Berry Punch visibly recoiled from the hostile tone Tempest was showing to her. Finding her courage again Berry once more tried to open a dialogue with Tempest.
“H-how have you been Fizzlepop? Did you come back to see your parents?”
Tempest glared at Berry Punch spitefully.
“Well, I didn’t come all this way to speak to the family drunk, and the name’s Tempest Shadow, Auntie,” Tempest said viscously. “Now, where are mother and father? I want to talk to them.”
Bitterness filled every word Tempest spoke as she glared at the older mare before her. However after hearing her questions, Berry Punch suddenly found the floor very interesting. Tempest narrowed her eyes and focused on Berry’s body language. Averting eyes, quickly shifting her gaze at two things or more on the floor, and a nervous twitch of the tail and left ear. All of these signs meant that her aunt was nervous about something.
“Ugh, did you get in trouble again, auntie? Did you come to have mother and father bail you out again?” Tempest asked, with no subtlety or tact, but pure annoyance.
“I swear mother and father are too lenient on you. You should learn responsibility, Auntie.”
To her surprise Berry Punch glared back at her. Even in her drunken state the older mare managed to get a coherent sentence out without tripping over her own words.
“Now you listen here you little shit! I’ve been sober for years now! Not that you’d know after running away like you did!” Berry snapped at Tempest.
With yet another heavy sigh Tempest stared at the nervous pony. Berry looked away huffing and scratch her hoof across the surface of the wooden floors as if biding her time. If there was one pony Tempest didn’t care for it was her aunt. Well known as the family drunk and it was no secret that Berry loved fine wine. As a filly Tempest remembered vividly how many times she’d find her aunt sprawled on her back in the vineyards with empty bottles around her. In truth, Tempest was ashamed to call the mare family.
Despite the animosity she always showed her aunt, Berry Punch was always kind to her niece.
Finally Berry stepped aside and offered Tempest entry. Practically storming in Tempest shook her hooves and dried them on the entry mat and took her armored boots off before entering. Taking her cloak off she placed the wet cloth over the coat rack, her wet armor clanked there with each movement she made. The back plates rustled against her damp fur underneath and stuck together in places. While her armor was great for protection, and looked fabulous, it wasn’t good for the rain.
Tempest entered the main living area of the home. It was very different from what she remembered. Most of the things we're still here. The couch, the old chair, a old antique table, and a portrait of Tempest and her mother and father before she ran away. Her mother was a dark unicorn like her with a short bob cut red mane and blue eyes. In contrast her father was a earth pony strong built and had a sky blue coat and a dark green mane that was pulled back into a ponytail and sapphire blue eyes. Both of them looked happy as did a tiny filly Tempest. The picture was before Tempest lost her horn and was still a happy naive little filly.
Berry Punch closed the door and watched as Tempest walked slowly up to the fireplace, here a small picture of her family was place. It must have been a recent picture too. She recognized her mother and father in it, but they looked so much older. Her mother had fattened up a bit and was showing signs of age under her eyes same with her father. Both looked happy in the photo with smiles, but looking at them it for a while Tempest got the feeling something was off about it. It was as if the smiles were plastic and put on for show and hid their true feelings underneath. The Tempest noticed several bundles of flowers around a small altar that was place near the base of the fireplace. In the center was another piture of Tempest’s mother and father.
Looking around Tempest began to worry. Were they sick? No, she was sure they were fine. Yet it made no sense why her mother or father didn’t come to greet her. She shrugged it off. Perhaps they were tired and needed to rest, Old ponies had to rest a lot. Tempest was about to say something but she felt a gentle tug at her arm.
She turned to see her aunt on the verge of tears. A million things shot through Tempest’s mind as her clearly drunk aunt sniffled holding her nice in her arms, Then suddenly Berry Punch invaded Tempest Shadow’s personal space with a strong hug. The older mare broke down into sobs and cried into the taller unicorns shoulder. The armor was uncomfortable to rub her face against, but Berry made no indication it hurt as she nuzzled her niece.
