Ch.10: Achieving an Understanding
Rise of the Furball Chapter 10: “Achieving an Understanding”
As Applejack stood on the platform, the three Crusaders jumping up and down and all around her with excitement on their faces, she mused that it had been exactly like this over a year ago when Babs Seed first came to Ponyville to visit. It had been a rough experience once the real story of what had been going on for those few weeks finally got revealed, but in the end it had all worked out. Babs had since come to visit a few times since then, but now she was moving in semi-permanently.
“Hey, Applejack?” asked Sweetie, “Why is Babs going to stay at the farm for so long this time? I don’t think Mrs. Cheerilee is going to approve of her just popping in for schooling, which I’m sure she’s not exempt from.”
“Granny and Big Mac already have talked it over with your teacher, actually, so Babs will be in your class,” answered the mare. “As for why Babs is staying so long, Ah honestly don’t recall gettin’ an answer to that mahself….”
The attention of those on the platform was suddenly drawn to the shrill cry of a steam whistle, signaling the arrival of the Manehatten Mustang. The first of what the Royal Equestrian Railway Company promoted as a new ‘streamliner’ train, the engine was equipped with external plating that made it look perfectly smooth on the outside and of a completely different world at the same time. It was also much larger, as if two regular engines had been welded together back-to-back to form its eight-wheeled base with four unpowered wheels in the front and back. Nicknamed “Greenbriers”, these state-of-the-art locomotives had not been designed for service off of mainlines, but due to Ponyville’s importance as the home of one of the Princesses, the RERC had no choice but to upgrade the line through the backwater settlement.
But as the engine slowed to a stop just beyond the edge of the opposite station end, the Crusaders didn’t pay it much mind. Instead, their focus was on the passenger cars that had drawn up to the platform. Unlike last time, however, they knew the appearance of the pony they were there to meet. Indeed, a few minutes after the train’s arrival, a brown coated filly who was slightly bigger than the average pony her age jumped down from the third coach. Her hot pink mane and tail, along with her green eyes, certainly made her stand out among the crowd, but it was the red cape she had tied around her neck with the shiny gold reverse side that confirmed her identity.
Babs Seed had returned to Ponyville.
“Babs!” shouted Apple Bloom, rushing off to tackle her slightly older cousin in a big hug.
“Hey, cuz!” greeted back the new arrival, taking the hug with a slight grunt as the impact from Apple Bloom forced some air out of Babs’ chest. She didn’t remember Apple Bloom being that strong the last time, but then again she hadn’t even seen her for months so perhaps it was just faulty memory.
“Didja have a good trip?” inquired Applejack, slowly trotting over while Scoot and Sweetie rushed off to join the filly pile.
“Uh-huh! This here streamliner is amazin’! The seats are so much cozier, the sleeper car has bunks in their own little rooms, and there’s even a snack bar at one end of the diner car!”
“Sounds like Auntie and Uncle Orange spoiled you rotten with this trip.”
The smile on Babs’s face fell a little. “Yeah, but they do that all the time, since they’re part of the Manehatten upper class ‘n all. Probably to try to make up for the fact they don’t really spend time with me if they’d have to miss one of their ‘social events’ they’re always at.” She then drew her head up a bit and made her jaw jut out as far as possible. “And when they have to drag me to one of those events, I have to talk with proper pronunciation like so and behave like all the other well-to-do fillies and colts who think we are all better than the common pony.” Her accent had changed considerably; sounding nothing like the Babs the CMC or AJ had known but instead had letter-perfect pronunciation as if she was trying to sound haughtier than the majority of Canterlot.
“Well, I do declare that to be a matter I most heartily agree-URK!” replied Applejack in her own ‘upper class’ accent. However, while she still could do the accent she’d mastered a few days before she realized her place was back on the farm and earned her cutie mark, she hadn’t used it in years and the sudden change in voice pitch was not received well by her larynx, sending her into a brief coughing fit.
