“So, you and Time were kinda quiet at lunch,” Lightning casually mentioned as they trotted behind the chestnut stallion towards Dinky’s school. “Was there a problem?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Derpy felt her eyes dart off to the side.
“Come on, Derpy. I’m not oblivious. What’s up?”
Derpy remained silent. What was she supposed to say? ‘Well, Time and I are kinda fighting because he thinks that I’m trying to manipulate your emotions so you love me like I love you’. As if she’d ever say tell Lightning that. Instead, she sighed.
“I’m… worried he’s spending too much time in his shop,” Derpy lied through her teeth.
“Well, duh,” Lightning grinned, oblivious as usual. “But that’s par for the course when it comes to Time.”
“Yeah… silly me for getting a little worked up.” Derpy forced out two laughs before the awkwardness felt like it might kill her. Lightning either didn’t notice or didn’t mention it.
“I bet Dinky’ll be happy to see him.”
Derpy nodded, but didn’t continue the conversation when she saw they were nearing the schoolhouse.
“The bell will ring soon,” Time called back to them. He stopped walking and allowed Derpy and Lightning to catch up. “I should know; I calibrated the school clock myself.”
“Nopony asked,” Lightning said with rolled eyes. “But do go on about the wonders of clock calibration.”
Time blinked. “Oh, well if you insist. The first step is to–”
“Sarcasm, Turner. Celestia, don’t you know the meaning of the word?”
He “harrumphed” indignantly while Derpy giggled. As if the universe sensed it would help drive the point home, the school bell rang at that moment. A mere two seconds later, foals were clamoring out of the tiny door. Dinky was among them, fleeing the building as fast as her legs could carry her. Her eyes caught sight of her mother and she smiled. Her grin doubled in length upon seeing Time.
“Uncle Turner!” Dinky bounded up to the workaholic with fervent joy. They embraced. “I knew you’d keep your promise.”
“Of course I would.” He grinned, setting Dinky down and tousling her hair. “What kind of heartless jerk would break a promise to a sweet filly like you?”
“Not the kind of heartless jerk I’d want to know, that’s for sure.”
“Do you know a lot of heartless jerks?” Lightning asked.
Dinky’s eyes darted off to the side. Following her line of sight, Lightning saw two small fillies, one pink the other gray, walking out of the school. “Only a couple.”
“Come on, Dinky. There’s a chocolate chip muffin at home with your name on it.”
“Yay!”
Dinky dashed forward, instantly taking the lead. Time Turner ran after her, playfully engaging a game of tag with her. Derpy could tell Lightning was feeling compelled by her competitive nature to join in, but was holding herself back.
“Don’t we still have work?” she asked, indicating her uniform.
“Relax, we got all our mail delivered before lunch. We’ll be fine to take the rest of the day off.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.” I’m sure the girls will forgive me this one time. “Now come on.” Derpy booped Lightning on the nose and bolted. “You’re it.”
“I am never playing tag with you again.” Time Turner pressed his bag full of ice deeper into his eye. “Ever.”
Lightning Dust snorted. “I said I was sorry.”
“You jabbed your hoof into my cornea!”
“Oh hush.” Derpy patted him on the back. “Time, I seriously doubt you got any sort of lasting damage from one little poke in the eye, and Lightning did apologize.”
Turner huffed. On the other side of the kitchen, Dinky smacked her lips together, delighting in her muffin. Lightning glanced over at the kid, and then over to the tray of muffins on the edge of the table. “I’m going to see if there are any more chocolate chip ones left.”
“You don’t deserve a muffin.” Time scowled.
“You don’t deserve an ice pack.”
“You’re both acting like children,” Derpy groaned playfully.
Dinky took her treat out of her mouth for a brief moment. “Hooray! I’m the mature one!” Derpy smiled.
“So,” Lightning grabbed a muffin and bit into it. “What’s the plan?”
“What plan?” Derpy and Turner cocked their heads to the side simultaneously.
“You know… the plan. What are we going to do for fun?” Lightning swallowed and attacked her food again.
“Well, we could always just talk,” Turner suggested.
“About what?”
“My seething eye pain.”
Lightning facehoofed. “I bet it doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
“How about I poke you in the eye then, huh? We’ll see what hurts then.”
“No violence,” the ever-mature Dinky quipped while licking muffin crumbs from her hooves.
