Summary: Inspired by the latest episode (and favourite manga omake chapter), Natsu can't say no to a little girl who wants a horse…..

Pairings: Implied Natsu/Lucy, parental Natsu/Nashi, parental Lucy/Nashi, implied Gray/Juvia, parental Gray/Ur, implied Erza/Jellal, parental Erza/Edward, parental Jellal/Edward, implied Gajeel/Levy, parental Gajeel/Gilly, parental Levy/Gilly, and some mentions of Asuka/Nashi friendship.

YouTube Prompt: Fairy Tail tribute to 'This Is How You Remind Me' by Nickleback.

Two weeks isn't really a long time, but to a three year old it felt like centuries, which was probably why today Nashi was skipping with joy as she entered the guild holding her parents' hands for the first time in two weeks.

The job they took ran a little longer than expected but Lucy and Natsu had promised to make it up by spending the whole day with Nashi, and Lucy and Natsu always kept their promises.

"So what are you planning, kiddo?" Asuka asked.

"Lots and lots of things!" Nashi clapped gleefully. "We're going to have juice, and Daddy is showing me how to shoot fireballs, and Mummy is going to summon the spirits for a tea party, and we're all going to play in the park!"

"Shooting fireballs, huh?" Asuka smirked at a treasured memory of her own childhood. "You should challenge him to a contest, he always loses, and then when you win you can make him your horse."

Nashi screwed her face up in confusions. "Why would I have to win a contest to do that?" she asked as if Asuka was an idiot. "Daddy will be my horsy whenever I want, won't you Daddy?"

Natsu had been in the middle of stuffing his face when Nashi asked that, and therefore he gormlessly stood there with his mouth open revealing chewed up bits of sandwiches. "Huh?" he asked stupidly.

Asuka really doesn't know what Lucy sees in him.

"You'll be my horsy!" Nashi commanded imperiously. "Now!"

"Can't Daddy finish his sandwich first?"

Nashi's eyes instantly filled with tears as they widened with hurt and sadness. "You promised that today is my day!" she cried out. "Anything I want, you said! And I want to play horsy with my Daddy who I haven't seen in forever!"

Dejectedly Natsu dropped the sandwich back on his plate and fell onto his knees. "Don't cry, Princess!" he begged. "Look! Daddy is a horsy! Nnnnnnneigh!"

Happy choked on his fish, Mira had to cover her mouth to hide a laugh, and Asuka, Gray, and Gajeel all laughed out right.

Natsu was such a sucker.

One look at Lucy's brown eyes in his tearful daughter's face and he was willing to do anything humiliating.

Nashi cheered up instantly, and clambered onto her father's back. Asuka couldn't help but watch fondly as Natsu was then forced to crawl backwards and forth on his hands and knees while make 'horsy' sounds.

Ah, this brought back memories.

"God, Natsu is such an idiot," Gray scoffed, "even three year olds can get the better off him."

"But Gray-sama!" Juvia cried out. "What if our baby boy wants a horsy ride? Wouldn't you give him one?"

Gray looked down at Ur, who had been playing with some ice-made figures, in horror. "You don't want to me to be a horsy, do you?!" he asked alarmed.

"No," Ur snorted as if he was thirteen not three, "what do you think I am? A girl?"

At that point Gray sighed in relief but it had sparked a trend, Erza immediately knelt down by her son's side (he was sitting cross-legged on the floor, solemn for a three year old, as he polished some of her weapons), and gently brushed his hair with her hand. "Would my little knight like a horsy?" she cooed. "Mummy can be a horsy for you."

"No thank you," Edward said quietly, "I have to finish polishing these for you. If I was to stop a job before it was finished it would be dis….dis….dis-hon…err-able."

"Oh my God!" Erza cried out as she suddenly pulled Edward into a bone crushing hug against her armour. Everyone who was paying attention winced at the loud banging sound his head made. "You are the most adorable, honourable, little boy in the world! Mummy loves you!"

"Dad!" Edward choked out. "Help! Can't breathe!"

Jellal swooped in to gently pry Erza off of their only child while Gajeel, who had been snickering throughout this whole event, was suddenly distracted by a tugging on his trousers.

"Huh?" he raised one of his studded eyebrows. "What do ya want, kiddo?" Gilly looked up at him with big, wide, hazel eyes which were slowly getting wider and wider. "You want to play too, huh?" Gilly nodded ever so slightly. "Well come on then, you're the luckiest girl in the world," he gently went down on his knees and helped Gilly climb onto his back, "You have the best horsy in the world."

The sight of both Natsu and Gajeel crawling on their hands and knees set several people off into hysterical laughter. Laxus, just face-palmed, "whatever happened to having dignity?" he grumbled.

He was ignored.

No one else liked a party pooper.

"You think you're the best horsy?" Natsu said scathingly. "Purr-lease. You're too slow and heavy to be a good horse."

"What was that?!"

"You heard me!"

"I bet I'm faster than you!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

It was then when Gajeel and Natsu began to run as fast as they could on all fours. Nashi and Gilly let out a shrill scream as they clung tightly to their father's shirt collars, otherwise they would have fallen to the floor.

"DADDY STOP!"

"I THINK I'M GOING TO BE SICK!"

"I THINK I'M GOING TO DIE!"

Everyone stared in horror as the girls scream could still be heard from down the street as Gajeel and Natsu let their competiveness get in the way.

Lucy slammed her glass down on the bar and Levy snapped her book shut. "Excuse us, Mira," Lucy said sweetly, "Levy and I need to go and beat some sense back into our husbands."

(No one in Magnolia was all that surprised to find Natsu and Gajeel's beaten up bodies under a tree in the park. The surprise was that they managed to survive the wrath of their wives….)