important was making sure Moondancer was ok. Spike looked down at Moondancer who was just sniffling now. He smiled at her. "Do you feel better?" 

Moondancer nodded. Spike smiled at the answer. "Good to hear." Said Spike as he rubbed the top of her head. "If you ever want to talk about your daddy, I will always listen, when you cry, I will be there to hold you, but right now you need to laugh." Said Spike. He looked at the clock on the wall and noted that it was just about to hit two hours since the Dragon's Lair began. "And its just about time for that to happen." 

Spike looked at the center of the play area. Five of the girls were sitting on the side lines, they were tired of the Dragon's Lair, but right now it was Twilights turn. Spike chuckled as he placed Moondancer into Cadences lap. He got up from the floor and walked over to the group of girls. "So is the intruder strong?" Asked Spike. 

They all nodded. "She is, she stopped me from getting into a fake fight with the 'canary', she answered all of Pinkies questions, without needing to ask her what she said, then she stopped Rainbow from flying into a wall twice, and Rarity tried to sneak over to you, and she stopped that." 

Spike looked shocked. "Really?"

All the girls nodded.

Spike looked back at the play area, and to both his shock and horror, there she stood. Celestia was using her Solar magic to create a small version of her worlds solar system. She was actually teaching Twilight about her world, and Twilight was actually listening and paying attention. Spike dropped his jaw, Cadence dropped her jaw, hell even Silvia dropped her jaw. Celestia was fine, a little winded from running around on her own for the last two hours, but compared to Cadence who had gotten a small cut on her forhead because of Rainbows talons during her trip into the Dragon's Lair, Celestia looked untouched.

Spike walked over to Celestia and Twilight. "Ok, times up." Said Spike.

"Really? Aw, I had so much more to teach Twilight." Said Celestia. 

Spike sighed as he picked up Twilight. He looked at Celestia. "Hold on right there, I need to talk to my little minions." Said Spike as he carried Twilight back to the girls. 

Spike gathered all his minions. "Ok, how did she do, was she nice? Can she keep up with everyone?" Asked Spike. 

"I like her, she said she wanted me to throw her a party." Said Pinkie.

"I like her fashion style, but she called you cute, so I'm going to keep an eye on her." Said Rarity growling. 

"She's kind." Said AJ.

"And quick." Added Rainbow.

"She likes animals, and she said she has a phoenix, named Philomena." Said Fluttershy.

Spike nodded. "Ok that's 5 for 5." Spike then looked at Twilight. "Twi its all on you, yes or no?" Asked Spike. 

Twilight smiled at Spike. "Yes, a million bazillion times yes. She's smart, funny, knows a lot of things, and she said she would teach me how to do magic like her." Said Twilight with a wide smile. 

Spike placed Twilight down on the ground. He then walked over to Cadence. "Cadence, I'm going to go get Celestia her stuff, and to change out of my shirt." Said Spike. 

Cadence nodded. "Ok Spike."

Spike nodded as he walked over to Celestia. "Ok, so here's the deal. I need you to tell me your measurements." 

Celestia looked at Spike confused. "Why?" 

Spike smiled. "I need to know so I can get your uniform in the right size." Said Spike.

Celestia gasped. "So I'm?"

Spike nodded. "Now your one of the princesses of the castle. But be warned. The demon is not happy with you." Spike smirked. "But thanks for the complement." Said Spike. Celestia blushed slightly.

She leaned over to Spike, and whispered her measurements. Spike nodded. "Ok." Said Spike. "You have two choices, you could leave right now, and get ready for your first day tomorrow, or you could stay and get more acquainted with the girls."

Celestia thought for a moment. But she nodded at Spike. “Nah I’m good, plus I want to get to know the little unicorn that you called over to you.” Said Celestia.

Spike nodded. “Ok, I need to head back to my place and get your uniform, when I get back, there’s still some stuff we need to discuss, and I need to head to the pony world to get you a key made.”

“A key?” Asked Celestia. 

Spike nodded. “Yes a key, every employee of the Little Dragon gets a key. Its mostly for when I pass out in the back, after a long night watching a kid who needs to stay past closing, and I need someone to come by and wake me up before the kids show up that morning." Said Spike. "But it will take me a few days to get it done. Unicorn magic is a pain to deal with when one world is involved, but Starswirl is going to need to take some magical readings of the Elf world. But right now I need to head back to my place and get your uniform." Spike walked over to the back door and pulled out his gold key.

"Um, Spike the exits that way." Said Celestia confused.

Spike smirked. "I know. But in this place, every door is an exit, if you have the right tools." Said Spike as he turned the head of the key until the words home showed. "You see." Said Spike as he opened the door to the back room. But instead of the back room, Celestia saw a furnished apartment, with hardwood floors and the sun was showing in to the room. She looked behind her and noticed that the sun was behind her as well.  

Celestia dropped her jaw at seeing that the room was completely different. Everyone giggled at the weird look on her face. Spike looked at Cadence. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do. I'll be back in a few moments." Said Spike. 

Cadence nodded. "Sure thing boss, I'll have the girls get ready for lunch in the mean time." 

Spike nodded. He walked into his apartment and closed the door, so Cadence could get to the back area.

Cadence looked at all the girls. "Ok girls, when Spike gets back were going to have lunch. Lets hear what you all had last night."

AJ raised her hand. "AJ, lets hear it." 

"Well, last night we had some potato stew, with a nice salad that we grew from the farm, and Granny made an apple brown betty for dessert."

Next up was Rainbow Dash. "Mom caught some nice herring, and dad brought home some pork sausages and some radishes." 

Fluttershy went next. "Mom got some honey dew melon, and a blue berry for dessert."

Pinkies turn. "Well I rolled over some leaves, a hunk of wood, and mom brought home some obsidian."

Cadence nodded. She looked at Celestia. "Did Spike get Pinkies slab out of the basement already?"

Celestia nodded. "We did, its granite." 

Pinkie hummed as she giggled and jiggled. "MMMMM, I love granite."

Cadence laughed. It was always funny how slimes express emotion using their body.  When they giggled it made them jiggle, when they are sad, they puddle, happy made them bigger and shinier, mad made them hotter, tired made them colder, and a large array of other actions, all dealing with the emotion spectrum. But Pinkie was special, she got combos, normally they would be a mixture of two emotions, but everyone and a while they would really add up. But back on track. 

Cadence looked at Moondancer. "Moondancer, sweetie what did you have for dinner yesterday?" Asked Cadence.  

"Well, Mommy made some spaghetti with fresh marinara sauce with mushrooms, and we had a loaf of bread."

Cadence nodded, she looked at Twilight. "Twilight?" Asked Cadence. 

"The same. Aunt Moonlight invited me and Mommy, Daddy, and Shining over for dinner." 

Cadence shrugged. "Well that makes that simple."

Cadence looked at Rarity. "Ok, Rarity, what'd you get?"

"Well, Daddy made some nice lava stew with some fresh demon boar he got from the market, and some of Mommy's soul, but Sweetie Belle got most of it." Said Rarity.

Cadence nodded. "Ok."

Suddenly the door to the back room opened. Spike walked out of his apartment and into the play area. He was holding a shopping bag in his arms, and it was clear that he had changed into a spare blue polo. Once he was inside the daycare fully, he closed the door and locked it. Now that the door was locked, he turned around, and actually looked disappointed. "Really?" Asked Spike.  

"What?" Asked Cadence.

"Why is it that when you leave, something usually goes horribly wrong, normally to me, but when I leave, nothing happens?"

"Well what do you expect, you were only gone for a few moments." 

"Well, last time you left to take a call in the back for a few moments, I was turned into a rooster for an hour, remember?" Said Spike. 

Celestia looked at Spike. "You were a chicken?" 

Spike sighed, as he raised his hand to stop the no doubt long list of questions. "Don't ask. Long story short, that was Twilights last magical surge on record, and I still sometimes wake up at the crack of dawn." Said Spike. He walked over to Celestia and handed her the bag. “Here is your uniform. A baby blue polo shirt, with a set of slacks.” 

Celestia took the bag and looked in side. “Is there anything else I need to know about this job so I don't mess up?”

Spike nodded. “No high heel shoes, it would be impossible to run around with the kids. No large pieces of jewelry, especially around dragons. Small earrings are ok but they need to be secure, choking hazard. Very little to no makeup and no perfume, one of the kids we watch is a werewolf and she is very sensitive to strong smells. Aside from that, the kids pretty much run the show.”

Celestia nodded. "Ok, thankfully I don't use much, just some mascara."

Spike smiled, and then he looked at the clock on the wall. He looked at the kids. "Ok, my little minions, line up and we'll head to the back for lunch." Said Spike as he clapped his hands to get them into a marching line. "Pinkie in front today."

"Yay!" Said Pinkie as she formed a arrow using her slime hair. 

"Rarity, wings in, feet on the ground." 

Rarity nodded as she folded her wings in and got behind Pinkie. "Of course my dear." 

Spike winced on the inside, but kept smiling and clapping. "Walking Library, your up."

Twilight grumbled. "I'm not a Walking Library."

Spike stopped clapping and looked at Twilight. "Twi what does Unconsentaneous mean?"

"Disagreement." Said Twilight in an instant. Everyone looked at her shocked. It was not normal for a 4 year old to know the word Unconsentaneous, let alone the definition of it. Twilight looked at all of the others who were giving her looks. She sighed and fell into line.

But Spike didn't start clapping again. Instead he walked over to Twilight and smiled at her. "Twi, if I made you upset, I'm sorry, but there is so much about you that is very unique to you, and when I call you thing's like Walking Library, I promise you it's not to be mean but a way to tell you that you are special. If you want me to only call you Twilight or Twi, all you have to do is tell me." Said Spike as he bent down to his knees and looked at the lavender unicorn.

Twilight sighed as she hugged Spike. "I'm sorry Spike, but some of the kids at the park call me a book worm for having a mom that runs a book store, so I don't like it when my friends call me names." 

Spike sighed as he returned the hug on the little filly. "Twi, I'm sorry, but remember, if you let their name calling get to you, your only giving them what they want. The phrase 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me' is important to know." Spike then looked at Twilight very seriously. "But it they ever try to hurt you, just tell me and I will handle it." Said Spike, but something was off, his body was hotter than normal, and his eyes became more oval shaped. But Twilight was the only one to see it happen, and just as quickly as it happened it was gone. "But, lets get back to the line up." Said Spike as he smiled. 

He stood up and got back in front of the line as he started to clap again. "Moondancer, get behind Twi." 

Moondancer nodded. "Yes, Mr. Spike." Said Moondancer as she got behind Twilight. 

"Rainbow, try not to crash into me, and fall in behind Moondancer." 

Normally Rainbow would try to give Spike a light hearted comeback, but instead, Rainbow walked over to behind Moondancer, and the sound of her stomach growling was echoing in the play area. Harpies were very strong flyers, and they have very large metabolisms, so they need to eat a lot of food to run their bodies. She no doubt, after going through the Dragons Lair,  was running her body on empty. 

Spike looked to Fluttershy and Silvia. "The Lone Flutters, Silvia needs to rest, its time to hitch her up for a while." Said Spike.

Fluttershy nodded as she flew off of Silvia and landed on to Spikes shoulder. This was her normal seat, mainly because she was not a great flyer and she got tired very easily. Silvia now free of Fluttershy, ran straight for her masters apron pocket, it was exhausting to run around for 3 hours like a horse, so it was nap time for the ferrate.

"Ok AJ, your in the back, show us that your the best at herding. Keep everyone in line." Said Spike as he finished clapping. 

AJ nodded as she brought up the rear. On AJ's family farm, they had a few cows, and it was necessary to move their herd. AJ always wants to join in the drive, but she needs practice. So a group of little girls are just the perfect stand-ins. 

Spike turned around as he used his key to open the door to the back area. "Ok. Today we have a special menu, brought to us by the newest princess of the castle. We have a grilled cheese sandwich, with a nice bowl of soup, and for dessert a fruit salad. Pinkie gets some granite, and Flutters gets a grape. Any objections from princess number one?" Asked Spike. 

Cadence shook her head. "Aside from you not letting me cook in a while, not really?"

Spike shrugged. "Well, you can try tomorrow, how does that sound?" 

Cadence smiled. "I can work with that." 

Spike nodded as he opened the door and the group filled in to the back room. Spike was leading the group to the sink, and once they reached it, Spike pulled out a little stool. "You know the drill. Wet, soap, scrub, rinse, dry." Said Spike. Pinkie diverted from the group so she wouldn't be diluted, and stood at Spikes side. Rarity, Twilight, Moondancer, Rainbow, and AJ all took turns to wash their hands, and once they were done, Fluttershy flew down and used the last few drops to wash her hands. Spike smiled. "Ok, now, who's hungry?"


> Lets Get Ready.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A half an hour has passed, Pinkie just finished off her granite, Fluttershy was eating the last slice of her grape, the soup pot was empty, and all the girls had a slight belly bulge. Spike laughed  at the sight of all of the satisfied faces. "Ok, lets hear the verdict, will the new princess be allowed to cook again, or will she be banned from the kitchen, never to return?" Asked Spike. 

AJ gave Spike a thumbs up. "I loved it, but I'm stuffed." Said AJ, she at 4 grilled cheeses, 3 bowls of soup, and the equivalent of a whole watermelons worth of the fruit salad. She was a farm worker, and in all sense of the word, a bottomless pit. So it was rare to see her stuffed. "But it was not as good as your food." 

Rainbow lifted a wing, she was just as full as AJ, but she was a air born creature so she was going to have to waddle like a penguin untill her body burns off enough to let her gain lift. "I can't feel my belly." Said Rainbow. "And I'm ok with that. But I'm still not used to not having meat in my food, so I found the soup lacking." It was true, Harpies and many of the kids they look after were carnivorous, and that's ok, but it took some time for the others to get used to the sight of a piece of ham.

Spike chuckled. "So Shy, how was the soup?" Asked Spike. Fluttershy normally was happy with her grape, or apple sliver, but today Spike decided to give her a small spoon full of the soup, he wanted all of the kids to try it, so everyone could give their opinion of the food. 

"It was delicious." Said Fluttershy, then she burped loudly. Fluttershy blushed hard, she was so embarrassed, but she started to chuckle. "Excuse me."

Spike laughed. "Its fine Shy, it was pretty good though." He looked to Twilight and Moondancer. "So Twi, Moondancer, lets hear your vote." 

Twilight shrugged. "It was pretty good, but I found the fruit salad a little to sweet, she should of used some oranges instead of grapes to counteract the sweet with some sour." Said Twilight. 

Moondancer nodded. "Yes, it was too sweet, but the soup was great if not a tad under seasoned, but that's just me, I did like the grilled cheese very much though." 

Spike looked at Rarity, she was sucking on her soul sickle. "So Rarity, what about you?" 

Rarity looked at Spike. "Well, the soup was great, the sandwich was a little too overdone, and mommy's soul is as great as always."  

Celestia sighed as Pinkie handed her a little white flag. "Here you go, also thanks for the granite, it was really yummy."

Celestia waved the white flag. "Fine, I admit defeat." Said Celestia. Then Celestia looked at the flag. "Wait when did this become a contest?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike laughed. "Well, you see, I'm the head chef at the Little Dragon, I was trained professionally when I went to college to help pay for books and classes. But when Cadence joined up, I had to make sure that the kids could be fed if I couldn't make them lunch. So for a week, we had a cook off to see if she could compete with me." Spike smirked. "I'm still undefeated." He looked to the girls. "Girls point at the winner, majority vote wins."

Twilight, Moondancer, Fluttershy, AJ, Rainbow, and Rarity all pointed at Spike. Pinkie doesn't get a vote because she can't taste, but she pointed to Spike because Earth granite is delicious. Cadance sighed. "And the winner is the king of the castle, Spike." Said Cadance as she lifted Spikes arm.

All the girls cheered. Spike laughed as he walked over to Celestia. "Lets hear it for our competitor, Celestia." Said Spike, and even more cheering was heard. 

Spike laughed at the enthusiasm. "Ok, were going outside so everyone can burn off lunch." 

All the girls gasped as they raised their hands. Spike smiled as he looked at the group of girls. "Lets see, who do we want to go with today?" Asked Spike. Then Spike looked at Moondancer, she was confused on what was going on. "Moondancer, sorry I forgot to tell you, everyday during outside play time, we visit one of the worlds, and seeing as its your first day, how about we let you choose."

Moondancer was worried. "Um...How about...." She looked around at all the girls, she knew nothing about the worlds they came from and she had no idea if her decision was going to be well received, then she looked at Spike. "Spikes world." Said Moondancer. 

Spike shrugged. "Ok, to the human world we go." Said Spike. He then started to clap again to get the girls into a marching order. "You know the drill, before we go out what do we do?" Asked Spike. 

"We put on sun screen." Said all the girls.

"And?" 

"We don't leave the area."

"And?"

"We don't cause trouble." 

Spike smiled. "Right." Said Spike. "Ok, line up in front of the bathroom." Said Spike as he finished clapping. All the girls nodded as they lined up at the door to the small bathroom. Spike walked inside of the bathroom. It was fairly normal, for him at least, the bathroom was like a mini version of the front door, so when a human opens the door, it changed to a human bathroom. So Spike being Spike, made sure that this was where all of the medical supplies go, to make double sure that if needed, he could get to them. Spike walked into to a large glass case. Spike pulled out his key ring that had a small security lock key and opened the medical case. 

Inside of the case sat AJ's EPI pen, some simple childes aspirin, miles of medical tape, piles of fresh gauze, a few splints, a large bottle of antibacterial gel, a bottle of spray antibacterial, and every known size, shape, style, thickness, adhesive strength, cut, weave, design, and color of bandage in the known universe, and even some from another universe. If he wanted to Spike could of supplied a large planes crash worth of people with small care. But right now none of that was important, right now Spike needed to find the tube of sunblock for the kids. "Come on, I know its some where in here, we didn't use it all yesterday." Said Spike as he started to look in the cabinet.

"Spike, what's up?" Asked Cadance.

Spike sighed. "I can't seem to find the sunblock, you didn't throw it away yesterday, only Sandbar needed it."

Cadance popped her head into the bathroom. "Right, check the top shelf, it should be on the right of the emergency defibrillator, and left of the air bag. We just got the new tube in and with all the stuff it wouldn't fit on the shelf." Said Cadance. 

Spike nodded as he looked at the top shelf, and there it was right where Cadance said it was. "Found it." Said Spike as he grabbed the bottle of FPS 70 sunblock. "Who's first?" Asked Spike as he closed the medical case. 

AJ walked in to the bathroom. "Right here." 

Spike nodded. "Ok." Spike was always prepared and the sunblock was no exception. After a very embarrassing incident that involved Cadance needing to wash AJ's body to get some human sunblock out of her fur, Spike started looking into sun screen from the pony world and a few others, just to find a all purpose, fur and skin, non stick sunblock, so no one had to sit out of play time. He found one, it came from the wolf world, was relatively cheap, and super effective.

Spike squeezed some sunblock into his hands and into the hands of AJ. "Ok AJ, I'll get your back and legs, you get your face, ears, neck, and arms." 

AJ nodded.

Once Spike had finished and AJ was finished getting her face, Spike did the inspection of her job. "Face, ears, neck, arms, and your legs are done. Your clear." 

AJ smiled as she walked out of the bathroom, allowing the next girl to enter, and that was Fluttershy. She flew into the bathroom and landed on the sink. "Spike, could you help me with my wings today?"

Spike smiled. "Of course Shy." Fairies were very simple to deal with, the only problem was their wings, they were super sensitive, and were very delicate. Spike placed a single drop of sunblock onto the sinks surface. Fluttershy grabbed some and placed it on her body. Once she was done Spike used the left over and scooped it up with one finger, he used his fingers to apply the sunblock to her wings, he needed to be slow, careful, and light. 

Once she was done, she flew out of the room, letting Pinkie hop in. Pinkie didn't need sunblock, but Spike always let her add some to her body, she says it makes her slippery. "Here you go Pinkie." Said Spike as he squirted out a small glob. Pinkie's body absorbed the glob and her body became slightly shiny. 

Pinkie smiled at Spike. "Thanks Spike." Said Pinkie as she slid out of the bathroom. 

Next up was Twilight and Moondancer. "Ok, lets get Moondancer out of the way first." Said Spike as he applied a small amount of sunblock to her hands. "Moondancer start off with your legs, then move up to your neck and arms. I'll get your face, and then you can get your horn." Unicorn horns were directly linked to their brains, and it was a large bundle of nerves, meaning it was really sensitive to touch.

Moondancer nodded as she started to rub in the sunblock. Spike got her face and ears, but left her horn to her. Spike chuckled as he remembered what happened to his grandfather when he met a unicorn for the first time. Scorpan decided to grab a mares horn, this was back when he first got the place, and he wanted to see a unicorn. Long story short, he got kicked in the lower regions by the mare. 

Spike looked to Twilight and did the same. 

Once the unicorns were done, they smiled and walked out of the bathroom to let Rarity in. "Hello Spike." 

Spike smiled. "Hey Rarity, you know the drill." Rarity nodded. Demons were normally covered in hard skin like armor that covered the majority of their bodies, tail, and wings, but since Rarity was part Succubus, she didn't. Succubae were the exact opposite, they had soft skin, thin tails, and more delicate wings. So Rarity was somewhere in between, she had soft skin and a thin tail, but her wings were strong and very durable. Spike placed a small portion of sunblock in her hands. "I'll get your face and back, you get your tail and legs." Said Spike. 

Rarity sighed. "I can get my face, why don't you get my tail?" Asked Rarity. 

Spike sighed. "Because, I don't want to make Hondo mad." Said Spike. It was true, for demons, touching tails was seen as the equivalent of making out. 

Rarity huffed. "Fine." Spike smiled as he started to cover her face. Rarity got her tail and legs. Now that she was fully protected she looked at Spike. "Spike, for me, can I have a kiss for being a good girl?" 

Spike sighed as he nodded. "Fine." Rarity smiled as she puckered her lips, but that was a huge no in Spikes book, he instead just kissed her forehead. "There." 

Rarity glared at him as she huffed. "One day." Said Rarity upset that Spike didn't kiss her, as she stomped out of the bathroom.

Spike sighed. "Last up." Said Spike. Slowly Rainbow waddled in to the bathroom. She was still stuffed from lunch. "Ok Rainbow, I'll get your wings and face, if I can find it, and you get your legs." 

Rainbow nodded, she walked up to Spike and her wings popped out, she let Spike apply the sun block to them. Once he was done, she turned to let Spike do her face. Once Spike was done, he gave Rainbow a small amount to go on her legs. 

Now that all of the girls were ready, Spike applied some sunblock to his face and arms. Now that he was done, Spike placed the bottle of sun screen back into the shelf and closed the case. He walked out of the bathroom. "Ok, lets head outside." Said Spike. 

All the girls cheered as they ran to the front door. Spike sighed as he looked to Cadence and Celestia. "Celestia, this is the time I give for breaks, I can handle them for an hour." Said Spike, he looked to Cadence. "Cadence, take her out, show her the area down the road, and buy her lunch today." He looked back to Celestia. "Celestia, make sure to cover your ears, humans are not aware of other worlds, and absolutely no magic." Said Spike. 

"Wait, then why are you letting the kids go outside in your world?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike sighed as he motioned for them to follow. "Because, I technically own 5 acres of land around here, plus..." Said Spike as he opened the door to the human world. All the girls ran out of the daycare and followed a stone walkway to a large fenced in playground. "The farm is pretty much in the middle of nowhere." Spike looked over to Celestia who was silent, she saw no buildings, no roads, no nothing, all she saw was a well maintained field, a small building with a car inside, and a playground. Spike chuckled. "Yep, welcome to the Little Dragon Farm, formally known as the Little Chick egg farm." 

Celestia stepped out of the building, but when she turned around to see the daycare, all that was there was a small single story farm house, it was painted green and purple. Celestia looked at the house, it was small, about half the size of the daycare, and it was clear that there was no room for a basement, then she stuck her head back into the building, everything was still there. Spike laughed. "Yep, it makes no logical sense at all, I have no idea how it works, and neither did Scorpan, we just run with it." 

Celestia looked at Spike shocked. "Then where are we right now?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike shrugged. "About 70 miles or so from the center of a city called Ponyville, that's where I live. Cadence lives not too much farther than that, but she's north of Ponyville, in the mountain town Crystalton." Said Spike, he then looked at his watch. "It'll take you about 20 minutes to hit the first few places to eat, so I would get going." Said Spike. 

Cadance nodded as she grabbed Celestia's hand. "Come on, I know a great place not to far from here, they have the best burgers." Cadance dragged Celestia to her car, a red honda civic. "I will explain more about the human world when we get to the diner."

Cadance tossed Celestia into the back seats, buckled her up, and drove off, heading for the greasy food joint, leaving a very confused Celestia wondering how her life brought her to this moment. 

Spike looked at the car leaving, and he laughed. "Poor Celestia, she has no idea how this became her life." He walked over to a chest used to store pool supplies, Spike pulled out the key ring and unlocked the chest. Inside were some simple toys that the girls liked to play with, but the moment he unlocked the chest it was empty. Spike looked at all the girls playing with the toys. "Well at least they are having fun." Spike walked into the fenced off area and smiled at all the girls. "Ok, we will have the race in 50 minutes! Winner is the fastest in the Daycare." Said Spike. 

AJ and Rainbow glared at each other. Spike sighed as he sat on a small bench near the front gate. This was for him, it had the perfect view of the whole play area, and even if someone came to the farm it was in direct line of sight of the small road to give Spike time to get the girls in quickly. But right now that wasn't a problem, right now his only problem was the possibility of passing out, Cookies breakfast was still hitting Spike hard. Spike leaned back on the bench and tried to relax as he watched all the girls having fun. 

Currently Spike had equipment for all of the kids he looks after, and all of it was perfect for the girls. There were some pipes and tubes for Pinkie to enjoy, and it was always fun for her when Twilight would moved the configuration around. This was the only time Spike let Twilight and other magical species play with their magic, and in all honesty, after Twilights chicken incident, she was showing great control. 

Spike was watching Twilight and Moondancer use the pipes and tubes to make a chemistry set looking setup with Pinkie acting as the liquid. Rainbow was perched on the monkey bars as she tried to preen her feathers. AJ was working on her lassoing, Spike had given her a rope and after driving in a fence post, it made the perfect target for her. Rarity and Fluttershy were playing on the jungle gym Spike had built, it had a swing set, a few slides, a small rock wall, a telescope and many small games that the kids could play. There was also a half buried tractor tire, a sandbox, a soccer goal for the older kids, and a small concrete slab for hopscotch or chalk for them to play on, but right now they were being unused.

Spike sighed as he felt the warm sun on his face, he took a deep calming breath. "This is nice." Said Spike as he felt the cool breeze. 

"SPIKE!" 

"And the peace is gone." Said Spike, he looked to see who was yelling and it was AJ. She was galloping towards him, looking very worried. Normally AJ was very calm so it was weird to see her so worried. "AJ what's wrong?" Asked Spike, then he noticed that she didn't have her hat.  

"Its my hat, it blew off my head, and I couldn't grab it before it got out of the fence." Said AJ on the verge of tears. 

Spike sighed, he was worried that she hurt her hoof again, but this was nothing too bad. "Ok, lets go get it." Said Spike as he got up from his seat. Since day one, Spike didn't like it when the girls left the play area, so when something like a ball or in this case, AJ's hat flew out of the area, it was better for Spike to get it, then one of the girls trying to get it on their own. Spike grabbed AJ's hand as he led her to the gate. They walked the perimeter of the fence and not to far away was the cowboy hat on the ground. Spike sighed as he picked it up, dusted it off and placed it back on her head. He gave the girl a small smile. "There you go AJ." 

AJ smiled as she gave Spike a hug. "Thanks Spike, this is Pa's, and I said I would keep it safe." 

Spike smiled as he returned the hug. "Don't worry AJ, it was an accident and I'm glad you told me, instead of trying to get it yourself." Spike grabbed her hand and led her back to the playground. "But the wind isn't going to lighten up for a while, so why don't you leave it with me until its time to go in?"

AJ nodded, she took off her hat and handed it to Spike. "Yeah, just make sure it stays safe." 

Spike chuckled. "AJ, I look after over 2 dozen kids from different worlds, I think I can look after a small hat for an hour." 

AJ raised her eyebrow. "You sure?"

Spike copied her movement. "Do you want your apple bites?" 

With that said AJ kept her mouth shut, but they still chuckled. When Spike and AJ arrived at the gate, Spike opened the door and let AJ walk in. "Now go play, we got about 40 until the race."

AJ nodded as she ran back to her lasso. Spike sat back on his bench glad to see AJ was back to normal. Spike sighed as he went back to resting. "Well, thankfully nothing bad happened this time." 

"SPIKE?!" Yelled another girl. 

Spike sighed as he looked up to see Pinkie, Twilight and Moondancer looking at him, and it was clear to see that they wanted something. Spike smiled as he looked at the girls. "Hey girls, what's up?" Asked Spike. 

"Can we get some of the chalk out from the chest, we want to see if Pinkie can absorb it." Asked Twilight.  

Spike sighed as he shook his head. "Sorry girls, chalk is made up of salts and Pinkie is mostly water, so it would absorb her more than her absorbing it." All the girls sighed. "But instead of seeing if Pinkie can absorb chalk, why don't you girls go play some hopscotch and see if Pinkie can accurately change the flow of her body to keep her balance?" 

Pinkie gasped as she ran to the slab to start practicing, followed by Moondancer and Twilight, they didn't want to get inaccurate data. Spike sighed as he watched all of the girls doing their own things. Nothing was wrong, no one looked hurt and no one looked like something was going to happen. "Ok, third times the charm." Said Spike as he relaxed. 





"Spike?" Asked AJ. 

Spike looked up, thankful for the interruption, he was so close to falling asleep. "Yep, what's up AJ?" 

"Its time for the race." Said Rainbow as she was on AJ's back, but she looked different, now she wasn't a ball of feathers, you could see her wings, her head full of rainbow colored hair and her bird legs. 

Spike smiled. "Ok, and you look better Rainbow, I missed seeing your face, but now you have no excuse if you lose to AJ."

Rainbow smirked. "I know, I didn't want her to think I was holding back to spare her feelings." 

Spike sighed, Rainbow was very prideful, but she always cared about her friends. "Sure, but the real question is, how are we going to do the race today?" Asked Spike. 

Rainbow looked at AJ, as she looked at Rainbow. Rainbow was good at high speed, short races, but AJ was good with conserving her energy in long, slower races. They looked to Spike. "You choose." Said AJ.

Spike sighed, the play area was about 250 feet by 250 feet, so a race from one end to the other was clear in Rainbows favor, but a full lap was in AJ's favor, the only compromise was a race from a corner to the opposite corner and back again. "Lets do a corner race today, with the usual conditions." Said Spike. 

AJ and Rainbow nodded. The usual conditions were pretty simple, Rainbow could only be 4 feet of the ground, AJ wouldn't veer into Rainbows lane and for the lap to count they had to touch the opposite end. Spike sighed as he stretched his back and legs. "Ok, the terms have been agreed upon, lets gather the others." Said Spike as he whistled to get the others attention.

It only took a few moments for the girls to gather. Spike looked at the girls. "Ok, its time for the race, its going to be a corner and back race." Spike looked at Twilight. "Twilight, can you place the counting spell on the farthest post?" Asked Spike. 

Twilight nodded as her horn glowed slightly, once it stopped glowing, Twilight looked at Spike. "Ok, its done."

Spike smiled. "Thanks Twilight." He looked at the others. "Ok, lets head to the corner and get ready." All the girls nodded.



 

When they arrived there was little time for preparations. AJ and rainbow lined up. "Ready...3....2....1...0" Counted Spike. The moment he reached 0, AJ and Rainbow were off. Spike looked at Pinkie. "Pinkie, your in charge of seeing who wins." 

Pinkie nodded as she stretched her body to act as the finishing line, Pinkie grabbed one of the fence post with her legs and Spike grabbed her arms. "Ok Spike, who do you think will win today?" Asked Pinkie. 

Spike sighed. "In all honesty, I doubt either will win, it always ends in a tie." 

Pinkie nodded. "Yep, but its always funny to see them try." 

"They reached the other side, it looked like AJ's in the lead." Said Twilight as her horn glowed to signal that her counter was used.

It only took a few more moments for the two to cross the Pinkie line, and as Spike predicted, they crossed at the same time. "I won." Cheered Rainbow. 

AJ huffed. "No you didn't, I did." 

They continued to argue for a moment until Spike talked to Pinkie and he got the real results. "So, was I right?" Asked Spike, Pinkie nodded. Spike sighed as he gathered all of the little slime girl into a pile so she could reform. 

Once Pinkie was whole, Spike walked over to the girls who were still arguing. "Ok, the high speed Pinkie has finished deciding on the race, the winner is...."

"Please be me, please be me, please be me." Muttered Rainbow and AJ.

"No one, it was a tie." Said Spike. Both girls groaned, but following the rules of their first race, the high speed Pinkie was the judge, and her verdict was final. 

"Fine." Said the two, they turned to each other, and shook hands and wings. "You did good." Said AJ. 

