“What do you mean I’m fired?!” Spike demanded as his manager threw him out.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe napping on the job for the third day in a row and not doing your actual job!” the manager replied, arms at his hips.

The teenage boy got up and dusted himself off, “Not my fault that this store doesn’t get any customers,” the manager flashed him an angry glare. “What? Did I piss my boss off, oh wait, that’s right, you aren’t my boss anymore! So now I can give you one of these in front of you instead of giving it to the back of your head.” Spike replied as he flipped the manager off.

“Get off store property o-or I’ll call the police!” the manager croaked, trying to sound threatening.

“Whatever, any job is better than this!” Spike groaned as he turned to walk home. ‘This is bad though,’ Spike began to think, ‘No job means no house, and I’m not about to go back to living with my family. Okay think… what’re your strengths? You’re young, relatively useful when you want to be, and… entirely useless. Better off doing petty things like being a store clerk, that damn lulling music and lack of customers would make anyone extremely tired.’ Spike turned another corner, stopping to notice a little family dilemma.

“Are you sure you can’t make it tonight?” the man asked almost pleadingly over the phone, “I’ll double your payment just please, my wife and I have a very important date tonight.”

A little girl tugging at her mother’s sleeve, “Mommy you said you’d take me to the library today, all we’ve done is dumb shopping.”

“Oh, hey I live there. Believe me there’s nothing there but dusty old books.” Spike said as he approached the three, scratching his back.

“You do now do you?” The mother turned to him, she was surprisingly well dressed, guess that very important date was sooner than Spike expected, “Wait, that gives me an idea, how good are you with kids?”

“I can feed one and keep them moderately entertained I guess.” Spike replied, unsure how to answer.

“Do you have anything planned for tonight?” she asked impatiently.

“Well no, what’re you getting at?”

“Honey,” the woman said, trying to get her husband's attention, “This guy can watch her,” she muttered pointing at the green haired teenager.

“Erh… okay then nevermind Ms. Derpy, you have a good day too.” He snapped his phone shut and quickly approached the boy, “Listen, I know this seems so sudden. But please, we have a very important date tonight and no one is willing to watch our daughter. Will you please?”

“How much?” Spike asked, crossing his arms.

“Erm… how does fifty dollars sound?” the man asked with a nervous smile

“Is that the normal amount that you pay her baby sitters?”

“Y-yea.”

“Then how about double that? Since that was what you were offering a second ago over the phone.”

“Grr… fine. A hundred, but we won’t be back until about eight, is that alright?”

Spike checked his watch, reading 3:47. Babysitting for a hundred dollars for just four hours? Spike smiled brightly looking back to the well dressed couple, “You have yourself a deal, mister…?”

“Light, Night Light, this is my wife Twilight Velvet. Thank you so much for doing this on short notice, but we really must be going now.”

“Bye sweetie,” Velvet replied, kneeling down and kissing the child’s forehead, and hurrying away with her husband.

The child quickly turned her attention to Spike, “So YOU live in a library? That’s so neat!”

“It’s not only a library, it’s also a tree, all hollowed out, pretty cool huh?” Spike answered with a grin.

“I seen that tree place before, I had no idea THAT was the library! Come on let’s go!” she exclaimed grabbing his hand and yanking him in the direction of the library.

“Woaaaah, it’s bigger in here than it looks outside. And all these books.” the little purple haired girl said to herself, shocked by the numerous shelves that towered over her, each rack filled with knowledge.

“Good luck finding an actual book in there, it’s all history books and dictionaries.” Spike said changing out of his work uniform, guess he won’t be needing it anymore.

“That one looks nice,” she whispered, her eyes locked onto a golden rimmed book on the 6th shelf, “Now let’s see,” she said, as she rolled a ladder over to climb to the shelves higher up than her.

“Just be careful up there kid. I told you parents I’d watch over you and I do-” cut off by a gasp escaping Twilight as she fell off the 7th step of the ladder. Spike dove in just barely catching her, his stomach hitting the ground hard. “I don’t want anything bad to happen.” Spike groaned in pain. “If you want a book just tell me, don’t climb up there again."

With the trouble maker finally finding a book she was pleased with, Spike sprawled out on the couch. ‘Right, just make sure she doesn’t die and you’ll get paid, easy as that.’ his eyes wandered over to the little girl, stupefied actually. He knew kids to be the most annoying troublesome loud mouthed little demons, but this girl was almost adult like, forgiven the incident earlier, she was quiet and not so energetic while reading. ‘This’ll be easier than I thought’ “So kid, what’s your name?”

“Twilight,” she answered, not moving her attention off the book.

“Okay Twilight, how old are you?”

“Seven. Oh, do you wanna come to my birthday party?” she asked, turning her head to him with a bright smile, “It’s a week from today.”

“Erm, no thanks kid.” Spike answered, whipping out his phone.

“Too bad, my mom says we’re going to have it at a library, and this is the one I want.”

