A Long Life

by pertelote345

A Griffon and a Princess in a Limosine

Chapter 5

Derrick

Sometimes people tell me that I have a knight in shining armor complex. Maybe they're right, but from the inside it's always felt a bit more like Grandma Rubenstein was looking over my shoulder, quietly judging my actions.

Don't get me wrong, I love my grandmother, when I first started talking about how cute Bird Pitt was she didn't bat an eye, but she had this scary psychic power to bring all of your insecurities right to the surface.

I should have been happy. On the general score-board of life, today had been fantastic. We'd recovered a lost Alicorn, we'd locked up a majorly dangerous criminal, and a bunch of my friends were coming back into town. Heck, I was in the back of a limo!

But in the limo with me was miserable, frightened pony staring at every building like it was going to try to eat her.

I twiddled my claws. I wanted to help her, but... Okay so I knew how, it was just going to be really slow.

I cleared my throat. "So... You like books?"

She blinked at me. Truly I was a master councilor.

I sighed. Time to take a leaf out of AJ's book and do the brutal honesty thing.

"Look," I began. "This sucks, I can't even imagine how crazy this must be for you, but you've gotta know we're going to do whatever we can to help."

She nodded... Then just looked back out the window.

I cringed. Okay, so being AJ apparently only worked when you were actually AJ. Unfortunately the real AJ had been in rather rough shape after the fight. Her condition wasn't critical, so we weren't all crowded around her, but the doctor who was taking care of her had had something of a maniacal gleam in her eye when she carted her off.

And then something genuinely intelligent occurred to me. "So..." I began, "Is there anything you actually want to talk about?"

She turned to me. "Where are we?"

I blinked. "Uh... Ponyville."

"What happened to...?" She shook her head. "I guess that's a dumb question."

I looked out at the nearest skyscraper and pondered my history. If AJ was any indication this place used to be tiny. Heck she claimed she used to be a Farmer. Produce company or no, I still wasn't sure I believed her about that.

"It's still a great place though," I provided lamely. "We've got great schools, a low crime rate, the best candy store on the planet... Heh... Time travel didn't stop Ponyville from being awes-."

Twilight snapped her head around. "What was that last part?!"

I blinked. "Uh... the candy store?"

"No, time travel!" Her face lit up. "All I have to do is-"

The limo started to shake. The thaum counter in my belt started beeping like crazy.

So, I'm not a special forces operative like AJ or Star Fire. But you don't stay an Element of Harmony for very long without picking up a few things.

My gun was in my claw in a second and I slammed the intercom. "Inbound magical threat! We need-"

A violent crackle came from in front of us and the car filled with blinding purple light.

A second Twilight Sparkle appeared in front of us.

"HYACINTHE!" the new Twilight Cried.

I froze. She knew the day's passcode? So she wasn't a changeling...

The original Twilight opened her mouth, only to have it snapped shut by a purple telekinetic aura.

"Shut. Up." The new Twilight said. "There is no time. As far as I can tell, Star Swirl's time travel spells come in two forms, short term reverse and long term fast forward. I'm not saying it's impossible for you to find a way to go back to that day with Spike, I'm just saying I've been here a year and I haven't found it yet. If you want a head start on your research into the subject, go to the Clover the Clever archives in the University of Canterlot and ask for Prism, she'll point you in the right direction."

"And one more thing!" she continued, "Be nice to Derrick! He's a really cool guy, there's a lot of people here who are."

That said, she pushed my gun aside (I barely even remembered I was holding it and gave me a big hug.

"Sorry I'm being so poopy right now. It's been a long day. Make sure you keep a paperclip on you, okay?"

"I... I couldn't blame you?" I ventured.

She hugged tighter. "Never change."

That said she vanished.

I touched the intercom. "False alarm... at least I'm pretty sure."

Twilight somehow managed to look even more haunted. "A year?"

Comments

[Night_Song]

This...this is interesting. Please, keep it up!

[pertelote345]

4889030
If you have suggestions for improvements don't hesitate to put them out there, I'm trying to keep leaning

[Valhuir]

4889030 Another possibility is the simple fact that a Derrick is a jib crane on a sailing ship, the tower-like framework on an oil well, and a pivoting boom for lifting cargo. Thus, he could be named after any one of those in a high-tech Equestria.

[Full-time_Introvert]

I love how the Elements of Harmony went from happy go lucky ponies to neighvy Seals.

[Wade]

Slooooooooooooowly making my way through this fic. This was a good chapter.

[Bahamuttone]

Ok just for this it gets a Thumb Up ^^