//------------------------------//
// Another Mare, Another Planet 
// Story: Blonde Moments 
// by FamousLastWords 
//------------------------------//

Spike tossed and turned in his bed, sleep finally starting to loosen its grasp on him. He twisted his body around and cracked open his eyes. Instead of being met with the usual sight of sunlight peeking through the window and casting its light upon his increasingly messy room, he saw a unicorn sitting on a chair, holding a cup of coffee and trying her best to hold in a laugh.
“Ugh, Starlight?” Spike said, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, Spike,” she said, “here I was, trying to be nice and bring you a fresh cup of coffee to leave on your bedstand, and then you started talking in your sleep.”
“Oh no…” Spike said, digging himself back into his covers. “What exactly was I saying?”
Spike’s mind jumped to all the dreams he had during the night. Given most of them were a tad on the more risquè side, this conversation could only end in his total embarrassment.
“Well, I’m setting the coffee down and trying to sneak out without waking you up, and wouldn’t you know it, I feel a claw reach out and grab my tail.” Starlight chuckled. “So, naturally, I turn around with my hoof in the air, ready to slap you for being intrusive, but then I noticed your eyes were closed.”
Spike dug deeper into the safety of his bed. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, but just wait. Trust me,  it gets better,” she continued.
“I don’t like the sound of this.”
“Anyway, so, I’m about to slap the living daylights out of you and watch you wake up in a panic, but guess what? You start speaking.”
Spike peeked out from under the covers. “What was I saying?”
Starlight cleared her throat. “Ahem, as I recall, it went something like this… ‘Oh, but Minuette! I couldn’t possibly run away with you. I have ponies that need me,here. But, I will always remember you. You and your fluffy tail. And those flanks, though.”
Unable to control herself any longer, Starlight blew up into a fit of laughter and collapsed to the floor, rolling around.
Spike groaned and let his head sink into his pillow. “You know, this is why my life is sad. Even my dreams become punching bag material.”
Starlight wiped a few tears from her eyes and sat up. “I’m sorry, Spike. It was just so funny. I had to wait around and tell you when you woke up. It almost felt like I was watching one of those romance plays at the local theater. Like, ‘As The Dragon Turns’ or something.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. He sat up in his bed and looked at Starlight. “By the way, I talked to Rarity about your summer clothing order. We’re both curious as to why you need all those floral bandanas.”
“I have my reasons,” Starlight said with a huff. “I’m trying a new style for my mane this summer.”
Spike chuckled. “Yeah, sure, whatever you say. Anyway, thanks for the coffee. For now, though, I’m gonna head downstairs and see if there’s anything going on in the kitchen. I need food.”
“You do that, Spike,” Starlight said. “I’m gonna go take a shower and whatnot. It’s my day off of sorts, so I’m going to try and hang out with Trixie, today.”
“That’ll be nice,” Spike said. “Someone needs to keep her out of trouble.”
“Oh yeah,” Starlight agreed. “She’s a hoof full.”
“Speaking of which, is she still hanging at the billiards den in Manehatten every weekend, trying to hustle the teenagers out of their allowances?”
“Unfortunately,” Starlight said, shaking her head. “But, to each their own, I suppose. Anywho, I’m heading off now. Enjoy your day, whatever it may consist of.”
Spike nodded as she left the room and exited behind her. With any luck, he could catch Twilight before she locked herself up in her study for the day.
He waddled down the halls and made his way to the kitchen. A quick look around showed him luck was on his side—at least for the morning.Twilight was sitting at the dining table, eyes glued to a book, as per the usual.
“Hey, Twilight,” Spike said while opening the fridge and grabbing the carton of milk located within. “Didn’t we have a talk about doing princess work at the table?”
“Hey, Spike,” Twilight responded, nose deep her reading material. “And, just so you know, I’m not doing ‘princess work’. I’m actually reading something on my own time. It’s a book about ancient civilizations and how it’s possible creatures from other lands may have helped form our most influential ancestors.”
“Funny, I didn’t ever think of you as the pseudoscience type, Twi.” Spike was about to a drink directly from the carton, but the milk was yanked from his grasp by a purple mist of magic before he could.
“Spike, if recall, we also had a talk about drinking straight from the carton.” Twilight used her magic to set it on the counter next to him. “And, honestly, I’m willing to read anything as long as it’s relatively interesting and well thought out.”
