Spike's Crystaling

by Yosh-E-O

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Princess Cadance, Flurry Heart, Spike, Comedy, Shining Armor
Length: 5093

Twilight's ever-eager-to-please #1 Assistant seeks to be Cadence and Shining Armor's "Brave and Glorious Babysitter"

Spike is always looking for ways to be helpful. So, when an opportunity to babysit Flurry Heart so Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor can have a weekend together comes up, Spike is quick to take on the opportunity of responsibility.

Spike has bravely helped to save the Crystal Empire from King Sombra and melted a lethal ice cloud during The Equestrian Games. So watching over a baby Alicorn should be easy for the "Brave and Glorious" dragon, right?

Published 2016-05-06 15:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-06 15:50:01 UTC

Spike: The Brave and Glorious Babysitter

"You have no idea how much this means to us," stated a grateful, and exhausted, Shining Armor.

"I don't know...," worried Cadence as she looked down towards Spike who now held their sleeping, newborn, Alicorn daughter, Flurry Heart. "Caring for a baby is a really big responsibility."

"I've got this," assured Spike as he rocked the light-pink colored foal in his arms. "I'll follow your list to the letter so you and Shining Armor can enjoy a weekend alone together."

Cadence looked towards Shining Armor with concern.

"It'll be fine," assured the loving, Unicorn father whose blue mane matched the colored highlights in his daughter's purple mane and taiil. "Spike has not only helped to save the citizens of the Crystal Empire on multiple occasions, but has also proven himself capable of caring for my little sister, too."

Cadence sighed.
"Okay," she surrendered. "You know how to reach us if anything comes up, right?"

Spike nodded.
"I just send you a letter just like I send Princess Celestia letters," replied Spike.

"And...?" glared cadence.

"Oh!" perked the purple dragon. "I call for Sunburst to help me out until you arrive."

Cadence's motherly instincts still told her that she shouldn't leave her foal. However, she couldn't deny spending some time away from The Crystal Empire with her husband would certainly be a wonderful break from royal duties and sleepless nights.
"Okay," she said. "I'm trusting you."

"And your trust is well placed, Princess cadence!" assured Spike with a wide smile.

Shining Armor used his Unicorn magic to levitate the luggage for their trip.
"Okay, dear," he smiled. "Our train leaves in less than thirty minutes."

***

After both parents gave their Alicorn daughter kisses goodbye, Spike was left alone to do as he had promised to do.
"Hey, there!" he said lovingly as he watched Flurry Heart slowly open her eyes. This was followed up with a big yawn and a stretch of her immense wings and foal-sized hooves.

"Whoa," giggled Spike as he felt the royal baby's wings slide along his chest and under his chin. "That tickles."

Not seeing her mother, or father, upon waking from her nap made Flurry Heart start to cry.

"Shh," Spike shushed soothingly as he resumed rocking the frightened infant. "It's me, Spikey-Wikey!"

Flurry Heart began to fuss as the intensity of her crying grew to match her growing panic.

"Oh, no," worried Spike. "Perhaps a song?"

Spike started to sing Hush Now. Quiet Now., but he was cut off by a fierce kick to the gut by a very unhappy Flurry Heart. This caused the dragon to uncontrollably release a blast of green fire breath out with a very audible 'BURP'.

"Whoa!" cried Spike as his effort to not breathe on Flurry Heart caused him to fall flat on his back. The young Alicorn now rested atop Spike's pudgy tummy with her face looking straight into his.

"He-he-he," she giggled upon taking in the green-bellied dragon's silly expression after making such a funny sound. Flurry Heart then realized how Spike's tummy felt all soft and bouncy. This gave her even more giggles as she bounced herself upon it.

"Wait,"gasped Spike as the pressure on his belly made him feel like releasing more fire breath. "You're going to make me-"

BURP

"Whee!" cheered Flurry Heart as she spread her wings to full span and fluttered them with delight upon watching Spike belch out another torrent of green fire towards the ceiling. She definitely made the connection between her bouncing on the dragon's tummy and the little dragon making silly sounds and spewing green light into the air and wanted it to keep going.