Rainbow nodded. "You too, I thought I would get to the checkpoint first though."

Spike smiled seeing that they were still friends after all of this and the sportsmanship the two had. But then he noticed Cadences Honda driving back into the barn. Spike looked at the girls. "Ok, that concludes outside play time for today. Go around and pick up all of the stuff you used today." Said Spike. All the girls nodded as they gathered all of their toys. 

Once the chest was full and the area was clear, Spike locked the chest. Spike looked at the girls. "Ok, lets head inside, next up we have arts and crafts time." Said Spike. 

Rarity and Fluttershy gasped as they ran to the door, Spike laughed as Cadence and Celestia walked over. Spike smiled at the two. "So, did she like the Tasty Treat?" 

Cadence nodded. "You have no idea, turns out she has never had a milk shake."

Spike laughed even more. "Really, how did Saffron take that bit of news?" 

Cadence sighed. "Celestia drained the machine, also add this to the book, Elf's cant get brain freeze, or at least not from 10 milkshakes." 

Spike chuckled as he nodded, he looked to Celestia. "I'm glad you like it, right now its arts and crafts time, but we still need to talk about a few things so lets head into the back office." 

Celestia nodded as she muffled a small burp. "Excuse me. But what about you, when do you get to eat?" Asked Celestia. Cadence told her during lunch that Spike didn't eat dinner or breakfast this morning, and she saw him only eat a sandwich, a few bites of fruit salad, and a spoon of soup.

Spike shrugged. "I'm going to eat right now, I'm not artistic, that's more Cadance's area of expertise. Actually, I should get Silvia back into her cage and take her home for the day, so instead of using the back office, lets head to my apartment?"

Celestia nodded. "Ok."
> Lunch Break
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadance tossed Celestia in the back seats, buckled her up, and drove off headed for the greasy food joint down the road. All while Celestia was thoroughly confused on how her life brought her to this moment. 

When they left the farm, Cadance turned onto a small 2 lane blacktop road, heading for the Tasty Treat. She looked at Celestia. “So how did you like your first few hours?” Asked Cadance.

“Um…” Said Celestia, she was still trying to process where she was. In the Elf world they had vehicles of all kinds, trucks, sedans, convertibles, and many others. But this car had something she has never heard before. Cars in her world ran on the user's magical power, and depending on the user's power level, determined the range. Celestia shook her head. “Sorry, it’s not what I expected.”

Cadance nodded. “Yeah, your telling me, Spike can be a handful on his own, but if it wasn’t for him, I would be somewhere completely different. So, tell me about yourself.” 

Celestia shrugged. “Well I’m 25, I just got my degree last year, I have a little sister who’s still trying to get her degree, her name’s Luna. Aside from that, there’s not much to tell that really tells about me.”

Cadance raised a brow. “Really? I find that hard to believe.”

Celestia shrugged. “Yep, but can I ask you a question?”

Cadance nodded. “Sure.”

“What is this car and what does it run on?” Asked Celestia.

Cadance laughed. “Really that’s what you want to know?” Asked Cadance, Celestia nodded. “Well I guess it’s understandable, I talked to Spike about the worlds, and I’ve seen Scorpan’s journal as well. In the human world, we don’t have magic, so unlike your world we have to produce our own power, most of it created by burning coal in plants to produce steam that turns a turbine in a generator, which produces electricity, but we also have other options like solar power, wind power, hydro power, nuclear power, and geothermal. But the car runs on a thing called gasoline, it’s a processed fuel that comes from oil. When it’s hit with a spark it produces an explosion. Humans designed an engine that is powered by this fuel, which allows us to operate a vehicle.” 

Celestia nodded. “Ok, so where are we going?” Asked Celestia.

Cadance smiled. “We’re heading to a roadside diner called the Tasty Treat, it’s run by a father daughter duo from a country on the other side of the world, their names are Cumin and his daughter is Saffron. They’re nice people who work hard to make great food, all while adding their own spin on their cooking.”

Cadance looked down the road. "So, you mentioned a little sister, is she anything like you?" Asked Cadance.

Celestia nodded slightly. "She is now, but she kinda got into a lot of trouble when she was younger, got mixed up with the wrong crowd, that sort of thing."

Cadance nodded. "Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, it's cool." 

Celestia smiled but shook her head. "No, its fine, I'm proud of her for dragging herself out of that situation. She's actually the one who inspired me to get my degree in child development." 

Cadance cocked an eyebrow. "Really, how so, and remember you only have to tell me as much as you’re comfortable with." 

Celestia sighed. "Back when I was still in school, my mother and father were in an accident, I was left all alone with a pre-teen who was devastated. That's when all the trouble first started for us. Luna changed into someone I hardly recognized, and I'm ashamed to say that I let her. I thought that she could process this on her own and left her to her own devices. But then she got arrested one day. That's when I realized that if I was there to help her grieve, all of this might have not happened. But what was I supposed to do, I was just finishing school, and got accepted into a great college. But somehow, I made college and Luna my top priorities, every free moment I had, I was either studying or spending time with her." Said Celestia, she was starting to cry. "Then one day when we were sitting in our home watching the news, Luna, out of nowhere asked me what I actually wanted to do with my life. I couldn't give her an answer, most of my life at that point was school and her, I never really thought about what I wanted to do. She just gave me a not buying it face and asked me again. That's when my true feelings came up, you see back in school my neighbors had a lot of kids, and I needed the cash, so I started babysitting. I changed diapers, fed them, bathed them, read to them, played with them, and every time they smiled at me, nothing felt more pure. In the first week, I knew I wanted to play an important role in the life of children. So, I told her that I wanted to study child development. You know what she told me?"

Cadance shook her head. "No." 

Celestia smiled. "She told me to go for it, she wanted me to strive for my dreams instead of being there for her." Celestia laughed. "I wasn't going to let that happen though, so I made her a deal, when I got my degree, and a job, from that moment on she would be in my top priorities again. So that's what we did, when I had to study, she would take care of the house, when I fell asleep at my desk or in the school library, she would come and drag me to my room, she stayed up for hours helping me quiz myself for my tests, and she did it all with a smile on her face. She found a way for us to keep spending time with each other and helping me reach my goals."

Cadance smiled at hearing the story as she was crying a little. She opened her center console and pulled out a box of tissues, she wiped her eyes and handed the box over to Celestia. "You did a great job taking over for your parents, Celestia. They would be proud, and so should you." 

Celestia smiled as she took the tissue and cleaned up her face. "Thanks, Cadance, I'm sorry if I brought down the mood for lunch with all of this heavy stuff." 

Cadance shook her head. "Hey, you did nothing wrong, I was the one who asked." 

Celestia smiled. "Ok, so then can I ask you a simple question, just between us?"

Cadance was unsure of what she was going to ask but nodded. "Sure, what is it?"

"How long have you liked Spike?" Asked Celestia.

The moment Cadance heard this question, she was surprised, so much so that she started to swerve in the road. Thankfully the road was always empty, so nothing was going to happen, nothing aside from the massive blush on Cadance's face telling Celestia all she needed to know. "Oh, so you do like him." 

"Shut up!" Cried Cadance, as she tried to focus on the road.

"Well, I don't blame you, he's cute, smart, strong, caring, kids love him, he can cook, has a great job, witty, playful, and the way he's not afraid to show his support to others is something that I thought had died out in men long ago." Said Celestia. 

Cadance sighed. "I know, he's just a goof ball that knows when he needs to be serious but can still be himself while doing it." Said Cadance, then the car went silent for a moment. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Celestia nodded. "Yep."

Cadance groaned. "Dang it, yes I admit it, I have a crush on Spike, are you happy?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes. Yes I am, so why haven't you asked him out yet?" Asked Celestia. 

Cadance sighed. "What would I say, 'Hey boss, I have a huge crush on you, I have for a while, would you like to go on a date with me?', That would never work, I'm not even sure he feels the same about me."

Celestia sighed. 'Maybe I took it to far.' Thought Celestia. "Hey look, this time I really did make this awkward, we can drop it if you want." 

Cadance shook her head. "No, it feels good to talk about my feelings to someone besides my diary, I just don't know how to ask him if he likes me."

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." Said Celestia. 

"I know, but it doesn't change the fact that I'll still miss." 

"No, it doesn't, but it's better to find out than to never know at all."

Cadance groaned. "Ok, where are all the fortune cookies you’re getting these from?"

Celestia giggled. "Down the street by my house, a place called Jade Palace, Ms. Yung was one of the people I babysat for."

Cadance laughed. "Seriously?"

Celestia stuck out her tongue. "Nope, but she was a mother of 3, and taught me some valuable lessons."

Cadance giggled as she noticed the sign for the Tasty Treat. "Cool, we're here." Said Cadance as she pulled into the parking lot of the small diner. "Welcome to the Tasty Treat, the home to the best milkshakes and veggie burgers this side of the world." Said Cadance as she turned off the car and got out. Celestia unbuckled herself and got out as well and looked at the building. It was made of corrugated metal roofing and painted in bright yellow and red. Above the glass door was a little neon sign that said open. Celestia looked at the top of the building and sitting there was a large red neon sign displaying the name of the establishment. 'THE TASTY TREAT'  



Cadance grabbed Celestia's arm and started pulling her to the door. "Come on I'm starving." Said Cadance as she licked her lips.

Celestia looked at Cadance. 'Goddess what is she, I weigh 130, and she's dragging me around like I'm a sack of potatoes.' Thought Celestia.

When the two entered the diner, Celestia looked at the choice of decorations, there was a long counter top with bar stools in front of them, she looked to her sides and noticed booths with seats covered in red leather, the floor was brown tile and the walls and  the foot well of the counter were in a pattern of white tiles with red ones forming a diamond pattern.



She looked at the far wall and she became shocked to see a large rack of pies and cakes sitting in a display case. There were three things that Celestia loved more than anything else in the world. First was her sister, Luna. Second were kids. Finally, there was her secret love, cakes. Back in school, she was called the princess of cakes for her love of the baked treat, and she wore that title like a badge of honor. But then Celestia allowed her nose to inhale the scent of the diner. She could smell spices, hot fry oil, sizzling meats and roasted vegetables. Celestia couldn't handle it, she started to drool in anticipation of the food.

Cadance giggled at the sight of her new coworker. "Come on, let’s get a seat." Said Cadance, as she walked over to a booth and sat down. 

Celestia snapped out of her food dreams and took the seat opposite of Cadance. "So how do we order?" Asked Celestia. 

Cadance smiled as she handed Celestia a menu. "You'll see, Saffron should be here in a moment, and don't worry, order anything you want, it's on me today."

Celestia was shocked. "No, I can pay for my own meal." Protested Celestia. 

Cadance put on a smug look. "Really, with what money?" Asked Cadance. 

Celestia's response died in her throat the moment she realized she didn't know about this world’s currency, and even if she did, there was no way that they would take her marks. The Elf world had five forms of currency, all of which were called marks. Each mark was made out of a different material that determined it's value. The first and lowest denomination were called copper marks, small little coins that were made from copper, for reference a loaf of bread would cost about 2 copper marks. Then came silver marks, each silver mark was worth 10 copper ones. Then there were gold marks, each one of them was worth 10 silver marks, and just for a little help, the Equestrian bit is made from a purer gold than the elf world's gold mark. Next was platinum marks, this is where the big bucks come from, each platinum mark is worth a total of 100 gold marks, 10 of them are enough to buy a middle-class home. Lastly, we come to the largest denomination of the marks, the diamond marks, worth a total of 100 platinum marks, this was a sign of wealth in her world, because if you even owned a hand full of diamond marks, you never had to work again in your life. Celestia slumped in defeat. "Ok, but I'm going to try and order as little as possible." 

Cadance sighed. "No, this is a gift, welcoming you to the Little Dragon. If you don't order as much as you want, I will drag you back to the farm and toss you back into the dragon’s lair, for 4 hours, and the kids will not hold back this time." 

Celestia gulped. 'That was them holding back?' Thought Celestia. She snatched the menu. "Do they have an everything platter?" Asked Celestia. 

"Sorry, unfortunately we don't, but my father can make you feel like you just ate a full 7 course meal." Said a new voice. 

Celestia turned to see who was talking. Standing at their booth was a tall woman with large puffy dark brown hair held back by a light-yellow head band, two hooped earrings with topaz gems hung down from her ears. She was dressed in a light cream-colored blouse, an aqua colored floral skirt, and an orange bib with a gold crescent moon design embroidered on it. Celestia looked into the woman's deep lavender eyes and smiled. "Sorry, I'm still trying to decide."

The woman smiled back. "Don't worry, take your time." She looked at Cadance. "Hey C, how you been?" Asked the woman. 

Cadance smiled. "Pretty good, we just got a new kid today, she's the most adorable thing, and like always, Spike just brought her in like she's been there from the start. What about you Saffron, how have you and your dad been?" 

Saffron shrugged. "Pretty good as well, we had a convoy run by here two days ago, they nearly ate us out of stock, but don't worry we got plenty for our regulars. So, who's the new face?" 

Cadance giggled. "Right, sorry. Saffron this is Celestia Solaris, Spike in his infinite wisdom decided to look for a new assistant and here she is. Celestia this is Saffron Masala, she and her father run the joint." 

Celestia smiled and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you." 

Saffron took the hand as shook it. "And to you as well, and a little advice, don't try to hit on Spike, she'll get upset."

Celestia giggled. "Don't worry, I'm well aware of that." 

Saffron giggled, she looked at Cadance. "So Cadance, you want the usual?"

"Yep, plant on a bun, all the works, extra lick ground sticks, and frozen cow juice in two forms, extra on the second form, but can you make that two, I want to see her reaction." 

Saffron nodded. "On it, and your diner speak is getting better." She looked at Celestia as she finished taking Cadance's order. "And what about you Celestia?"

"I'll take a large salad, an order of the chicken tenders, a bowl of the soup of the day. What is it?" 

"Vegetable with tomato base." Responded Saffron. 

"Oh, make that two then, a large veggie burger, two orders of the mashed potatoes, and a slice of strawberry short cake." Said Celestia. 

Cadance interjected. "Celestia, AJ can't be near strawberries, if even a crumb touches her, she could go into shock." Said Cadance. 

Celestia shook her head. "Actually, never mind, I'll take the chocolate lava cake instead."

Saffron nodded. "Good call." Said Saffron. "I'll get my dad to start this order right now, it'll be out in a few." Said Saffron as she walked to the kitchen window. 

Celestia sighed in relief. "Thanks for the save Cadance. I completely forgot."

Cadance nodded. "Don't worry, but that's why we are super careful about her, she's very tough but she is still vulnerable to something so innocent. I don't want to go through that again anyways." 

Celestia noticed the change in her tone. "I'm guessing something happened before with her?" 

Cadance nodded. "Yeah, it was her first week, I had just started working there, and this was before we knew about her allergy." Cadance reached into her purse and pulled out an Epi pen. "I'm allergic to bees, it’s not as bad as AJ's reaction but still dangerous. So, one day I decided to bring some fruit salad for us to enjoy as a little snack after we finished with art time, all was going great, but then AJ grabbed a strawberry and ate it. She wasn't breathing three seconds later; her face was swollen, and her throat had closed. Twilight and the others were panicking, but not Spike. He knew exactly what to do. I told him about my allergy when he hired me, and I told him that I always keep an Epi pen with me in my purse. He emptied my purse and grabbed my pen. He shot AJ in her back leg, hoping that it would work on her. Thankfully it did, she was able to breathe again, but the idea of using my pen on her never crossed my mind, all I could do was hold a dying child, hoping for a miracle to save her. It was my fault, I brought the treat, I almost killed her." Said Cadance, she was crying at the memories. "Spike had to call for Pear and Bright Mac to pick her up and take her to a Centaur hospital for treatment, and they determined that it was the Strawberry that caused it. I felt horrible when I found out, that night I didn't sleep at all, all I did was cry. That next day I thought about quitting, right then and there. But Spike refused to let me leave without a two-week notice, it was all a lie, but I didn't know back then, so I stayed there for two weeks and started looking for a new job. AJ couldn't come in for the rest of the week, but when she came in that next week, she just ran up to me and gave me a big hug, like nothing had happened at all. In fact, she thanked me for helping her. She told me that she was so scared when she couldn't breathe, and I tried to calm her down so she wouldn't panic. The doctors told her that if she had panicked, she would have died. I apologized to her and her parents so many times, but they always responded with, 'no one knew about it, no one was to blame, we're just glad to know she's safe'. Spike told me that I could still quit if I wanted to, but then I was tackled to the ground by AJ, she was crying, begging me not to leave. That's when my resolve broke down, no one can say no to a crying AJ. I agreed to stay at the Little Dragon, AJ was given her own Epi pen, and from then on, I haven't had a single thought about leaving again. Still doesn't make the guilt any better though."

Celestia sighed. "And it shouldn't, that pain we feel, shows us that we are still alive and are needed in this world or worlds. It tells us to just give up, but we don't, we ignore it and strive to make ourselves better. You had AJ's incident, and I have my sister, both were in trouble and needed our help, I cannot say that we did everything perfectly, but that only makes us want to reach for that all the more, if we're ever needed again. Also, your lucky numbers are, 78-92-6-43-9-11." Said Celestia. 

Cadance laughed, at the joke, but the message was very clear. "Thanks, Celestia, I'm glad to know your around to help." Said Cadance.

Celestia smiled. "Glad enough to let me ask Spike out, I mean I've only known him for a few hours, but I can tell that men like him are almost extinct, no matter the world." 

Cadance glared at Celestia. "Don't even think about it, he's mine." Said Cadance with a blush. 

"ORDER UP!" Yelled a short, rounded man with brown hair and a moustache. 

Cadance smiled at the man. "Hello Coriander Cumin." 

Cumin smiled back. "Greetings Cadance." 

Saffron grabbed the platter with all the food and brought it over to the table. "Here you go girls, please enjoy it before it gets cold." Said Saffron as she walked away. 

Cadance looked at the mountain of food before her and gulped at the mountain range in front of Celestia. "Celestia, are you sure you can eat it all?" Asked Cadance worried that she'll need to rush her to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. 

Celestia smiled. "I know, but I don't want to be too full to play with the kids later, so I wanted to have a light lunch."

Cadance dropped her jaw. 'HOW IN THE HECK IS THAT A LIGHT LUNCH?!' Thought Cadance. But by the time she finished that thought, Celestia was already done with her large burger and she was moving onto her large salad. Celestia looked over to her eating companion. "Are you sure you’re going to be ok, that seems like nothing more than a snack?" Asked Celestia. Fun fact, the elf body is a weird thing, on average a full-grown adult elf female can consume over 90000 calories a day. This is because of their bodies unique magic making process. All food eaten by elf's or at least a large portion of it is converted to magical energy that they use in their daily life. The higher your magical capacity, the more you can eat, but after the magical capacity is filled, then the body acts like that of a human, turning all the sugars from the food into fat for later use when needed. But on that note, unlike humans that struggle to lose that extra weight and the possible health problems that come from it. Elves, when they run out of magic, can convert that fat into extra magic, but it comes at a much heftier price. Magical deficiency is a dangerous and possible fatal outcome of using too much magic, and its possible to die before the fat can be converted. 

Cadance closed her mouth and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Said Cadance as she started eating her lunch. 

Cadance took a large bite of her burger and then she took a drink of her milkshake, but she drank it too fast and got a brain freeze. "Aww." Groaned Cadance. "Brain freeze." 

Celestia looked at Cadance confused. "Brain what?" Asked Celestia. 

It took a moment for Cadance to respond. "Brain freeze, it’s something that happens when we eat or drink something so cold and it hits the top of our mouths, and it causes our heads to hurt." Said Cadance still trying to relieve the pain.

Celestia shrugged. "Never heard of it." Said Celestia as she downed her whole milkshake in a matter of seconds. She looked at the cup. "Man, that's great." She looked around for Saffron. "Saffron can I get another milkshake?" 

"Coming right up." Said Saffron as she started making Celestia another milkshake. 





Twenty minutes later, Celestia was polishing off her 10th milkshake, while Cadance was already full from eating her burger. She looked at Celestia. "That's going into the book." Said Cadance as she groaned from her full belly. 

Celestia looked at Cadance. "Oh, you poor dear, you hardly ate anything. Maybe you should take the rest of the day off. I'm sure I can handle the girls with Spike."

Cadance looked at Celestia. "Celestia, humans can only eat so much, that was my limit." Said Cadance. 

"Well, seeing that Cadance is about to enter her weekly food coma, and mount calorie is gone, I'm guessing it’s time for you two to head back to the daycare?"

"Right in one, Saffron, what's the damage today, aside from my stomach that's about to pop?" Asked Cadance. 

Saffron pulled out the tables bill. "It looks like you’re going to be 78.98 in the red this week, and that's not even mentioning all the milkshakes Celestia downed. But don't worry about them, Dad wanted to see if she could even get a brain freeze so there on the house." 

Cadance groaned as she pulled out her card. "Use this, or you can just kill me now and save me the suffering." 

Saffron giggled. "Sorry Cadance, we only accept suffering on the weekends, but your acting has gotten better." 

Cadance sighed as she got up, she was fine. "Thanks, I'm trying to make story time a little better for the kids and acting it out makes it seem more real to them." 

Saffron nodded. "Well, just wait and you might be getting a Tony award in your future. I'll give it back in a moment." Said Saffron as she walked off to pay the bill.

Celestia looked at Cadance. "So, I've been wondering something for a while now, how do you and Saffron know each other so well?" 

Cadance shrugged. "We're best friends, have been since middle school, we had a lot of the same interests, all the same classes, and we might have gone to our prom together because neither of us could get a date." Said Cadance. 

"Cadance tell the truth, we couldn't get a date, because everyone was scared of our fathers." Said Saffron, she looked at Celestia. "The rumor was that my dad would lock you in his soup pot and throw you off a cliff if you did anything to me." Said Saffron. 

"And if you crossed my Daddy, he would use all of his connections to make sure you wound up behind bars for the rest of your life." Said Cadance. 

"Really, your father had that much sway?" Asked Celestia. 

Cadance shook her head. "No, of course not. He was just the police chief in Ponyville before we moved to Crystalton where he became the commissioner of the whole CPD."

Saffron rolled her eyes. "Cadance, Sombra is a great guy, but he always looked like he was angry and wanted to take it out on someone."

Cadance groaned. "That's another reason I haven't asked out Spike, I'm worried that when he meets my dad, he'll get scared off, or at the very least date me so he doesn't die."

Saffron and Celestia giggled. "So, he's free game then?" Asked the two in unison. 

Cadance glared at them. "I told you he's mine." Said Cadance. 

Celestia stuck out her tongue. "For now." Said Celestia, she was trying to lighten the mood. 

The trio went silent, but then they erupted into a laughing fit. 

Once the laughter died down, it was time for Cadance and Celestia to go back to work. They got up from the booth. Cadance pulled Saffron into a hug, which was instantly reciprocated. "Saffron, I'll see you next week."

"Sure thing Candy. But when are you going to invite me to see this mythical daycare that may or may not exist?" Asked Saffron. 

Cadance chuckled. "Trust me, I'll tell you when I think you can handle it."

"One day I will see the elusive Little Dragon Daycare." Said Saffron. 

The two giggled. Cadance turned to the window to the kitchen. "Thanks Mr. Cumin, it was as great as ever." 

"Not a problem Sweetie, tell your father I said hi when you go home tonight." 

"Will do." Said Cadance. She pulled Saffron into one more hug, but this time she pulled Celestia in as well. In the short lunch break, Cadance thought of Celestia as a great friend. "Thanks for everything today guys."

"I'll pay next time if you ask Spike out today." Said Celestia.

"I'll pay the week after that." Said Saffron. 

"He's a great guy, Sombra would like him, so if you ask him out, you can eat here for free for a month." Said Cumin. 

Cadance groaned. "FINE! I'll ask him out before we close for the night, now can we drop it, please?" Asked Cadance.

"Dibs on maid of honor." Said Saffron. 

"Brides maid." Said Celestia. 

"Catering." Said Cumin.

Cadance groaned. "I hate you all so much."

"Love you too Candy." Said Saffron.

Cadance sighed as she dragged Celestia back to her car. "It was lovely to meet you both." Said Celestia as she was dragged outside of the establishment.

Saffron and Cumin smiled. "So, Celestia wasn't human right, no one can drink that many milkshakes and not get a single brain freeze?" Asked Cumin. 

Saffron sighed. "Come on dad, what would she be if she wasn't human, we need to get ready for the convoy heading out of town, get ready to cook." Said Saffron as she started cleaning the table. She found the receipt resting on the table, it had a 30% tip and a small note on it. 



I like pink and baby blue, start planning for the big day, Ms. Maid of Honor, I'm not going to lose him. Love Candy. PS. I'll talk with Spike about a visit, tell you next week if you get the green light. 



Saffron smiled as she watched Cadance's Honda drive back down the road. "Go get him Candy."





When Cadance and Celestia got back to the farm, they noticed Spike and the girls were all heading back inside. They walked over to Spike. "So, did she like the Tasty Treat?" Asked Spike. 

Cadance nodded. "You have no idea, turns out she has never had a milkshake before."

Spike laughed. "Really, how did Saffron take that bit of news?"

Cadence sighed. "Celestia drained the machine, also add this to the book, Elf's can't get brain freeze, or at least not from downing 10 milkshakes." 

Spike chuckled as he nodded, he looked to Celestia. "I'm glad you liked it, right now its arts and crafts time, but we still need to talk about a few things, so let’s head into the back office." 

Celestia nodded as she muffled a small burp. "Excuse me. But what about you, when do you get to eat?" Asked Celestia. Cadence told her during lunch that Spike didn't eat dinner or breakfast this morning, and she saw him only eat a sandwich, a few bites of fruit salad, and a spoon of soup.

Spike shrugged. "I'm going to eat right now, I'm not artistic, that's more Cadance's area of expertise. I should get Silvia back into her cage and take her home for the day, so instead of using the back office, lets head to my apartment?"

Celestia nodded. "Ok."

The group walked into the little building and closed the door. 

Inside of the daycare, Spike and Celestia were making their way to the back room so Spike could grab Silvia, but he was stopped by Cadance. "Hey, Spike can I talk to you when you get back?" Asked Cadance, she was blushing so hard, she thought she was going to pass out. 

Spike smiled. "Sure, but it'll have to wait until we're locking up for the night. DUCK!" Yelled Spike. Cadance ducked and Spike caught a crayon missile flying straight towards Cadance. Spike looked at the group of kids. "Who did that?" asked Spike. 

"That's on me Spike, I thought I could catch it, but I missed." Said Rainbow. 

Spike sighed as he handed the crayon back to Rainbow. "It's fine Rainbow, but remember not everything has to be as show of how awesome you are, you got to leave at least some awesome for the rest of us. Now let’s see Rainbow the awesome artist instead of Rainbow the awesome catcher, ok?" Asked Spike. 

Rainbow nodded and started drawing a picture. Spike sighed as he helped Cadance back to her feet. "You good Cadance?" Asked Spike. 

She nodded. "Good, I would hate to lose you to a crayon missile, who else could stand my lame jokes?" 

Cadance rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't you have a ferret to take home or something?"

Spike laughed. "Yep, but she doesn't get half of them." Said Spike. He looked at Celestia. "Ok, lets head over to my place, I should still have some marks in the safe and the conversion chart so we can discuss your pay."

Celestia nodded as she and Spike walked to the back door, Spike pulled out his key and unlocked the back office to grab Silvia's cage. Spike closed the door and turned the key to take him to his home. He opened the door and let Celestia go first. "After you." Said Spike. 

Celestia giggled. "Why thank you Spike." Said Celestia as she walked into Spike's apartment.

But before Spike walked in, he looked at the girls and Cadance. "Girls, listen to Cadance, and if you feel like it, turn her into something like a hen if you want." Said Spike as he closed the door. 

Cadance sighed. 'He's such a great guy.' Thought Cadance, she was blushing hard. But she had to take care of the girls for a half an hour. "Ok girls, lets draw our dreams today, how does that sound?" 

"OK!" Said all the girls. 





Spike sighed as he cracked his neck, taking care of the girls for so long leaves a person sore. He looked at Celestia. "Celestia why don't you take a seat on the couch, while I go to the home office and grab the stuff I need?" Asked Spike as he walked to his home office. 

Celestia nodded. "Ok Spike. You have a lovely home."

"Thanks, it used to belong to my Grandfather, Scorpan. But when he died, he gave it to me, and I've lived here ever since." Said Spike as he walked into a simple little office in the apartment, this was Scorpan's old trophy room, the walls were covered in old pictures of Scorpan traveling the worlds with all of his friends that he met there. 

Spike smiled at all the photos, but he still needed to work some stuff out with Celestia. Spike walked over to a large bookcase and moved it to the side. Behind it was a large industrial sized vault. Spike opened the vault with his key. Aside from working on the doors, the vault and key were linked as well, when it is inserted into the vault the key changes shape to match the pins and grooves of the lock. Spike opened the vault and walked inside of it. This vault was to store all of the treasure Scorpan had gathered in his time exploring along with the funds that he had been given by the governments of each of the worlds to explore. A huge pile of gemstones he had found while exploring the depths of the slime world, a mountain of bits from Equestria, that he was given to explore a place called the badlands. A few thousand Diamond Marks, for helping the Elven council settle trade disagreements and to scout new routes for trade, and over time Scorpan used these and gathered a few of the other types of marks. Even with all the money Spike had, he never used it unless it was to pay for Cadance's and now Celestia's wages. He used all of his own money to pay for the daycare, all the equipment, all the food, and making deals with each worlds creatures to help where they could instead of money payments. 

But there were also things that Spike treasured in here, his diploma, a picture of his grandfather when he was 6, his mother's wedding dress, which she told him to keep with him for when he found that special someone, and the most important thing of all, sitting on a little pedestal was Scorpan's journal, it held every piece of information Scorpan learned from his time in the worlds. Granted there were a lot of omissions about the children of the worlds that would of been helpful, but it takes more than 60 years to learn about the world, multiply that by 15, and there was no way someone could do it. Spike picked up the book, and scooped up a few gold marks laying on the floor, he placed them in a little leather sack near the pile. There was only one more thing that he needed but it wasn't in the vault, it was sitting on the desk in the home office. Spike walked out of the vault and closed the door, he moved the book case to cover the vault. Spike walked over to the desk and opened a drawer. Spike pulled out a small electric scale and placed it on the journal.                

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss, but are you talking about Scorpan the Explorer?"

"Yep, the one and only. He spent over 60 years of his life exploring, I thought he was talking about my world, but as it turns out he was talking about all of the worlds, when he told me his stories." Said Spike as he walked into the living room carrying a scale, a large leather-bound book, and a small leather sack. Spike placed all the items on the coffee table. 

He looked at Celestia. "Ok, so my grandfather was having trouble dealing with each worlds currency, so to make it simple we base it off the Equestrian bit, a one-ounce, 98% pure gold coin, that is valued at around 1550 of our local currency, the Dollar. Using that I can convert it into your worlds currency, marks. First, I've read that the elves have a gold unit of currency already, do you have one on you? I need to check if they have changed the amount in them from one I have in the sack." 

Celestia nodded. "I do, let me grab it." Said Celestia as she reached into her purse and pulled out her only gold mark. She handed it to Spike. "The treasury say it’s around 75% gold, but I don't want to cheat you out of your money." 

Spike smiled. "Thanks." Said Spike, he placed the mark and bit on the scale, and after calculating the mass of the mark, and accounting for the weight of the gold itself. Spike did the same to the older mark that his grandfather had left, Spike determined that they had changed it slightly but not too much. "Ok so the bad news is, they have been lying to you for a while, its only 73% gold, but the good news is, its just a simple conversion to match it up. That means that every gold mark is worth 1131.5 dollars. I'll update the chart right now." Said Spike as he changed the conversion chart. "Ok, Ms. Solaris, I'm telling you this now, we're not in the position to offer any benefits like health, dental, or vision, so all of that will have to come out of pocket, but I pay generously enough to compensate for it. Is that acceptable?" Asked Spike. 

"It is, the elf world has health care that covers basic stuff like teeth cleanings, and checkups. But more expensive things are only half covered, the rest is paid by us." Said Celestia. 

Spike nodded. "Ok, that shouldn't be a problem. I will be taking a small portion of your pay this week to cover all the expense hiring you entails, getting a key made, the uniform, and upon request a spare if you deem it necessary to have one. Is that acceptable to you?" Asked Spike. 

Celestia nodded. "It is, and yes, I would love a spare uniform, you never know when a mess happens." 

Spike laughed. "With this place, you’re lucky to walk out with six stains on your person by the end of the day, but I'll go grab that right now." Said Spike as he walked back to the office to grab a spare uniform in Celestia's size, thankfully Spike remembered it from before so finding it was easy. "Here you go Celestia." Said Spike as he handed Celestia a spare uniform. He sat back down to continue. "Ok, I expect you here every day including weekends. Monday through Friday are 8am to 6 pm, where your job will be just like earlier, helping take care of the kids. But Saturday and Sunday, we are open, from 8 to 2 just in case something comes up. But normally we are told about it before hand, knowing that, we use those two days to restock and repair any and all necessary items. I'm normally in charge of shopping and repair, Cadence is cleaning and transportation, once I found the key, I normally store my car in the parking garage here and just use the door. Is there anything that you think you can help with?" 

