After dressing the baby back up, Rachel sets Iggy down in his crib in the nursery. He fussed and jumped about but with a sharp growl from his mother, he stopped.

Rachel got on her knees, eye level with her son. "Igneous Sparks, I know you can somewhat understand me, I'm not going to go long but listen to me very carefully." She said as she looked at him through the bars. "I very much understand that dragons are prone to anger, but the type of anger you have, it comes from me. Your father is many things, but he is a good guy. He tries hard, which is something some creatures don't have. In a sense, he was here first. I love you and you always come first for me, you need to learn to share."

Iggy babbled and croaked in a frustrated manner.

"I don't speak Baby, but I do understand this anger. I'm going to help you control it, because if you do that again so help me I will shut that down real fast, no exceptions. Now your actions today were unexceptionable. I may not be able to do much because you're an infant but you will learn that your actions have consequences." She was not phased by him throwing a temper tantrum in the crib. Eyes glowing and he started to flicker flames.

With a sharp growl coming from his mother, Iggy's flames were snubbed out with a whimper.

"For your first punishment, you will stay in this crib for your time out. Which means you by no means leave this." Rachel gestured to the crib. "I won't put the lid on because of what happened last time before but leave this crib before either I or your father come back in here, I will put that thing back on, do you understand me?"

Iggy crosses his tiny arms with a grunt, anger sparked in his eyes, but being threatened by that dreaded lid, he didn't want to take the chance. He gave her a nod.

"Good. Now stay here and think about what you did." Rachel said before standing up and headed out the door and closed it behind her, leaving the light on for him.

Once the otherside, Rachel squeezed the bridge of her nose with a loud groan.

Parenthood, what a joy it is.

Spike was sitting outside at the back patio. He was sitting on one of the steps with his face buried in his hands.

“What the actual fuck,” Spike muttered to himself.

His boy was a manipulative little genius. Using his mother like that. He couldn't believe the look Rachel had on her face. Spike values her more than anything else so with Iggy wailing like that and the look Rachel had.

Spike knew his mate's past all too well, so if any inkling of their child got hurt by anyone, especially his father, Spike would probably die.

He felt like he took one step forward to ten steps back with Rachel.

As he contemplating about what'to do and wondering how much more could he fuck up if he fucked up as a father, he felt a presence behind him.

Spike lowered his hands and turned quickly to see Rachel standing at the doorway, her arms tucked into one another.

"Rachel, I swear, what happened with Igneous, I-I would never hurt him." He pleaded. "Babe please, you have to believe me." His voice panicked. Like his life was literally in the line.

"I know." Rachel said, brushing her bangs out of her face with a hand.

"I would nev~ what?" Spike blinked. He stared at her confused. "You know?"

"That our son is a mischievous, manipulative gremlin with baby anger issues? I know." She said as she stepped outside with him. "Relax Spike, you're nowhere in trouble."

Rachel saw a wave of relief was lifted off his shoulders as she joined him down on the steps next to him.

"You have no idea how that feels. I thought you were going to massacre me." Spike nervously chuckles.

Rachel made a face and shrugs. "For a split millisecond, with how Igneous screamed and woke me up, not gonna lie, it brought my mama bear out. But then again, it's you."

"What does that have to do with anything? " Spike asked.

"You never lifted a claw at me, even during our fights, you never really hit me when you went feral, I know you would never hurt Iggy." She smiled before sighing deeply. "I knew he was faking, I had to get you out of the room for a second to catch him. And like I suspected, he stopped crying and acted like nothing happened."

"What if he didn't?"

Rachel reached over and rubbed his shoulders. "I still know you wouldn't hurt him. I know you. If that wasn't the case, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I would be in the middle of burying your body somewhere in those woods right around now. Not a threat, just saying." She clarified.

Spike giggled a little. "Not in the backyard?" He joked.

"And ruin this gorgeous garden? Not a chance." She joked back.

"Well that's good. I thought you would like this garden." He said, gesturing to the crystal flowers. "Do you come out here at night?"

Rachel thought about it. "Uh no, when I was here while pregnant, I got worn out easily so I kept going to bed early."

"It seems Igneous does that even before he was born."

"Oh he had kept me up for months inside me."