BURP
FWOOM!

"Augh," moaned Spike between each flaming belch. "This is just like when Princess Celestia wouldn't stop sending me letters for Twilight."

"Wee-hee!" giggled a very happy Flurry Heart as she playfully bounced up-and-down upon the helpless dragon's belly as if he were a toy. Her smile widening with each burp and fwoosh of fire. This continued until the young foal suddenly felt the urge to sneeze.

"Ah... ah," she gasped while pulling in air. "Achoo!"

"Whoah!" cried Spike as he felt a big gust of air rush over his face followed by his green eyes widening with fear as he noticed the newborn soar uncontrollably into the air.

"OH, NO!" he exclaimed while running with all his might to catch Flurry Heart before she fell to the ground. It took a very daring dive with fully outreached claws to catch her, but he was successful in catching Flurry Heart and pulling her into himself safely mere seconds before she fell to the crystalline floor.

"Yay!" she cheered upon receiving a snuggly rescue from the dragon. "Again! Again!"

"This is going to be a long weekend," said Spike.

A Bouncing Baby... Dragon?

"Whee!" chimed Flurry Heart as she used her oversized wings to gain enough lift to bring Spike off the ground, move him forward, and then drop him on his draconic behind.

"Oof," he gasped with each landing upon the ground. "Please stop."

The powder-pink, baby Alicorn giggled as Spike's voice vibrated with each lift-and-bounce she got him to do. "Funny!"

"Ungh," groaned Spike after being dropped again. "I think I'm getting sick."

***

Spike didn't want to hurt Flurry Heart by gripping her so tightly her newborn body would incur injury. After all, as twilight instructed him, babies aren't like kids and adults. You have to handle them carefully so you don't accidentally injure their newly forming skin, fur, and bones.

"Maybe...?" thought Spike as he turned his arms as if to steer the fluttering foal.

The purple dragon was elated to notice his gentle movements of his arms managed to allow him to get Flurry Heart to bounce him in the direction he'd prefer to go. So he figured the best place would be back to her nursery where everything was soft and padded.

"Ooof-oof,"groaned Spike as he felt his rump starting to grow numb from all the pounding it had done upon the floor. "Almost there!"

The two entered into Flurry Heart's room where Spike guided her towards her crib. Once over it, he let go of the energetic Alicorn and let out a sigh of relief as she plopped herself down into her cushioned mattress.

"Woo-woo!" cheered Flurry Heart as she clapped her little hooves together. "Fun!"

Spike took the chance to grab one of the many pillows in the room so he could have something soft against his sore bottom.

"Hmm," he thought. "Perhaps this would be a good time for 'Peek-a-Boo'?"

Flurry Heart was still rocking, giggling, and clapping when her eyes caught notice of Spike using a sheet to cover himself.

"Where's Spike!" he called out from under the blanket. He then paused to listen to Flurry Heart babble with thought before pulling the blanket off and stating, "Here I am!"

"Yay!" she squeaked while bounding about her crib.

***

Spike continued to play 'Peek-a-Boo' until Flurry Heart decided she should play it, too.

"Where?" she ask while giggling under a plush, pink blanket that was covered in purple hearts and stars.

"Oh, no," Spike pretended. "Where did Flurry Heart go?"

The emerald-eyed dragon snuck up to the crib until Flurry Heart tossed the blanket off of herself and proclaimed, "HERE!"

"Whoa," amused Spike. "How did you do that?"

The Alicorn grew a very big smile as her oversized horn on her head began to glow.

"Uh, oh," panicked Spike. He knew that newborn magic was always very random and could do just about anything.

SHING

"Whoah!" cried Spike as he was suddenly lifted off the ground. The next thing he knew he was being spun around-and-around in a ball as Flurry Heart roared with laughter.

