A Long Life

by pertelote345

Paper Clip

Star Fire

I sipped at my coffee and watched Derrick and Pinkie dig through a pile of files. The reports of prison violence had just started to dribble in... Which wouldn't be on our radar except the prison happened to be Tartarus.

I shook my head. "This is crazy, what the heck does Slice think he's going to accomplish? Tartarus is a massive wasteland. He has a snowball's chance in... Well, in Tartarus to survive there without the guards bringing him provisions."

Derrick nodded. "It does seem rather ill advised... But Slice was never the most stable stallion."

I snorted. "Yeah, he makes Pinkie look sane."

"Ha!" The pink mare said. "Good one!"

I sipped at my coffee with a smirk. See, that's why I loved Pinkie, she knew how to take a joke.

Derrick of course, wasn't having any of it. "Can you two focus? We've got a lot of dead guards on our hands and a potential threat to the other inmates."

I took another chug and gave the griffon a level look. "Oh I get it, it's a problem and a big one, but we protect Equestria, not Tartarus. And the only way out of Tartarus is past Cerberus and that dog A, is as far as we can tell completely invincible and B hasn't missed a shift in centuries."

"Actually he missed a shift 160 years and 62 days ago," Pinkie added, "So not centuries, but it's pretty safe to say it's not a common occurrence."

I nodded. Go team Earth Pony.

Derrick sighed. "Okay, but if the worst happens..."

"We'll deal with it." I said, "Look Derrick I'm worried too, but we're soldiers not gaolers. We need to let the guards and the facility staff do their jobs. What are we supposed to do? Charge in there, march through a thousand miles of magic dampened, foodless, waterless wasteland and then execute the world's most dangerous starving man?"

Derrick shook his head... Though to be honest after I said it it sounded half reasonable. I sighed. "Look, We'll send word to Celestia, but we did our job for now and we're not the best people for this particular job. If the higher-ups say otherwise, we'll go there and kick Slice's ass so hard he tastes shit for a week, but this situation needs deescalation, not violence."

Pinkie nodded. "Sounds good to me! Besides, with Twilight back we have other stuff going on."

Derrick rolled his eyes. "Fine. I guess I'll just return these files then."

I finished off my coffee, tossing the paper cup into the trash. "Cool, I'll walk you to records."

Pinkie bounced behind me as we wandered out of the conference room. "I'm coming too! I want to see Derrick's reaction to the steamy new mail-stallion!"

Dirk groaned as we wandered down the halls. "Can you girls stop trying to set me up? I'm fine."

I snorted, "Says the griffon who just got a new 'toy' shipment last week."

He froze, his feathers fluffing out in shock. "Who told you about that?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What else could that unmarked box in the mail room have been? You're not the type for drugs. Oooh! Shall I assume you're selling state secrets for cash kickbacks? If so, I want a cut."

"Me too!" Said Pinkie.

He stared at the heavens. "Great spirits, what did I do to deser-? Ooof!"

The trained special forces operative bumbled into an intern carrying a stack of papers, scattering them on the floor.

After a flurry of cursing and apologies, the griffon handed the intern a pile of sorted sheaves with an apologetic smile.

"Thank you..." The stallion said. "Drat, I lost my paperclip."

"Here, take mine." He said, offering up that paperclip he'd been tucking in his feathers.

The other pony smiled. "Thank you." He took the clip and the two males stared at each other. I hadn't been paying much attention before, but I noticed that the stallion Derrick had tackled was in fact a rugged, sleek black Andalusian earth pony with that kind of perfect stubble only movie stars could pull off.

The Stallion smirked. "I'm not usually this forward, but would you let me buy you dinner as an apology?. I'm Oro by the way, Fuego de Oro.

Derrick blushed. "Uh... Derrick..." The griffon managed to squawk.

The stallion fixed his hair. "Nice to meet you Derrick. Does Saturday, 7:00 pm at 'The Happy Brothers' work for you?"

Derrick nodded, still blushing.

Oro smiled. "Very well then, it's a date." He bowed his head to us. "Ladies."

He walked off, those perfect flanks rippling with muscle as he sauntered down the hall.

Pinkie turned to Derrick. "You see! Even future Twilight thinks you need help!"

#

Chell

Spike had flown up to the high stone caves at the peak while Twilight and I made our way to the lower entrance. We could have made the flight as well, or even ridden up on Spike's, but Twilight wanted to use the washroom and the pony sized bathrooms were closer together in the lower hive.

For my part, I was extremely nervous. Introducing an in-law to your side of the family is rough at the best of times, but adding a bit of speciesism to the mix made things all the more complex.

Don't get me wrong, I knew Twilight was doing her best to give me the benefit of the doubt, but I could sense she still had a bit of anxiety directed towards me... Mind you it was hard to tell because the poor girl was a massive bundle of nerves, but when she was with me there was a distinctive bit of distrust mixed in.

"So..." She said as we made our way up to the elegant chitin doors. "How many of your... family members live here?"

I did my best not to fill in drone. "Almost all of them, although a few married out into other hives, so we just see them at the Swarms and Hearth's Warming. We're actually pretty small for a city hive, as there's only 106 of us."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "I... I see. Is there any... Etiquette I should be sure to observe?"

The subtext of how do I avoid getting eaten was clearly present. Still, I smiled. "Just be your normal, polite self and I'm sure you'll do fine dear. We're just a big loving family."

I turned the doorknob and a burst of confetti flew out. "SURPRISE!!!"

In the atrium fluttered the entire hive, wearing brightly colored party hats and grinning from ear to ear. Zax and Grell were holding up a banner that read. "Welcome Home Matron" While Brell waved a sign saying. "it's Great to Meet You Grand Matron!"

Twilight froze.

I smiled, morosely. "Sometimes they get a bit excited."

Comments

[Da Fennec]

DARN it these chapters are too short and it takes FOREVER between updates

[pertelote345]

6519879

If it makes you feel any better I'm getting a lot more into this story recently so you should see more soon.

[Crimson Dawn]

I would love to see more Pinkie and more about Pinkie in this. Seeing her future is always really interesting for me.