Spike nodded before he sighed. "I don't know what I did to have Igneous hate me. What did I do wrong that got him like that?" He asked her.

"Absolutely nothing." Rachel said as she lay her head on his shoulder. "You know my view of fathers are skewed a little, but what I've seen so far, you're doing a good job." She said as she linked his arm with hers. "You're a great father. We're both new to being parents, it's an adjustment but so far, you do good. Ember warned me that Iggy might be a trouble maker since he's a product of both scepters."

"She's also a product of the Blood Staff so she understands." Spike said, his heart fluttering still from being called a good father in his mate's eyes.

The two then shared a similar look at each other. Both of them have the same thought.

Rachel quickly dug her phone out and speed dialed Ember and put it on speaker. After a few rings, she picked up.

"Oh for fuck sakes, Rachel, I told you I would call if anything changes with the war." Ember growled through the speakers.

"Well fuck you too Ember." Rachel grunted. "For your information you blue scaley gecko, Spike and I are calling you about Igneous." She mouthed Bitch towards Ember.

"Hey Ember, could you be a bit nicer to your Queen? You're not a Guardian anymore." Spike grunted.

"I still hold some leeway with the other Dragons since I took over for you, Spike. Either way you two called about Igneous, I warned you he would have hiccups. You too Spike."

"How did Torch handle you when you were that little? " Spike asked. "And when did you tell me about babies??"

"Aye aye aye. Since you are the Dragonlord and the staff granted you magic, your offspring will inherit the magic as well in birth. Dragon infants are already feral little shits but scepter babies are a whole new breed, they are smarter. Once they discover that they can do magic, they just take off. Igneous is a double scepter baby so he got a lot of power inside of him bursting.”

“We get that, but how do we get him to calm and settle down?” Rachel asked. “The guards are helping a lot but oh boy…”

“Well, you can bring him back here, you’ll have a lot of help and not have everything burn down every five seconds with your little salamander.”

The couple waited a moment for her to say something else.

“Since you are having a family moment until you two get back, what you can do is maybe use your magic on him, it’s what dad did to me when I was Iggy’s age.”

“Torch used his magic on you? Like how does that work?” Spike asked.

“He never hurt me with it, just kept me contained. It’s probably how the ponies took care of you Spike, no doubt they had magic to try and contain you when you were little.” Ember said. “With magic dragons, literally, magic is the only way to control the babies until they matured. Your son is literally bored with the mundane baby items. He needs to be entertained. It’s the reason dad and I are so tight because he had the magic to do it. Mom wasn’t around much so dad took care of me, you might need to do that with Igneous. Both of you have magic. Plus you got an empire of dragons to help take care of him. It takes a village.”

Spike and Rachel stared at the phone before Spike grunted. “Magic? Seriously?”

“Instead of you using what magic you were gifted to clean up Twilight’s mess back in the day. It's not difficult and he won’t be hurt, he has to be entertained properly, you got the skills.”

Spike glared at the phone when Ember reminded him of that.

“Anyway, you guys got two more weeks of your vacation/mental release or what-the-fuck ever you two are doing. I got all the ducks in the row for the Portal. Rachel, are you getting him ready to come into being Dragonlord?”

“I am.” Rachel said.

“She caught me up to speed, but I know what I’m doing with the scepter.” Spike said.

“This isn’t the migration where we have to sneak you in the chambers to have you practice, it's game time.”

“Thanks Ember, I got it.”

“Good, now, I’ll see you royal bitches then, good luck.” Before Rachel could say anything, Ember hung up.

She shook her head. “Fucking cunt.” she said, stuffing the phone back before sighing deeply. “So… what now? All I know from using my staff is combat and occasionally put a guard in their place. I have some memories of the last Queen but not ones dealing with a magic baby. I don’t know that kind of spell.” Thinking they’ll have to reside on doing what they are doing.

Spike on the other hand, let it stew what Ember said. “You're still new to magic still. Wielders of both staffs learn combatant spells before anything else, but once a few years have passed, you’ll learn others.”

“And you do, even though you have had limited contact with the staff?” Rachel asked.