“I’m so glad you’re home Fizzlepop.”
“Auntie-”
“No! No. You will always be my little Fizzlepop Berrytwist. No matter what happened between us you’re my niece and I love you,” Berry Punch choked out between sobs.
Tempest tried to push the mare back.
“Berry Punch, where’s mom and dad?” Tempest asked looking back at the makeshift altar and the veil.
“Huh? Oh, they’re on a trip. Actually they should be home tomorrow.”
“I see. So they didn’t leave after all.”
Tempest sighed a breath of relief knowing her chance to see her family again was at hoof. Finally she could right all the wrongs she made with her family, and then maybe find her old friends. Then what? She wondered. She hated her friends, so why should she make amends with the ungrateful jerks? After all, if it wasn’t for her they never would have got their ball back from the Ursa cave. The cave that cost her horn and magic.
The memory brought up some bitter tears in her eyes that she was quick to wipe away. She didn’t want her aunt to see her look vulnerable. She had her pride and dignity after all. A rustle from upstairs made her nearly jump like a cat as she heard light footsteps from above on the second floor. Berry gasped at Tempests sudden hostile movements.
“Fizzlepop, don’t worry that’s just-”
“SHUSH!” Tempest snapped.
Berry looked annoyed at her niece’s rude gesture.
Tempest narrowed her eyes and lowered her stance like a lion stalking its prey. She followed the sound as they reached the stairs. She pressed her body against the wall as she gathered a large amount of power in her horn. Berry looked bewildered at the mare as she slinked against the wall ready to round the corner and strike the pony on the other side. Just as tempest reached the edge of the wall she hopped around lowering her head to blast the intruder. From around the corner a sleepy eyed filly in a pink onesie rubbed her eyes and yawned at Tempest. Clearly she was not aware of the hostile mare before her.
“Mommy? What’s all the noise?” The filly asked in a tired voice.
“Berry Pinch!”
Berry Punch shoved Tempest to the floor and scooped the filly up and nuzzled her. Tempest tried hard not to verbally lash at her aunt since there was a filly present, but it was hard. The fall to the floor hurt.
As Tempest got to her hooves Berry Punch smacked her upside the head. Tempest went wide eyed for a moment as her brain caught up with what happened. Then she turned to glare at her aunt, but then noticed the sleeping filly in her arms. Tempest realized the filly was strikingly similar to her aunt. The broken unicorn stood silent and watched as Berry Punch rocked the filly back and forth until there was a soft snore from the filly. Berry chuckled and nuzzled the filly in the cheek and kissed her making the filly smile in her sleep.
“Momma,” She muttered sleepily.
“Yes, mommy’s here sweetie,” Berry said walking up stairs.
Curious, Tempest followed the mare upstairs to one of the spare rooms. There in the room was a small bed near a window, a small dresser, table, and a corner with over a dozen stuffed animals of varying types. The walls were bright pink with little red hearts all over it. Tempest watched as Berry tucked the filly in and place a cute sphinx plush toy in her arms. As if guided by instinct, the filly hugged the toy and rubbed her nose against it smiling.
Tempest quirked her brow at the filly as Berry came out and closed the door slowly behind her. The rain and thunder booming help hide the loud creaking the door hinges made and didn't wake the filly. Tempest made a mental note to oil the door tomorrow. After making sure the filly was secure and in bed Berry Punch guided Tempest down the hall to a room at the far end of the house. The door to this room was like the other plank wood doors, but had a small sign that said: [Fizzlepop’s room. No colts allowed! That means you Blueberry!]
Berry stepped aside and allowed Tempest to pass. Tempest opened the door. The old wood creaked as the door slid open revealing Tempest Shadow’s old room. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes to mentally prepare for what she was about to see. Not opening her eyes Tempest walked into the room guided by her memories and thoughts, she walked into the room until she was in the center of it where she opened her eyes. She was now surrounded by all her worldly possessions from her foal hood.
