(9_6)
“Oh Derpy, she’s so cute!” a elderly sky blue pegasus squealed, nuzzling the top of Dinky’s head. “Can I keep her?”
“You can try,” Derpy replied jokingly at first, becoming serious a moment later. “But the last pony that did is in jail.”
For several moments, the elderly mare remained silent as she looked between Dinky and Derpy several times with her violet eyes. Derpy couldn’t help but chuckle at the mock look of seriousness the mare had.
“How long would it be until I would be caught?” the elderly mare asked as she gave Dinky one final nuzzle before returning her to Derpy’s hooves.
“I’d say minutes, but I’m just her mommy,” Derpy giggled as she nuzzled her daughter.
“Then it would be worth it,” the elderly mare replied with a smile, bopping Dinky in the nose.
“At least you didn’t run off with her like I thought you would, Miss Breeze,” Derpy’s father chuckled, ruffling Dinky’s mane with a hoof.
“That’s only because I threatened to lock her out of the house if she did,” Dilvent blankly stated from the side of the room. Big Rig stood in front of him, staring at him with a mildly confused look. Every few moments, he would lift up a hoof and poke at something. “Can somepony please get him to stop?”
“Daddy, stop that!” Shooting Star whined with a blush.
“But his teeth are so sharp,” Big Rig smiled, poking at one of Dilvent’s exposed teeth. “There like little mini daggers of death!”
“Daddy!” Shooting Star snapped, trying to push her father away from Dilvent.
“You know, my daughter has been talking about you for the past week,” Big Rig stated as he allowed himself to be moved.
“Stop talking!” Shooting Star screamed, her face lighting up. “For the sweet love of Celestia, please. Stop. Talking!”
“It is a fathers duty to grill any colt that comes near my daughter,” Big Rig chuckled, obviously enjoying the fact that he was thoroughly embarrassing his daughter.
“Be happy your dad can’t perform background checks,” Derpy said, trying to sympathize. But if she was honest with herself, she really did like how embarrassed Shooting Star was.
“I was j-just telling him how you tried to h-help me settle things with, Derpy,” Shooting Star began to stutter.
“Which you did terribly at,” Big Rig commented.
“If you ladies are done,” a new, more cheery sounding voice chirped from a nearby door way. “We’d actually like start playing if it would be okay with the rest of you.”
“We’ll be there in a moment Grocer!” Derpy’s father shot back with a chuckle.
“Well, I’m dealing the cards! So if you youngsters don’t get in here, you’re out for this round!” an elderly sounding voice yelled from the other room.
“Well, I guess we better get going then, come on Big Rig,” Derpy’s father called, drawing the larger stallions attention. “Let me introduce you to everypony else.”
“Oh, this is gonna be a blood bath,” the large stallion chuckled as he moved to follow Derpy’s father. But before either stallion could get far, each was stopped by their daughters, equal stern looks in their eyes.
“Hand them over,” Derpy simply stated, holding one hoof as she set Dinky down.
“Hand what over?” Derpy’s father asked, trying his best to look as innocent as possible.
Sighing heavily, Derpy reached under her father’s left wing and pulled out a small pouch. Derpy could hear the bits banging against each other as she held the mildly large bag in her hoof.
“For shame Big D,” Big Rig began to say, a look of betrayal. “I was told that we weren’t supposed to bring bits to this.”
“Dad,” Shooting Star simply said as she drew her father’s attention with a stern glare. Without waiting for a response, she reached into the large stallion’s mane and pulled out a bag of bits.
“You and your mother never let me have any fun…” Big Rig grumbled as he and Derpy’s father finally left the room.
“I see some things haven’t changed,” Derpy said as she placed the bit pouch in her saddlebags.
“Just the amount,” Shooting Star tried to joke as she looked around the room the group was in. It was obviously a living room, but the furnishing made everypony feel like they had stepped back in time at least thirty years.
“It’s like I’m visiting my grandmother,” Shooting Star grumbled as she took a seat on a small couch.
Derpy looked around the room she had come accustomed too. Like normal, there were two large brown couches and a dark red cushioned chair. The glass top coffee table had a few bowls filled with snacks and a mildly large window on one side of the room allowed the days fading light to spill into the room from its position above several small book cases filled with an assortment of books, pictures and knickknacks.
