It was a cool night in Ponyville and just on the edge of town lay the quaint little cottage; which was home to the resident odd couple of Discord and Fluttershy. The house was all abuzz because it was a very special night for them. For the first time since the birth of their foal; Discord and Fluttershy were going to have their long overdue date night. Their precious, yet chaotic foal Screwball proved to be a lovable bundle chaos and could be quite a hooffull. Discord had lost many sleepless night to plan out the perfect evening; an evening for the most wonderful mare in all of Equestria.
Discord stood before their mirror in the living room, surrounded by several suits that were hovering around him. This was a date which required him to bring his most charming ensemble. His mismatched eyes scanned each suit to find ‘the one’. Thanks to a time-altering spell which made a minute stretch an hour; he committed himself to an old favorite. With a wave his paw, he dismissed the others and picked up his classic cyan suit with a green bowtie. With another snap of his talon, the suit wrapped around him like a highly caffeinated snake until somehow it clothed him like an ordinary suit.
“Alright Discord, no need to worry yourself,” he said to his reflection. “It’s been quite a while since you’ve been on a date night with the loveliest mare in the world, but I’m sure nothing will go wrong.”
When looked to his reflection, it had crossed its arms and shook its head. His equally well-dressed likeness gave him an almost insulting look. It was the kind of look one would give to somepony who just stuck a metal object into an electrical outlet after having done it several times earlier the same day.
“Oh, what do you know? You’re just my reflection,” Discord groaned as he reached into the mirror and gave his critic a hard slap. As his glass born clone fell from view, Discord grumbled as he turned away. “I thought we settled this in the bedroom last time.”
“I’m ready,” Fluttershy said as she made her way downstairs.
As Discord turned and took in the sight of his lovely wife, made his heart a flutter. She wore a form-fitting light blue dress with sky blue trim which accented slender frame along with a goldenrod sash. Her neck was adorned with a simple pearl necklace and her mane was tied single ponytail that draped to her left side. He could only stand there, love-struck and sighed deeply as little hearts appeared around his head.
When Fluttershy reached to her husband, he slowly took her hoof. “You look very lovely tonight, my sweet butterfly,” He softly said while kissing her hoof.
“T-Thank you, dear,” she replied softly as she glanced at the clock. “It’s 7 o’clock already? I wonder what’s keeping Spike?”
Discord grinned to himself as he looked out the window. He recalled just a few days ago he had asked Spike to foalsit for them so they could have their night out. Spike initially refused the offer at first; but being the master of manipulation he coerced the young drake by bribing him with one of the rarest and most delicious gems known to dragonkind, a ruby prism. Spike quickly changed his mind on the matter, when he beheld the delectable treasure. The various recipes burned in his mind as well as the savory images so vivid he could almost sink his teeth into.
“He better get here soon. I’m not paying him to keep us waiting all night,” he grumbled under his breath.
Shortly after his complaint, a knock echoed through the house. Discord’s paw leaped from his body and latched onto the doorknob. With a twist and a pull, the door opened and a familiar dragon slowly entered.
“Hey, guys!” Spike said as he approached them. “Sorry, I’m late. My date with-”
“I really don’t wanna hear your excuses,” Discord interrupted while rolling his eyes.
“Charming as ever, Discord,” Spike deadpanned as he stared up to the draconequus.
“Now Spike, are you sure you can handle watching Screwball? She’s not like other fillies, y’know,” Fluttershy spoke with a genuine level of concern in her voice.
It had been a long time since they had anypony foalsit Screwball. It wasn’t that she couldn’t trust somepony to watch over her precious foal. She was just worried since she knew how advanced Screwball’s magic was for a filly her age. Despite having no formal training or even the comprehension skills for training; her power seemed infinite. It was no easy task taking care of her. On top of that, sometimes it felt like she had to watch after two chaotic children because sometimes her darling husband would add to the chaos instead of helping to contain it.
“I’m positive!” Spike spoke confidently. “There’s nothing to be worried about. She’ll be in good claws with me.”
“Good. Here’s a list of things you need you know about her,” Discord said casually as he spawned a scroll from the stump where his paw used to be. The paper unrolled and flowed to the floor. It kept unraveling until, there was a pile of paper the size as him. Spike just nodded at the sight of the list. He had seen bigger ones from Twilight’s episodes of sleep-planning.
“Is this necessary” Spike muttered while rolling up the list. “You’re only gonna be gone for five hours.”
