The sun was going down which meant that a sheriff’s duty was done for the day. Maretime Bay Day was a success, magic was stabilised and every pony enjoyed the festivities. With Hitch’s office locked up and everything tided away for the day, the sheriff of Maretime Bay could now go and get some sleep. However, sleep would have to wait as the sheriff of Maretime Bay had also, unexpectantly, become a daddy on the same day. Hitch was not the father of a pony, however.
“Okay, Sparky. Here comes the pegasus,” Hitch waved the spoonful of soft food around in the air with a hoof, causing the baby dragon to giggle and wave his little claws around. His small wings flapped wildly despite him being restricted to a raised chair.
“Now open wide,” Hitch cooed as he directed the spoon towards the baby dragon’s mouth. Sparky did as his new dad instructed him to do and both of them grinned as Sparky swallowed. It was then that the sheriff noticed the dragon squirm in his raised chair. Lifting Sparky up, he held him in a position so that his head rested on his shoulder. With a gentle pat, Sparky released a satisfying burp and Hitch breathed a sigh of relief. He was lucky that little Sparky couldn’t breathe fire. Yet.
Glancing over towards the window, he noticed that the sun was quickly lowering over the waters of the sea. He wiped Sparky’s mouth clean with a napkin and placed him on his back, his tiny claws grabbing his coat so as not to fall off. Hitch knew he was going to get a lot of red scratch marks until he was able to walk by himself.
With Sparky on his back and carefully balanced, they both got up the stairs for the next part of their new evening routine. It was something that needed to be done in the bathroom.
“Bath time!” Hitch said as he plugged the bathtub and let the water run. Mixing the bath water with bubbly liquid, he checked the temperature before turning the tap off and placing the dragon into the water. Some bubbles got into Sparky’s nose, causing him to sneeze. Hitch chuckled as he began scrubbing him down with a sponge.
“Rubby-dub-dub,” Hitch giggled as he leaned forward with a silly face. Sparky reached forward with his claws outstretched and grabbed Hitch by the muzzle.
“Ow-ow-ow! No, Sparky,” Hitch groaned, “I should really teach you not to grab a pony’s nose.” Despite the pain, Hitch still laughed through it all. His tough sheriff face crumbled like a tower of cards at the sight of Sparky's face.
“Aw, but I can’t stay mad at you for long,” Hitch cooed again as he poured some shampoo into a hoof and massaged it into Sparky’s scales.
“Hope Sunny can rummage through her dad’s old research papers and find out more about you and dragons,” Hitch talked to himself as he continued to give Sparky his bath, “As she said, dragons haven't been seen in generations and I want you to be a big, strong dragon when you grow up, and I can’t do that without knowing how to raise you properly.”
Hitch continued to wash Sparky for several more minutes until the bubbles were all gone and all that was left was a squeaky clean dragon in the tub.
“There you go. All squeaky clean,” Hitch declared as he lifted Sparky out of the bath and rubbed him dry with a towel, making sure he wiped his hooves dry in the process.
“Let’s get you ready for bed, okay?” Hitch commented as he carried Sparky towards the bathroom. Sunny was kind enough to give him a new toothbrush for Sparky. Gently opening Sparky’s mouth, Hitch sat down and brushed Sparky’s teeth with one hoof and his own in another. Sparky would often try to bite the intruding instrument, but Hitch was gentle as he reached every nook and cranny in Sparky’s mouth.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Hitch shook his head, “No bitey.”
Soon it was time for bed. Hitch tucked him in and then slipped under the covers as well. Both of them yawned and Hitch nuzzled the baby dragon on the top of his head.
“Goodnight, my little Sparky.”
Hitch didn’t know how long he was asleep when there was a sound coming from his bedroom window. The sound of something tapping against the glass. Grumbling and wiping away the sleep from his eyes. Hitch carefully moved away from the sleeping dragon and crept silently towards the window. Hitch’s eyes grew large as he spotted a pair of pegasnails flapping outside. Hitch carefully opened the window, allowing the cold night air to come in. This caused him to shiver and Sparky to dig deeper into the blanket to find more warmth against the cold sea breeze blowing in.
“Cold night,” Hitch said to the two flying snails who spoke in chirps. Hitch was still amazed that he could speak to critters now that earth ponies have magic too. The pegasnails talked in their chirps again. Hitch nodded and looked towards the bed.
“I suppose you can stay here for the night,” Hitch suggested. That was all they needed to hear as the pair of them flew through the open window and made themselves comfortable, retreating into their shells to avoid getting slime over the bed. Hitch chuckled quietly as he watched the spectacle in front of him.