“I think it’s nice,” Carrot Top chimed in with a smile. “It reminds me of home.”
“I bet it would,” Shooting Star snickered, only to realize what she said a moment later. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.”
“I’m sure you did…” Derpy replied with a sigh and a failed attempt at rolling her eyes. “So, what does everypony want to talk about.”
“Why don’t you introduce me to your new friend,” Miss Breeze said as she took a seat next to Shooting Star, a slightly unnatural grin on her face. “Because I’m sure that the things I heard about don’t do her justice.”
Derpy couldn’t help but giggle as Shooting Star began to stutter an introduction, failing terribly as Ms. Breeze did nothing but stare at the other pegasus.
“So your friends now?” Ms. Breeze inquired as she stood up and walked behind the couch and positioning herself right behind Shooting Star. A pure look of terror made its way onto the younger mare's face as the older mare placed her two front hooves gently on the sides of her head, “because I’ve heard a lot of things that say otherwise.”
“M-mom, th-there’s no need too…” Dilvent began to stutter, only to be silenced by a stern look from his mother.
“Oh, I’m not going to hurt her if that’s what you’re afraid of,” the older pegasus said with a smile. Without any resistance, she slowly moved Shooting Star’s head so that she could see everypony in the room. “I just want her to know, that if she ever tries to hurt any of you again, I won’t be afraid to intervene.”
“Fi-filly s-scouts h-honor,” Shooting Star weakly replied.
“I highly doubt you were in the filly scouts,” Ms. Breeze sighed as she released Shooting Star’s head and made her way back onto the couch.
“I… gotta use the bathroom,” Shooting Star sputtered as she jumped to her hooves, her face glowing red and her eyes slightly dilated. Without even waiting for directions, she rushed out of the room without looking back.
“You didn’t need to scare her that bad,” Dilvent sighed. “I just hope she makes it to the bathroom.”
“Well, since she just turned left,” Carrot Top commented as she looked towards the hall Shooting Star disappeared down, “you may want to get a mop bucket ready.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Ms. Breeze chuckled as she looked back over towards Derpy and Dinky. “So, how does it feel to raise a filly?”
“Its great!” Derpy replied confidently, nuzzling the top of the filly’s head. “I had to change a few things, but it was all worth it.”
“It always is,” Breeze replied with a smile before turning to look at her son. “So, when can I expect one?”
“One what?” Dilvent snapped back, the look on his face saying he knew what she meant but didn’t want to talk about it.
“A grandfoal of course!” Breeze snapped back. “It’s unfair that Derpy’s father is already a grandfather when me and Goldenrod are over twenty years older than him.”
“I’m not even going to try,” Dilvent grumbled as he left the room, most likely going to go join the poker game.
“Can’t take a joke, can he?” Carrot Top giggled.
“Who ever said I was joking?” Breeze asked rather sternly. “I need a grandfoal to spoil senseless or else I’ll go crazy after he leaves.”
“Is Dilvent going somewhere?” Shooting Star asked as she re-entered the room.
“Not yet, but I doubt he’ll want to spend the rest of his life living with two old ponies for the rest of his life,” Breeze sighed as she watched Shooting Star take a seat.
“Knowing Dilvent, I’m sure he wont be going anywhere for awhile,” Derpy chuckled.
“That would be nice,” Breeze said with a smile.
“So, you adopted him?” Shooting Star asked.
“Yes, me and my husband always wanted a foal,” Breeze began, turning her attention to Shooting Star. “But because of an incident, I couldn’t bear one, so we decided to adopt.”
“Do you know what happened to his real parents?” Shooting Star asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Breeze shrugged. “He was apparently found on a park bench in Manehattan one day. Four years later, Goldenrod stumbled upon him at an Orphanage in Canterlot and I’m sure you can figure out the rest.”
“Once you finish telling her my social security number, Dad spilled his cider again,” Dilvent said as he entered the room again.
“Oh for the love of Celestia…” Breeze grumbled as she stood up and left the room.
“That’s so sad…” Shooting Star’s voice sobbed.
