//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Adapting // by RarityTookManehattan //------------------------------// Spike sighed as he bit into the sandwich, the spicy peppers making his tongue burn painfully. "What is that?" Spike howled as he held the slobbery red slice of vegetable in front of her eyes, swinging it around and causing the saliva to fling in several directions. "Settle down, Slobber Boy. I just thought you might like somethin' hot," Dinky said. She paused for a second then added mischievously, "Just like me." She grinned before taking another nibble of her cucumber sandwich. "What kind is it, anyway?" Spike asked grumpily. "Llama Pepper." "What? So this burning piece of coal is named after a Llama?" he asked incredulously. "Nah, llama is the Spanish word for flames, silly," Dinky explained. "Really?" "Hay! We just rhymed!" "You're kidding, right? Silly and really?" Dinky just kept munching on a bite of her sandwich, and Spike groaned. "Hopeless." "Oh, so now I'm hopeless?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Says the little unicorn who probably couldn't even stomach a bite of a Llama Pepper," Spike said with a grin. "Oh, you setting up a challenge?" "Maybe." Dinky then demanded a slice of the pepper. Spike eagerly swiped a piece off of his bread and slapped it onto Dinky's outstretched hoof. Unluckily for Dinky, he slapped a little too hard and all the juices inside the pepper sprayed all over her. She winced as a tiny drop reached her eye. The filly began to wail as she clutched at her burning left eye. Spike scuttled to her side, stifling giggles as he tried to calm her. Finally, after a minute or two longer of yelping, the lavender filly had calmed. She now held a wet hoof up to her slightly charred feeling iris while Spike hugged her, the smile he wore the best he could muster besides laughing out loud. The couple were interrupted by the sounds of hoof clops squishing through mud piled up on the river bank, becoming more and more apparent. Both ponies swiveled towards it uncertainly, their eyes darting around (or, in Dinky's case, just the one). Silver Spoon, the notorious teen diva, was laughing at a joke her coltfriend had made. The boy in question - the once weak, now burly Pipsqueak - was smiling down at her and gave her a light peck on the cheek as they continued to trek through the slightly cushy banks of Lake Harmonious. But when they looked up and saw the dragon and the unicorn, their arms wrapped around each other, Pipsqueak stayed indifferent while Silver Spoon's eyebrows became knotted together. "Hello Dinky. And Spike," Silver said sweetly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Pipsqueak waved awkwardly while the couple smiled kindly and returned the slate-colored filly's greetings. Silver clambered up to where the two sat, making them recoil slightly. Pipsqueak stood stoically at the base of the hill, his eyes almost seeming glazed over. "So, how's your wonderful relationship going?" Silver asked, almost wearing a grimace of sorts. Spike saw where this was heading, and quickly retorted: "Very well, thank you." "Oh, is that true? How are the difficulties working out?" she sneered. "What difficulties?" Dinky asked innocently. "You know, the ones pertaining to cross species relationships. And mati-" "We better be going," Spike huffed, pushing Silver out of the way as he grabbed the picnic basket, blushing profusely. Dinky, now seeing the true intent of the conversation, quickly loped after her dragonfriend, glancing back at the malevolent diva with wary eyes. Dinky hadn't realized she had stopped walking. Spike tugged her the rest of the way back to her cottage, where he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Everything's fine between us, right?" Dinky questioned. Spike tried to speak his answer as quickly as his lips could move. "Everything will always be alright." They kissed again and went their separate ways, the feeling of their lips on each others lingering. Derpy paced back and forth in her home, trying to decide the best way to breach the subject of... what was the word Discord had used? Dragonfriends with Dinky. On the one hand, she was a teenager now. She probably wouldn't react well to being scolded or patronized and she was arguably old enough to have a special somepony - er, special somedragon. On the other hand, it was Dinky! Her little daughter, her special little unicorn, her baby. It just didn't seem right for her to be seeing someone romantically, let alone a dragon. Derpy sighed and sat on her rump. There was no way