Caretaker

by Zauberelefant

Chapter 5

"Stealthily like a panther waiting to strike Daring Do peeked out of the bush she was hiding in, waiting for the perfect moment to leap at the guard in front of her."

"Anon, what's a panther?", Derpy asks as she looks up at you.

"It's a big cat", you explain, gesturing with your hands to emphasize the size, "like a tiger but all black."

You don't think your explanation was all that good, but Derpy still seems to hang on your every word. She's so easily drawn in.

Daring Do is not the only book series Twilight has been recommending, but it's definitely the one that Twilight has been recommending the most, and considering that even someone like Rainbow Dash could like it you figured that Derpy might like it too. Also the first part of the series happened to be right there on top of the stack of books Twilight is reading right now so it was pretty convenient.

Though it's not quite your cup of tea, you can't deny that it's well written and manages to deliver genuine tension. Derpy seems to be pretty into it.

"Anon, continue reading already!", she complains in response to you getting lost in thought.

Although it turned out she is actually able to read herself, Derpy doesn't seem to be very good at it, so right now you're the one reading the story out loud for her while she's leaning against the side of your body, peering into the book as she hugs your arm.

"The guard looked pretty tough, twice the height she was and wielding a razor-sharp spear in his powerful grip, but Daring was sure that with the element of surprise and a swift blow to the head she would be able to knock him out before he could call for help. Just as her luck would have it though the guard didn't get near enough for the experienced adventurer to unleash her fabled Thousand Hooves of Fury Technique upon her unsuspecting victim. However, just as she thought she'd have to look for another way inside the guard stretched and yawned, leaning against the wall in a way that left his back widely exposed towards Daring. This was her chance. Silent as a shadow Daring Do crawled out of her hiding spot, inching ever closer to her target."

"But that's really dangerous", Derpy interjects, squeezing your arm a little tighter from the tension.

You just continue reading:

"Daring had to get just a little closer ... Almost..."

"Anon!", someone suddenly shouts at you, causing you to jump a little and Derpy to jump a lot.

Her head collides with yours, disorienting you for a few seconds as a mind-numbing pain fills your world. After a moment of intelligible groaning you recover enough to see Twilight's angry figure standing in front of you.

"What's the meaning of this?", she asks, sounding positively pissed as she shoves a bunch of your ink-covered notes into your face. "I specifically told you what to do in case you ever spill ink onto important documents, and I specifically told you that you'd have to do it quickly.

So what the hay is this?", she shouts as she stomps her small hooves in anger.

Maybe you'd think it's cute if the pony in front of you wasn't able to kill you with a mere thought. Just as you're about to reply though Derpy speaks up:

"I'm sorry", she stammers out, still hugging your arm for comfort, "I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident."

Derpy's reply seems to alleviate Twilights anger somewhat.

"I'm not angry with you, Derpy", she says, "Accidents happen.

However", she continues as she shoots you a small glare, "I'm angry with Anon because he didn't do what I told him to, and now his notes are ruined."

"I'm sorry about the notes but I had other problems at the time", you say, motioning with your eyes towards Derpy, "I'll tell you later, okay?"

Twilight continues to glare at you for a second before letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine. Perhaps we can resolve this over dinner."

Dinner?

You look at the large grandfather clock to your right and find that according to Twilight's planning you should have had dinner more than half an hour ago. Earlier when you made Derpy some sandwiches you had used the opportunity to eat something yourself, but Twilight is probably pretty hungry by now.

"Anon, why don't you go ahead and prepare dinner for us?", Twilight suggests, "There are some letters that I'll need to write regarding what I've found today."

Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all.

"Okay", you say as you put down the Daring Do book.

All the more reason to get dinner ready so you'll know what this is all about. Without another word Twilight leaves the room, quickly followed by you after you've gotten up from the comfortable pile of cushions you were sitting on. You enter the kitchen and look at this month's meal plan.

Seems like it's time for porridge with applesauce. Unfortunately you're a little short on apples though. Or rather with the added company of Derpy the apples that were designated for this meal simply won't be enough. You're sure Twilight will understand when you use some of the apples that were meant as snacks for when she takes a break from reading.

You take the apples and put them into the sink, briefly rinsing them off with water.

"I want to help", a familiar voice proclaims from behind you.

It seems that Derpy has followed you into the kitchen. The next step involves cutting the apples into pieces though and you're not sure how much help Derpy would be with that. She seems to be pretty clumsy and you don't think it's a good idea to let her handle knives.

Although maybe...

You open a nearby drawer and after a bit of rummaging you present Derpy with a potato peeler.

"Can you help me peel the apples?", you say to Derpy as you hold it out to her.

