Twilight scrambled around the messy dressmaking room as she looked around for an aubergine fabric. She doesn’t even know what color that comes from! Didn’t help that she would occasionally have to tend to Sweetie Belle, who seemed to like watching Twilight scramble from one side of the room and then back to her whenever she threw a toy.

“Darling, are you okay back there?” Rarity asked as she stitched a piece of a costume on.

“Never bette- A-“ The poor filly was attacked by an avalanche of fabrics that barreled against her head.

A ton of fabric had cascaded around her, surrounding her in a rainbow of surprisingly soft clothes. Twilight just laid there for a moment, contemplating the things that led her to this point. With a sigh, she quickly took out her diary while Rarity wasn’t looking and jotted down the event. Twilight rolled back up the fabric mess dejectedly. Recently it feels like she’s done nothing but ruin things. She intrudes on ponies' homes and makes them care for her. She worries them by disappearing, she can barely even try to help out with anything without completely messing it up! And that was without any magic. She put up the roll of fabric, only to have it slip right back off and smack her in the nose. Twilight took a shuddering breath as she calmly tried once more to store away the fabrics. These ponies were so nice, perfect for Spike to be around.

“I should’ve stayed in the forest alone…Spike doesn’t deserve this.” She thought darkly.

Fluttershy trotted in a panic around the market space. Spike had to have come through here, right? There were all sorts of things that would draw his attention! Like…food! There were even a few toy stores! He was old enough to want those upon seeing them right?

“Spike! Spiiiike!” The butter-yellow filly said, barely getting her voice above a whisper. She carefully kept her eyes trained on the ground for the little hatchling in case he had managed to fall asleep somewhere. This proved fruitful as she did spot something related to the missing hatchling. Tracks. Tracks of knees dragged through dirt, and little claws. Also Eggtilda’s chicken tracks! The filly happily bounced and scampered off following the lead to find her charge.

Her searches had brought her all the way to Sugarcube Corner. This was perfect! Pinkie Pie had to have seen Spike come through, and was likely now playing with him inside. The shy filly entered the establishment, slightly wilting when eyes turned to her. She lowered her head as she walked up to the counter where Mrs. Cake smiled.

“U-Um, h-hi…have you seen a b-baby dragon…” The timid filly stuttered out at a barely audible level. Mrs. Cake smiled but looked confused.

“Uh, I’m sorry, could you repeat that sweetie?” The baker said, leaning in a bit.

“A-A b-b-baby dragon.”

Mrs. Cake leaned in closer and tilted her ear toward the filly.

“I’m sorry, one more time? A little louder?”

“B-b-baby d-dragon.”

Mrs. Cake was trying her hardest to piece together what the Pegasus was trying to say. She didn’t want to ask her what she said AGAIN! Poor thing looked like she might explode from anxiety.

”Flake Naggin’? No no, drake stabbin? No, cake wagon? No- hold on, maybe she was trying to find Pinkie? Yes, that must be it!” Mrs. Cake thought, her face lighting up.

“Oh, you just missed Pinkie sweetie! She had a baby dragon and a chicken with her and said she was going to take him out to play!” The baker mare said happily. Fluttershy however withered a bit, but still had a strained smile.

“T-Th-Thank you…”The butter Pegasus said through grit, anxious teeth. She quickly exited the bakery, running to hopefully catch up to Pinkie with hopes the pink filly was still on her way to her destination.

“…Plank chew? What does that mean?” Mrs. Cake said as she watched the Pegasus skitter out.

Pinkie happily pronked into the local park with the baby dragon on her back giggling happily every time she hopped. Meanwhile the chicken was less amused and was keeping track of how long they’d been out now. Pinkie stopped in her tracks.

“Oh! Guys look! It’s Rainbow Dash! Hiiii Rainbooooow!” Pinkie said, rushing over with her guests…to the swings where Rainbow Dash was sleeping herself draped over the top bar like a wet towel, somehow comfortably asleep. Even Spike and Eggtilda understood that it had to be murder on the spine. The multicolored filly snorted as she woke up and slipped off the swings and landed in the mulch.

“Ugh…hi Pinkie.” She groaned as she stood back up and shook the loose wooden chips from her mane. “What’s up with ya?”

“Babysitting!”

“Oh man, glad IM not stuck with- is that Spike.”

“Yup!”

Rainbow Dash quickly did some mental calculations. If she could prove she could take care of Spike, her crush would totally wanna hang out with her…a-and maybe even…hold hooves.

“Ahem, as I was saying. GLAD I’M HERE TO HELP!” She said triumphantly. How hard could watching a kid be? She was a kid, legally allowed to move out yeah, but she was easy to take care of.

7 Years Ago

“BOW HAVE YOU FOUND DASHIE?!”

“NO! I EVEN TRIED THE WONDERBOLT TRICK!”

Meanwhile, a blue filly fluttered down the street with a bag of candy.

“Oh man, mom and dad are gonna love this! Hey where’s the house again?”

Present
“...wait did I tell my parents I moved out?”

Twilight stood by Rarity’s side in a depressive mood, holding out a roll of fabric for her. The white unicorn couldn’t help but notice, and glanced at her worried. Twilight had turned a shade of blue, which made how the fellow unicorn was feeling obvious.

“Darling, I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been a bit quiet, a-are you alright? You don’t feel faint do you?” She said, turning to look at her.

“Rarity, am I a screw up.”

Okay BUCK, right out the gate with that one. Sweetie Belle had let out an ‘Uh oh’, but Twilight didn’t seem to hear it.