“Applejack, are you okay?” squeaked Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, Ah’m-hack-fine!” wheezed Applejack, proceeding to take a deep breath and shake the cough off. “Ah mean no offense to yer folks, Babs, they’re still Apple kin, but tryin’ to talk like that nearly killed me back when Ah was still a filly, an’ clearly it hasn’t gotten easier!” An idle thought then occurred to AJ as to what she would have sounded like if she’d tried her ‘upper class’ accent…while also having the raspier voice that she’d had back when she’d been a werewolf. She concluded it probably would have sounded weird and just given her a coughing fit all the same, but wasn’t worth going back to being a werewolf, even if there was some way to becoming one again. She’d probably mention it to Apple Bloom later and they’d get a good laugh out of it, but it would be best not to reveal she was an ex-lycanthrope to the rest of the CMC, even though their antics had indirectly led to that whole ordeal in the first place.
“So, why are you staying for so long this time?” inquired Scootaloo.
“There was some charity auction or somethin’ they’d gone to a few months back, where they won the grand prize of some super-long, all-expenses paid world cruise. There were only two tickets, an’ even though they never asked if I wanted to go, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to anyway since I’d totally die from boredom, so they decided to send me back here since I have so much fun with you guys!” replied Babs, cheering back up.
“But what about your sister?” asked Apple Bloom. “Couldn’t you have stayed with her?”
“Tangarine Tart? No, she’s apprenticin’ to Gustave le Grande as a pastry chef in Canterlot and is livin’ in an apartment she’s sharin’ with some of her friends. I’d just get in the way.”
“Well, we’ve got plenty of room for you back on the farm, Babs.” Said Applejack. “And you don’t need to worry about sharin’ the same bed as Apple Bloom, either, as we cleaned out a spare room for you to use all to yourself.” In truth, the ‘spare room’ was actually Granny Smith’s old bedroom which until recently had been used as the master bedroom. The actual master bedroom had been used as storage due to the whole family not being able to spend long periods of time in it following the deaths of Appleseed and Cornflower. But, upon having received closure on the matter of the Apple Parents, Granny had it cleaned up so it could be a proper master bedroom again and her old bedroom be turned into a guest room.
“Ah probably should mention we don’t have an extra bed for you, though, so Ah hope you don’t mind a hay mattress and newspaper blankets!” teased Apple Bloom.
“That’s okay, I’ll just sleep on my luggage!” replied Babs with a grin, before taking on an apologetic look. “Mom and Dad decided to send me with everythin’ I’d possibly need, so it’s more than just a suitcase this time.”
“And you said we wouldn’t need the truck.” said Apple Bloom, casting a smug glance to Applejack who merely just rolled her eyes.
“Need the what?” asked Babs, raising an eyebrow in confusion at what a ‘truck’ was.
“You’ll see, let’s just get your stuff off the train before it departs for Canterlot and drops off your stuff at your sister’s place!”
At the same time, a very nervous unicorn trotted in place just outside Golden Oaks Library. She’d already knocked at the door, exactly at 5:15 as instructed by the summoning letter, but there had been no answer. It was now five twenty, and Raspberry Beryl was getting more and more scared by the minute. She might end up being in trouble for not any of the many, many reasons she had to avoid talking to Twilight in the first place, but in this case for being late somehow.
Heliodor, perched on a low hanging branch and facing her, was trying his best to calm her down. It was his job to attract attention away from her, which right now she wasn’t making it easy because she really looked like she needed to use the restroom and ponies were starting to look over.
“Yes, yes, I know Heelee, but I’m already possibly in seriously deep horseshit as it is!” quietly hissed Razz. “It’s five minutes past the time I’m supposed to be inside this tree, but the door’s locked and nopony is here, but I can’t leave in case the princess shows up and I get in trouble for not obeying a summons!”
The conspiratorial grin that appeared on the bird’s face only received an angrier response from the pony. “And you know very well I’m not going to resort to vandalism to get inside! This is literally the second home of the princess, she’d be even angrier if we-“ the sudden flurry of activity from Heliodor indicated that somepony was approaching and that she needed to act calm.
Indeed, around the corner came a sight that Raspberry Beryl had never seen in her years of traveling around Equestria. It was a small, purple-and-green baby dragon walking upright on two legs, while in his right claw he was holding a basket full of things from the market. The presence of a baby dragon concerned Razz even more now, since she knew gems were the preferred treat for the reptilian species and if he had one good look at her cutie mark he’d probably ask her for some, or possibly even threaten her with his flame breath or sharp claws for some. That would certainly put her in one of two equally bad situations; the first being Heliodor would promptly kick the dragon’s ass with his flame breath and sharp talons, leaving Razz to explain why there was a horribly maimed and burned baby dragon on the library’s doorstep, or she did give him some of her gems which would…well, she’d never actually given any of her gems to a dragon of any kind, but due to the spell she used to find them it was almost certain nothing good could come from it.
