• Published 22nd May 2018
  • 1,281 Views, 35 Comments

In the Hands of a Hidden Caretaker - Skipjumper



A young man gets sent to a younger Equestria, and is tasked with raising six familiar faces.

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Expeditions and a Confrontation

Tempora was in a white void.

She couldn’t smell anything.

She couldn’t taste anything.

She couldn’t feel anything.

She couldn’t see anything but white.

But she could hear everything. It was all a blur.

But she knew how this ended. It was always the same.

Large, Heavy hoofsteps approached.

Right on time.” Thought Tempora with a little bit of dread.

WHO ARE YOU TO STAND AGAINST ME!?”


Tempora’s eyes shot open as she woke up from her nap in a cold sweat.

As she scrambled to her hooves she woke up Duke.

“Whoa, Whoa, hey! Are you, all right?" Duke asked in concern, noticing Tempora’s frantic demeanor.

Tempora let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m fine, just a bad dream.”

“You want to talk about?”

“Not really.” Tempora looked away.

Duke raised an eyebrow, “Ok, let me rephrase the question, should you talk about it?”

Tempora sighed, “Probably, just not right now ok?”

Satisfied with the answer, Duke nodded, then stood up cradling Havin in his arms.

“So, are there rooms in this castle that are safe for the foals?

“Yes, I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.” Replied Tempora.

Duke looked down at the foal in his arms, “I wonder what your dreaming of.” He thought.


Havin looked over the green grass to see a new fluttery thing. Rather than running toward it, Havin kept her pace slow as she walked up to it. As Havin moved closer she held out her hoof to it.

Friends?” she thought as she looked at the fluttering thing.

The thing fluttered around her head before landing on her hoof.

When it did, it glowed.

Next thing she knew, she was looking at the new pony’s calm smiling face.

“Hi, kiddo, did you sleep well?”

Havin looked up at the pony who had helped her sleep.

Is this the one mommy said I was going to meet one day? Daddy?

“da…Daa……(cough)

The new pony’s face looked a little bit surprised, but a little stern to. Though overall, his face looked comforting.

“Now what did I tell you earlier? If it hurts, don’t talk, remember?” he scolded gently as he put one of his hooves to his mouth while making a little noise. “Shh.”

Havin mimicked the new pony’s position, “Shh.”

“Right.” the new pony said with an encouraging smile as he softly put the foal on the ground. Havin smiled back at him.


A few minutes later


Duke, Tempora, and the foals were leaving Tempora’s room to have look around the castle.

Did she try to call me dad?” Duke asked himself as he looked at Havin. “I know I cradled her to sleep earlier, but does that alone give me the right to be called her dad?”

“Remind me why you grabbed one of those unbrellas?” asked Tempora getting duke’s attention.

“Umbrella, and you never know when you might need one!” replied Duke, dramatically pointing the recently acquired High-quality black umbrella at Tempora like an oversized finger.

Tempora just rolled her eyes as she thought of where to bring Duke and the foals on their first outing.

Maybe we should go that stone place in the stars! or maybe that café under the sea! Or maybe the city in the trees! Or maybe,”

Tempora’s thoughts were interrupted as the castle shook violently, scarring the foals.

“What was that?” asked Duke as he comforted Havin, who was trembling in his arms.

“I don’t know!” Tempora replied in shock.

A loud voice ominous voice came from the left side of the hallway, interrupted the unicorn.

“I KNOW YOU IN THERE, SO WHY DON’T YOU COME OUT AND PLAY? YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME FOREVER!!!”

There was a loud Boom, then silence. After the adults calmed the foals down, Duke spoke up.

“Take the foals and find a safe place to hide, I’m going to check if it’s gone.” He whispered to Tempora as he laid he gripped his umbrella like a sword.

“Are you crazy?” Tempora hissed.

“It’s either that or cower in here forever, and I don’t think I want that, not for me or my family.”

Tempora relented from arguing, “Family, huh? Does that mean I’m your...?” she said with a small but wary smirk.

“not now, we'll talk about this later,” Duke said as he moved closer to the door.

“Wait, take this.” Said Tempora before teleporting a small ice colored dagger next to Duke on the floor.

“If you insist on doing this, bring that with you. You're going to need more than that umbrellda to defend yourself with. Go through that door, it leads to a room with a window to the rest of the world.” Tempora said as she looked at the door, then looked back at Duke with a pleading look in her eyes.

“Please come back. we’ve already lost our parents, I don’t want these foals to lose one of theirs’.”

Duke nodded to Tempora, then quickly opened the door, slipped inside.

This room had more of a castle look to it, however, it had reddish-orange brick walls, compared to the colorless grey hallways. A couple of wooden crates were scattered around the room, and just as Tempora had said, there was a narrow, vertical window to his left.

“Ok, now what?” Duke thought to himself as he closed the door.

Click

“Didst thou hear something sister?” a new voice came from below the window. It sounded feminine, and around his own age.

Oh crud.” Thought duke as he pressed his back against the wall, readying both of his weapons should he need them.

“Thou heard nothing, my sister.” Another voice replied. This voice sounded a little bit older than the first.

