Rise of the Furball Chapter 26: “Saving Grace”
Coco Pommel sighed, looking out the window of the hotel room that she was supposedly going to have all to herself. The view was decent enough, a high vantage point looking out on the forests bordering Baltimare, but otherwise it only reminded her that this was only a temporary change from her usual stomping grounds of Manehattan.
“Coco! Where’s that decaffeinated coffee I sent you for?!”
Another sigh before the under-appreciated mare answered. “On the table in front of the fireplace, right where you told me to put it.” No answer, though that was expected. Suri Polomare had dragged Coco all the way across Equestria simply so she could “visit” a friend who was in the dressmaking business. And by “visit” it was really implied to be “steal any half-decent rejected designs to be incorporated in Suri’s next line” in all likelihood. Fashion Week was coming up in a few months and Suri had, as usual, slacked off in actually designing anything so now she was rushing to throw something together simply to stack her portfolio. It was for those reasons Coco never shared any of her ideas with Suri, the more professional of the ill-fitting pair would just claim they were hers and Coco “stole” them, resulting in a pay cut.
But, Suri was also more wise about how the world worked, and with how cutthroat the fashion industry was it had been fortunate she’d even let Coco be her assistant. It was pure luck, however, that Suri really didn’t care that much about Coco’s personal history, because if she ever learned about how deep Coco was connected to the Changeling invasion of-
Something in the corner of her eye caught the wandering focus of the mare, breaking her train of thought. A new one began, however, when what looked like a ghost pony was darting in and out of the thicket, away from Coco’s point of view.
“COCO!” shouted Suri all of a sudden, followed by the feeling of an empty cup of coffee hitting the back of Coco’s head. The surprise attack caught her off guard, balance suddenly being lost as she tumbled onto her side. The cup harmlessly hit the carpeted floor, being made of an unbreakable material. “I don’t pay you to stare off into space, do I?”
“Uh, n-no, no you don’t! My bad, Miss Suri!” quickly apologized Coco, already back on her hooves with one holding the coffee cup.
“I’d say, you look pale. Well, pale-er than usual, anyway, like you just saw a ghost.”
“I, er, thought I did, but it was probably just my imagination!”
“Your imagination will be the end of you at this rate. But not while I still have use for you. Come, come, we have work to do. And get me another cup of coffee!”
“Y-yes! Right away!” With one quick glance back at the window, Coco chided herself for being stupid. Ghost pony, as if! She thought while she left the room to get the fifth cup of decaf coffee for her employer, I must be going mad under Suri’s payroll, hopefully I’ll find something better at Fashion Week.
“Well, ‘Tia?” asked Luna, impatiently. “You said I needed to be here due to something involving mother?”
“Yes, well…”grumbled Celestia, “that was before Discord decided he needed to go use the restroom.”
“Typical, but then again it’s Discord, not exactly unexpected.”
“Yes, but I do hope he knows better than to try and make all the royal paintings out of alignment again.” Snickered Celestia.
“Oh, I shan’t be doing that anytime soon,” said Discord, who surprisingly just walked through the door instead of some needlessly elaborate method of going through a wall. “After what Meadow Glade did to me when she caught me trying to replace the bleach reserves with milk, I have to wonder if she wasn’t originally some kind of pony terrorist who was trained since birth to try and overthrow governments!”
“The royal cleaning staff happens to be one of the last lines of defense should the worst case scenario happen and an enemy force gets inside the castle,” explained Celestia with a sly smile, “because nopony will suspect the lowly cleaning maid to know how to snap an enemy’s neck with just their tail.”
“Wait, wasn’t that my idea, back before the whole Nightmare Moon thing?” pointed out Luna.
“I never said it wasn’t, Lu-Lu. It’s still relatively recent that the cleaning staff require basic knowledge of at least two different kinds of martial arts namely because that’s how long it took for me to lobby for more control over the screening process.”
“Yeah, a stone prison was merciful compared to army of trained killers you have mopping the floors. I guess your mother was right in asking me to withhold this scroll until you were ready,” commented Discord.
“Thou hast done what?!” bellowed Luna, her temper flaring to the point shades of Nightmare Moon may or may not have flashed through Celestia’s mind. “Present thine possession to us immediately!”