“Oh, hello!” greeted the dragon upon noticing the two waiting in front of the library. “You must be waiting for Twilight to get back from flying lessons.”
“…Flying lessons?” cautiously asked Razz.
“Yeah, I know, Twilight’s extremely smart and can learn something really fast if she doesn’t know it already, but since she wasn’t born with wings it…well, it was awkward. Here, I’ll let you in, I’m sure Twi won’t mind.”
“Uh, T-thanks,” said the cringing unicorn, waiting for Heliodor to take his place on her horn before they followed the dragon into the tree.
“I apologize for not being here to let you in earlier, but Wisdom Seeker forgot to restock the fridge before he took off for his vacation. Hope you guys weren’t waiting long,” said the dragon from his place in the kitchen.
“N-no, we’ve only been here for five or so minutes,” responded Razz, barely having heard the dragon in the other room. Her attention was fixed upon the glorious sight that surrounded her as she stood in the center of the tree; Books. Rows upon rows of books. Fantasies, encyclopedias, graphic novels, history books, everything that could be explored through the written word were present within this tree. To most ponies, it would have just been seeing a typical library that was only visually different in layout from any other library in a town similar in size to Ponyville, with the Royal Archives of Canterlot and the Crystal Empire far exceeding Golden Oaks in both contained knowledge and presented beauty. But for Raspberry Beryl, they represented a dream which she’d clung to all her life, even as fate conspired to drive it ever further from her with every misstep she took.
Almost unconsciously, she began to focus her magic to take a book she’d chosen at random, but before her aura could even light up she felt two familiar bird feet squeeze her horn much harder than usual for a brief second, sending a spike of pain straight into her cerebrum and instantly stopping her magic flow.
“OW!” cried Razz. “Heelee! What was that-“
Heliodor leaned over and glared at the pony attached to his roost, raising an eyebrow. Instantly realizing she’d nearly used her magic where somepony else could have seen it, she blushed a little at how stupid her mistake could have been.
“Oh. Right. Thanks for the save, Heelee.” He cawed happily, having done his job properly once again.
“Is everything okay miss…erm…” the dragon had come out from the kitchen, probably worried about the brief cry of pain he’d heard. “I’m sorry, but Twi didn’t give me your names, since she was supposed to be back by now.”
Relieved at the chance to take her mind off of her goof, Raspberry smiled. “I’m Raspberry Beryl and my companion here is Heliodor.”
“Well, nice to meet you! I’m Spike and…hey, is your pet a phoenix?”
“I’d hope so, that’s what everypony has been telling me ever since I got back to Ponyville!” came a third voice out of nowhere. The source was soon revealed, however, as Twilight Sparkle appeared at the edge of the second floor above. Instead of golden horseshoes and other regal wear, however, she instead was clad in nothing but a sweatband on her head, complementing the fact she looked somewhat out of breath.
“Twilight! Where were you?” inquired her adoptive brother.
“I was at my flying lessons with Rainbow, remember?”
“I remember you saying you would be back by five, it’s practically half-past at this point and you’ve been keeping this pony and her pet waiting. I presume they’re the ones you’ve been so eager to meet?” Spike gestured to the unicorn in the room with the bird on her horn, the former having bowed upon seeing the princess so fast and so hard that she unintentionally launched her pet right into the floor where he now lay spread eagled a good foot or so in front of her.
“Oh my gosh!” gasped Twilight, realizing that for all the things in life she could have afforded to be late for something, this probably wasn’t one of them. She ignored the stairs, instead choosing just to flutter her way down to the ground floor. “Please, you don’t need to be so formal in here, plus I think your phoenix needs your attention.”
“Huh? Oh, no! Heelee!” exclaimed Razz as she rushed over to Heliodor. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt, just a little annoyed at having suddenly been turned into a missile. Twilight just looked over the scene and smiled.
“So…you’re Raspberry Beryl?”