Behind her the door was open with Berry at the threshold watching her. To her left there was a bed large enough for her to sleep on with a large thick comforter that matched her aunts coat. There was a grape vine design embroidered on it and the matching pillows. In either side of the bed was a small dresser. The left one had several pictures of Tempest as a filly, while the right one had a lamp and a small plush toy leaning against the lamp. The left wall of the bed had a window that took most of it while wall across from Tempest had a wall closet with two sliding doors. On the floor were a few of her old toys and even a few of her first drawing she ever made. She circled around the room, the critical eye scanning every inch as if she were inspecting troops. Berry fidgeted at the doorway as Tempest made her way around and then stopped in front of the door.
Looking around she sighed and glanced back at her aunt. “Nothing has changed. It’s as it was the day I left.”
Berry nodded.
“your mother and father were devastated when they discovered you left,” Berry explained. “They wanted to go find you, but the farm had to be run. They-”
“I know,” Tempest said sounding bored. “The farm was only run by them at the time. They needed to stay. I counted on it. I don’t fault them for it since I planned on it for my escape.”
“What do you mean?” Berry asked walking in behind Tempest.
Narrowing her eyes Tempest gazed out the window. She walked slowly up to it. Her hooves tapped the old wood as she looked out the window. She watched as the rain poured all over the town and lightning danced across the sky. Tempest blinked slowly watching, listening, to the rain pattering against the roof.
“Auntie, who was that just now? That fily?”
“Oh, that was my little Berry Pinch,” Berry said with pride.
Tempest rolled her eyes. Her scar ached and she rubbed it to try and ease her tension.
“Your scar still hurts you?”
Tempest nearly jumped when she hear d her aunt's voice come from right beside her. Instinctively she powder her horn with magic ready to blast. The blue lightning like energy fluctuated around her broken horn as she glared at her aunt, who was trying to look as nonthreatening as possible.
“Dont. Ever. Sneak up on me again,” She growled at her shorter aunt.
To her surprise, her aunt recovered relatively quickly from the shock of her sudden hostility. Perhaps her aunt wasn’t so spineless as she let on. Regardless, Tempest didn’t care whether her aunt feared her or not, she just hated being snuck up on. She softened her expression and returned her gaze outside and leaned against the wall.
“My scar’s fine. It just aches from time to time.”
“I see. Well, please go ahead and use the shower to get all warmed up. Don’t want you to catch a cold before your parent come home, I’ll never hear the end of it. I’ll bring you some towels to dry off with.”
With that said Berry leaving Tempest to her thoughts. The unicorn kept watching outside for a moment longer before turning to leave. Sighing, Tempest began taking off her armored plates and set them in an unused corner of the room. She was careful not to make too much noise lest she wake her niece, or was it cousin? Once her armor plates were off all that remained was her rashguard. She reached under her neck and unzipped the rashguard down to her waist. One hoof at a time she removed the rashguard. When her front legs were out she used them to pull off the rashguard like a pair of pants the rest of the way. She had to sit down to remove them since she didn’t have control of her magic. She really missed her horn. She looked down to see her dark fur sticking grossly to the guard. She really needed to take this off and shower.
Once free from the rashguard Tempest smelled something sour and musky. She sniffed her rashguard and realized the smell was coming from it. She gagged turning her head away and threw the garment to the side of the room and rubbed her nose as if it’d clean it for the horrid smell she just whiffed.
“Blegh, I’m soo glad to be out of that for a while,” She said, eyeing the room like she was expecting someone to attack her.
Seeing nopony there but her old plush toys Tempest left her room and went to the bathroom and took a long hot shower. The warm water was nice and long overdue. Since she left the Friendship Festival she hadn’t showered in well over a week. The rain and weather she endured in her travel was bareable but just barely for her. The shower was a nice welcome.