“Hey, easy your majesty, Faust told me to hold onto it until I felt you were ready, and now I do.” Discord snapped his talons and instantly a scroll appeared in his grasp. Celestia instantly recognized it as the scroll she’d been allowed to ‘feel’ with her magic, but not read, back at the abandoned mine shaft where Raspberry Beryl met her BFF Heliodor seven years ago.
“And pray tell what reason thou hath for deeming us unworthy prior to this day?” snorted Luna, snatching the scroll from Discord’s palm with one swing of her foreleg.
“Well, until a few years ago you two were still in a war of succession, were you not?”
“We will have you know that-“ argued Luna, before catching herself. After a moment of thought, she resumed her initial demeanor before resorting to the RCV. “Apologies, you’re right, Celestia and I weren’t getting along as well as we should have, for both the sake of our mother and our country.”
“That’s behind us, now,” said Celestia, “but currently I am wondering what is the business with Raspberry Beryl. We did meet mother following the defeat of Sable Loam, if only briefly and by complete chance, but at no point did she mention some kind of prophecy about a green phoenix.”
“You met her?” Discord asked, surprised, “Ah, I will need to ask how she was doing at a later time. Right now, it is of the utmost importance that you two read your mother’s note and be up to speed.”
With a nod, the royal sisters took the scroll in their magic auras in unison and unrolled it, unsure of what they would find.
“So…good!” gasped Lightning Dust in-between face-fulls stuffed with food.
“Hey, mind saving some for the rest of us?” nickered Dash
“Oh, don’t worry, there’s plenty of food to go around,” cheerily said Cashmere, “and if not I’ll just go make more. I’m guessing you’re pretty hungry, aren’t you?”
Lightning could only nod eagerly as she started to resemble a winged hamster more than a pegasus pony.
“Yeah, thanks for hosting us for dinner, Mr. Ascot and Mrs. Cashmere!” thanked Fluttershy, whose plate was loaded with more food than the timid mare could possibly eat, though mostly out of Cashmere’s insistence that the ponies help themselves to the smorgasbord of food that had seemingly been spontaneously produced as a result of Raspberry returning home.
“Oh, but we simply couldn’t do anything less!” exclaimed Ascot, “after all, it’s not everyday this old inn plays host to a princess and her entourage at the same time somebody as special as Raspberry is allowed to be with us again!”
“Actually,” spoke up Twilight, “there’s two princesses being served here, tonight.” She gave a wink to Raspberry, only the recipient could only cringe with embarrassment.
“What? There’s another princess coming? Which one? I mean, no offense, but Cadence is quite a bit taller than our usual clientele and then for both Celestia and Luna…well, I don’t think our ceilings are high enough!”
“Oh, dear,” said Rarity, “I do believe I forgot to mention that part of the events from Canterlot in my letters.”
“You kinda forgot to tell me you were sending the letters,” grumbled Raspberry, trading a look with Heliodor as they didn’t know what was coming.
“Will somepony please explain who’s coming to dinner?” asked Cashmere.
“Raspberry’s the other princess!” happily exclaimed Pinkie. “Since she’s part of Sombra’s bloodline, and Sombra’s bloodline is old Equestriani royalty, she’s a princess!”
“Is that true?” eagerly asked Cashmere, “You’re a princess?”
The shocked look on Raspberry’s face told all. “Uh, hold on, I get that I’m of royal blood, if only for the worst reasons imaginable, but that doesn’t make me a-“
“Actually, yes it does,” said Twilight, smiling with a touch of embarrassment. “I was supposed to tell you earlier, but as you have a very direct connection to the royal bloodline, you are in fact a princess of the realm. Your investiture is to be planned over the course of the next week and held in the Crystal Empire.”
Raspberry looked at Twilight as if the purple alicorn had grown a second horn. “You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“You’re saying that you and the other princesses thought it would be a good idea to take the pony who nearly demolished the ruling body of Equestria by complete accident, and make her somepony on your level in the Crystal Empire? Uh, have you forgotten whose blood runs in my veins and why me, having been constantly reminded today of how I’m basically as much a danger as Sombra, getting crowned a legit princess in the place that he screwed over for decades before he made it vanish for a thousand years might not be a smart idea? I mean, do you really think the crystal ponies will accept that?”
“Ah don’t see why not,” commented Applejack. “For all you say King Subaru’s blood runs in your veins, it’s not the only thing you got. After all, didn’t you say the only reason that even happened is ‘cause he got involved with your ancestors who were crystal ponies? You’re one of them, too, even if your blood isn’t exactly of pure origins.”
