Growing Up Mane Six

“So daddy when are we going to get stuff for our room? It's just so empty in here.” Rarity spoke standing at the door way of her room as Xylon placed a box of her belongings on the small bed. Each girls room was the same with a single bed in one corner, a large window, and a medium sized white vanity. Three rooms on one side and three on the other with the bathroom at the end of the hall. Each girl had only a couple of things to place in their rooms leaving them mostly bare.

“Soon precious.” Xylon said as he went to the vanity to move it over a little to the right so he wouldn't bump into as he walked in.

“Be careful daddy! If you break the mirror I won't be able to put my make up on!” she rushed forward when he was pushing it and an edge caught on the tan carpet and threaten to tip over. Xylon manged to stop it from falling over and stepped away as Rarity brought her make up kit over and laid it out. He walked out the room as she sat up on the stole and started going through the make up. Walking down the hall to go back down stairs he stopped when he heard a loud thump and an 'ow'. He turned back around and went to the last room on the left passing Rarity's that was the first on the right. Xylon went to the door and opened it see Rainbow Dash leaping off her vanity while flapping her wings as fast as she could then landing on the ground with a loud thump.

“What are you doing squirt?” Xylon said as she climbed back up for another try.

“Practicing to get into the Wonderbolts.” she said right before she jumped again and manged to hover for a few seconds before landing a bit more softly then before. Xylon looked up at the Wonderbolts poster that hung on the far wall. It was different Pegasus then from he remembered but then again it was years before they would be at the academy.

“Just don't hurt yourself.” he said as he backed out the door and closed it, hearing another thumb and an 'ow'. He was about to go down the hall and back down stairs when the door directly across of Rainbow Dash's opened and out came Pinkie Pie.

“Daddy come here I have something to show you!” she ran back into her room and Xylon followed. He had to stop and look around when he entered the room because it was nearly entirely pink. The walls were bubble gum pink, the ceiling a light pink, and the floor hot pink.

“Do you like it daddy?” Pinkie Pie asked as she hopped around. Xylon looked around confused but then he remembered just exactly who his daughter was.

“It's great gum drop.” he chuckled as he looked around the room and Pinkie jumped up and hugged him. After sitting her down he went out the door and closed it but decided he would check on the other girls first before going back down. First he went to Fluttershy's room on the right side in the middle of Pinkie's and Rarity's room. He slowly opened the door to find her sitting on the bed with her teddy bear pretending to nurse an injury.

“There all better.” she finished tying a small part of the blanket around the left arm of the bear and kissed the spot where it was suppose to be hurting. He backed out quietly and went to the room behind him on the left side that was Applejack's room. Inside he found her messing with her lasso.

“If you're going to be playing with that go to the back yard so nothing gets broken.” she looked up at Xylon with an embarrassed blush and he just smiled as he left. Now the last room on the left side was Twilight's and he opened the door to find her reading from the book he given her.

“What you doing smarty pants?” Xylon walked as she sat up.

“Aunt Tia said that she was going to teach me more magic so I have to study to get better!” she spoke excitedly and he smiled.

“That's... great.” he tried not to let the disdain crawl into his voice as he talked but Twilight caught on to it.

“Daddy yesterday... what were you and aunt Tia fighting about?” Xylon let out a soft sigh and sat down next to her on the bed.

“It was nothing. She just... did something I didn't like but it's not her fault and I’m not mad at her. Ok?” she nodded and Xylon swept her up into a hug. He had to make sure next time that none of the girls were around when it happened and he knew it would happen. He let her go and walked out to go back down the stairs but stopped and waited a second and listened for any one of them to call his name. None of them did but the door bell did ring and he went down to answer it. He opened the door to Luna with a bag.

“Hello Xylon. I came to give the girls their presents, I would have yesterday but...” Xylon stepped aside as she trailed off and he called out.

“Girls come down here!” soon doors could be heard being opened and closed and the patter of feet coming down stairs.

“Hello girls, I've brought your birthday presents.” they all rushed to her and waited eagerly. She reached into the bag and pulled out twelve pairs of socks, two for each girl, that had their cutie marks and color in stripes. Then she pulled out a small box and gave it to Xylon as the girls were putting on the socks. He looked at her with a raised eye brow and she smiled sweetly at him.

“Just open it when you're alone.” he nodded and all the girls had finished putting on their socks.

“Look Daddy!” he wasn't sure witch girls had spoke but he turned to find all six girls giggling on their backs with their legs in the air wearing the socks. He smiled and Luna let out a chuckle but then their was a loud bubbly growl and they all looked at Luna. She blushed as she scratched her head.

“Missed breakfast this morning.” Xylon grinned as the girls started giggling even more and he turned to the kitchen.

“Stay for lunch then.” he called out as he started getting out cook ware and food. In thirty minutes fried hay fries and salads sat on the table while the girls with Luna talked about different things in the living room.

“Come and get it.” Xylon called out and the girls funneled into the kitchen with Luna in tow. When she entered she noticed something about the kitchen table where they all eat. There was only seven chairs.

“I will eat over on the-”

“Sit.” Xylon cut her off with a somber expression and pointed at his chair that sat at the head of the table. The girls had already started eating as she sat down.

“You might want to hurry and eat before Rainbow Dash steals your food.” Twilight said to Luna and as she was turned to her Rainbow Dash, sitting on the other side of her, took the opportunity to swipe a couple of hay fries from her plate with out her knowing. Luna smiled and started eating while Xylon started cleaning.

“Are you going to eat?” Luna asked Xylon as he put away the last of the cook ware. He shook his head and turned to her.