She rinsed her mane under the water for ten minutes and spent just as much time on her tail. She used a nice ocean breeze scented shampoo and lathered her mane and tail. The scent of the shampoo cleared away the sweaty musky smell from her body leaving behind a far more pleasant smell, but she wasn’t done yet. Next she lather her fur coat and gave herself a thorough scrub down before washing all of the suds off. Then as if she weren't’ satisfied she started on a second round of cleaning.
About midway through her aunt left her a clean towel to dry off with. Tempest finished after the second cleaning. Turning off the shower with her hoof she slid open the door and carefully climbed out so she wouldn’t slip. She reached for the towel on the counter and dried herself off. After that she combed her mane into its usual mohawk style. Satisfied she stepped out of the bathroom and turned off the light before heading off to her old room.
There waiting for her was her aunt who was putting on some extra blankets for her like she promised. Tempest waited patiently for her aunt to finish. Berry Punch had put down a large thick winter blanket with several grapevine designs all over it and outline with gold colored thread. It was a beautiful piece and one Tempest had fond memories of. Her aunt finished placing the blankets out and pulled them down to allow her niece to get in.
“Ugh, I can go to bed myself aunty,” Tempest grumbled.
Berry flinched at the harsh tone from her niece. Tempest looked away but from the side of her peripheral she saw her aunt’s ears fold down. Sh eluted completely disheartened. For some reason the sight of he aunt like that made her heart sink. This must be the Compassion Twilight Sparkle told me about. Tempest thought to herself. Or was it guilt? After a moment Tempest gave out an exasperated sigh and slowly climbed in bed.
“Hmph, I guess it’s been a long time since I got any real rest,” She said scooting herself under the blankets. “Thanks, Auntie.”
Immediately Berry’s face lightened up. She smiled widely a her niece and tucked her in like she was a foal. Tempest allowed this egregious pampering to continue. Once covered Berry tucked the mare in until the blankets acted as a restraining harness that threatened to smother Tempest if she moved the wrong way. Berry smiled and nuzzled Tempest on the cheek making the mare blush.
“Stop it.”
Berry sighed, but kept a weak smile on her face.
“Goodnight, my little grapevine,” Berry said softly.
The older mare bent down and gave a gentle kiss to Tempest Shadow’s cheek. The unicorn squeaked and pushed her aunt away thus breaking free from her binds. Tempest then rolled over and covered herself with the blankets to protect herself from another assault of affection. Though it was also to hide her profuse blushing.
“Goodnight!” She yelled form under the covers.
Berry Punch giggled at her niece’s reaction not at all feeling the slightest offended by it. In fact she felt her heart rise and flutter. The earth pony mare nuzzled the lump under the covers which went stiff at her touch, and she whispered to her niece, “You said things didn’t change here. Well, I’m glad you didn’t completely change either. Goodnight my little grapevine.”
With the goodnights said Berry Punch stumbled out of the room and closed the door behind her. When the door latched sounded Tempest came out from her cover and peeked over the blankets to make sure her aunt was gone. When she was sure she was alone Tempest threw the blankets down to her waist. She leaned back and placed her hooves under her head and stared up at the ceiling. There was nothing of particular interest there save for a patch of off white paint in one spot over her bed.
Tempest remembered why it was there too. When she was a filly and she first lost her horn she had nightmares about Ursa for months afterwards. Once she got so scared she cast a spell in her sleep and blew a hole in the ceiling above her bed and part of the roof out. It took months to fix and her parents scolded her to be more careful in the future. Lucky for her it never happened again, or rather she always woke before she cast any spells and saved herself and family the trouble.
Tempest frowned at the painted spot and rolled over to her side. She came face to face with her lamp and the plush toy that was leaning against it. It was different from the one that was there initially. This time it was a dark grey hedgehog with a white streak of fur. She stared at the plush toy straight in it black button eyes and they stared back at her. Something felt off about it.