Celestia hummed in thought. "Well, I can't help with transportation, I can't get my car here, but I can clean and help with the shopping, but repairs are beyond me, I might make a bigger hole." 

"Don't worry about that, Cadance is the same way. I asked her to drill a little hole in a stud, and I ended up having to replace the wall." Said Spike. "Ok, so you know a small portion of the creatures we take care of, but there are a few that can be difficult. Dragons are the worst to deal with, watch out for their claws, teeth and fire breath. all three are dangerous. But young dragons are prone to Greed Growth, when that happens there are two options, you need to show dominance to them and force them to give up their hoard, or you use the dart gun in the back room. Next are ghosts, we have two of them here with us, their twins, one is named Sunshine Smiles and the other is Moonlight Raven. They are both sweet girls, but they have a bad habit of accidently possessing others. It happens a lot actually, since they are both transparent, I normally don’t allow them to roam around in their spectral forms. So I asked a friend of Starswirl’s to make me some filly sized dolls that they can possess so they can play with the rest of the kids. But just in case something goes wrong, like they possess a child, I had some exorcism tags made to ward spirits from a host. I give them three strikes, the first strike they are allowed to stay in their dolls, the second strike is I add a sealing tag to their dolls so they can’t leave it until I remove it and that’s only when their parents come to pick them up. But a third strike, means that I call their parents and they get suspended for the next day they are scheduled. The parents must pay extra for the day they missed. Thankfully this hasn't happened yet, but I made these conditions very clear to their parents, Sunlight and Eclipse. But accidents will happen, sometimes a tag is made improperly or the doll gets damaged and they leave it, so every time something does, I ask to be told what happened. Normally, it's one of them didn't look where they were going and accidently possessed someone, they leave right away and the worst that happens is the host gets a slight chill. I'm fine with that, but if it happens more than once somethings not right. Lastly there is our wolf girl, Sunset Shimmer, she is a little feisty at first, but once she learns your scent, she will open to you. But she is also very protective of her belly region, you cannot pick her up from there or she will try and bite you. I talked to her parents about it and they say that she has a scar there from when she was a pup, she hides it from others using her fur, and she can’t stand it when anyone other than her or her parents touch it. I don't blame her; I have some scars I don't like showing either. But I have informed all the parents of this as well as the kids, they all know not to touch her there, and aside from her biting me her first day she hasn't had an incident since." 

Celestia was surprised. "Wow, that's a lot to take in. But you mentioned that you had scars?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, a few, when I was 10, I broke my collar bone trying to climb a fence, I have one on my left leg when I fell off my bike and broke it, and one on my chest." Said Spike. 

"What about that one?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike sighed. "That one was just a stupid mistake, I got mugged during college, he had a knife and wanted my wallet. I refused and for that I got a coin slot in my gut. The knife hit an artery and I almost died, all for 40 dollars and a cheap wallet." Spike laughed. "But that doesn't matter right now, I'm here, I got a place to live, a business that I love, and people that love me back."

'Wow, he really is something else.' Thought Celestia. "Well, I'm glad your here." Said Celestia. 

Spike laughed. "Already trying to butter me up for a raise I see. Sorry to tell you, you need to show me that you deserve one." Said Spike. "Aside from everything I told you earlier, and what you know now, are you still interested in the position?" Asked Spike. 

Celestia giggled. "And what, just walk out on all those little girls, I think I'm safer staying here with them, than going and Twilight tracking me down."

Spike smiled. "Great answer. Lastly sometimes parents ask us to help maintain the health of the kids, brushing hair, filing talons or claws, and waxing their bodies. The last one deals with only two kids, Sandbar and Yona. Sandbar is a turtle that is about 3 feet tall, he's from a underwater world with some dry land, he is able to change out his flippers for hands and feet at will, but his shell stays. The other one, Yona, is a stone golem that is mainly marble, she is a sweet little pebble, the only problem is to her world she is tiny, to use she is a wrecking ball. So she needs to behave or things get broken, thankfully she and Sandbar are great friends. I mainly do all of that, you and Cadance will be occupying the others. You good with that?" Asked Spike. 

Celestia nodded. "Not a problem, I'll do my best."

Spike smiled at the answer. "So, let me do some conversions real quick and I'll tell you your weekly pay. Ok, carry the two, multiply it by that, subtract the chicken made of custard and there we go. So, accounting for your skills, healthcare, and hazard pay, it looks like you should be getting around 200 gold marks a month, does that sound fair?" Asked Spike. 

Celestia dropped her jaw at the number. 'That's two platinum, a month, how can he afford all of that?' Spike sighed. "Fine, your too good to lose, I'll make it 250 gold a month. Deal?" 

Celestia closed her mouth and grabbed Spike's hand. "When do I start?" Asked Celestia. 

"Well tomorrow like we agreed upon earlier works fine with me." Said Spike. "Now if you'd excuse me, I'm starting to picture my couch as a sandwich, meaning it’s been way to long since I last ate." Said Spike as he got to his feet and walked Celestia to the door, he used his key to open the door to the front room. "I'll be back in twenty minutes, also if Cadance is a hen or something make sure to take a picture for me." Said Spike. 

Celestia nodded. "Sure thing, boss man." Said Celestia giving Spike as salute. 

Spike chuckled. "Cool, see you in twenty." Said Spike as he closed his door to start his lunch break. Celestia walked into the main area of the day care and found Cadance looking at some drawings the girls made.

Celestia walked over to Cadance and looked at the pictures. Cadance noticed Celestia and explained what she was looking at. "This one's AJ's, she wants to be just like her mother and father, helping on their farm as a family." Cadance went to the next one. "This ones Twilight's and Moondancer’s, Twi as always loved books and from what I can tell she wants to run a library and learn as much about magic as she can along with Moondancer." Then to the next one. "This one's by our very own Lone Flutters, saving a bunch of baby bunnies from getting hurt." Pinkie’s was next. "Pinkie's is self-explanatory if you've talked to her for more than a minute, she wants to throw the greatest party in the world, then one up even that." Rainbows was easy to tell. "This ones from Rainbow, Harpies have a legend in their world, call the Sonic Rainboom, but it has never been done, she wants to be the first one to do it." Cadance then sighed. "And lastly we have Rarity's." Said Cadance showing an older Rarity dressed in a red wedding dress with Spike as her husband. "Why am I getting jealous of a 4-year-old, it’s not like that will happen?" Asked Cadance. 

Celestia giggled. "I think your jealous that she can say what she's feeling about him, and you can't." 

Cadance huffed. "When did you become a therapist?" 

"Never, but I just finalized everything with Spike. Cadance, I know you should never ask this, but how much are you getting paid, because either we're getting really over paid or we're underworked?" 

Cadance shrugged. "I get 150 bits a month from him, why?"

"I'm getting 250 gold marks from him, that's a quarter of a house in my world, a month." 

Cadance nodded. "What's your point, Spike's loaded, he just works because he wants to."

"When you mean loaded, what do you mean?" Asked Celestia.

"Last time I saw into the safe, there were around 1000 diamond marks from what the book told me, a mountain of gems like diamonds, and over 100000 bits." Said Cadance.

Celestia dropped her jaw and her mind. 'He could own the world with all that money.' Thought Celestia. She looked at Cadance. "Then why does he do all this?" Asked Celestia.

Cadance smiled as she pointed at the girls, they were talking, drawing, and having fun together, not as creatures from different worlds, but as good friends. "That's why." Said Cadance.

Celestia looked at the group of girls and instantly understood Spike's reason. "Ok, I get it now."
> Story Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Spike walked back into the daycare, he was full from lunch. He enjoyed a nice little sandwich from the stuff he had in his fridge. When he walked into the play area, he noticed that all the girls were still working on their artworks and talking to each other. Spike smiled at seeing that they were including Moondancer, sometimes it took a few days for a new kid to open up to the others, but something about this group of girls always brought that time down to the single digit minutes. 

Spike walked over to Celestia and Cadance. They were watching over the girls and talking to each other. "Ok, the good news is my couch is still there and not in my stomach, but the bad news is, I'm going to need to head to the store after we close today if I want breakfast tomorrow. What's been going on and how can I make that happen while I'm around?" Asked Spike. 

Cadance giggled. "Well, I'm just showing Celestia some of the kid’s older pieces so she can get an idea of who they are." 

Celestia nodded. "Yeah, there are a lot of creative little kids you take care of, but there always seems to be a common figure and message in most of them." 

Spike smiled as he looked at the picture they were looking at. It was one of Twilights pictures. Twilight being one of the girls who used to have an erratic schedule at first, had met many of the kids during her first month. Spike grabbed the picture. "Yeah I remember this one, you just started working here, Cadance, and it was when Twi was always coming in on different days." Said Spike, the crayon picture showed Twilight and all the kids playing on the playground outside in the human world together, with Spike playing with them.

When Spike first saw this picture, he knew he was making a difference and seeing it again just reconfirmed that idea. Spike looked at Cadance. "Cadance, do you want me to do Story Time or do you want to do it today?" Asked Spike. 

Cadance hummed in thought. "Well I do have a few stories in mind, but they're some that I've already done."

Spike sighed. "Same, and I don't want to tell them another one of Scorpan's stories. As much as I loved them, they got pretty boring after a while. I didn't need to know that he and Onyx traveled the mountains of the dragon lands for 2 weeks straight, going up and down, down and up, step by step, inch by inch, eating rations every night and foraging every morning." Spike yawned. "Anyone else suddenly get sleepy?"

Celestia laughed. "No, but yeah that sounds kinda stale. Would you mind if I do it then, I have a load of stories that my mother used to tell us when we were growing up." Asked Celestia. 

Spike shrugged. "Sure, but we try to make it interesting for the kids, and we try to make the message something the kids will think about afterwards. Accepting others as they are, supporting their friends in times of difficulty. Heck they loved the story about helping an old lady cross the street, granted I needed to add a car chase and a story about the old lady actually being a princess, but the message was still there...I think."

Celestia looked at Spike confused. "Ok, please tell me that story, it sounds so weird that it could be made into a movie. Second, can you tell me some things the girls like so I can change some things around?" 

Spike smiled. "Well, Twilight is big into fantasy, magic spells and learning, normally she's the easiest to please, just throw in a magical spell or fantasy terms and she's hooked 9 times out of 10, but to make that a 10 out of 10, throw in a 'learned a lesson' trope as well. Fluttershy loves animals, but she will start to cry if anything happens to them. So, for example you tell the story about the ugly duckling, she will be crying for a while. The only way to avoid this is to assure her that the animal will be fine by the end, at the beginning, to make sure she understands. AJ loves stories about family or friends  persevering a trouble, and honesty. Rainbow is an edge of your seat kinda harpy, stories need to have some action to get her hooked and she loves it when me or Cadance use explosion sound effects to give her a better idea what's going on." Spike chuckled. "Yeah, her and Fluttershy are like oil and water when it comes to story time, so it's a challenge. Pinkie Pie is hooked the moment she hears a joke, or feels like a party could have solved everything, so we try to throw in a joke or a celebration by the end of everything. Lastly, Rarity is interested in stories that deal with star crossed lovers having a happy ending. So normally stories end with a wedding or something." Spike shivered. "I think she sees herself and me in that sort of position." Said Spike. 

Both women nodded. 'Yeah, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out.' Thought the two.

Celestia hummed in thought. "Well I might just know the perfect story then." Said Celestia. 

Spike nodded. "Cool, then I dub you princess of Story Time." Said Spike. He looked at Cadance. "Cadance, help me in the back today? I'll start heating Pinkie's jar, can you gather all of the blankets and bring them back in, then place them down?" 

Cadance nodded. "Sure, what about the stuffed plushies?"

"I'll grab them while the jar is boiling." Said Spike. He looked at Celestia. "Celestia, make sure you know what to say, anytime you mess up it detracts from the image that the girls see." 

Celestia nodded. "I know this story by heart." Said Celestia. 

Spike smiled. "Good." Spike looked to the girls, it was time for them to start wrapping up art time. "Ok girls, color in the last corners, finish shading, sign your name on the masterpieces and start putting up your supplies where they go. Anyone who is not finished, I will store their artworks in their cubbies until tomorrow." Said Spike. 

There was a few groans at hearing that art time was over, but it didn't last long as they knew it was story time, so the girls started to put away their markers, pencils, crayons, and for Pinkie who was into finger painting most of the time, she just absorbed the rest of it into her body. Once all the supplies were stored, the girls gave Spike their artworks so he could store them. Pinkie handed Spike a little finger painting of a green alligator with big deep, purple eyes that looked like it was staring into your soul. "What a wonderful painting Pinkie, where did you get your inspiration?" Asked Spike. 

Pinkie giggled. "Well, he's my new pet, his name's Gummy, I found him a few days ago when I was out with my dad near the mountains. I picked him up and he just started to swim in my slime, so I decided to keep him."

Spike smiled. "Wow, that's so cool, but remember to be nice to him and make sure he's happy with you." Said Spike, but he was trying to process her story. 'Ok, first how does an alligator get up into the mountains, second, slime is not something you should be able to swim in, its more sticky if the slime is attached to its body, and thirdly why does it look like it has found the meaning of life?'

Pinkie smiled. "I know he's happy with me, he gives me kisses and hugs, and he sleeps on top of me at night." Said Pinkie as she walked away.

Next was Fluttershy. Her preferred medium was carving wood, of all things. At first Spike thought it impossible too, but when Gentle brought in her tools Spike didn't argue it again. But since then, Spike only allows her to use a pencil that had lost all its graphite, a tooth pick that had been dulled, or a single grain of rice. "So, what did you carve today Fluttershy?" 

Fluttershy smiled as she placed a single grain of rice into Spike's hand. To the naked eye it would look like just a normal piece of rice, and yeah to Spike it did. "Well today, I started working on a model of Oakington, I finished the trunk and the roots, I just need to add the animals and the city in the tree top." Oakington, was the largest tree city in the fairy world, 25 feet of wooden urban life. Fairies lived, worked, played, slept and protect this city, along with the animals that live in the tree. Spike had seen it only once before, after Starswirl gave Spike a shrinking potion, he was still a giant 8 inches tall, but it was a cool day to ride a squirrel, so it was a win win. That's when Spike found out that Fluttershy lived in the large network of tunnels in the middle of the trunk. Posey worked in the roots of the tree working to make sure it was healthy and well fed, while Gentle was up in the canopy working at the photosynthesis power plant, that provides the whole tree with power.      

Spike smiled at seeing this. "Well, I know you'll make it look great." Said Spike as he gave Fluttershy a little rub on her head with his pinkie. 

Fluttershy smiled as she flew off Spike. The next girl was Rainbow. "Spike look what I drew." Said Rainbow as she showed her crayon picture. It was a portrait of her in a Talonbolts uniform. The Talonbolts were a very popular group of harpies that do amazing stunts for charity events. Their uniforms were just a sky-blue jump suits with a cowl that went to the knees. Rainbow was obsessed with becoming one when she grows up, and in Spikes opinion she was a great flier already, all she needed to do was hit the age limit.

Spike smiled at seeing the picture. "Not bad, not bad, a little sad though, I expect more from you Rainbow." Said Spike. 

Rainbow was shocked as she looked at her picture. "What's wrong with it, I got every detail in there." Asked Rainbow.

Spike shook his head. "Nope, you’re missing an important little detail right there." Said Spike as he pointed to the portrait’s chest. "I thought you said you wanted to be a captain, so where's the little patch on the chest?" Asked Spike.

Rainbow looked closely and Spike was right. She looked at Spike. "Your right, thanks for reminding me Spike, I'll add it tomorrow."

Spike smiled as he shook his head. "It's fine Dash, you did a great job." Rainbow smiled as she gave Spike a little hug and perched on a seat. Next was AJ, she was carrying a little landscape picture she made with markers. "What do we have today AJ?" Asked Spike.

AJ smiled as she handed Spike the picture. It was clearly her home, but Spike recognized it from the last time AJ was here, it was her family’s farm. Spike smiled. "So, you finished it today. This looks exactly like the view from the gate, but I don't see you or your family." 

AJ smiled. "Well Granny is on the porch in her swing." Said AJ as she pointed to a little gray and green dot on the porch. "Ma and Pa are in the fields working." Said AJ as she pointed to a depiction of Pear and her wall of a husband Bright Mac. "Macintosh is feeding the chickens." She then pointed to a little red centaur with a bucket in his hands.

Spike nodded. "Ok, but what about you?" Asked Spike.

AJ shrugged. "It's from my view." 

Spike shrugged as well. "Cool, I bet Granny Smith puts it in the middle of the fridge."

AJ Smiled. "You really think so?" Spike nodded. AJ pranced around for a moment in excitement, she had a smug look on her face. 

Spike chuckled at the prancing centaur as she pranced away with her artwork. Rarity was the next to approach, but unlike the other girls, she was interested in making clothes, so after agreeing to buy her some fabrics and some thread, she would sometimes make a shirt, a skirt, or a dress for one of the girls to wear. Spike smiled at Rarity. "I see you made something today Rarity, what is it?" Asked Spike. 

Rarity smiled. "It's a skirt." Said Rarity. 

Spike smiled. 'Thank god it's not for me, but her work is still pretty good.' Thought Spike. "Who's it for?"

Rarity looked to Celestia. "I thought you might have liked a little gift for getting the job." Said Rarity as she showed the simple purple skirt to Celestia. 

Celestia smiled at the gift as she took it from the little girl. "Thank you, Rarity, it's great. But what size is it?" Asked Celestia. 

Rarity pointed to Spike and motioned for Celestia to lean down so she could whisper it. Celestia understood what she needed to do, and she leaned down to let the little girl tell her. Once she was done Celestia smiled. "That's exactly right Rarity, I'm impressed." 

Rarity smirked and looked proud. "Well, I learned it from my mommy." Said Rarity, Celestia giggled. 

Next was Twilight. She walked over to Spike and handed him a little folder, it was something she had been working on for a while now, but she didn't want anyone to see it until she was finished. Not even Spike knows what it was. Twilight looked at Spike. "Remember, don't peek, it's not done." Said Twilight. 

Spike nodded. "Don't worry Twi, I won't, but how far did you get today?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm about half way done with it now."

Spike smiled. "Great to hear, I can't wait to see it." 

Twilight smiled as she ran off to get ready for story time. 

Lastly up came the newest little minion of the dragon, Moondancer. Spike smiled at the little girl. "So, did you draw anything today Moondancer?" 

Moondancer nodded. "Yeah, I drew my mommy, my daddy, and me together." Said Moondancer as she handed Spike the picture. It was a picture of Moondancer, Moonlight, and a tall earth pony with green hair, who was probably Moonballad. "I can't wait to show mommy it." Said Moondancer. 

Spike smiled. "Well, I bet she'll love it, Sweetie, now are you ready for story time?" Asked Spike. Moondancer nodded. "Ok, Celestia will be telling the story today so let’s see what she's got." Said Spike as he showed Moondancer where the others were sitting down.

Spike looked at all the girls. "Ok, my little minions, today we have a special tale, one of action, romance, family, magic, animals, and cake...probably." Said Spike as he shrugged. This earned a light giggle from all the girls. "But seriously, Celestia is the one who will be weaving this tale for you all today. So, let’s hear a round of applause for Celestia." All the girls cheered for Celestia. 

Celestia walked over to the group of girls and cleared her throat. "First off, no animals, or creatures were harmed in the telling of this story." Said Celestia, she remembered to take that into account for Fluttershy. "Long ago, there was a land ruled by 3 kings, each king had a daughter that they loved very much. There also lived a magical beast that lived deep in the heart of the kingdoms in a forest so thick that none ever dared explore it. For you see there lived a massive dragon."

Spike seeing that everything was getting handled, looked at Cadance and pointed to the back room, she nodded and followed Spike to get the girls stuff ready.

"Dragons were feared by all because of their size and strength, but this was all a lie, dragons are kind, intelligent and magical beings, but sadly none would listen to them, and long ago many just disappeared into the sky. But one stayed, he thought he could show the world that dragons were not monsters. This dragon was a noble soul who saw the understanding of others view of him and did not judge them for his kinds leaving. But one day, it was decided that all the kings would come together and discuss issues that plagued their kingdoms, and it was decided that to hold this meeting in a neutral ground. That ground was determined to be an ancient castle in the heart of the forest, and the long-forgotten home of their ancestors. But they were unaware that this was the current home of the last dragon in the lands. This is where our story begins."





In the early dawn of a new day, a large purple dragon started to stir awake from his slumber. He yawned after enjoying a great sleep, but as great as he wished to enjoy his 100-year nap, he knew it was not his time just yet. The Dragon lumbered off his make shift bed of leaves and cloth to greet the day and procure breakfast for himself. Many years of living in this dilapidated castle, the dragon was able to quickly make his way to a large room, deep in the heart of the structure. 

"I think an emerald and a few sapphires would be a good way to start the day." Said the dragon as he arrived in a large room with piles of gold and jewels scattered around the floor and piled so high it dwarfed him. The Dragon sighed at the treasure as he walked to a large pile of gemstones on the ground. The dragon scooped out a few of the smaller gems that he desired and quickly made his way to the main hall, he was expecting a guest today. 

The dragon popped all the gems into his large mouth and continued walking down the large halls of the castle. "I hope today's knight can give me some idea of how the kingdoms are faring." Said the Dragon. 

When he arrived at the ancient hall, the dragon curled up so he could comfortably rest until his weekly guest arrived. "200 years I have been in this castle, 200 years of knights looking to tame me for fame." The Dragon sighed as he rested his head in his claws. "Maybe my kind was right, maybe we are forever destined to be misunderstood?"

Suddenly a little white bunny ran through one of the cracks in the stone work. It was looking for his friend and protector. For years the dragon had been the protector of the forest and its animals, and to show their gratefulness to him, the animals of the forest do everything they can to provide for him and inform him on what is going on. The bunny ran over to the dragon and started tapping on his leg. "Dragon, please, something's wrong!" Yelled the bunny.  

The dragon looked at the rabbit and opened his palm for the small mammal. Once the rabbit was on the palm, the dragon brought it to his face. "Good morning, Angel. Have you spotted this week’s knight?" Asked The dragon. 

Angel nodded. "I have, dragon. But today it’s not just one, there are many." 

"Angel, please call me Spike." 





"Celestia, why is the dragon named Spike?" Asked Twilight.

Celestia shrugged. "Well, I don't remember the dragons actual name, but I think Spike would be a good substitute."

"Oh, ok." Said Twilight.

"Celestia how can Spike talk to animals?" Asked Fluttershy.

Celestia smiled. "Well, dragons are magical creatures, who are thought to be the oldest living beings in the world and are the most connected with nature."





"And what do you mean, there are many?" Asked Spike.

Angel nodded. "There are a lot of people right outside of the forest, what do we do?" Asked Angel.

Spike hummed in thought. Normally the kings would send one knight a week to try and deal with him, but normally all the animals would drive them off with their shenanigans. Spike looked at Angel. "Angel, find out what they want, and report back to me with the details." Said Spike. 

"That is what I am here to do. My mother was the first to spot them, and we learned what they want."

"And that is what?" Asked Spike. 

"They said that the kings are going to have a summit here." Said Angel. 

Spike groaned. "That's right, It's that time of the year." Spike looked at the little rabbit. "Angel, we are going to confront them now." Said Spike as he placed the bunny onto his snout.

"What!?" Yelled the rabbit. For generations, Spike had not left the castle unless it was of the upmost importance. In fact, the last time Spike left the castle was long before Angel was born. There was a forest fire and in hope to save all the animals and their homes, Spike created a fire line to stop the fire from spreading.

"Exactly what I said, I'm going to confront them and get some answers." Said Spike as he walked through the main gate of the castle. Spike looked at the blue sky above and opened his large pair of wings. Spike chuckled. "I hope I still remember how to fly." Said Spike as he leapt up and flapped his wings. Thanks to his large wings and magic, Spike, despite his large frame, was soaring in the sky looking out for a large group of people.

Angel pointed at the edge of the forest. "Right there, Spike."

Spike looked in the direction the bunny was pointing and noticed that there was indeed a large group gathered at the edge of the forest. But what the bunny didn't mention was that the group was made up of multiple banners each showing a different kingdom. Spike gulped. "Ok, I'm guessing that the kings are with them."

Spike decided it would be best not to fly above them, so he landed away from the tree line, and watched as every knight drew their swords and readied their bows upon seeing him. 

Spike took a deep breath as he thought about what he could do. 'Ok, if I roar, they'll probably run, thinking I'm going to attack them. If I walk out the forest, I'm going to get attacked. I think I have a compromise.' Thought Spike. "KINGS OF THE LANDS, I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE GATHERED FOR THE YEARLY SUMMIT OF THE KINGS." Yelled Spike. "I HOLD NO I'LL WILL WITH YOUR KINGDOMS, BUT IF YOU STEP FOOT INTO MY HOME I WILL RETALIATE."





"Celestia, what does 'Retaliate' mean?" Asked Rainbow.

"It means to fight back." Said Twilight. 

Celestia giggled. "That's exactly right Twilight." 





"I HAVE CALLED THIS PLACE MY HOME FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFES, I WANT SOME ANSWERS TO WHY YOU HAVE CHOSEN THIS PLACE THIS YEAR?" 

The area fell silent so a common answer could be reached, when it had, all 3 kings followed by the 3 princesses approached. The Eldest of the kings was the first to speak. "Dragon, I am King Malik, we know that you have been residing in the ancient castle that lives at the heart of the forest. We wish to use the castle for our summit. We ask for you to leave on your own accord, or we will be forced to take it by force. We are only giving you this curtesy because you have not slain the knights that we have sent to deal with you." 

"KING MALIK, I HAVE KNOWN OF YOUR EXISTINCE FOR THE LONGEST TIME, YOU ARE A FAIR AND JUST MAN, BUT YOU ALSO PRIORITIZE YOUR KINDS LIFE OVER ALL OTHERS. I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THIS FOREST AND IT'S ANIMALS, I WILL NOT LEAVE THEM TO THE MERCY OF YOU."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Yelled Malik. 

"Malik, perhaps a calmer approach is required?" Asked the youngest of the kings. Malik nodded and allowed this king to take over negotiations. "Dragon, my name is King Theo. Please forgive Malik’s words." 

"KING THEO, YOU ARE THE NEWEST OF THE RULERS, THE LAST KNIGHT I TALKED TO, HAD INFORMED ME OF YOUR LATE FATHERS PASSING, I DID NOT KNOW HIM WELL, BUT HE WAS ONE THAT RARELY SENT THE KNIGHTS. PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF?" 

"Yes, it is true, I have only been the king for a few years now. But I try and follow my father’s footsteps as best as I can." Said Theo. "I feel like diplomacy is more effective than anger, and I make my thoughts known, much to the ire of my little baby girl."

"DADDY?!" Yelled the youngest of all the princesses. A short 8-year-old girl with long red hair.

Spike laughed. "YES, I HAD HEARD STORIES OF YOUR FATHERS TONGUE AS WELL. CAN I ASSUME THAT YOUR REASON IS THE SAME AS MALIK'S?" 

Theo nodded. "Yes, I hope that we can come to some compromise with you, Dragon, in hopes that we may use the castle."

"I WOULD BE HONORED TO WELCOME YOU ALL INTO MY HOME, BUT ONLY IF THREE CONDITIONS ARE MET."

"What do you ask, I'm sure we can compensate for you."

"FIRST, I DO NOT WANT ANY WEAPONS TO ENTER THIS FOREST." Suddenly all the knights dropped their weapons to the ground. "SECOND, I WILL ONLY ALLOW THE KINGS AND THIER DAUGHTERS INTO MY HOME." All the knights took a step back. "LASTLY, I WANT TO BE ALLOWED TO REMAIN IN MY HOME FOR AS LONG AS I WISH."

The kings conversed amongst themselves. Theo was the one to answer. "Very well. But what of food and sleeping accommodations for us?"

"THOSE AMONG YOU WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF THE KING'S GOODS, YOU HAVE TWO HOURS TO GATHER ALL THE NECESSARY ITEMS YOU BELIEVE THE KINGS WILL NEED. YOU WILL LEAVE THEM AT THE EDGE OF THE FOREST AND THAT IS ALL, I WILL HAVE SOME OF MY COMPANIONS GATHER THEM AND BRING THEM TO THIER OWNERS."

Suddenly the middle king took the stage. "And what of you Dragon, how do we know that we aren't walking into a trap?" Yelled the middle king.

"I AM A DRAGON, A SPECIES THAT HAS ROMED THIS WORLD FAR LONGER THAN YOURS, I GIVE YOU MY WORD THAT THIS IS NOT A TRAP, KING AARON."

King Aaron grumbled as he nodded. "Very well." Said Aaron. "May we see our host for the foreseeable future?" Asked Aaron.

"Very well." Said Spike as he walked out of the forest, each step sending echo after echo. Soon the image of  thick purple scales could be seen moving amongst the trees. With each echo more and more of the dragon’s body could be seen. First was his large head, then his large neck with a row of green spines that ran down his middle. Next came his large legs, each of them as long 3 men and as thick as a carriage. Lastly, his long and powerful tail dragged on the ground behind him. Spike bowed to the kings. "Greetings, I am the guardian of the forest, protector of the animals, and the last of my kind in these lands. But please, call me Spike."

The kings bowed to Spike. "Thank you for agreeing, Spike." Said Theo. "Please allow us to introduce our daughters. My daughter, princess Samantha."

The little 8-year-old stepped forward and curtsied in her yellow dress. "Greetings Lord Spike."

Aaron introduced his daughter next; she was a tall teenager, had blue hair, and she was wearing a light green dress. "This is my daughter, princess Evalyn, she is 13 years old."

Evalyn curtsied in her dress. "It's an honor to meet you Lord Spike." 

Malik was last. "Lastly, my daughter, Princess Sophie."

Sophie was the oldest of the princesses at 18, she had long blond hair and was dressed in a royal red dress. She curtsied to the dragon. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Spike."

Spike smiled, showing his large mouth of sharp teeth. "The same to each of you." Said Spike, he looked to the little bunny still on his snout. "Angel please go tell your mother and the rest that they can come out of hiding, I'll have Doe and Buck keep an eye out until we're done." Said Spike. 

The bunny nodded and scurried down the dragon’s body. Once he was on the ground, he started thumping his large feet, signaling to his family it was time to go. Quickly, hundreds of rabbits popped out from a lot of random places, like barrels, wagons, and for one rabbit, the inside of a knight’s shirt. Spike laughed at the shocked looks on the people’s faces. "Yeah, you know what they say about rabbits." 

A large brown rabbit hopped over to Spike and nuzzled his leg. "It's good to see you getting out of the castle Spike."

Spike smiled as he used his free claw to scratch the rabbit. "You guys did a great job today, Ella. Why don't you take your kids home and get some rest?"

Ella nodded. "Sure thing. Want me to talk to Harry and Brinda on the way back?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, but check to make sure Brinda's piglets are safe first, I don't want them to run off." 

Ella nodded as she signaled for her borrow to leave. They did and disappeared into the forest.

"How did you do that?" Asked Aaron.

Spike shrugged. "Magic, dragons are connected to the earth and all of its creatures, so I can talk to all animals. I also have a great sense of smell." Said Spike. He looked to the princesses and smiled. "Samantha has a dog, Evelyn has a cat, and Sophie has a horse that lives in the stables. But he's right over there." Said Spike as he pointed to a horse that was pulling a wagon. Spike moved his head to the horse to get the lowdown on the princess. Spike nodded repeatedly as he was getting the horse to talk about her owner. "Ok, thanks ma'am." Said Spike.

He moved back to the group. "Sorry, just wanted a quick chat with the mare. Her name is Tammy, she's 3 years old, loves her owner by the way, but she doesn't like it when you give her apples time after time." Said Spike. "My recommendation is a carrot or two." Said Spike. 

Sophie nodded. "I'll get her some next time." Said Sophie. Tammy whinnied in cheer.

Spike smiled at hearing this. He draped one of his wings to the ground. "Now, please allow me to carry you all to my home, the trails are littered with rocks and roots that have taken some knights by surprise."

Samantha gasped as she ran straight for Spike. She climbed on to his wing, and up to his back where she sat in between his spines. She was followed by the other two princesses who took a seat on Spike. Theo sighed as he walked over to Spike. "Please forgive her, Spike. She has her mother’s energy and the impulse control of a badger." 

Spike laughed. "No worry, it actually reminds me of my children."

Everyone looked at the dragon in shock. Theo gulped. "You have children?"

Spike nodded. "Yep, I had a small clutch of 27 with my mate about 400 years ago. They're all grown up and are probably about to start looking for their own mates soon, if they haven't already." Spike sighed at the memory of having his kids running around, playing with him.

Aaron walked to Spike. "So, how old are you then?" 

"Well, I don't really remember, last I checked I was around 2750 years old, but that was long before I started living here. So just to make it simple let’s just say I'm 3000." Said Spike. "Dragons can live for a very long time." Said Spike.

"So, if you have a family, why are you here and not with them?"

