Stories in Stone, Luna's Royal Guard.

by TDR

Gemstone in the rough, Part 2 [6]

Stories in Stone
Luna's Royal Guard
By TDR

Gemstone in the rough.
Part 2

The next morning twenty two ponies thundered out of Dullahan Keep in full gallop. General Mustang had added a last moment addition to the mission with Sergeant Buttercup. She had some how managed to piss Colonel Claymore off even more than Jer'rahd had and the Colonel had been doing his best for the last few days to make her as miserable as possible. Mustang figured it would be a good idea to get her out of the Keep for a while until the Colonel could cool down.

The few days trek to Cincinagi was uneventful, as not even the most fool hearty of bandits and monsters wished to mess with a large group of ponies geared for war. They were welcomed at the small Guard outpost and presented with quarters in the nearly empty outpost. Cincinagi was far enough inside Equestria that anything more than a skeleton crew of Guards being posted there would be a waste and the outpost was used more for recruitment than anything else.

After checking in with the base commander Jer'rahd found the briefing was scheduled for the the next afternoon. After giving it a bit of thought Jer'rahd gave his squad a ten hour leave to enjoy the city, provided they were all back by nine the next morning and none of them got into any trouble. Even after the long run they were all eager to hit the city and he was quite sure he had just become a favorite officer to a number of them.

While he was amused at the reaction of the soldiers, he was quite ready to hit one of the local bars himself and see if there was a local brew he hadn't tried before.

He decided to simply choose the bar closest to the outpost rather than looking for the sort of out of the way dive he usually liked. The last drink he had was with with Rhede months ago. One of these days he needed to get Rhede, Starfall and maybe even Velkorn together for a drink, though he doubted his chances of getting the Zebra Queen into one of his preferred watering holes.

He had only known the zebra for a fraction of the time he knew the other two, but he found he rather missed her company as well as that weird singsong rhyming speech pattern she used. From time to time he even caught himself using it, but thankfully no one seemed to notice.

The Roaring Maticore was the tavern he wound up at thanks to some directions from a local Guard. It was a fairly high class place by his standards, not too fancy, but more the sort of place he might take a date rather than drink alone in. Still the drinks were cold, the meal was tasty, and every pony was content to leave him alone. Either they didn't recognize him or didn't care, and he was okay with both of those. He made a mental note to the thank the local guard who sent him this way as he finished up his meal, almost having forgotten what anything other than oat bars and mess hall chow tasted like. The cooks could have served him plain toast and it probably would have been a delicacy after all that.

He was far too stuffed by the end to even bother with the loaf of garlic bread that was left and decided to just nurse his ale for a while, bask in the ambiance of the place, and relax before heading back to the outpost. He made a note to return here the following night as well. Despite it's some what fancy nature of the place the prices were reasonable. It was not like he had really spent any of his pay on anything any way.

“Ah hello there, I don't suppose this seat is taken Major?”

He blinked, looking up in surprise, not able to help a shiver run up his spine at the soft tone of the voice. It was like some pony had managed to make silk and honey blend seamlessly together into a sound and then presented it to a mare to use as her voice.

And what a mare! As his gaze lifted up, his own mismatched red and green eyes met a pair of sparkling amethyst ones. She stood across the table from him making him unsure how she had managed to walk up on him with out his eyes simply being drawn to her. The lavender unicorn before him was clearly amused by the surprise he displayed, judging by the small curl of her lip hinting at a smile but trying to be polite so he didn't think she was laughing at him. Her face was framed by a darker purple mane with pinkish streaks running through it. Her spiraled horn emerged up from the the tight curls of her mane and he couldn't help let his gaze drift down to the rest of her form, briefly pausing on her flank at the collection of six pointed stars that made up her cutiemark. Her tail was loosely braided with a bit of silver and blue strings running through it that fell nearly to the floor brushing across the back of her long legs. He quickly yanked his gaze back up to her face, noting the silver and white crystal pendant dangling around her delicate neck. It was quite a struggle to keep his eyes on her face and with a glance he could tell a great many other stallions in the room didn't have that sort of self control. A tall crystal glass half filled with some liquid or another floated beside her bathed in a silver glow that also flickered around her horn The golden liquid within swirling lightly as her magic shifts the glass a little.

“What? Oh, no, no its not taken at all Miss...?” Jer'rahd stammers.

“Sparkle, Silver Sparkle.” Silver answers with a light chuckle.

He suddenly realized he had risen up to his hooves and quickly pulled the bench out for her to have a seat before clumsily sinking back down in his own chair nearly missing it and hitting the floor. Another glance around gained him quite a few angry glares from some of the other patrons of the tavern, as well as the sight of a few colt friends and husbands trying to placate their companions after they had been caught staring.

She sets her glass lightly on the table, looking him over curiously pretending not to notice the other stares or the fact he nearly fell out of his seat. He did note that she seemed to be looking him over the same as he had done to her, though he was certain he had not been even half as subtle as she was. Still he couldn't help feeling a blush forming from her appraisal of him that he did his best to stave off.

“I have been rather eager to meet you Major, since I heard about your achievements.” Silver states.