“A sheriff always puts the citizens’ needs before his own,” He told himself as he shut the window and crept carefully back to bed. He managed to squeeze himself in and soon they were all fast asleep.
It was sometime during the night that Hitch heard the sound of hard knocking on the window again. Hitch tried his best to ignore whatever critter was knocking this late into the night, but soon it was too much to bear. Plus, the knocks might disturb little Sparky. Hitch didn’t want to deal with a crying baby dragon in the middle of the night. That would be worse than the knocking on the glass.
Sighing, Hitch got up and went to see who was creating all the ruckus. His eyes rolled around in their sockets when he saw another two critters outside the window. A bunnycorn and unicoon somehow managed to climb to the top of the building and were now waiting for Hitch to answer the window. Hitch opened the window again and gave a strained smile at the two of them.
“Cold night? I assume you want to crash here for the night, eh?” Hitch asked drearily, already knowing their answer.
The two of them nodded and Hitch stepped aside as they jumped down to the bedroom floor. With the bunnycorn hopping across the floor and unicoon crawling their way towards the bed. Scrambling onto the increasingly occupied bed, they made themselves comfortable and were soon out like a light. Hitch closed the window again and followed the two of them. Hitch just shook his head, let out a sigh of relief, along with a tad bit of irritation, and carefully slid under the covers.
“Why do I feel like this is going to happen-“
Another knock at the window interrupted him.
“Again,” Hitch groaned as he dragged a hoof across his face. He turned around to find the familiar faces of the two seagulls and McSnipps Alot the crab. The two critters that were with Hitch before all the crazy magic business started. Hitch chose to not say a word as he opened the window and stood aside with a hoof outstretched.
“Be my guest. You’re not the first,” Was all that he said. The three of them nodded their heads in thanks as the two seagulls flew over to the bed, choosing to roost at the best posts on either side. McSnipps Alot scurried across the floor and made tucked himself in. Hitch managed to chuckle to himself as he closed the window one final time. he counted how many critters were there, plus himself and it came back with a grand total of seven critters, one baby dragon and a stallion sleeping together for the night.
Hitch found himself up to the edge of the bed as he carefully squeezed in with all the other critters. Grumbling to himself about how he is going to get a good night’s sleep when there was another busy day of sheriff duties, he gave up and, somehow managed to close his eyes and soon nine creatures were fast asleep.
It was during the middle of the night that Sparky shifted position, causing McSnipps Alot to change position and causing the bunnycorn and then the pegasnails to be shoved along. A domino effect soon occurred down the line of sleeping creatures until it reached Hitch. The poor stallion was pushed hard enough to drop onto the floor with a loud thump.
Groaning and rubbing his sore flank, Hitch got up and looked at the critters and baby dragon, all sleeping peacefully and unaware that their favourite stallion just got pushed off his own bed.
“Somehow, I knew that was going to happen, and yet I was unaware at the same time,” Hitch shook his head. He sighed as his eyes took in the peculiar sight in front of him.
“Oh well,” Hitch muttered, “Of all the crazy things that have happened to me since magic returned, this is the most adorable though.”
Hitch thought long and hard about what he could do before giving up and walked toward his wardrobe. Taking out his sleeping bag, pillow and extra-thick blanket, he positioned everything next to his bed and slid in. Since he was now at ground level, he could make out the dark shapes of the sleeping critters on his bed. Hitch smiled at his animal friends all sleeping peacefully and snuggled against each other.
Remembering his new baby dragon, he carefully scooped him up and placed him in the sleeping bag with him. He took one last look at the occupied bed before shaking his head and chuckling to himself. Sometimes, being a critter magnet has its downsides, but the sheriff admitted it was still adorable. What antics they will get him into, alongside Sparky, well, he could only wonder.
“A sheriff puts his citizens before himself,” Hitch said as a yawn escaped from his mouth, “Goodnight, every critter. You too, Sparky. I will make breakfast for all of us in the morning.”
He gave each one a small kiss on their heads, beaks and shells before snuggling into his sleeping bag, Sparky hugging him for warmth.
All he can do now is hope that none of them drools over the side.
Author's Note
I wrote this before Make Your Make and I don't have Netflix, so I didn't see the special. Anyway, this was also inspired by the nursery rhyme "There were 10 in the bed, and the little one said", if you can remember that one way back in your childhood.
Anyway, I hope you like this story for my favourite of the mane five.
