Raspberry gazed at the gigantic castle. He felt as intimidated as anypony could possibly feel as he stepped towards the entrance. So, I wonder if everything’s electrified? I know that I can’t just ring up a doorbell. Maybe there’s a 10 Downing Street office I have to head to first to get an appointment. He sized up the four beefy guard stallions standing silently between a metal gate and the street.
He said to himself, “Well here goes nothi—”
“Oh, here it goes alright!” said a mysterious feminine voice. Raspberry turned around, seeing nothing. He and the guards seemed to be totally alone. All of the hustle and bustle of the street had moved down towards the shops away from the castle.
“Hi… there,” said another voice. Raspberry spun to his right and saw Fluttershy. She had appeared out of nowhere on a batch of cobblestones. She had an unhappy look on her face and made a light squeak as Raspberry made eye contact.
“Hello again,” Raspberry replied, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m a… a…” she stammered, “A distraction. I’m really sorry about this.”
Raspberry began, “Sorry about w—”
“Gotcha!” screamed Twilight as she jumped behind him, grabbing his neck. Raspberry reached up and felt a hard metallic ring going over him. Twilight seized his arms and moved them over behind his back. He felt himself falling backwards into some kind of wheelchair. Twilight’s touch seemed to tickle him just as if he rubbed against a thick wool blanket.
“Well this was… MORE THAN UNNECESSARY,” Raspberry remarked, barely moving a muscle as he felt his hind hooves being tied up. I was going to ring the frigging doorbell, missy…
“It’s an anti-magic bracelet,” Twilight declared, and then she moved to his bottom hooves, “Only it’s full body sized. Good luck getting out of this, you fiend.”
“Fiend?” Raspberry muttered, “What the hell is this— Action Comics?”
“Oh, dear, please Raspberry,” Fluttershy said, petting his front hooves, “Please don’t struggle. It would be great if you didn’t… if you didn’t mind. Please.” Somehow, the popping sensation that he had felt before when touching her before had almost completely disappeared. It seemed more like a light tingle, and it actually— felt kind of nice, actually.
“Fluttershy,” Twilight said, and she strained to fit the ropes onto the slippery metal wheelchair, “I need you to get the bag on him so he can’t see, already!”
“Oh, Raspberry please…” Fluttershy said, caressing Raspberry’s sides, “Just let us now if the ropes get too tight or anything. We’ll be sure you’re okay. But now, I’ll need to put the bag on so that you won’t see how we enter. I’ll put it on… n-n-now, if you don’t mind.” She placed what seemed to be a used potato bag over his head. Raspberry shut his eyes. He opened them again to see that the bag had a large hole about a foot around cut into it— exposing about his entire face.
“UUUUGH, Fluttershy!” Twilight called out, “This is worse than useless. He can see completely out and everything.” She picked up the wheelchair and tugged Raspberry backward a few feet.
“Oh, my,” Fluttershy squeaked out, “But, but… Pinkie said that she was going to be sure to cut the mouth hole pretty big to make sure that he could breathe out, of course. We agreed that we’d have to err on the side of caution, naturally… We’d… never even dream of hurting him, wouldn’t we?”
“Well… what now?” Twilight asked, and she accidentally fluffed Raspberry’s head with her mane.
“Oh, Raspberry, hey,” Fluttershy asked, leaning over and letting Raspberry gaze into her huge eyes, “Could you, if you don’t mind too much, close your eyes and keep them closed? Until I tell you to open them again? I know you can’t close your ears, naturally, but it would be just great if you could avoid hearing anything as well. I know… and I don’t want to be too much of a bother…”
“No problem,” Raspberry replied, and he shut his eyes, “Please just make sure my glasses don’t fall off or anything…”
“Oh, of course,” she said, “You can count on me. And I hope that you… you… don’t mind your coltnapping too much. Thank you very much for being so cooperative. I’ll be sure to make it all up to you soon. Don’t worry.”
“No problem,” Raspberry muttered, and he felt himself being lead up into some passageway. He heard Twilight grumbling aimlessly.