"Whoa-oh-oh!" said Spike as he felt himself growing ill from the speed in which he was being spun. "I'm going to-"

BURP!

Spike unleashed a torrent of fire breath that started from his left, was at its fullest when he was facing the ceiling, and ended with leaving a small burn in the cushioned carpet.

"Oof!" he gasped while the magical hold on him was released and he was dropped flat on his back upon the floor.

Flurry Heart was now laughing so hard that all Spike could see was her back legs kicking as she laughed herself silly.

"Well," he said. "At least she's happy."

Foal Logic

"Ooh!" awed Flurry Heart as she stared into Spike's gaping mouth. "Noisy."

After all the fun of magically spinning the young dragon with her magic, the baby Alicorn got sleepy and drifted herself off to dream land. This gave Spike the idea that he might as well treat himself to a little nap, too. So, after gathering up some extra blankets, pillows, and cushions, he curled himself up and fell asleep. However, it wasn't long before he had flipped up on his back and began to snore. This eventually woke up Flurry Heart who was more than interested in investigating the source of the nsound.

"Touch," she said while climbing onto Spike's belly. Her goal was to see what one of his fangs felt like.

BOP, BOP

"Hmm?" she cooed with interest after feeling the curved tooth that stuck out of Spike's mouth.

***

Spike continued to snore away as Flurry Heart took every opportunity to explore the dragon who was watching her. This ranged from looking into his mouth when he let out a big snore, putting his claw in her mouth to get a better understanding of why it felt the way it felt, nudging against his head spikes, and mouthing on his green fins that extended around where his ears were.

Eventually, the tyke got bored and was tired of the young dragon's snoring.

"Ah-ha!" she stated proudly while crawling over to grab one of her pacifiers. She knew her mom and dad put it in her mouth when she made too much noise and it made her feel better. So, obviously, it would work on the snoozing, purple dragon.

***

Flurry Heart was so proud of herself as she climbed back on spike's up-and-down tummy as she worked to press the pacifier into his moving maw.

SPOP

The light-pink Alicorn whinnied with delight as the annoying sound of Spike's snoring was replaced by him suckling on the pacifier. She had done good and felt a sudden desire to rest again Spike's breathing and heart beat made for a soothing combination.

SPOP-SPOP-SPOP

"Hmm?" wondered Spike as he began to wake up.

SPOP-SPOP

"Wha...?" wondered the little dragon as the pacifier rolled out of his mouth. He then looked on his belly to see Flurry Heart curled up in a ball.

"D'aww," smiled Spike. "I should get up, but I don't want to wake her."

Spike suddenly began to feel warmth on his belly. Kind of like what he enjoyed when he took one of his bubble baths.

"Wait...," he thought as he woke up a little more. "Is that what I think it is?"

Spike's belly felt warm and wet. Careful inspection revealed that Flurry Heart's diapered flank was right on it, too.

"Oh, no...," moaned Spike. "I forgot to change her before her nap."

***

Spike thought on how to handle the situation. Having a soaked Alicorn on his belly was certainly not comfortable. However, Flurry Heart was fast asleep and cuddled all cozy right on him. If he picked her up, she could get grumpy about having her rest interrupted. However, if he didn't, he'd be negligent in his duties of properly caring for the curly-haired, baby alicorn.

"Okay," he said as he formulated a plan. "I can do this."

Spike slowly raised his head and claws up towards the slumbering foal. He then moved her towards his chest as he worked to slowly bring himself to his feet.

"Phew," he said as Flurry Heart remained asleep. Her over-saturated diaper now leaking onto his arms as what had leaked on his belly made its way onto his legs.

"Well," he sighed. "At least nothing got on the floor. However, I think we're both going to need a bath."

As carefully as he could, Spike carried the infant out of her nursery and made his way towards the nearby bathroom that had a sign on it that read, 'Flurry Heart's Bathing and Beauty Chamber'

Bubble Bath! Bubble Bath!