Discord couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. “Believe me. If you don’t know what you’re doing; well let’s just say she’ll take you for a ride.”
“Wait, what?” the young drake quickly replied as he gripped the end of the list.
Fluttershy nudged on Discord’s shoulder. “Come on Discord. If we don’t hurry, we’ll lose our night.”
“Yes, of course. We’ll be back home around midnight. Don’t forget to tuck her in before we come home.”
The dragon stood up straight and gave a salute to them “You can count on me.”
Suddenly a young foal popped out of the Pegasus’ mane while happily babbling.
The yellow mare looked up at the little foal nesting in her mane. She couldn’t help but giggle. “Hello sweetie. Mommy and Daddy are going to be gone for a while. Be good to your Uncle Spike, Okay?”
The young foal looked up at Spike who gave her a warm smile while he waved to her. She glared at him and slowly sank back into her mother mane. Shortly after she fully vanished, the sound of a seat belt being buckled was heard.
“Come out of there, young filly!” Fluttershy firmly said.
Screwball quietly giggled in response as if it was a game. Discord couldn’t help but laugh.
“Discord!”
“What? You know she loves nesting in your mane. I can personally testify that it’s very comfy,” Discord in defense of his foal.
“Discord,” she replied with her trademark “Stare”. As her gaze grew more and more intense, Discord felt that as if something much more powerful than himself was about to pounce.
The draconequus held up his mismatch arms as his paw finally returned to its proper place. “Okay. Okay. No need to give me that look little missy.”
He placed his paw into her mane and search for the mischievous foal. He felt something and pulled it out; producing his daughter by her leg. Screwball happily babbled as if pondering how being upside down was no different than being right side up. Discord handed their little precious foal to his wife.
“Be good to Uncle Spike please,” Fluttershy said before giving her a kiss on her check.
Screwball stared at her with a sad expression that could make a stone feel guilt.
“Aw...don’t worry, Screwy. We’ll be back before you know it. Right Discord?” Fluttershy softly spoke as she glanced at her husband.
“Of course. We would never forget our creation,” Discord agreed while kissing Screwball’s head.
“See. Will you be a good little filly for us while we're gone?” Fluttershy gently whispered to the center of her world.
Screwball happily giggled in response.
“Good,” the mare pegasus smiled. “Take real good care of our treasure Spike.”
Spike nodded as he spoke up. “Will do!”
Fluttershy gave her foal one last hug before handing her to the little purple drake.
“My dear, would you mind waiting outside for a minute?” Discord asked while secretly his shadow wrapping Spike shadow legs. “I’ll be out shortly. Just a little draconequus to dragon talk.”
“All right, don’t be too long,” she smiled then headed outside.
As she left Discord turned while his shadow’s tail reached and grabbed Spike’s shadow. As it lifted, Spike found himself grabbed by the tail and raised upside down in front of Discord. The drake held on tight to Screwball; who was happily babbling while trying to swing.
Discord looked into Spike’s very widened eyes. “If anything happens to her, or if she isn’t asleep in bed when we get back, or if I find a single mess; there will be consequences.”
Spike gulped soundly as he trembled. “Yes, sir.”
“Good, keep that in your head. Don’t forget what I’m paying you for.”
“Trust me. Nothing will happen.”
“Nothing better,” Discord threatened as his shadow placed the young drake’s shadow down, taking the physical dragon down with it. “I’ll check with you very soon.”
Spike nervously gulped as Discord ruffled Screwball mane one last time before leaving.
Spike sighed to himself as the door closed. “Sheesh, he worries too much. I mean what’s the worst thing that could happen?”
Screwball slowly teared up. Her parents were gone. The sudden sensation of being alone crept over her. Her loneliness grew and she started loudly crying. Gradually a dark and rather angry looking cloud formed over her. It started raining and rumbling with thunder. Spike stepped out from under the storm cloud and it slowly followed them.
“Me and my big mouth,” Spike groaned as he started to rock her. “Don’t cry little Screwball. Uncle Spike is here.”
The infant continued crying and an ear-splitting crack roared above him. Spike looked up and saw a bright flash of light followed by a bolt of lightning that was headed for him. He tossed the foal onto the couch and she landed squarely on a soft pillow. Spike was hit by the bolt and an unmeasurable amount of electricity fired through his body. Screwball watched quietly as the dragon twisted and hopped around as his nerves forced him to perform what resembled a random dance. She couldn’t help but laugh. The dark cloud stopped raining and slowly turned into a more friendly looking puff of pink cotton.