“Oh, we’re going up some ramps soon, do be sure to hold tight,” Fluttershy said, “I hope you don’t mind the bumps… I hope, well here, let me hold your hooves for a moment.”
Raspberry tried not to make a sound in reaction. Wow just… Wow! Well, obviously it feels nice to be held by a pretty girl… er, pony… But why now? Something feels so different from before… That dark aura from them is gone or going.
“Just a— a— a,” Twilight panted, and Raspberry thought that Twilight probably vastly underrated how heavy he was and how far she had to pull him around, “Just a few more feet now… oh, Praise Celestia.”
“Okay, now we’re going to set you up in the ‘Student Adjunct Research Room’,” Fluttershy said, “Don’t worry, please don’t… We won’t be going anywhere. It will just take a moment for us to meet up with our friends. I hope that it’s not too much trouble for you to wait alone for a second.”
Raspberry kept his eyes shut as they left. He opened them again. He felt less than impressed. It looked like just another college study room the kind of which he had seen over and over again. He sat in an empty space with a large red rug in front of him as well as bunches of bookcases. A large mirror stood across from him.
“So, we’re here now,” Fluttershy said, and six ponies filtered out of a door to Raspberry’s right. They all had an odd kind of tiara-like thing on their heads. Raspberry immediately recognized Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. Another blue mare with a rainbow colored mane sat beside those five.
“Time to face justice, you fiend!” Twilight remarked. She really seemed to be enjoying herself. Fluttershy had a reserved, hopeful sort of expression. The rest of the ponies gave the impression that they’d rather be hundreds of miles away. The blue mare in particular had a bored, irritated face that looked as if she had spent the last hour in line at the DMV.
“So are we zapping him, or not?” Pinkie Pie said, “He’s doesn’t really look like—”
“Oh, he’s the one,” Twilight announced, “He’s the one that’s been the right hand horse of that agent of pure evil. We cure him and then everything else should be easy.”
“You kidding?” Raspberry remarked, jerking around in his chair, “As soon as I found out he wants to use me as a living pocket pussy to cream out monsters for him that was it for our friggin’ ‘friendship’.”
“What in tarnation is a ‘pocket pussy’?” asked Applejack.
“Dear, Twilight, sweetie… I think you’ve made a terrible mistake,” Rarity said, and she frowned. Raspberry winked at her while smiling, and then Rarity blushed a bit.
“No mistake!” Twilight hollered, obliviously, “And now, Mr. Start, prepare to meet the full force of the elements of harmony!”
“It’s ‘Star’,” Raspberry said, jiggling in his seat, “My blasted name is ‘Raspberry Star’.” I should be more animated about this… maybe… should I? He had expected to feel intense fear, but instead he just couldn’t wait to get over it all. One pony said this would kill me. Another pony said that absolutely nothing would happen. Well, either way… I just can’t shake the feeling that Dr. Missingname was totally right. Even if the very off chance he’s not, well, I might as well check out of this stupid pony world sooner rather than later.
“He’s right, Twilight. It’s ‘Star’ and not ‘Start’,” Rarity remarked.
“I don’t care what his stupid name is!” Twilight yelled. Her horn glowed brightly. “It’s time to get him!”
“Don’t I get a last…” Raspberry started to say.
“A last what? Last meal? You ain’t hungry,” Applejack said, keeping her blasé expression, “Or at least you sure look like you want somethin’ else.”
“OOOOOOOOH!” Pinkie squealed, and she began hopping in excitement, “I’d love to start up a last meal fit for a true evildoer! We can have cupcakes and cakes and scones and all kinds of raspberries all layered on everything with extra white chocolate because everypony knows that white chocolate goes GREAT with raspberries— and raspberries just happens to be his thing what with the lapel and the name and the everything and HEY what about we make a PARTY out of—”
“No!” Twilight yelled.
“Maybe a last request?” Raspberry said. The ponies all glanced at each other and whispered. They got into a huddle and traded all kinds of comments.
“Okay! It can be whatever you want as long as it’s not ‘I request for you to let me go’,” announced Rarity, “And please tell us whatever it is right now, darling.”
