Eventide

Twilight and Spike sat stunned in the main room of the library, “Did...did she just, bless me?”, Twilight stammered.

“Um, yeah, it seems she did!”, Spike replied, still unsure as to what had transpired.

Eventide, had just woken up, and looked lovingly into Twilight's eyes, “Oh my beautiful, little baby!”, she cooed, “I suppose you’re hungry? Aren’t you? Yes you are!”

Spike, giggling at the sight in front of him said, “Hehe, I’ll whip up some milk for her!”, and walked towards the kitchen, still giggling.

“Can you make me something as well?”, she called out, and then added, “Please?”

“Sure thing Twi!”

Twilight had to work out who to tell first about Eventide, ‘I’d better inform my parents first, but then the girls might find out, and be annoyed with me, but, if I let them know first, my parents will be disappointed. Oh, what to do, what to do!’

A while later, Spike returned with the warm milk for Eventide, and some daisy sandwiches for Twilight, “You okay Twi?”

Snapping out of her thoughts, Twilight replied, “Spike, I don’t know what to do first. Do I tell the girls, or do I tell my parents? I just don’t know what to do!”

Seeing that if she wasn’t careful, Spike just sat down, and stared at Twilight, “...Well, if was me, I’d tell the girls first, because you’re here in Ponyville. If you don’t, then they’ll find out when you go to your parents. Seeing as you’ll be walking through town to get to the train station. And, you certainly can’t hide Eventide. Can you?”

“I suppose you’re right.”, she replied after a few bites of the sandwich.

“That’s better!”, Spike said, with a sigh, “So, who first?”

Twilight proceeded to finish off her sandwich, then, with a quick bit of levitation magic, she brought a quill and scroll over to her, “Can you take care of Eventide for a bit? I’ve got some thinking to do.”, at which Spike took the now sleeping foal, and placed her on his lap.

‘So, I think if I go to Rarity first, she’ll just go all gooey over her, then we can go over to see Applejack, oh, she’ll insist on us having a ‘little’ something to eat, then we’ll have to call on Fluttershy, oh, she’ll just love her, then we’ll have to call on Rainbow Dash, she’ll just act cool as usual, then finally, Pinkie, she’ll insist on throwing a party.’, she started writing down directions for the quickest routes, ‘Well, at least with Pinkie, everypony will then know about her!’

Sighing, Twilight put down the quill and stared at her list, “Well, I’ve got that sorted out. Spike, how do you fancy taking a walk with us?”

Looking up from his important job, “Well, we could do with the exercise.”, he stifled a giggle.

Ignoring the remark, Twilight replied, “Now, I’ll just have to alter one of the saddlebags. That shouldn’t take too long.”, and proceeded over to the rack to alter one of the least used ones.

Sometime later, and quite a few alterations later, “Right! Let’s head out!”, she levitated the lightly snoring foal into the altered saddlebag.

Heading out, the little group headed towards Rarity’s boutique, and came across her first problem, Bon Bon crossed their path, “Twilight! Spike! I haven’t seen you for ages!”

“Oh, hi Bon Bon! We’re just, um, off to see Rarity for tea.”, Twilight replied.

Spotting the sleeping Eventide in her saddlebag, Bon Bon exclaimed, “Oh! She’s just too cute! I didn’t know you’d given birth, you certainly hid it well!”

Thinking quickly, Spike replied, “She’s Twilights’, um, niece! She’s here so Twilight can help raise her, seeing as, well, Shining and Cadance are busy with the Crystal Empire!”

Bon Bon stood there for a moment, contemplating, “...Oh, I didn’t see any royal processions or anything, unless…”, she gave a sideways glance at Twilight, “they turned up in the dead of night!”

Both Twilight and Spike did an eye roll at this, “Hehe, yeah, it was late when Shining Armor turned up, you know how busy it is running an empire!”, Twilight replied.

“Well, um, no. I only know how to run a confectionary store!”, Bon Bon replied with a smile, “Still, it’s really, really nice of them to think about you, and their foal. What’s her name, by the way?”

