The Magic Word

It was 2:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, Spike Draconis sat in a boardroom he was all alone, after getting caught by the police. He pulled out his backpack with an amethyst dragon emblazoned upon it. Opening a pocket, he pulled out a notebook. He marked out a name, Eleanor Draconis. One would think that Draconis is a unique last name, however 18 attempts later and Spike found out that wasn't the case. Spike sighed and ran a hand through his spiky green hair. His mind left wandering, he thought about how things got to the way they were. He looked up at the ceiling, a few tears in his eyes then looked down at a compass ball in his hand.

"I want the dragon!" A younger Spike demanded from his mother.

"I know sweetie, I know." His mother said, she shared his green hair and green eyes. Spike only knew her as mom, and while he sat on the counter she finally popped a balloon, "Finally got one!"

The man in the balloon booth handed a ball compass to Spike's mother, who in turn handed it to Spike, "But I wanted the dragon."

"I know you did, but this is better than the dragon, you can use this all your life. And no matter where you go, this will help you find your way home." She smiled.

Spike was snapped out of his memory by the opening of one of the two doors of the conference room. His head perked up and he saw his caseworker walk in. Ms. Chrysalis Beatrix. "Here we are again Spike, how many times have we seen each other by now?" She asked him.

"19...." He mumbled, looking down.

"Look sweetie, I know you think of me as some cold, unfeeling, robot who wants to keep you from your mother." She said as she sat down to the left of him, "But, I am honestly doing my best to find her. The hard is that when I try to help out, every few weeks I have to meet up with you and transfer you to another foster home because you keep running away." She said, "You're incredibly smart, and sharp as a tack. And so are these folks I'm going to send you to, but can you do me a favor?"

Spike finally met her eyes, "What?" He asked.

"Give them a chance, please? I pulled a lot of strings to arrange this. It was not easy." Chrysalis practically begged.

"M'kay." Spike agreed.

"So....Fake robbery?" She smiled, "That was pretty smart. Here's a suggestion though, it's radios or comms. Not walkie-talkies, those are toys, and police don't have toys."

"Yeah, I realized that after the dispatcher asked if I was a kid." Spike scratched the back of his head.

"Come on Spike, let's go meet your new foster parents." Chrysalis said getting up and gesturing for him to follow, she brought him into a lobby. "Spike, this is Twilight Velvet and Night Light Sparkle, Velvet is an old friend of mine. Now remember what we agreed to."

"Alright." Spike agreed.

Twilight Velvet and Night Light Sparkle shuffled to the their SUV with the preteen in tow. They opened the door for him, as Velvet got in the passenger seat and Night assumed the position of the driver. Spike closed the door behind him, then he buckled up. Night looked at Velvet, non verbally communicating that they should say something to him. Night and Velvet both turned to Spike, "Listen Spike," Night started, "I'm going to be honest with you, we weren't expecting to take a kid in so fast. So for a little bit you're going to have to sleep in the dog house."

"Night!" Velvet slapped her husband's arm, "Not the time for jokes." She scolded, "My husband doesn't know when it's appropriate to make a joke or not, however he wasn't completely lying. We weren't expecting to take someone so fast right off the bat after being approved for being foster parents, so for a little bit we're going to have you sleep in my office. It's not a permanent thing, okay?"

Spike was mostly silent, "Okay..." He agreed, after a while things like this became a blur to Spike, different vehicles, different houses, he didn't care.

"Hey, how about this? When we get home, you can have whatever you want for dinner." Velvet bargained.

"You don't want to pass up this opportunity Spike, Velvet here is a whiz in the kitchen as much as she is on the pages." Night encouraged.

"What kind of food do you like Spike?" Velvet asked.

"I like...Italian food." Spike let out.

"Well then, when we get home. I'll make some lasagna, how does that sound?" She asked him.

"That sounds pretty good..." Spike trailed off again.

Night started the SUV, and Velvet looked to her husband again. So Night mouthed, He just needs some time. Velvet nodded, and the duo turned trio were off. Spike looked forlornly out the window of the vehicle, not really paying attention to anything. His eyes grew heavy as he looked out the window, soon they drooped and he was asleep. Half an hour passed before they got to the Sparkle residence. Velvet turned around to spot the preteen asleep, she gently place a hand on his knee and shook it. Startling the preteen awake, he raised his fists. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

Spike was still a bit weary of lowering his guard, "W-Where are we?" He asked.

"At our house," Night said before he spotted some other vehicles, he tapped his wife's arm. "Vel, Twilight invited her friends over."

"Twilight?" Spike asked, slowly lowering his fists.