Dammit! They looked like they might actually have fallen for that one! Raspberry surveyed the horses before him. There’s no way this can be serious… No way they would really hurt me at all… They’re hitting me with concentrated love, after all! He cocked his head as he tried to think of his request. He made a bit of a devious smile. I might as well make this a little fun. He asked, “How about a kiss?”
“Kiss!” blurted the mare with the rainbow mane. She seemed to almost want to keel over at the very thought. The other ponies went back into a huddle. After a few seconds, they lined up again. They all hesitated. Twilight looked over to her right.
“Are you going to say it, Pinkie?” she asked in a low voice. Pinkie leaned over.
“But we didn’t tell Dash yet, shouldn’t we tell her first before we tell him?” Pinkie asked, pointing at the blue pony.
Dash replied, “I’m not part of this— AT. ALL. And that’s all I’m going to say.” She looked as if she was going to throw her headpiece off and storm away but decided not to at the last moment.
“I thought you said that you wanted to say it?” Twilight asked Rarity.
“Aw, for Pete’s sake!” Applejack cried out, and then she leaned over at Raspberry, “So! We all decided that that’s a fair enough request. Now, which one of us will it be?”
Raspberry’s spirits sank a tiny bit. Gee, I was kind of wondering if all six of you were up to it at the same time or maybe one after the other… Wow, I sound like such a man-whore… or a colt-whore already… He stuck out his right hoof a bit and pointed at the group. “I would like it if… if…” he said, moving a bit, “If I had a kiss from… Fluttershy!”
“M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-me,” she squeaked out, and she looked like she wanted to melt into the rug, “I just… I don’t… I really haven’t had much experience with… with that sort of thing… Although, of course, saying ‘no’ wouldn’t be very nice, especially not when Applejack said all that just now…”
“Please?” Raspberry said, and he gazed at the yellow Pegasus. The other five mares kept their eyes right on Fluttershy. She babbled incoherently and tried unsuccessfully to hide her gigantic blush.
“I don’t want to make any… I just am a little bit… you know… since I, I don’t really,” she mumbled.
“I would just feel honored if you would,” Raspberry said. He felt surprised at how sincere he sounded and how sincere he had started to feel. She’s the element of kindness after all… I guess I can’t… I… Wow!
Twilight and Dash both whispered something at Fluttershy, but she didn’t seem to listen. She swallowed, and then she walked over to Raspberry’s wheelchair. She jittered at every step. She leaned over towards Raspberry— blushing as if she was about to bleed— and then she gave him a peck on his left cheek.
“That’s the kind of kiss you’d give Sweetie Bell,” he whispered into her nearby ear, “It’s fine, just fine. Can we, you know, do something that would be between husband and wife?” He shocked himself by how soft, tender, and wanting he sounded.
“H-h-h-h-h-husband and w-w-w-wife,” she replied in a low voice. She took a deep breath and twisted her head around. The other five horses looked on with eyes that seemed the size of dinner plates.
Raspberry began to say something, but he didn’t finish. Fluttershy shoved her head over and kissed him full on the lips. He tilted his face with her hooves as she pressed in. She didn’t seem to really know what to do, but she kept moving about against his lips. Raspberry felt some accidental little licks of her tongue, and then she pulled back away— her eyes tightly shut. She opened them again, and Raspberry thought that she almost seemed to survey every inch of his mind, body, and soul.
“Okay then?” Twilight asked, sounding like she couldn’t get her emotions back together. Dash looked as if she was fighting off a heart attack— her face alternating between revulsion and temptation. The other ponies kept staring without a word. Rarity in particular smiled from cheek to cheek.
“Okay… thank you, thank you very much,” Raspberry muttered, “You have one lucky coltfriend, whoever he is.” Fluttershy tapped him on the side. As the horses lined up again, the yellow pegasus took a step over to the side.
“It won’t hurt! I won’t hurt! It won’t make you feel bad! I promise!” Fluttershy yelled. For whatever reason, Raspberry had begun to zone out. The ponies’ headgear began to light up as they all chanted something.
