The Middle
Celestia, what the hay is wrong with me? I felt like slamming my head into the door, but the same hesitation that kept me from just knocking on it held me frozen. So there I stood, on Derpy’s doorstep, just staring at the door.
How is it that, of all the things, it’s a little filly that has me petrified? This is so stupid! Just because I have no clue what to do with a kid… and this particular kid means way more to Derpy than me… and she’s probably gonna hate my guts…
Crap.
Before I had a chance to work up the courage to knock—or go home and blow the whole thing off—the door opened. Derpy stepped into the doorway, and the moment she saw me, she smiled, lighting up those adorable eyes.
So much for backing out. I gave her what I hoped looked like a confident grin.
“Hey, Vinyl, you’re right on time.” Derpy cast a glance back over her shoulder, then she turned back and stepped outside, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door closed, she leaned in and pressed those sultry lips to mine. Just as quick, she pulled back.
I licked my lips, desperate to taste more of her.
“Sorry, but I, um, well I haven’t really told Dinky about us.” She sheepishly rubbed one foreleg against the other. “It’s just that I think she might be a little more, uh, receptive if she doesn't have it her head that you’re, uh… you know. Us.”
I didn’t really get it, but I nodded anyway. Anything that might make this mistake a little bit better.
“Thanks.” Derpy grabbed the door and opened it. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
As alluring as Derpy’s flank may have been, I really didn’t want to follow her in. This was gonna suck. I just knew it.
The next thing I knew, I found myself taking off my jacket as I stepped inside. Curse that hypnotic flank.
“Dinky, sweetheart, come over here and say hi.”
I looked to find a filly trotting over. She looked a lot like Derpy, just smaller and with a horn instead of wings. And she didn’t have Derpy’s eyes, either. But, then again, what pony did?
When the kid stopped short, Derpy nudged her toward me. “Dinky, this is mommy’s new friend. Her name is Vinyl Scratch. She’s the one that’s helping me get a new job.”
The filly’s ears folded back as she deliberately looked away from me. “Thanks, I guess,” she muttered.
“Be nice,” Derpy chided her, again nudging her toward me.
Finally, Dinky looked up at me. All I could think to do was to smile and wave. What else could I do? I didn’t even know if the brat could read.
Crap.
What if she can’t read? How the hay am I supposed to talk to her?
I looked to Derpy, desperate for a sign of assurance. A long silence began to form before it struck Derpy. “Oh!” She giggled as she knocked a hoof against her skull. “Silly me, I almost forgot.” Holding out a hoof toward me, she gave Dinky a smile. “Vinyl can’t speak. Her voice doesn’t work.”
Dinky stared at Derpy for a long moment. Then, she blinked before turning her eyes back on me. “You really can’t talk?”
Taking a couple of steps forward, I closed the distance between me and Dinky. I gave my head a firm shake, then sat down. To show off the scars left to me my the doctors, I raised my chin and ran a hoof over my throat to pull back the hair.
The kid’s eyes widened as she gasped. “Oh my gosh! Did you get hurt?”
Well, that's one way to put it. Certainly better than explaining to a filly the dangers of caressing an unwilling mare’s flank, anyway. I gave a firm nod.
Derpy cleared her throat, bringing our attention back to her. As she looked at Dinky, she pointed to me. “Vinyl here has agreed to watch you while mommy goes to study with the princess. I know Amethyst normally—”
“But Mom, I was gonna go play with Lily and Zip. It's still daytime. I don't need a foalsitter!” Dinky protested.
Derpy sighed, glancing over at me. Hey, if it meant I could put off all this awkwardness, I was all for it, but I'd definitely cause some trouble if I was too eager to get outta here. I settled on a passive shrug.
“All right, Dinky. You can go play with your friends, but you need to come back here for lunch, got it?”
Giving Derpy a vigorous nod, Dinky said, “Yeah!” The kid ran right by me and out the door. “We’re going over to Zip’s. See ya!”
And just like that, she was gone.
“Sorry Vinyl,” Derpy said, kicking at the floor. “It's just so hard saying ‘no’ sometimes, you know?”
I nodded, more out of compliance than agreement.
“You don't mind waiting here until she gets back, do you?”