Spike scales turned into black and he looked rather crispy. “Ow…” he groaned as a little smoke came out of his ears.
Screwball climbed down from the couch and crawled away. A strange gleam of light hit her eyes and got attention. The foal followed the strange light and spotted a shiny object high up on a bookshelf. Like any other curious child, she began to climb up.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to touch that or even climb,” Spike said while quickly climbed after her.
The infant ignored him as she continued her ascent. She was close enough to reach out for it. She didn’t know what it was but all she knew is that she wanted it. A tiny hoof almost got close enough to touch it when the young drake leaped up a self and snatched her.
“Gotcha!” Spike said with a proud smile; holding her close as he climbed down.
She put on a fussy expression and bit down on his claw. Even though she didn’t have any teeth, she had the intent of trying. Her jaw clamped down on his arm and she gummed his scales.
“Come on Screwball, stop that,” Spike said reaching the ground. “Are you hungry?”
Screwball stop as she looked at him with a growling stomach.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”
Spike took her into the kitchen. The mischievous filly could spot the treasured cookie jar on top of the counter. Spike place her on her highchair and secured her into it. He pulled out the list and looked it over to see what was okay to give her to eat.
You must give her a bottle of milk with a bit of chocolate powder. If too much she’ll go chaotic along with her powers. If so, I’m sorry you would have to deal with it until she's worn out.
Under the directions, it showed off a spoon like a mouse-size with 20 crumbs of chocolate powder to give.
“Simple enough,” Spike reasoned, while he gathered his ingredients together and slowly follow the direction. “Okay, Screwball. Dinner is served.”
He turned to see she was gone. A soft babbled caught his attention and looked to see her crawling on top of the countertop hearing the flaming stove.
“Gah! Screwball!” He shouted in horror chasing after her.
Inches closer to the flames as the drake came in time grabbing her away. “Screwball stop. You're gonna get hurt,” he begged.
Her response was making an anger look.
“I said no!”
She began to cry with a flash of light appeared. The little infant stopped crying and instantly started at him giving him a hungry look.
“Huh? Why are you giving me that look?” he asked as he turned to a pot into a reflection as his body into a cookie. “Oh, horse apples.”
The mischievous filly was ready to bite on cookie Spike arm until he instantly dropped her and slowly back away from her. Every step he took back she would slowly crawl towards him. He could see the hungered look in her eyes. Spike quickly grabs the cookie jar to hand it to her, but it didn’t keep her eye off the walking big dragon cookie. There was only one thing left to do; run away.
He dropped the cookie jar and ran off as Screwball chased after the delicious cookie drake. He began to climb the wall and up to the ceiling. Screwball stopped her tracks and looked up to where her delectable prize with a ravenous stare while she licked her lips. The frightened cookiefied drake remained high up, nervously looking down at the eager foal that awaits him below.
‘Well, it can’t get any worse than this,’ he thought to himself until he felt something in his throat. As the fire expelled out of his mouth, an orb materialized and accidentally hit Screwball head. “Oh, crud!”
He quickly jumped down spotting water eyes forming while rubbing her head. He quickly rocks her trying to keep calm. It wasn’t good enough she began to cry which resulted in the cookie dragon got electrocuted again.
The orb floated front of him as an imagine show Discord.
“Hello? Is this thing on?” spoke Discord
“Ah! I mean…Discord. What are you-”
“Oh good, you’re still alive,” Discord stated as he cut him off. “I wanted to check to see how you two are doing.”
Before Spike could continue on, Discord he spotted the crying foal.
“Why is she crying? Why are you a walking cookie? Especially why is she crying!? What did you do to her!?”
“It was an accident. I was up on the ceiling, until-”
“I don’t want to hear any excuses. I told you what would happen if anything would happen to her…” he growled as he snapped his paw.
Spike could see Screwball shadow slide to the ground and rose up. It began to form into a silhouette of Discord and grab him by the tail as if it was angry.
“Can’t we talk about this” He spoke frighten.
The silhouette Discord doesn’t respond. It summoned up a cinnamon shaker and sprinkle onto him as it poured milk on him.
“Hey!” Spike coughed.
It started to hold him upside down showing Screwball with a hungry look.
“No! No! Give me a chance. Please!” Spike begged.
“Well, let’s see. I would let my own shadow do your work for you than you being here. Then again I don’t trust my own shadow from the last incident leaving him to foalsit Screwball. Fine. I’ll give you last chance,” Discord said snapping his paw.