“Bummer.” Lightning finished off her muffin. “So what did you want to talk about?”
Turner shrugged. “I recently got a massive order from a friend in Manehattan. We could talk about tha–”
“Nope.”
He sighed, a little miffed. “Well fine. Then I’ve got nothing.”
“Then why even bring it up?”
“I have an idea,” Derpy interjected. The corner of her mouth darted upwards. “Why don’t we talk about your date with Rider?”
Turner sighed loudly. “It wasn’t a date. We just got lunch together.”
Lightning Dust grinned wickedly, picking up on the chance for some good-natured teasing. “I doubt that, Time. You and Rider were alone, eating lunch, and also he thinks you’re sexy. Sounds like a date to me.”
The tips of Time’s ears turned red. “I already told him up front that I’m not interested, okay?”
“And you still got lunch with him?”
“Yes.”
Derpy and Lightning shared a look. “Totally a date.”
Turner grunted. Dinky hopped out of her chair, finished with her muffin, and disappeared into another room.
“We didn’t even do that much. It was literally just lunch.”
“If you insist,” Derpy said.
Suddenly, Time’s expression changed, as if something had just popped into his mind. “Actually, I almost forgot. He mentioned he’d be stopping by on Saturday.”
“Really?” Lightning smiled. “Awesome. We’ll have to hit the bar then.”
“Just please don’t start another fight,” Derpy said. Lightning’s smile dropped.
“Is that how you got that shiner?” Turner asked. Derpy’s head swiveled to him and she unconsciously touched her face. “Sorry. I wasn’t going to say anything, but since you brought it up…”
“Yes,” she sighed. Turner shot Derpy a look, which she returned with one of her own. Lightning watched as they had a whole silent conversation in front of her. It got really intense when Derpy seemed ready to poke Time in his good eye.
Her eyebrows knitted together and she was about to say something before Dinky burst back into the room, a game board in tow.
“Who want’s to play checkers?”
Once the basic concept of Dinky’s favorite game was explained to Lightning, they’d played for quite some time. Unfortunately, she couldn’t concentrate. Between the intense stare down earlier, and their lack of conversation at lunch, something was going on between Time Turner and Derpy. Lightning just had no idea what it was about.
Dinky hopped over her last three checker pieces and let loose a cry of victory. Lightning gave the kid a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Her head wasn’t really in the game. She was more focused on Derpy and Time. They’d pulled out their own game board a while ago, but were paying even less attention to it than Lightning. They were still deep in that silent conversation, but Lightning’s horrible pony reading skills didn’t help her follow along. Judging by the amount their eyes darted in her general direction, she thought it had something to do with Dinky. Lightning glanced back at the kid, who was already resetting the game board.
“Come on Ms. Lightning, best nine out of seventeen.”
“I already told you, Dinky, you don’t have to call me Miss. Lightning is all you need to capture my awesomeness.”
Dinky laughed. The sound broke Derpy away from her silent, yet heated, discussion. Her eyes glazed the clock and widened as a result.
“Okay, it’s late,” she decreed. “Dinky, I think it’s time you go to bed.”
“What? But mommy, it’s not a school night!”
“Dinky…” Derpy’s voice had suddenly acquired a harsh motherly tone.
Sighing she rose from her seat. “All right.” She trotted over to Time Turner and wrapped his forelegs in a tight embrace. “Bye Uncle Turner. Please visit again soon.”
He smiled. “I’ll be sure to.”
Dinky poked her head up. “Tomorrow?”
“Uh… I can try.” He sounded sincere, but Lightning knew Time was liable to lock himself in the workshop for the next week or so. She’d be surprised if he remembered to eat, let alone visit Dinky.
Turner waved goodbye to them as he walked to the door. He shot one last glance at Derpy however, apparently ending whatever silent conversation they’d been having.
Dinky turned to her mother, hugging her in a similar manner. “Goodnight, mommy.”
“Goodnight, my little muffin.” Derpy nuzzled her daughter affectionately. Lightning smiled at the sweet display, but replaced it with a look of confusion as Dinky trotted up to her.
“Goodnight, Lightning.” Her eyes widened as Dinky hugged her forelegs. For a moment, Lightning froze, unsure of what to do.
“Uh… you too, kiddo.” It was weak, but Dinky seemed appeased. Her fuzzy body released Lightning and she trotted for the stairs.