“Not hungry.” in truth there wasn't enough for him to eat, he had put generous amounts on each of their plates and ran out after he gave Luna hers. He just sat back and watched the girls happily eat and talk with their aunt Luna about anything. He sighed inwardly as he counted off what edible food they had left and it only made him sigh more. He wasn't making enough money at the furniture shop, he would have to get another job and that meant leaving the girls by them selves even more. He wasn't about to let his daughters miss a meal because he was tired from working. He turned to Luna and cleared his throat.

“If you aren’t to busy today would you mind watching the girls? I have something important to go do.” she looked up as he spoke and then nodded her head.

“Of course.” she smiled at him and he returned hers. They looked at each other for a moment until Twilight spoke up.

“Where you going daddy?” he turned to her with a smile still.

“Oh I'm going to go see if any one needs some help. I'll be back soon.” she nodded and went back to eating. Luna looked back at her plate thinking about what he said. She knew he meant that he was going to go look for another job but she didn't understand why.

“Ok girls I'll be back later. You mind your aunt Luna and behave.” with that he went to his room to change into a white shirt and brown pants with his black flip flops, he didn't feel like wearing his shoes at the moment since they were nearly pieces of lose cloth.

“Ok bye girls.” he called out and was returned with mixed farewells. Luna waited for a minute after he was gone and spoke to the girls.

“Ok I'll do the dishes and you go play.” they all took off in a hurry and she used her magic to place the dishes into the sink. Making sure no one else was around she started to check the cabinets and pantries. What she saw, or the lack of, made her sigh sadly. Now she knew why Xylon didn't eat with them and she felt bad for eating what was his meal. She thought that he would get mad at Celestia if she tried to help but maybe not with her.

“Hey girls would you like to go do a little shopping?” at that time Xylon was walking the streets on the other side of Ponyville and away from the food shops. He was looking at the different places he would try to find another job until he stopped in front of a small restaurant called 'The Back'. It was a red brick building with a green roof, large windows, and some out door tables. He walked in side to a low candle light room where they served their customers but there wasn't many tables to sit at. It was empty until a gray earth pony with dark purple mane and tail walked in from the back.

“Can I help ya?” he didn't sound friendly as he spoke to a potential customer, more annoyed if anything.

“I was seeing if you needed any help.” Xylon looked at the shifty stallion who sized him up.

“Can ya cook?” he said as he raised his eye brows and Xylon nodded. He motioned him to follow him into the back that was the kitchen.

“It's pretty simple, we serve five different things. Here the recipes.” he showed Xylon around the kitchen and pointed to the five sheets of paper that was the recipes.

“I have some clients about to come in so if ya do good I'll hire ya.” Xylon nodded and the stallion showed him the two recipes he would be cooking for the clients that happened to just walk in the front door. He went to greet them with more kindness in his voice then he had for Xylon. He looked at the two recipes, simple enough, and started to cook them. The gray stallion talked to the two ponies that had came in and then dismissed him self to head for the kitchen where Xylon was placing the food on plates.

“Hey hold on a min.” the stallion came in and then went to an office that hid in the very back. Moments later he came back with two small boxes that could fit in a hoof and were empty. He placed them on the plate, open, and then went to a cabinet that was a fake and pulled back to revile a brown sack. He took a small scoop and gathered some of what ever was on side the sack and went over to the boxes pouring the white powder in side.

This was something new to Equestria. In the new line of the flow some things were added like TV, and cars. The were all very simple and ran off magic, no pollution at all, there wasn't much of them and mostly the rich had them. Now there was even this as Xylon looked down at the box.

“Just a little... sugar. Don't need to say anything to anyone about it, right?”

“About what?” he looked at Xylon confused then he understood and grinned.

“I think I'm gona like ya here.” he said as he closed the boxes and Xylon took the food to the two ponies. As he was cleaning he looked up to see one of the ponies sniffing in side the box and sitting back up the powder under their nose and their eyes rolling back. Soon the gray stallion walked back in.

“Hey they said ya cooking was good. Came back tomorrow same time.” Xylon nodded and went to leave but the stallion stopped him to give him a pouch that jingled generously.

“Just a little... incentive.” he winked at Xylon and he nodded as he grabbed the pouch and left. Now he headed back home to make a list to come back to the market. When he got back home he found all the girls on the porch eating ice cream.

“Daddy you're back!” Pinkie Pie ran forward and jumped into his arms with a hug.

“What are you eating?” he said as he noticed brown liquid around her lips.

“Ice cream! Aunt Luna got it for us.” she jumped down as they reached the porch and he went inside to noises in the kitchen. He stood at the door way and saw Luna standing on her back legs and trying to kneed dough with her front but not doing a very good job of it. He walked up behind her and put his hands on her hoof to show her the way.

“Move like this.” he said as he guided her hoofs along the dough and it started to kneed together.

“Please don't be mad. I looked through all your food and...” Xylon didn't say anything and continued helping her.

“I got the money to buy it my self... thank you.” she stopped and turned nearly sitting on the counter for support while his hands were still around her on the dough.

“You don't have to suffer like this. Pride can be a harmful thing.” she stared into his eyes and he chuckled softly.

“A real man wouldn't have to worry about feeding his daughters.” Luna sighed and Xylon could taste her breath.

“You are more then a man. You are a father and a great one. Not many could take care of six growing fillies, especially on their own.” Xylon sighed this time and she could taste his breath and smell the food on him he had cooked earlier.

“I can do it by myself now and don't need help... but thank you.” Xylon stepped away and Luna turned back to the dough completely rolled out. Soon dinner would be ready and they would all enjoy a fine meal made by Luna. The girls would have fun spending time with the Princess and talk about many things. Xylon would remain mostly quiet, thinking about his new job. Thinking about how his daughter's life were going to be. Thinking about a new pair of shoes.