“What! Well… She’s gonna have to rent it out, so that may actually be nice, more money for me.”

“Why do you care so much about money mister?” she asked, closing the book and turning to him.

“It’s what puts food in my stomach and the library going. So if you love books as much as you say, you better hope I love money.”

The little girl giggled, “I wish I had a brother like you. My other one’s a jerk, always wanting to play army with when he knows I’m just trying to read.”

“A sister couldn’t hurt, growing up in a house with four other boys and no sister I’d kinda like that.”

“Then it’s settled, you are now my brother,” she said extended her hand for a handshake.

“Uh, kid, that’s not how this wor-”

“Shush,” she said, pushing her finger against his lip, “Girls are smarter than boys, I know what I’m talking about.”

There’s that annoying kid side he wasn’t hoping for. 'Best to just roll with it, may as well have a little fun.’ Spike stood up off the couch and knelt down to her level, taking her hand in his, “I decree that Twilight…”

“Sparkle,” she added.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, I decree you my little sister. May our bloods be bound to the same parents, and our bonds never broken, for together we are the perfect example of a good brother and sister! Was that good enough?”

“Best brother ever.” she whispered to herself in awe as wrapped her arms around Spike's neck, hugging him tightly. It would’ve been a nice scene, if the girl’s stomach hadn’t have cut in letting out a huge grumble.

“Well I guess that’s the sign for lunch. Uh… what do you want?”

“PB&J!” she quickly exclaimed

“I don’t have jelly…”

“Spahgetti-O’s!”

“I don’t have that either.”

“Turds!” she shouted, giggling.

“Kid please list an actual food item that you think any person would have.”

“Uh… Pizza!”

“I… actually think I have an oven-bake mini pizza in the freezer. Alright ‘little sis’, stay here.” Spike paced himself to the kitchen, getting the pizza on the pan and putting it in the oven, screw preheating, this girl was hungry. When he walked back to the lobby he was not so surprised to see she had taken off somewhere. Just then he heard a rustle coming from his bedroom, he ran upstairs seeing his room’s door was cracked open, he opened it up to see Twilight holding a rather inappropriate magazine from his not so hidden hidden-stash box.

“These are very interesting picture books, but where are the words?” Twilight asked, turning the magazine sideways to reveal a poster picture in the magazine.

Spike quickly grabbed it from her hands, “First of all, erase all of what you just saw from your memory, secondly, I thought I said stay down stairs!”

“But big brother has such neat stuff in his room. Like this thingy!” she exclaimed, holding up his pellet gun aiming right at him, “Look at me I’m a cop!” she pulled the trigger, a pellet hitting Spike right in his eye, causing him to yelp out in pain. “Bad boys bad boys, what’cha gonna do?” she giggled, dancing around.

Spike snatched the gun away, “Downstairs, now.” he demanded, rubbing his eye with his free hand. Twilight made a pouty face, but reluctantly marched back downstairs. Spike put the magazine back in the box, putting it back under his bed, “Never knew why I bothered hiding it, even a kid can find it.” He went back downstairs to notice Twilight back to her quiet reading self, thank god. ‘If I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s bipolar. Glued to the book and innocent one moment, shooting me in the eye the next.’ Spike took his position back onto the couch, “Tell me kid, who normally watches you?”

“Ms. Derpy, she’s really nice, we have muffins for lunch every time she watches me, she always has every flavor, I love the banana nut ones.”

“I think I’ve seen her before. Blonde hair, lazy eye, kinda… derpy. She’s in the Cake’s place all the time early in the morning, probably buying all the muffins and muffin mix, no idea what her affiliation with muffins are.”

“Oh you go to the Cake’s bakery too?” Twilight asked.

“Yea, when I used to work at a mini mart I always went there to get a few donuts or something for my friends at work,” Spike replied, stretching out on the couch.

“What happened to your job?”

“I got fired ‘cause I was sleeping on the job, most everyone did but I was the worst with being sneaky at it, that and I think the manager just had it out for me. Funny thing actually, that was just today, even funnier is that it was 5 minutes before I ran into your parents.”

“Wow, being an adult sounds kinda tough.” Twilight sighed.

“Nah, you just find one thing you're good at and someone will find potential in that, anything is bound to make money, like those magazines that I never want you to see ever again.”

The girl took her attention off the book, sniffing, darting her eyes around the house, “What’s that smell?” Spike smelled it too, smoke... the pizza!

“Aw shit!” Spike screamed, leaping up and running into the kitchen. He opened the stove and grabbed to pan, immediately dropping it with a not so masculine yelp, Twilight popping her head around the corner to stare at the teenage boy feverishly licking and blowing on his hands.

“There’s a thingy called oven mitts, you should really get some.” Twilight mentioned.

“Well, I hope you like floor pizza, if not you can eat my hands, they’re cooked to a crisp.” Spike groaned.

“That was the best pizza I ever had,” Twilight moaned, patting her belly.