“She must really like having you around,” Derpy remarked. “It took forever before she started hugging Time Turner like that.”
“Yeah… Hey, I think I’ll hit the hay.”
Derpy yawned in agreement. “Don’t forget to take off your mailmare uniform.”
Lightning looked down and saw that she was in fact still wearing the gray and navy uniform. “Oh dang, I completely forgot. Should we take it back?”
Derpy unbuttoned her own vest and shrugged. “We’ll be back on Monday, and it’s not like they’ll be missed.”
“True.” Lightning snapped the buttons off and wiggled free of her uniform. She tossed it, along with the cap, onto the coffee table. Derpy tiredly duplicated the action, yawning again. “You’re pretty worn out, aren’t you?”
“Yeah… been a long week I guess.”
Lightning nodded her agreement and let Derpy head for bed. She’d bring up the subject of her silent argument with Turner some other time. In truth, she was tired too. As Derpy climbed the steps, Dust hopped onto the sofa. After a second or two of squirming, she settled in, and was out in a few minutes.
When Saturday rolled around, Lightning wasn’t aware of it until noon had already passed. During the morning she was like rock, not moving in her deep sleep except when her unconscious brain made her breath. Ensconced on the sofa, she slept until the need for food forced her awake more than anything.
Her eyes opened sluggishly, and she felt a slight tickle on her snout. Wrinkling her nose, she found it didn’t go away. Irritated, she slapped her face with her hoof, and found something papery stuck to her snout. Removing it, she found it to be a sticky note. Flipping it over, she saw something scrawled on. Squinting, she could make it out.
Lightning, the cymbals didn’t work again so I just decided to let you sleep in. I’m running a few errands, so could you watch Dinky for me? I mean, assuming you’ve woken up before I’ve gotten back. But, I guess if you’re reading this that means you’re already up, so watch Dinky for me. Thanks.
-Derpy
Lightning crumpled up the note once she finished reading. It was an uncomfortable reminder of another time she’d woken up with a note stuck to her face because of Derpy. She was already too late to stop the sequence of memories that it brought up.
That kiss. That bucking kiss.
She groaned loudly, and tossed the mangled sticky note across the room. For weeks she’d been avoiding thinking about that one kiss, and now she was stuck with it in her thoughts.
Just move on already, she told herself. It didn’t mean anything. Derpy’s never even brought it up! Why should I stay stuck on it?
It was hard not to think about now that it was in her brain. Just the faded feeling of Derpy’s tongue running through the insides of her cheek and a faint image of Derpy’s face pressed against hers were all that was left, but it was enough. The memory made her want to shudder, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Instead, Lightning couldn’t help but wonder if there was a chance Derpy still thought about it too.
I mean, it was kinda how we met... it would be hard for her not to think about it either right? But if she does… Lightning groaned, wanting a distraction before her thoughts really took over. Wait, Dinky! Of course that filly would be able to take her mind off of this.
Standing, Lightning looked around, and decided to start looking for Dinky in the kitchen. This was ten percent due to reasonable thought and ninety percent due to her stomach-caving hunger.
Luckily for her, when she stepped in the kitchen she saw two muffins on the table along with a very bored looking Dinky. The poor filly had papers, binders, and pencils alike spread out before her, with only one explanation for it all. Homework. I feel for you, kiddo.
Lightning pulled up a chair, causing Dinky to look her way. They exchanged a nod and Lightning pointed to the muffins, then her stomach. Dinky smiled and nodded before turning to the work strewn in front of her.
After taking three bites of the fluffy, baked good, Lightning spoke. “So… what’d ya got there?”
“Math,” Dinky mumbled. “It’s really boring.”
“That’s like… the definition of math, kid.” Lightning laughed, though Dinky barely offered a smile.
“Do you think you can help?”
Lightning paused, having not expected that question. “Uh… what’s it on?”
“Fractions.”
Oh thank Celestia. “Yeah, that’s easy enough.”
She spent the next few minutes more or less feeding Dinky the answers while biting into her muffins. It was pretty boring, but they both cleared a few worksheets and Dinky promptly threw them into the pile.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“…”
“So… do you like school?”
“It’s okay.”
“Have any friends?”
“A couple.”