I looked over at Derpy's couch. Looked comfy enough. I shook my head.
The next thing I knew, I nearly fell over as Derpy practically tackled me, wrapping her forelegs around me. “Thanks so much, Vinyl! I don't know how I’ll ever be able to repay you.”
For crashing on her couch and watching her kid? I didn't really get why she seemed so grateful, but I returned the hug anyway. Dang she smelled nice. Like a field of flowers after a spring shower.
All too soon, she pulled back. “Okay, I really need to get over to the castle. I don't want to keep the princess waiting.” Derpy pointed at a doorway. “The kitchen’s there if you need anything." Moving slightly, her hoof pointed to the adjacent hallway. “Bathroom’s down that hall, all the way at the end.” Derpy turned back to me. “Are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself?”
I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. Instead, I just gave another nod. Nearly falling over herself, Derpy headed out the door. And, just like that, she was gone.
Turning my gaze to Derpy’s couch, I decided that now was as good a time as any to get some shuteye.
A crash woke me from a dead sleep, sending me into the floor and my heart racing. I opened my eyes to find myself in an unfamiliar room. My mind reeled, and it wasn’t until a little filly stepped in did it all fall into place. I was at Derpy’s place, and I was supposed to be watching this kid.
Grabbing my shades off the coffee table with my magic, I floated them onto my face and sat back up on the couch as the kid walked up. She came to a stop across the table as she glared at me. “I still don’t see why I had to come home for lunch.” She pointed a hoof back toward the door. “Lily’s dad is taking Lily and Zip on a picnic!”
Well, this got off to a great start. Hay, I still didn’t even know if this kid would be able to read, but it wasn’t like I was flush with other options. I focused my attention on forming letters in my head. Projecting them with my magic, my aura swept over the coffee table, slowly matching the phrase held in my mind’s eye.
SORRY KID
THIS ISNT HOW
I THOUGHT ID BE
SPENDING MY DAY
EITHER
She noticed my horn glowing. As she tilted her head ready to ask a pointless question, I knocked on the table. Her eyes moved there, and to my relief, her eyes traced over the words. Instead of responding, she raised a hoof and slid it along the table, tracing a line through my magic.
“How are you doing that?” She asked, looking back up at me.
I just shrugged. That wasn’t good enough for her, apparently, as she just kept staring at me with those big, amber eyes. Sighing, I focused on a new phrase in my mind.
ITS KIND OF HARD
BUT I THINK ABOUT
THE LETTERS AND
TRACE THEM WITH
MY MAGIC
After her eyes skimmed over the phrase, her frown returned. “Oh, I'm still no good with magic. I can make my horn glow, but that's about it.”
Didn’t Derpy mention something about working on her magic? I’m not exactly a teacher or anything, but how hard could it be?
CAN YOU AT LEAST
MAKE THINGS GLOW
WITH YOUR HORN?
Dinky silently mouthed the words as she read them. Then she looked back up at me. “A little.” She kicked the ground. “I’m just… bad at it. I can’t even lift a fork.”
I turned my head back to the door where I dumped my jacket. Reaching out with my magic, I freed a few bits from my pocket. Spilling them on the table, I took one in hoof and tipped it up so that it stood on its edge.
A SLIGHT BREEZE
COULD KNOCK
THIS OVER
CAN YOUR MAGIC?
Dinky lowered her horn toward the coin. A spark of golden magic enveloped her horn, followed by the coin. She stuck her tongue out a bit, then, the coin tipped over. It wasn’t surprising. I could’ve sighed and knocked it over. But still, it meant that she could at least affect her surroundings with her magic.
COOL YOU CAN
DO MAGIC
TRY THIS
I picked up a coin with my hoof. Raising my other hoof, I flicked the edge. It sent the coin into a spin, making a buzzing sound as it danced on the table. Then, I brought my aura to the coin, continuing to hit the edges. It made the coin surge a few inches at a time and maintained the spin.
Sure enough, one of the other bits rose up in a golden aura and started to spin. Though, instead of buzzing wildly, her untrained magic barely kept up a lazy spin.
