//------------------------------// // Chapter Five // Story: Adapting // by RarityTookManehattan //------------------------------// It was a long distance from Dinky's house to the castle, and there were a lot of steps leading to Spike's room, but Dinky made the whole journey in one breathless run. Propelled by anger, and then by pain, she stopped outside his door and for a moment simply stood in silence, her mom's words echoing around her brain. What happened to honesty? You've been seeing Spike behind my back for weeks! Tears welled in her eyes and for the first time she felt a twinge of guilt: maybe she should've mentioned something to Derpy... After all, even if she disapproved, she deserved to know. But then she remembered the rest of the conversation. Stop lying! Derpy had shouted. That was crossing the line. She'd bent the truth a little, maybe, but never lied. A confused mix of emotions continued to swirl around her head until she wished she could just make it all stop. "Argh! You've got to stop sneaking up on me like this, Dinks!" Spike yelled, interrupting her thoughts as he opened the door to his room and jumped at the sight of her stood there. After his initial outburst he noticed her tearful expression. "What's wrong?" he asked with concern, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She smiled appreciatively, though her eyes still looked glassy. "Just Derpy," she told him. "We had a huge argument." "About me?" he guessed, cringing a little. "Maybe," she admitted with a slightly sheepish grin. "She accused me of being a liar, admitted following me, told me to break up with you... the usual." "Wow. That bad?" "Pretty much." Dinky sighed and tried not to think about it, but the tears spilled over and slid down her cheeks. "Hey, it'll be ok," Spike told her soothingly. "She'll come around." "Will she?" Dinky cried. "Because right now it feels like she'll never forgive me. I don't see what could possibly happen that would make her understand how I feel." "We'll get through it," Spike promised. "We always do." Dinky sniffed and wiped her eyes, nodding in agreement. Feeling a little better, she pulled Spike's lips to hers and kissed him desperately. They remained locked together for a long moment that seemed to last forever, his physical closeness comforting her after the long day she'd been through. When they pulled apart she giggled a little, feeling better. "You're a terrible kisser, you know that?" she teased, nudging him playfully. "Who, me? I don't think so! I'm the best kisser in Ponyville, for sure. Hell, I'm probably the best kisser in Canterlot!" To demonstrate, he leaned in again and tried to press his lips to hers. She pushed him away with a grin, shaking her head and laughing at his mock disappointment. "You wish," she told him, sticking her tongue out. He wrapped his arms around her in a playful hug and she couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Spike," Dinky told him. "For what?" he asked in confusion. "For cheering me up," she answered, smiling. Derpy was sat in a small clearing in the outskirts of Ponyville, her head in her hooves. She didn't know where Dinky was or even if Dinky would ever forgive her after their argument. The thought of the undelivered letter haunted her, along with the possibilities had it not been confused with another. Birds flew past, singing cheerfully, and Derpy followed them with one of her eyes. After a few more minutes Derpy stood up with a sigh: she couldn't stay there wallowing in pity forever. She was going to have to face Dinky eventually, and there was no point putting it off. However, just as she was about to head back to the town a familiar flash lit up the area. Her head swiveling around, she spotted a familiar figure. "Discord," Derpy cried, her eyes tearing up again. Before he could react the grey pegasus had wrapped her soft arms around him in a desperate embrace. "Er- hello," he commented with bemusement. "I'm... guessing things didn't go well with Dinky." Unsure of how to react, he reached his mismatched arms out slowly and wrapped them around Derpy. For some reason he felt the strange jittery feeling again that her proximity often elicited. He had to blink a few times to regain his focus on the issue at hand. "She'll never forgive me," Dinky whispered miserably. Hesitating, Discord reached out and stroked her mane with his lion's paw in what he hoped would be a soothing movement. "She's your daughter, you silly pegasus, of course she'll forgive you. Don't you know anything about friendship? All you have to do is apologize," he told her with a smile. "But... it's not that simple," Derpy commented gloomily. Discord sighed and lightly pulled her back so that she could look him in the eye. His heart faltered a little as she tried to look at him, each iris pointing in a different direction. Why was that so distracting? "You're right, it's not quite that simple," he admitted. "But if you accept their relationship I'm sure it'll all be fine. Which is what I've been trying to say all along." He rolled his eyes. "I can't do it," she cried, tears spilling over and running down her face. "I just can't!" "So you can't accept inter-species relationships? Even when they're both good people who love each other?" Discord asked, feeling a weird mixture of exasperation and... disappointment. "I... I don't know," Derpy confessed, her confusion and pain evident in her voice. "Put it this way," Discord began. "Imagine you're in love." A shower of pink, heart-shaped bubbles appeared in the air around her head and Derpy watched them with a hint of a smile. "The pony you're in love with is the most eligible bachelor in town for sure: he's good-looking, cheeky, but kind at heart and very much in love with you. Only he's not a pony at all..." Discord didn't intend for the hearts to float towards his head and pop at the end of the sentence, but they did - and Derpy was left staring at him with an expression he couldn't read. There was an awkward silence. "But none of that is true, so you probably can't empathize," Discord babbled, wondering why he felt so nervous. His own words echoed through his head as he thought of the pony stood in front of him. It was just a hypothetical situation... he thought. Right? Derpy took a step closer and Discord flinched a little. "I feel even more confused now," she admitted. "And why is that?" Discord asked, trying to sound casual. "I..." Derpy blushed. Discord leaned in eagerly to hear what she had to say. Derpy hesitated for a second, then leaned in too and placed a shy kiss on Discord's stunned face. For a moment there was silence as the cogs whirred in Discord's mind. For a few seconds he could not comprehend what had just happened - but gradually an unfamiliar warmth spread through his body as realization hit him. Somepony had just kissed him. Somepony had feelings for him. That somepony was Derpy. "I'm sorry," Derpy mumbled, misinterpreting his silence. She looked away uncomfortably, but after a few seconds glanced back, unable to help herself, and saw Discord's face lit up with the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Sorry?" he cried, lifting her in the air and pulling her towards him in a huge hug. "Nothing has ever been so undeserving of an apology!" Rose petals were falling from the sky around them, and Derpy smiled uncertainly. "So... you don't mind?" she asked, glancing up at him. "Don't mind? Derpy, my dear, nopony has ever had romantic feelings for me. I never even bothered to hope that anypony ever would. To find that you do..." He paused for a second, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Nope, there aren't really words to describe it. Chaos usually can, though." On cue, the ground turned to strawberry jelly and the clouds turned to marshmallow fluff. Something soft but slightly heavy landed on Derpy's head and as she glanced up she realized muffins of every flavor were falling from the sky as rain. She giggled uncontrollably and the sound made Discord's heart sing. Literally. Derpy gently leaned in and kissed Discord again, this time more slowly. His heart felt like the jelly under his feet. After reluctantly breaking off the kiss, Derpy shut her eyes and sank against his chest. "Maybe I was too harsh on Dinky," she admitted. "Inter-species relationships... I guess they aren't so bad after all." Discord laughed and caught something from the sky. Passing it to Derpy, it was a chocolate and blueberry muffin.