“Cool…”
It was a riveting conversation. Running out of small talk topics, Lightning tapped her hoof against the floor. She hadn’t expected such a dull pause to come up. After all, Dinky was usually so bubbly and upbeat, and with the math homework out of the way she didn’t really have a reason to be so… emotionless.
“Hey, Lightning?”
Torn away from the thoughts, Lightning looked back to Dinky and ceased her hoof tapping. “Yeah?”
“How did mommy hurt her eye? I asked her about it again, but she wouldn’t tell me.” Lightning could detect a lot of concern in the kid’s voice.
“Uh… I don’t know if I should talk about it. If Derpy doesn’t want you to know…” she trailed off, noticing a thin layer of water rising in Dinky’s eyes. Guilt broke her. “She got hit in the face when we were hanging out the other night.”
Dinky’s jaw unhinged, her eyes widening. “Who would do that to her?”
“Just some bitc– I mean… mare. She wasn’t even aiming your mom. She was trying to hit me, and Derpy got in the way.”
“Why would anypony want to hit you?” Dinky’s voice was still plagued with concern. Not nearly the amount that it had been for her mother, though, but enough to show she cared.
“I was being stupid and acting… I guess reckless is a good word for it.” Lightning sighed. That word. That one bucking word.
“So, mommy will be okay?”
“Totally. I made sure the mare who clocked her one regretted it.”
Dinky blinked. “You beat her up?”
“Yep.”
“Mommy says we should never hurt anypony with violence, no matter what they do.”
“I know. I just couldn’t help it,” Lightning admitted. Dinky cocked her head, expecting more elaboration. “Look… when I saw Derpy get hurt I… I snapped. I didn’t feel anything but blind fury and the only thing I could think about was beating the shi– er… crap out of the mare for what she did.”
“You care about my mommy that much?” Dinky asked, her voice soft.
“Totally.”
Dinky observed Lightning thoughtfully for a moment. “Do… do you want to play checkers again?”
I touched down in Ponyville, not sure exactly how to feel. Partly, I was immensely nervous that Lightning and Derpy figured out the rouse I’ve been pulling these past few weeks. At the same time, I hoped that they had managed to figure it out by. It would be a relief not to lie anymore, despite how much of a mess it was going to be. I know they haven’t though; the severe lack of Lightning breaking into my house at night and beating the shit out of me made that apparent.
Either way, I still landed in front of Time’s place instead of Derpy’s house. Surprisingly, he noticed my arrival, and actually came out to greet me.
“Hey,” he said.
“’Sup sexy?” Since my very blatant rejection, I’ve taken to messing with Time a little. It’s a pleasant change of pace between us, instead of him hating me for leading Derpy along with false hopes.
“I… you… err…” Turner shood his head. “Just don’t call me that in front of the girls. They’re already convinced we’re dating.”
“Really? Can they convince you too?” I laughed as his face scrunched into playful irritation. “On a serious note. Do they… know?”
“No. I was over there yesterday and they’re still completely oblivious. Also, why didn’t anypony tell me that Derpy got hurt?”
I blinked, remembering her shiner. “Yeah… it was just a teeny tiny… bar fight.”
“Yeah I know. And I also know it was Lightning who caused it.”
I made a sheepish expression. “She was drunk, dude.”
He sighed, a bit overdramatically. “I know. Accidents happen, but… Derpy’s already going to get crushed emotionally from this. I don’t want her taking any other abuse.”
“Yeah… I know.” I put a hoof to my head. “This is a load of shit.”
“It’s our load of shit, and we have to deal with it.” Time walked ahead, and I moved with him.
I though about what he just said. Our load of shit. Time was really setting himself up as a target with that one, especially since I’m responsible for everything. I can't have Derpy angry at the both of us; especially considering the massive fallout that'll happen when this paper-thin lie of ours finally breaks. She's going to need a friend to help her get through it, and it might as well be the veteran. “Time… when Derpy finds out, I’ll bite the bullet okay? She doesn’t need to know you even knew Lightning was straight.”
He blinked. “Are you kidding? You realize that if she doesn’t kill you, Lightning will. You don’t want both of them pissed, Rider.”
“I deserve it. I forced Lightning to flirt with Derpy, I’ve avoided telling her, and I dragged you into it by telling you the truth. This isn’t our load of shit, it’s mine.”