“Darling! Of co-” Rarity watched as Twilight changed colors to an even deeper shade of blue, her mane turning a black color. The filly’s eyes had begun to water, threatening to spill tears as Twilight shivered, trying to keep herself from breaking into a sob.

“Sparkling Cider, listen. Yes, you’ve been having…er…issues, but! uh, how did it go again, it’s not about how you fall, it's how you get back up! Right now, you’re simply underway of getting back up!” Rarity said using the best supportive tone she could while giving Twilight a short pat on the shoulder. Twilight’s color seemed to lighten a little, which Rarity assumed meant that Twilight would be okay. They resumed their work on the costumes with Rarity making an attempt to keep Twilight’s mind off darker thoughts with idle chatter about things from school. Her efforts were futile however.

”Then maybe I’ve fallen in a ravine…” Twilight’s coat darkened a little further.

Fluttershy panted as she came running into the playground. Her body ached from the physical activity, but she felt relieved when she saw Pinkie Pie and Eggtilda.

“P- wheeze P-Pinkie Pie! W-Where’s…”

“Spike? He’s with Rainbow Dash!” The party point answered happily. Fluttershy looked around, not seeing the aforementioned filly.

“Um, where?” Pinkie Pie’s mane straightened out into an arrow, pointing in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. The yellow Pegasus whimpered and did a cute little stamp of frustration as she started to trot off to the farmlands.

Rainbow did another loop in the air, letting Spike fall for a second before zooming in and catching the whelp. The baby dragon cheered with joy and the ride he was being taken on, and Rainbow couldn’t feel any better about it.

“I am AWESOME at this! You’re pretty cool too, kid!” She said, holding Spike up to her eye level. He just stuck his tongue out and drooled. Rainbow Dash chuckled and zoomed off to their target destination, an apple tree. The pair landed gently in the leaves. Spike hungrily eying the fruit. He grabbed one and started gumming on it as Rainbow just watched relaxing in the leaves.

“Whew! Almost done with mah chores! Just one last tree!” An earth pony filly said walking up to the tree the two occupants were in. With a swift buck, everything came down, including a Pegasus and a dragon.

“Ow!”

“What the- Rainbow what’d I say about goin’ up there! Yer gonna bruise the apples sittin’ on ‘em!”

“I was on the branches, it's totally fine!” Aside from the apple she had just crushed by falling on it. Spike meanwhile had lost his apple and began to fuss.

“Look what you did AJ! You made him mad! Don’t worry I’VE got this.” She said, confidently trotting up to the hatchling.

“You know how ta’ take care of a baby?”

“Well…no, but it’s a baby! I’ve done great so far!” She picked up Spike as she spoke and began to toss him in the air to cheer him up. The unexpected result was Spike just getting angrier and starting to cry and wiggle.

“Uh- okay, feathers, uhh, i-it’s okay little dude! No need to cry! Hehe, uh, there there!” She said awkwardly, rhythmically patting Spike’s back to try and get him to calm down. Applejack watched unimpressed. She walked over.

“Need some help there?”

“What?! No! I-I can do this-“

Spike cried louder and began beating his little hands against Rainbow’s shoulder.

“Okay fine! Yes…” she said in defeat, holding the baby out for Applejack to take.

The duo were inside the kitchen, a sniffly Spike being distracted by spoons the Rainbow clinked together.

“Alright, here we go! Applesauce!”

Applejack placed a small jar on the table in front of Spike. They all just stared at him waiting until the two ponies facehoofed and realized they would have to feed him.

Shining Armor had to admit that Ponyville had a very diverse set of ponies. He and Cadance were currently on the outskirts on their way to Fluttershy’s cottage, when a white unicorn with a blue mane and sick shades had come up to them. Weirdly enough she didn’t speak a word, yet somehow Shining understood her, which greatly confused Cadance.

“She says she wants to be a DJ and wants us to listen to something she just came up with, her name is Vinyl by the way.” Shining explained. Vinyl smiled and nodded vigorously, her shades almost being shaken off her snout.

“Oh, um, sure why not! Spike is being babysat so it’ll be fine if we don’t get him right away.” Vinyl smiled and pranced in place in excitement. She took the couple’s hooves in her magic and began leading them to her house. Which weirdly enough was half undecorated. She wheeled out a set of turntables to the front yard and posed with her hooves in the air.

“Get ready, to have your. Horns. BLOWN!” Shining narrated for the filly.

“Uh, maybe choose a different word there sweety-“

She barely finished before she was being blasted by some sick beats.

“Thank you again darling, it’s always a pleasure to have you around, but your help is much appreciated! Isn’t that right Sweetie Belle~” the Foal cooed and giggled in response, reaching out for Twilight. Twilight’s mouth twitched upwards as she reached a hoof or for Sweetie to take. She said her goodbyes and began a slow walk down the road.

For the most part she was just quiet, the ambient noise of Ponyville to fill her thoughts. From what she could tell, her magic leak was closing up. She might be able to use her horn again by the end of the day or maybe tomorrow. But who’s to say she won't just do something else to spring another leak. Or blow something up. Or destroy even more. The spiral of thoughts just continued endlessly, making her miss Rainbow flying over head and back to the park. She just walked, kicking aside rocks as the thoughts brought her further into a pit of sorrow. By the time she stopped moving she sat on the edge of Ponyville, staring at the forest ahead, mind racing with contemplations of her actions.

So she stepped forward, and trudged through the foliage, wincing at the thorns that jabbed her, biting against the bits of vine that got in her way. She found herself standing in a nice little clearing in no time and looked around. She sighed, using her tail as a brush and cleaning off a patch in the middle, and just lying there. She closed her eyes and just hoped that things would get better if she just left for a bit.

Author's Note

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