Bubble Bath! Bubble Bath!

Flurry Heart's bathing chamber was decorated with finely polished, smooth crystals that matched her coloring.

"Wow," awed Spike as he turned on the faucet for the bath tub. "And I thought my bathroom in the Castle of Friendship was cool."

"Bubble bath!" chimed baby Flurry Heart as she peeked over the tub's edge to watch the purple dragon use his claw to check and adjust the water's temperature before putting the stopper on the drain.

"You know," said Spike while finally getting the temperature just right. "A bubble bath sounds like a great idea."

***

Spike didn't have to look long before finding the bottle that was labeled 'Magic Bathtime Bubbles'.

"Nice!" awed Spike as he dumped the contents of the bottle into the tub. "I normally just use the 'Soft Scales' soap Princess Celestia makes just for me to make my bathtime bubbles."

The green-bellied dragon thought on how the soap not only made his warm bath all bubbly, but how it made his scales feel so soft and clean. This then brought him back to how his arm, chest, belly, and legs had a bit of Flurry Heart's 'accident' on them and how he really wanted to clean it off.

"You know...," he thought while looking towards the powder-pink, baby Alicorn. "I don't think anyone would mind if we shared a bubble bath together."

Flurry Heart smiled, flapped her wings, and cried out "Bubbles! Bubbles!"

***

Spike gathered up a soft cloth for both Flurry Heart and himself. He then got the baby soap and shampoo combination bottle.

"Alright," he said while working off Flurry Heart's sagging diaper and making a most disgusted face as he held it with just two clawed fingers and quickly tossed it in the trash. "Let's get all clean."

"Whee!" cheered Flurry Heart as Spike picked her up, turned off the water, and stepped into the tub.

"Ahh," he said while allowing his body to take in all the warmth of the warm water and bubbles provided. He then gently started to dip Flurry Heart into the water where the tub had a raised seat so a foal would be able to soak without going underwater.

"BUBBLES!" she cried while taking a big hoof full of bubbles and tossing them into the air. As she did, the soapy substance magically turned into large, rainbow-colored, bubbly orbs that rose gently towards the ceiling until they popped and showered down a gentle burst of sparkling, rainbow light.

"Ooh...," awed both Spike and Flurry Heart.

***

Flurry Heart was a squirmy giggler as Spike worked to gently wash her. The baby Alicorn also found plenty of amusement in kicking the bubbly water at Spike's face, which caused the magic bubbles to form and pop on every part of his body they touched.

"Pretty!" she exclaimed as she watched the colors sparkle about the dragon.

"I should be called 'Spike Sparkl' after this," he said. "Mr. Sparkle sounds better than Mr. The Dragon."

The purple dragon then began to think on how surprised he was that Twilight hadn't named him after her. She was, in a sense, his mother. Well, Princess Celestia was the one who he first really knew he could call 'mom', but then he became Twilight's assistant since she was the one who hatched him.

"Perhaps I'll ask Twilight about that when I go home," he said while finishing Flurry Heart's cleaning. "Thanks for giving me the idea, Flurry."

The baby Alicorn responded by tossing another big wave of bubbles at Spike while letting out a loud, squeaky laugh.

***

Once bath time was over, Spike toweled off Flurry Heart and himself before gently bringing the little foal over to her changing table.

"Okay," said Spike as he placed Flurry Heart upon the tiny mattress. "Twilight and Cadence told me that I first have to gently lie you down before wiping you all clean with the special wipes that are in the drawer with your diapers and baby powder."

This task was easier said than done as a squirmy Flurry Heart required that Spike gingerly hold her down with his one hand while attempting to hold her hind legs up with the other.

"Hmm," he thought. "Cadence and twilight said foals like singing and toys during changes..."

The dragon began to sing a song he had made up about dragons, but Flurry Heart didn't stop fussing about.