“…Okay…” We continued silently for a moment, the looming reality of my situation hung over us like and anvil suspended in mid-air by a line of dental floss. “So, this is a totally logical topic change, but why aren’t you a dancer or something? It is your special talent.”
I glanced at the silhouetted dancing pony on my ass. “I gave up on that back in college.”
“Really?”
“Yep, the last time I danced in public was during Robin Hoof.”
“Ah yes, when you wore the tights.”
My face exploded from yellow to red. I groaned, “Yes, the Celestia damned tights.”
Turner laughed. “Relax, I’m sure you looked a little… sexy in them.”
My eyebrow arched. “Dude, don’t joke about calling me that unless we get to make out or something. It’s all right when I do it cause you dumped me, but the other way around…”
“I didn’t dump you! We never even dated!” It was his turn to blush. “You know what? Fine, I’ll leave that kind of stuff to you. But seriously, why did you give up dancing? I know it wasn’t the tights.”
I offered a grin. “It was like, five percent tights.”
“The other ninety-five percent?”
I offered a sigh this time. “Bunch of assholes wrote some shitty reviews of me in the college paper after Robin Hoof’s opening night.”
“And that’s what made you give up on dancing?” Time was incredulous.
“It wasn’t just that. What, you think I’d let one or two asshats beat me down enough to quit?” My voice rose as other memories surface. I managed to calm down before telling Time. “Look, I auditioned for more musicals, but I never got into any after that. The reviews kept me out of them in college, and I tried going to Bridleway right after, but got shot down a lot. I ended up working as a stagehoof until I finally just quit the dream and became a paper pusher.” I finished with a sigh.
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
“Small consolation, even if it’s from a hot guy.”
We walked in silence after this, and I only really had myself to blame for making things awkward.
“You know, I was talking with an old friend of mine from Manehattan the other day and he said that Hinny on the Hills is going to be going up soon, but they’ve been having some casting issues.”
Not this again. “Is this going to go where I think it is?”
“You could audition and probably get a part.”
“It did go where I thought it was going.” I sighed. “Look, Turner, that dream is dead for me, all right? I’d prefer not to have it dragged up again.”
He became crestfallen. “I was only making a suggestion.”
“And I appreciate it. I just don’t want to set myself up for failure again. Besides… I’m out of practice.”
“Really? Now that I can’t believe.”
I shook my head. “I haven’t danced in… hell, years.”
“Oh come on, nopony just loses their special talent. Show me some moves or something.”
“No.” I can tell at this point he’s left the rekindled-you-abandoned-dreams mentality and moved towards playful ribbing, but I won’t dance for him either way.
“Come on.” He poked me. “Just a little bit?”
I offered him a laugh and shook my head. Unfortunately, in doing so I collided with a mare who was coming out of a nearby grocery store. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I’m the one who fell to the ground, letting out an “oof” along with a few curses aimed in random directions.
“Rider?” I looked up at the mare who knocked me over.
“Hey, Derpy.”
Lightning held back a sour look as Dinky hopped over one of her last checker pieces.
“King me!” the little filly declared with a boisterous smile.
Holding back her competitive nature, Lightning gave the checker piece its crown. She was now left with just one of her own, and it was currently encircled by all twelve of Dinky’s all-powerful kings. Despite this, Lightning was having a fairly good time. Dinky was a great sport when it came to winning, which was apparently something she did a lot of.
Glancing down at the board, Lightning saw she had no other choice than to move her piece into jumping range of Dinky’s forces. Sighing internally, she nudged it up one square and briefly toyed with the idea of flipping the game board over.
She didn’t though, and smiled as Dinky hopped over it, securing victory.
“Good game,” she said, plucking Lightning’s piece off of the board. “Wanna go again?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
Dinky grinned knowingly. “Tired of losing?”
Lightning laughed. “Yeah, just a little. Plus, Derpy’ll be home soon, we should probably pack this up.”
“I got it.” Dinky swept the board clean with her hoof. She lowered her head, pointing her horn at the wooden checker pieces on the ground. After a grunt of concentration, Dinky’s horn flared to life and all the pieces illuminated in her gold light. In a flash, they were thrown into the plastic bag, and set on top of the fireplace, along with the game board.
“Wow, that was pretty impressive, kiddo.”
Dinky beamed. “Thanks. I’ve been trying to get better at magic.”