Spike turned back to normal while holding Screwball in his arms with a bottle of chocolate milk in his claw. The shadow disappeared and back to Screwball being.
“I better not see her crying or it’s back to a cookie dragon,” Discord spoke with narrowed his eyes at the drake. “Make sure you follow that list. I better go, don’t wanna keep Fluttershy waiting. I will see you soon. Discord out!”
The image of him fades away along the orb pops like a bubble.
Spike sigh “At least that was over.”
Screwball giggled as small gem appeared at her mouth.
“Huh?” Spike said taking the gem out her mouth. Seeing his reflection and shined “A gem?”
The little foal takes her bottle and clinked on the gem as she drank her bottle.
Spike pulled out the list.
“While you feed her, she would like you to eat as well…”
“Really? Well, don’t mind if I do then. It does look tasty.”
Just when he took a bite of the gem, the little filly finished her bottle and let out a little burped which spawned everything to come to life.
“Oh come on!” Spike cried out.
A lamp shaped like Discord swiped Screwball away flying through the cottage.
“Bring her back!” Spike said chasing her again once more. “Ugh, there must be something to stop this madness?”
Spike pulled out the list and scanned through it.
Here is the emotion chart that will help:
Giggle= Good or Normal
Crying= Bad or Horrible
Burping= Things come alive
Sneezes= Anything helpful or useless
“Okay, so how do I make her laugh to turn make everything-”
Before he could finish his sentence he’s slammed into a wardrobe. It swished him around and spat the dragon. He who now wore a fancy yellow dress with five frill layers along with emerald earrings on his scale with slightly off makeup applied on him. A wing camera few by and took a picture of him and then coughed up the photo.
The drake took a look of the snapshot. “You gotta be kidding me.”
He could hear a laughter of Screwball on the couch sideways along with lampcord laughing also.
“This isn’t funny,” The drake huffed as he crossed his arms. “Though the emeralds do match my eyes….Still not funny.
She ignored him and continued to laugh at him. In a bright flash of light, everything turned back to normal.
He groaned as he rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know how much of this to take.” He said grabbing the list. “Let's see… When it’s time for her bath; make sure she gets clean. Once you're finished to put her right to bed. And whatever you do DO NOT laugh at her puffy coat and mane. She will get upset.”
After reading the list Spike looked up to see Screwball had disappeared again. He then heard a loud splash noise coming from upstairs.
He quickly ran upstairs. “Please don’t be something crazy,” he muttered as he barged into the room where he heard the noise. He opened the door to find Screwball in a large bathtub along with sea animals. “Whoa!”
Just before he could rescue the foal he’s been picked up by a sea lion and played with him as if he was a ball, bouncing him in the air. The young dragon struggled to get free until two more sea lions waddle and joined in the bouncing dragon.
“Screwball! Help!” Spike cried out.
The foal didn’t bother paying attention to the dragon. Her attention was solely on the guppy seahorses swimming along with her. One of the sea lions used its tail to hit him into the water. Spike emerged from the water on a baby whale back.
“How do you even fit in this tub?”
It responded letting out a screeched whine. Spike shrugged and dove into the water to swim to Screwball. “Okay. Time to send them back whatever they came from.”
Screwball splashed at him in response as she laughed. Annoyed Spike looked up and witness a strange shadow appear above them. Just then a big wave appeared from behind her. In an instant, the two were forced out of the bathtub. A row of ducklings waddled on top of Spike as they used him to exit the room. He quickly stood up and looked to his side to see Screwball getting hugged by sea otters.
He slowly walked to her. “Okay...this...was fun and all...but you gotta send them back home. I’m supposed to have you in bed in an hour.”
She shook her head.
“Please?”
She shook her head again.
“Would you do it for ice cream on the next foal visit? I won’t say anything to your parents.” Spike suggested as he gave a sweet smile.
Without a blink of an eye, everything disappears and Screwball in the bathtub filled with bubbles.
Spike let out a deep sigh, “This foal driving me nuts.” Before he could settle down he felt his a fire build in her throat. He expelled the flames and another orb appeared. This time he caught it and he saw an image of Fluttershy.
“Hello? Spike? Can you hear me?” Fluttershy spoke.
“Oh, Hey Fluttershy,” Spike said holding up the orb. “How’s everything going so far?”