"I don't have a toy and I don't want her to fall if I let go to look for one...," he thought. It was at this point he remembered how he had gotten little Flurry Heart to focus on him before.

"Hey!" he announced with a smiile. "Look at me, Flurry!"

FWOOSH

"Oooh," awed the foal as she fixated on the gentle torrent of green, dragon fire that Spike was spewing out from his pursed lips.

"Perfect," Spike complimented to himself between breaths to keep the soft stream of ethereal fire going. Flurry Heart was no longer fussing about, which freed up a hand to do the necessary wiping, initial diapering, powdering, and completion of the little filly's change.

"Okay," he gasped with pride. "All done."

Flurry Heart appeared sad that the pretty, green flames had come to an end. Fortunately, Spike knew the face that showed how she was about to cry and quickly reached for a rattle that was tucked into one of the drawers on the changing table.

"Who's a good little girl?" he said playfully while waving the rattle about. "Wanna' play with this super cool rattle?"

Flurry Heart was quick to grab the toy from Spike's hand before swinging it about wildly.

"Okay," said Spike. "I think it's time for your bottle now."

Flurry Heart didn't acknowledge the caretaking dragon. She just continued to flail the rattle around, which resulted in Spike getting smacked in the head a couple of times.
. "Ouch!" he groaned upon taking another whack to the noggin. "I need to remember to give her a softer toy next time."

Who's Hungry?

Spike and Flurry Heart were greeted with smiles from all the guards who patrolled the halls of The Crystal Palace as they made their way towards the ‘Crystal Kitchen’.

“Is that you, Spike: the Brave and Glorious?” asked the on-staff chef while the pair entered the large cooking area.

“Why, yes!” the purple dragon beamed with pride.

“You truly are a hero,” the Unicorn chef grinned while continuing about his work. “That statue of you with the Crystal Heart is certainly very fitting for such a heroic, kind, and helpful dragon, like yourself.”

Spike felt his ego growing. However, he was knocked out of his self-admiration by another bonk to the head by baby Flurry Heart’s rattle.

“Right,” said Spike . “Does Princess cadence keep the bottles for Flurry Heart in one of the refrigerators down here?”

The chef nodded before using his magic to open one of the smaller fridges that had a sign posted to it that read, “’Flurry Heart’s Baby Bottles’.

“Oh,” blushed Spike upon spotting the large-print note on the fridge. “I knew that.”

“Just let me know if you need any help,” said the duty-focused Unicorn as he used his magic to cut up a number of carrots. “I’m ahead of schedule for having dinner ready for the castle staff.”

Flurry bonked Spike again with the rattle as she giggled from the, “Ow!”, reaction the young dragon gave while wincing with pain.

“Bottle warmer and timer are right by the fridge there,” stated the Unicorn while he seamlessly went about his work. “The Crystal Princess usually sets it to warm for about five minutes. HoweverPrince Shining Armor prefers to ‘test sample’ the milk before serving it to Princess Flurry Heart.”

“Got it!” announced Spike as he went about doing as the chef had instructed. All of this, with the exception of Shining Armor’s ‘sampling’, was in his notes from Cadence.

***

Flurry Heart swapped whacking Spike with the rattle for oohing-and-awwing at the gurgling, bottle warmer. Spike then did the ‘Drip Test’ where he allowed some of the milk to drip onto his hand to make sure it wasn’t too warm for the baby Alicorn.

“Everything okay over there?” the chef asked.

“Yeah,” said Spike as he adjusted Flurry Heart over his shoulders. “I’ll be taking Princess Flurry Heart back to her room to eat since Princess Cadence told me she gets sleepy after eating.”

“Sounds about right,” the chef replied before opening a cupboard and levitating a small basket towards the dragon. “The Crystal Princess informed me that you prefer to eat jewels. So, as your duty is to the Crystaling, I arranged some for you to take back to eat as you care for her in Cadence and Shining Armor’s absence.”