This was going better than I thought. She wasn’t so bad for a kid just learning how to use her horn. Time to push things a little further. I nudged my coin over near hers and circled it a couple of times. Then, I used my tracing spell to leave behind a lingering blue line as I traced out a lazy path all the way across the table. At the other end, I made a circle and put my coin in the middle.
To the kid’s credit, she seemed to get the idea right away. Though it wobbled and skidded off-target a couple of times, she was able to guide her bit along the blue line. She even managed to get it to stop and stay spinning inside the circle with my bit.
The blue line faded away as I released the spell. Then, I again spun my bit across the table. Though, this time, I made a bunch of twists, turns, and even a loop before parking my bit back at the far side of the table. Looking at the tracer line that my coin made, I kind of regretted not making it a word or something. Oh! I could do that for the next one.
“What’re you smiling about?” Dinky asked, a bit breathlessly, as she started tracing the line with her bit.
I just shrugged, shaking my head a bit. Although I expected some kind of retort, it didn’t come. Dinky seemed to be far too focused on keeping her spinning bit on course to do anything else. I could tell she was already getting more steady with it, and I could hear it buzzing louder than before. As she made it to the loop, I decided to throw a surprise into the mix. I leaned forward and gave the table a good bump with my hoof.
Oh, the look on her face when her coin collapsed on the table. She glared up at me, her cheeks puffing out as her face turned red. “You did that on purpose!” she said, pointing a hoof at me.
I nodded, and that seemed to throw her off a bit. What, was she expecting me to lie to her? I just pointed over at my coin, still spinning. Then I nodded toward her coin.
Groaning, she reached over with a hoof toward her bit, but I intercepted her hoof with my own. When she looked up, I pointed to my horn with my free hoof. “Fine,” she muttered. Sitting back, she used her horn to pick up her bit and set it spinning again. Just as soon as it was stable, I gave the table another good shove. This time, she kept her coin up, though she still gave me a vicious glare, which was little more than a little hilarious coming from such a tiny filly.
I waited for her to finish tracing the lines. Then, I dropped the tracing spell, letting the lines fade away before starting anew. This time, I traced out a single word with swooping letters: HUNGRY?
She actually started to trace it before it struck her to read it. Though her eyes swept over the letters, her horn stayed aglow, and her coin stayed spinning. Even after she read it, she continued tracing the lines. “I guess,” she muttered. I couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t out of breath when she spoke this time.
I waited for her to finish tracing the word before releasing the spell and getting up. One last flick of magic and my bit crashed into hers causing both to collapse.
ALL RIGHT KID
WHAT DO YOU
WANT TO EAT?
It took her a moment to stop staring at the bits before she read the words. Then, she whipped around to glare at me. I just raised an eyebrow in turn.
“I was just starting to get the hang of it!”
I stopped after only making it halfway around the table. Turning my head toward the table, I concentrated on a series of letters, projecting them with my magic onto the table.
YEAH GOOD FOR YOU
NOW LETS EAT
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
She let out a tiny growl that was anything but intimidating as she crossed her forelegs over her chest. When she saw that her attitude wasn’t working on me, she cocked her head to the side. “Fine,” she muttered, her voice thick with resentment. “Peanut butter and jelly. No crusts!”
Seriously? Who doesn’t like the crust? Rolling my eyes, I hunted around the kitchen, pulling open cabinets and drawers with my magic. The silverware and bread were easy to find, but the most important part, the peanut butter and jelly, were a real pain to find.
Once I had everything in place, the rest was a cinch. I floated the bread by the peanut butter and jelly in an alternating pattern, making several sandwiches in a matter of seconds. I put a few on a plate for me, and two on a plate for the kid. Then I dumped the silverware in the sink and put away everything else.
Grabbing the two plates in my aura, I trotted back over to the couch and placed a plate in front of the kid. Then, I hopped up on the couch and set my plate on my stomach as I lounged there. I grabbed a sandwich in my aura and was about to take a bite when I noticed Dinky glaring at me. Not really wanting to spell anything out, I just raised an eyebrow.
Dinky rolled her eyes as she scoffed. “I said, no crusts!”