“Oh…” Fluttershy lightly rubbed her arm “It's going...great so far...I wanted to see how things were going with you and Screwball?”
“Oh...She’s been…doing great,” Spike lied. “I’m giving her a bath right now.”
“May I see her?”
“Sure,” The purple dragon said as he turned the orb around facing Screwball.
Fluttershy could spot her precious foal a splashing around as bubbles were on her mane. She couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “There’s my little Screwy, You enjoying your bath?”
The young foal happily babbled as she came closer to the orb nuzzling it.
“I know Sweetie,” Fluttershy said as she nuzzled back as well. “You miss us too. Don’t worry. It won’t be long.”
Spike pulled back the orb turning face him. “Exactly how long until you guys are back?”
“Possibly…two hours. ”
“Really? But we're having so much fun,” he fake smiled.
“That’s nice of you Spike. Just don’t forget to put her right to bed.”
Spike waved his claw. “I won’t.”
“One more thing before I go, Spike. Don’t forget to-” Before she could finish Fluttershy turned in horror hearing a loud roar in the background. “Discord! I gotta go Spike!” she frantically spoke, before the image of her disappeared along with the orb.
“Don’t forget what?” Spike asked himself scratching his head. “Okay, Screwball. Time to dry off.”
Screwball opened her arms up as he carefully takes her out of the tub and dries her off. Once finished she shook off the remaining wetness as her mane and coat puffed out. Spike couldn’t help, but try not to laugh. Screwball stared at him.
Spike accidentally let a chuckle slip out before he quickly covered his mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
Screwball hiccupped and a little bubble flew out her mouth. Spike paused for a moment and watch the bubble coming to him. When it popped to his nose, he fell to the ground out the impact of the sheer cuteness.
“Not...fair…” he mumbled to himself.
Screwball started to wander away and headed out the bathroom into the hallway. Spike snapped out of his shock and rose up frantically after her. When he reached the hallway, she was gone again
“Now where did she disappeared?” he wondered looking around.
A quiet babbling could be heard from somewhere as if she were in a place high up. With reservations, he looked to the ceiling and spotting her on it. “What a big surprise,” he groaned an annoyed sigh. “Screwball can you please come down? It’s bedtime.”
The foal ignored him as she continued playing her toy dolls of her parent making them dance and kiss.
“Come down here young filly!” he ordered gritting his teeth.
Screwball shook her head and continued playing with her dolls.
“I mean it!”
Screwball stuck her tongue out in response.
“Why you little-”
Screwball sneezed and a squirt bottle appeared front of Spike. It then squirted him to the point he was soaking wet. The impish filly fell from the ceiling to land on a cotton candy cloud as it flew off.
Spike let out a low growl. “You get back here!”
The upset dragon chased after the runaway foal. When he turned the corner, Spike stopped in his tracks and stood with widened eyes and an agape mouth as he witnessed a multitude of Screwballs that were floating around.
“You gotta be kidding me!” Spike said in disbelief. “How can I tell which is the real Screwball?”
One of the Screwball crawls up to him. Spike picked her up as her body began to inflate and pops. In a flash of light, Spike body became a walking cookie again.
“Oh great, they’re all filled with magic traps,” he muttered. Spike picked up another Screwball and pop with a flash of light. Spike was no longer a cookie or a dragon, but into an earth pony stallion. His coat was purple along with his spiky mane and tail being green, his eyes were still the same shade as before with his pupils being sharp like a dragon’s and hoof of light pale green.
“That’s not her,” Spike said in a bit of a deep voice.
The stallion picked up another like Screwball. It inflated again and popped with a flash of light turning Spike back to himself, yet everything started floating upside down. Spike let out a frustrated sigh. “Not her….” he began to swim in the air for another Screwball.
Once he grabbed her, she popped and was struck by a random bolt of lightning. “Ow…”
The Screwball clones laughed.
“Okay, you little rascally filly…” Spike spoke as he shook off the electric strike. “It’s time for bed!”
They all stuck out their tongues in response.
“You little-”
Before finishing his sentence two Screwball sneeze at the same time as a flash of light appeared a ‘dragon’ cage along with a muzzle on him.
“Mmph!” Spike muffled.
Spike struggled to get the muzzle off him. It seemed every time he tried it would always felt like it was getting tighter around his mouth. When he stopped and heard all clones of Screwball laughing at him. The laughter grew louder and louder filled to fill him with humiliation.
Spike's eyes began to form into tears. ‘Why me? Why is it always me?’ he thought to himself.