Spike took the basket, which contained various jewels of different sizes, placed the bottle into it, secured Flurry Heart’s hoof with one claw, and carried the basket with the other.

“Thanks!” announced Spike.

“You’re welcome,” the chef replied. “My shift ends at eight and it is important you know what you may need if the Crystaling wakes in the night.”

Spike thought on how Twilight and Cadence had mentioned that babies aren’t known for sleeping the whole night through. He then recalled when he saw Shining Armor after Cadence had just given birth to Flurry Heart and seeing how totally exhausted he was from the experience of being a dad.

“Oh, boy,” he sighed while heading back towards Flurry Heart’s nursery.

***

Spike could feel the baby Alicorn suckling on his head spikes as they returned to her room. He also got to feel how the powder-pink foal had more strength than he thought as she lifted him from the ground and swung him about as she flapped her immense wings. Fortunately, just like when she bounced him around earlier, he was able to work through it. He came close to tripping and falling flat on his face a few times, but his panic and stumbling did distract the infant from her uplifting efforts.

“Here we are!” cheered Spike as he walked towards a rocking chair and sat down. He then adjusted himself to cradle Flurry Heart in the way he was instructed for feeding her.

“Here you go,” smiled Spike while moving the nipple of the bottle towards Flurry Heart’s mouth.

“Ba!” she exclaimed while snatching the bottle from Spike’s hand and placing the nipple in her mouth. The bottle would’ve fallen if the dragon didn’t make an epic effort to lean forward and catch it before it rolled out of her mouth.

“Phew,” he sighed while beginning to rock in the chair. His one hand holding the baby Alicorn gently against his belly while the other kept the bottle at the angle he had practiced on his Rarity plush. He was very embarrassed to do such a practice, but Twilight insisted if he practiced on something he cared about he’d be able to do it perfectly for the Crystaling.

Flurry Heart ceased her fussing as she took in the warm milk.

SQUICK-SQUICK-SQUICK

Spike felt his stomach rumble as he watched the infant eat her liquid meal. He knew he had to help support her and the bottle, but he really wanted a gem.

“Hold on,” he said while moving the bottle out of Flurry Heart’s mouth so he could free a hand to reach for one of the jewels. This caused the infant to fuss, which made Spike go with the first one his claws came into contact with.

“Okay,” he replied with a muffle as an elongated gem partially made its way into his mouth.

SPOP-SPOP-SPOP
SQUICK-SPOP-SQUICK-SPOP

Flurry Heart suckled her bottle as Spike sucked upon the gem he was only partially able to get into his mouth.

“This works,” thought Spike while he enjoyed the taste of the jewel as it gradually melted in his warm mouth. “She’s happy and I’m happy.”

Making Ends Meet

“Hip-ungh,” moaned Flurry Heart upon finishing off her bottle.

Spike had managed to suck the jewel into his mouth enough to begin chewing it as he removed the empty bottle from baby Flurry Heart’s mouth.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he gulped down the last of the jewel.

“Ungh… Hip!” hiccupped the infant Alicorn as she began to cry while moving her hooves along her stomach.

Spike thought quickly back on the instructions on caring for a foal that Twilight had given him.

“This could be one of two things,” he said with a gulp. “And both are messy.”

“Hip-up, ungh…,” gasped a tearful Flurry Heart. Her eyes were fixated on Spike with a look of desperation to stop whatever it was that was making her hurt so much in her tummy.

“Okay,” said the purple dragon as he gently positioned Flurry Heart against his chest, helped her to move her head over his shoulder, and supported her bottom with one of his hands. “Here goes…”

PAT-PAT-PAT-PAT-PAT

Flurry Heart moaned as she felt something build up inside her.

“Hip-bwah!” spit the powder-pink colored Alicorn as undigested milk flew out of her mouth, landed on Spike’s shoulder, and began to run down his back.

Spike cringed upon feeling the spit-up that was now oozing down himself. He wanted to get it off, but he remembered that he needed to continue to pat the baby’s back until she stopped sounding upset.