If I could have groaned, I would have. Instead, I set my sandwich down and sat up. I gave it half a mind to go back to the kitchen and get another knife, but I figured it’d just be easier to peel the crust off myself. Grabbing the edge of her bread in my magic, I painstakingly peeled back the crust, rolling it off in a single strip. I then did it for the next piece of bread, and finally on the second sandwich.
Rolling back over, I sat back and grabbed my sandwich again. Again I was just about to sink my teeth into my food when Dinky interrupted me. “Whoa! How did you do that?” she asked, poking at one of the coiled strips of bread.
I just rolled my eyes as I sank my teeth into the sandwich. Just as I finished my first sandwich, I realized that there was a small, high-pitched grunting noise. Looking over, I found the kid straining to lift her sandwich with her magic. She’d managed to get her aura around it, but judging from the way she was struggling, she wasn’t going to even come close to lifting it off the plate.
With a sigh, I flared my own horn to life, spelling out words in front of Dinky.
GIVE IT A REST
YOU ARE JUST
GONNA BURN
YOURSELF OUT
Her horn snapped off, and she looked up at me, panting. “What do you mean… burn out?”
YOU ARE PUSHING
TOO HARD AND
YOU WILL TOTALLY
RUN OUT OF MAGIC
Gulping, she looked at me, her eyes full of fear. “F-forever?”
I cocked an eyebrow. Had nopony ever worked with her on magic before? Sighing, I shook my head.
NOT FOREVER
BUT IT CAN TAKE
HOURS TO RECOVER
IF YOU PUSH TOO FAR
After reading the words, she gave a firm nod. Picking up her sandwich in her little hooves, she took a hungry bite. “Okay, but how do I know how much is too much?”
There was no way to answer a question like that. Every Unicorn just has to find their limit. And just like that, I realized my stupidity in warning her at all.
I sent her a lopsided grin.
PRACTICE
Though I expected some sarcastic retort, she just replied with a simple “Okay.”
After we’d eaten and I’d tossed the dishes in the sink, I was sure that kid was going to leave. She didn’t. Instead, she still sat there at the coffee table, making a spinning coin zip to and fro across the table with her horn. I wondered for a bit if she was just excited about being able to use her horn, or if she thought she had to stay because of what Derpy said. Truth be told, I didn’t even know what the deal was. Paying attention to what other ponies say isn’t exactly my strong suit.
Flopping back down on the couch, I watched Dinky manipulate the coin in her aura. She was pretty good. So good, in fact, that playing follow the leader wouldn’t be a challenge for her at all anymore. It would take something new to push her.
I looked around as a few fleeting ideas bounced around in my head. That’s when I saw it: a box of dominoes. My magic reached out, grabbing it and ushering the dozens of black rectangles to the table. One-by-one, I set them in place. Placing them next to each other and stacking them in three dimensions, I made a tiny city of precariously standing structures all in just a minute or two.
“Wow!” Dinky exclaimed, as she paced back and forth and leaned in and out to take it all in. “That was amazing!”
A flick of my magic, and I had a bit abuzz. To her credit, Dinky didn’t miss a beat. She grabbed her own bit and started it spinning, ready and raring to go. Without hesitating, I sent my bit through the city of dominoes, making sharp, sudden turns and coming perilously close to clipping some of the delicate columns—columns that would fold and collapse at the slightest tap.
And Dinky’s coin… Dinky’s coin followed right behind. She barely missed a beat, even as I made sudden and unpredictable moves. She was good enough to impress me. After all, she’d barely been able to spin the coin at all less than an hour ago.
So I decided to the throw a new twist in. Just to keep things interesting. After completing a serpentine through a row of dominoes, I doubled my coin back and straight for Dinky’s. Just as the coins were about to crash, Dinky’s suddenly zipped off to the side. She dodged.
Oh, it was on. I dogged her coin as she fled through the narrow avenues, but she managed to keep one step ahead of me. That’s when I decided to stop playing it easy. I maneuvered my coin into one of the domino buildings, the spinning bit just barely fitting between the rows of dominoes. The shortcut worked, and I cut Dinky off. My bit hit hers and sent it crashing into a building, causing it to crumble with the sound of a dozen clacks.