“Eventide. She’s only a few months old. They thought that it’d be a nice, um, idea for her to stay with me, and we can both learn to take care of each other, because, well, I don’t intend to have children anytime soon.”, Twilight replied. This seemed to do the trick with Bon Bon, who trotted off towards her shop with a smile on her face.

After the interruption, the two continued their walk to see Rarity. Hoping for no more interruptions on the way.

Thankfully, there were only glances their way as they made their way across to the boutique, Twilight had thought to hide Eventide more within the altered saddlebag, but thought better of it. After, what seemed, like an eternity, they arrived, more or less, safely at Rarity’s boutique.

Entering, the bell above the door tinkled to let Rarity know that there was a customer, and calling out, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and mag.. Oh! Twilight, Spike!”, she managed to stop herself from calling out her usual greeting, “What do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Not that it’s always a pleasure seeing the two of you!”

“Um, could we talk in private, somewhere?”, Twilight asked nervously.

Rarity, being a mare of class, just raised an eyebrow, “Of course, just go through to my lounge, and I’ll close up. Through the door next to the stairs, and I’ll fix us some tea.” She trotted off to lock the door to the boutique.

“I’ll make the tea Rarity!”, called Spike after her, “I know where the kitchen is.”

Which left Twilight to trot into the lounge.

She seated herself in one of Rarity’s many sofas, and proceeded to levitate Eventide out of the saddlebag, and onto her lap, “There, there little one.”, as Eventide opened her eyes to view the new surrounds, “This is where one of my best friends, Rarity, lives.”

Rarity trotted in, and when she saw the foal on Twilight’s lap, her eyes grew wide, and she gasped, “Twilight Sparkle! Who is the foal?”

“Rarity, this is the reason I wanted to talk privately with you.”, Twilight replied, “I have a confession to make to you, all of you!”, she gathered her thoughts together, and continued, “You remember when Spike came over for the Cutie Mark Crusaders sleepover?”, Rarity just nodded, “Well, it was the perfect opportunity for me to perform a spell that I had been planning for months.”

Rarity, at this point spoke up, “A spell?”

“Yes, a, um, forbidden spell. One that Starswirl himself created, a spell that creates life itself!”, she stammered out, and looked down at the little pony on her lap.

Whilst Twilight was staring down, Rarity had been thinking, “Twilight, let me get this straight. You took it upon yourself to cast not only a forbidden spell, but do it in with privacy,” there was a perceptible nod of Twilight's head at this, “and, the result of the spell is this foal?”, at which Eventide looked up at Rarity.

“Yes.”, was Twilight’s meek reply. She felt small under the glare of her friend.

Spike casually walked into the room, “Um, okay. I’ll just leave the tray here, and make myself scarce.”

The distraction allowed Twilight to look up at her friend, her thoughts congealing into something, slightly, coherent, “Rarity, please, don’t judge me over this. Eventide is one of the best things that has happened. She’s the foal I’ve always dreamed of, since I moved to Ponyville. She’s the anchor that will keep me plowing ahead, and one day, I hope, she’ll take over from me, when I grow too old to continue to work for the Princess.” She lowered her head, expecting nothing but hurt from her friend, who had stood up, and was now looking at Eventide.

“If I may?”, she asked Twilight, who looked up in surprise, “If I may, hold the little darling?”, at which Twilight nodded, levitating the foal into Rarity’s forelegs.

She sat down next to Twilight, and just stared, lovingly, at the small bundle, now on her lap. Showing no emotions, apart from love.

Rarity, who was one to over dramatize everything, sat, thinking about what Twilight had just said to her, everything, about the creation, the fact that the spell was banned, the reason she did it.

