//------------------------------// // Something to Talk About // Story: Guardian // by Thule117 //------------------------------// Derran gave a slight grunt as he tossed the charred support beam he had been carrying onto a large cart. "That's the last one." He stated to the two ponies hitched to the cart stacked full with the scorched remnants of the last destroyed house in Ponyville. "Thanks mister Grandel." Said the one on the right, an earth pony stallion with a light brown coat, rust red mane, and a wagon wheel cutie mark adorning his flank. "Yeah, without you this would have taken at least three times longer." Chimed in the other, a pegasus mare with a sky blue coat, grey mane, and lumber saw cutie mark. Derran gave a slight bow. "It was my honor to be of assistance, you are certain you do not require any further aid?" "Celestia, you must be made of iron! Working all day, hauling wood and stone, barely taking a break, and you still keep asking if you can do more! I wish my kids had half your work ethic." The pegasus mare declared. "I'll say!" Agreed the stallion. "You've done more than enough today, and it's getting on toward sunset, get some rest, you've earned it and then some." Derran gave a grateful smile, and inclined his head in thanks. "Thank you for your kind words, but I will be fine. Safe travels, and I shall see you tomorrow." The two ponies returned his smile and nodded before starting off. Turning away, and heading back toward the castle Derran heard the mare's voice speak his name, and the words: such a polite stallion. Smiling to himself Derran took off at a slow walk. It really hadn't taken long for the Ponyville populace to start becoming more comfortable with him. After seeing him working with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Who it turned out were all sisters to Twilight's advisors, and seeing him eating lunch with the Princess of Friendship. Some of the ponies decided to try talking to him. After that, his unfailing politeness, kind hearted attitude, and seemingly inexhaustible work ethic, quickly endeared him to more than a few of them. By the end of his second day back in Equestria the community seemed far less apprehensive about him. "Yo Derran!" Came a familiar voice from above. "Greetings Lady Dash, something I can assist you with?" Derran responded with a glance skyward at the hovering pegasus. Rainbow laughed, at Derran's formal tone. "You really do need to learn how to loosen up a little when you talk Derran." She commented as she flew overhead, and landed next to him. "Is there something the matter with my manner of speech?" Derran asked with a faint smile. "Aw cmon you sound so stiff, and formal, you need to chillax a little. Like, try saying: 'catch you on the flip side RD'." Derran shrugged. "I shall catch you on the other side lady RD." Rainbow smiled faintly, arching an eyebrow. "Were you even trying?" Derran smirked. "Are you insinuating that I would not deign to put forth my best effort in imitating your irreverent manner of speech. Simply to achieve some minor sense of satisfaction in frustrating your efforts to teach me?" "So 'no' then." Rainbow said grinning at Derran's melodramatic tone. "Truly lady Dash, have I any need to change when you already understand me so well?" Derran asked theatrically. Rainbow laughed out loud at that. "You really are trickier than you look, aren't you?" Derran simply smiled. "Well anyway, Twilight asked me to come get you, she thought it might be cool for us to all have dinner together." Deran nodded. "Please tell milady Twilight that I would be honored, I shall be there shortly." He stated in his usual measured tone. Rainbow gave a smirk. "Care to make it a race?" She asked. Derran took note of the challenge in her voice as he answered. "How am I to outrun somepony who can fly?" "It'd be a hoof race, no wings, so whaddya say?" Derran smiled his eyes reflecting the determination he saw in Rainbow's. "Very well, on the count of three?" "Sure." Rainbow responded cooly. "One. . .two. . .THREE!" Twilight looked over the list for the dinner she had prepared one last time, trying to make certain that nothing was out of place. She wished Spike was here. He was a much better cook than she was, but he and Starlight wouldn't be returning for at least a few more days. Consulting her checklist again Twilight recited it aloud. "Bread? check. Soup? check. Main course? check. Dessert? check. Table is set, drinks are ready to pour, I think that's everything." Twilight put aside the list and thought about how surreal her life had suddenly become. Certainly she and her friends had had strange things happen to them before, but at least they had usually been pretty straightforward. Derran was almost a complete enigma though, all she really knew for certain was that he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, unless he saw you as an enemy. What little information he had given her about himself was either incredibly vague or useless due to lack of context. Twilight hoped that this dinner with Rainbow Dash, and her would create an opportunity to get the particulars of his background, including how he knew Celestia and Luna. "I'm glad Rainbow agreed to join us, this would feel way to awkward with just Derran and I." Twilight said to herself as she set the table. Just as Twilight finished her task she heard muted conversation followed by a gentle knock at the door. "Come in." She called out. The door opened to reveal Derran, as well as a flushed, and faintly panting Rainbow Dash. Twilight's eyes widened when she saw how out of breath her friend appeared. "Dash what happened, are you ok?" "Just overdid it a little, nothing I can't handle."Dash reassured, her breathing already returning to normal. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "Lady Dash, and myself had a friendly little hoof race on the way here." Derran explained. "Yeah, and Twilight you should'a seen Derran here, I didn't think anypony could move that fast without wings!" Dash interjected. "Wait," Twilight said incredulous. "you're saying. . ." "He won." Rainbow admitted, her tone showing her admiration for her opponent despite having lost. "It was a close race, and I happened to get lucky." Derran stated modestly. "Pfft, yeah right, you totally left me in the dust!" Rainbow declared giving Derran a good natured shot in the arm. "You honor me with your kind word's lady Dash." Derran stated giving a slight bow. Rainbow sighed, and shook her head. "Now we just have to figure out how to get you to loosen up when you talk." She said with a smirk. "I fear lady Dash, that this is a task even you, cannot accomplish." Derran replied with a smile, causing Rainbow to chuckle slightly. "Well," Twilight said happily. "you two seem to be getting along well." "What can I say? He really grows on you." Rainbow stated with a smile. Twilight nodded in agreement before turning to her other guest. "Derran, why don't you clean up, and get out of that armor you're wearing? The room I gave you has a shower you can use, and I made sure there were plenty of towels." "That does sound very pleasant milady, but I am afraid I have no other clothing." Derran responded. "Don't worry, just wear whatever you have on under the armor." Twilight said shrugging. "I apologize milady, I should have been clearer. I meant that I posses no clothing save for my armor." Twilight's eyes widened, as her face reddened. "So, under that armor, you're. . ." "Severely underdressed." Derran affirmed with a slight trace of embarrassment. "Wow Derran you're a lot wilder than I gave you credit for." Rainbow declared laughing, earning a look of mild disapproval from Twilight. Twilight sat at the table with Rainbow. Derran had explained it would take at least ten minutes to remove, and re-don his armor, plus fifteen minutes for the shower. That gave her, and Rainbow about thirty five minutes to talk alone. "So. . . what do you think?" Twilight asked. "I think it might be interesting to see what our new friend look's like au natural." Rainbow replied salaciously. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cried out scandalized. "Hey just sayin he's definitely caught my attention, besides it's not like we wear clothes much." "That's hardly the point!" Twilight said disapprovingly. "Oh c'mon, you can't say you're not just a little curious? Think of how jacked he must be under that armor to tear a dragon's head clean off! I bet he could give a mare a serious roll in the-" "Ok, I get it, you're attracted, can we move on?!" Twilight interrupted annoyed, her cheeks burning at the lewd images her friend's words had conjured. "Ok, ok, no need to get so uptight." Rainbow said with a wave her hoof. "Derran seems cool to me, and he treats you like, well. . .royalty. Honestly I'm more interested in why you seem so on edge with the guy?" Twilight chewed her lower lip for a moment before responding. "I don't know, it's just. . . I can't understand why if he knows Celestia and Luna I've never heard of him. I can't see him being their enemy, but if they were as close as he seemed to indicate, why didn't they tell me about him?" Rainbow shrugged as she absentmindedly balanced a spoon on her hoof. "Did you try looking in the diary that we found in their old castle, maybe there's something in that?" Twilight shook her head. "That was the first place I looked for information, but there's nothing; unless. . ." Rainbow glanced over at her friend suddenly curious. "Unless what?" Twilight glanced around conspiratorially, motioning Dash closer. Rainbow leaned in as Twilight lowered her voice. "Not long after we found the book I read it cover to cover, and there was one thing that always confused me." "What was it?" Rainbow asked still managing to keep the spoon on her hoof from falling. "There's an area in the book from about twelve hundred years ago where I saw a large number of pages had been torn out." Rainbow's eyes widened, and the spoon fell onto the table with a loud clatter. "You never told us about that, how much time was missing?" "About a year's worth, and when I asked Celestia about the missing pages, she, and Luna started acting really strange." Rainbow leaned a bit closer not wanting to miss a word of the story. "Wadd'ya mean 'strange'?" Twilight glanced at the door leading toward Derran's room before replying. "Well first they just froze, like I had just said something completely horrifying, then they tried to brush it off. They told me rats must have eaten out the pages, and that they weren't important anyway." Rainbow shrugged. "So?" Twilight shook her head. "So?! Rainbow that was the first, and as far as I know, only time Celestia and Luna ever lied to me!" Suddenly Rainbow looked skeptical. "Ok, hold up, what makes you think they were lying?" "Rainbow, the pages that were missing were torn out, rats don't do that. Second, all the book's in the castle of the two sisters are enchanted to be almost indestructible! The only way somepony could have torn out those pages, is if they did it with powerful magic!" "So you think. . ." Rainbow said, putting the pieces together. Twilight nodded. "I think Celestia, and Luna took out those pages on purpose, and for some reason they don't want anypony to know." Rainbow nodded slowly. "Maybe. . . but maybe