“Oh,” Raspberry murmured, and he felt something soft smack him in the chest. Everything seemed to go white again. I’m… I’m being born again… This deep warmth poured out of his heart and flooded every last part of him. Everything kept heating up. Yet it didn’t feel dangerous or painful for the slightest. A kaleidoscope of colors flooded all across his vision. He heard something special— something like the happiest, fluffiest, and most upbeat symphony that could ever be written.
“It— it feels—” he spouted, “Sooooooooo GOOOOOOOOOD!” His face contorted from the joy. A million little eruptions went off on the top of his brain. He couldn’t begin to describe the tingly pleasure. Best… feeling… best… feeling ever… oh, it’s an orgasm… it’s a heart-gasm…
“MORE!” Raspberry screamed, and he shifted from right to left in the wheelchair. He regained full composure and sat back normally. Hmmm… Well, I’m still here at least…
“Did, did it work?” Applejack asked nopony in particular. They all looked at each other, and then at Raspberry. His face of pleasure went back to normal, but he still panted a bit.
“More Flutterkisses, please,” Raspberry said, “And more harmony shots would also be very nice, please.”
“Well that was… weird,” Dash said, and she placed her headgear onto the rug.
“Really weird,” Applejack commented. The ponies moved about and gave each other ‘Now what?’ looks.
“So! So— so— so— so— so— so— so— so— so!” Pinkie said, “Can we have his last meal and last PARTY now? Please? Please!”
“Oh, I just can’t…” Twilight said, and then she sped over to Raspberry’s side, “What is it with you?”
“What is it with you?” Raspberry repeated. Twilight groaned.
“You… you stole my guidebook,” Twilight said, “And you almost destroyed my library, too. And you’re all… mysterious and everything…”
“And YOU broke our expensive glass case into a thousand pieces!” Raspberry yelled. The other ponies suddenly stared at Twilight. The purple unicorn made a strained, nervous expression.
“Yes, well,” she stammered, “S-s-s-sorry about that. That was really mean of me.”
“I borrowed your guidebook, and then gave it back,” Raspberry went on, “And you have it now.”
“Yes, right,” Twilight replied, tilting her head straight upwards sheepishly.
“Alright, I’ve had enough of this,” Dash remarked. The blue pegasus headed to the door. Rarity and Applejack joined her silently. Fluttershy, Raspberry, Pinkie, and Twilight glanced at each other.
“So… if I’m your prisoner, then can I have a soda or something?” Raspberry asked, “And it would be just great if you could wheel me over in front of a TV.”
“Soda it is, Mister Evil Colt!” Pinkie said, giving a salute. She sped away.
“What’s your game, Raspberry?” Twilight asked in a faux-menacing voice, leaning in over Raspberry and making such a cute face that Raspberry strained not to laugh at.
“I’m, say, three-fourths of the way towards home,” Raspberry replied, “I think that only Princess Celestia herself can help me now. She has the final jewel, or she knows where it is at least.”
“A likely story!” Twilight retorted, “And I suppose you’d think we’re so blind that you’re headed over here to assist your cowpony friend as an…” She built up her voice dramatically. “ASSASSIN!”
“Uh, nope,” Raspberry said. Twilight sat down on the floor, frustrated. Raspberry rolled his eyes a bit. “I suppose I should thank you. Normally, a colt would have to pay a lot of bits to be tied up by devastatingly beautiful mares.”
“I’m not ‘devastatingly beautiful’!” Twilight said, although she did a double take a second afterward, “Wait… yes I am. I mean, I… could be called one. I’d like to be called one. Thank you… I guess… I mean…” She searched for words.
“You’re very welcome,” Raspberry said. Twilight blushed a bit and began to smile before regaining her faux-dramatics.
“Soda time!” Pinkie yelled, bursting out the door with two large trays, “I didn’t know what kind you wanted and the ponies at the royal court are oh so helpful and I guess they’d have to be to get this job but they’re just even more so helpful than like could ever be possible and oh hey I didn’t know what size or what flavor but you’re a large pony so I said large and I picked my own favorite flavors since I thought that you’d probably like whatever I like but if you don’t they said—”
“Pinkie,” muttered Twilight.