“Oh come on…” Dilvent sighed. “What is with mares and crying whenever they hear I was adopted?”
“Hey, I didn’t cry!” Carrot Top snapped.
“I know,” Dilvent responded with a dead-pan look. “You didn’t have to laugh though.”
“I said I was sorry…” Carrot Top pouted as she picked up a bowl of chips in her hooves and proceeded to stuff her face. “Besides, I didn’t laugh at the fact you were adopted, I laughed at the story of how your dad first met you!”
“Why, what happened?” Shooting Star asked as she took a seat, ignoring the aggravated groan the stallion gave.
“He ended up stumbling upon Dilvent in his room when he was eating a gem,” Derpy mildly chuckled, not finding the entire story funny, but entertaining all the same.
“He rushed into the room, took the rest of my gem, and proceeded to pry my mouth open to make sure I hadn’t damaged my teeth…” Dilvent grumbled from his side of the room. “It took him about five minutes to realize my teeth were razor sharp.”
“I guess that’s a little funny,” Shooting Star giggled.
“You try having your mouth forced open by a random pony and tell me how it feels…” Dilvent grumbled back.
“Mr. Goldenrod told it better,” Carrot Top stated, taking a moment to breath from her bowl of chips.
“Can I meet him?” Shooting Star asked, looking over at Dilvent.
“No.” Dilvent replied without hesitation.
“Why not?” Shooting Star asked, looking towards the other for answers.
Carrot Top barely offered a glance before she shrugged and continued to eat.
“He just has a bad problem with going off on tangents,” Derpy ended up answering as she made her way to the doorway with Dinky in one of her legs. “Dilvent finds it embarrassing for some reason.”
“It’s not as embarrassing as it is really annoying,” Dilvent said with a defeated sigh. “But if you really do, let’s go.”
Following the stallion, Derpy carried her daughter into the houses study, Shooting Star following closely behind.
“Is that a new table?” Derpy asked as she noticed the large, decorative poker table sitting in the middle of the room. The last one she had seen was all wood with several groves for plastic chips and drinks. The new one had green felt covering most of it, leaving only the edges open for small metallic holsters for plastic chips and drinks.
“It’s custom,” a dirt gold stallion replied from one side of the table, his yellow magic holding several cards in front of his face. “I ordered the wood from…”
“Yeah, great dad, nopony really cares,” Dilvent quickly interrupted. Turning to face Shooting Star, Dilvent began to introduce all the other ponies in the room.
“That’s Grocer, Carrot Top’s uncle,” Dilvent said, indicating the lime green stallion with a dirt brown mane and orange eyes.
“That’s Grain, a teacher from the local university along with my dad,” Dilvent said as he pointed at a stale blue mare with a matching mane that was put into a bun.
“That’s Miss Grain, Dilvent!” The mare snapped as she glared at Dilvent with her green eyes.
“Y-yes Miss Grain,” Dilvent stuttered like a scared foal, causing a chuckle throughout the room.
“And I’m Goldenrod, Dilvent’s father,” The dirt gold stallion quickly said as he shakily got to his hooves revealing that he was wearing a dark brown coat. Using the table for support, he made his way over to Shooting Star and offered a hoof, his greyed out mane falling over his brown eyes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Shooting Star timidly replied as she met the stallions hoof.
“Miss Star,” Goldenrod began, preventing the mare from moving her hoof. “Did you know that in several ancient kingdoms, ponies who put a foal in danger would be chained up outside the ga…”
*THUNK*
“Goldenrod, that is not something to discuss in the presences of others!” Breeze snapped, a small wooden cane wrapped in one of her wings.
“That actually hurt that time,” Goldenrod whined as he released Shooting Star’s hoof to rub the slowly growing knot on the back of his head. With a obviously fake moan of pain, the stallion turned back to the table and looked directly at Derpy’s father. “Officer, I’d like to press charges for assault.”
“I’m off duty,” Derpy’s father replied with a shrug, “and frankly, you deserved it.”
“Better for her to do it instead of me,” Big Rig added as he glared at the elderly unicorn.
“I feel like I’m trapped in the ancient land of Th…” Goldenrod began, only to be silenced by another whack of the cane.
