Twilight Sparkle, the young filly of only 4 years, was currently using glitter, glue, and posters for some fun crafts. The little filly was making a picture of space, using glitter to really make the stars and moon pop. She smiled at her finished creation and ran over to the greatest foalsitter in all the history of foalsitters, Cadance.
“Oh, Twilight! Is this for me?” Cadance asked sweetly, taking the poster up in her magic. Twilight nodded. Cadance smiled. “Oh, it’s so lovely, Twilight, dear. I’ll put it on my wall right now.” Cadance walked over to her bedroom wall and snapped off a piece of tape from the pink tape dispenser on her desk. She taped the picture up on her wall, next to the other drawings Twilight had done for her. One picture was of the two of them swinging on swings, and another was a cow in a field. Cadance smiled and walked back over to Twilight.
“Can you put the art supplies away now, Twilight? Here, I’ll help you,” she said, picking up the glitter bottle and glue bottle from the ground. Twilight strained to lift the poster paper from the ground. After a few tries, she successfully achieved her goal; holding a heavy object up with her magic. She walked carefully over to the art desk, concentrating on the floating paper. She set the package of paper on the desk, smiling with satisfaction. Cadance smiled as she watched the little filly practicing with her magic.
Twilight turned around and saw the scissors still lying on the floor. She wasn’t as phased with this tool as the paper, because the scissors were lighter and smaller. She lifted it and placed it in the appropriate drawer with ease.
Twilight trotted over to Cadance with a huge smile on her face. “Thank you, dear,” Cadance said, smiling. Twilight snuggled up to her foalsitter and sighed happily. Cadance’s heart filled with overwhelming love for the little filly, and, even though she couldn’t help it, she felt happy that Twilight always requested her-and only her-to be her foalsitter.
Cadance would drop whatever she had been doing that day so she could have fun with Twilight. She was like a little sister, and Cadance knew Twilight felt the same way.
Twilight yawned. “Cadance, can we have something to eat?” she asked sleepily. Cadance smiled warmly and nodded, nuzzling the little filly and walking over to her kitchen.
“What would you like, Twilight?” she asked, looking through the cupboards and the refrigerator for some tasty food. Her eyes skimmed over the bread, chips, and olives, the sodas, the coffee, and-good Celestia! What was that doing there? She thought, quickly stashing her mother’s wine away in the deep depths of the cupboards.
After some thought, Twilight said, “Cookies and milk!” with a big smile.
Cadance smiled, already having guessed that it would be cookies and milk. She pulled out the milk, poured two small cups, and got a jar of chocolate chip cookies. She brought these over to the kitchen table. “Come on, Twilight. Get your milk and cookies, sweetie.”
Twilight’s eyes lightened as she ran into the kitchen. She bumped into the table, almost knocking over the milk, but Cadance simply laughed and pulled out a chair for Twilight. Twilight sat in the chair and said, “Cadance! I want you to sit beside me!” when she noticed that Cadance was about to sit across from her. Cadance smiled and moved over to the seat next to Twilight.
“Thank you, Cadance,” Twilight said, munching on a cookie happily. She dipped another one in her milk with the other still in her mouth.
Cadance giggled. “Your welcome, Twilight, but you should really slow down when you’re eating. We don’t want you to get a tummy ache, do we?” Twilight paused, shook her head, and waited until she swallowed the cookie in her mouth before biting into the second cookie.
The two ponies smiled, enjoying their time together. They didn’t speak much, but that was ok. Both ponies could feel the comfortable silence around them, and it made them seem closer than actually talking.
When the ponies were finished, Twilight’s yawns became longer. Cadance smiled and nudged her softly. “Come on, sleepyhead. It’s time for a nap,” she helped Twilight down from the chair and led her into her bedroom.
On the few occasions Twilight Sparkle came over to her house, instead of Cadance going over to Twilight’s, Cadance had prepared a small section of her own bedroom for Twilight’s little naptime room. There was a small sleeping bag in the corner, and a lava lamp beside it. There was a small one-level bookshelf sitting on the ground as well, filled with books Cadance would sometimes read to Twilight to get her to go to sleep.
Twilight stumbled over to the sleeping bag, “Cadance, I’m really sleepy,” she said, eyes half-shut. Cadance just smiled and tucked the little filly in.
Cadance turned the light off, the lava lamp on, and closed the door, not completely shut, but enough. She sank her aching body down onto the couch. She sighed a heavy sigh, and retied her ponytail. While taking care of Twilight was the highlight of her life, it tired her out most times, because the little filly was very curious for her age, and always wanted to be doing something.
Cadance got up and went to the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of hot tea and slowly started to relax. Suddenly her thoughts slowly crept toward Shining Armor, Twilight’s brother. He was the same age as her, and pretty cute, Cadance had to admit.
Of course, there was no way he felt the same way. He only thought of her as “Twiley’s foalsitter” and nothing else. But, there was that one time when he had asked her to go get coffee with him sometime…. Cadance shook her head. That was silly; he was probably just trying to thank her for looking after Twilight when he couldn’t. He was a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard after all.
From snippets of conversation she’d overheard, Cadance found out that Shining was destined for greatness, and that the Princess herself (her aunt) had recognized Shining’s great guardship, and he was sure he would be promoted to Captain someday.
Cadance smiled brightly at this thought, and blushed at the thought that she might one day go out with the Captain of the Royal Guard.
Trapped in these thoughts, Cadance didn’t notice Twilight until she tapped her on the leg. Cadance jumped and looked down. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” she asked, seeing the fear in the young one’s eyes.
“I had a nightmare,” she said. “I dreamed that you and Big Brother were going to leave me,” she said, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Oh, Twilight. You know that will never happen. I will be with you forever. Even when you grow older and don’t need a foalsitter anymore, I will always be with you, in your heart,” Cadance said, picking the filly up in her arms and tapping Twilight’s chest.
“Promise?” she asked.
“Promise,” Cadance replied certainly.
“Can I sleep next to you, Cadance?” Twilight asked.
Cadance smiled softly and nodded. “Come on, little pony. Let’s go into the living room, ok?” Twilight nodded and wiped a tear from her eye.
Cadance, still holding the little filly, walked slowly into the living room. She sat down on the rug, and gestured for Twilight to snuggle up beside her. “Cadance, you’re the best foalsitter,” Twilight said, getting comfortable beside the older mare.
Cadance nuzzled Twilight’s head, like a big sister would. “Get some sleep, little one.” Twilight yawned and fell asleep almost immediately.
After a few minutes, Cadance made sure Twilight was fast asleep before using her magic to open the art shelf. She pulled out some swatches of fabric, buttons, string and a needle. In her mind, she pictured the perfect present for the little filly by her side.
With a little pony by her side, Twilight might be able to sleep better by herself. Cadance got to work on the present, taking extra care in making it. Cadance couldn’t wait until Twilight saw her present, and her heart swelled with happiness as she continued creating the doll.