***

A few innocent burps later, Flurry Heart became silent.

“Are we good?” asked the green-bellied dragon as he held Flurry Heart over so he could face her. His forced smile hopefully not coming off too obvious as he resisted the urge to run for the bathroom to get the spit-up off his scales.

“Hee!” grinned the little Alicorn as a rush of sour-milk scented breath met Spike’s nose.

Spike felt the muscles in his cheeks strain to retain the smile he was forcing as he tried to resist coming off offensive to the baby Alicorn. He could already smell the spit-up that was on his shoulder, but the scent of it from her mouth right to his nose made him just want to gag. However, he knew babies were very sensitive to how their caretakers reacted to them. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her over something she couldn’t control.

“Ungh,” Flurry Heart suddenly grunted while closing her eyes and growing a bit red in the face.

“Oh, no!” exclaimed Spike. “Both ends?”

Spike stood up and carefully held Flurry Heart under her front hooves as her face grew redder and the grunts grew more consistant.

“Bathroom,” panicked Spike. “Bathroom.”

***

A newly unwanted scent had begun to fill the air as Spike and Flurry Heart entered into the bathing chamber.

“Unnngh,” the baby Alicorn strained.

“This is one of those situations I have to help her, isn’t it?” Spike asked himself as he remembered another part of his babysitting training. You definitely wanted a foal to have at least one ‘movement’ per day, but you didn’t want them to hurt themselves while doing it. So, as he also had to practice on his Rarity plush, he knew he had to hold her and perform the ‘Tummy Massage’ he was taught.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he gulped as he cradled the grunting foal and started to gently use one of his claws to make soft, circling motions upon her stomach.

SPLAT

Spike blushed as he knew, and smelled, what just happened in Flurry Heart’s diaper. However, her face looked a lot less red and her straining had gone down considerably.

***

After Flurry Heart finished with her ‘business’, Spike went about the task of cleaning her up and changing her diaper. Fortunately, he knew how to keep her from fussing as he went about this particular activity. So, with pursed lips, the emerald-eyed dragon spewed his ethereal breath above the foal as he rushed to ensure she was as clean and happy as she could be.

“This works for me, too,” grinned Spike while using the lavender-scented wipes to wipe off the spit-up from his shoulder and back. He thought about taking another bath, but he was too tired to go through what he had earlier and he definitely didn’t feel he had enough strength in his lungs to do another fire breath performance.

“How’s about…,” he started to say while yawning. “A nap, little princess?”

Flurry Heart smiled as she, too, let out a yawn.

“Okay, let’s get you to bed.”

***

Flurry Heart offered no resistance to Spike as he carried her against his chest back to her nursery. If anything, she was helping him by continuing to nuzzle and press herself against his body while they made their way into the room.

“Okay,” yawned Spike. “Here we are.”

Spike moved to place Flurry Heart into her crib, but she immediately whimpered and pressed herself even more firmly against the dragon’s chest.

Not feeling up for a struggle, Spike first thought about resting in the rocking chair with her. However, he remembered how Shining Armor shared a frightening story of a time he did this and she rolled out of his hooves onto the floor. The next thought was to lie with her on the floor, but that didn’t sound very comfortable.

“Why not,” sighed Spike while using his free hand to lower the crib gate before sliding himself and Flurry Heart inside. He then raised the gate, turned the baby Alicorn’s baby blanket into a makeshift pillow, and rested himself upon his back while supporting the infant crystaling against his chest.

“This is harder than I thought,” remarked Spike with a whisper as he closed his eyes. “And this is only the first day.”

***

Spike and Flurry Heart quickly fell asleep together. The warmth of her fur and body easing Spike while his steady heartbeat and breathing soothed the tiny filly.

This peace would certainly be short lived, but it definitely gave Spike the briefest of moments before succumbing to slumber to wonder if he was just as much of a handful when he was a baby.