A smile split from the male’s lips. “You have no clue what I can do…speaking of which,” Spike looks up to the upper story, seeing the window to their son’s room. “Rach, why don’t you go hang out a bit, I think I got an idea how to get Igneous to be cool around me.”

“What are you going to do?” Rachel asked before being kissed by him.

“Doing what I know. You stay beautiful, I’ll handle our kid for a few.” He said before getting up from the steps and headed inside. Leaving Rachel just confused.

“Oh..okay?”

***********

Iggy was still in his crib, playing with one of the squeaky toys that was with him. He solemnly waved it and gave it a good squeak.

The door to his room opened, causing Iggy to look to see who it was and he scowled, seeing his father coming in.

“Hey, Igneous,” Spike called out to him.

Iggy grunted before scooting around, turning his back to him and continued to play with his toy.

Spike watched for a moment before sighing, approaching the crib. “Hey kid, I know this is weird to you. To you, I’m the new guy all over your mother, she’s amazing. She’s the reason we’re both here in the first place.” He got to eye level to the crib. “I’m not going to take her away, that’s never my intention. Your mom loves both of us, wouldn’t it be right for us to get along just for a bit for her?”

Iggy suddenly let out another fiery sneeze and ended up turning his doll into ash again. His eyes swelled up and began to cry over his lost toy.

Without missing a beat, Spike stood up, reached inside of the crib, hovered his hand over the ashes. His eyes flashed green and the ashes began to light up. Iggy let out a gasp as he watched the ashes glow and began gathering together and lifted in the air. He saw the ashes spin and spin before a quick flash and the toy was restored.

It slowly lowers itself down into Iggy’s hands.

He couldn’t believe what he just saw. He gave the toy a few squeaks to make sure, giggling in joy before hugging it.

As he embraced it, he looked up at Spike who was looking at him with a serine smile. “Where do you think you got part of your magic from?” he asked with a chuckle. “There’s so much I can do that most don’t have any idea. Not even your mother. Say, how about I show you?” he asked.

Iggy babbled and whimpered.

“I think you’re gonna like it.” Spike sing-songed. His eyes glowed again to demonstrate his energy.

And it was massive, even the baby could sense it.

Iggy was curious, while still holding onto his restored toy, he reached out for his father.

Spike grabs the baby and walks out with him. He walked over to their room, quickly grabbing his Blood Staff out of a safe place, and Iggy’s eyes went wide when he saw it.

“We’re gonna need that.” Spike said, using his tail to grab the staff and headed downstairs.

Rachel just caught them headed out from the living room. “Where are you two going?” Rachel asked, still not knowing what’s going on.

“We’re heading out, don’t wait up,” Spike said reassuringly before heading out with the baby.

Rachel looked wide-eyed. “Uh ... .okay…Should I be afraid of what the boy will do to his father??” She turned to ask one of the guards. She and the other two were playing cards in the living room.

“The Dragonlord’s got this.” one of them said.

Spike took Igneous outside towards the backyard and into the garden. It was still daytime.

“Now son, I want you to watch this.” Spike said as he held the baby with one hand and grabbed the staff from his tail with the other hand.

Igneous stared at him curiously, making a croaking sound.

The blood red crystal glowed as Spike’s eyes lit up. He twisted the staff in his hold. The feeling of its magic rocked the area where Spike stood. The fur on Iggy prickled as he could feel millions of years of magic radiating out of it. The wind picked up so the grass and the trees began to sway.

Spike lifted the staff up and tapped the end of it on the ground.

WHOOSH!

This darkness shoots out of the staff and covers the two and the whole garden. Iggy let out a cry and gripped tightly at Spike, the world to him now becoming too dark.

“It’s okay, it's okay, I got you. It’ll be over in three, two…and…” this glow of blues, whites, greens and reds and purples gradually cuts through the darkness and lights their way.

Spike took a deep breath and exhaled a burst of green flames. It went straight but Spike waves the staff and the fire split up into multiple parts, surrounding the whole garden.

The actual flowers that were planted among the crystals ones soaked up the flames, sucking into the petals. After a moment, the petals opened and small orbs of light emerged.

And began to rise. Like tiny stars lighting up the darkness around them. Igneous’ eyes widened and made ooh sounds.