Derpy nods before taking the peeler from you and after you hand her one of the apples she quickly gets to work, holding the apple in one hoof while using the other to carefully handle the peeler. You get another peeler for yourself from the drawer, barely even noticing the weirdness of how Derpy is able to manipulate objects with her bare hooves like that. Seems like with enough time you can become accustomed even to literal magic.

You start peeling apples yourself, making sure to keep an eye on Derpy. She seems to be working very carefully, but also not exactly very fast.

Before long you run out of unpeeled apples to peel and after grabbing a knife you start slicing up the peeled apples, removing their cores in the process. Just as you get done slicing up the last of your apples Derpy seems to finally finish peeling the one apple you had given her.

Honestly she's pretty fucking slow, but it's probably better for her to work slowly but carefully rather than for her to work faster but then to accidentally cut herself. Still when she gives you the peeled apple along with it she gives you a bright smile.

It's like despite her poor performance Derpy somehow manages to find pride in her work, like all that matters is that she got to help you.

Silently you take the apple from Derpy and cut it up, noticing how Derpy is eying the pile of peels.

"Can I eat the apple peels?", she asks, looking up at you.

"Sure", you say as you add the peels from your current apple to the pile, "I don't see why not."

If she hadn't asked you would have just eaten them yourself; After all it would be a waste to just throw them away.

Immediately after hearing your reply Derpy descends onto the peels, lapping them up with her tongue at a surprising speed.

You meanwhile put the cut up apples into a pot and start cooking them, adding just a little bit sugar to the mix.

When you turn back to Derpy you find that she's already eaten the entire pile of apple peels, and apparently some of the cores, too. At least when it comes to eating she seems to be rather fast.

You set up another pot for the porridge but just when you put the grain and the milk together you notice Twilight standing in the doorway. The look in her eyes suggests that she wants to talk.

"Hey, Derpy", you say, holding a wooden spoon out to her, "Can you stir the porridge with this spoon and make sure nothing gets burned?"

With a happy smile on her face Derpy takes the spoon from you and climbs onto the counter next to the pot, immediately beginning to stir the soon-to-be porridge with slow, vaguely circular movements.

There wasn't actually a need for Derpy to stir the porridge - Twilight has enchanted all of her pots to automatically create convection currents that prevent food burn - but you get the feeling that Twilight wants to talk about Derpy and you're not sure whether or not the two of you should be doing that privately.

You crouch down next to Twilight, whispering to her in a low voice:

"Is this about Derpy?"

"Not really", Twilight returns, also whispering but raising an eyebrow at the secrecy, "Is there a reason you don't want Derpy to hear us talk about her?"

"Well", you say before letting out a deep sigh, "Remember how I said that when Derpy spilled ink onto my notes I had other problems at the time?"

Twilight nods.

"The thing is that Derpy's reaction to the whole thing was to immediately break down crying, and moreover to cover her head with her hooves while apologizing to me over and over."

Twilight's expression grows dark.

"You don't mean...?"

"I don't know", you say with a sigh, "Fact is that Derpy's reaction to me getting even slightly annoyed at her was not normal at all and also that when I've found her she was hungry, dirty and all alone."

You look back at Derpy for a moment, at how happily she's stirring the pot right now. It makes what happened earlier almost feel like a distant dream.

"Whatever happened to her, we need to get to the bottom of it."

Comments

[ARKLIGHT SNIPERSHY]

Awwww.... more plz and..........WE WILL KILL ALL WHO DARE TO HURT DERPY!!!!!

[Fluttershine1765]

Great story, I really like where this is going... I also love derpy's back story. 10\10

[robot797]

i hope you will continiu with this story
its great

[General_Rommel]

Anon, what's a panther?", Derpy asks as she looks up at you.

i know i just started reading but i just had to post this: Derpy, a Panther is a Medium Tank built by the Ger-Mane army during WWII, it had good armor, speed, and a 75mm Kwk 40/L48 Cannon. For a Medium Tank it sure was powerful

again, HAD to post his, because ima Ger-Mane Tank General. YOU CAN'T STOP MEH!

[General_Rommel]

maybe you'd think it's cute if the pony in front of you wasn't able to kill you with a mere thought. Just as you're about to reply though Derpy speaks up:

NO DERPY DON'T DO IT!!! I DID IT!! I DID IT!!! TWILIGHT HURT ME FOR ALL I CARE LEAVE DERPY ALONE YA HEAR ME!!

[Summer Doors]

NEED MORE OF THIS

[Texus]

This is really nice and even if I'm happy for short chapters at the moment, this is nearly a bit to short, I just hope it goes long enough or there is hope for a sequel that takes a different direction if every problem should be solved in this story.

[ilubatar nuctemeron]

8084809
jajaja xd nice!!!