Blush averted, he sighs softly to himself sitting back in the chair a little annoyed with himself. He should have known it would be another pony out to make a name for themselves using his own fame to increase their own. Still, even expecting some offer or another from this mare, he wondered if it might be worth letting himself be used for a bit, just to stay close to her. He didn't think too much on it though, as the little dark pony in the back of his mind was still ogling her flank. He had to clear that nagging little demon out before he chose to do anything. He found that not looking directly at her was only effective if she didn't speak.

“Please Miss Sparkle, I am off duty, just call me Jer'rahd. Forgive me if I seem rude, but what is it you want? There are a number of ponies who seem to want to meet me with ulterior motives and I tend to be skeptical of random ponies intentions after a while.”

“Not one for the price of fame then?”Silver asks seemingly not even put out by the off hooved accusation.

“Like I keep telling ponies, I did what needed to be done. Any Guard would have if given the same chance. I wouldn’t have even managed it if not for the information and help from the others. For some reason I was made famous while the media can't even recall their names.”Jer'rahd snorts.

“Humble, a bit too humble to seem real however. It almost seems scripted.” Silver shrugs and effect that Jer'rahd could have sworn was seductive though he wasn't sure how he thought a shrug could be.”Either that or you don't think you deserve this recognition for some reason. You should just accept the compliments given to you.”

“Why's that? Are you planning on giving me more?”

“Perhaps.” she smiles. ”That depends on you really. I do want to clear up a few things before I decide what I am going to do. Just a few tasteless rumors I want to know the truth of,”

Jer'rahd rolls his eyes grumbling. She might be a reporter with a line like that. Still he didn't have anything else to do tonight and she clearly went to some effort for this. Still he knew what rumors she would bring up. Also with her voice he might wind up enjoying hearing them again , if for no other reason to hear her speak.

“I gather you know which rumors then.”Silver states.

“Ugh, I was waiting for them to be brought up again somewhere.” Jer'rahd mutters. “To be quaint and tactless, the barn door doesn’t swing that way, so there's the first rumor..” He notes a slight nod as well as the perking of her ears at that, granted given his reaction to her he probably could have skipped answering that one.

“As for Silphy, well that’s a long and rather painful story. I won't bore you with all the details. Simply put she was only interested in me before because she was using me to get to some one else she wanted and this time because of what I had become not who I was. It's something I tend to wonder with every mare that walks up to me out of the blue nowadays. So tell me Miss Sparkle, is an attractive female like you also only interested in me for the publicity?”

“A bit jaded as well as humble I see.” she frowns

“I have my reasons to be.” Jer'rahd nods taking another drink from his glass. He didn't really want to be rude to her, but some spite he had slipped out, still she didn't seem that put off. There was clearly something else to this.

“Well, you needn't be too snappy, I have enough fame of my own that I have no desire to accrue more of it from some one else. I merely wished to know if you were in the same situation as I am. That is, not wanting anything to do with all the baggage that comes with being famous.

“I mean no offense, but I have not heard of your name being mentioned any where before.”Jer'rahd admits.

“We tend to exist in different circles of ponies Major, suffice to say if I so much as sneeze wrong in a place with the media they are all over it with some insane story or another.” Silver grumbles, some how managing to make that bit of annoyance in her expression adorable.

“I know that feeling, So does another friend of mine. At least she can out fly them to get away.” Jer'rahd chuckles lightly.

“You mean Wing Commander Starfall I assume? Hmm I don't suppose you two are a thing as has been rumored?”

“No, she's a friend. I went though basic training with her and we served at the same outpost during the Bone Hound rebellion. Nothing more than that.”Jer'rahd perks his ears looking at the edge of the table.

“Well fame is not all bad. Sometimes you do meet interesting ponies.” Silver smiles.

“I do agree with that. It's not completely bad. As a side note Miss Silver, do you realize there is a little dragon trying to steal your drink?” Jer'rahd deadpans.

Silver Sparkle's eyes widen at that and she quickly looks down as the claw holding the glass vanishes under the table. Her magic flares and she pulls a little bundle of green scales and wings out from under the table holding it in the air before her. She glares angrily at the small dragon who grins wide, downs the glass of wine and then tosses the crystal glass into it's mouth munching on it happily it's tail wagging.

“Bleu!!” Silver hisses.

“Hey, if I’m gonna get in trouble for something, might as go all the way right?” The dragonling chuckles.

“Excuse us major. I need to have a rather strong word or two with some one...” Silver growls moving away from the table and to an empty booth at the end of the bar.

Jer'rahd chuckles a little as the pair start discussing something he couldn't make out. He expected Silver had placed a muting spell over the pair of them because the dragonling didn't seem to be trying to whisper.

Still by her tone before she wandered off she didn't seem thrilled with the dragonling. Dragons were rare in Equestria, particularly after the war. Most were content to stay out of pony lands. Occasionally there would be an ambassador here and there or a merchant, but most of the dragons, particularly small ones, were students of Princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. Given that they seemed rather familiar with one another, despite Silver's annoyance, he expected that the little dragon was her partner. This worried him a little, only powerful spell casters could hatch the dragon egg as part of the test to enter the school. Nearly all unicorns took at least the first part of the test at some point in their lives. His grandparents were not too thrilled when his parents signed him up for it for some reason, though he never even made it past the first part of the testing to even try and rose an egg.