One of the Screwball stop laughing and crawls towards the cage. She tilted her head confusion.
The weeping dragon turned away so they couldn’t see him cry more. “Just leave me alone…” he spoke in a low voice as he curled up in a ball.
The laughter slowly faded until it completely ceased. All the clones began to fade away until only the real one stood by the cage. A wave of guilt came over the little filly as her ears drooped down to signal she felt bad for teasing him too hard. The cage suddenly turned into bubbles and popped. Screwball crawled over to him to lightly shake him.
“What?” he sniffled.
Screwball lightly hugged him as the muzzle slipped off him. She softly babbled as if to apologize for her actions.
Spike lightly hugs back “Thanks, Screwball.”
She nuzzled his claw.
‘I can’t believe that worked!’ he smiled to himself. “Come on Screwball, it’s time for bed.”
He picked up the foal and the two headed for her room. Once in her room, the drake placed her in a buggy crib tucked in placing her little Fluttershy doll beside her.
“There. All nice and cozy for you?” Spike said as he softly rocked her buggy crib. “How about a bedtime story Screwball?”
Screwball happily babbled as she snuggled on her doll in response. Spike looked on the bookshelf through the small collection of books. One book caught his eye and pulled it out. “How about The Chaotic Days?” he asked the little filly.
Screwball nodded as she got more comfortable in her little buggy.
“Okay…” he said as he pulled up a rocking chair beside her crib. “It seemed like a regular day. The kind which ponies like to play…”
Once he finished reading the story, the chaotic filly had fallen asleep cuddling on her doll which resembled her mother. Spike slowly crept out of the chair and head out the door. Once cleared, he breathed a sigh of relief as he cracked the door. After he took two steps, his foot caught on something and stumbled. The young dragon regained his balance and spotted Screwball’s Discord doll on the floor.
“Figures Discord is causing me grief here or not,” Spike said picking up the doll and dust it off.
When he did, his claw got caught on a loose thread by the neck of the doll.
“Huh?”
He closely inspected the loose thread on the neck.
‘I should be able to sew this up before it tears,” he reasoned. “Should be an easy fix.”
Spike began to tug on the thread gently. He stared at the Discord doll, he slowly heard voices echoes in his head.
“If anything happens to her they’ll be concessions!” barked one voice said, “I don’t want to hear any excuse!”
Spike stop in his tracks and slowly thought back when he was turned into a walking cookie as he was being tortured by Discord shadow pouring cinnamon powder and milk on him as he was ready to be served to a hungry foal. His eyesight slightly began to twitch
“That jerk could’ve at least thanked me for watching his kid! Instead, what do I get? Being turned into a cookie along with being tormented by chaotic filly antics.”
He swore he could hear Discord laughing at him. As if his very being was mocked by a doll.
The little foal slightly moved her hoof around. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around for something that was. Screwball crawled out of her crib and searched around for the missing doll of her father. She noticed the door slightly cracked open and crawled over to it.
Her ears perked up when she heard Spike’s voice coming from the other side. She scuttled to the door to slightly open it. Screwball then spotted her Daddy doll in Spike claw. She pushed the door open more and crept out.
Spike growled and began to shake the doll. “You think you’re so much better than me? Don’t you!” He shouted.
The voice of laughter grew louder and louder. Spike doesn’t even notice the loose thread is slowly coming undone.
“I’ll show you!” He tugged harder at the thread, which made part of the neck come undone. The head slumped backward and the exposed stuffing fell out. He snapped to reality after he realized what he’d done to Screwball’s doll. “Uh-oh. This isn’t good. Hopefully, I can fix it before…”
From out of the corner of his eye, he saw Screwball whose eyes were filled with tears that ran down her cheeks.
“Screwball!” he shouted surprise. “Look I’m sorry, don’t worry I can fix-”
The foal didn’t pay any attention to him, only the rip up doll. Her heart felt broken as she saw the damaged doll in his claws. One of her favorite toys, her precious daddy doll was now destroyed. Her dolls were given to her by her parents so she could always she have them close to her if she needs them. She felt the anger and sadness over her daddy doll being ripped. She even apologized to him for how she made his night overly chaotic and what did she get in return? A broken doll…her favorite doll. In her mind, he did as a way to get payback on her…even though he said he forgave her. In a fit anger, Screwball let out a loud cry.
Spike waved his arms. “Wait...please don’t cry. I can fix it,” he begged.