“Besides,” added Twilight, “you’re only going to be a princess in pretense.”
Raspberry still wasn’t swayed in her skepticism, “I still don’t see the need.”
“You can blame your blood on that. Because you’re the only known remaining member of the Crystal Imperial family, it is your inherited place in the royal family. And yes, you have to be named a princess, because not doing so will have the other countries see that as a sign of disrespect or weakness on part of the actual ruling princesses. You can guess the myriad of ways they’ll try to exploit that.”
“You mean boring us to death?” said Rainbow, pantomiming a fake yawn, “Not that it’s not interesting or anything about hearing why Equestria’s next princess is going to be the pony who got closer to taking over Equestria than Sombra-
“By complete accident,” interjected Rarity, giving a sly wink to her former source of gems.
“Uh, yeah, point is we’re going to be dragged into it anyway later, so I’d rather we talk about something else while we’re still in Ponyville.”
“Yeah, wasn’t there somethin’ about a story we were supposed to hear?” said Apple Bloom, who was eager to leave all the business involving royalty behind.
“Yes, Mr. Ascot was going to tell us about how Raspberry saved him, right?” asked Fluttershy, who had probably paid more attention to Heliodor than the actual discussion being held.
“Honestly, I didn’t do that much!” whined Raspberry, though her tone implied she knew otherwise.
“I’d say not lettin’ me get turned into timberwolf chow is worth more recognition than just ‘not that much’!” reasoned Ascot, who absentmindedly rubbed a hoof over what looked like the scarred remains of a serious wound. “Especially not when it was a pack of twenty or so of the bastards tryin’ to eat me.”
“She what?!” exclaimed all the ponies who didn’t work at the Retreat, turning to look wide-eyed at Raspberry.
The mulberry unicorn sighed, figuring she might as well let it pass. “It was really more like fifteen.”
“Ah, now she comes around at last,” chuckled Cashmere. “I guess that’s your cue for starting, dear.”
“I believe so, too.” Replied the older pegasus, taking his seat alongside Cashmere at the far end of the table, next to Raspberry. “Now, picture this; several months ago, on a dark and stormy night-“
*THUNK* went Raspberry, face having made contact with the table. “Of all the ways to start it, you go with that one…” she lamented, muffled by the table, “like I wasn’t already being treated like some kind of higher power.”
“Ah, let me have some liberties!” laughed Ascot, “but regardless, you all get the idea. It was that big storm from a while back; thunder crashing everywhere, rain coming down as if Cloudsdale’s plumbing had broken lose, one of the worst storms in years! But, obviously, the storm wouldn’t be the most memorable thing from that night…
“Ascot!” called out Cashmere, “Ascot! Get back inside, the storm’s too fierce!”
“I can handle it!” called back the pegasus. The supercell that had formed over the Everfree Forest was now making its way over Ponyville, wreaking havoc on all that stood before it. The weather team had done their best to weaken it, but despite succeeding in splitting the thunderhead in two such that half of the storm would be caught above the Everfree until it was safe to let loose, it was only the lesser half. The stronger half was hell bent on destroying Ponyville and while it wouldn’t succeed, it would cause the insurance companies no end of trouble afterwards.
But in the middle of the storm, the old hanging sign of the Traveler’s Retreat, a relic from earlier times, had been buffeted hard enough for one of its two hooks to fail, leaving the other one perilously in the wake of the storm.
While the loss of the sign normally would have been not that big a deal, this sign was special. It was a part of the Retreat, it’s mounting having been the moment Ascot and Cashmere had opened for business, and had served as a welcoming beacon to all those who needed a place to rest and were of little money.
Thus, it was paramount that the sign be saved. As reattachment during the storm was out of the question, Ascot was determined to retrieve the sign before it blew away into the night and bring it inside.
“Honey, please, come back!” cried out Cashmere, “the sign isn’t worth risking your life! We can get it replaced!”
“Not this specific one! Too many memories!” answered the pegasus, having reached the sign post. “See? Halfway done already! Now, just gotta…get…this…undon-“
As Ascot managed to get a grip on the sign, an extra powerful gust of wind blew upon the earth. The strengthened air current was too much for the pegasus, maybe if he’d been younger he could have held on, but he was almost old enough for people to start assuming he was a grandpa and he simply wasn’t capable. The gale roared into him, making his hoof on the sign’s post lose its grip just as the sign’s one remaining connection snapped. Acting as some kind of kite, the sign took the hapless pegasus clutching onto it for dear life as together they were whisked away into the black oblivion.