Most of the dragons, or dragonlings as they were called, stayed with their partners until their partners died. After that the ones that didn't die of grief or kill themselves were sent to the Dragon Empire, some sort of deal involving the eggs he wasn't sure of the full details really. He had heard of it happening once after the dragonlings partner had been killed in an accident. The dragon had gone on a rampage destroying anything that even came near it's partner. It took most of the Guard and a number of full grown dragons to calm the grief stricken creature down long enough to recover the body.

He was some what curious though how the dragonling had the name of Bleu when it was green scaled with purple spines and bright green eyes. Something seemed off about them both to be honest and he couldn't quite put his hoof on it.

Still if she was a skilled caster it might explain a few things like why she was almost supernaturally attractive. Granted her voice coupled with her darker coloration would have been attractive to him even if she was an earth pony. That noted maybe it wasn't any sort of magical charm any way, at least nothing every other mare in Equss didn't have.

He studied the two of them as they bickered and realized most of his attention was directed towards the rather shapely flank of the purple mare. She wasn't wearing anything beyond that necklace and the way her tail was whipping.....

He shut his eyes quickly and perked his ears up a little hoping to hear the conversation through the muffled spell while he wasn't distracted. It only helped a little as he could see her rear on the backs of his eyelids at this point.

“....on't care, I told you to stay at home Bleu.” Silver growls, her voice still faint , though he could make out most of her words now.

“Pffft like that was every gonna happen. I watched you all get made up and giddy to come see this pony and you think I was gonna stay in place like a good little dragon? I'm not a good little dragon even when I’m not insanely curious as to who my sister is running off in the middle of the night to see.”

“Bleu, I did not want you to be a embarrassment or a distraction or a .....”

“...Or a cock blocker....” Bleu mimics Silvers voice almost perfectly.

“Or a co.....”Silver catches herself. “That isn't...... see that... that is what I am talking about. You are being a bother and a nuisance like this. You always do this.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I thought I was supposed to be your assistant not your burden.” Bleu whines.

“I didn't mean it like that and you know it. “ Silver huffs.”Stop trying to be offended by something I say when you are the one in the wrong here. As I told you before I am trying to figure out if I was correct about him and you appearing is not going to help me figure that out, only give him more questions I don't want yet.

“Well, hes got the looks I suppose, no chance hes gonna appear in Playfilly any time soon but hes got that rustic solider thing down pat. I didn't think you were into that. Better be careful then or he'll figure it out if he's got any brains, and can get past the fact you flash him every time you whip your tail.” Bleu explains.

There is only so much self control one stallion can have and hearing that Jer'rahd couldn't help open at least one eye to glance over to where they were standing. Instead of getting another glimpse of Silvers near perfect rump he instead was greeted to the sight of a dragonling a hairs breadth from his face staring at him..

Letting out a rather undignified yelp Jer'rahd tumbles backwards, crashing the floor as he falls out of his seat.

“Yep, he was listening. And this proves he's straight too, win win for me!“ Bleu shouts.

“Delightful, yes thank you for that Bleu. Do you have any other plans to embarrass me tonight or are you winging it as usual?” Silver growls her lavender face tinged in red as she tries not to look at the gray unicorn pulling himself up from the floor.

The green scaled and purple sniped dragonling laughs stretching herself out on the table, her serpentine form moving like a house cats before she sat back on her haunches in the middle of the table where Jer'rahd finally got good look at her. She had a pair of small nub horns sprouting from her temples and a row of rounded spines going down her back. Her face was a bit more rounded than it likely would be when she was an adult , though her mouth was fairly wide and filled with sharp teeth. Her thin tail whipped across the table as she regards him, a pair of what seemed to be over sized wings flared from her back with a flourish and a bit of an up draft as she looks back at Silver.

“Oh I’m winging it of course.” Bleu looks at Jer'rahd. “ Get it? Winging it cause of the wings.....?”

“I'm sure he got it Bleu, but like most of us I’m sure he didn't find it funny.” Silver grumbles moving back to the table.

“Oh come on that was gold.”

“Puns are not gold......” Silver protests.

“Says you.... I horde them for a reason....”

“Because they are horadable.... oh by the stars you have me doing it.....” slapping her face with a hoof as Bleu laughs.

Jer'rahd rolls his eyes. “I'm starting to feel like a piece of furniture here with all this talking around me. Now before some one comes and tries to dust me , would you mind explaining where the dragon came from Silver?”

“Well when a mommy dragon and a daddy dragon love each other very much..... AKKKK!” Bleu begins though a yank on her tail by the still flushed Silver cut that rant short.

“That is NOT what he wanted to ask what he wanted to know is why you are here with me!” Silver growls.

“Oh that, well boss lady was looking for some well hung stud to take back home and BLARRGLE!” Bleu blurts out only to be interrupted by a beet red Silver shoving the hunk of garlic bread he hadn't eaten into the dragonlings mouth possibly attempting to choke her.

Jer'rahd leans back a little as Silver snorts in rage, her hair some how having gotten mussed up enough to be sticking out at odd angles.

“Shut up Bleu.....” she growls

“Ummmm.” Jer'rahd begins.

“Nothing, she said nothing, its just gotten far past her bedtime and we really should get going. I suppose I will see you tomorrow Major.”

“What?” Jer'rahd stammers.