“Okay!” Pinkie said, “So I’ve got—” She somehow produced a pull-up table and set the trays up while pointing again and again. “Strawberry, orange, purple, lemon, lemon-strawberry, orange-lemon, blue coconut, strawberry-coconut, mango, orange-mango, lemon-coconut, orange-coconut, and—”
“Pinkie!” Twilight called out, “I don’t think that—”
“Oooh! Ooooh! Can I have orange-lemon?” Raspberry said. Pinkie squealed, and she thrust the glass and towards his mouth. He sipped some from the straw. Wow! That’s tasty!
“Sooooooo… I may never have seen the elements of harmony fail on somepony,” Twilight said, “But that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you!”
“Is this diet?” Raspberry asked. Pinkie shook her head ‘no’. “I don’t care, either way, but it tastes like something diet. But don’t worry about it.” He went back to sucking.
“Anyways!” Twilight interjected, “I need some serious information from you… you… Raspberry! You’ve been found with some pretty suspicious characters lately. And you’ve been going in some pretty suspicious places lately. So I need you to spill the beans!”
“Beans?” Pinkie said, “That’s a horrible thing to serve our guest!”
Twilight said, “He’s not a guest; he’s a prisoner.”
“Can I have some cupcakes,” Raspberry said, “Or something else to go with the soda?”
“CUPCAKES?” Pinkie seemed to lift herself up magically into the air as she yelled. She then hurled herself back out the door. Twilight muttered something and then chased after.
“Well, okay then,” Rapsberry said to Fluttershy.
“I’ll just go ahead and… um… Well, it should be okay,” she said, and she untied Raspberry. She delicately lifted off the bag.
“Thanks,” he said, and he walked out towards the bookcases, “How long until we can meet with the Princess?” Fluttershy shook her head and shrugged. “It’s just that it’s a little pointless for me to talk to Twilight about everything and also have her explain all that to the Princess.”
“That makes sense,” Fluttershy remarked, “Oh wait, let me get your backpack for you. Twilight made sure that she’d search it later… But since I don’t want to impose too much, you should have it right back.” She walked around and then slumped the pack at Raspberry’s side. The colt gazed out the window at the rest of Canterlot. He magically lifted over the iPod and idly browsed through songs.
“Here it ISSSSSSSSSS!” Pinkie announced as she walked into the room with two other trays of sugary treats, “Oh hey, you’re over there and not over there? Why is that? Oh wait, you’re free and I guess I should be upset or something?”
“You just— just stand right there!” Twilight said, bouncing out of the door and pointing over at Raspberry. She then stuck her head back out of the room. “Hey everyone!”
Rarity wandered back into the room, but Applejack and Dash remained nowhere in sight. Twilight made an angry sigh and then headed back out. She yelled behind her, “You’d better just stand right there, Raspberry! The Princess will have you answer to your trickery with the elements of harmony!”
“Oh, finally,” Raspberry remarked. He looked out at a group of young pegasus ponies— each with dark grey bodies and bright white stripes along their wings— raced each other from cloud to cloud. “I wondered if I’d have to talk to the Deputy Undersecretary of the Minster for Interspecies Affairs or somepony.”
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy said, walking up to him, “You look like… oh, you’re sweating pretty bad, here let me help you…”
Raspberry did suddenly feel very hot for some reason. He went to take off his suit. He started to lose the sensation in his front hooves. “Oh… oh, not again,” he muttered, “Not now… not here… not of all the places…” He blinked and realizes that his vision seemed to be caving in on him. He leaned down and felt the taste of something inky and metallic running down his throat.
“Are you going to be okay?” Rarity said, trotting over and touching his side, “What’s wrong?”
Raspberry couldn’t even think. It came on pretty strong— keeling him over on his back. The pain burned like white hot knives stabbing all across his head. He almost sensed his flesh coming apart on the serrated edges. He drooled a bit from his open mouth, and he struggled to breathe.
“Raspberry! Raspberry!” Fluttershy said, cradling his head like a mother. Rarity mumbled something incoherently. She touched his eyes and they opened back up.
“Oooooooh! Sparkly!” Pinkie said, “It’s like his eyes are growing diamonds!”
“No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No,” Rarity said, coming across to the other ponies like a motorboat, “Listen to me. Listen to me please, Raspberry.”