“NOOOOO! ASCOT!” screamed Cashmere, having just watched her husband be stolen into the night. She would have raced after him and probably been one of the few ponies killed in the storm, but some of the Retreat’s patrons managed to pull her back into the safety of the Retreat’s interior before locking the door behind them. Cashmere knew that her guests had done the right thing, but it didn’t stop her uncontrollable sobbing in mourning the loss of something vastly more important than the sign of a small bed and breakfast.
“Wow, Ah’m sorry to hear about the sign,” remarked Apple Bloom, “but honestly the new sign looks like it fits just as well as the old one.”
“Huh? The ‘new’ sign? What are you…oh!” Cashmere started laughing, “That’s not a replacement, the sign out there is the same one the crazy old coot I love nearly died trying to save!”
“Well, I did save it, didn’t I?” replied Ascot.
“At the cost of what little flight endurance you have left, what with that nasty scar you got in return. But at least that will help keep you thinking clearly should another storm come.”
“Hey, I can still fly, thank you!” grumbled the pegasus, “but I would like to think the storm brought us something more than a good story, dear…”
Ascot didn’t know how long he’d been out, all he could remember was managing to throw the sign towards the ground when he thought he’d seen the outline of the Everfree Forest’s edge. Then an updraft carried him upwards and away from anything close to a landmark, before he suddenly slammed into what had probably been a tree. He knew Cashmere was going to be furious at him, that risking his life had been stupid considering, but chances were things would end up alright. If he was lucky, he’d landed near the hut of the zebra alchemist Zecora, where he could wait out the storm. A dingy cave would also do if need be.
But as he quickly found out, even with the thick forest to act as a breakwind to the storm, the pouring rain and what gusts dodged the trees made it difficult for him to move. It was also so dark he could barely see in front of him, having to take care not to step into any patches of poison joke or hit trees. Fortunately, he came across a well-worn path soon enough. The origins of the path didn’t seem to be logical, as ponies didn’t come into the forest beyond the one time on Nightmare Night to visit the statue or to visit Zecora on other days, but both the statue and Zecora’s hut were relatively close to the edge and a stone’s throw away from Ponyville proper practically. The path he was on now appeared to have been used regularly in the past, but was abandoned maybe a few months ago and the first signs of reclamation by the forest beginning to emerge.
“Hopefully this path will lead somewhere…” grunted Ascot, struggling to resist the fury of the storm. For maybe another half hour, the only noise he heard was the whistling of the gale, the pitter-patter of rain, and the crack of thunder. But he soldiered on regardless, knowing he had to get somewhere safe to get through the night.
Just then, a new sound was heard. A low, guttural growl.
“Wh-who’s there?” asked the pony to whatever was in the darkness. His answer was not verbal, rather it was when he turned around that he saw a pair of glowing green eyes, framed by what looked like wood. “T-T-Timberwolf!” he cried, turning back around and now racing at the fastest clip he could muster, the wooden beast behind him immediately giving chase with more joining in the hunt. Now it truly was a game of life or death, only Ascot knew he had to get to town now. A cave would only make him the next meal of the brutes for sure.
But good fortune would come in a strange way. He did not reach the edge of the forest. Rather, in his galloping stride, his hoof landed on a stray twig that slipped under him. His balance lost, Ascot found himself rolling like a ball off the trail and then violently down a hill, hitting more branches and trees and other obstructions. By the time he got to the bottom, he was dazed and in need of a bath, yet he would soon have bigger problems still.
“AARRRRRGGHH!” he whinnied, feeling the pain as a particularly agile timberwolf had managed to catch up and had sunk it’s splintered jaw into the base of his left wing’s mantle, then twisting it slightly and causing the injured muscle to sprain. Ascot managed to time a kick with his hindlegs such that it got the wolf off of him, but the damage was done. His advancing age was making itself known to him as there was no way he was going to make it anywhere out of this crater, not after having pushed himself to the absolute limit with having fought the storm. The mind-numbing pain from his bleeding wound also ensured his doom even if he had the strength to fly in the storm, as did the growing number of timberwolves encircling him. These wolves weren’t entirely stupid, they knew to just wait for him to fall unconscious before tearing him limb from limb, a time rapidly approaching.