“Uh huh, either that’s the overstatement of the year, or dropping it on the floor is the secret ingredient for the world's best pizza.” Spike replied as he stood up from the kitchen table, “So what do you wanna do now kid?”

“Sleep” Twilight groaned as she laid her head down on the table.

“You can sleep in a padded bed with cushiony pillows and comfy insulated blankets, or just sleep on cold wood sitting up letting your back do all the support. Your choice,” Spike chuckled.

Twilight lazily raised her hands to him, “Big brother, carry me to your bed.”

“How do I know you aren’t gonna get into that cardboard box again?” Spike asked folding his arms into each other.

“Please big brother?”

“Fine, but you gotta tell your parents how good of a job I did babysitting you.”

“You already have though.” she mumbled.

“Flattery will get you nowhere… But it’s appreciated.” Spike replied with a smile. With that he hoisted the purple haired girl up, her head resting on his shoulder. “Aren’t you a little old to be carried?” he asked making his way upstairs.

“You're never too old for anything.” she muttered into his shoulder.

“Now the kid is teaching me life lessons,” he opened his bedroom door and sprawled the little girl onto his bed, draping the blankets over her, “Your parents should be here in about an hour and a half from now.”

“Can you read me a bedtime story?”

“I expected you to ask me that, look kid it’s a nap, it’s not like you're sleeping 'till mor-” his sentence was cut short, looking at her make the puppy dog eyes at him. “You kids and your stares always getting you what you want, alright what do you want me to read.”

“The thin papery books under the bed.” she giggled lazily.

“Okay so I’m not gonna read anything then,” Spike groaned beginning to walk out of the room.

“Noooo, read me the book downstairs still on the table. It was really good.” Spike sighed, he quickly walked downstairs and reappeared with the book in his hands. “Read the page with the bookmark on it, start on the beginning of the right side page.”

Spike cleared his throat, “ Okay, ‘William fought hard to diminish the demons from his mind. An inward struggle battle against the pressing madness and his own sanity.’ Uh… are you sure you should be reading this?” Spike asked uncertain looking back to Twilight, but her eyes were already shut. ‘Damn she must really be exhausted.’ Spike shut the book quietly and placed it gently on his night stand. He turned the light off and crept out of the room. Walking back downstairs, finally with some alone time, straight to the Tv to play some Far Cry 4. Turning on the Playstation he plops down onto his sofa, right beside Twilight. “What the… didn’t I just put you to bed? And how’d you get down here so fast?!”

“I couldn’t sleep, and I could’ve got down here faster if you weren’t a slowpoke.” Twilight yawned with a blanket wrapped around her body.

“You couldn’t sleep - you JUST shut your eyes for a minute... Whatever, just do whatever, you still got an hour and a half before your parents get here.” Spike said grabbing his controller. They both sat together, Spike playing and Twilight watching, her eyelids getting heavier, yawning more and more often. “Kid if you’re tired just go to bed.”

“No… I shink I’m fine…” she groaned.

“If you think so,” Spike mumbled. Turning his attention back to the game, “I swear the animals are never where they point them out on the map, always thirty some miles away.” he felt a nudge, turning back to Twilight he noticed she was leaned over, her head propping against his shoulder, her eyes closed with a soft snore. ‘Aside from the pain and annoyance this kid’s caused me today, I really enjoyed babysitting her… Look at you Spike, having feelings for kids and shit.’ He turned back to the game and kept playing.

There was a knocking at the door, Spike checked his phone, the time reading 8:22. He carefully stood up, laying Twilight’s head down onto the sofa, she hadn’t moved an inch ever since she came downstairs to watch him play. Spike opened the door to notice the lovely couple from earlier. “Kid’s asleep, be quiet.” Spike whispered.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Night Light laughed.

“What’re you…” Spike quickly looked down to his side, Twilight standing right beside him, “You are more quiet than the air itself little sis.”

“Maybe you're hearing just sucks big bro,” she giggled.

“I’m confused,” Velvet replied.

“Long story, anyway might we discuss terms of payment Mr. Light?”

“Yes, Here is your one hundred, well worth it." he replied handing Spike his payment. "We had a splendid time. How about you honey?” Night Light asked, turning his attention to Twilight.

“I got to read books, and eat pizza, and watch Spike play video games.” Twilight replied joyus.

“Sounds like fun sweet heart. Do you like Spike here better than Derpy watching you?”

Spike looked down to her, genuinely curious on her answer, without hesitation she answered, “Definitely.”

“Well then Spike, if you’re up for it I’d say we found ourselves a new babysitter, good to you?”

Twilight did the same as Spike, looking to him to see his answer, “Definitely.” he replied.

Author's Note

Little switch on the age, I thought it was an interesting choice of a story to have the Mane 6 be younger and Spike be older, same concept with a couple of others that I have planned for future stories. Hope you guys liked it, I really enjoyed writing it .