It was too late, as she cried out even louder. Spike could feel a massive gust of wind around them as the loud roar of thunderstorms came his way. As it reached them lightning flashed around like crazy.
Spike tried to dodge the dozens of stray lightning bolts best he could.
“Screwball you have to calm down. Please!”
The heartbroken foal didn’t hear him, only the sounds of chaos. Another gust of wind hit him, which soon formed into a tornado that lifted the various furniture and toys into the air with Spike as well.
“Whoa! Screwball!” Spike shouted while he quickly grabbed onto something to keep from being sucked up by a tornado.
All of a sudden everything seemed to have calmed down, even though the object were still in the air. Spike looked around to see they were in the eye of the tornado. He looked up a strange dark portal from above the eye. A strange giant spectral claw emerged from the portal and tried to grab Spike along with destroying floating debris. Spike took maneuvered away from the claw before it could grab him and toss him into the tornado.
“I have to find that doll and fix it!” he spoke before he spotted the ripped up doll on a dresser while its tail caught on the drawer.
He used the swirling debris to platform up to the doll. After a few leaps, he was finally able to reach his destination. He quickly assessed the damage to the doll.
“It’s an easy enough fix. I just need needle and thread.”
As he pulled the drawer to release the tail, he spotted needle and thread inside of it. “That was easy.”
The cries became piercing like the wail of a banshee, and Spike saw the raging storm grew stronger (more than anything the pegasi could ever create). Spike witness a stray storm cloud that headed for him, but to his dismay, it didn’t pour rain or spark lightning. But rather it poured out a flurry of fast-pitched baseballs.
“Oh come on! She’s really going to kill me at this rate!” he cried out while climbing inside the dresser drawer to weather out the baseball storm.
As the baseballs pelted the outside drawer, Spike kept his balance while he did his best to repair the doll. He quickly gathered the stuffing and carefully began to stitch the neck back together. When he was close to fixing the doll and hope this madness would end, the dresser crashed into the ground broke into pieces. Spike slowly stood up a bit in pain
“Ow…that one hurt...badly,” groaned the young dragon before he shook off the pain.
He soon felt a shift in the atmosphere. He looked around and noticed his reflection in a puddle of water underneath him. As he looked he saw that his body and skin began to age at an accelerated rate. He looked up and saw an hourglass quickly pour its sand to the bottom.
“What’s happening to me?” he said in a bit deep voice.
With no time to lose, he went back to his task, but his claws grew too big for the needle. As the sands descended in the hourglass, he fell to his knee felt his strength start to slip away. The drake was almost done stitching, yet his body little bigger and weaker.
“No…please…I’m almost...done…” said in a weak voice.
He had one last stitch to go, but his vision became blurry. The sand’s descent built up faster to the bottom of the hourglass when he finally fixed the doll, but couldn’t lift up his arm to show.
“Screw…ball…” the now elder dragon spoke weakly. He could see a small blurry of figure front of him, only able to identify her by her cries. “Screw...ball!”
There was a moment of silence. No cries…No sound of destruction…Only silence. He couldn’t tell if she was close enough to him for her to see her fixed toy.
“L…Look Screwy…I…fixed…it,” Spike said as he weakly showed her the doll as he collapsed. His breath became shorter as he felt his life slowly fade away. “I’m…sorry…I…ripped your doll…”
His eyelids grew heavy and they slowly began to close. The young foal slowly sniffled and wiped her nose as she took the doll out the dragon claw. When she took it, she looked it over for a moment and thought it was better than when it was new. Slowly squeezed it tight as her feelings the trust was restored back to her. Screwball couldn’t help but smile as a shockwave of light expelled throughout the house. Everything was turned back to normal and put it its original place. As the wave hit him in the foyer, Spike felt his youth return to him. At that moment, Spike let out a loud gasp as he felt life return to him.
“I’m alive?” he questioned as he quickly felt his body for any abnormalities.
A low creak of the door was heard as it opened to reveal Fluttershy and Discord.
“We’re home. “ Fluttershy smiled.
Spike stood up to greet them.
“Hey, Fluttershy. You two are home a little early,” he noted.
“We decided to call it and little early,” she admitted. “How were things here?”
Discord crossed his arms and glared at him. “It better not have been any more problems…”
“Um…Well…” he began to chuckle nervously.
Before he could respond, Fluttershy was already headed upstairs.
“Wait…”
Fluttershy didn’t hear him as she reached the top of the stairs. Spike felt himself be grabbed by Discord’s shadow and held him up foreboding draconequus’ face.