‘If I had only but half of her abilities, I would probably have done the same myself, but, I have Sweetie Belle, Twilight has only Spike, and yes, we are her friends, but we have our own lives, and families, some of us have them near us.’, she continued to ponder many questions, ‘What has the Princesses said? Were they angry, well, obviously not, otherwise she wouldn’t be here. Why did she have to do this alone? Couldn’t she trust us? Well, she could have tried to ask, but, as usual, we were lost in our own little worlds. Oh, Twilight, you silly, silly mare! You could have gotten yourself killed! And, then where would we all have been?’

Spike, wondering why there was nothing but silence emanating from the lounge, poked his head back in, and just say Twilight with her head down, and Rarity staring at Eventide. Puzzled by this turn of events, he trotted over to Twilight and just looked up into her eyes, “Twi?”, he pleaded, “Is...is there anything wrong?”

Twilight focused on the little dragon before her, “Oh, Spike! I’ve messed everything up, everything!”, tears started to form in the corners of her eyes, “I could have lost it all, my friends, my family, the Princess, and you!”, the dams burst, “I’ve been stupid! And thoughtless, I’m the Element of Magic, I should have known better. Oh, Spike, what am I going to do?”

Taken aback by this outburst, Spike just stared at his mother figure, trying to put his thoughts into a somewhat orderly line, “...Um, Twi, you’re a great pony, a pony that many look up to. Heck, you’re my mother, and sister, you’ve been there for me since I was born. You brought together everypony who needed to be brought together to defeat Nightmare Moon, AND re-united Celestia and Luna. I don’t know of any other pony who could have done that!”

Rarity, who’d been thinking, and looking at Eventide, looked up at Spikes’ tirade, “Twilight, Spike is right. You’re a powerful, kind, and intelligent pony. What you did was thoughtless, though, to be honest, I would have done the same myself, if I didn’t have mother and father, and Sweetie Belle, here to help me. You have Spike, and, as important, you have FRIENDS.”, she looked straight at Twilight, and continued, “You could have talked to us. But, I must ask one important thing. If you do not wish to answer, I will understand.”, Twilight nodded assent, “Have the Princesses spoken to you?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia visited me today. Her reaction wasn’t what I expected. In fact, she acted as if she knew something like this would happen.”, she had a thoughtful look on her face at this point, “In fact, she seems to know what will happen with me, before even I know. Princess Luna hasn’t visited, or contacted me. This is something I was thinking about whilst I was working on the spell, because she is the Princess of The Night, after all, and there was enough raw magic being, how can I put it, broadcast around that the library would have lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree!”, Twilight continued, “Princess Celestia told me, no, decreed that I will be Eventide’s guardian, and to bring her up in the best traditions of Equestria. If I fail, well, let’s not dwell upon that.”

“Darling! You had the Princess herself visit you, and she just fobbed it off like it was nothing?”, Rarity exclaimed, “Yes, yes, I can see it now.”, she fell into thought.

Twilight looked at her friend, with her head cocked, slightly to one side, Spike on the other hoof, turned to Twilight, “Um, Twi? The tea’s getting cold!”, he said, with a smile on his face.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!”, she warmed the tea up with a quick spell, and levitated the teapot so she could fill one of the china cups for herself. Sipping the now warm tea, she sat back, to await whatever Rarity would say. The scent of the tea brought the white fashionista back to reality.

“Spike, would you be a dear, and pour me a cup, please?”, she spoke, to which, he did. She levitated the cup over to herself, and demurely sipped, whilst Twilight waited. “Twilight, Princess Celestia wasn’t just fobbing you off, you know that she will be keeping a close eye on you, from now on, more than she is now. So, she’s hoping, and so am I, that you will not, as it were, mess up. And, being the bearer of the Element of Magic, you have an image to keep up, as well as being the Princess’s star pupil, and, now also a mother.”, she broke off to sip more tea, “So, what I propose is this, we will, together, and I mean ALL of us, and, you must, I repeat, MUST contact Princess Luna. You will get through this, and this beautiful, little pony, will have the best mother anypony could hope for, and the best, most loving auties!”

Spike looked at Rarity, “Ahem!”

“Oh, yes, of course! And a loving big brother.”, she added, “By the way, who came up with the name? It’s so, darling!”