Spike sighed. "Dragons are able to live on their own by the age of 50, and my kind left these lands over 300 years ago. As for my mate, I lost her due to sickness soon after my family left." Spike smiled as he wiped his eyes. "In fact, I used to live in a cave in your kingdom Malik, my mate's grave should still be there. I might just go visit her soon." Spike shook his head. "Sorry, please climb aboard, it will take me a few minutes to walk there. If everything goes according to plan, we should be there by noon." Said Spike. 

All the kings nodded as they carefully climbed aboard Spike and sat next to their daughters. Spike nodded as he started walking back into the forest.

As Spike was walking, he felt someone poke his spines. "Yes?" Asked Spike as he looked back to Evelyn. 

She blushed as she stopped poking Spike. "Sorry, I'm kinda bored."

Spike laughed. "Really, you’re riding a dragon through a forest, and you're bored?" 

Evelyn shook her head. "No, I mean your great an all, but I'm just not excited."

Spike nodded. "I get it, you remind me of my mate, Onyx. She loved to see new things, and she had a wild spirit that she couldn't control most of the time, but she had too." Spike laughed. "When she was carrying our eggs, she wanted to fly in the sky, when she had to sit in for her father in the council of elders, she would ditch it to go swim in the underground reservoir. Heck, when she met me, we were barreling down a cliff. I was screaming my head off, but she was smiling and laughing. I think you two would have gotten along well."

Evelyn smiled. "Hey, sorry for poking you." 

Spike smiled. "It's fine." Spike then turned his attention to Sophie. "Well, Samantha is like my kids, Evelyn is like my mate, then that means you’re going to be like my mother." 

Sophie giggled. "Well, am I?"

Spike shrugged. "Are you kind, but short tempered, smart, but childish, witty, but in a good way?" Asked Spike. 

Sophie smiled. "Yes, yes and yes."

Spike laughed. "That is exactly what she would have said. All you have to do now is tell me to go to my nest and you're her."

"So, Lord Spike, why are you the last dragon in the lands?" Asked Sophie. 

Spike's mood quickly changed. "I'd rather not talk about it right now." Said Spike. 

Sophie winced; she knew she hit a sore subject. "Very well then, may I ask you to tell me about yourself?" 

Spike smiled. "Yeah, we're still a way away from the castle, but nothing personal." 

Sophie nodded. "So, I've read that Dragons can breathe magical fire, and that each dragons fire is different, is that true?"

Spike nodded. "Yep, dragons have two fires that we can produce, the normal kind." Said Spike as he puffed a small bit of normal fire into the air. "And a special fire, that we discover soon after we hit our 20's, but the part about it being different for each dragon is wrong. It's more genetic, I can use my fire to teleport objects. Onyx could breathe a thick smoke stream, and most of my kids could send objects with smoke. Granted two of them got special fires from somewhere in our bloodlines, but most of the time it’s from the parents. Trust me, dodging Ruby's lava and Gales ice shards was difficult."

Sophie giggled at the thought. "So, what kind of animals live out in the forest?" 

"Well, we have a few bunny burrows, a few bear dens, four deer herds, boars, wolves, cougars, badgers, and so many birds I lost count, but they're all good spirited, and I protect them."

"So, what made you want to stay in the castle, why not stay in your old cave?"

Spike shrugged. "I just felt alone there, I wanted to spend more time with my mate, probably have a few more clutches with her, but after she was gone, all it was to me was an empty hole in the side of a mountain, besides I never liked the cold wind."

Sophie nodded. "Would you mind telling me more about yourself later, Lord Spike?" Asked Sophie. 

Spike nodded. "Sure." Spike then noticed that they were close to the entrance of the castle. "Ok, we're here." Said Spike as he looked at his home. "Could everyone please got off of me, so I can shrink down?" Asked Spike.

Everyone looked at Spike questioningly. "Wait, shrink?"

Spike nodded. "Yep, dragons can control their size and form. This isn't my normal size, but I can get about 3 times larger than this, as well as half this size in this form." Said Spike. Everyone quickly got off the dragon. Soon Spike's body started to change shape, his legs shortened along with his wings, tail, face, and back. 

Once Spike was done, he stood only 4 feet taller than Malik and he was now walking on two feet instead of his normal 4. Spike groaned as he tried to stretch. "Man, it's been a long time since I was in this shape." Said Spike. He looked back at his guest and smiled at them. "So, yeah, this is me." Said Spike as he motioned to himself.

Theo cleared his throat. "Spike, can you please refrain from any more surprises, it's a lot to process." Asked Theo. 

Spike shrugged. "Sure, but there's not much more about me that's shocking." Suddenly Spike's stomach growled loudly causing the dragon to blush in embarrassment. "Heh, sorry, I forgot that it takes a lot out of me to change, I'm starving." Said Spike.

Theo smiled. "Then by all means, don't be shy around us, we'll understand that you need to go out again to hunt." 

Spike smiled but shook his head. "Yeah, we don't do that either. While yes, we can eat meat, most of us are gemnivores, myself included." Said Spike. "Follow me to my pantry." Spike then started to walk down the castle's halls.

As they were walking, Samantha was looking around in awe, Spike smiled at the little girl's behavior. "Samantha, maybe later I can show you around the castle." 

Samantha gasped as she smiled at Spike. "Really?"

Spike nodded. "Sure, it would be fun." Spike looked back at Theo. "Is that ok with you Theo?" Asked Spike. 

Theo nodded. "I'm fine with it, but you don't have to do it."

Spike smiled. "Wouldn't offer if I didn't want to." Said Spike. He looked to the other two princesses. "You two are free to join us."

Sophie smiled. "Why thank you Spike, I would love to join you." 

Evelyn shrugged. "Might as well." Spike smiled at hearing the answer.

Samantha then found an old portrait hanging on the wall of the castle. It showed a tall man with green hair and green eyes dressed in a royal robe, next to him was a beautiful woman dressed in purple, with dark black hair. "Wow, who's this?" Asked Samantha. 

Spike smiled. "Well, that was the original owner of the castle." Said Spike. "I'll tell you about him later." Said Spike as they continued to the pantry.   

They soon arrived at the pantry. "I'll only be a minute, please have a look around." Said Spike. "I think the emeralds are in the corner." Said Spike as he started to dig around for an emerald. Spike smiled when he found what he was looking for, an emerald the size of Samantha, he placed it under his arm and walked back to the group.

Spike smiled at the group; they hadn't taken anything. "Let’s go to the main hall, Harry and Brinda should be arriving soon with your stuff." Said Spike, hearing no arguments the group started walking. 





When they reached the main hall of the castle, Spike motioned for the group to take a seat on some old furniture that he didn't bother getting rid of but kept in good condition. Spike used his strength to crack the gemstone in to smaller manageable pieces. Once it was small enough for him to eat them, he took one into his mouth. With a loud and very painful sounding crunch, Spike was ready to ask a few questions. Spike swallowed his gem bit and looked at the kings. "Malik, Aaron, Theo, I am not as well informed on the details of the yearly summit, normally how long do these last?" 

"A few days at most. We normally talk about trade, common problems, our wives, that sort of stuff."

Spike nodded. "What made you think that the castle would be a great place to hold it?" 

"Well in the past kings have tried to hold it here as well, but the dragon has always stop them from coming. Spike, why did you do that?" Asked Theo. 

Spike sighed. "I see, I guess that's nothing new for me. The truth is you are the first people to step foot in my home that I have granted permission. Every generation of kings always have the idea to hold the summit here, but unlike the kings of the past, you three decided to meet my conditions, instead of attacking me on the spot. I am impressed to know some prioritize inaction over action. So, if you follow my conditions you are free to explore the castle as you wish. But please stay out of my room, just down there, I believe it was a ball room. There should be a meeting hall close by for you three to talk." Said Spike as he looked at the three kings. 

Malik nodded. "Thank you, Spike." The summit is an important meeting that needed to be held in private to make sure no one could influence what they talk about.

"So, with all of this, I can smell Harry and Brinda coming, after that I'll show you all to your rooms." Said Spike. "Harry, Brinda we're in the main hall."

The next thing everyone saw was a sleuth of bears and a singular of boars, walk up to them, they were hauling a large stack of crates on a little wood sled.





"Ms. Celestia, what's a sleuth and a singular?" Asked Rarity. 

"Well Rarity a sleuth is a family of bears and a singular is a group of boars." Said Fluttershy. 

Celestia smiled as she nodded. "That's right, but back to the story." 





A large brown bear walked up to Spike and smiled at him. "Wow, I haven't seen you in this form since I was a little cub." Said the bear. 

Spike laughed as he stood up from his seat, he walked over to the bear and gave it a hug. "Sorry for dragging you out of your den, Harry." 

Harry smiled as he returned the hug. "Think nothing of it, Spike. But I'm going to need some time off soon, Brandy is about to have our next set of cubs. But I talked to Matthew, he's willing to take over until his brothers and sisters are old enough."

Spike laughed. "Cool, Matthew is a good bear. But dude this is your fourth set of cubs, are you trying to take Ella's top spot?" Asked Spike.

Harry laughed. "Dude come on, Ella is the top mama around here, Brandy is nowhere near that level." Harry looked at the kings and princesses. "So, this is what's happening, you sure this is a good idea Spike?" Asked the bear. 

Spike shrugged. "Well they didn't attack me on sight like the last ones, so I think I'm making progress." Spike looked at the supplies Harry and Brinda brought in. "Harry can you and the guys take them to the rooms upstairs while I talk to Brinda?" 

Harry nodded. "Sure thing Spike." Harry looked at the group of bears. "Ok guys, we're taking these upstairs." 

"Yes sir." Said the bears, soon the group of bears carried all the things away. 

Spike looked at the large boar and her family behind her. Spike scratched the lead boars head. "Thanks for hauling the stuff Brinda."

Brinda smiled. "No thank you Spike, Barry is back in the hole with the kids, and mama needed some quiet time to herself." 

Spike chuckled. "Well then why not send the kids over here for a while, I don't mind taking care of them." 

Brinda looked at Spike. "That's how they came about last time, remember." 

Spike chuckled nervously. "Right, I forgot about that. Hey, why don't you just go run around for a little while, and if Barry asks, just tell him I needed you a little longer than normal."

Brinda smiled as she gave Spike's face a small lick. "Thanks Spike." Said Brinda as she and her boars left the castle.

Spike smiled as he took his seat again. "Sorry about that, I'm really close to her, she's a good boar." Said Spike.

Theo smiled. "No need to apologize Spike, they are your friends, and they were doing us a favor by bringing our stuff here."

Spike smiled at hearing this. "Well Harry and the bears have left the place, meaning that your stuff should be near the rooms. Please allow me to take you to your rooms so you can get settled in." Said Spike. 

Everyone smiled as they followed their host up the stairs to the old rooms.

Once they reached the second floor, they noticed that by each door there was a pair of crates marked with their kingdom’s emblem. Spike motioned for the kings and princesses to come see the first room. "Ok, so every room is basically the same, the only difference is the view from the balcony. I also have some squirrels that take care of cleaning the castle twice a month so the dust shouldn't be too bad. Each room has a single bed so unless the kings or princesses are going to be sleeping on the floor, they can use one of the other rooms. Aside from that each room has a desk, chest of drawers, fire place, wardrobe and bed side tables." Said Spike as he showed the room. It was very clean, and all the furniture was well maintained, not like one would think an ancient castle's rooms should look like.

Aaron was surprised. "Wow, I was not expecting it to look so nice."

Spike chuckled. "I'm not sure if I should be insulted or proud... So, I'm going with the latter. Thank you, King Aaron. Please take as much time as you need to settle in. I will be downstairs in the bath." Spike sneezed. "Sorry, when I grow so does my inner fire, normally I'm warm all year round, but since I'm in this form I'm freezing my tail off."

Malik nodded. "Very well, please forgive us for your condition?" 

Spike shook his head. "No need. I knew the consequences of the change, and I'm 3000 years old, I can handle a bit of cold." Said Spike, but then he sneezed again. "I think." 

All the princesses giggled at the comment as Spike walked away from the group. Malik and the other kings looked at Spike walk away. They all were thinking the same thing. 'We need to fix this.'





Two hours later and Spike was sitting in a large marble bath in the deep parts of the castle, but unlike before, Spike was back in his larger form. Spike sighed in relief as he blew a large gout of fire over the water to warm it up even more. "Awe, that's the stuff." Said Spike as he felt like falling asleep.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door to the bath. "Yes?" Asked Spike.

"Lord Spike, may we join you?" Asked Theo.

"Sure, I've got nothing to hide from you all." Said Spike. 

Theo, Aaron, and Malik walked into the bath and rested in the warm waters. Spike looked at the kings. "So, have you all settled in?" Asked Spike. 

Theo nodded. "Yes, the rooms are perfect, thank you for allowing us to reside here until the summit is over."

Spike shrugged. "It's fine, I rather enjoy the company." Said Spike. 

Aaron sighed. "Lord Spike, listen, we know why you are the last dragon in these lands."

Spike tensed up. "Aaron, it makes no difference, my kind decided to leave on their own."

"But it does Lord Spike. I will be the first to admit it, our forefathers were closed minded bigots, who were unwilling to hear anything other than the sound of their own voices." Said Aaron. "And I'll admit, I had the same reservations about dragons as they did. But seeing you in the flesh, and talking to you, I can see that we have done your kind wrong. We are no fools Spike; we have been told the truths by our fathers. We know that our kind used to hunt yours for sport." 

Spike growled. "Yes, that is how I lost my mate, she died due to illness brought onto her by a poison arrow. My kind had survived for generations, living side by side with yours. We never ate meat, let alone children, and those who did only took wild game. The stories of dragons attacking villages, all wrong. My kind saved those villages from fires, but that meant nothing when the first thing people see is a large lizard breathing fire onto a crop field." Spike sighed as he needed to control his anger. "We are not perfect, no creature is, but dragons have laws just like you. We in the council of elders upheld these laws strictly. If something happened that violated our laws, we would deal with it, but our most important law was to keep the peace between our kinds. I stopped so many dragons who wanted to rule over your kind by force, I did this for 2000 years."

Malik nodded. "And that's why we want to make amends for the actions of our forefathers."

This took the wind out of Spike's sails quickly. "Wait...What?" Asked Spike. 

Malik nodded. "Yes, we want to make amends with you and your kind."

"We agreed to it before we arrived. Which is why, after we are finished with the summit, we will leave this land in your possession to do as you wish, as well as giving you free reign to travel. You will not need to keep yourself hidden from the world any longer, but we do ask that you stay in your normal form until our people grow accustomed to your presence." Said Theo.

Spike laughed. "Sure, that's a simple condition." 

Spike looked at the kings. "Now, I must tell you all the truth about something I haven't told anyone." Said Spike. He then started to change his body into that of a person. He lost all his scales, his tail, wings, claws, sharp teeth, and spikes. Spike looked almost like them aside from his reptilian eyes. "Yeah, your fathers were kinda jerks to their great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather." Said Spike. 

All the kings dropped their jaws at the sight of Spike, he looked just like the man from the portrait. "So, your...."

Spike nodded. "Yep, the names Kenbroath Kilspotten Heathspike, I am the king of the forest and these lands, and to a degree your grandfather, but really down the line."

Aaron was confused. "But what about your kids?"

"They’re out there somewhere, Ash was here just last month to check up on me, she was always the kind one." Said Spike. 

"What about your mate?" Asked Theo.

Spike smiled. "She's down stairs asleep, she just entered her second 100-year nap about 40 years ago. I could go wake her, but she might kill me for interrupting her beauty sleep."

"What about us?" Asked Malik.

Spike shrugged. "Well, some of my kids wanted to live like your kind, they fell in love, had kids of their own, and each generation, more and more blood came in, but that also brought fear and hate into the family. It got so bad that my great great great grandkids had forgot about their heritage and started to try and hunt dragons. But it was so long ago, that right now you're more people than dragon. In fact, the first kings have been staying in the mountains for a while now watching over them to make sure nothing happens." 

"So, our kind hunting you for sport?" Asked Aaron. 

Spike shrugged. "Lies, no one died, it was just a simple way to make it look like you got rid of dragons. Ever wonder why they never came back with the pelts or anything? Well that's because most of the time the one who was sent to deal with a dragon was a dragon born or at least in the early years, but by the time the truth was forgotten, I was the last dragon around in our lizard form." Said Spike.

Spike sighed as he returned to his scaled form. "But not everything was a lie, these are our normal forms, we do have a connection to the world that allows us to talk to animals, and we do live for a very long time." Said Spike.

"So, you've been lying to us this whole time?" Asked Theo. 

Spike shrugged. "More or less, I was the one who pretty much set everything in motion though, I set up the summits long ago, with the condition that once a generation, the kings should gather here so I could judge them and see if we could trust our descendants and their people."

Malik raised an eyebrow. "So, the fact that you’re telling us all this..."

Spike nodded. "Yep, for the last 15 generations or so, all the kings have decided to attack me on sight, you three are the first to try diplomacy." Spike looked at Theo. "Theo, your father was close, but he had decided to attack at the last moment." Spike shrugged. "Meh, it makes no difference, swords, spears, arrows, nothing really can hurt us, aside from magic. That's why you three are even around, I could have killed your fathers long before, but I knew that one day the dragon inside of you would show."

Malik, Aaron, and Theo sighed as they tried to take all this news in. "So, you’re the ancient high king?"

Spike nodded. "Yep, been that way since I was about 200."

"Your mate is not dead; in fact, she is underneath the castle right now?" Asked Aaron. 

Spike nodded. "Yep again. And before you ask why I don't sleep with my mate, she is a very aggressive sleeper, so I sleep in the ballroom most of the time while she's in her long naps."

"And you've been hiding away in the castle for the last, god knows how long, just to see if you and your kind could come out of hiding?" 

Spike shrugged. "Pretty much, but I wouldn't call it hiding, it's more like optional seclusion. Dragons have been walking around for a while, but they change into their people forms while they're out. Heck just a few hours ago, like 80% of the knight’s you guys brought were dragons or at least part dragon. Heck all those knights that have come to take care of me, really have been coming to take care of me. They inform me of what's going on in the world and how the kingdoms have been doing." Spike sighed as he got out of the warm water, he then blew some fire onto his body to dry off. 

Once he was dry, Spike looked back at his grandkids. "Ok, I get it, this is a lot to take in, but it would probably be better to process all of this out of the water. Skin prunes, scales don't." Said Spike. 

All the kings quickly got out of the water and got clothes on. Once they were ready, Spike wanted to go show the kings around his home. The first point of interest was a large meeting hall with seven seats around a circular table. "Well first this is the meeting hall for all the elders of the dragon council to discuss matters around the world. I was one and technically still am, along with Onyx. Our next meeting should be in the next eighty years or so. That's where I came up with the summit. You three are free to use this room as you wish for the summit." Said Spike, then he showed them to the library. "If you ever want to talk or are looking for my opinion, I spend most of my days in here, granted I've read all these books, but sometimes my kids bring me some more." Lastly Spike brought them down stairs to the basement of the castle to show them their grandmother. Spike smiled at seeing his mate. "She's still as beautiful as the day I met her, and she still has another few decades until I can talk to her again." Spike sighed as he looked at the kings. "She really is something else, and I'm happy to know she will be happy to know that we can finally return." Said Spike. 

"Dear, you know I've been awake this whole time, so why egg them on?" Asked Onyx, as she turned to see her mate, and the kings with her red eyes. 

Spike shrugged. "I only speak the truth my love." Spike then walked over to Onyx and kissed her. "Sorry for waking you up."

Onyx yawned and stretched out her body to get the blood flowing again. She looked at Spike. "It's fine, I was thinking of getting up in the next few years or so anyways, just to make sure you hadn't burnt down the castle again." 

Spike groaned. "Oh, get over it, it was one time and I was sick, and where do you get off thinking you were perfect, I still have nightmares of the two of us free falling off that cliff." 

Onyx giggled as she gave Spike a kiss. "You call it a nightmare; I call it a dream." Onyx looked at the kings and smiled. "I see, I was wondering when this day would come. Tell me young kings, do you know who the true king of these lands is?" 

All three nodded and pointed to Spike. Onyx smiled, she looked at Theo and smiled at him. "I see that you take after your first king, he was always a good boy, a little shy and weak, but strong where it counted." She then placed a claw on his heart and his head. "I'm sure Tetro would be happy to see you." She looked to Aaron. "And you are someone that leaps first and gets things done. Your grandfather will be glad to have someone as strong willed as him, that is if Mantel is not fighting that Yeti again." She looked at Spike. "What made you think that letting him keep that yeti was a good idea?"

Spike shrugged. "In my defense, I was powerless under that cute little guys eyes, besides they're both ok, they caused an avalanche a few years ago so they're still around." 

Onyx sighed as she looked at Malik. "Smart, kind, short temper though. You definitely have Sarton’s blood." Said Onyx, she then got a good smell of the air. "I smell three females as well, daughters of you three." 

Spike nodded. "Yep, the next generation of our bloodline. Theo's daughter is Samantha, she acts just like the kid’s when they first hatched. Aaron's daughter, Evelyn acts just like you, as scary as it sounds...." This earned Spike a punch to the arm, but he laughed at it, because that is how she says, 'I love you.' "And Sophie is Malik's daughter, she's just like my mother."

Onyx laughed at the thought. "I must meet them." Said Onyx as she walked up the stairs to meet her grandchildren.

Theo looked at Spike. "Are you going to stop her or anything, she's going to scare our girls." Asked Theo. 

Spike shook his head. "Nope, female dragons are way tougher than the males, it shows that they can protect their eggs. If I tried to stop her, she would turn me into a pretzel." Said Spike as he followed his mate up the stairs.

Theo sighed as he looked at Malik and Aaron. "I guess this is happening then." Said Theo, the other two nodded as all three walked up the stairs.

Once they all were upstairs, Spike came up with a plan. He looked at the kings. "Go gather your daughters and bring them to the sitting area. I'll go distract Onyx with some food." Said Spike. All three kings nodded and ran off to gather their daughters. Spike smiled at Onyx. "Dear, how about we go grab a few gems from the vault, you haven't eaten in a while, you must be starving?" 

Onyx stopped on a dime and when she did, her stomach growled loudly. Onyx sighed as she couldn't deny Spike's words. "Do we still have some topaz?" Asked Onyx. 

Spike smiled. "Yep, I always have some for you Onyie." 

Onyx giggled. "I did miss you Spikie."

Spike nodded. "So did I." Said Spike as he kissed Onyx. 





So, after gathering a topaz for Onyx and the kings gathered their daughters, both groups met up in the same sitting area as before. All the girls were shocked to see another dragon sitting in front of them. Onyx giggled at the sight of them as she finished off her topaz. "So... yeah, my names Onyx, you three must be Samantha, Evelyn and Sophie?"

All three princesses nodded. They all looked at Spike. "Lord Spike, what's going on? Isn't she supposed to be dead?" Asked Sophie.

Spike shrugged. "Long story short, I kinda lied to you all about me being the last dragon in the lands. Also, that is no way to speak to your grandmother." When the princesses heard this bit of news, they all went silent. 

Onyx sighed as she gave Spike as swift slap to the head. "Spike, explain things to them right now." Demanded Onyx. 

Spike chuckled. "Sorry, but yes, she is your grandmother to a degree, and I am your grandfather. She did not die due to illness, but instead she was asleep in our nest for the last few decades. My three eldest were the original three kings of the land. Many years later and many kings and queens down the line, and we come to this point in time." Said Spike. "It wasn't just words when I said you three were like my family." 

Samantha gasped with wide eyes as she was so excited to learn that she was part dragon, she jumped off the couch she and the others were sitting on and started running around, flapping her arms like they were wings, imagining she was a dragon. Onyx giggled as she started playing with the little girl turned dragon. Spike sighed at the action of his mate, he then looked at Evelyn. "Wild spirit, can't sit down to save her life, now go stop your grandmother from catching the dragon." Said Spike. It didn't take long for Evelyn to join in the fun. Spike sighed at the three. "Yeah, he was just like her when he was growing up." Spike then looked to Sophie. "Sorry you can’t meet your great grandmother, she died about 1000 years ago." 

Sophie smiled at Spike. "It's fine Spike, King Spike, Grandfather....Um what do I call you now?" 

Spike shrugged. "Don't really care, so just keep calling me Spike." 

Sophie nodded. "So, Spike, what will you do now that we all know the truth?"

Spike shrugged. "Well, I was going to call my kids and tell them all to meet here and depending on how many generations have passed all the other dragon families can be summoned at my call. Then I and the kings can talk about making peace between our kinds. If you wish, they can be here as soon as tomorrow?" Asked Spike. 

Theo, Aaron, and Malik nodded at the idea of making peace between both races. "Spike, please send word to your kind, it's time for everything to be told." Said Malik. 

Spike nodded. "Thank you." Said Spike. 





"The End." Said Celestia as she finished the story. She looked at all the girls and frowned when she noticed that they were all asleep in their blankets and Pinkie was in a mason jar. Celestia sighed as she worked hard on that story for the kids.

She looked at Spike and Cadance, both were smiling at Celestia with 'Yeah welcome to the club' faces. "So, what did you guys think?" Asked Celestia. 

"I liked it, really cute and I loved how Onyx wasn't dead. But I got confused with all the time differences. You said Spike had been in the castle for 200 years, while he had been there for much longer." Said Spike. 

Celestia shrugged. "Yeah, I never really understood that part myself, but I think it shows how long Spike had been alone."

Cadance nodded. "Still I say it was a great success, the girls are out like a light, and now we have time to pick up the mess." Said Cadance. 

Spike nodded. "Yep, I'll go start the timer, you two go around and start picking up where you can. We have one hour until we wake up the girls and clean them up."
> They Leave Pt.1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One hour has passed and the whole of the daycare was cleaned up, the mess from lunch was hand washed and drying right now, Spike took a more detailed inventory of what they had in terms of food and drinks, and all three of the adults were taking a moment to rest. Spike sighed at the now cleaned back room. Normally it would take him and Cadance the whole hour to have the placed cleaned up, but now with Celestia, they got it done in half that. He looked at Celestia. "Celestia, thanks for staying today, even though you didn't need to." Said Spike. 

Celestia smiled. "No problem Spike, the moment I saw what this place was and who the kids were, I had a feeling that you both had your hands full."

Cadance groaned. "You have no idea, if it’s not AJ or Rainbow getting into an argument, it's Yona, Smolder, or Ember destroying a wall, or Spike getting tossed through it." 

Celestia looked at Spike. "Yeah, speaking of that, how have you been able to survive all that?" Asked Celestia.

Spike shrugged. "I don't really have a concrete reason, but I think it's because I'm a human that has absorbed some soul energy from the other worlds. When I get angry or protective, I've noticed that I take on some aspects of the dragon world. I'm springy and don't take much damage, aspects from the slime world. I have a great sense of smell, that helps me cook better, I got that from the wolf world. I'm magic resistant, from the pony world. But I don't have wings or four legs, so I don't think I have much in the way of harpy and centaur aspects." Said Spike. 

Celestia looked at Spike in shock. "Really?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike started to laugh. "No, I'm human, for the most part, but I'm also a quarter dragon." Said Spike.

Celestia looked at Spike, she wanted an explanation of what he was saying. "How?" Asked Celestia.

Spike looked at Celestia. "How what? My grandfather met my grandmother, Onyx, almost 60 years ago. They fell in love and had a kid, my mother, who didn't know her mother, because she looked human as well. She met my father in college, They got married, and then I came along. Ergo, quarter dragon." Said Spike simply.

"But Onyx was a dragon that helped your grandfather explore the mountains, you even said so yourself." 

Spike nodded. "Yep, their honeymoon." Said Spike. 

Celestia's brain shut down at learning this, but it quickly rebooted. "But wait, dragons live for thousands of years, and your grandfather died. That means your grandmother is alive as well." 

Spike nodded. "Yep, she made her home not too far from the door in the dragon lands. She's very nice for a 40-foot-tall dragoness, and I visit her a few times a month just to check up on her for gramps."

"So, how do you know all of this?" Asked Celestia.

Spike smiled as he motioned for Celestia to follow him down to the basement, with Cadance following behind. She had seen what Spike was going to show. Spike opened the door and walked down the stairs. "Well, I kinda lied to you about this basement being only for the washer, FSPG, and storage." Said Spike as he walked to a section of the wall near the FSPG, he pressed the wall and a secret door was opened. Inside was a bunch of old films and a few projectors. "It's also my grandfather’s archive. Over the years, he took videos of what he saw, learned, who he talked to, and so much more. But he hid it away so if someone ever found out about the daycare's connection to the other worlds, they would be going into it blind." Said Spike as he popped a film labeled 'Spike' into an old projector. "Scorpan was smart, and I think he saw himself in me, so he recorded this during his last few years, right about when I graduated highschool." Said Spike as he turned on the projector.

"Spike, if you’re seeing this, that means you found my archives, I had a feeling it was only going to be a matter of time until you took over the focal point, but that also means that I'm no longer around to tell you stories. Listen, there is a story that I told you when you were very little, the story of the little dragon, and if you remember how I ended that story you should of figured it out by now. The reason I kept calling you my favorite little dragon every time we talked was because of your grandmother. Long ago, when I was still in my thirties, I went to the dragon lands to do some exploring. There I met a beautiful dragoness named Onyx, she was so kind and smart, and I couldn't help but fall for her. So, two years went by and I asked her to marry me. The only problem was even back then she was the size of a house, so I talked to Starswirl and he gave me a potion to change my race for a day. But instead of me taking it, she took it instead, and turned into a human, but she kept some of her dragon qualities. We got married that same day. At first, we were happy, I was living here at the focal point, and she had started to dig out a cave near the door to the dragon lands. Life was great, that was until Onyx found out that she was pregnant, which at the time I didn't think was possible, seeing as I was human, and she was a dragon. I ran to Starswirl and he told me that the potion was only meant to bring the two of us together, not for us to become a group of three. He also told me that if that happened then she would be permanently changed." 

The film went black as it changed to a new scene. This one was of Scorpan in a large cave, he was standing next to a large black dragoness with deep red eyes. "So, the moment I told Onyx about what the potion did to her, she smiled, she was so excited to have our child, and after a long and nerve racking 9 months, a beautiful baby girl was born. We decided to name her Barb. But she was not able to survive in the dragon lands for a few reasons. First, dragons can’t produce milk like mammals. Second, dragons have sharp claws and teeth that could hurt a baby. And third, it was going to be hard for her to adjust to dragon society when she was a human like me. So, we decided that Bard and I would go back to the human world and live our life's there. That was the single stupidest mistake either of us had ever made. That is why I'm making this video, so you will not make the same mistake." Said Scorpan.

"Dear, let me talk to him." Said Onyx. Scorpan moved the camera back so Onyx was in full view. "Spike, I know you probably don't know me, but I'm your grandmother. Scorpan has told me so much about you. I'm happy to know that my daughter met a wonderful man and that she had a wonderful son. I have accepted the fact that Barb will be my only child, but I'm ok with that because I don't want to move on after it's time for Scorpan to pass on. That is why I'm asking you to come visit me after you see this video, I want to see you so much. But Spike, for the both of us, please do not tell Barb about me. She has believed that I died during labor for so long, and suddenly finding out that her mother is a dragon and that her father kept the truth from her for her whole life, it would devastate her. The only reason we decided to tell you was so that you would know the truth." Said Onyx. 

The film went black again, and Scorpan was back on screen. "Spike, ever since you turned 16, I was planning on giving you the place, and I'm planning on writing you some letters to help you navigate around. But something that I can't write down is how to travel to the worlds without another person creating the link. For each world, there are two places you need to touch on the door to artificially create a link." Said Scorpan as the video cut out again. 

Spike sighed. "Yeah, I'm thinking the film was damaged at this point, but give it a minute and it will pop back at the important one." Said Spike

And it did as Scorpan appeared again. "And the most important one is the way to the dragon lands. You need to place your hand on the top left corner right by the hinge, and your foot on the bottom right corner." Said Scorpan, he then sighed. "Spike, I want you to know that I never intended to hurt your mother, or you, by keeping this secret. I don't care if you come to hate me for it, but please don't tell Barb. It looks like I only have a little bit more film left. So, Spike, for the last time, you were always my favorite little dragon. I love you Spike, I leave the place in your hands, please grow old and happy." Said Scorpan as the sound of the film reel ticking was the only sound.

Spike sighed. "I could never hate my grandfather for what he did, granted I was very upset at it, but I understood why. But my mother still got to hear stories about Onyx as she grew up, and I got to hear them too." Said Spike as he turned off the projector. He looked at Celestia, she was crying. "But I kept my promise to both of them, my parents are aware of the daycare, but they don't know where it is or who the clients are." Said Spike.

Celestia looked to Spike. "Why are you showing me this?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike shrugged. "I don't want there to be any barriers between us, I need to be able to trust everything you say, do, and see without question, and the only way to do that is to show by example. I showed Cadance this room and the film within her first week, and I found this room after a long night of cleaning up the basement, before I opened. Right now, there are only three people in this world that know about me, and I can touch all of them. I have not told the kids, the parents, my friends and not even my family about this. I have also learned from Onyx how to show my dragon side." Said Spike as his eyes changed to slits, his nails sharpened into claws, and his teeth grew slightly pointier. 