“Wait for what?” he upsetting asked. “What have you done this time?”
The young dragon gulp. “Well, it’s about Screwball.”
The draconequus expressing changed from moody to a venomous glare.
“What have you done to my daughter?” he growled as his shadow slowly squeeze him.
“Ya see…” he nervously twiddled his thumbs. “She cried when I accidentally ripped her doll.”
Discord’s left eye slightly twitched. “That’s it. I warned you that if something else happened …” he growled as he snapped his claw and a portal to another dimension appeared below Spike. “…that there’d be consequences!”
Spike struggled to get free as Discord’s shadow was ready to drop him to his doom.
“Discord, would you mind coming up to Screwball's room?” Fluttershy called out from upstairs interrupting him.
Without a second thought, the dimension closed up as both he and Spike appeared in Screwball’s room.
“Look…” Fluttershy spoke as she pointed to the crib.
They both looked to see Screwball was asleep, cuddled up with her dolls while creosol garnered with shiny gems was above her buggy crib and lightly swung around as soothing music played.
“That’s so sweet of you Spike… making that for her,” Fluttershy expressed in a delighted tone.
“Huh? I don’t remember-I mean you’re welcome Fluttershy,” Spike nervously smiled.
Fluttershy ruffled his scale head. “You didn’t have to you know Spike.”
“I know.”
They quietly exited the room.
“Oh thank you so much for taking care of her. I hope she wasn’t so much trouble.”
Spike rubbed his neck. “She wasn’t too much trouble.”
Fluttershy lightly nudging Discord shoulder clearing her throat. “Discord, if you wouldn’t mind?”
He turned his head with a huff and materialized a small sack in Spike claws. The young dragon opened up to see his well-deserved payment, a plethora of beautiful and delicious looking gems. His mouth salivated over the thoughts of how delicious the ruby prism will be.
“This was almost worth it,” Spike muttered to himself.
“I’ll walk you out. If you don’t mind Spike.” Fluttershy offered.
“Sure,” Spike agreed before he turned to Discord and gave him a bemused scowl. “Bye Discord.”
Discord glared back at him, while the two headed downstairs. Before they reached the front door Fluttershy turned to Spike.
“I’m sorry about Discord behavior all night.” Fluttershy apologized “It’s just the night didn’t go as he had expected, and yet it was nice that he tried at least. But mostly him being an overprotective father looking out for his little girl.”
“What do you mean?” Spike asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s getting late and I shouldn’t keep you waiting all night,” Fluttershy said as she opened the door with a motherly smile. “Good night Spike.”
Spike gave her a hug and stepped out. “Okay, Goodnight Fluttershy.” Before he could walk any further he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He turned and looked at Fluttershy holding it.” Something wrong?”
“Well, I was wondering...If you don’t mind. If you mind foalsitting Screwball again next week?”
“I don’t know, Fluttershy. It’s not that I like Screwball...It’s just-”
“Her magic?” Fluttershy said cutting him off. She sadly sighed with a little smile.”I see. I’ll let you think about it. If not I understand. Night Spike.”
“Good night Fluttershy.” Spike slowly walked out, until he paused for a second at his step looking up at Screwball window. He sighed and turned to continued on home. A bit away from the cottage he could spot Screwball front of his sight of vision on his home path. “Screwball? What are you-?”
Before he could finish the foal crawls to him close to him while opening her arms up while she on her hind legs.
“You want me?” He said as he picked her up.
She gave a soft hug as she nuzzled him.
“Swiky~” Screwball softly said.
“Awe...You said my name,” He hugged back. “Ugh...I know I’ll regret this.”
The dragon turned heading back to the cottage. Before he could reach to the front door knocking Screwball quickly disappeared as Fluttershy opened the door.
“Spike, Something wrong?” Fluttershy curiously asked.
“Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that I’m available to watch Screwball next Thursday.”
Fluttershy smiled. “That’s wonderful. Thank you so much.”
Spike nodded “It’s no problem Fluttershy. Have a good night,” he replied as he turned and headed for home.
Meanwhile, upstairs in Screwball’s room, by the window the filly watched him head home. Once he was out of sight, the playful lightly giggled as a new doll appeared in her arms. She nuzzled her new toy, which resembled Spike, and hugged it tightly. Screwball headed back into her buggy crib slowly drifted back to sleep with along with her precious dolls huddled close to keep her company.