Yet, as his legs gave out, his body crashing to the ground as he struggled to stay awake, he noted something peculiar. At the bottom of the crater was what looked like the worn, shattered remnants of what had been a tomb stone. One such chunk was close enough that even with the poor conditions, he could just make out the scratches of the letters ‘-IR VIS-‘ in what had to have been the center. A shame it will now be mine, too thought Ascot as he felt death draw near, and that I’m never going to see my Cash-
All hell broke loose when for no discernable reason, one of the timberwolves become enshrouded in green fire. The shock helping keep him awake a little longer, Ascot couldn’t figure out how a timberwolf could spontaneously combust in magic fire in the middle of pouring rain.
And then he saw the shining green bird, raising hell as it shot fire all over the place and lighting up the night. But moreover, he saw the silhouette of another pony. His strength reserves exhausted beyond any reason, he couldn’t even cry out as the pony with the bright red eyes, enshrouded by the cloak it wore, tried to rush to his aid only for seven or so wolves to ambush the newcomer. But before he finally passed out, he saw the bird shoot fire at the pony, hurting the wolves but doing no more than merely burning off the cloak on what was unmistakably a young unicorn mare, one Ascot had never seen. His last thought was of concern for the stranger.
“Y’know, I don’t recall ever getting an explanation for how you managed that trick,” mused Cashmere as she looked at the cringing Raspberry. “Of course, now that we know of your dark magic, it’s easy to see why you always dodged the question.”
“I must agree”, commented Rarity, ”it sounds impossible for somepony claiming a handicap of weak magic to be able to fight off an entire pack of timberwolves, much less in those kinds of conditions which any regular unicorn couldn’t have survived.”
“Yeah, a ‘regular’ unicorn,” said Raspberry, glumly.
Rarity immediately realized the damage. “Oh, darling, I didn’t mean it like that! You’re-”
Raspberry merely smiled. “Yeah, I know, but after years of being treated as a monster, ‘regular’ is still a word I don’t associate with my physical being.”
“No, Razz, my dear,” said Cashmere, “you’re not a monster, but you’re also more than just a regular unicorn. You’re a miracle.”
The following morning, search parties had been sent out to see if they could locate the lost pegasus, but in her heart, Cashmere feared the worst. It only became even more tragic when by the afternoon, all the search teams came up empty except for one, which had brought back the sign of all things, reportedly found just before the edge of the Everfree. Cashmere had to be held back from beating the snot out of the group, though nothing could stop her screaming about why they couldn’t have found her husband instead of the dumb sign.
Nothing except the ringing of the front bell and an unfamiliar voice calling out ; ”E-excuse me, is this the Traveler’s Retreat?”
Her actions forced, Cashmere could do nothing but put on a fake expression and try to act like everything was fine. She held it for all of five seconds upon seeing what had come through the door.
There, standing as if it was truly the most natural thing in the world, was a strange sight. In the middle of it all was a mulberry unicorn, mane of cornflower and lilac which framed dark red eyes, both coat and mane looking like an absolute mess with leaves and a twig or two still in her tail. On her horn was perched a green –green! – phoenix, accented with gold and for whatever reason looked like he was coming down with a bad cold.
But draped over the unicorn’s back was Ascot. He too looked to be in terrible condition, the remains of what looked like a burned garment having been hastily used as a tourniquet on a bloody wound on his left wing’s mantle, but his breathing was loud enough that there was no question; he was alive.
“Oh…oh my Celestia…” was all Cashmere could manage as she hurried over to make sure her husband was alive. “As…Ascot, are…are you alright?”
“Yeah, not in the best condition, but I’m-“
*SMACK*
Raspberry didn’t make any reaction, merely closing her eyes and hoping the moment, an unintentional reminder of her traumatic youth at the hooves of an unloving father, would pass soon enough. Ascot, for his part, was stunned as his cheek throbbed red at the mark left by his wife smacking him.
“Do you know what you put me through?!” she cried, before dragging him off the back of the unicorn and hugging him as if letting go would only get him lost again. “Don’t you ever do something that stupid to me! I can’t lose you, Ascot, not after all this time!”
“I know, love,” apologized the stallion, “I think I’ve used up my karma for surviving certain death, what with this pony having saved me.” His eyes went wide when he realized he’d forgotten something. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I caught your name.”