He looked at Celestia. "This is the extent of my dragon heritage, but it also makes me stronger, and I have night vision as well." Said Spike as he changed back to normal. Spike laughed. "That's how I'm able to shrug off so much." Said Spike, but before Celestia could make a comment about all of this, the timer sounded. Spike sighed. "Well, it's time to go get the kids up." Said Spike. He looked at Cadance. "Cadance, let’s get AJ in first, I'll grab her brush and the hoof file." He then looked to Celestia. "Celestia, your pretty much a distraction for the others, they will get out the toys and start playing with each other. Your job is to interact with them, play with them, make sure nothing breaks and no one gets hurt." Said Spike.

Both women nodded at their orders as all three walked out of the basement. Cadance and Celestia walked into the main room and started to wake up the kids from nap time. While Spike went to AJ's cubby and pulled out her brush and hoof file. Spike then walked to the bathroom and opened the door. He left the door open and pulled out a little step stool he kept behind the medical cabinet. 

Soon AJ walked in to the bathroom and smiled at Spike. "Hi Spike."

Spike smiled at AJ. "Hey AJ, do you want me to do your hooves first or brush your coat?" Asked Spike. 

"Let’s do my hooves first, I think I got a stone in one of them on our way in from playtime, can you get it out?" Asked AJ. 

Spike nodded. "Sure, but I'll need to go get the tool in your cubby." Said Spike. It wasn't uncommon for AJ to get a stone stuck in her hoof, and it was relatively easy to get out, but centaurs always needed help to do this. 

AJ smiled as she showed the tool in her hands. "I grabbed it on the way in." Said AJ as she gave the tool to Spike.

Spike shrugged. "Ok, so any idea which hoof it's stuck in?" Asked Spike.

AJ nodded. "Yep, it’s on my front right." Said AJ. 

Spike nodded as he moved to AJ's side. He looked at AJ. "Ok, AJ can you lift the leg up for me?" Asked Spike. AJ lifted the leg up for Spike to look, and just like she said, there was a stone right in her hoof. "Yep, you were right, I'll have it out it a jiffy." Said Spike. He carefully popped the stone out of the hoof with the hook end of the tool and let the pebble fall to the ground. "Got it." Said Spike as he handed the tool to AJ. He leaned down to grab the pebble so AJ wouldn't step on it again, he placed it into his pocket so he could toss it in the trash. "Ok, let’s start with this leg since it's right here." Said Spike as he pulled out a file and began to file AJ's hoof to a dull edge. Once that one was done he moved onto the other three, but when he got to the other side, AJ wasn't ready for the change in her gravity, and she almost fell on Spike, but Spike caught her and kept her from falling on him. Spike looked at AJ. "AJ, are you alright?" Asked Spike, he was worried that she might have hurt her leg. 

AJ nodded her head. "Yeah, sorry Spike, are you ok?" 

Spike smiled. "Yep, just fine." Said Spike as he continued to file her hoof. After all her hooves were filed, Spike pulled out her brush and cleaned her coat and hair, which didn't take long.

Once Spike was done he smiled at AJ. "Ok AJ, you’re done. Tell Cadance to get Rarity." Said Spike. 

AJ nodded as she walked out of the bathroom. She met up with Cadance who was standing right outside by the cubbies. "Cadance, next up is Rarity." Said AJ. 

Cadance nodded. "Thanks AJ, now go play for a little while, it's almost 4 and you know your parents are always the first ones to show."

AJ nodded as she ran to play with the others. Spike walked out the bathroom and placed AJ's tools into her cubby. He looked at Cadance. "Remind me to sweep the walkway to the playground, AJ got a stone in her hoof today."

Cadance nodded. "Sure, Rarity is about to come in, she wants her hair brushed like always." Said Cadance. 

Spike nodded as he grabbed Rarity's brush. "Send her in." Said Spike as he walked back into the bathroom. 

Cadance got Rarity to Spike moments later. "Hello Spike." Said Rarity. 

Spike smiled. "Hey Rarity, you want the usual 50 today?" Asked Spike.

Rarity smiled and nodded at Spike. "Yes please."

Spike nodded as he motioned for her to take a seat on the step stool. Rarity flew up to the seat and let Spike start brushing her hair. "So, Rarity, your mother told me about Sweetie Belle, did you know that AJ has a little sister as well, her name's Apple Bloom." 

Rarity hummed in thought. "No, I didn't know that, do you think Sweetie and her would get along?" Asked Rarity. 

Spike shrugged. "No clue, but I've met Apple Bloom once, and she is a little ball of energy. What's Sweetie like?" 

"I love her to bits, but she can be annoying, just last week, I made her a little bow to go into her hair, and she just chewed on it. I worked very hard on it." Said Rarity as she huffed. 

Spike chuckled. "Well, she is only a few months old, give her a brake. But how is your relationship with her? Are you nice to her, do you play with her when she's bored, do you try and calm her down when she's upset?"

Rarity nodded. "Yes, sometimes, and as much as I can." Responded Rarity. "In fact, just yesterday, mommy was working from home and she had to take an important call, so she left me with Sweetie for 10 minutes, and for 9 minutes she was very upset that mommy wasn't holding her. I tried everything to calm her down, I grabbed her favorite pacifier, didn't work. So, I tried making funny faces to make her smile, nothing but crying. Then I picked her up and rocked her like mommy showed me, this finally calmed her down. So, I just kept doing it, then she started to giggle at me. I moved to the couch and took a seat with her in my arms. Completely unaware that mommy had finished her call and she was just watching us bond." Said Rarity as she smiled.

Spike smiled at hearing this. "Rarity, Sweetie is going to see you as a role model when she gets older, so you need to be patient with her, people come and go, but family is forever, so make that forever a good one." Said Spike as he finished brushing her hair. Spike leaned down and kissed Rarity's forehead. "Rarity, be a great big sister to her, you’re the only one she has." Said Spike. 

Rarity smiled as she gave Spike a hug. "I will." Said Rarity as she flew out of the bathroom. 

Spike sighed as he walked out to return Rarity's brush. "Cadance, call Shy in, we need to clean off her wings next." Said Spike. 

Cadance nodded as she got Fluttershy out of the playhouse toy set. 

Spike walked back into the bathroom and opened the cabinet, he pulled out a cue tip and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. 

Fluttershy flew into the bathroom and took a seat on the sink, she moved her hair out of the way to show off her three-inch wings. "Hi Spike, Cadance told me that we're cleaning my wings." 

Spike nodded. "Yep, hold your breath." Said Spike as he dipped the cue tip into the alcohol and started to clean her wings. Rubbing alcohol is anything from 70-99% pure alcohol, it is not dangerous... to normal people, but for someone who is as tall as a pinkie finger, this stuff was strong, so Spike had to be quick. It didn't take long for Spike to finish cleaning her wings, so he grabbed a tissue and wiped away any of the alcohol that was left on her wings. Spike smiled at his work. "Ok Flutters, your grounded until they dry off." Said Spike. 

Fluttershy smiled at Spike. "Thanks Spike, after playtime they were really dusty." 

Spike nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that Fluttershy, the weather forecast didn't mention how bad the wind was going to get, but I'm glad you're alright." Said Spike as he gave the little fairy a pinkie finger pat on the top of her head. "Do you want me to carry you back to Cadance so you can go play?" Asked Spike. 

Fluttershy nodded. "Thank you Spike, but only if I'm not a bother." 

Spike chuckled as he opened his palm for the little fairy. "Fluttershy, you are never a bother, and you will never be one. I love you, and so do the others, so when you ever need help, we will come and help you, no matter what." Said Spike as he walked over to Cadance. 

Fluttershy smiled as she gave his thumb a hug. "I love you all too."

Cadance smiled at seeing this. "Well, let’s go back and you can get some more love Shy." Said Cadance. She looked at Spike. "Twi, Rainbow, or Pinkie next?"

"Let’s do Pinkie, I'll grab the PH paper and the Pinkie color chart." Said Spike, he looked down at Fluttershy. "Shy, your all clear to fly." Said Spike, Fluttershy nodded as she flew off Spike and onto Cadance's shoulder. Cadance walked into the main area and returned Fluttershy to her little mansion. Spike walked over to Pinkie's cubby, and pulled out a piece of PH paper, and a hand drawn color chart that was different shades of pink. 

Everyday Pinkie was here, Spike checked her PH levels and her shade, this is how a person can tell if a slime is healthy or not. Normally a slime is around a 7 PH, which is perfectly healthy, when they eat, their PH drops to a 6 so they can dissolve it. But if its higher than a 7 they have the equivalent of the cold, and anything below a 6, and they have a fever. The chart was to see if her slime hasn't taken in any toxic materials, the darker the shade the more toxic they were, so it was normally good to see bright pink Pinkie.

Spike walked over to the bathroom and waited for Pinkie to do her thing and pop out of nowhere. But when Pinkie just casually walked into the bathroom, Spike knew something was wrong. "Pinkie, stay solid for as long as you can, ok." Said Spike as he quickly picked up the little girl. 

Pinkie groaned. "Spike, I don't feel good." Said Pinkie as she was starting to puddle. Spike sighed as he put the stopper in the sink to keep her there.

Spike looked at Pinkie, she was darker than normal by about 5 shades. "I know, from what I can tell Pinkie, you must have rolled over a mushroom or two while outside. Let me check your PH." Said Spike as he dipped a strip of the paper into Pinkie. The paper turned a pale blue color. "Dang, sorry Pinkie, you’re at a 10 on the PH. I'm calling Cloudy to come pick you up." Said Spike. He walked over to the bathroom door. "Cadance, get a bucket, Pinkie's at a ten and she's 5 shades darker, I'm calling Cloudy." Said Spike. 

Cadance nodded as she walked to the cleaning supplies closet and pulled out a metal bucket that couldn't be melted. She walked into the bathroom to scoop Pinkie into it. Spike sighed as he walked over to the phone and called the Pie household. "Yes, this is Cloudy Quartz Pie speaking."

"Hi Cloudy, it's Spike, I believe Pinkie might have rolled over some toxic mushrooms while outside today, she had a PH of 10 and she is darker by five shades. Could you please come pick her up?"

Cloudy sighed. "Calm thy self, Spike, Pinkamena did not roll across a mushroom, she has Slime Slake. She must have caught it from her father recently. She will be fine in a few days, but that means she will be unable to come for the rest of the week."

Spike sighed in relief when he heard Pinkie was going to be fine. "That's fine, I'll make a note of it and I'll wave this weeks cost and use the emerald for next week's, does that sound fair?"

"Yes, I'll be by in the next few minutes, Maud is going to have to watch her father while I'm gone." Said Cloudy.

Spike nodded. "Ok, I'll let her say goodbye to the others and I'll meet you at the front door." 

"Very well." Said Cloudy.

Spike sighed as he hung up the phone. He walked back into the bathroom. Pinkie was in a bucket, and Cadance was smiling at her. Spike walked over to Pinkie. "Pinkie, it looks like you caught your father's Slime Slake. I called your mother and she is on her way to pick you up."

Pinkie rippled in the bucket. "Ok, can I say goodbye to everyone?" Asked Pinkie. 

Spike smiled at the sick slime girl. "Of course." Said Spike as he picked up the bucket carefully and brought it to the front room. "Hey girls, come say goodbye to Pinkie, she's going home for the day and she won't be back for the rest of the week." Said Spike. 

This stopped everything that was going on in the play area, as all the little girls rushed over to say goodbye to their friend. "Pinkie, are you ok?" Asked Twilight. 

Pinkie sloshed side to side. "Nope, I caught Slime Slake from my dad."

"Oh, you poor thing, is there anything we can do to help?" Asked Rarity.

Pinkie sloshed again. "Nope, it'll take me a few days to get it out of my system, but the only thing I need is bedrest." 

Spike smiled. "Well, how about a card? We'll let everyone sign it and I'll deliver it on Sunday." Said Spike. 

Pinkie parted herself to form a smile. "Thanks Spike, that would be cool, then when I get back, I can throw a 'Yay, Pinkies all better, Celestia is the newest princess, we got a new friend and her name's Moondancer.' party.

Spike smiled at that. "I'll get the cake mix ready."

The door to the daycare then opened and in rolled Cloudy. "Pinkie, are you ready to depart?" Asked the blob of slime as she changed into her human form.

"Yes, mom. I'm sorry for getting sick." Said Pinkie. 

Cloudy sighed as she rolled over to Pinkie. "It's fine sweetie, I'm sorry you are not feeling well. I'll take you to your room and let you sleep until Limestone brings home dinner."

Pinkie gave a weak smiled. "Thanks mom. Bye guys." Said Pinkie. 

Everyone said goodbye to Pinkie as Spike walked Cloudy and Pinkie to the slime world. The location of the door in the slime world was in the middle of a large bolder that was shaped like an egg. Locals called it Holders Bolder, because it holds the door, but the surrounding area was lush forest. It was only a quarter mile from where the Pie's lived. Spike looked at Cloudy. "Sorry for calling you to come pick her up." 

"Don't be, I was soon to depart our home to retrieve her anyways. I'm sorry that she's ill. But, Spike, may I ask, who was that new face I saw inside?" Asked Cloudy. 

Spike sighed. "Right, remember when I informed everyone that I was looking for a new assistant last month?" 

Cloudy nodded. "Yes. So that must've been her."

Spike nodded. "Yes, her name is Celestia Solaris, she is a high elf, 25 years old, and she has a degree in child development."

Cloudy nodded. "Very well, I wish to speak to her when we next have a chance, if that is acceptable?"

Spike nodded. "Of course it is, I was going to introduce her to all the parents when they came to pick up their kids today, but with Pinkie getting sick, we'll have to push it back for you and Igneous. Now I believe it would be best to get Pinkie home, so she can rest. Call me when you believe she is well enough to return." Said Spike. 

Cloudy nodded as she began to roll home with Pinkie. Spike sighed as he watched Pinkie go, he hated it when one of the girls got sick, and he really hated to call parents out of the blue. But he still needed to take care of the others right now. 

Spike walked over to the door, he placed the tips of both his feet at the bottom of the door's two corners and pushed the door open. After doing this for a while, Spike started to figure out the combination's to the worlds. There were only three he hadn't figured out, the Ogre world, the Abyssinian world, and the Elf world's combination still were a mystery to him.

Spike walked back into the main room, they still needed to finish up with the kids. Spike looked at Rainbow. "Rainbow, we can do this the easy way or the hard way?" Said Spike, he had done her talons before, but it always led to him getting cut and the need for Cadance to hold her while he worked. She really hated it when others touched her talons, but the moment she sees how they look she goes back to normal Rainbow.

Rainbow looked at Spike. "You'll never catch me." Said Rainbow as she started to fly above Spike's reach. 

Spike sighed. "Really, we do this every time, you always like how I make them look, so why do you hate the process?"

Rainbow looked at Spike. "I don't like it when others touch my talons."

Spike groaned as he had two options now, both have been approved by her parents, but both are just stupid. First, he could bait her down with a piece of turkey, or he could grab the net he keeps under his desk and trap her. Spike preferred the first one, even if it meant she was technically eating a bird, this was the easy way. The hard way was the net.

Celestia sighed as she caught Rainbow in her magic and kept her locked in place. "Hey, what the heck?" Yelled Rainbow as she was lowered to the ground. 

"Sorry Rainbow, when you’re finished getting your talons trimmed, I'll let you go." Said Celestia as she carried the immobile harpy to the back room.

Spike looked at Celestia walk away. 'Holy cow, my life just got 20% easier with her around.' Thought Spike. He looked at Cadance. "Cadance, you’re on main room duty until Rainbow is done." Said Spike as he rushed to help Celestia.

Spike opened the door to the back room and pulled out Rainbow's file and his glove from her cubby. He put the glove on and got the file ready. Once Spike was prepped, he walked into the bathroom. Celestia was up against the wall, while Rainbow was still immobile. Spike smiled at seeing everything was fine. "Rainbow, why do you do this, it takes me three minutes to do it?" Asked Spike. 

"Because, Talonbolts don't get their talons trimmed, so neither will I." 

Spike sighed at that logic. "Rainbow, they're grown up, and you're 5, they will grow back." Said Spike, he looked at Celestia. "Thanks for the help, by now I would have a few cuts." Said Spike as he began to dull Rainbow's talons.

Celestia smiled. "No problem, this is a basic spell that they taught us back in school. Normally it's used for parents who have to carry a lot of stuff with them and take care of a child, I just changed the target to a harpy chick." 

Spike nodded. "But how is it different from basic levitation magic?" 

"Simple, this spell is limited to the outer air around the object, instead of the object itself, technically Rainbow is able to move but only in a small area, she can still breathe normally, and she can still feel everything, but it makes it easier to keep her still, than by simply holding her." 

Spike looked up to Rainbow. "Ok, you’re done, how do they look?" Asked Spike. Celestia dropped the spell so Rainbow could see.

Rainbow smiled at her talons. "They look great Spike, thanks for doing them." Said Rainbow as she flew out of the bathroom.

Spike sighed. "Celestia, I want to get her parents approval on that spell when they come and pick her up. I'm in favor of it, but she's not my kid, so I don't have the final decision, so until we get the ok, you’re not allowed to use that spell again." 

Celestia nodded. "Right, sorry, you just looked like you were having a hard time."

Spike nodded. "Normally I would, but I have precautions for when something goes wrong, I just roll with it, and sooner or later I get it done, but I have gotten the ok from her parents to use the methods that I do. So, when they come in to get her, use the spell on me, not her, and show them the method."

Celestia nodded. "Yes sir." 

Spike smiled. "Good, I just wanted to make that clear, now can you call Twilight in while I get her brush?" Asked Spike. 

Celestia nodded. "Sure." Said Celestia as she and Spike walked out of the bathroom. 

Spike grabbed Twilight's brush and waited in the bathroom for her to come back here with Cadance. "Spike!" Smiled Twilight as she ran into the bathroom and took a seat on the step stool. "We need to hurry; my daddy is outside with Shining."

Spike nodded. "Sure thing, Twi." Said Spike as he started brushing Twilight’s mane, so it would looked good.





3 minutes later, Spike and Twilight walked out of the back room together. Twilight ran over to her big brother, Shining Armor and her father Nightlight. "BBBFF, Daddy!" Cheered the little filly as she gave both a hug. 

"Hey Twi." Said Shining, he was a 10-year-old white unicorn colt with a two-tone blue mane. "How was your day with Mr. Spike?" Asked the colt. 

Twilight smiled. "It was fun, but Pinkie got sick and had to go home." 

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that your fairy friend got sick." Said Shining. 

Twilight shook her head. "No that's Fluttershy, Pinkie is the slime." Said Twilight. 

"Right, sorry." Said Shining.

Spike walked over to Nightlight, a dark blue stallion unicorn with an even darker blue mane. "Hey Nightlight, how are you today?" Asked Spike. 

"Pretty good, unless Twilight tossed you through another wall that is, she didn't, did she?" Asked Nightlight, he was really hoping that his answer would be no.

Spike smiled. "No, she had a little moment right before lunch, but we're all good. Hey, keep an eye out when she goes to the park, apparently some of the other kids have been calling her names." 

Nightlight sighed. "Yes, I'm aware, I talked to their parents, but I don't think they did anything about it."

Spike sighed. "I had a feeling, but I gave her some advice today, so maybe she won't let it bother her again."

Nightlight nodded as he smiled. "Thanks Spike. Velvet also told me that Moonlight dropped off Moondancer, would you like me to take her off your hands, I'll call her on our way home instead of making her come to the other side of town?" Asked Nightlight. 

Spike sighed, he had been to Equestria before, and to Velvets book store, both were relatively close to the door there, but the door was in the opposite direction of the book store. Spike looked at Celestia. "Let me call her and ask, but first I would like you to meet Celestia Solaris." Said Spike. He pulled the woman in front of the unicorns and ducked to the back room to call the bookstore.

"Hello, Velvet Sonata book store, Twilight Velvet speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey Velvet, it's Spike. Nightlight just walked in with Shining to pick up Twi, he wants to know if he could take Moondancer as well, is Moonlight there?" asked Spike. 

"Sorry, she left about a half an hour ago to go pick her up, she should be there by now." 

"Aunt Moonlight!" Cheered Twilight. 

Velvet sighed. "Speak of the mare and she will appear. I'm closing up shop right now Spike, tell Nightlight I'll be home soon." Said Velvet as she hung up the phone. 

Spike sighed as he walked into the main area. Moonlight was standing at the front door with Moondancer in her arms. he walked over to her. "I was just looking for you. But I guess this is quicker." He looked down at Moondancer to ask her an important question. "So Moondancer, do you want to come back again?" Asked Spike.

Moondancer nodded firmly. "Yes, I had fun, I liked the food, and my new friends are here." 

Moonlight smiled. "Well, that's the answer. There's no way to change her mind." She looked at Spike. "So, how was she?" Asked Moonlight. 

Spike smiled. "She was great, no magical surges, she did soak my shirt, but it was a noble sacrifice, if it meant helping her let her emotions free." 

Moonlight smiled at hearing this. "Thank you so much for taking her today, we had so many things going on today I would have lost my head if she was around." 

Spike smiled. "Well, that's why I do it, I help kids and parents alike." Said Spike.

Moonlight smiled at Spike. "Well you’re still a life saver." She looked at Nightlight. "So, you want to stay for dinner tonight Night, so you can pay me back for last night?"

Nightlight smiled. "Sure, just don't make your mom's casserole again, she'll go nuts if you screw it up again."

Spike dropped his jaw. "So, your related?" Asked Spike as he pointed to the two. 

They nodded. "Yep. She's Velvets twin sister." Said Nightlight.

'Oh, that explains so much.' Thought Spike. "Sorry, I didn't know, but that explains so much." Said Spike as he looked at the two little fillies. 

Nightlight shrugged. "Well, let’s get going Moonlight, Velvet should be heading home soon." 

"Yeah, speaking about her, she's locking up right now so you better hurry." Said Spike. 

Nightlight nodded. "Thanks for everything Spike, my offer still stands if you ever want to take a load off." 

Spike smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, have a good night Nightlight, Twi, Shining, Moonlight, Moondancer." Said Spike as all of them walked out of the door. Spike sighed as he looked at the remaining 4 girls. 'Ok, they should be arriving any minute now.' Thought Spike as the door swung open again.
> They Leave Pt.2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike turned around to greet the next adult to walk into the daycare. But when he did, all he saw was a large sack with bird legs standing at the door. Spike still smiled at it. "Hey Bow, let me take that for you." Said Spike as he took the sack out of the male harpy's arms. 

"Thanks Spike, we got a great haul in today." Said Bow. Spike smiled as he carefully placed the sack onto the ground.

Spike looked at Bow, he was a tall, grayish blue male harpy with a buzz cut rainbow hairdo. His legs were a darker tan color than Windy's. Male harpies are very different from the females, they are slower, but that is because of the second layer of feathers they have. This second layer of feathers are called the shield feathers. They need them because 60% of harpies live in little out coves near the coast lines in their world, living there creates a large updraft that allows the harpies to reach high altitude quickly, but it is home to strong and very dangerous waves and constant storms. So, while a female harpy is keeping their egg warm, the male is to stay at the entrance of the nest and keep the heat in while keeping the cold winds out. Second, they are much stronger than the females. They need to be, considering that the average temperature for the harpy world is 40 degrees Fahrenheit all year round. Lastly, male harpies have talons that make a sickle look like a toothpick. Spike smiled at the harpy. "I can tell." Spike looked around for Windy. "So, where's Windy?" Asked Spike.

Bow shrugged. "She clipped her wing on a branch while coming to pick Rainbow up. I told her to head home and rest."

Spike gave Bow a dead pan look. "And going off the fact that she's right behind you, I don't think she was listening to a word you said." It was true, Windy was right behind Bow, her wing was a little red and her feathers were messed up. Spike sighed. "Come on into the back Windy, I'll patch you up." Said Spike, he looked at Bow. "I need you both to stay for a minute so we can discuss something important."

Windy nodded at the medical help. "Ok Spike, what happened today?" Asked Windy. 

Spike sighed as he opened the door to the back room. "Well, you know how you wanted me to trim her talons today?" 

Windy sighed. "She cut you again, didn't she? Spike, please forgive her."

Spike chuckled. "No, she didn't cut me. But I'll tell you after I look at your wing." Said Spike as he motioned for the harpy to come into the bathroom. Windy nodded and followed him in. Spike pulled out the step stool and Windy took a seat on it. "Let me see your wing." Said Spike. 

Windy winced as she extended her wing so Spike could look at the damage. "Ok, it's swollen, but I don't see any cuts. Can you give me a strong flap?" Windy nodded as she gave Spike the hardest flap she could, which was little more than a breeze. Spike sighed. "Ok, something's not right." He looked at Windy. "Windy, I'm going to apply some pressure to your wing, tell me when it starts to hurt. Also, I'm going to need to pluck a few feathers to see how bad it really is, are you ok with that?" Asked Spike.

Windy nodded. "I am Spike." Spike sighed as he grabbed the area where he saw the problem. He moved his hands up her wing and added more pressure to see the extent of the damage. 

It took Windy a moment to cry out in pain. Which made Spike smiled. "Ok, well that's good, I was putting a lot of pressure on it, so it's definitely not broken. If it was, you would have struggled. I'm thinking you only got a bruised bone, but I'd recommend going to the Aviary after you get Rainbow home, or you guys can leave her with me for a little longer?"

Windy shook her head. "No, I'm fine, I don't need to go to the Aviary." Said Windy. The Aviary is the closest thing harpies have to a hospital, but it was more like a well-stocked clinic. Spike sighed as he grabbed the place she hurt, with the same amount of pressure as before. This made Windy cry out in pain again.

"Windy, I have a feeling that the Aviary is your best choice. The damage is right at the joint, so it would be very painful for you to fly back to your place. I'll patch you up for now, but I can't in good conscious let you fly home like this." Said Spike. He then started wrapping the harpy's wing in medical tape to the point she was unable to flap it.

"Hey, Spike, take this stuff off of my wing!" Yelled Windy. 

Spike sighed as he looked at Windy. "Windy, stop struggling, the more you move the more you might hurt yourself." Said Spike, he then put up the medical tape. "Windy, Bow is strong enough to carry you back to the Aviary on his back. But I have a feeling that you will try and struggle so, forgive me for what I'm about to do next." Said Spike as he pulled out a backup tranquillizer gun from the back of the cabinet. This was where he kept some of the other tranquillizers for the less dangerous races incase of emergencies, it was mostly for when a dragon went on a rampage, something he was glad that he didn't have to worry about, and he had shots for as many races as he could find, horse tranquillizers for when AJ hurt her leg and she was struggling, Spike needed to keep her from freaking out. A few darts with different douses for the dragons, some dog tranquillizers for Sunset is she ever needs it, and a special little gift from a harpy doctor, a concentrated extract of harpy muscle relaxant. All of them had been diluted to work on kids but they should still have a effect on adults. Spike slid the dart into the gun, he knew he was going to get an ear full from the woman after she was better, but he was ready for it. Spike looked at Windy and shot her in the leg with the dart.

Windy looked at the dart, then to Spike. "Oh, the moment I'm able to move again, I'm going to..." Said Windy as she lost all control of her body.

Spike smiled at seeing that the dart worked. He walked over to Windy. "Windy, I care about you, you are a dear friend, and if it makes you feel any better I would do it for anyone else." Said Spike as he picked up the harpy in his arms. He carried her back to the play area, and he walked over to Bow, who was shocked to see his wife in Spike's arms. "Bow, take her to the Aviary, I'll take care of Rainbow until you get back, and I'll wave the fee, seeing as I had to use a dart on her."

Bow looked at Spike. "You had to dart my wife?" 

Spike nodded. "I did, the injury is close to her joint, and she is too stubborn to go to the Aviary on her own. So, please forgive me for my actions."

Bow groaned. "Thanks Spike, I was going to suggest that when we got back to the cove, but then I would need to get our neighbor, Stormy Flare to watch her and that is a big hassle." Said Bow. 

Spike understood. "No problem, but I want you to meet my new assistant." Said Spike. "Celestia can you please bring Rainbow over to the front?" Yelled Spike. 

It didn't take Celestia long to arrive with Rainbow on her shoulder like a little parrot. "Yes Spike?" Asked Celestia as she smiled, she then looked to the 2 harpies. "Um... Hi." Said Celestia. 

Bow smiled at the woman. "Hello, my name is Bow Hottalon, and the one in Spike's arms is my wife, Windy Whistles." Bow looked at Rainbow. "Hi, Sweetie." Said Bow. 

Rainbow looked at her father. "Dad, why is mom not moving?" Asked Rainbow in concern.

Bow sighed. "Sweetie, Mommy hurt her wing on her way to pick you up today. Spike patched her up so I could take her to the Aviary. I need you to behave for Spike, while I take her to see the doctor, can you do that?" Asked Bow.

Rainbow nodded. "Is mom going to be ok?"

Spike smiled. "Yeah, she'll be fine, I had to use a harpy dart on her, to keep her from getting worse." Spike looked to Bow. "Bow, I'll take good care of her tonight, and I'll keep the door unlocked until you show up, I should have some fish in the fridge for her dinner." Said Spike as he thought for a moment. "And, I might just have something special for us to watch until you show up." He looked at Rainbow. "Rainbow, I remember seeing an old film of a talon bolts show in my grandfather’s stuff, do you want to watch it tonight?" Asked Spike. 

Rainbow gasped, as she latched herself onto Spike's head. Spike sighed as he now had a feathered head dress. "I'll take that as a yes." He looked at Bow. "One last thing Bow. Celestia is a High Elf with a type of magic that might make trimming Rainbow's talons a lot easier, I want to get your approval of it first." Said Spike. He nodded at Celestia who encased Spike in the magic. "Celestia will explain how it works."

Bow looked at Celestia. "Well, it traps the air around a target, Spike is perfectly fine, he can breathe normally, and technically he is able to move in the area that is not frozen, I can just make that area very small to trap the target."

Spike nodded. "Yes, she is also able to lower it to certain parts so they can move freely." Said Spike, he nodded again at Celestia. She dropped the spell and smiled at the harpy. "So, do we have your permission to use it on Rainbow while we do her talons?" Asked Spike.

Bow looked at Rainbow. "Sweetie, are you ok with it?" Asked Bow, he knew it was ultimately up to her, but then he remembered something. "And not having them done is not an option." Said Bow, trying to cover all the bases.

Rainbow groaned at her father’s word choice, but she nodded, she always felt horrible when Spike got cut by her talons, and this was the first time everyone walked away with the same amount of blood in their bodies as when they walked in. "I'm cool with it, I know I'm a pain to deal with when it comes to my talons and I hate it when I accidentally cut Spike. So, if this is the only way, so be it." 

Bow smiled at Rainbow. "Very well Sweetie." Bow looked at Spike. "Thank you for taking care of her tonight." 

Spike shrugged. "No problem Bow, I like spending time with the awesomest harpy in the world." Said Spike.

Bow smiled. "Well, let me get going then, the faster I make it, the faster I can come get her." Said Bow, Spike nodded as he handed Windy to Bow.

Rainbow smiled. "Bye mom, bye dad." 

Bow smiled. "Love you Rainbow."

Windy groaned as she was starting to move again. That was the draw backs to the darts, Spike had diluted them to work on the kids. So compared to a full-grown harpy, the dart would only work for about a fifth as long. Windy looked at Spike, who in her vision was just a green blob. "Spike if that's you, I just want you to know, I really hate you." Said Windy.

Spike chuckled. "Love you too, I hope you get better." Said Spike. 

Windy looked at Rainbow, who was a multi colored blob. "And Rainbow, I love you." 

Rainbow smiled. "Love you too mom." Said Rainbow.

She then looked at Celestia. "And you, whatever you are, it was nice to meet you." 

Celestia looked confused, but she smiled. "You too." 

Bow nodded as he and Windy walked out of the daycare and headed to the Aviary. Spike sighed. 'It looks like another long night, but at least I'm ready.' Thought Spike. He looked down at Rainbow and gave her a smile. "Sorry about your mom Rainbow." 

Rainbow shrugged. "Trust me, we Dashes are reckless, prone to danger, and we have a wing at the Aviary named after us."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, I know, the Aviary's Spectrum Dash Wing." Spectrum Dash was Bow's grandfather, the fastest male harpy to exist and founder of the greatest Talonbolt team in history. Scorpan was great friends with Spectrum back in the day, that's how Scorpan had all the Talonbolt videos.

Rainbow nodded. "Yep, my great grandpa was a great harpy, so great that they gave him a wing at the Aviary, I don't know why they did though." It was because he visited all 12 Aviarys in the harpy world in his time as a Talonbolt, because he broke every bone in his body 4 times over, earning him the nickname Splint Dash.

Spike sighed, he knew the truth, but he had a feeling that if he told her, it would make Rainbow a lot more danger prone. "Well that's a question for another time, go play with the others, I have a feeling that they're about to leave." Said Spike. 

Rainbow nodded as she took her spot on Celestia. "Ready Capitan." Said Rainbow giving Celestia a salute. 