“That was the Princess, she named her.”, then she paused, “...Rarity, would you help me out with something?”

“Of course, darling! Whatever I could do, I will help.”, she replied.

“Could you, um, adjust the saddlebag I brought with me?”, hoofing over the said article.

“Do you mean to tell me, that you brought Eventide, over here, in this, this THING???”, Rarity exclaimed, “I’m surprised that she wasn’t bawling her eye’s out! Now, we must alter this, and we will have a saddlebag fit for a princess!”, trotting off to her workshop, Twilight and Spike were left to work out what their friend meant.

A short while later, the local fashionista returned with, not the original saddlebag, but an amazing piece of art. Twilight was at a loss for words, “...”

Spike, on the otherclaw, was not, “Wow, Rarity! That’s the most fabulous piece of work I’ve seen!”

Rarity gave him a quick peck on the cheek, “Oh, Spikey-Wikey! You say the sweetest of things!”, at which point he blushed, and held his claw to the cheek in question.

“I shall never was this cheek again!”, he said in a far away voice.

Twilight had snapped out of her surprise, “Rarity, I...I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful. I can’t thank you enough!”, she trotted over and hugged her friend.

“Darling, darling! Now, don’t make me start crying!”, she replied, “Please, it is the least I could do, for Eventide, and you. Now, all we to do, is to get you back to the library, post haste!”

“Well, I can teleport myself, and, probably Eventide, but not you and Spike.”, she looked forlorn, “I’m sorry.”

Rarity just looked at Twilight, and said, “Don’t think like that, you take this darling little foal back, and I’ll just have to be escorted by a handsome dragon, won’t I, Spike?”, she glanced over at Spike, who was floating a few inches off the ground. Twilight just giggled at this, and levitated Eventide into the new saddlebag, at which, she looked at Twilight with love and affection.

“Well my little pony, let’s get back home, I’m sure you’re getting hungry, yes you are…”, Spike just rolled his eyes and Rarity had to stifle a giggle.

“She’s been like this for quite a while now.”, Spike said with a deadpan face, “I’m sure I’ll get used to it.”

Twilight just smiled, and embraced her friend, “Bye bye, Rarity. Thank you for everything, and I mean, everything.”, she then disappeared in a purple flash.

“Well, we had better get going, my guide.”, Rarity spoke to Spike, “After all, a lady needs an escort, does she not?”

“Sure thing!”, came the baby dragon’s reply. The two of them left the boutique, and slowly made their way to the giant tree that served as both Twilight’s home, and town library.

“I’m sure that Twilight will enjoy the break, Spike, so, how would you like to treat a lady to a meal?”, Rarity turned to the dragon trotting alongside her.

“Sure thing!”, he replied, “Where would m’lady like to dine?”

“The café, I think. They have the most delightful Daffodil and daisy sandwiches, and I have not eaten one for such a long time!”, replied the fashionista. They trotted off towards the café, safe in the knowledge that their friend would enjoy some downtime.

In the library, Twilight sat on one of the many sofas, with a giggling foal on her lap, “Wasn’t Rarity an absolute darling? She made us, you, a lovely saddlebag, and listened to my troubles. And, I think, she loved you too. Yes she did!”

The two of them sat giggling and laughing for the rest of the afternoon, whilst Rarity and Spike made their way, slowly to join her at the library.

“Well, Spikey-Wikey, shall we continue our saunter to the library?”, Rarity spoke, after they had finished their meal, “Or, do you think that Twilight needs more time?”

“...Nah, I think they’ll both be tired, so we’ll get there when they’re taking a nap.”, the baby dragon replied, “Plus, I need to start the evening meal.”
“Very well, let us be off!”, and as soon as Spike had paid the bill, they continued their way to the library.

Letting them in, without knocking, Spike listened out for any sound of Twilight, “Hey!”, he called out softly, “Anypony awake?”

“Oh! Spike! Sorry, we were playing!”, came a voice from the kitchen.