The dragonling gasped having spit out, or swallowed most of the bread. She flails gasping for air and trying to get away from silver who seemed to be looking for something else to gag the lizard with.

“ Ahh, cough, boss lady, err your yah know, Silver?.” Bleu gasps before being choked off by another chunk of bread snatched from a nearby table.

“Oh right, I see. Umm, I mean if you want t meet again tomorrow I can come back here if you like.“ Silver stammers

“I would like that. You have definitely raised a good many questions.” Jer'rahd responds.

“Bet that's not the only thing she raised , Huh? solider colt? Ehh, Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more!?”Bleu blurts out making both of the ponies faces turn red.

“Gaaaah!” Silver cries out grabbing the dragonling in her magic and rushing away from the table and out the door. The little green lizard blowing kisses to all the bar's patrons as she was rushed out.

Jer'rahd watches them leave then meets the stares of a number of the bar patrons showing everything from disgust, to jealousy, to amusement. His gaze drops t the mess on his table and then to his empty ale mug with a dragon sized bite taken out of the crystal tankard. He shakes his head slightly wondering what that was all about any way, before he lifts as hoof to the bar tender.

“Check please.”

============================================================

The next day brought one of the Guards most well known past times, 'hurry up and wait.' The group of the 42nd and 8th that was with him all filed into a briefing room in the Guard outpost. None of them were too thrilled to be waiting around in the sterile gray room, particularly after the night of freedom they had previously. The conversations were hesitant at first with an officer present, but after the first hour most of them were comfortable enough that they started to act like he or Sergeant Buttercup were not even there. Buttercup told them to quiet down a bit when they got too loud, but other wise neither of them stopped the troops from talking.

Some of the conversations were the usual, 'I met this mare/stallion,' affair though some of them started talking about the ESO tour and the acts it had. One earth pony stallion was particularly focused on the singer Platinum having claimed to have been to all her shows since all the way back to when she first started under a different stage name. Of course a number of them challenged this by tossing a number of questions at the colt trying to get him to get one wrong. Some of the questions answered were borderline stalkerish from the fan colt, still it was something that was more interesting to listen too than the usual who got laid the most nonsense that tended to feature heavily in soldier’s down time after a night out.

By the second hour nearly all of them seemed to have forgotten he was even there with how wild some stories and complaints were. Even Buttercup gave up trying to get them to quiet down seeming to hope the noise would get who ever was in charge out here quicker. Jer'rahd was fine with that as he still wasn't sure he even deserved the ranking he had so he wasn't comfortable telling any one what to do unless he had to. It may also have had something to do with the fact he was stuck in the room same as them, usually officers were briefed first, separate from the rank and file and much more quickly. It was one perk of rank he didn't mind at all.

Still despite the wealth of interesting information about the ESO and Platinum in particular, he was getting restless, the briefing was supposed to have started an hour ago.

The officer in charge finally burst in, his wings wide holding stacks of paperwork and pens, his saddlebags were filled to the brim with more books and even a few in his mouth. Despite the harried state of his documents his white mane and tail were immaculate almost seeming silver. The rest of his coat glistened as well as if he had just shampooed and conditioned the russet colored fur and was just out of the shower. His cutie mark looked like some sort of golden scepter,at least what Jer'rahd could see of it poking out of the newly ironed dress uniform he wore. Jer'rahd would bet money this was some nobles son given how clean and well groomed he was, he would also bet that doing all that was why the lieutenant was late.

Another pony entered along with him. A mauve pegasus with sky blue hair who was dressed in a rather smart gray pinstriped suit and had a pair of saddlebags that looked like some expensive name brand or another. He seemed some what disinterested in the struggles of the other pegasus before scanning the group and settling his blue eyed gaze on Jer'rahd. Judging by the ESO logo pin on his lapel Jer'rahd assumed this one was a civilian.

The lieutenant finally seemed to get his stuff together long enough to look out at the group of Guards still talking to one another, if in slightly more hushed tones and developed a rather sour expression.

“What is this? Is this what counts as chain of command in the 8th? When a officer enters a room you jump to attention, grunts.” the pegasus fusses.

Sergeant Buttercup snapped back in annoyance not even waiting for Jer'rahd to respond.

“While that is the case Lieutenant, it's not done when there is a superior officer present who has already called at ease. You should be the one jumping to attention in his presence, Sir.”

The Lieutenant whirled to stare at Buttercup about to start yelling when he noticed Jer'rahd sitting next to her and more importantly, the rank of Major pinned to his uniform. Jer'rahd could swear the pony turned fully white and nearly choked to death on his own words. Jer'rahd glanced briefly to Sergeant Buttercup, who seemed to be enjoying Jer'rahd's rank more than he was before he looked back at the lieutenant as the pony dropped some of his papers again as he snapped to attention.

“M..m..m.... Major … Major Kaisur, sir, what … what are you doing here this was supposed to be a troop briefing.”

“At ease. This was where I was told to come yesterday when we arrived. There was nothing said about an officer briefing being separate.”

“But there was not supposed to be any superior officers in this unit, just enlisted...... “ the lieutenant rambles on.

The civilian cut off the stammering officer with a wave of his hoof before speaking, his voice was smooth, almost snakelike in the ease is slipped from his lips. This one was a lawyer pure and simple.