Celestia smiled. "Great job, Rainbow." Said Celestia as she walked back to the girls. 

Spike sighed. 'I think I have some salmon in the fridge back at the apartment, and I think Rainbows show is on tonight so after were done cleaning we'll head over.' Thought Spike. Then he noticed that there were a pair of arms wrapped around his neck. "Firestone for your thoughts Spike?" Asked Cookie, in Spike's moment of unawareness, Cookie had walked into the daycare. 

Spike turned around, looked at Cookie, gulped, and quickly escaped from her, because standing right behind her was Hondo. "Cookie, Hondo, how are you guys today?" Asked Spike, hoping he wasn't going to need to call a contractor to fix some him sized holes in the wall.

Cookie smiled at Spike. "Well, after this morning, everything went great, we just got a new dealer that wants to sell our stuff." Said Cookie. 

Spike smiled. "That's great to hear. I hope they're going to do a great job." Spike then looked at Hondo. "And how were the Lava pits today Hondo?" Asked Spike. 

Hondo shrugged. "So so. Still hot, still flowing." Said Hondo. The Lava pits were the equivalent of a steel mill in the human world. Hondo was the manager of the production of building materials for the demon world, which included demon scale steel, magma stone and ash roofing.

Spike nodded. "I'll go grab Rarity." Said Spike, but before he could run away, Hondo stopped him.

"Spike, hold on a second, I want to have a word with you." Said Hondo. Spike gulped and started to pray for his life. Hondo sighed. "Spike, listen, I know what you let Cookie do to you this morning." Said Hondo. 'I'm dead.' Thought Spike. "And I really appreciate that you helped her when she needed it. I know ever since Sweetie Belle was born, she's been giving her more of her soul energy, more than what she's willing to take from me. I was starting to think she was going to go in to a Fury Hunger soon." A Fury Hunger was no joke. It's when a Succubus has drained themselves too much and for too long that they go drain anything and everything around them. It was a serious crime in the demon world, and if it happened to a mother, it was even worse, they would either drain the child, or if they were captured while in the state, the courts would find them ill fit to raise a child. Their mate would be charged with negligence for letting it happen in the first place, and the child or children would be taken away until it was deemed that the parents were ready to have them again.     

Spike sighed. "Hondo, I care about everyone that walks through that door, kid or not. I have gotten to know all the parents and they are all my friends and my role models. I saw Cookie struggling and I knew that she was running herself on empty. So, I just was helping my friend." Said Spike, he knew that sometimes a child doesn't go back to their parents. "Rarity loves both of you very much, and I think Sweetie Belle feels the same. I refuse to let Cookie go through a Fury if there is a way I can stop it." Said Spike. 

Hondo smiled at Spike. "Thank you Spike."

"No problem. Let me go get Rarity for you guys." Said Spike as he walked away.

Spike found Rarity playing with a doll. "Rarity, you’re up." Said Spike. 

Rarity smiled as she flew up to Spike's arms. "Bye girls, I'll see you next time." Said Rarity. The remaining girls said their goodbyes to Rarity. 

When Spike returned with Rarity, she jumped into Hondo's arms. "Daddy!" Cheered Rarity. 

Hondo chuckled. "Hey Rarity, are you ready to head home?" Asked Hondo.

Rarity nodded. "Yep." She looked at Spike. "Goodbye Spikie, I'll see you soon." Said Rarity in a way that was not appropriate for someone her age. 

Spike sighed. "Have a good night Rarity." He looked at Cookie. "Cookie, get some rest and maybe start taking a little bit more out of Hondo." 

Cookie sighed. "I know, but I don't want to take too much."

Spike nodded. "I understand, but he's massive. No offense." Hondo shrugged. "And he has a larger soul than you think, he can take it. You on the other hand are small. You could easily get full on him without hurting him too much." This was uncertain. There have been many studies on soul energy, but the most common answer on how much a single body has is based on a lot of stuff that Spike or Scorpan couldn't understand. But from what Cookie has said, Spike's soul is warm and bright, while Hondo's is large and hot but dimmer. But Spike was hoping that his message got through.

Cookie nodded. "I know." Said Cookie, she looked at Hondo. "Sweetie, I love you, so would you mind letting me have a little more than normal tomorrow?" 

Hondo smiled as he gave Cookie a kiss, letting her have a little appetizer. But Rarity on the other hand was grossed out. "Mommy, daddy, stop that, it's gross." Said Rarity. 

Hondo pulled away from the kiss. "Cookie, all I ask is for you to take as much as you need, no matter where we are, from the Lava rivers in the south, to the burning valleys to the west, the lava tube forest in the east or the magma oceans to the north, because for you, I would go to the four corners of the world." Said Hondo. 

Cookie smiled as she kissed Hondo. When she pulled back, she looked him in his eyes. "That was just as cheesy as it was during our wedding. But at least you remembered your vows." 

Hondo smiled. "Well, of course I remembered them. I said them to the best demon in the world." Said Hondo.

Spike sighed. "Ok, I get it, you two love each other, but don't you have an infant to take care of?"

Cookie smiled. "Fine, we're going. Take care Spike." Said Cookie as she, Hondo and Rarity walked out of the daycare.

Spike smiled. "5 down, 2 to go." Said Spike as he walked over to the group of three girls that remained. 





Soon the bell to the front door rang, and Posey flew in. Spike smiled when he barley saw the figure and knew it was Fluttershy's turn. He looked at the little fairy who was still having tea with one of the dolls. "Fluttershy it's time to go." Said Spike. 

Fluttershy looked saddened. "Oh, ok." She looked to the doll she was having tea with. "Thank you for having me, Madam Depumpernickel." Said Fluttershy as she flew out of the doll house and onto Spike's shoulder. She looked at AJ and Rainbow. "Bye girls I'll see you tomorrow." Said Fluttershy. 

AJ smiled. "Bye Shy." 

Rainbow smiled. "Bye Flutters." 

Fluttershy smiled as Spike walked to greet Posey. When they got to the front Fluttershy smiled at her mother. "Mommy." Cheered Fluttershy. 

Posey smiled. "Hi Sweetie, did you have a good day?" Asked Posey.

Fluttershy nodded. "Yeah, I started a new carving today, I played with Rarity outside, and Spike cleaned my wings." Said Fluttershy. 

Posey smiled, she looked at Spike. "Spike, I'll bring in a few seeds Friday, if that's ok with you?" 

Spike nodded. "That's fine Posey. Have a good night and take care of yourself." Said Spike. 

Posey nodded. "I will." She looked at Fluttershy. "Sweetie, daddy is stuck at work, so I brought Harry today, want to go for a little ride?" Asked Posey. 

Fluttershy gasped as she flew straight for the door. Harry was the family squirrel, and the closest thing to a vehicle in the fairy world. Normally Gentle took him to work in the canopy, but sometimes Posey would take him to pick up Fluttershy. Posey giggled at her daughter. "I'm coming Fluttershy." Said Posey as she opened the door to let the little girl out. That was something Spike will never understand. Each door is fitted for each world. The door to the dragon lands is 30 feet tall for dragon adults, but the fairy door is 8 inches, and all the doors open a standard 8-foot door.

Spike smiled at the last of the little girls that will be going tonight. "AJ, get ready." Said Spike. 

AJ nodded, she had her finished picture in her hand, her hat on her head, and her hooves were buffed and filed, she was ready to go. 





Three minutes later and Pear walked in to the daycare looking a little worse for wear than normal for a farmer after a long day of work. She yawned showing how tired she was. "Spike, I'm here for AJ." Said Pear.

Spike smiled but then he noticed her state. "Man, what happened to you?" Asked Spike.

Pear groaned as she shot Spike a glare. "Apple Bloom happened. She's a walking disaster zone on four hooves. She refused to eat this morning, because I'm trying to ween her off me, she didn't like that at all. Then Granny found out that the Zap Apple harvest is about to start, so I've been running around getting ready for that, Mac is in the fields all day with Bright Mac to learn how to buck the trees, and on top of all that, I've had a stone in my hoof since this morning." Said Pear.

Spike whistled. "Dang, that's a lot." Said Spike. He looked at Pear and grabbed her hand. "Let me help you for a moment." Said Spike as he pulled her to the back room. While they were walking past the girls Spike stopped. "AJ, give me a few minutes then I'll have her back to you." Said Spike.

AJ looked at Pear. "Ma, what's going on?" Asked AJ. 

"AJ, right now, I don't really know." Said Pear.

Spike pulled Pear into the back room and closed the door; he was going to need to ask some questions. He looked at Pear. "Pear, I'm going to help you, but first I need some information, simple questions, that you don't have to answer if you don't want to." 

Pear nodded. "Um... Ok."

Spike nodded. "First, how long have you been breast feeding Apple Bloom?" Asked Spike.

Pear blushed as she covered her chest. "Spike!" Yelled Pear. "What is the meaning of this?" Asked Pear.

Spike sighed as he started pulling out a few things from the cabinet. "How long?" Asked Spike. "I need to know so I can give you the right set of steps to help you."

Pear was surprised to learn that was what Spike was doing. "Well, ever since she was born, but I just started to wean her off this week, her teeth are starting to come in and it’s kinda hurting now."

Spike nodded. "Ok, did you just cut her off?" Asked Spike. 

Pear shook her head. "No, I try and feed her baby food first but if that doesn't work, I don't really have a choice."

Spike hummed. "I should still have some in the pantry." Said Spike as he ran over to the pantry. He opened the door and smiled when he found a tub of powder. He brought it out for Pear. "Pear this is a product that we have in the human world, it’s a formula-based drink that best simulates that nutrients and fats that help a foal grow. It's for foals that have lost their mothers or are separated from them." Said Spike. 

"Um... Spike, why do you have that?" Asked Pear. 

Spike shrugged. "I'm ready for most children up to the age of 8 and as young as a few months. I keep most things just in case as well, I got this mare milk formula when I met a centaur for the first time. I didn't know about all the worlds back then, so I ran out to a large pet super store near a horse farm and I bought a bucket of formula in case I ever got a foal that wasn't ready for solid food." Said Spike. He placed the bucket in front of Pear. "How big is Apple Bloom?" 

"Well, she's around 300 pounds." Said Pear. 

Spike nodded. "And how many feedings a day?" Asked Spike. 

"About 3, maybe 4 if she's up all night."

Spike hummed. "Ok, there is a 3-quarter cup scoop in the bucket, give her 3 scoops for every meal with twice as much water. I'll give you a large bottle and nipple. Use warm water and let it cool to simulate your body temp. Next you must create a disassociation between her and nursing. I learned that if you hold a baby differently it helps, but I don't think that applies to your situation, so try to avoid bringing her into places you've nursed her before, your room, the living room that sort of stuff. Then use substitutes, when she's too old for the bottle, give he a sippy cup, and slowly give her less formula and start adding more food during meals. But to start off with, I recommend that you shorten her nursing sessions and start giving her the bottle." Said Spike. 

Pear was shocked. "Spike, how do you know all this?" Asked Pear.

Spike shrugged. "Mammals all have similar basic ideas of child development, that just occurs at different times. Female has child, mother protects child, feeds it, loves it. When it’s time, child needs to live on its own, so mother leaves. You’re in the middle of stage two and three, and she's not sure about stage three which is why she wants to stay at two. The fact that you have been giving into her stubbornness needs to stop as well. I know you love her, but if she's hungry, you need to show her that there are alternative food choices aside from you."

Pear shook her head. "No, I got that part, how did you learn about all of this?" Asked Pear. 

"Oh, my world has a few classes to learn stuff like this, I know how to provide the basics for lizards and birds, many mammals including horses, dogs, cats and rodents. But I also took a geology class to help with Yona, a marine biology class for Sand Bar, my grandfather’s stuff for dragons, ghost, and demons, and for all the others I just ask the parents, in case I ever get another client. Plus my degree required me to go through a few classes about early child development, so I know a lot about babies." Said Spike, he then pulled out AJ's tool. "Now, let me get that stone out of your hoof." Said Spike.

"Oh, wow, um it's on the back right, if you don't mind?" 

Spike smiled. "I'll have it out in no time flat, just don't kick me or fall, I like life." Said Spike. 

Pear giggled at the little joke. "I'll try my best." 

Spike moved down to the hoof in question and Pear lifted it up to let Spike look. "Ok, the good news is I can get it out, the bad news is it's stuck in the frog and it's deep. This might hurt a little." Said Spike. 

"Spike, I've had three foals, this is nothing compared to that."

"And I've been tossed through a wall, burned by a dragon, cut by a harpy, turned into a chicken, bitten by a wolf, crushed by a golem, drained by a succubus, stabbed, possessed, and I still cry over a hang nail." Said Spike, but then he smiled. "And there we go." Said Spike. 

Pear was confused. "Wait, you got it out?" Spike nodded. "But I didn't feel anything?" 

Spike shrugged. "That's the point, I'm betting that everything I mentioned made you think about how much pain that would bring. So, when I popped the stone out, you felt like I pinched you. My mother used to do the same thing when I used to get a shot. She made up stories about how the doctor got kicked in the jaw, punched in the face, broken a tooth, and it distracted me enough that I didn't even notice I got the shot." Said Spike. "But the best part was, the doctor was an old female boxer so all of that really happened to her." Said Spike. 

Pear looked at Spike. "Spike, you humans are weird."

Spike shrugged. "You’re in a magical daycare with links to the fifteen known worlds, talking to a human that has survived all of that. Pear, weird doesn't even describe my life." Said Spike. "But I think it's time for AJ to get home. Remember 3 scoops per meal and double the water. Also try getting one of the others to feed her, if you’re not there, she just might have to eat food." Said Spike. 

Pear nodded as she took the bucket of formula and the horse bottle and nipple. Spike opened the door and let Pear go first. She looked at AJ. "Sorry about that AJ. I needed to get some help from Spike, I got a stone in my hoof."

AJ nodded. "Yeah, that stinks, but Spike got one out of my hoof today too." 

Pear gasped. "He did, that's so great. Come on, let’s go see everyone. Granny's making her apple cobbler and Pa's making tomato soup with hay." 

AJ gasped as she ran for the door. Spike laughed at AJ. "Bottomless pit that loves food." Said Spike. 

Pear nodded. "Yep. Thanks for the advice Spike, Apple Bloom is something different, AJ just ate everything, and Mac didn't struggle when I cut him off, so having a better idea is a great tool." 

Spike smiled. "Don't worry Pear, you’re the tool for 99.9999% of problems. I'm just the last .0001%." 

Pear smiled as she opened the door to the daycare and walked out with AJ. 

Spike sighed as it was time for another long night. He looked at Cadance. "Cadance give me five minutes to get everything ready for tonight and then we can talk." 

Cadance smiled. "Sure, but didn't you need to introduce Celestia to Pear, Posey, and Cookie?" Asked Cadance. 

Spike groaned as he felt like an idiot. "See this is why I pay you; you remember stuff when I don't."

Cadance giggled. "Oh, and here I thought it was for my looks and personality."

Spike laughed. "That's like the fifth reason why I hired you." Said Spike. Cadance blushed when she heard that. 'Holy cow, did I just say that?' Thought Cadance. Spike shrugged. "Well, just remind me tomorrow, ok?" Cadance nodded. Spike smiled. "Cool." He looked to Celestia. "Celestia, head down stairs, grab a projector for me and the canister titled Talonbolts SD. Me and Cadance are going to pick up the place." Celestia nodded. 

"What about me Spike?" Asked Rainbow.

Spike looked down at the little harpy. "Well, first I'm thinking we get you something to eat. Then we have two choices, we head to my place and use the screen, or we stay here and use the wall to watch the film." 

Rainbow Dash hummed in thought. "Will you make popcorn?"

"Only if you eat all your dinner." Said Spike. 

Rainbow smiled. "Let’s go to your house then." Said Rainbow. 

Spike nodded. "Ok, I'll leave the door open, so your dad knows where to go." Said Spike. He looked at Celestia and Cadance. "Your both free to join us, I make a mean salmon." Said Spike.

Celestia shook her head. "Sorry Spike, Luna should be home soon from class and I need to get our dinner ready."

Spike nodded. "Ok, get the projector and once everything is done your good to leave." Spike looked at Cadance. "What about you Cadance?" Asked Spike. 

"Sure, I don't mind." Said Cadance. 

Spike smiled. "Ok, that's the plan then. Do you want to head home and grab something before I shut the link down?" Asked Spike. 

"Yeah, I'm going to go change really quick once we're done." Said Cadance. 

Spike nodded. "Ok." He looked at Rainbow. "Rainbow, give me like 5 minutes to make sure everything is in order in the back and then we'll head to my place." Rainbow nodded.





It took everyone five minutes to have the whole daycare ready for tomorrow. Spike smiled at his life's work. "Ok, we're all done for the night." Said Spike. 

Celestia smiled. "Cool, then I'm going home, have a nice night everyone." Said Celestia. 

"Night Celestia." Said Spike. 

"I'm going to head to my place really quick, I'll be right back." Said Cadance as she got out her key and turned the head till home showed up, she opened the door and showed a teenager’s bedroom. She walked in and closed the door. How you may be asking did Cadance's key do that, well Spike kinda upgraded his spare and linked it to Cadance's bedroom door. But the key is not as powerful as Spike's, because of the impromptu connection break from Spike, the link only works one way, from the daycare to the room and it only lasts for 15 minutes. If she stayed in her room for longer than that,  she would be stuck there without her car. So, she drives home every night but uses the key when she forgets something, or she needs to change.

Spike smiled at Rainbow and picked her up. "Come on, let’s get your PJs on." Said Spike as he carried her to the back room. Spike pulled out a pair of leg warmers for Rainbow and helped her slip them on to her legs. Being covered in feathers had an advantage, but harpy legs are very sensitive to cold, so they needed a way to cover them, so leg warmers. But Spike always let her have a warm blanket as well. Once she was ready, her and Spike did one last check of the back room and walked out into the play area. Spike closed the door and used his key to send them back to his apartment. 

Spike placed Rainbow down on the couch an grabbed the remote. This wasn't the first time he had brought one of the kids to his apartment, and after blocking some of the more graphic channels, Spike always let the kids watch something nice while he cooked for them. "So, Rainbow, what do you want to watch while I cook?" Asked Spike.

"MythBusters!" Cheered Rainbow. Spike smiled as he changed the channel. Each of the girls and all the kids that have had to stay late, liked a show or channel. Rainbow liked explosions and action so MythBusters is her favorite show, while Fluttershy, Sunset and Sandbar like Animal Planet. AJ likes family comedies, Rarity loved drama's or QVC, Twilight like the Science Channel, Pinkie loves to watch cartoons. Both Ember and Smolder love to watch the cooking shows, of all things. Sunshine and Moonlight were into cartoons and soap operas, respectfully, and Yona liked to watch National Geographic's. So, Spike being the responsible one, kept up to date with all the shows to make sure they were appropriate for younger viewers.

"Tonight, on MythBusters, we see if swearing helps distract from pain." Said the announcer. 

"Nope." Said Spike as he changed the channel to National Geographic's.

"As we see here, the male lion mounts his-Nope." Interrupted Spike as he turned it to a cooking show. "And this is how you prep a chicken."

Spike groaned. "Tonight, on Battle Bots, we have Lock Jaw vs Minotaur." 

Spike looked at Rainbow. "Rainbow. I'm sorry but this is the best thing on tonight, but it should be cool to watch." Said Spike. 

But she wasn't listening, instead she was looking at the battle bots in the ring. "So cool." Said Rainbow. 

Spike shrugged. "I'll start dinner then." Said Spike.
> The Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Cadance walked into the apartment, she was dressed in a short sleeve pink shirt and a pair of sweat pants with her hair done up in a ponytail. She walked over to Rainbow to see what she was watching on the TV. "Hey Rainbow, anything good on?" Asked Cadance. 

Rainbow nodded as she watched a battle bot getting smashed by a hammer trap. "Shh, robot fighting." Said Rainbow as she barely noticed Cadance. 

Cadance giggled at the little girls transfixed attention on the TV. She got up from the couch and walked over to Spike, he was searing the salmon in one pan and simmering a bunch of green beans in another. It smelled wonderful and it just showed that Spike was the perfect guy. Cadance giggled as she pictured seeing Spike cooking dinner for them every night, then they would spend their time together after work curled up on the couch watching TV or a movie, and when it was time for bed, she could cuddle up to him until he asked if she wanted to have some late night fun, and of course she was ready for it when they both felt like they were ready to move on to that kind of relationship.

Spike noticed that Cadance was standing still and giggling like a fool. "Man, I must be doing something right if I can get girls to giggle like that from my cooking alone." Said Spike as he started plating the food. This was enough to snap Cadance out of her giggle fit, and when she noticed that she had been like that for how long she was, she blushed. 'Oh no, he must think I'm weird.' Thought Cadance.

Spike brought three plates over to a little dinner table behind the couch where Rainbow was sitting and placed down the plates. He pulled out the remote and turned off the TV right before the match was over, this made the harpy cry. "No, I need to see who won." She looked at Spike. "Spike, please turn it back on?" Begged Rainbow. 

Spike smiled. "Don't worry Dash, I paused it." Said Spike, Rainbow sighed in relief. "But the food is getting cold, so go wash your wings."

Rainbow nodded. "Can I have a soda with dinner?" Asked Rainbow. 

"No, you get milk." Said Spike. "You can have a soda with the popcorn." Said Spike.

Rainbow sighed but nodded. 'One soda is better than none.' Thought Rainbow as she walked over to Spike's sink and washed her wings. 

Spike looked at Cadance and looked at her. "You too." Said Spike. Cadance nodded as she was raised to wash her hands before a meal, so this was nothing new to her. "And a glass of milk as well." Ok, that was.

Cadance looked at Spike. "I'm not a kid, why do I have to have milk?" Asked Cadance.

Spike laughed. "Because I don't have any nice white wine, and your still underage."

"But I'll be 21 in two months." Said Cadance.

"And I'll be sure to throw a party for you if Pinkie doesn't throw one beforehand. But until you turn 21 you don't get to drink." Said Spike.

Cadance groaned as she really hated that about Spike, but also admired him for it, he was dead set in his rules and never let anything slide. But he still was a buzz kill when he wanted to be.

Spike noticed Cadance's sour face and chuckled. "20 years old in body, 21 in mind, but 6 at heart." Said Spike as he walked over to the fridge, he pulled out the gallon of milk and three glasses. He poured the milk and placed the cups on the table. He walked back and returned the milk, then he walked over to the sink and washed his hands. 

Now that everyone was scrubbed it was time for the trio to have a nice dinner. Spike walked over to the table and looked at the dropped jaws of his two dining companions. "Yeah, I know it’s not much but it's the best I had ready on such short notice." Said Spike.

He made a Green Garlic Salmon with zucchini ribbon & mixed green salad and a bowl of roasted green beans. 



Making sure to give Rainbow the largest salmon filet he had, because even at 4 years old, Rainbow could out eat a human like Cadance, or a quarter dragon like Spike, who needed to eat more than any human. But his mother was even worse than Spike, she could make a full 20 serving thanksgiving dinner last only two servings. That's why his father started to make 2 20-pound turkeys for the day. Scorpan just called it a healthy appetite, Spike calls it a dragon's appetite.

Spike looked at the little harpy staring at the salmon filet with hunger. "Well, don't just look at it, eat it." Said Spike as he grabbed his fork and started to dig in. Rainbow didn't need to be told twice as she started chowing down on the great meal. Cadance sighed as she couldn't resist the great food as well. 





Once the little family was finished eating, Spike plopped Rainbow and Cadance on the couch so he could clean up the kitchen and go to his room to change out of his work clothes. Cadance looked at Rainbow, she was nowhere near as full as she could be, but that was fine, she could get filled on the popcorn. But Rainbows stomach wasn't her biggest concern right now. "Hey Rainbow, can you do me a favor?" Asked Cadance. 

Rainbow looked up from Battle Bots and nodded. "Sure Cadance, what do you need?"

Cadance shook her head. "I need you to promise me that you won't tell any of the girls, and I need a Pinkie Promise."

Rainbow gulped. A Pinkie Promise was no joke, if you broke one, you had to face the wrath of an angry slime girl. "I promise, cross my slime, hope to fly, stick a cup cake in my slime eye." Said Rainbow, there was no going back now. 

Cadance took a deep breath. "I have a crush on Spike." Said Cadance.

Rainbow gave Cadance a dead pan look, and for a 4-year-old that was impressive. "Really, is that it?" Asked Rainbow. 

"What do you mean is that it?" 

Rainbow shrugged. "What, everyone at the daycare knows you have a crush on Spike, well maybe not Rarity, but me, AJ, Pinkie, Twi, and Flutters, knew, and I bet even Celestia and Moondancer know, you don't hide it that well."

Cadance dropped her jaw at the fact that she was that open. She looked at Rainbow. "Rainbow, I'm planning to ask Spike out tonight, and I'm kinda nervous, can you help me?" Asked Cadance, completely forgetting that Rainbow was a 4-year-old and she was 20. But in her defense, they had the same amount of experience.

Rainbow nodded. "Well, when dad wants to take mom out for dinner, he always brings home a clam, and not just any clam a really big clam from the ocean. That might work for you." Said Rainbow, she was completely unaware that the clam was always just the dinner they ate at home, what made it special, was clam is Windy's favorite meal, after Rainbow was asleep and their cove had been covered, they would go out to enjoy each other's company.

Cadance sighed. 'Right she's a harpy and the real big detail, she's 4.' Thought Cadance. "That won't work, we're 100 miles from the beach." Said Cadance. 

Rainbow hummed. "Well, I know a few chicks my age that gave the boys one of their feathers because they liked them." Said Rainbow. 

Cadance nodded. 'Ok, better.' Thought Cadance. Harpy courtship was something Scorpan had learned long ago, it had 5 stages, the first was feathers, if you liked a harpy, you gave them one of your feathers. Two was preening each other. Third was the jump, where both Harpies tie one of their wings and link together, then jump off a cliff, if they both fly, than their pretty much married in the eyes of the harpy world, if they plummet, it pretty much means its not going to work out. Something about supporting each other. Thankfully this was always held over the ocean, so no one dropped to their death. After the jump, there was build a nest or find a cove, and lastly have an egg. There were a few other steps, but those were shared between all races. "Ok, but I don't exactly have any feathers." Said Cadance. 

Rainbow sighed. "Right, and we just ate dinner, so cooking for him is not a good idea." 

Cadance groaned. "How do I tell him that I think he's a great guy, someone I want to get to know outside of work, a great cook, smart, kind, cute, a playful idiot, great with kids, and a hundred other things that I don't know the words to?" Cadance sighed as she just wanted to unload her feelings. "I know how great he is, and it's plain to anyone who's met him for a second that he's someone out of a lot of leagues, especially mine. What would he say if I even get the nerve to ask him out, and if he said yes, I don't know if I could even make him happy, I'm just a normal 20-year-old, living with her parents."

Spike chuckled. "Yeah, your right on most of that, but calling you normal, that's where I draw the line." Said Spike.

Cadance gasped as she slowly turned around to look at Spike. "Um, how much of that did you hear?"

Spike smirked. "The acoustics in my place are really great, but needing a Pinkie Promise, isn't that a little overkill?" Said Spike as he took a seat on the couch with Rainbow and Cadance.

Cadance blushed hard at hearing that Spike had heard the whole thing. "But again, you, normal, that's funny." Said Spike laughing. "The only woman to stare down a Demon like it was nothing, the only woman to hold down a sharp Rainbow..." This made Rainbow blush in embarrassment. "The only woman to just accept what we do as life, I hardly call that normal. Besides, you're just as smart as me, probably even smarter, you're great with the kids and they love you just as much as they love you. You're kind, not as great a cook, but I'll teach you if you want, and 1000 other things that I don't know the word for. But normal is definitely not one of them. But there is one little problem." 

"And that is?" Asked Cadance fearing the worst.

"I don't know where to take you for our date." Said Spike. 

Cadance blushed at how her planned confession turned into a confessional with a 4-year-old harpy, but beggars can't be choosers. She looked at Spike. "Um... How about we go to the Tasty Treat, I kinda got free food from there for a while." 

Spike shrugged. "That sounds great, but seems a little too normal for a weird pair as us. I'll talk to a friend of mine before we open, he owes me one and can probably get us a table at his place in Equestria, you good with that?" Asked Spike.

Cadance smiled as she nodded. "How fancy are we talking?" Asked Cadance.

"Just make sure you bring your A game, because I'll bring mine." 

Cadance giggled. "Oh, too bad. My A game is at the cleaners, I'll just have to bring my A+ game and really knock your socks off."

Spike laughed. "It's a date then."

Cadance nodded, but then she thought of something. 'What, I was going to ask him out, how did it turn into him asking me out?' Thought Cadance as she was trying to wrap her head around that.

This earned a laugh from Spike. "And there is the Cadance I know." Said Spike as he looked down at the little Harpy who was a little bored at watching the adults talk. "Sorry for being so boring Rainbow. But I know the perfect way to make up for that." Said Spike as he turned the TV onto something that he knew Rainbow loved to watch.

"Today on MythBusters, the gang see if a water heater can be a rocket." Said The announcer. 

Rainbow gasped as she looked at the TV in anticipation. 

Spike smirked as he looked at Cadance. "Rule number 7, distractions are a useful tool when something comes up." 

Cadance sighed as she looked at Spike. "Do you just pull these rules numbers at random?" Asked Cadance.

Spike shrugged. "I'll tell you during our date. Let’s watch until Rainbow see's something explode and then we can watch the Talonbolts video." Said Spike as he placed the little girl in his lap and pulled Cadance closer to him.

Cadance blushed at being so close to Spike, but she had known him for almost a year now. She snuggled closer to him out of instinct and smiled at the fact he was cool with it. 'Holy Cow, I have a date with him!' Thought Cadance as the group watched the show.





Three hours later, Spike was sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee, while Cadance and Rainbow were passed out on the floor. The projector was off because they didn't even get halfway through the movie before Rainbow and Cadance fell asleep. Spike smiled at seeing how much his life had changed since taking over the place. Then the bell to the daycare rang. "Spike?" Yelled Bow.

Spike smiled at seeing that Bow was here, he walked over to the door and waved the male harpy into his home. Bow nodded and walked into the apartment. There he saw Cadance and Rainbow laying on the floor. Bow walked over to Spike, who had made another cup of coffee. Spike handed the coffee to the harpy. "Here." Said Spike. Bow took the coffee and took a sip. "How's Windy doing?"

Bow sighed. "She is not happy about getting darted, but when the docs looked at her wing, she quickly changed her tone. She's grounded for a week." Said Bow. 

Spike sighed. "Man, that sucks, but now I'm glad I darted her." Said Spike, he rarely cursed, and when he did, he never said it in front of the kids. 

Bow nodded. "Yeah, it does, but it's better than her needing to be splinted for a month." 

Spike nodded. "Rainbow was a great girl tonight, but she might have a little problem with the fact that she fell asleep before the movie was done. So be ready for that." 

Bow nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready for it." Said Bow as he walked over to pick up his daughter.

Bow picked up his little girl and smiled at her as he walked back to the daycare. Spike following behind. Spike looked at Bow and Rainbow. "Have a good night Bow." Said Spike as he opened the door for Bow. 

"Will do Spike, have a good one." Said Bow as he carefully grabbed Rainbow in his talons and started to fly back to his cove. 

Spike smiled as he watched his friend fly away. But the harpy world was cold, so he closed the door. Spike locked the door to the daycare and sighed as he walked back to his apartment and closed the door. Spike sighed as he looked at the asleep woman in his living room. She was too tired to drive back to her place. Spike walked over to his living room and carefully picked up Cadance, he walked over to his room and placed her in his bed. Spike sighed as he walked to his closet and pulled out his spare pillow, and a blanket. He brought both back to the living room and got cozy on the couch. Spike sighed. 'I hope I don't get any crap from Fancy Pants and Fleur tomorrow.' Thought Spike as he closed his eyes to go to sleep.
> Thursday Morning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike woke up the next morning with a groan. "Note to self, get a better couch." Said Spike as he could feel his spine pop back into place after sleeping on a rather hard leather couch. Spike looked around, and didn't hear anything around him, he sighed. "Good, Cadance is still asleep." Said Spike as he got up from the couch. He needed to get dressed and head to Equestria to discuss some matters. 

Spike walked over to his room, careful not to wake up Cadance, he grabbed his Thursday set of work clothes and a pair of underwear from his dresser. Then quietly closed the door and headed to his bathroom.

Spike walked into his bathroom and turned on the shower. "Ok, Thursday, meaning it's going to be the girls minus Pinkie, Sunshine, Moonlight, Ember, and Sunny today. Don't upset Ember and call her cute, don't grab Sunny by her barrel, make sure to have the girls dolls ready and oiled, and start a card for Pinkie." Said Spike as he looked at himself in the mirror.





20 minutes later Spike walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed and cleaned up for the day. He walked over to his room and knocked on the door. "Cadance, it's time to wake up." Said Spike.

On the other side of the room Cadance cracked her eyes open. "Man, what a weird dream, I dreamt that I was going on a date with Spike." She then noticed that her room looked very different from when she went to bed. "Hey where are my sheets?" Asked Cadance as she noticed that she wasn't in her room anymore. "Wait, where am I?"