Spike blanched, “Did she say PLAYING??”, Rarity just nodded, “Gotta go!”, and ran off towards his beloved kitchen. Rarity daintily closed the door behind her, and trotted off in Spikes wake.

Upon entering the kitchen, Rarity noticed the look of shock, and horror on Spikes face, whilst Twilight and Eventide were covered in flour, and giggling like, well, one of them was, little fillies.

“Um Twilight, darling!”, Rarity tittered, “Why don’t we leave Spike to clean up the kitchen, and we’ll clean up that darling foal?” Twilight looked at her friend dumbfounded, then took a longer look at Eventide.

“Hehe, um, yeah!”, came her quiet reply, “Let’s get you cleaned up, messy!”, and looking at Rarity, “Come on, Rarity! The bathroom is upstairs.”

The two mares trotted upstairs towards the bathroom, with Rarity carrying the small foal on her back, “I have never seen you like this before, Twilight!”

“I know, it’s so, unstructured! So, random.”, Twilight replied, “I never thought that I could have so much fun making a mess. And, I think she knows what’s going on. In fact, I think she’s learning fast.”

At this, Rarity just raised a dainty eyebrow, “Really? Well, let’s get her cleaned up. Then, you can take a shower, and I’ll care for Eventide.”

They entered the bathroom, and filled the tub up with a small amount of water, and Rarity showed her friend how to bath a small pony, “There, as good as new!”, then added, “Well, so to use a phrase! Now, you need to clean up!”

Rarity took the foal in her magic, “We’ll be downstairs, darling!”, the two of them made their way down to the main room.

Many minutes later, Rarity and Eventide were sitting on the big sofa in the main room, “My, my, your mother simply cannot sing!”, she said to the foal on her lap, “If she continues like this, I shall have to have Sweetie Belle give her singing lessons!”, Eventide looked up at Rarity, and giggled, “Ah, you understand me, well, well, well!”

From within the kitchen , Spike called out, “Rarity? Would you like to stay for an evening meal?”

“Oh, Spike! That would be divine, whatever you an Twilight are having, would be simply acceptable.”, she replied, with a singsong quality in her voice, “And, would you also be a darling, and…”

“Make some warm milk up for Eventide?”, he said from the kitchen doorway, with a smile plastered on his face, “Heh, don’t worry, Twi does that as well!”

Eventide tried to look at Spike, and was getting irritated at not being able to, started to cry, “Eventide? Whatever is the matter?”, she looked down at the little foal, “You want Spikey-Wikey?”, Eventide looked up at the white unicorn, and stopped her crying, “Spike, would you mind?”, to which, the baby dragon trotted over.

“What’s wrong Rarity?”, he enquired.

“This darling, little foal, started crying as soon as you stopped talking, I think she wants her big brother!”, Rarity turned to Spike, “Would you take her, and I’ll make all of us a meal.”

Spike sat down on the sofa, with Eventide happily giggling, on his lap, “You don’t have to Rares.”, but, he didn’t sound very concerned. The fashionista simply trotted away into the kitchen, intent on making a meal for all four of them.

Upstairs in the bathroom, Twilight had managed to clean herself up, and was brushing her mane, “I’d better see what Spike is up to, and what he’s got planned for a meal.”, she smiled at the thought of one of her number one assistant’s meals, “Well, I’d better make a move!”, and trotted out of the bathroom, and down the stairs. The scene which awaited her, made her stop in her tracks.

“Um...Spike, where’s Rarity?”, she managed to stammer.

“Oh, she’s in the kitchen, making us all a meal.”, came his reply, whilst Eventide was busily trying to grab hold of one of his claws, “Rares! Twilight’s down!”

A white unicorn poked her head out of the kitchen, “Twilight, you look absolutely stunning! Now, if you would all join moi in the kitchen, your hostess will serve your meal”, she smiled.

“Well, come on then Spike!”, Twilight replied, and levitated Eventide onto her back, as the three of them made their way to Spike’s domain.