“It is quite alright, Lieutenant Scepter. Major Kaisur here was a last moment addition to the selected team, a personal request by our VIP. Will this be a problem for either of you?” the lawyer questions

“I go where I am told by my unit commander, so long as the Lieutenant gets on with it and there's no more delays I’m fine with staying put.” Jer'rahd explains sending the Lieutenant into another fit of snatching papers as he tries to hurry.

“Of course sir sorry sir. I really do apologize sir....”

“LT....... get on with it.” Jer'rahd sighs.

“Right right getting on with it sir. “ He clears his throat as if to announce the briefing had begun , though every pony had already shut up at the first exchange. “I will try to make this as brief as possible. The mission briefing is as follows. This is a personal request from the Equestrian Service Organization, hereafter refereed to as the ESO for a Guard unit to act as escort to Dullahan Keep, the first stop on the current tour. Due to the rise of bandits and other attacks in the area of The Wall, the ESO feels some protection for their performers and crew are warranted. While under normal circumstances the Guard is not responsible for personal civilian protection, this has been deemed a special case by our superiors and adjustments have been made. This is why you all are here. When the ESO moves from Dullahan this unit will accompany them until they reach Canterlot for their next performance before they return to their normal duties. Mr. Puff was there anything you wished to add?”

Jer'rahd raised a brow at the rapid fire, no nonsense, straight to the point, and quick speech. There might be some hope for this pony after all.

“Actually Lieutenant Scepter you just covered nearly everything I was to say. I will admit there was a great deal of discussion about canceling this show outright. Generally we don't like sending our performers into area's of danger. There were a number of important ponies however who said this needed to happen and they arraigned for all of you to be here. On behalf of the ESO I would like to thank all of you soldiers for your hard work and let you know that we appreciate the work you do protecting Equestria and apologize for adding to your work load with this escort. We sincerely hope that you enjoy the effort we put into the show, for those of you on this escort detail not only will you be guaranteed to see the show , but the performers will sign autographs for each of you as you like... within reason of course. We don't want a repeat of that time some fan asked Platinum to sign his flank......” Mr. Puff trails off his eyes narrowing as he stares at some on in the group and Jer'rahd could hear the fan colt slide down in his chair further under the glare.

“We have also arraigned to have you all granted leave for the two weeks it will take us to get everything ready to leave. That is if Major Kaisur has no problems with that.”

Jer'rahd's ears droop feeling every eye in the room suddenly focused on him. He could tell the entire squad was trying to give him the biggest puppy dog eyed faces they could in an effort to sway his decision. He risked a glance over to Buttercup and regretted it as the mare was doing the same thing as the others.

“So long as no pony does anything stupid and every one reports back in for roll every day. No, I do not have a problem.”Jer'rahd states.

The resounding cheers at that comment shook the room and Jer'rahd couldn't help smirk at the response.

“Well that went over well. Major if I might have a word with you once this is over?” Mr Puff asks.

“Of course.”

==============================================

There really wasn't much to say beyond a few minor details of the route and a bit of paper work. There would be a squad of civilian pullers assigned to the wagons the escort detail only had to watch out for threats. Jer'rahd wondered briefly if General Mustang sent him on this detail knowing caravan duty was his primary task during the the fight with the Bone Hounds. The route wasn't a direct shot, though it swung wide to take a safer path that would add a few days to the travel time. Jer'rahd was a little worried about that, but General Mustang hadn't given him a set time to be back. It was also set to be a straight trip with only two stops along the way to rest. He wished he had known about this so he could have ponies check the areas out a little earlier, but he could always send a scout patrol ahead by a few hours. The few pegasi on his team could cover more ground a great deal faster than the others could. Still he had a few weeks to go over the route as well as send a message to General Mustang.

More importantly, it gave him a few weeks to try and figure out the strange unicorn mare and her partner. Thoughts and theories about those two had been nagging him all day.

He easily found his way back to the same bar again that night, arriving a little earlier than he did the night before, despite a few of his squad trying to get him to come out for drinks with them. One of the bars they suggested seemed right up his ally in terms of what he liked , but he had a 'date' to keep.

Unfortunately since he seemed to be stuck in the mindset that it was sort of maybe a date, he left his armor at the out post, though as always he brought his grandfathers sword strapped into it's harness. He sighs looking at himself in the mirror, fidgeting with his mane and tail a bit , though there wasn't much he could do about it with as short as he preferred it cut. He wasn't sure why he bothered as Silver seemed not to have any issue with how he looked last night, at least if her reaction to Bleu's comments was any indication.

Silver had wanted to be inconspicuous it seemed and he was fine with that. He took a spot in the back of the tavern , near where he was before though more out of sight of the rest of the place and settled in with a ale to wait.

After a few hours of nothing he was starting to believe he had imagined every thing from the previous night, only the glare the bar tender gave him and the claw marks on the table he had been seated at before showed it was real. Still one could only wait so long and it was nearing the time when he had left the previous night. He rose from the table figuring he could place an order of food to go and wait a few more moments before heading back to base, give her at least a little more time.

He didn't even make it all the way out of his seat when he spotted her again. Her ears perked and she sighed with relief at seeing him quickly making her way across the room towards him as he settled back down.

“I was starting to believe I had a few to many drinks last night and dreamed everything.” Jer'rahd chuckles.