“Will you please act you’re age?!” Breeze snapped, glaring at her husband. “There is a foal here.”
“Oh, its not like she knows what I’m talking about,” Goldenrod chuckled as he looked toward Derpy and Dinky.
(o^o)
“I don’t like him.” While she did find the older stallion funny, the fact that he was obviously being mean, didn’t sit well with her. As the stallion came closer, Dinky turned her head away like she had seen her mother do before.
“Or maybe she does…” the older stallion mumbled as he visibly deflated, ignoring the laughs of the ponies around him.
“Yes, well” the green pony sighed with a chuckle. “Could we please get back to the game?”
“Game?” Dinky’s ears quickly pricked up at the mention of a game.
“Looks like somepony else wants to join in,” Dinky’s grandfather chuckled. “Why don’t you let her join us for a few hooves, Derpy?”
Before her mother could even speak, Dinky began to fight her way out of her grip, wanting to see the game the older ponies were playing.
“Why don’t you let her, Derpy?” Dilvent chuckled.
“Fine…” Derpy half grumbled, half chuckled as she gave Dinky to her grandfather. "But if she develops an addiction because of this, so help me!”
“I’ll pay off the loan sharks, don’t worry,” the stallion replied with a chuckle as he waved away Dinky’s mother and her friends.
“Okay, now can we get back to the game?!” the green pony groaned.
“You obviously have a good hoof…” the only mare of the group around the table replied without looking at anypony else. “But I’ll still beat you in the end.”
“If anypony needs something, don’t be afraid to call,” the elderly pegasus said as she gave a goodbye wave to Dinky before leaving the room.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Dinky’s grandfather proclaimed as the game resumed.
Even though Dinky didn’t know what game the older ponies were playing, she did have fun watching. Especially when her grandfather let her play with some of the plastic coins he had.
“I like the way they sound.” Dinky used her hoof to push another small tower of coins down.
“That is so cute!” Grain cooed as she watched Dinky, restacking the small tower for the filly.
“Traitor…” Dinky’s grandfather grumbled from the other side of the table, his lap bare and his own tower of chips quickly dwindling.
“Oh shut your yap, Big D,” Big Rig chuckled.
“Why do you keep calling him ‘Big D’?” Grocer asked as he set his cards down for a second. “I though his name was…”
“You know what, how about we try something different this next hoof,” Dinky’s grandfather quickly interrupted.
“And what would that be?” Goldenrod asked as he collected all the cards.
“We’ll play five card draw and include, Dinky in the game,” the stallion replied with a chuckle. “We’ll forgo going around and just play our hands out right. That way, Dinky gets to have a little fun too.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Big Rig chuckled as everypony nodded in agreement.
A few moments later, Dinky was set up in an empty chair, several books stacked up so that she could see the table. The smile on her face helping everypony understand that she was enjoying it.
“Yay!” Dinky watched in fascination as Goldenrod passed cards to each pony.
“Alright, now let’s see what we go…” Grocer began as he picked up his cards, his words dying away. Looking around, Dinky watched as all the ponies looked at their cards with almost equal looks of confusion, all except for Dinky’s Grandfather.
“I’m sorry everypony, but it looks like this hoof is mine,” the stallion said confidently as he set his cards down. “Royal strait flush, diamonds.”
“Damn,” Big Rig grumbled as he and the others just about threw their cards on the table.
“Sorry everypony,” Dinky’s grandfather chuckled as he shifted over to his left to check Dinky’s cards. “Maybe this luck… will stay… with…”
“What, just realize you beat a foal at a hoof of poker?” Goldenrod chuckled.
“Lets begin the next game,” Dinky’s Grandfather quickly replied, pushing Dinky’s cards towards the deck without looking anypony in the eye.
“Oh, I have got to see this!” Big Rig chuckled as he quickly snatched the five cards and looked at them. Almost instantly, he began laughing hysterically as he pointed a hoof a Dinky’s grandfather.
“Well, what is it?!” Grain snapped.
Without saying a word, Big Rig tossed the cards down revealing the ten of spades, spades jack, queen, king, and finally, the ace of spades.
“I hate this game…” Dinky’s father grumbled as everypony in the room laughed.
“Did I win?”