“It’ll… be over soon,” Raspberry muttered. He’d moved away from the distortion stage and from that point on it would be pain. Pure, concentrated pain moved all through his body.
“What is it, sweetie? Please tell us so we can help,” Fluttershy asked, and she motioned at Rarity to begin going through Raspberry’s backpack.
“It’s just,” Raspberry sputtered, turning about the floor with the sensation of giant boulders crashing against his skull, “It’s a migraine. Or it’s like one. I’ll be over it. It’s just that I’m afraid what’s coming after when it ends.”
“How do we stop it?” Rarity asked, joining Fluttershy in cradling Raspberry.
“Ummm, it’s not easy to do,” Raspberry said, and he flinched at a surge of pain, “I use aspirin. Music. Soda. Snacks. Hugging, especially with my dog.”
“Music?” Pinkie asked, “Is that what this with thingy with the musical note on it is for?”
“Yeah, it’s like I get out of it if I have happiness overload. Happy music, tasty food and drink, that sort of thing,” he murmured. He wanted to bury his face into the ground and then rub until his eyes fell out. At least that might end the damn pain…
“Music!” Pinkie said, and she fluttered the device from hoof to hoof, “How does this blasted thingy work?” She pressed around on the front of the iPod. “Somewhere there has to be something to start playing something, somehow!”
“Give me that!” Rarity said, snatching it and clicking around it gently, “You get the soda and cakes and everything else, please. Okay, happy. Happy music. I think if I apply magic to this… It’ll immediately amplify into the whole room.” Her horn glowed, and then she smiled as it seemed to work immediately. “Okay, just press center to play— I guess? I hope.” Rarity looked over and saw Pinkie attempting to feed Raspberry just like a little foal.
“Okay, here comes the choo-choo… into the tunnel… a-ha,” said Pinkie, and she wound up her hoof to shove a chocolate cupcake into Raspberry’s mouth. She followed up with a concentrated thrust of orange soda, but that ended up pouring all over his face. Raspberry flowed into a daze.
“Ugh,” Rarity said, “Okay, finally it plays. This tune is called— ‘I Am the Law’? No. ‘Darkness’? No. ‘The Sound of the Crowd’? No. ‘Do or Die’? NO! Happy music! Ugh!” She clicked through a variety of songs before setting down on one. “This might be promising. ‘ABC’…”
“And here comes the, uh, pipe, following into the dam,” Pinkie said, trying to get Raspberry to drink from a straw, “Come on now, silly!”
“Oooh, Rarity,” Fluttershy said as she caressed Raspberry’s head, “Not to bother you while you’re doing that, but he seems to be slipping out of consciousness. I… I don’t know what to do…”
“Play!” Rarity yelled at the device. It seemed to light up as her horn glowed, and then bouncy music immediately filled the room. Raspberry seemed to stir. Rarity sped over and got him to drink some of the mango soda.
“WOW! I love this jam!” Pinkie hollered, and she began bouncing about all across the room, “A-B-C! Easy as 1-2-3!” She flew over to beside Raspberry. “Baby, you and me, girl!” Fluttershy fed another drink to Raspberry as Rarity cuddled him.
“He’s waking but a bit, oh but goodness,” Fluttershy said, “I don’t know if this all is working…. He’s still so sweaty and so weak looking…”
“Wait! I’ve got it!” Rarity announced.
Fluttershy replied, “Oh, thank goodne—”
Rarity pressed Fluttershy’s face back onto Raspberry’s face. Their lips locked again, and Fluttershy tweaked her head side to side. Raspberry immediately grabbed the sides of her head and slurped his lips against hers. As he pressed into her, he made a soft cooing sound and constantly twitched from head to hoof. Rarity paused for a few seconds, and then she pulled Fluttershy off of him.
“Better?” Rarity asked, giving an amused look.
“Yes… much better…” he said, but he made a nervous expression, “We just need to worry about whatever new friend I just let into this room.”