“ Wow. Missing me already?” Silver smiles.

“Just happy that the meeting was not just a pleasant dream.” Jer'rahd responds.

“Oh? I'm your dream mare huh? Are you always such a suave talker?” Silver laughs slipping into the seat across from him.

“Only to the mysterious beautiful mares who show up and shove a loaf of bread down a dragons throat.” Jer'rahd snarks. “You cannot pay for that sort of entertainment.”

She snorts a bit in annoyance, the faint glare and pout clearly meant to show she was annoyed , but it still only made her look cute.

“Yes I’m so glad we amuse you. Clearly that is what we were here for....” she glares at him and he does his best to try and not snicker at the expression she was making , though she broke first with a small laugh.“I do apologize for all that, she's been like that since she hatched. So where were we any way?”

“Aside from you grilling me for answers we didn't get very far. It was actually your friend that stopped me from leaving. Pretty mare or not, I’m not a fan of being kept in the dark. I'm even less a fan of some pony evidently trying to puzzle out how to use me for her own ends.”Jer'rahd sighs.” You've asked a lot of questions but I still have no idea who you are aside from a student of Princess Celestia's School.”

“Hmm, understandable, but do you always make yourself up for an interrogation?” Silver smirks.

Jer'rahd blushes rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. “ Well I did mention the pretty mare part …...”

She laughs lightly the sound almost musical. “I am sorry , you're right. I haven't really been forthcoming on a number of things, though I wanted to be sure about a few things first.”

“Like?”

“Not all ponies act the same way to fame, the majority fall into two groups. Some let it be their whole reason for being, doing everything they can to remain in the lime light all the time. Others use it to their own advantage as much as possible either to gain bits, eye candy, or power. There are exceptions of course, but usually even a pony who only knows some one famous winds up being one of those two groups. I wanted to find out which group you belonged to.”

“I think I understand a little. So which one is it?”Jer'rahd blinks rather curious where she was going.

“You seem to be one of the exceptions. You were made famous from your own work and want nothing to do with it. You've used it to your advantage a few times though mostly you simply want to be left alone. You are almost too humble to be true.”

“There's a story behind that, that I’m not at liberty to actually tell by Princess Luna's order.” Jer'rahd grumbles. “ But you are spot on that I don't want anything to do with it. Why did you need to know this?”

She slips into the seat across from him finally giving him a rather nice, if brief view of the five pointed star on her flank before she speaks again.

“ We all have our secrets, don't worry about it. As I said last night Major, I have enough of my own fame I don't want more. I have however read about you and you did catch my interest, I have read of a number of your exploits which only made me a little more interested.”

“So you are only interested in me because I became famous and don't like it?”

“And you only are still talking to me because I’m pretty and have a dragon?”

“Right, I’ll shut up now.”

She rolls her eyes. “Look from what I read about you I wanted to get to know you better and see if you were real, to be honest. I wanted to see if you might be something I might like in pony. Aside from the snarkiness and distrust, I still find you interesting Major.”

“Jer'rahd.”

“Hmm?”

“Call me Jer'rahd Miss Sparkle. Particularly if you are attempting to ask me out like I think you are. Though I might be reading that wrong.”

She turns a bit red and shakes her head.” No no... Bleu said I should have been more direct , but that is it right there. You are very astute Maj.... Jer'rahd.”

“Thank you Miss Sparkle.”

“Call me Silver.”

The rest of the evening went by fairly fast. Primarily however most of the conversation was centered around him, not because he wanted it to be , but because most of the questions he directed to her were met with short answers, or unskilled misdirection. He was a little annoyed by her lack of trust in trying to hide things from him, but she opened up on a number of other things not related to her job that left him more confused than angry. Every pony had secrets, though most were not as obvious about what they were hiding as she was, clearly she wasn't used to concealing it, so that made him feel a little better .

The discussion unfortunately turned to Silphy at one point, despite his not wanting to think about it,he still found himself coerced into talking about it. Strangely he found that Silver took his side of things in it, she seemed to have a bit of difficulty wrapping her head around why Silphy went to all the trouble of using him to get to some one else who she probably could have gone after to begin with without any effort. Of course she did point out that the tabloid papers had a number of their own theories and several had interviewed Silphy. This bit of information did little but sour his mood some.

Moving past that she asked about his job as a Guard. He reluctantly started to tell her though the more he talked the easier it became and the more he enjoyed her rapt attention to it and the detail oriented questions she asked. There were of course things he had to leave out due to orders, and she already knew everything that was public about the Zebralands conflict.

She seemed rather enamored with the idea that he liked his job, defending Equestria from threats and protecting ponies,who often didn't even realize it. Often times it was better that they didn't know, as a number of things that needed to be done sometimes would be enough to make a normal ponies stomach curl.

Before he had to explain that he decided to shift the focus a little.

“So you said you and Bleu are partners. I assume that means you are ESO as well?” Jer'rahd asks taking a sip of wine and gauging her reaction. It went exactly like he expected.

“Wha what? How did you know that...?” Silver stammers.

“A friend of mine saw a show she did in Camp Geode. There's a few things different about the description though the name and how she acts are perfect matches, the rest I can attribute to Starfall probably being pushed back far enough to not see the stage. I was looking forward to seeing the show with someone who could make Starfall laugh.”