Spike knocked. "Hey Cadance, can I come in?" Asked Spike. 

'SPIKE?' Thought Cadance. She looked around, and blushed. 'Oh crud, am I where I think I am?' 

Spike knocked again. "Cadance, are you awake?" Asked Spike.

Cadance gulped, her hair was a mess, she looked horrible first thing in the morning, and if Spike saw her, her chances with him would be ruined. "Don't come in. I'm up, don't worry."

Spike sighed. "Good, hey, I'm going to pick up some muffins from a place I know in Equestria. I'll bring some back, feel free to hang around but be back in the daycare before we open."

Cadance gulped. "Sure, no problem. Hey completely random question, did you see me while I was asleep?" 

Spike chuckled. "I'm not sure if I should lie or tell the truth. So, I'll do both and you can figure out which one was which. Yes, I did, and you looked cute, no I didn't, but you snore like a jackhammer." Said Spike as he walked away from the door.

Cadance blushed. 'I snore, but no that wouldn't matter to him, he called me cute, but maybe that was a lie, did he see me or didn't he?' Thought Cadance as she was pondering whether to hide away or blush.

Spike did see her, and he did find her cute. 





Spike walked into the daycare and walked over to the front door. He placed his right hand at the middle of the door and his left hand on the middle hinge, using his body to open the door. When he did, he walked out of the daycare and saw how the large city of Canterlot was doing. The sky was a little cloudy, and the sun was just raising over the buildings across the street. Spike sighed. "Cool, lets head to Fancy's place first." Said Spike as he started walking up the street to an old friend’s restaurant. As Spike was walking, he noticed that a few ponies were already out and about, but most avoided him. Spike sighed. 'They just don't know me that well.' Thought Spike as he took a corner, giving him a great view of Canterlot Castle, a massive building in the middle of a mountain that acted as the gathering place for all the Pony Council. Scorpan said they used to have a Queen named Lilith, but she died and wanted the ponies to switch over to a democracy, but it's a process.

Spike walked down the street and smiled when he saw one of his destinations, it was empty but from the sign they just opened. Spike walked in to the front door where he noticed a tall, very light pink unicorn mare with a light pink mane, she was standing behind the bar taking inventory. Spike walked over to the bar and took a seat. "Hey, can I get a drink?" Asked Spike. 

The mare nodded but she didn't even look at Spike. "Sure, but you have to work today so you only get coffee."

Spike shrugged. "Cool, how you been Fleur?" Asked Spike.

Fleur smiled. "Thanks to your donation, we're doing a lot better after that fire."

Spike smiled at hearing that. "Great to hear, I was worried that you would have to go back to being one of the best known models in the world, such a hard life, so much harder than running a restaurant with one of the classiest stallions in town." Said Spike. 

"Oh, trust me old boy, it was not all parties and champagne, it takes a lot of hard work to fit in to such a crowd." Said a tall white stallion with a cobalt mane and mustache. "Believe you me, it was no picnic." 

Spike sighed as he turned to greet the stallion. "Well, I find that a little hard to believe Fancy Pants, but I'll take your word for it." Said Spike.

Fancy took a seat next to his friend and smiled at his lovely wife behind the bar. "Well, I do miss seeing you after a long day of modeling, right when you let yourself free." Said Fancy. 

Fleur smiled. "But..." 

Fancy smiled even more. "But, seeing it every day is just better."

Fleur smiled. "Good boy." Said Fleur as she placed a cup of coffee on the bar for Spike. "So, what brings our favorite little human into our little eatery?" 

Spike sighed. "Well, I got a date and I was wondering if I could get a table."

Fleur hummed. "So, you finally stallioned up enough to ask Cadance out, took you a year." Said Fleur with a smirk.

Spike sighed. "Hey, it wasn't that long."

Fancy sighed. "Spike, it's been a year."

Spike sighed. "Not helping Fancy, but yes, so can I get a table for the two of us?"

Fancy hummed. "Well, let’s see, we can pencil you in at 8:30 for next month." This earned him a rag to the face by Fleur. 

"Of course, Spike, we'll get you the best table in the house, be here tonight at 8pm, and be prepared to make her smile." Said Fleur. 

Spike smiled at hearing that his friends are going to do this for him. "Thanks Fleur, I'm lucky to have you as a good friend."

Fancy looked at Spike. "What about me?" Asked Fancy. 

Spike shrugged. "Nah, you're just always around." Fancy sighed but Spike gave him a side hug. "But I still like having you around."

Fancy laughed at the little joke. "Very well, tonight it is."

Spike smiled at hearing that. "Cool." Spike then pulled out 5 bits. "Well, I need to head to Star Swirl's place to make a new key. Keep the change Fleur, and thanks for the table." Said Spike. 

Fleur smiled. "Anything for you Spike. I'm still trying to pay off my mothers’ debt to your grandfather, hospital bills are not cheap."

Spike sighed. "Fleur, why do you keep bringing that up, it was almost 60 years ago, and I'm standing here, meaning that his stuff still worked. Sure, your mother was a dancer, but she didn't kick me?"

Fleur sighed. "I know, but my mother said that she would do everything in her power to get his forgiveness, and she never did."

Spike groaned. "Well, then after tonight, your family will have his forgiveness, so say I the grandson of Scorpan."

Fleur shrugged. "Cool, now today is Thursday, you have your hands full today so you should probably get going." Said Fleur. 

Spike smiled as he walked out of the restaurant. Spike walked down the street and reached a little shop on the corner. Spike walked into the shop, the walls were covered in junk, but Spike just kept walking to the back to wake up the old stallion who owned the junk shop. Spike walked through a door and up a flight of stairs, down a hallway and to a little door with a sign on it.



GO AWAY, SPIKE ESPECIALLY! 



But Spike didn't really care, and just opened the door. "Hey old horse, I need to talk to you today." Said Spike, the room was a bed room, and in the bed there was a large lump in the sheets trying to cover itself. "Come on Star, it's been a week since I checked up on you, you know I do this."

The lump grumbled. "Spike, I'm 96 years old and I'm tired."

Spike sighed as he grabbed the sheets and pulled them off the lazy stallion. "Really, because last I checked, your time spell is still working." Said Spike as he looked at a 50 year old stallion in the bed, he had a long curled beard and a long white mane. "Besides, you ponies live for 150 years, you're still young. 

Star Swirl groaned as he sat up on his bed. "What do you want Spike?"

Spike smiled. "I need a new key for my new employee." 

Star Swirl groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "First you make me brake the spare for that girl you like, now you want me to forge a brand new key?" Spike nodded. "I really hate you."

Spike smiled. "Love you too Gramps."

Star Swirl got out of his bed and walked to the workshop in the basement, Spike following behind. "Ok, where is this one from?"

"The Elf world." Said Spike. 

Star Swirl groaned. "Ok, you know the drill, tell her to place a signal gem in her home to give me a place to center the key, is the door in the focal point still working?" 

Spike nodded. "Yep." 

Star Swirl nodded. "Good, I'll need a day to get the world frequency harmonized." Spike smiled. "But this is not cheap, the materials to make the key itself is going to burn a hole in your grandfathers safe." 

Spike nodded. "Yeah, what will it cost?"

Star Swirl hummed. "70 gems, 2000 bits, and a new item that I can display." 

Spike hummed. "How about 2500 bits, 20 gems, and a giant pearl that I got from my harpy friends, it's the size of my head."

Star Swirl hummed. "Deal, I'll come by tomorrow night to deliver and collect." 

Spike nodded. "Cool."

Star Swirl tossed Spike a purple gem with the colors of the rainbow in the middle, this was a signal gem, an artificially created gemstone that contained the energy of the door. Star Swirl and Scorpan created then, and they think that the door and the focal point were made from a natural version of it. But it's impossible to really know, seeing as the little chick egg farm was established in the early 30's, but the door in the slime world was there for hundreds of years. "Give this to this new employee, and tell them to place it near the door they want to make the point." Said Star Swirl.

Spike nodded. "Got it." Suddenly a large clock chimed upstairs. "Oh, I got to go old man, I'll see you tomorrow." Said Spike as he rushed out of the shop, it was 7 O'clock and Spike still needed to pick up some muffins for Celestia and Cadance. 

Star Swirl sighed. "He's too much like you Scorpan." Said Star Swirl as he smiled slightly.





When Spike returned to the daycare he was out of breath and carrying a box of muffins in his hands. He just ran across Canterlot in a matter of 20 minutes to make sure that he was on time. "Made it." Said Spike huffing. 

Cadance opened the back room door, the back was still Spike's home. Cadance looked at Spike, and he looked back. "Hi." Said Cadance. 

"Sup, hey do me a favor, head to Canterlot and pick up my lung, I lost it while I was running." Said Spike. 

Cadance giggled. "Nah, you're a dragon, you'll live with one." Said Cadance as she helped Spike to his feet. 

Spike smiled. "Thanks, Cadance, is 8 tonight good with you?" Asked Spike. 

Cadance nodded. "Sure, that sounds great." 

Spike smiled. "Good, these are for you and Celestia when she gets here." Said Spike as he handed Cadance the box.

Cadance smiled as she took the box. "Thanks Spike."





5 minutes later, Spike was back to normal, and Cadance was enjoying her muffin and coffee, when the door to the daycare opened and in walked Celestia, she was dressed in her uniform and her hair was tied back into a ponytail. "Spike, Cadance are you guys here?" Asked Celestia. 

"In the back Celestia." Said Spike. 

Celestia walked into the back area and smiled at her boss and coworker. "Good morning everyone." 

Spike smiled as he lifted his coffee. "Morning, I got your key ordered, and tonight place this near the door that you want to be the exit point." Said Spike as he tossed the gem to Celestia. "Also, I'll be taking 3 gold marks out of your pay for the key to be made." 

Celestia nodded. "Yes, I remember, and that is fine."

Spike nodded. "Good, come sit down and have a muffin. I need to get some stuff done before all the kids start showing." Said Spike as he got out of his seat and walked down to the basement.

Celestia looked at Cadance. "So, you haven't said a word, did you ask Spike out or not?"

Cadance blushed, she didn't, but she kinda did. "We have a date tonight." Said Spike as he could hear the question. Cadance blushed even harder at the smile Celestia was sporting.

"Well congratulations, Cadance, I hope you have a great time with him." Said Celestia.

Cadance's phone chimed which halted the teasing. Cadance grabbed her phone and gulped, it was her father. "Hello Daddy, what's up?"

"Where have you been Cadance, you never came home last night?" Asked Sombra. 

"I had to stay for a kid dad, her mother got hurt and needed to go to the doctors. Spike was exhausted because one of the other kids had to stay the night before, so I offered to stay with him and help."

"And you didn't come home because?" 

"Um... I kinda fell asleep with the little girl and when her father came and got her, it was late, so Spike let me stay with him." 

"Let me talk to him." Said Sombra. 

Cadance gulped. "Come on Daddy, nothing happened, he placed me in his bed, and he slept on the couch."

"Mi Amore Cadenza, let me talk to Spike." Said Sombra. Cadance gulped as she imagined her father sitting on his chair with a bat in his hand, ready to kill Spike. 

Spike sighed as he snatched her phone from her. "Mr. Umbra, it's nice to hear your voice, what can I do for you?"

"Listen to me Spike, I love my little girl, I was worried about her, so if you have to take care of a child past closing, please inform me so I don't stay up half the night worried about if she got into a car wreck on her way home." 

Spike nodded. "Of course, I should still have your number in my list, sorry for the inconvenience, the request was a little sudden. Hey quick question, I have a date with her tonight, what are her favorite type of flower?"

"YOU HAVE A WHAT!?" Yelled Sombra.

"Oh, never mind, Cadance told me it's daisies. Thanks for the talk." Said Spike.

"IF YOU MAKE HER CRY, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN, TOSS YOU INTO A SUPERMAX, AND COVER IT UP IN SO MUCH RED TAPE THEY WILL NEVER SEE THE TRUTH UNTILL YOU'RE 90!"

Spike nodded. "Cool, have a nice day." Said Spike as he handed the phone back to Cadance. "Well, I'm pretty sure I got the ok about the date tonight, he even gave me the you hurt her speech." 

Cadance sighed. "Spike, why are you like this?"

Spike smirked. "You bring the weird out of me."

Cadance sighed. "Spike, can I ask you something really serious for a moment?" 

Spike nodded. "Sure, what's up Cadance?"

Cadance gulped. "Um... Saffron wanted to know if she could come see the daycare?" Asked Cadance, not sure if Spike will get angry.

Spike shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind." 

This threw Cadance for a loop. "Wait, really?"

Spike nodded. "Well, yeah, I can trust her, I trusted you didn't I?" Asked Spike. 

Cadance blushed. "Well, you kinda didn't have a choice."

Spike nodded. "Yes, but trust is only found when faced with adversity, but can last long pass it." Said Spike very sagely.  

Cadance smiled. "Yeah, but pull back the new age guru talk. We have kids incoming any moment now." Suddenly the bell tied to the door rang. Cadance sighed. "That was too convenient."

Spike hummed. "The universe works in weird ways, that is why we are here."

Cadance sighed. "Oh, zip it and go greet the kid." Spike nodded and got out of his seat.
> They Arrive Pt.3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the start of the day, came the start of the daily greeting of the kids. Spike walked into the main area to see who was going to be the first one of the day. "Good morning." Said Spike, but before he could get another word out, his face was wrapped into a little white demon hug that sent him to the ground.  

"Nummy." Said a little demon succubus hybrid baby.

The next thing Spike heard was the sound of Cookie screaming. "Sweetie Belle, no!" She ran over to Spike and pried her baby off Spike before she did any damage to his soul. "Bad, Spike is not food."

Sweetie looked at her mother. "No, Nummy." Said the little baby. 

Then there was another gasp in the shop as Hondo walked in with Rarity. "SPIKE?!" Yelled Rarity as she flew out of her father’s arms and rushed over to Spike. "Darling, speak to me."

Spike sighed. "Good morning, everyone." Said Spike as he got to his feet.

Cookie looked at Spike. "Spike, are you ok?"

Spike shook his head to focus. "Sure, I'll be fine, but I'm very sure Rarity's vocabulary is more developed." He then looked at the little demon in Cookie's arms. "Ok, either I hit my head and I'm seeing a mini Rarity or that is Sweetie Belle?"

Cookie nodded. "Number two, Spike. Me and Hondo wanted to expose Sweetie Belle to the world, so we're going to make a day of it. But we still need to work later, so Rarity needs to stay today."

Spike nodded. "That's fine, did you bring them?" Asked Spike. 

Hondo nodded. "Yep, twenty-four Firestones, want me to take them to the basement like always?" 

Spike nodded. "Thanks, Hondo." Hondo nodded and walked into the back room, and down to the basement. Spike looked at the little she-demon that tried to suck his soul energy. "Well, hello there, Sweetie Belle, it's a pleasure to meet you." Said Spike as he carefully wrapped his hand around hers.

Sweetie Belle giggled. "Nummy." Said Sweetie. 

Spike smiled at the little girl. "Well, I guess your family has a thing for my soul?"

Cookie giggled. "Well, your soul is warm like the fire pits and as bright as Rarity and Sweetie."

Spike smiled at hearing that. "Well, I'll take that as a complement."

Cookie smiled. "Well, I think it's time we go to the park." Cookie looked at Rarity. "Sweetie, have a good day with Spike." 

Rarity flew up into Spike's arms and gave him a hug. "I will." Spike brought her down to Sweetie's level. She gave the little baby a kiss on the forehead. "Bye, Sweetie Belle, have a good day with mother and father."

Sweetie huffed. "No, Nummy." Said Sweetie as she tried to reach for Spike.

Cookie smiled. "Sweetie, are you hungry?" Right on cue Sweetie's belly growled in hunger, making Cookie giggle. "I'll take that as a yes." Cookie looked at Spike. "Spike, do you mind if I feed her here?" 

Spike shook his head. "Not at all, would you like to use the bathroom to do it?"

Cookie shook her head. "No, she got some of my milk this morning, she needs some of my soul now, but thank you for the offer." Demons are in many ways like mammals, they do have breasts, and they do feed their young. Succubae are no different, female succubae become wet nurses, or in the case of a demon, a fire nurse. It was still milk but heated up to five hundred degrees. But when dealing with a hybrid, like Sweetie and Rarity, it was important for them to learn to eat both soul energy and fire milk. Cookie brought Sweetie near her heart and released some of her soul for the little baby, who immediately latched herself onto her mother. Cookie looked at Spike. "So, Spike, I'm sensing a new soul in the place. Is that the little Spike snatcher Rarity was talking about last night?" Asked Cookie. 

Spike nodded. "Yes, and Rarity, you know better than to call people names." 

Rarity huffed. "No, you're mine, and she called you cute, she's trying to take you away from me."

Spike sighed. "Rarity, I'm not going anywhere, and Celestia is not going to take me away." 'Cadance on the other hand might.' Thought Spike. "Now please, do not call Celestia any more names."

Rarity sighed. "Fine, but just in case." Said Rarity as she wrapped her tail around Spike's arm.

Cookie giggled and Spike sighed. When two Succubae wrap their tails around the other's left arm near the heart, it's a sign of love and leaves a bit of the other's soul energy on their partner. Thankfully it only works if the two are Succubae and more importantly only if they both have tails. Spike looked at the little girl. "Rarity, you need to stop doing that, you're a little girl, and I'm 25."

Rarity shrugged. "Age is but a number, when love is involved. Mommy told me that." Spike shot Cookie a glare. 

Cookie shrugged. "What, it’s true, I'm only seven hundred and thirty, Hondo is one thousand five hundred and sixty-two."

Spike nodded. "Yes, but I'm only going to live for around ninety years, not three thousand,” whispered Spike. He didn't have the heart to tell Rarity the truth; she still thought that all creatures lived to be the same age, which was untrue. Demons and Dragons live around three to four thousand years, Ponies live around one hundred and fifty years give or take, Humans live only eighty to a hundred, Spike might get a little more, but he wasn't sure. Slimes just kinda don't die and are born when they just drop off their parents. Centaurs live for a hundred years if they are healthy. Harpies aren't as lucky, only getting seventy years. Fairies are long living to the ripe old age of two hundred and fifty years, and the longest living creature in Spike's care was Yona; golems only die if they are smashed or if they erode. Heck, she was seven thousand years old, and still a baby.

Cookie nodded. "Yes, I know." Said Cookie. 

Spike sighed. "Hey Rarity, do you mind if me and your mother have a grown up talk really quick?"

Rarity huffed. "No, I wanna stay."

Spike sighed. "Cadance, Celestia, can you come here?" Asked Spike. 

Celestia was the only one to come out of the back. "Right here, Spike, Cadance is helping Hondo load up the FSPG. What can I do for you?" 

Spike nodded. "Well, first, I’m glad you got to meet Hondo, this is his wife and Rarity's mother, Cookie Crumbles."

Celestia smiled. "It's nice to meet you, my name is Celestia Solaris. Ms. Cookie, you do know that there's a little thing on your chest, right?" 

Cookie nodded. "Yes, this is Sweetie Belle, she's just eating right now, and it's lovely to meet you dear."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you." She looked at Spike. "So, what did you need Spike?"

Spike pointed to Rarity. "Can you get her off? I need to talk to Cookie about some stuff." 

Celestia nodded. "Come on, Rarity. Besides, what they're going to talk about is probably boring, and might I say, that skirt you made me yesterday was fabulous! I showed it to my sister, and she was so jealous." 

Rarity looked at Celestia. "Really?" 

Celestia nodded. "Oh, I swore she was green with envy. What other ideas can you make?" Asked Celestia. 

Rarity smiled as she flew to the ground to show Celestia some of her other designs. "Well, I'm pretty good with shirts, maybe I can make your sister a shirt?" 

Celestia smiled. "Well, that would be great." The 2 then walked off to the play area so Rarity could show some of her fabrics to the elf.

Spike sighed at Cookie. "Cookie, I need your help."

Cookie was a little taken back by his change in tone. "Ok, Spike, calm down, I'll do my best, just tell me what's going on."

Spike smiled. "I have a date with Cadance tonight, and I'm pretty much going into it blind."

Cookie was surprised. "Ok, wow, I was just waiting for it to happen, but I thought… Never mind, tell me what you have planned." 

Spike nodded. "Ok, we're going to dinner tonight in the pony world."

Cookie nodded. "Ok, Spike. I'm going to tell you something that will help you in life. First, compliment her dress, her hair, heck if she suddenly turns into a chicken, you compliment her feathers. Second, don't do the cliché and order for her, she's smart and can order for herself. Third, if it comes down to it, be the guy that pays for dinner. She will try and offer to pay for some of it, but don't let her, that's how my first boyfriend got a glass of magma wine tossed into his face, cheapskate. Fourth, can you dance?"

Spike nodded. "Yes, but only a little, nothing too fancy."

Cookie nodded. "Good, if they do have music, and she seems interested, don't be a coward and say no, she's already agreed to a date, five minutes of dancing isn't going to change anything, and if it does, she isn't right for you. Next, what about after dinner, do you have plans?" 

Spike shook his head. "No, we were just going to call it a night there." 

Cookie nodded. "Good, I know you two know each other very well, but don't jump into that, it's best to take your time, and make sure you both are ready for it. But I recommend that you take her home, can you do that?"

Spike shook his head. "Cookie, my place is linked to the doors, Cadance has a key as well, but hers is a spare that can only go to her place and only lasts for 15 minutes. She normally drives to the door’s location in our world." 

Cookie sighed. "Ok, what about letting her stay at your place for the night?"

Spike nodded. "That I can do. Rainbow had to stay last night, and she stayed in my room, while I took the couch." 

Cookie smiled. "Good, you took the couch. Ok the last thing I'm going to tell you, and this is the most important, just be yourself, don't try to be a romantic guy. If she wanted that she wouldn't be on a date with you. Just make her see you, not someone you want her to see."

Spike sighed. "So, just do what comes naturally?"

Cookie gasped. "My word, a man that actually figured it out, there is hope."

Spike smiled. "Thanks, Cookie, you and Hondo are one of the best couples I know, so…"

Cookie placed her finger on his mouth. "Spike, I'm not going to lie, our lives are not perfect. We work all day, we have two wonderful children that are too young to do anything without our help, and we don't always see eye to eye on matters, but that is what a real relationship is, ups and downs, happy and mad, give and take, but a long happy relationship is built on going through all of that together."

Spike nodded. "Hondo is lucky to have someone like you in his life." 

Hondo smiled as he placed a hand on Spike's shoulder. "Yeah, I really am, but a little advice, Spike, from a guy that's been married for three hundred years: if she's mad, just shut up, let her vent, and if she's mad at you, just nod and say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and truly mean it, they can tell when you don't." 

Spike chuckled. "No, I knew that, my dad did teach me something."

Hondo chuckled. "Good, and she's a good girl, you two should be happy together." 

Spike smiled. "Yeah." 

Hondo looked at Cookie. "Well, shall we, my lovely little sweet?"

Cookie giggled. "Hey, what about me?"

Hondo smirked. "What, you know how strong she is, she's not letting go until she's done." Hondo then used his long tail to pull Cookie closer to him. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to ever forget you, my she-demon." 

Cookie smiled. She then looked to Rarity, who was showing Celestia some of her designs. "Rarity, Daddy and I are leaving, have a good time." 

Rarity nodded and gave a little wave. Hondo smiled. "That's the best we're going to get from her." Hondo smiled at Spike. "Have a good day, Spike." 

Spike nodded as he watched Hondo, Cookie, and Sweetie leave. Spike sighed as he turned to see Cadance standing in the back door and he walked over to her. "So… How much did you hear?" Asked Spike. 

Cadance smiled. "I'm going in blind."

Spike blushed. "Ok, and any objections?"

Cadance nodded. "Just one, if I do turn into a chicken, don't do my feathers, do my beak?" 

Spike smirked. "I'll compliment the whole bird." Cadance blushed now, she wasn't expecting that answer. But before either of them could comment, the door opened, and Pear walked into the daycare looking for Spike.

"Spike, where are you?" Asked Pear. 

Spike gulped. "Cadance if I die, you're stuck with the place." Said Spike as he ran over to Pear. Cadance smiled at hearing that Spike trusted her enough to take ownership of the daycare. 





Spike walked over to Pear and AJ. "Good morning, Pear, AJ. How are you two doing today?" Asked Spike. 

Pear smiled as she pulled the slightly shorter man into a tight hug. "You are an Apple, I don't care, you're part of the family from now on." 

Spike was confused, and thankful that Bright Mac wasn't here to see this. "Pear, air?" begged Spike. Pear gasped as she let Spike out of the hug. Spike took a few deep breaths and once his lungs were no longer on fire, he looked at Pear. "Ok, why did you almost kill me?" 

Pear looked sheepish. "Hey AJ, can Mommy talk to Spike in private?"

AJ nodded. "Sure Ma, I'll go talk to Rarity." Said AJ as she walked over to her little demon friend. 

Pear looked at Spike. "Spike, last night was the first time since Apple Bloom was born that I didn't stay up half the night with sore…" Pear blushed as she didn't think how quickly this was going to go into personal territory.

Spike sighed and grabbed Pear’s hand. "Cadance don't die, I'll be in the back." Cadance nodded as she waved at Pear, who waved back as she was getting pulled by Spike. 

When Spike and Pear got into the back room, Spike looked at Pear. "Ok, none of the kids are listening." 

Pear sighed. "Last night was the best night sleep I've gotten since Apple Bloom was born. She did wake me up to feed her, but she went straight for the formula you gave me. I didn't stay up all night because of sore nipples, I didn't have to worry about her teeth, and this morning, I actually didn't have to be in the room to feed her, Bright Mac did it."

Spike smiled at hearing that. "Great to hear. That bucket should last you a month or so, but just in case, I'll go buy a second one this weekend. How is everything else going on the farm?" 

Pear smiled, because she could remember this morning. "Well, Granny is actually going to see some relatives in the south, Bright Mac is watching Bloom until I get back, but then he's going to the fields to start plowing. Macintosh got a little over eager yesterday and Mac found him passed out in the orchard. He's fine, but he was dead tired from all that practicing. As for me, I'm going to find a nice book, get a large glass of iced tea, and put Bloom down for her nap, and enjoy the first ounce of me-time I've had since Macintosh showed up." 

Spike smiled at hearing that his friend was doing so much better after one good night of sleep. "Well, that's great to hear. Seriously, if any one deserves it, it's you. But Pear, may I ask you one question?" Pear nodded. "Why didn't you ask for help from your mother?" Asked Spike. 

Pear looked away. "I don't talk to my family much anymore." 

Spike figured out rather quickly that he was treading on glass. "Ok, say no more, but if you ever need to talk about this, I'm pretty sure I can get Cadance to not destroy the place for a little while." 

Pear smiled at Spike. "Spike, please stop me if this sounds weird, but would you have dated me if I was younger and didn't have kids?"

Spike looked at Pear. "Ok, is there some really weird centaur thing I'm missing?"

Pear sighed. "No, I'm just wondering, I love Bright Mac, almost as much as I love my babies, but if I was single, about 30 years younger, and I just happened to walk into the place, would you have asked me out?"

Spike blushed. "Ok, I'm not really sure if I should answer that question. But hypothetically, yes, without a doubt, you are beautiful, kind, and funny, and Bright Mac is a lucky guy."

Pear smiled. "Sweet, Bright Mac owes me a hoof rub."

Spike was confused. "Centaur say what now?"

Pear smiled at Spike. "Well, Spike, lately I’ve noticed that I'm not the same young mare as I was before the kids. But Mac kept saying that it didn't matter to him, he still loves me. So, I told him that if I could get a guy to agree to a date with me, as a joke of course, that he would have to give me a hoof rub, and I won." Said Pear smiling. 

Spike was still confused. "Ok, and what would have happened if I said no?"

Pear shivered. "I would have to walk into town and do a pig call until the cows came home."

"Y'all are some weird centaurs,” said Spike.

Pear shrugged. "Yeah, but we're happy." She then leaned down and gave Spike a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for being truthful,” said Pear, she then opened the door and said goodbye to AJ, before walking out of the daycare to enjoy some her time, leaving Spike confused, but he didn't have that much time because the sound of growling echoed into the daycare.

Spike sighed as that was Sunset and her parents, he needed to make sure nothing happened. 





Spike ran into the daycare with a spray bottle in his hand. It was filled with water and wasn’t for Sunset, but for her parents, Solar Glare and his mate Horizon. Both six and a half feet tall when standing on their back legs, Solar Glare had a dark red coat and tail, with cyan eyes, and a foot long muzzle full of teeth. Horizon was a little smaller, but no less dangerous. She had black fur and deep blue eyes. And whimpering behind her daddy was Sunset Shimmer, a 4 year old pup whose fur was more like her father’s, but the tip of her tail was just as black as her mother’s. She also had heterochromia, leaving her right eye blue like her mother's and her left like her father’s.

Spike walked over to the adults and sprayed them in the face. "No, I told you both this was going to happen on Monday, and you said you would behave.”

Horizon whimpered as she snapped out of her pack protective instincts. "Spike, we're sorry." Said Horizon, she shot her mate a glare and bit his neck. "Solar, snap out of it."

Solar Glare growled, but soon came to his senses, he groaned. "We did it again didn't we?" Asked Solar, Spike nodded. "Spike, please forgive us. We’ve been working hard to control the instinct, but it's hard."

Spike nodded as he walked over to the male and gave him a scratch on the back of his head. "Don't worry, Solar, no one got hurt, and I'm not trying to wrestle you to the ground, so I call that a win." Solar was wagging his tail. Spike had an interesting relationship with the Shimmer Pack. He wasn't the alpha; that was Solar's father, Solar Flare, with Solar coming in second and soon to be leader. But Spike wasn't a beta either; that’s why he could do what he just did and not have his arm torn off by Horizon. The best way to explain it is Spike was accepted into the pack by Solar Flare as Solar's brother, which is weird seeing as he wasn’t either a wolf and only met the old gray wolf once. Spike looked to Solar. "Solar, are you ready to try this again?" Asked Spike. 

Solar nodded as he had his tail in-between his legs. "Yes, Spike, look, I’m really sorry about what happened."

Spike nodded. "Like I said, it's all good." Spike looked to Celestia. "Celestia, come meet Solar, Horizon and Sunny." Said Spike.

Celestia gulped and walked over to the family of wolves. "Hello, it’s nice to meet you." Horizon got close to Celestia and started sniffing her, with Solar doing the same. "Ok, this is weird." 

Spike nodded. "Oh, trust me, it gets worse." Said Spike. 

Celestia was confused, but quickly understood what Spike was talking about when she felt someone lick her neck. "What was that?" 

Horizon glared at Solar. "Solar, Spike told you to not lick the nape!" Yelled Horizon. 

Solar gulped. "Right, sorry." Solar looked at Celestia. "Sorry miss." Said Solar as he licked Celestia's face. "Ok, she's clear. Welcome to the pack, you have permission to mate with Spike."

Horizon smiled as she pulled the new member of the pack into a hug. "Oh, Spike is a sweet guy, you'll love it here."

Celestia was now beyond confused and straight into 'where did that bus that hit me go' territory. She looked at Spike for some clarification. He shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not sure how it works myself, but I'm kinda his brother and the daycare is kinda my pack, meaning I'm the alpha, and you get the rest." Celestia blushed as her world had wolves and she had learned how the hierarchy of the pack worked. "Told you it was going to get worse." Spike then noticed that his sorta niece was now hiding behind his leg. "Oh, right, sorry Sunny." Said Spike as he bent down and hooked his thumbs under her front legs, making sure to avoid her barrel. "Don't worry, Sweetie, she's part of the pack now." Said Spike as he rubbed his nose on hers. Normally a member of the pack would lick to greet others, but that wasn't going to happen, so he found the best substitute. 

Sunset stopped shaking and looked at Spike. "But, she's so big, she's bigger than Daddy." Said Sunset. 

Spike smiled as he let the little girl sit in his arms. "Well, that's no reason to judge someone, she's actually very nice. Would you like to say hi to her?"

Sunset shook her head as she buried it into Spike’s chest. "No, I don't want her making fun of my eyes."

Spike sighed as he scratched the wolf girls back. "Shh, don't worry, she would never do that, she's not like them." Two years ago, when Sunset was 2 years old, some of the other members of the pack were making fun of her eyes, so she ran away from their den, but she wasn't paying attention to where she was running and ran off a cliff, and on the fall she got a nasty cut on her barrel. At this time Spike was doing some exploring around in the wolf world because why not, he just got a magical place that can teleport you to a bunch of worlds, so yeah. But while Spike was exploring, he ran into Sunset, she was on the ground, bleeding, and hardly breathing. So of course, Spike carefully picked her up, and ran his ass back to the door to do what he could for the little girl.





"Shh, it'll be alright sweetie, I got you." Said Spike as he got into the back room and grabbed the first aid kit. "Ok, first, I need to stop the bleeding." Said Spike as he pulled out a large gauze pad and carefully applied pressure to the little pup's wound. This made her yell in pain. "Shh, it’s ok, I'm here to help, but I need you to stay calm and bear with it."

