Bedtime Story
As the quiet still of a summer’s eve drifted softly over the hills and valleys of Equestria, four small sets of hooves gently moved up the stairs, the floorboards creaking every few steps. The heat from the day now giving way to the cool breeze of the night, one little filly opened the window and made sure the screen was securely in place.
“Okay you four, time for bed,” a deep voice said from outside the doorway, gesturing towards a collection of beds. "School may be out, but your four are growing ponies, and need your rest."
“Then can you tuck us in?” the eldest asked, her emerald eyes shining, just like her father’s.
“What’s the magic word?”
“Please, dad.”
“Sure thing, Ambrosia,” Spike said, his large form filling the doorway easily as he moved inside, a growth spurt years before having earned him a stature similar to his brother in-law. He gently leaned against the doorframe, the work of the day filling his bones with an ache that only a bed could cure. “Cortland, Priam, help your little brother in his bed.”
“Aw, dad, do we have to?” one of the twins asked. Identical red pelts and green manes, the latter as spiky as could be, despite how much hair gel their mother had tried to put in it for their first weeks of school: she, like Spike, had long since given up on the idea.
His father arched an eyebrow. “Cortland…”
“Oh, all right. Come on, Thorn, time for bed.”
“But… I’m not tired,” the little orange colt muttered, even as he closed his eyes and let out a great big yawn.
“Sure, and I can’t breathe fire,” the dragon said as he walked away from Ambrosia, her stuffed apple doll cuddled tightly against her fluffy chest.
“Yes you can, daddy,” little Thorn replied as his brothers lifted him up and fluffed his pillow. “That’s how you help us make campfires and roast marshmallows.”
“And heat the house in winter,” Ambrosia said from her own bed.
“Well, I just start the fireplace,” Spike replied. “Besides, you all help too, remember? When we go split and stack firewood in early winter and fall, the time when you guys always say “oh, it’s too hard dad”… well, that’s what keeps us warm. All that hard work pays off.”
“We work hard every day, just like you, dad,” Priam said from the corner, a birch-wood bunk-bed with his twin on the top one. “Someone’s gotta take care of the house when you’re gone.”
“Your mother does a good enough job of that, even when she’s busy with both the fields and trying to keep you little rascals in line,” Spike said with a grin. “Now then, time for bed.”
“Wait, can you tell us a story?”
The dragon raised an eyebrow. It had been some time since his foals had asked him for a bedtime story, the eldest usually reading one for her younger brothers, and he knew they’d already read every single one at least a dozen times. “Well, which one? The one about the fruit bat and the mule?”
“No, we’ve all heard that one before about a million times,” Ambrosia said, rolling her eyes as she removed her small purple bow from her golden mane. “Tell us something we haven’t heard before.”
“Yeah, something new!” the twins piped up from their beds.
Spike paused. He had plenty of stories from his younger days, but which one would be best for his offspring to hear? It couldn’t be too mature, but then again, he wasn’t a fan of stories like that. No, something simple that they could connect with…
Ah, there it was. “Okay you four, what if I told you the story about how I first met your mother?”
Ambrosia’s eyes lit up like the fire her father could breathe at will. “Oh, yes, yes, yes!”
“Is it gonna be boring?” Priam and Cortland asked in unison.
“Well, the day it happened was the day of the return of Nightmare Moon…”
“Cool!”
Later…
Applejack’s body ached as it always did these days, the heat of the summer merciless out in the apple orchards. Having long ago given up on the idea of a quiet, easy life, and instead knowing that the only things worth something were the ones that you worked for, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Still, with the bills to pay and the soreness of her hooves a good enough reason to get some rest, she didn’t move when she heard the door open. After today's exertion, she wasn't sure she could.
“They asleep?” she asked, pulling back the covers slightly.
“Sawing logs,” Spike said as he crawled into bed and gently nuzzled her mane. “How are you two doing?”
“Feels like “you three” again,” she muttered, rubbing her belly softly. She was just beginning to really show, though she had no idea if indeed this would be a single birth or another set of twins. She didn’t even know if it’d be a colt or a filly, but secretly, she hoped for the latter. Ambrosia was likely hoping for a little sister. Worrying about fitting another foal into their house would be a concern, as the others were getting too old to all sleep in the same room. Supplies for a new extension would cost a good amount of money, but if the crops did good this year, maybe they would be able to afford it.