it was just something really embarrassing that they wanted to forget, what makes you think it had to do with Derran?" Twilight shook her head. "If it was just a single embarrassing event why remove almost a year's worth of entries?" Rainbow shrugged. "Maybe it was an accident." "That might explain it, but there are a few other things that don't add up." Rainbow arched an eyebrow. "Like what?" Twilight once more lowered her voice. "Well for one thing, when Celestia was lying to me. . . Rainbow I've never seen her look so miserable. She and Luna both looked like they were struggling to hold back tears, and the pain in their eyes. . . it was horrifying." Rainbow's eyes widened slightly, but she was still a little skeptical. "Well, maybe they just really hated lying to you?" She offered, though even to her that explanation sounded incredibly weak. "I don't think so, nopony get's that bent out of shape from one lie, not even Applejack, and she both hates lies, and is terrible at telling them. Plus there's one last thing. . ." "What's that?" Rainbow asked thoroughly intrigued by this point. "Here I'll show you." Twilight said, and in a flash of light the diary of the two sisters appeared between them. Twilight opened the ancient book to a pre-marked page. The page in question was directly after an area where a large number of pages had clearly been torn out close to the binding. However the very final page must have been slightly stronger than the others because a small strip of it remained intact. The hoof writing was neat, but the ink had been blurred by a drop of liquid having fallen on the page. Nevertheless it was still possible to read the two words written there. He's gone Rainbow stared at Twilight in shock. "No way. . ." Twilight nodded. "Derran told us both that he came to Equestria once before, over a thousand years ago. The missing entries are also from over a thousand years ago. We also know Derran knew Luna, and Celestia, and that he left Equestria for some reason, again over a thousand years ago. Finally we find that the beginning of the last sentence in the missing journal entries is 'he's gone'." Rainbow nodded. "Ok, but what exactly does this tell us besides Derran probably wasn't lying about knowing Celestia and Luna?" Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. "Nothing, and that's the problem! We don't know anything, that's why I need you to help me get Derran to tell us about who he really is, and why he's here!" Twilight declared, sounding just a little hysterical. Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "So, why not just ask him?" Suddenly Twilight looked nervous. "Well it's just. . ." "Just what?" Rainbow asked after a few moments of prolonged silence from her friend. Twilight let out a heavy sigh. "I. . . I don't know." Now it was Rainbow's turn to sigh. "Look Twilight, I know Derran is kind of strange, but well. . ." Rainbow paused to think of the right words. "Twilight I think that you're overanalyzing this. I know you have a lot of questions but if that's all you focus on you're gonna miss out on how awesome a guy Derran is." Twilight balked at that. "Rainbow we know nothing about him, and with his power we need answers!" Rainbow shrugged. "Do we? Honestly Twilight, since he got here Derran has been nothing but a kind, productive member of Ponyville, what more do we need to know?" Twilight opened her mouth to reply but Rainbow cut her off. "I'm not saying we stop looking for answers, I'm just saying we give Derran a chance to tell us at his own speed, and in his own way. Instead of interrogating him, let's just treat him like the friend he seems to be." Twilight took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before replying. "You're right Rainbow, I guess I'm still a little nervous after everything that has happened. The attack by Garble, Derran's arrival, Dragon Lord Ember showing up, the repairs, and until you got back, having to do everything without my closest friends. . . It was all so overwhelming that I just started getting desperate to bring some order to the chaos. Derran was the biggest unknown in the pile, and I guess on some level I thought that understanding him would give me more control over the situation." Rainbow nodded. "Hey I hear ya, remember how I reacted when I found out Tank was hibernating?" Twilight laughed a little. "Oh I remember; what did the head of Cloudsdale's weather factory say when he found out about what you did to the machines?" Rainbow let out a raucous laugh. "I think it was: 'If I ever see you near my factory again, I'll hit you with enough lightning to make you outshine the sun!'" Rainbow replied attempting a poor impression of the angry factory head's voice. The two friends laughed together as they recalled the memory, and the image of the purple faced pegasus shouting himself hoarse at Rainbow. Wiping tears of mirth from their faces the two ponies glanced at the clock. "Well Derran should be just about done by now, so I guess I'll start serving the soup. Rainbow would you grab the bread on the hutch over there, and put it in the center of the table please?" Twilight asked rising from her seat and turning to the kitchen. Rainbow nodded gliding over to the crystallyn hutch to retrieve the woven basket containing the bread. The bread was covered in a red piece of cloth to keep it warm, but as Rainbow grabbed it, a coal black object fell out onto the floor with a CLUNK! "Uh Twilight?" Rainbow asked uncertainly. "Yes?" She asked smiling. "What is that?" Rainbow asked, hoping it wasn't what it looked like. Glancing down Twilight smiled proudly. "That's the bread I made, whaddya think?"