“Fair enough.” Spike grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat at the table across from Twilight. “So, in other news, what’s your schedule look like this week? I was talking’ with Rarity the other day and she really wants to have a dinner date with us two. Like old times.”
“Hmm,” Twilight said, looking up from her book. “That’d be nice. I’m just not sure I’ll have time this week. I’ve got a lot on my plate.”
Spike sighed and nodded. “I get that. But isn’t that why Celestia let you start training Starlight on these things? So she could help you out? Why not delegate a few tasks to her, just for a night?”
Twilight’s eye twitched a few times. “D-Delegate? My tasks? Spike, that’s far too risky! What if things didn’t go exactly according to the schedule I prepared? Or worse, what if they don’t get done at all? What would I do then? I’d be banished to the moon! Or I’d get the death penalty!”
“Twilight, Celestia abolished the death penalty when she came into power… like a thousand years ago.”
“This would giver her every justifiable reason to bring it back, then!” Twilight’s chest started heaving and her breaths came out in rapid succession.
“Okay, sorry I asked,” Spike said, taking a bit of cereal. “Just think about making some time, though. I think you could use some extra time for friends.”
Twilight once again resumed burying her nose in her book. “I’ll take that into consideration, Spike. But, for now, can you please do me a favor?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I’m expecting a very important package in the mail today,” Twilight said. “It’s an encoded lock schedule planner for next year, so you can’t even imagine how critical it is that it makes it inside the house in one piece.”
“Oh yeah, I can imagine,” Spike said with a roll of his eyes. “But, hold on, it’s only just now summer? Why do you need an organizer for next year already?”
“Because, I already have this years schedule planned out already,” Twilight said.
“I should’ve guessed.”
“So, considering the mail should be coming in about ten minutes or so, can you go outside and wait for it.”
“Why is that necessary?” Spike asked.
“Because last time I had an important package come, the mailmare, Derpy I think, she accidentally ran into the mailbox with it and broke one of the pens inside.” Twilight shuddered upon the memory of such a tragedy returning to her. “I can’t afford for anything of that nature happening with a parcel as important as this. Can I trust you with that?”
Spike was very tempted to simply ignore her request and go back to his room, but on the other claw, it’d be a good chance to see how Dinky was doing if he got to chat with her older sister.
“Alright, fine, I can do it.” Spike forced down the last of his cereal and made his way outside.
It was a beautiful day outside. Just the right temperature, between warm and hot. He stretched his scales out and let the sun’s radiance get his blood moving. 
“Geez, I should really try this outdoors thing more often,” he said aloud. “If only it weren’t so far from my room.”
Spike shuffled slowly to the mailbox at the end of the short pathway from their front door. He scanned the horizon for any trace of the blonde pegasus. As clumsy as she was, she always seemed to deliver the mail right on time. That was a miracle in of itself.
After another minute of waiting and aimlessly staring into the distance, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of a pegasus gliding toward him.
“There she is.” Spike jumped up and waved his arms to get her attention. “Hi, Derpy!”
As she got closer, she seemed to notice him and waved back. Spike smiled and stepped to the side to allow her to land next to the mailbox. However, during her descent, she seemed to pick up speed as opposed to losing it. 
“Spike!” She yelled out. “Look out!”
Spike looked up and before he had a chance to react he was met with the mailmare crashing directly into him, sending the two of them tumbling to the ground in a heap of scales and fur.
“Oof,” was all Spike could manage to squeak out. He tried to get to his feet, but quickly realized there was still a pegasus in his way. “Umm, Derpy?”
The pegasus mare looked down and noticed the dragon beneath her. “Oh, hello, Spike!”
“Hi there,” he huffed out. “Would you mind getting off of me? I can’t breathe.”
“Oh!” In a flash, she hopped off him and reached out a hoof, which Spike gladly accepted to assist in getting back to his feet. “I’m sorry, Spike. I lost control a bit on the landing.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Spike said with a chuckle. “I see why Twilight wanted me to come out here, now.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, nothing,” Spike replied. “I’m just out here to get a package for Twilight. Do you have it?”
“Hmm, let me check,” Derpy said, sifting through the mail in her bag. “Aha, I do have it!”
Derpy pulled out a small, wrapped package and and a clump of envelopes. 
“I also have this other mail for you guys,” Derpy said with a sweet smile. “You guys sure get a lot of advertisements from Filthy Rich.”
