In a small crib, a yellow baby foal with light brown manes was waking up from a long nap. He looked around the room to notice that his mom or dad weren't in the room. At an instant, the foal started to cry out so that he could get some attention. After a few seconds of crying, the foal started hearing hoofsteps getting closer to him.
"It's okay, Feather Bangs. I'm here." A mare's voice said as a pony got to the crib. The pony was a yellow, earth-pony mare with long, brown manes that was tied into a ponytail. Feather began to calm down as he knew that the mare was his mom and she came to comfort him. The mare carefully picked Feather up and slowly rocked him. That was what Feather enjoyed most when he spends time with his mom. The rocking motions made him feel like he was riding a small cloud. As the mare continued to rock, Feather noticed something strange about her. He would usually see his mom wearing her white apron whenever she cooks or takes care of him. Now Feather see his mom wearing a long, red dress and she also has some weird colors on her eyes and cheeks.
"Honey!" A stallion's voice said as the sound of more hoofsteps came closer to the room. A light blue earth-pony stallions with long black manes entered the room. He had on a dark blue suit with a yellow tie. Feather recognized that the stallion was his father.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were taking care of Feather." The stallion said in a whisper.
"That's alright, Slick." The mare replied. "I was just calming down Feather for a bit."
"You don't have to worry about him for tonight, Curls." Slick said. "The foalsitter will take good care of him."
"Yeah, but I still worry about if the foalsitter will do a decent job of taking care of Feather." The mare said as she wiped her son's muzzle with a tissue.
"He should be fine," Slick said. "I've been hearing a lot of good reviews about this foalsitter. Also, she is a prin-" Slick was interrupted when he heard the doorbell rang.
"That must be her." Slick said as he made way to the door. Feather was awfully confused on what was going on as he was carried by his mom towards the door. Feather's dad opened it to reveal a sight that made Feather's eyes almost pop out. It was a young pink mare with light purple eyes and long purple, pink, and yellow manes and a tail that were tied into ponytails with light blue ribbons. Feather also saw that the mare had both a horn and a pair of wings.
"Is this the Bangs' residence?" The young mare asked Feather's parents.
"Why yes, I'm Slick Bangs and this is my wife, Curly Bangs." Slick said as he allowed the young mare to enter the house.
"It's an honor for you to take care of our little Feather Bangs, your highness." Curly said as she bowed her head to the young mare.
"It's alright, you don't have to be so formal." The young mare waved a hoof. "Just call me Cadence." The young mare then noticed Feather being carried by his mom.
"Why hello, little Feather!" Cadence said as she approached the little foal. "My! You look adorable!" Feather suddenly giggled from hearing such a praise.
"I think he likes you." Curly said as she carefully gave Feather to Cadence so she could carry him. Curly began telling Cadence what activities Feather likes to do before bedtime, where certain things are located inside of the house, and where Feather's baby food and Cadence's dinner are located inside of the fridge. While Curly continued talking, Feather was so distracted from how pretty Cadence looked. He couldn't figure out the warm feeling in his chest as he had never felt that way before. Sure, Feather had warm feelings when he was with his parents, but this was different.
"Alright, I believe that is about everything." Curly said before she kissed Feather's cheek. "We'll be right back. Try to behave yourself, Feather." Curly and Slick began leaving the house.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Bangs! I'll take good care of Feather!" Cadence said as she waved to the couple.
"Peek a boo!" Cadence kept repeating as she used her hooves to hide her face and then reveal it to Feather. Feather didn't react as much as he was too focused on watching Cadence.
'Huh, most foals would have a kick out of that.' Cadence thought. She noticed Feather started to crawl made his way to her and held her hooves.
"Aww," Cadence said as she picked Feather up. "I think I know what you need." Cadence then lifted Feather up and she made air plane sounds with her mouth.
"We're flying! Yay!" Cadence said as she raised Feather up and down. Feather felt excited from the ride Cadence is giving him.
"Let's kick things up a notch!" Cadence said as she used her horn magic to cover Feather with light blue aura. She let go of Feather only to have him levitating in the air. This was entirely new to Feather and he was enjoying every minute of it. Cadence levitated Feather around like he was an airplane. Feather was flown all around from the ceiling fan to the living room furniture. After a while, Feather began to slow down and was brought back to Cadence.
"Alright, I think that's enough flying for tonight." Cadence said as she carried Feather to the ground. She brought out some colorful shapes and a box with holes that look like shapes.
"How about we try and fit these shapes into the box?" Cadence suggested as she used her magic to put a red circle into one of the box's holes.
"Now it's your turn." Cadence said as she gave Feather a green triangle and the box. Feather looked at the triangle with curiosity as he attempted to fit it into a square hole of the box. It took about three more attempts before he looked at Cadence in confusion.