“New friends, awesome,” Pinkie said, and she popped from corner of the room to corner of the room. “Maybe it’s here?” She picked up a vase. “Nope! What about here?” She peeked behind a staircase. “Nope! Well, maybe here?” She lifted up the rug. “Nope! Well… maybe…” She thrust her head into Raspberry’s backpack and dug around.
“Everything couldn’t be safer, my dear,” Rarity said, sitting down besides Raspberry, “This is probably the most guarded place in all of Equestria.”
“A fat lot of good that does if you flow in between universes,” Raspberry whispered. Rarity made a sad, confused face. Fluttershy seemed in a trance— stuck in a permanent happy face with her lips stuck out.
“Twitching Tail!” Pinkie squeaked, and then she jumped on top of the three ponies, “Stay down!” The three of them had their mouths squished by three of her hooves. “It’s coming from the roof, now.”
“It’s doing whaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAATTTT!” Rarity’s question turned to a frantic scream. The ponies watched as the chandelier became enveloped in a thick, dark gray goo. The sludge started moving, and half of it poured onto the rug.
Flutters of electricity shot out from the chandelier towards the sides of the room. The goo formed something odd— something like some kind of wispy appendages sticking out like arms. They slinked with a thick, humming noise around the floor.
The ponies squeezed together, terrified. They kicked against the ground and backed themselves up against the window. Raspberry wanted to yell for help but somehow he couldn’t even think to breathe.
The slender wisps curled around the floor— touching and touching while looking and looking. Smoky entrails headed up the edges of the book cases. Within just a moment, the ponies heard a terrible creaking sound. Then, a shrill metallic noise began almost like a crowbar hammered against concrete.
“Raspberry, dearie,” Rarity muttered. The ponies had their backs completely against the wall, shaking uncontrollably.
*Boom* Books flew out of the shelves onto the floor. The wisps flowed through and knocked the bookshelves right over. Dozens of the books floated up off of the floor and twirled in the air. Some kind of mini-tornado formed around the chandelier spinning books around and around.
“Wow, Twilight would hate to see this,” Pinkie said. Lightening started to crackle from the ceiling down. A blast shot at the rug a few feet away from the horses— leaving a dark red burn.
“Raspberry, now,” Rarity said, turning over to him, “This would be a really great time for you to talk to and reason with… whatever it is… your, ‘offspring’ as it were…”
“You think it’ll listen to me?” Raspberry replied, “It ain’t listening to me!”
“Do… at least try… please, Raspberry,” Fluttershy said, giving him a gentle nudge on the side.
Raspberry took a few steps forward and shouted, “Uh, hello there, my new friend. Welcome to Equestria. How’s it going?” Nothing happened. The books kept flying about. “Uh, well, then— I was wondering if you would drop all of that stuff and stop with the electricity and everything, please?”
A low hum began, and it built up until the metallic noises became hard to bear. Some kind of bright white opening formed deep within the sludge on the chandelier, almost like an eye, and then a dark cloud filled with sparks slinked through the air towards Raspberry.
“That’s a ‘no’, I think,” Pinkie said. Several books sped through the air and smacked the wall around the ponies. They shifted over until their backs were at the window.
Fluttershy said, “So… I wonder what now…”
“Iddddea!” Rarity said with a sing-song voice, and the rest of the horses eyed her, “Let’s… LEAVE!”
Raspberry rolled his eyes for a moment. He shocked back at attention as the cloud moved ever closer. The door, after all, was only a few dozen feet away. They all went into a small huddle. “Along the edges, okay,” he said, “Now, on the count of three—”
“Darling,” Rarity said, “Wait.”
“WHAT?” Raspberry spat.
“Is that ‘count of three’ as in ‘1-2-3’ THEN go, or is that ‘count of three’ as in ‘1-2’ then GO while saying ‘three’?” Rarity asked.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, look,” he said, starting to count on his fingers but then realizing against that he didn’t have any fingers, “It’s 1-2-3, THEN—”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!” Pinkie screamed as the cloud fluttered down and enveloped her tail. Whips flowed down between her back hooves and up her back. She kicked and kicked helplessly. The other three horses grabbed her and tried to pull her away as the creature yanked her to the chandelier.