Sunset struggled, she didn't know where she was, who Spike was, and she wanted her mommy and daddy. "No, let me go!" Yelled Sunset, then she bit Spike's hand. But when she looked at Spike, he didn't do anything; he didn't yell, he didn't cry, he didn't look angry at all. All he did was just smile at her. "Why are you doing this?" Asked the little girl, but it was muffled because she was still biting Spike's hand. 

Spike smiled. "No reason not to. You were hurt, and I was nearby. What’s your name?"

"Sunset."

Spike smiled. "Spike. Now Sunny, can you move your legs?" 

Sunset moved all four of her legs and nodded. "Yes." 

Spike sighed. "Good. Now this next part is going to hurt a little, so if you need to, bite me again." Said Spike. Sunset nodded. "Ready, go." Said Spike as he started stitching the cut with the needle and thread. Sunset howled in pain and bit Spike's hand to help her deal with the pain. "Good girl, almost done, just a few more seconds." Said Spike. Two more stitches and Spike was done. "Ok, Sunny, you’re going to feel a little pressure, it's just to make sure that you're not going to bleed anymore. Can you stand up?" Asked Spike.

Sunset nodded and got to her back paws. Spike smiled as he wrapped some medical tape around the little pup’s barrel. "Good, you did a great job." Said Spike as he scratched the girl’s head. 

Sunset looked at Spike. "Thank you, Spike."

Spike smiled. "Don't mention it, sweetie."

"SCORPAN, I need your help!" Yelled a loud voice. 

Sunset smiled. "Grandpa!” Yelled the girl as she ran past Spike and into the main room. Spike quickly followed behind.

Standing in the middle of the door was a large gray wolf with a scar on his eye. "Scorpan, please tell me you're here." 

Sunset ran to the old wolf and smiled. "Grandpa!" Cheered Sunset as she licked her grandfather. 

"Oh, thank the pack, you're ok." Said Solar as he licked his granddaughter. "But if you're in here, then where is Scorpan?" 

Spike walked into the room and sighed. "It's nice to meet you, you must be Solar Flare."

Solar Flare growled at the unfamiliar face. "You, what did you do to Scorpan, and why did you take my granddaughter?"

Spike gulped as he threw up his hands. "I didn't take her, I helped her."

"Lies, where is Scorpan!?" Yelled Solar Flare. 

But Sunset wasn't going to let her grandfather be mean to Spike; she started growling at him and even grabbed his throat in her jaws, snapping Solar Flare out of his instincts. "Sunset, what is the meaning of this?" Asked the wolf, confused that his own granddaughter was willing to bite him for this stranger. 

Sunset let go of his throat. "Grandpa, Spike saved me, please don't hurt him."

Solar looked at Spike, who was still worried about dying. "Truly?" Asked Solar Flare. Spike nodded. Solar Flare took a deep breath and his eyes went soft. "Please forgive me, I didn't know. So is he gone?" Asked Solar Flare. 

Spike sighed. "Almost a year ago, but if it helps, he was surrounded by family and friends when he passed."

Solar nodded. "A fitting way to pass on the honor of alpha. Scorpan was a great friend to me, and without him I would not have become alpha. Please tell me about him and you, Spike?"

Spike nodded. "That sounds nice, but first we need to get Sunset to the Vet. She got a bad cut on her chest and I did some basic aid, but she needs professional assistance."

Solar nodded as he dropped to all fours and placed Sunset on his back. "I agree, please stay. I will inform her parents and take her to the vet. When I know she is fine, I will return to give you my thanks." Said Solar as he ran out the door.





Spike cleaned up the mess from his impromptu medical treatment, and then sat around in his chair going over the cost to add a few basic things for the future daycare. Spike did this for around two hours, but it was worth it, as Solar Flare, Sunset, and two other wolves walked into the building. "Spike, are you still here?" Asked Solar Flare. 

"Yes, I'm in the back, I'll be there in a moment." Said Spike as he got the papers in order and stored them in the desk. Now that his paperwork was stored, Spike got out of his chair and walked into the main room. "Is everything ok with Sunset?" Asked Spike. 

Solar Flare nodded. "Yes, she is going to be fine, they had to sedate her a little though."

Sunset giggled as she looked at Spike from her mother’s arms. "Hi, Spike, you look funny." Said Sunset as she giggled. 

Spike smiled at seeing that Sunset was out of it but fine. "Yeah, I've always looked weird." Spike then looked to the two wolves that must be her parents. "Hello, my name is Spike, you must be Sunset’s parents."

Horizon carefully gave Sunset to Solar and walked over to Spike. She looked deep into his eyes and he saw that she had been crying. Horizon pulled Spike into a hug and started nuzzling his head in her neck. "Thank you for saving my little pup." Said Horizon as she gave Spike a lick to the lips. "If you need a mate, my husband has agreed to let me join your pack until…" Spike closed her muzzle before that got even weirder.

"Ma'am, there is no need to do that. I'm not saying you are not beautiful, but I only did what a good person would do. I'm just glad that Sunset is going to be ok." Said Spike. 

Solar Flare looked at Horizon. He had learned from Scorpan about the humans and their family dynamic, it wasn't all that different from a wolf pack, but those few differences were big. "Horizon, I should have told you, but normally humans do not offer to mate with another."

Spike nodded. "But it was nice to meet you Horizon." Said Spike. 

Horizon pulled her tail in-between her legs. "Can we just forget that I…" Said Horizon as she blushed, but her dark fur hid it well. 

Spike nodded. "Sure." Spike looked to the last wolf in the room. "It's nice to meet you, my name is Spike."

Solar nodded as he handed Sunset to his father, he walked over to Spike and nuzzled his head on Spike's. "Solar, the next alpha of the pack. Thank you for saving my daughter." 

Spike smiled. "Like I said, I'm just glad to know she's safe." Said Spike as he, out of curiosity, started scratching Solar's head. Much to his happiness, his tail started wagging.

Solar Flare smiled at seeing that Scorpan's family had helped his once again. "Spike, I deem you as a member of our pack. If you ever need help, do not hesitate to ask."

Spike was surprised, but he nodded. "Sure… Actually, I've been needing some help getting some stuff ready for this place." 





Spike looked down at Sunset. "Sunny, do you remember what I told you about others making fun of your eyes?" 

Sunset nodded. "You told me that the only opinion that is important is mine, and even if others make fun of my eyes, it doesn't make them better than me, it makes me better than them."

Spike smiled at hearing her remember that. "A great alpha in the making right here." Said Spike as he rubbed the little girl’s back. "Sunny, I want you to meet Celestia, and I know she won't do anything mean, just like how Cadance didn't make fun of your eyes." 

Sunset nodded as she carefully looked at Celestia. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." Said Sunset as she hid her face from Celestia. 

Celestia smiled at Sunset, she had a feeling this was going to happen. Most of the kids had known Spike and Cadance for a long time, and she just showed up. Of course the kids would be a little wary. Spike motioned for Celestia to get closer, so she did. "Well, it's nice to meet you Sunset. My name is Celestia Solaris. You know, where I'm from, Solaris means sun, meaning in a way we're both connected to the sun." 

Sunset looked at Celestia with more confidence. "Really?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, in fact, I actually have a small trick to prove it." Said Celestia as she used her solar magic to make a little sun in front of Sunset. Sunset had seen Twilight use magic, but nothing this cool, so she was in awe of it. Celestia moved the little sun and let it phase into Sunset's body. "And now, everyone knows it." Said Celestia. 

Sunset smiled at Celestia. "That was so cool." Said Sunset in awe.

Spike smiled as he placed down Sunset who ran over to Celestia and started nuzzling her leg. Spike looked to Solar and Horizon. "So, how is the old wolf doing?" Asked Spike. 

Solar sighed. "His time is soon."

Spike nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was a great alpha, but I'm sure that you will do a great job as well." Said Spike.

Solar smiled. "I just hope I can live up to his legacy." Horizon nuzzled her mate to help comfort him.

Spike smiled at the loving relationship between the two. "Just stick together and I'm sure the pack will stay strong." 

Solar smiled. "I'm sure." Solar looked to Sunset. "Sunny, me and Mom are going hunting and then to work. Please be a good girl."

Sunset smiled at her parents as she ran over to them and licked both their faces. "Bye, Mommy, bye, Daddy, I love you." 

Horizon smiled. "We love you too, Sunny." Said Horizon as she and Solar walked out of the daycare. 

Spike sighed. "Ok, that went better than I thought." Said Spike, he looked down at Sunset. "Hey, Sunny, Rarity and AJ are here already, why don't you go play with them?"

Sunset gasped as her tail was wagging, she then sprinted off to go play with her friends. "Spike, about what Horizon said?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike sighed. "Don't worry, I don't take it to heart, or at least not that part of what she said, and neither should you." Said Spike. Celestia nodded, relieved that she didn't need to take Horizon's words seriously. "But, get your head in the game Celestia, that's only three of the kids, we still have seven kids coming in today. 

Celestia nodded. "I’m ready, Spike, let’s do this." Said Celestia as she put her hand on her bicep.

Spike chuckled, but then he took a sniff of the air and his eyes shrank to pin pricks. "Ok, Celestia, go to the back, grab the tranquillizer gun from Ember's cubby and bring it to me." Spike looked over to the girls and Cadance. "Cadance, get the girls in the back of the room and make sure they cover their eyes, Ember is coming in."

Cadance nodded. "Right, you heard the boss, everyone into the back." All the girls smiled and got into the back corner of the room. This was because of the heat from the dragon lands, and sometimes the winds would blow ash and smoke into the door when it was opened. But it wasn't a bad heat, only being around 120 degrees, but kids with fur can get really overheated fast if exposed for too long.

Celestia gave Spike the tranquillizer gun and he placed it in his back. "Celestia, a little warning, Ember is a little emotional about being called cute, so don't call her that. Also, she normally comes in alone, but her father is right outside. I need to talk with him for a moment so introduce yourself to her." Said Spike. Celestia nodded in reply.

Soon enough a sapphire blue dragoness with small spikes curled down her back, and little blue wings on her back opened the door. "Hey Spike." Said the little flame thrower as she walked over to Spike and gave him a hug.

Spike smiled at Ember and returned the hug. "Hey, Ember, is Torch outside?"

Ember shook her head. "No, my mother is." Said Ember with a big smile.

Spike looked down at Ember. "She woke up, that's great! You must be so happy to see her again?"

Ember nodded. "Come on, I want you to come meet her." Said Ember as she started pulling Spike into the Dragon Lands.

Spike sighed. "Celestia, false alarm, take it back." Said Spike as he pulled the gun out and Celestia took it with her magic. 

Soon Ember and Spike were in the dragon lands. The door to the Dragon Lands was located at the base of a mountain. The mountain didn't have a name per say, but it was called The Mountain's Hold by the locals. Most of the Dragon Lands were mainly forests and mountains, with a large ocean to the east. Onyx's cave was right above them, but when Spike and Ember walked out of the door, she was talking to a very large blue dragoness. "Mom, come meet Spike." Said Ember.

The large dragoness walked over to Spike and looked at him with her amber eyes. "Greetings, my name is Sapphire, it is lovely to meet you." Said Sapphire as she stretched out a claw for Spike.

Spike smiled at Sapphire and took the single claw into his hand. "It's wonderful to finally meet you Mrs. Torch, but I must ask this: Torch, has he always been such a loud mouth?"

Sapphire giggled at how forward Spike was. "Oh, you have no idea. I think his brain only has the ability to speak, not think sometimes."

Spike chuckled. "Well, I'm glad to know Ember is much more like you than him, though she does have a mean right hook." Said Spike as he rubbed his jaw. Spike looked over at Onyx, and he greeted her with respect, making sure not to let others know about his relationship with the dragoness. "Lady Onyx, a pleasure as always to see you."

Onyx shook her head at Spike. "Spike, there's no need to keep up the charade, at least not here." Onyx smiled as she walked over to Spike and Sapphire. She nuzzled his cheek with her head. "Hello, Spikie, how are you doing?"

Spike sighed as he returned his grandmother's love. "Well, I kinda got big news."

Onyx gasped as she wondered what happened. "Um… Did your mother finally get that promotion, did they finally go on that second honeymoon after postponing it for 30 years? Oh, please tell me I’m going to be getting some great grandwelps."

Spike chuckled. "Ok, pull it back a little, Grandma. No, she did not, she quit her job because I used some of the gems you gave me to pay for the mortgage. Yes, they did, they’re in England right now, and I finally asked Cadance out, we're having dinner tonight."

Onyx gasped as she was so excited to see her grandson go on his first date. "Oh, I'm so happy for you my little dragon." Said Onyx as she started nuzzling his head even more.

"Grandma, not in front of Ember." Said Spike, he could hear Ember giggling that he was getting so much love from his grandmother.

Onyx smiled as she pulled her head back from Spike. "Right, sorry, but this is really big for you. I remember when Scorpan told me about how nervous your mother was when Patrick asked her out." Onyx sighed. "I wish I got to tell her to calm down and tell her that everything would have been fine." 

Spike sighed as he rubbed his grandmother's leg. "Hey, don't worry, I'm here, meaning that everything went ok." Said Spike. 

Onyx smiled at her little dragon. "Yeah, but I wish sometimes that Star Swirl finished that changing potion so I could have stayed with you all."

Spike nodded. "Speaking of that old horse, I saw him this morning, he's just as grumpy." 

Onyx giggled at hearing that. "Well, some things are hard wired." She looked down at Spike and saw so much of Scorpan in him. "Well, you need to get back to work. Saph and I are going to the lava spas to get makeovers."

Spike smiled, but then became confused. "Wait, Saph, did you guys know each other before Sapphire went into the sleep?" Asked Spike. 

Onyx looked at Spike. "Wait, Scorpan didn't tell you?" Asked Onyx, Spike shook his head. Onyx looked at Sapphire. "Seriously, why didn't Torch tell him?"

Sapphire shrugged. "What, I love him, but he's a bolder head." Sapphire looked at Spike and Ember. "Well, Ember, meet Spike, your cousin."

Both Spike and Ember looked at their family. "EXPLAIN!?" Yelled the two.

Onyx shrugged. "Spike, didn't you wonder if I had any family before I met Scorpan?"

Spike hummed. "Oh, actually, no, I never did."

Sapphire looked to Ember. "Ember, surely your father has talked about my sister?"

Ember nodded. "Yeah, but he called her the black sheep of the family, so I thought she was someone we didn't talk about."

Onyx giggled. "Well, I'm black, and I was a little out of control in my youth, but didn't you ever question why Torch would fly you out so far just to send you to the daycare?" Ember shook her head. "Well, aside from seeing you off, he always came to check up on me."

Spike and Ember looked at each other. "So, we're related?" Asked the two. 

Onyx and Sapphire nodded. "Yep, now run along, Sapphire and I had to pay out the nose to get this appointment." 

Spike sighed as he looked at Ember. "Come on, Ember. There's someone I want you to meet." Said Spike, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Ember was his cousin. 

Ember nodded and grabbed Spike's hand. The two walked back to the door as the two large dragonesses took to the sky heading for the spa.

Spike looked at Ember. "Ember, can you open the door?" Asked Spike. This was the only problem with the dragon door, if you weren't the size of a full grown dragon, you're pretty much stuck there. Normally Onyx would open the door for Spike, but since Ember was here, they should be able to open it.

Ember and Spike used all their strength to open the door to the daycare and the door opened. But the person standing on the other side was not who he expected.
> They Arrive Pt4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Spike and Ember walked back into the daycare, standing right in front of the door was a dark-skinned elf with long deep blue hair, dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt with an elf band on it. She was holding a lunchbox in her hands and from what Spike could tell, a very upset look on her face. "Um... Can I help you, ma'am?" Asked Spike, a little wary of this person in the room. She didn't have a kid with her, and she looked way too young to be a mother even to a baby.

The elf looked at Spike and got a lump in her throat when she saw him, and she couldn't help but blush at the sight of him. "Ma'am, if you don't have business here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Said Spike.

The elf opened her mouth and tried to say that she was here to give her sister her lunch, but nothing was coming out. Thankfully, the truth about why she was here came in the form of Celestia when she noticed Spike standing in the greeting area of the daycare. "Spike, what's… Luna, what are you doing here?" Asked Celestia as she noticed that her little sister was standing in the daycare.

Spike looked at Celestia. "Luna? As in your little sister Luna?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes." Said Celestia as she looked at Luna. "Luna, what are you doing here?"

Luna looked at her older sister. "’ Tia, I'm sorry, but you ran out of the house without your lunch, and I wanted to make sure that you could eat." Said Luna as she held out a lunch box.

Celestia smiled at Luna. "Luna, I told you, you don't need to make lunch for me; some of the kids have allergies." Celestia looked at Spike. "Spike, I'm sorry for this."

Spike smiled as he does. "Celestia, it's fine." He looked down at Ember. "Ember, this is Celestia. She’s the new hire I brought on, so please don't get mad if she calls you... actually, I suddenly forgot that word." Said Spike, he didn't want to get a right hook to the face.

Ember looked at Celestia. "Hi, I'm Ember Torch, it's nice to meet you." Said Ember holding out her hand.

Celestia smiled. "Celestia, and the same." Celestia took the hand and gave it a shake.

Spike sighed in relief. "Ember, Rarity, Sunny, and AJ are here already, Pinkie isn't coming; she's sick, but we're going to make her a card from all of us." Ember nodded. "Good, now go talk with the others."

Ember ran off to go talk with her friends, giving Spike a chance to deal with Luna. "Sorry about that." Said Spike as he looked at Luna. "It's nice to meet you, Luna, my name is Spike, and this is the Little Dragon Daycare."

Luna blushed. "It's nice to meet you... Thank you for hiring ‘Tia."

Spike smiled. "No need, she's already shown she's worth it."

Luna smiled at hearing that Celestia was already pulling her weight. "That's good to hear." Luna looked to Celestia. "’ Tia, I'm sorry for bothering you at work. I'll just be heading home, my class starts in an hour."

Celestia smiled and nodded. "Okay, Luna. Have a nice day at school."

Luna smiled as she went for the door, but it wouldn't budge. "What the? Why won't this thing work?"

Spike sighed. "I swear, at least once a day this happens." Spike walked over to Luna, picked her up with ease, and allowed the door to open for the next kid to come in.

The door opened and in walked Velvet, Moonlight, Twilight, and Moondancer. Velvet looked at Spike with Luna in his arms. "Ok, Cadance got hit with something, but I'm pretty sure Twilight or Moondancer didn't do it."

Spike nodded at the mare. "First off, sorry about the door, Velvet. Second, this isn't Cadance, this is Luna Solaris, the little sister of number three. Celestia, come meet Velvet and Moonlight." Spike stepped aside for the elf to meet the ponies.

"It's nice to meet you both. As Spike said, I am Celestia Solaris, it's nice to meet you both." Said Celestia holding out her hand.

Velvet smiled as she took the hand. "So you're the reason why Twilight was so excited all morning. It's lovely to meet you, my name is Twilight Velvet, but just call me Velvet." Celestia nodded. "And just a little heads up, I'm sorry for any color changing, transformations, tossing through a wall, and poison food my daughter or niece will cause." Said Velvet.

"MOM!" Cried Twilight.

Velvet giggled. "Sorry Sweetie, but it's the truth." She looked at Celestia. "But she seems to like you just as much as she likes Spike, so I'm not worried."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you."

Spike smiled. "Twi, Moondancer, some of the girls are here already. Go play for a while until everyone shows up." Twilight and Moondancer smiled as they ran off to go play.

Spike sighed as he looked at Velvet and Moonlight. "Ok, little heads up, Sunny and Ember are here today, so lunch will contain meat, but I'll give them the vegetarian plan."

Velvet nodded. "Good. I know you take meat-eaters, but I can't stomach it."

Spike smiled. "Don't worry, I have this handled."

Celestia then noticed that Spike still had Luna. "Well, could you please stop handling my sister, Spike?"

Spike looked down at Luna, who was blushing like the sun and giggling like a fool. "Luna, I'm so sorry, are you ok?"

Luna giggled. "Hunky." Then she shook her head to focus. "What, oh, yes, I’m fine, Spike, but why couldn't I open the door?"

Spike sighed. "Ever try to open a door from both sides? Both sides are push doors and add whatever this place uses, it's impossible to open the door from both sides at the same time." Spike placed Luna down on the ground and noticed that the area was getting crowded. "Ok, I think it's time for someone to leave. The next family should be coming in soon." Suddenly the door opened. "Seriously, that was way too covenant." Said Spike, but at least it was the best one for this moment.

Fluttershy and Posey flew onto Velvet's shoulder. "Oh my, I'm so sorry, Spike, I didn't know it was this crowded. Fluttershy and I can wait outside if you need us to."

Spike sighed. "Posey, it's fine. You and 'Shy are the best outcome for this right now." Spike looked at Luna. "Luna, I'm sorry, but any more people and it could be dangerous, so could you please leave?"

Luna nodded. "Sure, I'm sorry for causing a problem." Luna looked at Celestia. "I love you, ‘Tia"

Celestia smiled. "Love you too, Lulu." Luna opened the door and walked through it.

Moonlight sighed as she dug out a little list for Spike. "Spike, I'm going to leave as well, but here is that list I promised to make. It’s pretty small, but tell me if there is anything I'm missing."

Spike grabbed the note, he read it and three things were missing. "Ok, we can do those days, but can you bring a blanket for nap time, any emergency numbers, and lastly any spare hygiene tools she may need tomorrow?"

Moonlight nodded. "Sure."

Spike nodded. "Cool, that clears that up, and Moondancer is now one of my little minions." Said Spike as he folded the note and placed it into his apron pocket.

Moonlight smiled at hearing that Spike was letting Moondancer in. "Thank you, Spike." She looked at Velvet. "Velvet, I'm headed to the bookstore, I'll meet you there."

Velvet nodded. "Sure, oh, this is Posey and her daughter Fluttershy. Posey, this is my sister Moonlight."

Posey smiled at Moonlight. "Greetings."

Moonlight smiled. "It's nice to meet you, but sorry to say, I have to run."

Posey nodded. "It's fine, I'm sorry for keeping you here." Said Posey.

Moonlight nodded. "It's fine." She waved goodbye to Moondancer and left the daycare.

Spike sighed. "Ok, better." Spike looked at Fluttershy. "’ Shy, we have a big day today, so why don't you go see the others before everyone comes in?"

Fluttershy nodded, she then hugged her mother. "Bye, Mommy, I'll see you tonight."

Posey smiled. "Love you, too, Sweetie." Fluttershy flew off of Velvet's shoulder and landed onto Sunset’s head.

Spike looked at Posey. "Posey, I would like to introduce you to Celestia. She’s the new assistant I hired."

Celestia smiled at the little woman and stuck out her finger. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Fluttershy is such a sweet girl."

Posey smiled and took the finger. "Thank you, she is such a good girl."

Spike smiled at letting everyone that needed to meet Celestia that missed the chance yesterday accept her with open arms. But the door opened, and when it did, Spike was sure he was going to die. Windy walked into the daycare with Rainbow, and she was glaring at him. "Spike." Said Windy.

Spike gulped. "Windy, you seem to be doing much better."

Windy just kept glaring at Spike. "Posey, Velvet, mind if I borrow Spike for a moment?" Asked the harpy.

Spike's eyes went wide, he was sure he was safer with the others. "Oh, where are my manners? Windy this is Celestia Solaris; Celestia, this is Rainbow's mother, Windy."

Celestia noticed Spike's change in mood and decided to go with it, she smiled at the harpy. "It's nice to meet you."

Windy smiled at Celestia as she bowed her head. "And you, too. I hope you like it here." She then went back to glaring at Spike. "Spike, let's have a nice little chat outside."

Spike looked really worried. He wasn't dressed for the harpy world, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to go there. "Oh, Windy, look at the time, I'm way too busy to leave the place."

Windy softened her glare. "Spike, I want to tell you something. I'm not mad that you had to dart me; the doc at the aviary told me the truth about my wing."

Spike sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that you were going to toss me off the cliff."

Windy giggled at the joke. "Spike, how would I toss you? I'll kick you off it, but not today."

Spike gulped, but he followed the harpy through the door.





Once on the other side of the door, Spike was instantly cold. The door in the harpy world was located in the dumbest place imaginable, on a small rocky outcrop in the middle of the sea, about half a mile from where Feather Cove is located, the location of Bow and Windy's cove. Scorpan actually found Spectrum here one day after he had to take shelter for a storm. The story got passed down to Bow, who wanted to thank Scorpan, but instead, he found Spike. But standing in front of him was Rainbow and Bow. Spike looked at Rainbow and smiled at her. "Hey, Rainbow, I see you didn't throw too much of a tantrum about last night."

Rainbow huffed. "Hey, I'm a big hen now. I don't care if I missed something so awesome."

Spike smiled as he ruffled her top feathers. "Well, then a big hen wouldn't care if during lunch we start up where we left off?"

Rainbow beamed as she hugged Spike's chest. "You're the best, Spike."

Spike laughed as he smiled at the little girl. "Tell that to your mother. I think she's planning on killing me."

Rainbow giggled as she shook her head. "No, she won't do that."

Windy sighed as she looked at Rainbow and Spike. "Spike, I want to give you something. I'm sure somewhere you've read about the exchange of a feather, correct?"

Spike nodded. "Um... yeah, it's something chicks do when they like a boy or girl, right?"

Windy shook her head. "No… well, yes, but it means something more important. It shows that they wish to be family. How it became some chickhood sign of affection is beyond me, but after what you did I want to give you one of mine." Windy then plucked out a single wing feather from her wing, it was one foot long and perfectly straight. "Spike, I'm sorry for fighting you, I'm sorry for scaring you, and I'm sorry for making you take care of Rainbow last night. So I want you to know that after everything you have done for me and my family, I want you to be a part of it."

Spike looked at the feather. "Wait, give me one second." Said Spike as he turned around with Rainbow still on his chest, and using her, he opened the door to the daycare.





Spike walked into the daycare with Rainbow. "Rainbow, I need to head to my place for a moment, can you let go?" Asked Spike.

Rainbow blushed as she flapped to the ground. "Sorry, Spike, but why do you need to go back to your place?"

Spike smiled. "For something important." He looked at Celestia. "Celestia, keep things in one piece for a minute." Said Spike as he pulled out his key and used it on the front door.

Spike walked into the apartment and headed for the study. Spike had kept this room pretty much the same since he loved his grandfather, but the most important thing was sitting on the desk. "So this is where you got this pen, Grandpa." Sitting on the desk was a large blue feather pen in a little inkwell. Spike smiled at the feather as he took it and returned to the daycare.

Spike closed his door and placed his left hand on the top corner, while his right foot was pressed on the middle of the door. He pushed it open and stepped into the Harpy world again. Bow and Windy were still there, so Spike, due to his lack of feathers and a warm Rainbow hug, decided to get close to Bow for warmth. "Sorry, Bow, I'm freezing."

Bow smiled at Spike. "Don't worry, Spike, but where did you go?"

Spike showed the feather pen. "Been family for a long while, it turns out,” laughed Spike. Bow looked at the feather and it was no doubt his grandfather’s. "Sorry, this is the best I can exchange."

Bow sighed. "Spike, we kind of planned for you to just take the feather, so please keep my grandfather’s as well."

Spike shivered. "So, I'm freezing my butt off again for nothing?"

Windy giggled but she nodded. "Yep, now please take the feather and get back inside before we have a Spikesickle."

Spike nodded as he ran for the door and created a link. He pushed open the door and rushed into the daycare.





When Spike got back into the daycare, it was so much better than the cold chill of the harpy world. Spike sighed as he felt the warm air of the daycare's system warming him back up. Everyone looked at Spike. "The harpy world is cold." Said Spike.

Everyone nodded in understanding, and once Spike was better he looked at the group of kids. "Ok, that leaves Sunshine and Moonlight."

Velvet shivered at the mention of those two. "I'm leaving, I don't want a relapse of what happened last time."

Spike nodded. "Ok, Velvet, but please don't hold it against them. They didn't know you were going to be right there."

Velvet nodded. "I know, but you try having no control of your body and two more voices in your head. It’s not fun. They are sweet girls, but possession is not so nice."

Spike nodded. "I know. Have a good day, Velvet, I'll see you or Night Light tonight."

Posey flew off Velvet and started to hover. "I must leave as well. One of the roots is poking out of the soil and we need to make sure it's secure."

Spike smiled at the little fairy. "Sure, have a nice day, Posey." With that, Velvet left first and once the door was closed Posey opened it, she then flew back to her world and closed the door. "Okay, Celestia, head to the pantry and grab the two large dolls that are hanging on the wall. I checked them earlier, and they're fine." Spike handed Celestia the key.

Celestia nodded, took the key, and walked to the back door. She walked into the area and headed for the pantry. She opened that door and hanging on the back door were two filly sized dolls, both made of wood, but treated so they were strong. Celestia used her magic to pick up the dolls. One was made from light-colored wood, the other was made from dark wood, but both had fully adjustable limbs and synthetic manes. One was short, blond, and crazy looking, the other had a dark mane that was slightly curled and looked almost like Luna's. "These must be them."

Celestia walked out of the room with the dolls and headed back to Spike. "Are these them?" Asked Celestia. 

Spike nodded as he did one last check. "Yep, all oiled, scratch-free, and really customized for them. Also a little warning, ghosts can touch things but it's hard for them, so they normally fuse to open the door."

"They can fuse?"

Spike nodded. "Yep, Eclipse and Sunlight can take one of the girls in, and then they fuse into one ghost." Suddenly the door opened. "I wonder who's in control today."

Soon a single pale figure with no distinguishing feathers floated into the daycare, Spike walked up to the figure with a smile. "Good morning everyone, who am I talking to?"

"It's me, Spike. Mommy and Daddy gave me control today to see if me and Sunshine are ready to fuse." Said a young girl's voice.

Spike smiled at the figure. "And?"

"It's really hard." Said the voice.

Spike chuckled. "Well, you did a great job. Why don't you and Sunshine come out and get into your dolls?" Soon the figure popped out a dark blue ball and a light yellow ball, and it shrunk down.

The dark blue ball flew to her doll and the yellow one followed. Celestia was a little freaked out and accidentally touched the yellow ball and it went into her body. Spike looked at Celestia. "Oh, crud."

Celestia blinked as she looked down at her body. "Spike, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to possess her." Said Celestia with a younger voice. She then grunted but nothing happened. "Spike, I can't get out, I don't know why?"

Spike walked over to Celestia. "Sunshine, it’s okay. She’s an elf, meaning she has magic."

Sunshine groaned in the body. "Really? Do you have any tags?"

Spike nodded as he looked at the little girl in the woman's body. "I do, stay still for a few moments while I go get one." Spike walked over to the back door, over to his desk, and opened the middle drawer. Sitting in the drawer was a stack of Chinese exorcist tags, Spike grabbed a tag, and closed the drawer, walked out of the backroom, and turned to Celestia. "Sunshine, are you ready?"

Celestia's body nodded. "Ready." Spike slapped the tag onto Celestia's head and started muttering a chant, and soon the same yellow orb flew out of Celestia's chest and into the other doll.

The doll started moving and the same voice came out. "I'm in."

Spike smiled as he ripped the tag off of Celestia's head. "Celestia, you back in control?"

Celestia blinked and she then shivered. "What the heck happened?"

Spike smiled as she sounded back to normal. "Sunshine accidentally possessed you, but I got her out."

Sunshine moved her doll over to Celestia. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to."

Celestia smiled at the little doll. "Don't worry, sweetie, no harm done, and I'm not hanging from the ceiling. I'm Celestia Solaris, it's nice to meet you."

"Sunshine Smiles." Sunshine then pulled the second doll over to Celestia. "And this is my twin sister Moonlight Raven."

"Hi, sorry about that, my sister has a habit of leaping first." Said the second doll in a depressed tone.

"Well, it’s lovely to meet you both. I hope to get to know you both well." Said Celestia.

Spike smiled at seeing that everyone was good with the little mishap. Spike turned to the still figure and smiled at them. "So, do you have this week's payment?" Asked Spike.

"We do, Spike, here's a vial of ghost tears." Said the figure as a vial popped out of the body.

Spike took the vile and looked at the liquid inside. It was clear and glowing a slight blue color. "Thanks, guys." Ghost tears are a powerful form of spirit medicine and something that cannot be taken lightly. A single drop can fix cuts, two drops can fix a bone, three drops can fix major damage, and four drops can fix everything by making it not a problem again because you would leave your body permanently. Spike was careful about this stuff, but it had saved him a few times, mostly with Ember during her greed moments when he got first degree burns from her shooting a fireball at him. This stuff didn't even go into the medical cabinet; it went into a lockbox in the desk. Spike placed the vial in his apron and planned to store it with the other one when he could.

"No problem. Spike, just please be careful with that stuff."

Spike nodded. "I will."

The figure smiled and looked at the two dolls. "Girls, we're going to work now, be good for Spike."

The two dolls only turned their heads around. "Bye Mommy, bye Daddy." Said the two in unison.

The two ghosts smiled in the single body and walked out of the daycare. Spike smiled at seeing that was everyone for the day. "Okay, let’s get today started."