Giggles echoed down the castle's crystal halls. A loud crash followed along with a yelp and several softer thuds. A door was flung open and out of the room zoomed out a squealing little unicorn, her tiny horn cocooned in violet light as she levitated the bust of a bearded unicorn. Just as the filly escaped past the corner, a cyan pegasus flew after her, growling. A dragon with purple scales, barely larger than the pegasus mare before him, left the room next, his arms filled with books, paper, and broken quills.

A sudden burst of light appeared before him, causing Spike to fling the articles he had been carrying into the air in surprise. The purple filly giggled before disappearing again in a flash. Groaning, Spike bent down to pick up the things he had dropped, only for the papers to fly out of reach as a gust of wind passed by, leaving behind a trail of rainbows. With a sigh, the dragon stepped over the mess and chased after the rainbows.

Another crash filled the castle, this time mixed with the clanks and clunks of metal banging against the floor. Spike hurried forward toward the source and found Rainbow Dash sprawled on the floor, surrounded by the pieces of a previously full set of armor.

Underneath his scales, Spike turned pale. "Oh no, please let that not be a scratch."

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks for asking," Rainbow grumbled, tearing off the helmet from her head. Spike winced as the pegasus tossed it unceremoniously to the side. "What? It's just armor."

"That was one of the original sets belonging to the first captain of the Crystal Empire," Spike explained, helping Rainbow Dash to her feet. "Shining Armor's so going to kill you after Twilight kills you for losing her daughter."

"Kill me?" Rainbow Dash huffed and started hurrying past the corridor. "Hey, at least I got off my butt to go after her. What were you doing? Besides, Twilight's little devil is your responsibility, not mine."

Spike struggled to keep up. "You're the one who offered to hang out."

"Yeah, hang out, maybe catch a movie, have fun," Rainbow said, frowning. "Spending my night taking care of some foal who can turn half the books in the library into paper bats is not my idea of fun."

"It's not that bad."

"Spike, I still have bruises from being beaten by an encyclopedia—"

"It was an atlas."

"Bruises! I have bruises from being beaten by an atlas, I won't be able to look at another Daring Do book again without cringing, and I think I might have a paper cut." Rainbow Dash took a moment to shoot a glare at the dragon running behind her. "Tell me, how exactly has this not been that bad?"

"...okay, I've got nothing," Spike admitted. "But I'm sure tonight will end just fine, trust me."

Rainbow snorted. "Face it, date night was a complete disaster. The castle's a mess, the baby's missing, and Twilight'll be home in ten minutes so we can look forward to a lecture later."

"Well, at least we'll be facing it together," said Spike, flashing a quick grin.

The pegasus shook her head. "You're such a dork," she said. Despite herself, the edges of her mouth were tilted upward. "But really, unless that foal ends up teleporting into our arms, there's no way—"

A sudden flash silenced Rainbow Dash. She inhaled sharply. "Is she in your arms?" she asked with gritted teeth.

"Yep."

"Spa!" the unicorn screeched, trying to wrap her short legs around Spike. "Spa-ba!"

"Yeah, you got me, you got me," Spike cooed, rubbing his nose in the foal's belly. She giggled and screamed playfully, waving her hooves wildly and hitting the dragon ineffectually. Rainbow Dash turned around and gagged.

Spike offered the child toward her. "You want to hold her?" he asked.

"Hah, yeah right. No way, no thanks." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes started forward. "Let's get that miniature monster in that magic resistant cage of hers and try to clean what we can."

"It's a crib."

"Crib, cage, whatever."

The three, dragon, mare, and foal, made their way through the castle in silence, save for the babbles of the baby. Every now and then, the unicorn's horn would start to shine, only for the light to flicker out once Spike puckered his lips and blew raspberries into her stomach.

"Hey, Rainbow?" Spike asked after a while.

"No."

"But I want one," the dragon whined. "Please?"

"No foals," Rainbow answered sternly.

"Come on, think about it. We can get Twilight to babysit our little flying fire-breather."

"...I'll think about it. And I get to name her."

Author's Notes:

Written by TheMessenger.