she'd be able to breach the subject to Dinky without offending her. It would inevitably result in an argument, and Derpy hated arguments... Aha! The perfect idea struck her: she would write a letter to Dinky explaining how she felt. That way, she could read through it and make sure it sounded ok before letting her know. After all, she was a mailpony. How had she not thought of this before? Picking up a pen in her mouth, Derpy tried hard to concentrate and began to write on a piece of neatly decorated paper taken from her favorite stationery set. Dear Dinky, she began. She paused, thinking hard. I know how much you like Spike & I can see how close the 2 of you have been getting. You're growing up now. I know your not my little baby Dinky any more. Derpy's eyes teared up a little but she remained focused: with a swift cross, she corrected "your" to "you're" before continuing. But even so you are still very young, and I don't think you're at an age yet where you can be involved in a relationship - espeshily - Derpy crossed out the word "espeshily", replaced it with "espeshaly", then "espeshilly", then "particularry" - a relationship with a dragon. Dragons can be very dangerous Dinky and you know how I worry about things. Please don't be upset because you know I only want what's best for you. I love you! Love Derpy Derpy smiled proudly at her letter and drew a quick scribbly picture at the bottom of the page of herself with her daughter. Placing the letter clumsily in a plain white envelope, she hid it in her mailbag for safekeeping to give to Dinky when she arrived home. Derpy heard a knocking and rushed to the door, hoping Dinky was home already - however, when she opened it she was surprised to see a familiar draconequus stood before her, looking rather bored. "Hello... er... Discord!" Derpy cried excitedly, pleased that she'd remembered his name correctly. His expression softened a little but he yawned loudly. "Hello, my dear. I have to say, Ponyville is so tedious when no-one's flying around damaging the infrastructure of local buildings." Derpy looked confused. "I mean you, by the way," he added for clarification. "Huh?" "Never mind. Got any chaotic plans for the afternoon? Any havoc to wreak that I can help you with - I mean, dissuade you from?" he asked eagerly. Derpy smiled but shook her head. "I won't be causing any trouble," she told him confidently. He sighed. "I thought you might say that... Oh well. A draconequus can dream. What are you doing then?" Discord sounded decidedly less interested than he had before. "I'm waiting for my daughter to come home so I can deliver her a letter," she explained. Discord rolled his eyes. "Not this again. Oh and I get that you're the mailpony and all, but communicating by snail mail with ponies in the same room is a little excessive." At some point during his last sentence a small snail appeared on the floor with a tiny envelope strapped to its back. Derpy stared at it blankly. "I don't usually use letters. Just today." Discord tapped his foot on the floor in boredom and after a few seconds his antler twisted around and started pointing towards the door with a beeping noise. "My Dinky sense! When my antler twizzles it means somepony's daughter is about to arrive home. I'll leave you to it." With a small flash Discord disappeared, and sure enough after a moment's silence Derpy heard the sound of the front door opening quietly. "Dinky?" Derpy called. She heard a small oath and Dinky began running up the stairs to her room. "Wait! Dinky!" Derpy grabbed the letter from the top of the mailbag as quickly as she could and tried to fly up the stairs, but ended up repeatedly bumping into the wall and the bannister. By the time she reached Dinky's room the door was already shut and locked. Derpy sighed. "I have a letter for you," she told Dinky - speaking loudly to make sure she'd be heard from within the room. Lowering her head to the floor, she slid the envelope underneath the door-frame. "Please read it for me." There was silence in response. Derpy could only hope her daughter would read it. Trotting slowly back down the stairs, Derpy felt heavy-hearted - but at the same time, she was relieved to finally get it off her chest. At least now, it was all in the open and Dinky knew how she felt. She was unaware that she'd actually just delivered a letter announcing the grand opening of Ponyville Pizza Palace by mistake. Dinky glanced at it with confusion then shrugged. Whatever - maybe she'd give the place a visit. The real letter remained unopened and buried deep in Derpy's mailbag.