A Convenient Arrangement

by Juntao112

Chapter 3

At precisely seven that evening, Thunderball stepped out of his office in search of food. Normally, he would have gone to his apartment across the hall, but Adjutant was leaning against the door with a smile on her face.

"Ah, right on schedule!" She seized him by the foreleg. "Come, I believe you promised me a dinner date?"

"I said maybe," he grumbled. "Besides, I prefer to cook my own meals."

"Now, you know as well as I do that frozen vegetables and canned rations are no substitute for proper food! Why not come up with me to the courtyard and see what I've prepared?" She gave his foreleg a tug. "I swear on my chitin it's not poisoned."

"If I agree to go on one date with you," he sighed, "Will you promise to drop the issue?"

Adjutant made a noncommittal noise as she dragged him up to the courtyard, where a table and chairs were waiting. Several serving platters sat on a cart next to the table, along with a bottle of champagne and two flûtes. Thunderball took a seat at one end as Adjutant busied herself with the cart.

She put a platter in front of him and lifted the cover to reveal the fragrance of vegetables cooked in white wine, laced with an odd savory aroma. Thunderball looked at his plate to see something he had only eaten once, during his army survival training.

"Adjutant. you seem to have served me carp."

"Fresh from the Everfree Forest!" Adjutant chirped, as she served herself. "I even cooked it myself!"

"A carp is a fish."

"Your point?"

"Fish aren't vegetables."

Adjutant brought up a sliver of fish meat on her fork and scrutinized it. "But I've seen ponies eat seafood before! Fluttershy even feeds dead fish to ferrets!"

Thunderball sighed. "Fluttershy is well aware of the circle of life, and seafood is an acquired taste for most ponies, usually served as an exotic horderve. Other than that, you only really see it eaten among certain pegasi who live in the griffon kingdoms, or by the sea." He held out his plate. "Trade your vegetables for my carp?"

"Done!" She scraped her vegetables off of her plate and speared his carp. "I have to say, I never much cared for the taste or texture of the rabbit food you ponies eat."

Thunderball popped the cork off of the champagne and poured two flûtes for them. "So if you hate it so much, what gave you this idea?"

"Oh, I read it in a book." Adjutant took one of the flûtes and sipped on it. The sensation of sweet effervescent liquid fizzing on her tongue was quite enjoyable. "It turned out to have surprising good advice on the matter of dating."

"I take it you've been out to Ponyville?"

"Yes, quite the charming town. I must say, the ponies were surprisingly polite; they maintained a respectful silence when I arrived, and held their positions until I was gone."

Thunderball wondered if he should point out that they citizens were likely more nervous than anything else; color palette aside, Adjutant bore a greater resemblance to Chrysalis than to the average changeling.

Instead, he raised an eyebrow. "So, you're courting me now?"

"Of course!" She took another graceful sip of the champagne. "I desire someone I can have long and interesting conversations with! An equal with whom to engage in a battle of the wits! A confederate for schemes and plots!"

Thunderball rolled his eyes. "Might I suggest you take out an ad in the Ponyville Gazette?"

She slammed her empty flûte on the table. "What is your problem? I understand why you might take issue with political unions, but here I am trying to do something romantic, and you still reject me out of hoof!"

Green eyes met amber ones in a fierce contest of wills. "As I have told you, ponies like me don't do romance."

"So that is how you see yourself? As somepony who will slave away for crown and country until retirement, never knowing love or affection? I am a changeling, and even I find that sort of future depressing."

Thunderball determinedly stared into his empty flûte. Adjutant sighed and filled the glass; although she had every right to be angry at him for spurning her again, she only felt a profound sense of melancholy. "You know, your house doesn't need to be in the espionage business any longer. Why not give a it a try? If not me, perhaps one of the ponies from town? Rainbow Dash certainly seems as if she would be receptive."

He tossed back his head and downed the champagne in one gulp. "She's a decade younger than I am, and would never really understand what I've been through — nor should she, or anypony else."

Adjutant watched as Thunderball filled his glass again. "Because even if you wanted to be otherwise, your life has shaped you into a pony others can't relate to?"

"You think she'd ever understand the secrets I'd keep from her, or why I'd never really talk about my past?" His speech became slurred as he drank his third glass. "Face it, I've made my bed, and now I get to lie in it. Just as well, I s'ppose. Nothin' gets accomplished without sacrifice, right?"

"Of course not. But what is it that needs to be done?"

"That, I s'ppose, is up t' Celestia."

Thunderball began to sway slightly as he drank his fourth glass of champagne. Adjutant left her chair and helped him up. "Well, thank you for giving this a try, Thunderball. Would you mind if I walked you back to your apartment?"

He nodded silently, and the pair made their way back to the dungeon. Thunderball's apartment turned out to be a rather cozy affair, composed of several dungeon cells that had been linked together. Most of the furniture was made of wood, but the bed consisted of a cloud mattress — he evidently never expected to entertain anyone on it.

The cloud sank a few inches as he collapsed on it. Adjutant reached out and touched the fluffy substance curiously; although she had lived her entire life underground, she had heard that any creature capable of flight could interact with clouds. The cloud was firm underneath her hoof, and felt like fine silk. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the sensation of the most comfortable thing she had ever touched.

"Would you mind staying f' a while?" Thunderball whispered, with a curious mixture of fear and melancholy in his voice.

"Of course not." She hopped onto the cloud next to him and gently rubbed her wings against her thorax. A soothing serenade of chirps soon filled the air and lulled him to sleep. Thunderball's eyelids drooped as he snuggled into the bed.

"You know, you're not so bad once you stop scheming," he muttered, before his eyes closed and his breathing grew deep.

Adjutant felt her heart flutter as she watched his chest rise and fall. Without knowing why, she tentatively reached out for his mane and stroked it; his hair was warm and supple, like summer grass. She closed her eyes and savored the feeling. It was strangely satisfying to just sit there in his presence. The softness of the cloud was a distant memory; this was the most comfortable thing she had ever touched.

"You're not quite what I imagined, pony, but you're quite something nonetheless." She murmured. "I hope you find a special somepony one day, even if it's not me."

Adjutant pulled a cloud over him and planted a soft kiss on the forehead, then left him to his dreams.

Comments

[user123]

That was, how you say, cute.

[The Sexy Barbarian]

You can do it Adjutant. Though it may take quite some time for him to let you in and trust you given his job, family and his mental scarring. Given his past, I believe Thunderball deserves some happiness in his life.

[Dog424]

Hawt.

[Perteks]

No tag as sequel?

[Juntao112]

5340919

I don't think it's tied into the other stories tightly enough to warrant it. I'm open to arguments otherwise, though.