"Twilight is our teenage daughter, to make a long story short before I was pregnant with Twilight. The oaf in the driver's seat made a bet with me, saying that if we had another child we would name them after ourselves depending on if the baby was a boy or a girl." Velvet explained, "To make it easier on you Spike, you can call me Velvet, Vel, or TV if you want to be funny." She smiled.

"A-Another child?" Spike asked.

"Yes, we currently have two children. Shining Armor Sparkle, and Twilight Aurora Sparkle. Shining is staying with us for a few weeks while he prepares for military school. Then after he goes, his room will be all yours." Night explained, "Twilight, invited some of her friends from school over and seems she forgot to ask."

"Do you want to handle it or shall I?" Velvet asked.

"I'll take care of it," Night volunteered, "Twilight needs a stern but gentle reminder to ask permission first." He then turned off the car after pulling into the driveway and got out.

"She's not going to be in trouble is she?" Spike asked which caused Velvet to almost immediately snap her attention to Spike.

"No, she's not going to be in trouble Spike." Velvet assured him, "Twilight can get a little, too into herself. Then on occasion, she ignores things that she shouldn't. It's not often, and she's getting better at it. Why do you ask?"

"I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me." Spike mumbled, but Velvet had enough experience dealing with mumbling children that she picked up on it.

"Twilight is not going to be in trouble because of you, I promise. Her actions and inactions, and subsequent consequences on all on her. That's her responsibility, not yours." Velvet said.

"Okay." Spike said whilst looking down and fidgeting with his fingers.

"Is something wrong Spike?" Velvet asked, however this time she didn't get a response, Velvet was informed of Spike's history of running away. She chewed on the inside of her cheek then smiled, "You want to know a secret?" Spike looked up at her, "I was in foster care too."

"Y-You were?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, I was." Velvet admitted, "I ran away a lot too. I think I ran away...9 times. It was scary always going back to the social services building."

"Yeah it is. I bet Chrysalis is mad at me." Spike concluded.

"Don't mind Scydosella, she's always been mad that her parents named her after a beetle." Velvet revealed Chrysalis' first name to her new ward.

"Side o sella?" Spike pronounced confusedly.

"Scydosella." Velvet then spelled it out for Spike, "It's short for scydosella musawasensis. Apparently her parents were Entomologists and decided that Scydosella would be a perfect first name. Imagine having to spell that when you're in kindergarten, she goes by her middle name instead now." She joked and Spike actually cracked a little smile. Okay, so there is a smile under all that frowning. Then Spike immediately turned it back into a frown. She gulped and started talking to Spike again, "So, she told me that you ran away from almost 15 different foster homes."

"Y-Yeah." Spike shrank a little bit.

Pull it back a little Vel. She scolded herself, "She also said you're looking for your mom."

"I am." Spike replied.

"She also told me that you're one of the smartest boys that she had ever met." Velvet complimented, "We're no stranger to smart kids, after all Twilight's got her own science lab in the backyard shed." Velvet said.

"Isn't that...dangerous?" Spike asked.

"Truth be told, it can be. However, we're the ones responsible for purchasing the chemicals and other components that she uses. Last time she went over budget and racked up $900 worth of parts and chemicals. She didn't have access to her lab until she knew the meaning of that." Velvet told Spike.

"O-Okay." Spike mumbled again.

You're losing him. Velvet's mind chimed in once more, "Spike, I know that there's no replacement for your own mother. So I'll cut you a deal." That got the boy's attention, "If you stay with us for a month, after that I'll try my best to help you find your mom. Okay?"

Spike gulped, none of his other foster parents had offered him something like that. "Promise?" He said without thinking.

Velvet held out her pinkie finger, and soon Spike interlocked it with his. "You have to do one other thing for me though."

Spike's eyes widened slightly, "What's that?" He asked.

"You have to go to school, you don't have to be a perfect straight A student, but you have to at least pull your weight in your classes. Alright?" She asked.

"I-I can do that." Spike said.

"Then I'll do my best to help, I promise." Velvet said, and then the figure of Night came back to the vehicle waving for them to come in. Velvet smiled at her husband and nodded. Then she turned back to Spike, "You ready to come inside?"

"I...I think so." Spike said nervously.

"Alright then sweetie, I'll get to work on that lasagna." Velvet said as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door, which prompted Spike to follow suit. The sound of two closing doors echoed through the carport and Velvet walked up the stairs to join her husband that had decided to stand in the doorway. Spike readjusted his backpack, and took a deep breath. Every step feeling like a mile in his mind, objects in his backpack jostling around. He soon started going up the stairs, which made him feel like he was climbing up the stairwell of the tallest building in Manehattan, the scent of lavender welcomed him home.