“Well I’d say your doing a pretty awesome job of it.” Lightning flopped onto the couch, wondering what to do in order to kill time until Derpy made it home. Dinky wormed her way onto the couch as well and leaned against Lightning’s side.
Looking down at the kid, Lightning was a tad confused by this gesture, but since it wasn’t inconveniencing either of them she didn’t say anything.
“Lightning Dust… can I ask you a question?”
She grinned. “Other than the one you just asked?”
“I’m serious.” Dinky’s voice was lacking her cheer from earlier. It was much more tentative now, as if she was hesitant about what she was going to ask. “I… I thought about asking my mommy this… but I wasn’t sure.”
“What is it, kiddo?” Lightning watched as Dinky’s eyes darted to the floor, her, and the floor again. “Come on Dinky, you can ask me anything all right? I won’t judge.”
“I’m not worried about you judging me… I just…” Lightning arched an eyebrow. Dinky inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Are you going to be my new second mommy?”
Lightning Dust’s brain shut down for a moment. “I-I… Y-you… What…?” It was the best she could manage while her mind attempted a full reboot.
“I-I’m sorry…” Dinky murmured. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just… I used to have two mommies… but one of them left a few years ago and I haven’t seen her since.” Water began building behind her eyes. “I didn’t even get to say good bye to her before she went away… and when I asked Mommy about it, she told me I probably wouldn’t get to see her ever again.”
Lightning felt the kid press deeper into her side, trying to hold back the tears of painful memories. “But then you came along… I saw how happy my mommy is around you, like she was all those years ago. And then you started living here, just like my other mommy did… and we played together… and… and …” she buried her face into Lightning’s side.
Finally, her brain decided to begin functioning again, and she recognized that there was a sobbing filly next to her. Unfurling her wing, Lightning wrapped it around Dinky comfortingly.
“Hey, kiddo, it’s okay.” Dinky whimpered into Lightning’s coat some more. “I… I’m sorry all that shit happened to you. You don’t deserve it.” Lightning held Dinky close as her sobs became softer. “I’m sorry, Dinky, I really am… but your mother and I are just friends. We aren’t… uh… involved together like two mommies would be.” Dinky whimpered. “But it’ll be all right, kiddo. I know Derpy’s an awesome mom to you, and you deserve another mom on the same level of awesomeness she is. Someday you’ll get a mom like that, I promise you.” Dinky didn’t say anything for a while. “You okay?”
“You’re kinda suffocating me,” she mumbled, her face covered by Lightning’s side.
“Oh!” She released Dinky, who in turned gulped in air. Her eyes were a little red, but the tears weren’t there anymore. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay...” she sniffled. “I’m sorry for crying.”
“Nah, it’s okay kid. I can kind of relate; I’ve lost something important to me too. I mean, it wasn’t nearly as important, but I guess I can empathize with you, you know?”
“Yeah, okay.” Dinky wiped her eyes and sniffled once more.
“You going to be all right?”
Dinky nodded. “Please don’t tell my mommy.”
“Are you sure?” Lightning asked. “I mean, if she knew you felt this way…”
“No…” Dinky shook her head somberly. “I… I cry a lot whenever I think about this, but I don’t let my mommy know because she already has enough to worry about. I don’t want her feeling sad because I’m sad sometimes.”
“But she’s your mom. She’d want you to be happy.”
“I know… but if she can’t fix it… then what’s the point?”
Lightning bit her lip, not really sure what to say. She wasn’t the best when it came to emotional stuff, but in this case she had to try. “The point is she’s your mother, and she really cares about you. I know Derpy would want to do everything in her power to make you feel better, Dinky.”
“I know that,” Dinky protested. “But… how is she supposed to fix something like this?”
“…I don’t know, kid. But she’d want to try.”
Dinky blinked, her eyes nearly dry now. She looked at the ground again before she spoke. “I… guess I can think about it. Promise me you won’t tell until then?”
Lightning sighed, knowing Derpy would prefer to know now. “Yeah… kiddo, sure.” She tussled Dinky’s hair, and the kid forced a smile.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. Dinky ensconced herself on the couch again, this time without nuzzling up to Lightning.
Now I just feel bad… Internally she sighed. They sat in silence for a moment, neither really feeling up to finding something else to do. They were prepared to wait for Derpy in silence.
Then there was a knock at the door.