"You have to match the shape with the holes." Cadence said as she picked up Feather hoof that was holding the green triangle. "Like this." Cadence said as she helped Feather put the triangle into the right hole. After that, Feather attempted to put a blue square into a square hole of the box. Each time Feather put a shape into the right box hole, Cadence clapped for his achievement. It wasn't long until Feather put all of the shapes into the box.
"Yay! You did it!" Cadence said as she picked Feather up. "Here is your reward for being such a smart foal." Cadence then gave Feather a peck on his cheek, causing him to blush and giggle for some unknown reason. Feather was interrupted when he suddenly felt a grumbling feeling on his tummy. Cadence also heard this.
"Looks like somepony is hungry. Let's get you something to eat." Cadence said as she carried Feather to the kitchen. She put Feather in his high chair and tied a baby bib on his neck.
"Let's get you something to eat." Cadence said as she opened the fridge to bring out Feather's baby food. Cadence opened the jar of baby food and levitated a spoon full of it towards Feather's mouth. At first, Feather moved his head away from the spoon as he thought the baby food tasted yucky.
"Come on, Feather. Just take a few spoons of this baby food." Cadence said as she attempted to feed Feather again. Only to have him turn his head a second time.
"Please?" Cadence said in a cheerly manner. Feather just looked at Cadence before he took a bite of the spoon.
"That's a good foal!" Cadence said as she continued with feeding Feather. Once Cadence was done feeding Feather, she levitated a napkin to Feather and wiped off the baby food from his cheeks.
"Do you know what good colts get when they eat their meals?" Cadence asked. Feather just tilted his head from curiosity.
"They get bath time!" Cadence said as she picked up Feather and carried him to the bathroom. Once they reached the bathroom, Cadence used her magic to turn on the bathtub's faucet and let the water fill up the bathtub until it reached the perfect amount for Feather. She removed Feather's diaper and gently placed Feather into the water.
"I'll join you in a second, Feather." Cadence said as she used her hooves to undo her ribbons, allowing her mane and tail to let loose. Feather's jaw dropped from seeing how beautiful Cadence looked without her ribbons. She entered the bathtub and started pouring water on to Feather's head, much to the foal's displeasure. Cadence then brought out a yellow rubber ducky to Feather.
"Here, Feather. You can play with the rubber ducky while in the bath." Cadence said. Feather let out a happy squeal as he began moving the rubber ducky around the water. After a few minutes of Feather playing with the rubber ducky, Cadence began putting shampoo on Feather's mane and rubbed it in. She also used some of her magic to cover Feather's face so the suds won't get into his eyes. Once Cadence was done rubbing Feather's mane, she then rubbed the rest of Feather's body so he could be clean everywhere. Cadence rinsed Feather's mane and body before she pulled the cork from the bathtub.
"Bath time is over, time to get you out and dry." Cadence said as she used her magic to bring Feather out of the bathtub so she could clean him off with a towel. When Feather was completely dry, Cadence put a new diaper on to him and carried him to his room. She laid Feather on to his crib and carefully placed a small blanket over his body.
"I'll read you a bedtime story before you go to sleep." Cadence said as she made her way to a bookshelf in the room. She pulled out a small blue book and made her way to a seat next to Feather's crib.
"I think this story will be interesting for you." Cadence said as she began reading the book. It was about a prince falling in love with a princess and he had to rescue the princess from a fierce dragon. Feather started to get tired when Cadence was reading the part where the prince and princess were walking off into the sunset. Cadence finished reading the story to see Feather fast asleep inside of his crib. She carefully walked up to Feather to give him a goodnight kiss on his cheek.
"Sleep tight, Little Feather." Cadence whispered as she exited the room and slowly closed the door.
A couple hours have passed until Feather's parents arrived home to see Cadence reading a book on the couch.
"Welcome back, how was your night?" Cadence said as she approached the couple.
"It was great!" Slick responded. "I haven't had that much fun since the first time we dated, huh honey?" Slick then nuzzled Curls' neck a bit.
"Dear, come on! Not in front of the princess." Curls said. "How was Feather?"
"Oh, he was a total sweetheart!" Cadence said. "It's not often I foalsit foals and fillies who behave like Feather does."
"Guess our son is one of a kind." Slick said.
"Is he sleeping?" Curls asked. Cadence nodded as she led the couple to Feather's room.
"Aww, he's so cute when he's asleep." Curls said as she turned to Cadence. "Thank you so much, Cadence."
"I'm just doing my job." Cadence said.
"Will you be available the next time we need a foalsitter?" Slick asked.
"I'll see what I can do." Cadence said as she reached and patted Feather on his manes. "Goodbye Feather," Cadence then made her way out of the house.
In Feather's dream, he was the same age as Cadence and he was dressed up like a prince. Next to him was Cadence and she wore a princess dress. Both of them looked at each other tenderly while the sun was setting.
"Shall we be heading off?" Feather said as he offered a hoof to Cadence.
"Of course, my prince." Cadence said as she took Feather's hoof and both of them made their way towards the sunset.