“Gah, you recognized Bleu... I told her to stay home. Seems she was right you weren’t staring at my flank....” Silver sighs.

“Just.” Jer'rahd mutters around his glass.

“What?”

“I wasn't JUST, staring at your flank.” he admits getting a small blush from her.

“I know I wanted honesty but that might be a bit too honest.” Silver smirks.

“So is that the big secret? Your part of Bleu's comedy act? She does call you boss after all.” Jer'rahd continues trying not to meet her gaze after his own admittance.

“What...? Oh yes right that's it... well not the boss part, that's all Bleu, I have no idea why she does it, she used to call me Sis and then when we started working together it became Boss.”

“So she's a bit of a strange one. So why try to hide this, it's not terribly shocking or even something you have a reason to hide.”

“Yes well the ESO is kinda a big thing around here since Cincinagi is where it started. Anyone involved with the show is kinda a instant celebrity. No matter what their job is.” Silver sighs seeming relieved , though Jer'rahd got the impression something was still not right.” Still , I hope you're not disappointed.”

“In what way?”

“The fact I am not some super famous pony, like Platinum.”

“I'd not really considered that. It's just been interesting to talk to you like this. I really don't care about the fame and truth be told I’m not even sure what Platinum looks or sounds like. I never even knew she existed until I got to Dullahan.” Jer'rahd shrugs getting a look of disbelief from Silver.” Don't give me that look, do I really seem like the kind of pony who knows anything at all about the music scene?”

“No I suppose not, though that might be a crush to her ego if some famous Guard doesn't know her.” Silver smiles.

“She'll get over it. It's not really my concern what others think most of the time.” Jer'rahd droops his ears a bit. “ That said , I am rather glad you don't seem to have a problem with what I do....”

“Oh? Well you are a good stallion Jer'rahd . I don't know why any one would have issue with what you do for a living.”

“And you are a interesting and lovely mare, why should I be disappointed that you are not some one else?” Jer'rahd finishes.

She flushed deeply but seemed bothered by something and did not raise her beautiful eyes back to meet his gaze.

“ I…... It is getting late. Shall we meet again tomorrow Jer'rahd?” Silver sighs. ” I will try to get here a little earlier than I did tonight.”

“Of course Miss Sparkle.”

“Hey no fair, you got me to stop calling you Major, you need to call me Silver, like I said. “

“As you wish Miss Silver.”

Her ears flatten as she glares at the grinning gray unicorn before her.“...... OK, close enough, for now. Till tomorrow then.”

He grinned wider watching her walk out along with nearly every other stallion in the bar and a few of the mares. He had just spent the evening chatting with a mare that looked that good and was interested in him. Perhaps he should rethink his whole resistance to being famous.

“I recognize that grin, classic hate to see you go, but love watching you leave.”states a voice from nearby.

Jer'rahd looked around quickly, finally looking upwards after the bartender met his searching gaze and pointed a hoof up. A small red dragonling swung idly from one of the ceiling beams staring down at him.

“Who are you?” Jer'rahd questions.

“Aww forgot me already? Well I suppose yesterday I had a loaf of bread stuffed halfway down my throat. I was green too I think. Or was it purple.”

The dragonling drops to the table sitting down and curling her long tail about her legs before reaching over and snatching up the crystal glass Silver had been drinking from and crunching happily on it, much to the annoyance of the bartender. Her scales were red with orange spikes that seemed to glow with a inner fire. Still the attitude and voice gave her away.

“Bleu?”

“Got it in one, give the pony a prize, Ron tell him what he's won.” Bleu's voice deepens a bit .” NOTHING!!!”

“Who's Ron?”

“Don't worry about it solider colt. So what did the coloration slow up the guessing?” Bleu grins

“Yes considerably, particularly since you were green and purple yesterday. What are you doing here anyway? Miss Silver just left.” Jer'rahd sighs not sure how to deal with the dragon.

“OK, green and purple need to remember that, combination sounds really cute. Yeah, I know shes gone that's why I'm here. Didn't want to have to choke on wheat grain again, tasty to eat not so tasty to try and breath.” the dragonling shrugs before leaning closer to him her eyes narrowing. ”You do realize she hasn’t stopped babbling about you since she first read about you. You know by now most ponies would have considered her a stalker, lucky shes so good looking ehh? Pity shes got to resort this old storybook crap though.”

“Really she does?” Jer'rahd asks before his brain catches up to the fast talking dragon's words “What are you talking about, story book crap?”

“Hmm? Oh I mean this delightfully clique trick shes pulling. Right out of a old romance novel it is. Will the heroine find true love or will the love she seeks forever elude her due to her fame? Will the handsome …..mmm well, will the fairly decent looking stallion ever figure it out? “Bleu continues ignoring Jer'rahd's protests about that last part.” Will her partner pull out her own spines in frustration? Will that stupid Timmy kid stop falling down wells?”

“I was sort of with you till the last part.” Jer'rahd sighs.

“That’s the problem with comedy Major, sometimes the jokes fall flat. Best chance you have of pleasing everyone is make them quick, fast, and rapid. The censors can't catch half of the dirty ones at that rate either, we are rated E after all.” Bleu rambles “ OK here's the deal. You seem a nice enough stallion so I will put this out here easy enough that even some pony with head trauma can understand.. Boss lady is a sister to me, you hurt her, I rip off you doodad and feed it to you with a side of beets got it?”