Spike chuckled before waving the staff again, making the lights dance around them, enjoying the look on his son’s face. “You can do it too.” Spike whispered to him.

Iggy looked at him with a tilted head and made a sound.

Spike nodded. “It’s not hard, it’s easy. Just focus on the lights, think of what you want them to do.”

Igneous turned back at the floating orbs. His eyes lit up and he focused on the orbs. At first, nothing happened, but it didn’t take long before the orbs began to form two images. Turning them into what looked like the two dragons from his night light and they began dancing around each other.

Spike smiled and bunched up more lights to create a smaller dragon image and having those lights dance around the other dragons.

Igneous watched in awe, seeing them all together.

“You know, these flowers have a special meaning to me and your mother.” Spike said as he watched his son reach out to the dancing orbs. “I had these flowers shipped for her specifically. They are called Firefly Flowers. We were in a field and saw the lights like these….it was when I fell in love with her.” He told him.

Iggy reached out to touch the orbs, seeing it bounced off of his tiny claws.

Spike smiled and touched the orb with a finger, generating heat and all the orb exploded in more light, causing Iggy to squeal and laugh.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you were born. If I had known your mother was pregnant with you, I would have never made the decision like I had… I wished I never left either way…but I’m here now. I’m never leaving again, not from her, or you.” Spike said.

Igneous lay his head against Spike’s neck and cooed, causing Spike to place the staff back with his tail and hugged his child. “I can’t wait to see who you become. To see you grow and get to know you.” He whispered, kissing the top of his son’s head. “I love you, my son.”

Iggy wrapped his arms around him.

Spike carried him to a bench in the garden and sat down with him. “Let’s enjoy this for a bit, you and me, I’ll bring mom out here later.” And the two watched the lights dance around.

A few hours later and curiosity got the better of Rachel. She stepped away from her painting and headed out to find her boys.

She went to the backyard and found them in the garden and stopped. She covered her muzzle with her hands and her heart just exploded.

She sees Spike holding Igneous in his arms, leaning back on the bench, Iggy was on his chest, hearing both of them lightly snore as the two were asleep.

Rachel cooed and awed at them, this was absolutely perfect.

She quickly took her phone out and approached the two slowly. Taking quick snaps of them.

Doing one of the takes, she sees Spike stirred and his eyes cracked open to see his mate and tiredly smiled. "Hello there, beautiful."

"Hi," she whispered, putting her phone back in her pockets, "sorry, did I wake you?"

Spike shook his head. "No, you're good." He then looks down at their sleeping son. "I didn't have the heart to put in his crib. He's too precious."

Rachel giggled at that acknowledgement before looking at the Blood Staff. "So it seems you had fun."

"We did. Got room for one more here if you want." Spike offered.

Smiling, Rachel quietly sat on his lap, momentarily having Spike to readjust his holding so he now has both mate and child on him.

"Oooh yeah, now my life is perfect." Spike said, embracing the two.

Rachel chuckled, loving the energy she was feeling.

They sat there in silence for a while before Rachel moved slightly.

She reached up to her ring, takes the chain off of her neck, removes the chain all together before slipping the ring on her finger.

Spike watched with his eyes widened and jaw dropped a little before kissing her deeply. "Thank you… thank you," he whispered to her.

"To be honest, I had gotten used to wearing it on my neck."

"And what a lovely neck you have." He teased but overfilled with joy.

His excitement causes Igneous to wake up. He first sees his mother and cooed happily, the three of them shared a hug.

"Hi baby," Rachel giggled in the hug before kissing his head. "You had fun with daddy?"

Iggy nodded.

"That we did." Spike said.

Then an idea came to him, he dug into his pockets and pulled out his phone this time. "Need to update a few things," he said.

Giggling, Rachel made sure both her and Iggy fit with Spike as he raised the phone up and snapped a photo of all three of them. He showed it to Rachel and she nodded.

"It's perfect." She said before she and Spike both tickled Iggy and he just screamed in laughter.

Author's Note

In the next several days I'll be posting what picture Spike took of the three of them and of him and Iggy sleeping on that bench soon.

Got three more chapters of Spike spending family time with Rachel and Iggy before throwing them in the war so stay tune