“Me? Oh, I’m Raspberry Beryl. My pet phoenix here is Heliodor.”
“Miss Beryl, I can’t thank you enough for bringing me my husband back. If…if there’s anything at all we can do to repay you, just let us know!”
Just then Heliodor sneezed.
“Well, actually,” started Raspberry, “I am in need of a place to stay. I’m not from around here, you see, because I’m a gem peddler and I travel from town to town. So-“
“Give me five minutes and I’ll have a room ready for you, though I must ask if you could please keep your pet under control.”
“Wha? Oh, no, Helee only has a cold, he was a major help in saving Mr. Ascot last night even though a bird of fire like him doesn’t do well in the rain, he’s very well behaved, I assure you!”
“Normally we don’t allow magical pets like phoenixes, due to insurance, but…I think we can make an exception here.”
“That blasted bird incinerated my third best pillow case the next day.” Complained Cashmere, good naturedly, “but to his credit, it wasn’t intentional since he was sick, and thankfully he hasn’t burned the entire place down.”
Heliodor tweeted angrily, but all that caused was a few laughs around the table.
“But there you have it, girls,” said Ascot, “that’s how Raspberry and Helee saved my life.”
“That’s still a nasty scar, though.” Pointed out Fluttershy.
“Bah, compared to what would have happened, I honestly would have been happy even if I’d had to lose the whole wing, sure this wound still makes it difficult for me to fly under my own power and no way I’m going to visit Cloudsdale on it without help, but I can’t say I had plans of moving back to the clouds when I married Cashmere and opened a groundside bed and breakfast.”
“That still doesn’t stop you from straining it to the point of risking tearing it back open, you know…” chastised Cashmere, before noticing something was amiss elsewhere at the table. “Applejack, dear, is something the matter?”
“That’s what Ah’m tryin’ to figure out,” replied the farmpony. “Rewindin’ the story a bit, did Ah hear you correctly in that you were able to read part of what had been on that tombstone?”
“Yes.” Answered Ascot, “in fact I’m sure of it. The whole setting was strange, that’s what has probably kept it in my memory much more vividly then…well, whatever it was I was trying to say!”
Cashmere and Ascot noted that all the ponies at the table were now interested in that trivial detail as tension could be felt in slight amounts here and there. “This tombstone fragment…what were the letters on it?”
“Well, let’s see…I know there was a space, and the first word had the letters “I” and “R” at the end, then the space, and the second word had V-I-S before the edge. I have to figure somepony was buried there a long time ago, maybe a century or so. Certainly seemed like a picturesque place to lay one to rest had the weather not been so nasty.”
“And the wolves, so many damn timberwolves,” added Raspberry, “I might as well confess that half the reason my intervention even worked was that the timberwolves realized they couldn’t really hurt me. And then when I dropped the disguise, that really got them running!”
“Disguise?” inquired Ascot and Cashmere simultaneously.
“Oh, yeah, that…” said Raspberry, a blush coming forth and her ears drooping. “Uh, are you sure you really want to see that? I mean, I’m not going to ever not look like this around the retreat, it defeats the point of working at a bed and breakfast when you scare off all the clientele.”
“I believe you should, dear,” mused Rarity. “you still have problems coming to terms in accepting that side of yourself, but aside from a few details you aren’t as hideous as your ancestor.”
“Plus, didn’t you say you are in that form anyway when you sleep?” added Rainbow, “it might be a good idea to let your employers know what they might find in your bed so they don’t…overreact.”
“Indeed, I agree that would be for the best,” affirmed Cashmere. “I nearly had a heart attack when Ascot went missing, so if I mistake you for something else, Razz, it might truly be the end of me.”
“Well, alright” acquiesced the red unicorn, “but don’t scream, OK? Don’t want to wake the guests, after all.” With the confidence gained in doing this in front of only the ponies she trusted the most, Raspberry let the dark side take over. Normally, she couldn’t stand keeping her eyes open unless she needed to use the unnerving effect of her red eyes shifting to a blood red color, as she had on Blueblood, but here she felt the need to maintain eye contact with Ascot and Cashmere. If they were going to go so far as claim Raspberry as an adoptive daughter, then this was going to be possibly the most important event of the day, even more than being pardoned by the highest powers in Equestria for her dark magic use. She needed Ascot and Cashmere to accept this was her real form.