“Well that was blunt.” Jer'rahd responds, not really threatened, but amused that Bleu would be doing this regardless.

“Sometimes I need to be, cause subtle doesn't always work. I can tell you like talking to her, and I only hope its not just for her plot. I mean, I like a nice rear as much as the next color changing dragon thing, but boss lady needs more than some fling after some of the crap she's dealt with.”

“I'm not Rhede.”

“OK, now you have me saying 'what', stop throwing me off I’m supposed to be running this conversation here.” Bleu rants.

“A fiend of mine, he.... never mind. Just know I don't do flings. And for right now,while the two of you are enjoyable company, you have me on edge with the secrets. I don't like that. Every little thing I find out just raises more questions.”

“She does that out of necessity. Well more like a bit of romantic nonsense, and past trauma. I gather you already know who I am then?” Bleu sighs seeming to be annoyed with it as he was.

“Maybe, a friend of mine caught your show for Camp Geode on the Diamond Dog border. I was told you were blue however.”

“I am Bleu … oh right the color. That’s generally how I preform, otherwise I don't stay on any color as that would get dull. Bleu is my name not my coloration, most of the time.“

“I also thought you would be a bit bigger.”

“Bigger is never a issue, getting this small however, that took me years.” Bleu states changing in size suddenly to be slightly larger than Jer'rahd was. The table creaks in protest as she fans her wings a little , her scales changing to brilliant blue with her spines tinged a slightly brighter electric blue. Just as quickly as she changed she was back to the tiny red form. “ Any way you got the warning, but for being such a good sport about it, I leave this hint to bug and harass you, cause I’m a jerk like that. Silver Sparkle was her first stage name. Now you might have a hint, but its so vague you'll never get it since she only used it once. Oh, I am clever, I told him with out telling him HAHAHHAHAHA. She can't blame me now.”

He blinked a moment at that.

“Her first stage name?” Jer'rahd asks.

“Yup.”

He smiles, the bits falling into place. He grins at the dragonling who seems oblivious to his knowing grin.

“So do you think she was going to tell me she's Platinum any time soon, or wait until we were on the road?”

“ Never gonna get.. wha!?! GAK! What?” Bleu whips around staring at him in shock.”How? … I told you to stop surprising me, how did you figure that out? She hasn't used Silver since before she hatched me!?”

“One of my squad is a massive Platinum fan. He ranted trivia about her all morning while we were waiting for a briefing. When you're sitting around waiting for military progress anything becomes interesting. It is a little bit worrying he knows the length of her tail down to each individual hair , but your hint kinda gave it up. Sorry.”

“Creepy. Trust a die hard fan to remember that though. Cursed fan colts.” Bleu smacks her head on the table. “ So you figured it out then whatcha gonna do about it. Better still, you're not gonna tell her I gave that hint?” Bleu looks at him trying the sad puppy dog eyes look, she was much better at it than his troops.

“Nothing. And no.” Jer'rahd finally states.

“Oh?”The little dragons gaze lifts as Jer'rahd stands shaking his head, his short sandy colored mane whipping a little.

“It's her choice if she wants to tell me or not. In case you haven’t been paying attention, I'm not that good in dealing with females I'm interested in. At best I can speak to them like I would any one else provided my eyes can remain where they are supposed to. I tend to let them take lead with what they want and hope they bother to tell me.”

“Woo, the big bad war ponies a sub.“

“That is NOT what I meant. All I mean is she came to me in secret, i guess to find out more about me with out having me freak out at who she was. Not that I would as I had no idea who she was any way , but that's not the point.” Jer'rahd sighs. “Never mind. Shouldn't you be getting back before she notices you're gone? I need to be getting back to the base myself.”

“Wha crap … yeah your right.” Bleu fans her wings pausing a moment and hopping up onto Jer'rahd's back as he heads to the door to pay the tab and leave. “One last thing for promising not to tell her about my hint. Violets. There’s a reason she chooses a purple disguise.”

“Thank you, have a good night Bleu.” Jer'rahd states stepping out side, feeling Bleu launch from his back to hover over him.

“It would be a better night if I could find a nice male some where with a big .. well you know.....” Bleu rambles.

“Yes, well I will pretend I do not know what you mean. For the sake of my sanity.”

“Hey I'm not as young as I look you know. I got needs too.”

“Go home Bleu.” Jer'rahd sighs heading out the door himself.

Author's Note:

Given the new size of this already massive chapter i decided to split it into 3 parts

Comments

[Balancer]

it's like coming back to an old friend, seeing Mustang again and feeling the liquid hate flow through me.

[NewKerbalEmpire]

Bleu is going to be great, I can feel it!

[jwizard]

5466706

I would question that, except that you sound like you have either read both this one and its sequel, or did the eternally dub jwizard thing and read the sequel first.

I can relate, except that I don't hate Mustang as much as I do Claymore.

[TDR]

5466706
In either case if people hate the villians i am writeing them correctly

[Tali_The_Lamia]

Silver Sparkle?

Im sensing an ancestor of Twilight, or im just crazy.

And I guess the whole story is en medias res