Phew.” Duke closed his eyes in relief.

“But sister,” the first voice continued, “dost thou not see the ruins in front of us? “Destiny’s gate.” It is said that one could get to anywhere in Equestria, nay, anywhere in the world and beyond in its halls!”

Huh, an interesting bit of info there.

“Legend tells of a young maiden was kidnaped from a noble house of old.”

Wait, what?” Duke’s eyes shot open in surprise.

“The maiden was cursed to never leave yonder ruins lest she becomes like the sands of time.”

Say what now?!” duke’s jaw fell.

“And the curse would never be lifted till a knight in shining armor came to save her!”

Uhhh…” Duke.exe proceeded to reboot.

“Sadly, the knight never came, but if he did, we think they would have fallen in love and have gotten married! A magnificent tale indeed!” the voice concluded wistfully.

Whaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!” duke’s face proceeded to become a light cherry color. (or was it cinnamon…….)

“My sister, there is nopony in that castle, and that “legend” was a story spun by a local storyteller.” The other voice sounded a little irritated.

Duke tried to calm himself down and relax, a tad bit relieved that what he had heard was just a story.

“But sister, there must be some truth to the tale! Why else would Discord…”

“Doth Discord need a reason to do anything!?” snapped the second voice, “And to think, the last of the once noble, honorable Draconequus race, and he acts like an immature child! I can’t believe a decedent of the lords of ORDER could cause so much CHAOS!!!”

Duke quietly listened trying to discern if it would be wise to introduce himself or not.

“But sister, if he thought there was enough reason to attack these ruins, then surely…”

“I will not argue with you on this matter sister. This castle is more trouble than it is worth. I have been waiting eight thousand years for this place to be torn down, I will not postpone it collapse for a treasure that does not exist. The sooner these ruins come down, the sooner our abode will be built.”

Duke gripped his weapons tighter as he listened to the conversation.

The second voice sighed, “Come we must head home.”

“What of Discord?” asked the first voice.

“You know what they say, sister, “keep thine friends close, keep thine enemies closer.”

Duke waited for a while before he dared peek out the window when he did what he saw astonished him. A vast, lush, green forest. Like something from a nature park.

“I should go find Tempora and the foals,” Duke said as he snapped himself back into reality.

He got up and entered the hallway.

“Tempora?” he called out.

“In here!” came the reply from behind one of the doors.

Duke opened the door, only to be met with an icy gust of wind.

Duke stepped through the door and into a thick layer of snow was laid across the ground, and found himself high up in a mountain range, surrounded the night sky.

Duke looked at the snow to see a bunch of hoof track leading behind him and to his right.

Duke looked behind him to see a shallow dent in the mountainside, leading to a small opening, where Tempora was motioning for him to come in.

“Quick, before you catch a cold!”

As duke walked into the opening he was met with a large cave. Glowing crystals of varying lengths, widths, and colors were scattered along the walls. The foals were sleeping near the back of the cave on some quilts.

“Everything alright?” Tempora asked she rolled a large stone to partially block off the cold winds, “you look worried.”

“Apparently some creature called Discord was attacking the castle. He was stopped by a pair of sisters before I went into the room. While I’m supposing he’s imprisoned, the reason he was attacking the castle is worrying me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think he was after the foals, or you…”

“Why would somepony named Discord search for me?”

“Apparently someone wrote a story about you. said you were “A maiden of a noble house” or something. Wait, are you?”

“No, my family wasn’t even that rich.”

“Then if he was after the foals, how did he even know where to look?”

“Well, at least he’s gone now, right?” Tempora tried to comfort Duke.

Duke sighed, “Maybe.”

Tempora nuzzled his arm, “Come on, let’s relax with the foals, I think we need it.”

Duke nodded and walked over to an empty quilt and laid down.

“Where did you get these quilts anyway?”

Tempora smiled, “Before the foals came, this was a place I visited often, it just kind of helps me calm down. Whenever I got angry over something, I usually found myself coming here. When I realized that came here as often as I did I started to bring stuff with me to make it a bit homelier. I guess it became like a second bedroom.”

“Huh, that’s interesting.”

As his eyes closed, he felt movement next to his chest.

“Tempy, what are you doing?” Duke asked opening one of his eyes to look at Tempora.

“We need to get you warmed up. And while the cave walls are able to retain some heat, this way is faster.” The unicorn said as she levitated a blanket over both of them, then looked up at Duke with a grin. “What, never been this close with a mare before?”

“I’ve never been this close to anyone, period.” Duke answered bluntly, “well, except for my parents.”

Tempora giggled. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”


As the two adults cuddled together, far away in a different castle a young blue alicorn was pondering if she really had heard something at the ruins of “Destiny’s gate”.

Author's Note:

ok, this will get edited If I can find someone to help me with ye olde speech...

and now you know when this takes place...kinda...

and if anyone can guess the second voice's identity, (it kind of easy...) then bear with me, I have a reason for her behavior.

Questions, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome.

Edit suggestions for Ye Olde Butcherde Englishe given by TomRedlion

edits made on 7/10/18