As if her memories of home weren’t enough thoughts of her annoying right hand, Grubber came rushing back to her. The little glutton of a hedgehog who stuck to her like glue was always annoying her to no end. He was short, loud, and a sloppy eater. The thought of watching him eat made Tempest cringed under her covers. The loud smacking and chomping noises. The drool. The food covering everything. The little glutton was a grotesque sight to watch when he ate. Feeling disgusted from the thoughts she reached for the plush toy and threw it against the wall opposite from the foot of her bed. The toy collided with the wall and squeaked once, then fell to the floor with another squeak. Abandoned and unloved.
Tempst then flopped on her back glaring at the ceiling again. The rain and the sound of thunder filled her ears as the unicron tried to literally drown out the thoughts of Grubber form her mind. Unable to rest Tempest rolled over and found herself staring at the lamp where the plush toy once sat. It felt odd. Empty. Lonely. Tempest then felt something in her heart. A deep sickening feeling like she was hurting, but not physically. She then felt compelled to look over her bed and down at the plush toy. It lay there in its spot looking fat and pathetic. Tempest shook her head laying back down trying to ignore it.
“It’s just a stupid toy. Why should I care?” Tempest asked to noone in particular.
Finally unable to sleep as this strange feeling surged through her Tempest rolled out of bed with an annoyed grunt and stormed to the toy and glared menacingly at it. Her instinct was to annihilate it with her broken horn. However, she stopped and thought a bit more rationally deciding that blowing part of the house up wouldn’t be a nice thing to do. When she felt calm enough she looked down at the toy again. She blinked slowly in synch with a deep breath. She then reached down and picked up the toy in her mouth and walked over to her lamp and put it against the lamp once more. Yet, she felt odd seeing the hedgehog toy there alone. Sighing she walked over to her drawer and picked up a dark unicorn plush toy and a piece of a plastic cake from her old toys. She then walked briskly back over and plopped the unicorn plushie next to the hedgehog and puth the plastic piece of cake in the hedgehog's hand. Seeing the unicorn plush next to the hedgehog with its little piece of cake made her feel better.
Then she realized the implications.
Her eyes went wide, her pupils shrunk to pin size. She shook her head and glared at the hedgehog plush hatefully. With huff she sparked her horn and zapped the toy. Not enough to destroy it, but enough to singe it. The magical release on the toy was surprisingly relaxing. She felt satisfied smelling the charred hair and burned look on the toy. Satisfied she returned to bed and snuggled in the covers once more. However she looked over at the toys one last time. She looked at them and realized the hedgehog was now leaning against the unicorn plush for support. Tempest blushed feeling her heart race at the sight.
“Do I-I, miss Gruber?” She asked the unicorn plush.
It didn’t respond.
“Surely I don’t miss that disgusting little pig eater!” Tempest said rolling over to face away from the toys.
Annoyed once more she pulled the blankets over her nose just enough to see over the covers as they blocked part of her vision. She laid there for several minutes with her mind racing over every time Grubber was with her. Always eating. Always annoying her with his second rate commentary to hers. . . His surprising loyalty despite everything she ever did to him. All the zapping, the kicking, and shoving, and using him as a stepping stool. It was eating at her to think how she mistreated him all this time, and yet he never once held it against her.
“Come to think of it, neither did Aunt Berry Punch,” Tempest whispered.
She rolled over once more and faced the plush toys. Slowly she reached out taking the toy hedgehog and pulled it to her. She held it in both her hooves and stared into its button eyes. She couldn’t help but feel awful now. With one last heavy sigh she took one hoof and booped the toy in the nose making it squeak. Tempest giggled and put the toy back with its cake and unicorn companion, and rolled on her back to fall asleep.
Thought’s of her family, her aunt, even Grubber filler her mind. Wonderful thoughts that turned into dreams and Tempest felt her heart swell at the positive feelings coming over her in her deep slumber.
“Stupid Glutton.” She chuckled as she started succumbing to her sleep.