“Not good! Not good!” Raspberry called out. His horn lit up and he tried to concentrate. He imagined something hitting the chandelier and something giving him extra strength to pull. He closed his eyes for a moment, and as he opened them again he saw Pinkie’s bright colors somehow begin to melt from her. Little pink droplets fluttered around in the air towards the chandelier. Pinkie seemed to change into a whitish peach color at every second.
“Let her go, you… you… big meanie!” Fluttershy hollered. The pegasus clutched Pinkie’s head and flew back upwards. Rarity and Raspberry’s horns glowed brightly. Some kind of white light erupted in the air behind Pinkie. A flood of tiny bubbles appeared around the creature’s wispy arms and multiplied quickly across. The ponies heard a horrible moaning sound— almost like a satisfied sexual grunt— and then Pinkie was free.
“Oh dear, please, please! Speak to me Pinkie!” Rarity cried. Fluttershy whispered into Pinkie’s ears. The formerly pink pony let out a few groans. Raspberry felt around Pinkie’s head and tried to concentrate.
“Youuuu! YOU LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!” Fluttershy yelled, and her eyes narrowed.
The monster let out a deep, low growl in response. Gray tentacles flung about across the ceiling.
Fluttershy glanced over at Raspberry, and she screamed, “You and Rarity get her to safety!”
Raspberry began, “But are—”
“Do it!” ordered the yellow pegasus. The other ponies grabbed Pinkie, counted off, and sped towards the door. The creature flung out waves of sparks at them. Fluttershy flew out and blocked each one with her body. She flinched as the electricity fluttered across, but then she made a determined smirk. “Well, well, well— is that all you got?”
Raspberry and Rarity popped out the door carrying Pinkie, who seemed awake and not too worse for wear but couldn’t move. They slammed it behind them and both took a deep breath. Then, they screamed as loudly as they could, “TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILIGHT!”
The hallway— adorned with various paintings and rare sculptures— seemed to have hundreds of unlabeled doors. Raspberry took a few steps out. He stuck his right hoof out and let out a frustrated grunt. Nothing happened. He rotated his hoof a bit and said to himself, “This is for Fluttershy.” All of the doors suddenly flung open with a loud crack.
“Twilight?” Rarity and Raspberry asked as they popped their heads into the first door, which revealed an ornate bathroom. They sped over to the next door, which revealed a storage closet. They hollered the purple unicorn’s name a second time down the halls.
“Yes?” asked a voice behind them. They spun around and grabbed Twilight without saying a word. They carried her back to the door to the study and then flung it open.
Futtershy played a great game of whack-a-mole with the monster— flying from side to side as it missed with lightning strike after lightning strike. The creature also occasionally lit up in a pink aura and threw some things that Raspberry couldn’t believe he was seeing— from bits of cookies to streamers to confetti to glitter. Twilight stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.
Twilight immediately stepped back outside the study and screamed, “GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARDS!”
“Pinkie, are you okay?” Rarity asked, and she and Raspberry cradled her. Her color had almost completely returned, but she kept shaking her head side to side while keeping her eyes closed.
“Whoo-hoo,” Fluttershy said, popping out of the door as well, “That… that… wasn’t as hard as I had thought…” Twilight and Raspberry huddled around her and started to care for her. She had some pale yellow splotches where her own color had been sucked out.
“Wow! What was… that…” Pinkie suddenly said. Twilight and Rarity rubbed her on the head and cracked big smiles, “All I can… I just remember it was like my hooves were going into an oven. Oh, well. How are you ponies?” Twilight and Rarity just made happy nods.
“Can you… if you don’t mind, too much, that is… get… off of me?” Fluttershy asked. Raspberry took a gulp as he realized how he had pinned her down by accident— body lying upon body.
“Sure, and thanks a lot for saving us,” he replied. Damn, that would have been a perfect moment for a kiss, so natural and so cinematic… Although a third kiss is really, really pushing my luck…
“Where, Praise Celestia, are the guards?” Rarity asked, feeling exasperated, “Where’s Rainbow Dash? Where’s Applejack? Where is— everypony!”
“I suppose they’re probably dealing with the cowpony in black and his various, ‘associates’,” Twilight replied.
== There’s more soon