Aside from a sudden gasp from Cashmere, who had lunged slightly into Ascot’s embrace, the room was silent, Raspberry and the others already aware of the truth waiting for the old couple’s response. Raspberry in particular knew they were trying to come up with words to express what they were feeling, the transformation having been momentary and signaled to end when Razz had felt her fangs come into contact with the bottom of her mouth.
“Th-this…is your real form?” stammered Cashmere, clearly trying to equate the pony before her with the one who had selflessly saved her husband.
“What, Rarity didn’t include this in the letters, either?” snarked Raspberry, a quick glance in Rarity’s direction revealing the embarrassed look on the fashionista’s face. “But, yes, this is me.”
“I’m not seeing the problem, here,” bluntly said Ascot, noticing the raised eyebrows being given to him by everypony. “What? I’m serious, if it was Nightmare Night then everypony would think it’s a great costume, but even so it’s still obviously the same pony we all know as Raspberry Beryl.”
“Yeah, it’s still me!” confirmed Raspberry with a small grin, “my usual colors are what I would really look like without the, um…”
“Corruption?” piped up Apple Bloom, trying to be helpful.
“Not quite the word I wanted, since it’s only my appearance and horn that are really affected. Oh, the teeth, too, I guess. But still, as everypony helped me see, my ‘disguise’ isn’t so much that as it is just me showing who I am beneath the dark colors and the crystal.”
“Well, I, er…” stumbled Cashmere in her words, “it’s a bit more extreme than I thought, admittedly.”
“Oh…” Raspberry’s grin dropped as did her head and ears, ashamed of how she looked once again.
“Now wait a minute!” snapped the earth pony, getting up from her seat and walking over to the younger unicorn. “Don’t take what I said as if I am disapproving of you, Raspberry, it’s just…strange to see somepony Ascot and I have come to cherish as family turn out to look so different. It will take some getting used to, no getting around that, but then again it’s not like I honestly cared about that back when I was younger and was swooning over a pony my parents considered a freak.”
“So I have six limbs, big deal!” laughed Ascot, “the way her parents acted, well, I’m sure it was similar to how most ponies normally regard you, Raspberry.”
“With cries of anger and pitchforks and torches?” sarcastically answered the unicorn, now in a hug with her motherly figure.
“Actually, there was this one time…”
The rest of the night was spent having the ponies listen to Ascot and Cashmere recount the wilder days of their youth, two young rebels against a society who decided an earthy filly with a knack for making things comfortable couldn’t love a pegasus who just really liked wearing ascots. It was embellished as all hell, but still entertaining. And Raspberry was happiest of all, for she had indeed finally found a family who loved her. Nothing could ruin this moment.
“I’m gonna ruin that bitch!” seethed Fair Vista as she ran through the forest. It had been a few days since the ill-fated attempt to possess Apple Bloom had gone so horribly wrong. And it was all because of that dark magic using unicorn. Vista still couldn’t wrap her head around how easily her plot had been handed to her by a spineless wimp. Granted, her unexplained ability to not die had something to do with it, but mostly the dark magic.
Without assistance, Fair Vista knew it was only a matter of time before somepony reported something that would have the unicorn and the phoenix back on her trail, this time looking to end her for good. She already was unsure of how much time she had left on this plane of existence, certainly shortened as she still didn’t feel right even this long after being slammed into dark crystal all over the place. She needed to get a hoof-hold on reality before she could resume anything else.
Fortunately, she’d been able to get to Baltimare with little trouble. She thought she’d seen some other pansy-looking pony notice her a few hours ago, but it was nothing. Ghosts didn’t exist, after all, at least not to those who weren’t aware of the supernatural world around them. Or the secret the ghost sought.
“Ah, here it is!” said the spirit as she found the opening that led underground. For whatever reason, the one she’d tried to locate in Ponyville’s surroundings had proven unreachable as the entrance had been sealed off by a rock named Tom (how she knew it had a name she neither could rationalize or even care enough about to investigate), but the Baltimare detour was wide open.
Soon, she was grinning evilly as the reflective surface of the pool shone back to her. The Mirror Pool would serve her needs nicely.
“It’s just a setback that needs to be dealt with, Sable dear,” whispered Vista, “but I’ll make our plans succeed. I just need to get more…physical with our enemies.”