“Yeah, once you become ‘the rich family’, everyone tries to capitalize on it.” Spike took the mail from her and sifted through it. “Package, bill, bill, advertisement, advertisement and yeah, the rest are advertisements.”
“Twilight seems really popular,” Derpy said, watching Spike sort through all the mail. “I can’t remember the last time I got a letter. It’s funny.”
“Really?” Spike asked. “How so?”
“Yeah,” she said, wearing the same smile she had before. “You’d the think the mailmare would be someone who gets mail considering she delivers it all day. But, not so much.”
Spike shrugged. “Well, at least you don’t get bogged down with carriage and supermarket advertisements. Consider yourself lucky.”
Derpy nodded and let out a quick chuckle. “Well, there’s always a bright side, huh? Anyway, I’ve gotta get going so I’m not late to the next house. My boss wouldn’t like that very much. It was nice talking to you, though, Spike.”
“Oh, quick, before you go,” Spike said. “I was gonna ask how Dinky is doing. It’s been a few days since I’ve been by there and I was wondering if anything had gotten better.”
Derpy smiled. “Yeah! Actually, yesterday was the last day she had to spend by herself. She got moved back to the main area with the rest of the fillies and colts.”
“That’s good to hear,” Spike said, sporting his own smile now. “I was a bit worried about her. It’s not cool seeing a filly as sweet as her stuck in a room all day like that.”
“Yeah, she was really happy when she got the news,” Derpy said. “Actually, I’m gonna head over there right after I’m done delivering the mail. I didn’t get a chance to see her last night like I wanted to because she was already asleep.”
“I know she’ll love that,” Spike replied.
Derpy put her hoof to her chin. “You know, if you’re not really busy doing royal stuff, maybe you could come, too? After you left the other day, she wouldn’t stop talking about how happy she was that your read to her. I bet she’d really appreciate a visit. But you don’t have to if you don’t have the time, of course.”
Spike weighed the options in his mind. Making a filly’s day a bit brighter or getting to his scheduled afternoon nap on time. Hmm…
The fact that this decision was so difficult meant he needed to reevaluate his priorities as soon as he had a free minute.
“I’d love to,” he said. “What time should I be there?”
“You would! That’s great.” Derpy’s smile grew even brighter. “Hmm, I’ll be there around two this afternoon, so any time around there would be fine.”
“Two o’clock it is then,” Spike said. “Anyway, I won’t hold you up anymore. Don’t want you to get in too much trouble.”
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” she replied. “But, Spike? Thanks for asking about Dinky. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course.”
With a quick wave, Derpy flew away, stumbling a bit on takeoff. Spike cracked a smile and went inside with the mail.
“Twilight!” he called out. “Your package came.”
Within the blink of an eye, Twilight poofed in front of him and snatched the package. “Yes! I’m so excited! Spike, do you have any idea what I can accomplish with this?”
Spike smirked. “You can further increase your levels of OCD?”
“Hmph, no,” Twilight said. “I can start planning out the rest of next year ahead of schedule!”
“Of course you will, Twilight,” Spike said. “Anyway, I have a question you might be able to answer.”
“What’s that?”
“What do you know about Derpy’s parents, if anything?” Spike questioned. “I’m kinda curious, because Derpy is taking care of her sister and nobody can tell me.”
Twilight thought to herself for a moment. “Hmm, I’m not sure. I don’t really have access to personal information files.”
“Figures,” Spike said. “It’s gonna drive me nuts, though.”
“Have you just thought about asking Derpy yourself?” Twilight asked.
“I can’t do that!” Spike exclaimed. “What if it’s a sensitive subject? I could hurt her or Dinky’s feelings. And how would that look? I’d forever be known as the dragon who made a hospitalized filly cry.”
“Well, then, you’ll just have to wait for her to tell you or go without knowing. Anyway, I’m gonna move my new yearly planner up to my office.”
“You do that, Twilight,” Spike said. “Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it, would we?”
Spike laughed a bit to himself and made his way up the stairs to his room. He looked longingly at his bed but drew his attention away. There would be no time for naps today. He had a job to do. And that job was visiting Dinky.
He took a second to look in the mirror. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t have to shower beforehand. Of course, the immediately noticeable drool stain on his chin told him all he needed to know.
“Okay, shower first, then hospital.”
He had a plan.