“Anything I can do to help?” her husband asked softly, noticing her silence. He too, had things on his mind, but knew bringing them up now would just make this night, like many others, a sleepless one. His double and even triple shifts across two jobs, plus the time working on the farm, meant he had little time to do anything else but sleep and eat when he was home. Yet, somehow, he found the energy and will to be with his family, to cook when needed, take the foals to school in spring, and read them bedtime stories. Nobody ever said life like this would be easy, and Spike was okay with that: at least he had a loving wife and family to help him through it all.
“You’ve helped enough,” Applejack said, though the smile on her lips completely undermined the pseudo-harsh tone. This pregnancy, like little Thorn's, had come as a complete surprise to them both, though they knew the baby would be loved just as much as the others. “How was work?”
“The fields, the mines, or the library?”
“All three, sugarcube.” The Golden Oaks library had been rebuilt many years before, though as a part of the crystal palace located in Ponyville. Well, more like Ponycity, with how many lived there now. Hard to believe in their lifetimes that so many ponies had moved to their quaint little town. Then again, being under the protection of a powerful princess certainly had it's allure.
“Fields are looking good, crops are growing just fine,” Spike said, gently pulling her close to him. “Library doesn’t pay as good as I’d like, but getting school supplies for the foals is easier because of it. As for the mines…”
“I heard about the accident.”
Spike sighed. “Yeah, cave-in in the south quadrant,” he muttered. Lucky nopony died: couple got hurt, though.”
“I only care that somedragon didn’t get hurt,” Applejack muttered. “Ain’t no way I’m gonna raise these kids on mah own without y’all to be there. I don’t think my sanity would last.”
“Neither would mine, if the same happened to you.” The spat last week between Cortland and Priam had resulted in a muddy brawl that had required a severe spanking from Spike, which he took no pleasure from.
The orange mare sighed. The bills in need of paying, the trees that needed pruning, the repairs needed on tools and buildings, the fear of what was to come when another little dragon pony foal was brought into the world… Applejack didn’t want to think about that right now.
She just wanted to be held by her dragon love. Turning in his embrace, she gently pulled him close, and snuggled her face against his scaly chest. “Did you read them a story?”
“Sort of,” he replied, resting his chin on the top of her mane. “I told them a new one.”
“You got a new book from Twi?”
“Nope,” Spike whispered.
“What was the story?”
“Oh, a simple one, really. It all began years ago, long before they were born…”
“A lot of stories start like that.”
“I know. Anyways, there was this young dragon, a really young dragon. You might have called him a baby dragon, given his size. He was friends with one of the most powerful unicorns in the land, a personal student of Princess Celestia herself. He enjoyed his life in Canterlot, it was nice, something he was used to.”
“Then?”
“Then he came to the town of Ponyville, alongside his best friend, and from there, things changed for him after he met this down to Earth, tough, kind and honest farm pony. From the return of Princess Luna to the fall of Tirek, he saw many things alongside her, experienced many adventures, and made many friends. It was different from his old life, sometimes crazy, sometimes scary, and sometimes just plain weird. Still, he learned to love his new life, and those around him became as friends to him, even as family. There was even one pony he pined for, thought he loved.”
“What happened?” Applejack asked, a small smile on her lips.
“He grew up, and saw his life could never be complete unless he looked past a crush, and sought somepony to love,” Spike muttered softly. “Somepony to love when the going got rough, when the nights were cold and long, when the good was mixed with the bad: he needed someone he could stand by, and that in return would stand by him.”
“So, I guess he found that special somepony,” she replied.
“That he did. It took a long time to muster up the courage to ask her, that simple farm pony, out on a date. Here, this beautiful, smart, funny, kind mare, who could be tough as nails and as gentle as a feather, whom accepted his proposal without so much as batting an eye. The dragon was surprised, sure, but ultimately happy.”
“I think I’ve heard this story before,” Applejack said. “There were a lot of dates.”
“Some fun, some not-so-fun, and some that ended just plain badly,” the dragon said. “But, in the end, things turned out better for the dragon than he could have dreamed.”
“The same for that mare,” Applejack whispered, leaning up and kissing her husband. “I like that story.”
“I would think so,” Spike said as the two began to drift off, the darkness of the night deepening outside their window. “You were there for the whole thing.”
“I always will be fer you, sugarcube.”
“And I, for you, my love.”
Author's Note
For all my fans who read this, I am sorry for my absence. I have been in the middle of an extensive job search these past few months, and recently trained to become a wildland firefighter. So... yeah, there's that.
Other than that, I've become rather "into" Warhammer 40K and have a story on that, and really, I just lost so much momentum and interest in MLP. I have not even seen season three in its entirety, let alone seasons four or five.
So... sorry for that.