She glared up at me, far from happy that I crushed her bit. But she didn’t give up. A golden aura fished her bit from the rubble, lifting it into the air before setting again on the narrow passages between the domino buildings. And, just like that, it started to spin with an angry buzz.
Using my magic to rebuild the domino condo was a simple task. Then, I turned my sights on Dinky’s fleeing bit. I couldn’t help but smirk as I gave chase.
We played our game of cat and mouse for awhile, and Dinky even started taking shots at my bit. The little brat even managed to tag my coin a few times. She didn’t actually take my bit down until the door burst open. Had I a voice, I’d have shouted a greeting. Instead, I just stood up and gave her a smile.
Dinky didn’t share my lack of voice. “Mom! You’re home!” she exclaimed. She rushed to Derpy’s side and greeted her with a hug.
Derpy ruffled her daughter’s mane, smiling all the while. “Did you get along with Vinyl while I was gone?”
“Yeah,” Dinky replied instantly. “We were just playing spinny bits!” She raised a hoof, pointing back at the table still covered in dominoes. “I won!”
I would’ve protested, but my train of thought derailed when Derpy stepped over and reached a hoof around my neck. “Thanks,” she softly spoke in my ear. “I’m really glad you two got along.”
A bit dazed, I nodded. Finally pulling myself together, I swept everything off to the edge of the table with my aura.
DID YOUR STUDY
SESSION WITH THE
PRINCESS GO WELL?
Derpy read the words, her eyes completely coherent as they swept along. Then, she blinked and her eyes went back to being crazy. She smiled. “Mmm-hmm.” Nodding, she lifted a wing to produce the bartending book before setting it down on the coffee table. “She really helped me out, though I don’t know if I’m quite ready to actually, you know, do that.”
I chuckled silently.
YOU WILL DO FINE
HOW DID YOU SCORE
A STUDY SESSION WITH
A PRINCESS ANYWAY?
“Hmmm?” she mumbled after reading the words. “She insisted that I let her tutor me.” I’m sure my confusion must’ve been written all over my face because she elaborated. “I ran into her after we left the bar. She saw the book and got really excited. I didn’t really get it, but I guess she never saw it before and wanted to read it. But I needed it to study, so she said she’d teach me everything if I just lent it to her. So everything worked out.”
“Did you mention me to the Princess?” Dinky asked.
“Only a whole lot,” Derpy replied, smiling down at Dinky.
HEY IVE BEEN
THINKING OF HOW
TO HELP YOU OUT
AND I GOT AN IDEA
It took a second for Derpy to take her eyes off her daughter long enough to realize I was using my spell. But after she got it, she looked back to me. “An idea?”
I GOTTA RUN IT BY
RICH BUT I THINK
IT WILL HELP YOU
ARE YOU FREE
TOMORROW?
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Pretty fun and heartwarming episode. I wonder when will Dinky know about the two of them and how she'll take it
What a touching chapter.
Loved the new chapter and I eagerly await more!
For somepony who says she's not good at dealing with kids, Vinyl did a pretty good job keeping little Dinky engaged. Also I think Dinky knows more than her mom expects her too, if the distant way she treated Vinyl at first is due to the reasons I suspect.
To be honest I forgot about it, but it was a really nice suprise today.
Not sure why I get so annoyed with some other fanfictions, but I'm kind of glad about storys like this. It's not like I would dislike the other stuff, but I had my bad examples.
typo:
I licked my lips.
I always enjoy these updates. Keep 'em coming
Awwww, awesome!
hahahah, nicely done! :D
for a nice chapter i give you a cute boop
i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr289/axlthehedgehog_2008/responses/nose%20boop/i_boop_your_nose_by_beavernator-d4yh7do.png.jpeg
stayclassy
7257923
Well to be perfectly honest, I like my lips too. I am quite attached to them you see...
I wonder if how fast Dinky is progressing with her magic (even if it's just with spinning a coin) means she'll be skilled with magic when she get's better. In any case, the best way to learn anything is to make learning fun. But at least Dinky and Vinyl are getting along. I wonder if Dinky would have been as interested in Vinyl if she could actually talk.
incomplete and i wound up reading past derpy's lines.
Master Vinyl is best magic teacher.
7260000 dawww baby boop