The addressed snapped her head around quickly upon hearing her name. “Y-yes! That’s me!” She then paled slightly as Twilight just chuckled, worrying that she’d done something wrong, but the princess soon explained.
“Like I said, you don’t need to be formal. To be honest if there’s one thing I hate about having become an alicorn princess it’s all this ridiculous formality. That’s why I’m so happy to be back home here in Ponyville, everypony treats me the same as they always did and not like some kind of untouchable work of art.”
Razz, however, was still unsure of the situation. “B-but the summons that I received was written so-“
Twilight just laughed again. “Yeah, sorry about that. Apple Cobbler means well, but when she insisted she write that letter instead of me just letting Spike do it as I usually do, I didn’t have much of a choice. Also, I’m sorry for having to keep you waiting, but do you mind if I take a few minutes to wash up? I’m still kind of sweaty and it would be rude not to be presentable to you.”
“Oh, no, take your time, really!” answered Raspberry, “Although…do you mind if I, um…take a look at some of the books here?”
Twilight had to raise an eyebrow at that question. “Uh…sure? You don’t need my permission; this is still technically the Ponyville Public Library after all.”
“I just wanted to be sure!” sheepishly grinned Razz. Twilight just shook her head, certain the poor pony was still flustered from having to deal with a princess acting so…unprincess-y, before flying up to the second level to start the bath, Spike already going up the stairs with a small bundle of fresh soap. Raspberry, on the other hand, waited until she could hear the bath water running before zipping over to the history book section and opening it up. Heliodor, having since recovered from being thrown face first into the floor by accident, flew up to the table to see what his mistress was reading. He honestly didn’t understand her fascination with books, they were everywhere, really, but they made her happy so he just pretended to follow along as she read out loud.
“Alright, Tiara, what do you have planned this time?” asked Silver Spoon. She’d been invited over to her best friend’s house, obviously to continue to plan how to expose Apple Bloom’s true nature, but the fact Diamond Tiara hadn’t even hinted at what the plan was this time was concerning.
“Okay, promise me you won’t freak out” said Diamond in a conspiratorial tone, letting Silver into her room before locking the door.
“We…we’re not going to do anything illegal are we?”
“No. What made you think that?”
“Well, I mean, normally you’re willing to go to some lengthy extremes sometimes, so the fact you actually are warning me ahead of time about whatever you’re going to suggest doesn’t fill me with confidence.”
“At least you’re filled with something,” commented another voice, followed by the translucent form of a green mare, strangely resembling what an alternatively colored and messier-maned Applejack would look like, walking into the room through the wall opposite the door. Silver instantly recognized the tell-tale features that marked this newcomer as a werewolf, along with the fact it was a ghost werewolf, and was only prevented from screaming her head off by Tiara quickly tacking her to the ground and muffling her muzzle with her foreleg.
“Keep it down!” hissed Tiara, “She’s the subject I need to talk to you about anyway!”
“Are you insane?!” Silver snapped back. “Are you that obsessed with proving Apple Bloom is a werewolf that you’ve actually raised the spirit of another werewolf to somehow help you with that? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that sort of hypocritical?!”
“To be fair, your friend had nothing to do with my reawakening, and she doesn’t have the magic capability for necromancy since she’s an Earth pony,” chuckled the ghost. “Plus, I was the one who approached her a few nights ago about helping with your problems with this ‘Apple Bloom’ character.”
Diamond let Silver Spoon go, both fillies getting back up. “So, um…yeah,” stated Tiara, “Silver Spoon, this is Fair Vista. Fair Vista, Silver Spoon.”
“A pleasure, really,” droned Silver Spoon. “But I still don’t buy the idea you happen to have simply walked up from wherever your physical body is buried and happened to come straight to us to provide assistance with this matter.”
“To be honest, I actually don’t know the means by which I have risen from the grave myself,” Vista said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But I am being honest in that our goals are, for the moment, aligned in regards to the same pony.”
Diamond then spoke up. “Believe it or not, Silver, but apparently Applejack had been a werewolf for some time, up to around when the Minotaurs were proclaiming one of their own had killed the last werewolf. In reality, it seems Applejack was the true killer, as that werewolf was the one who spread the cure onto her and the only way to cure oneself is to kill the infector.”
“So…Applejack was a werewolf, too?” inferred Silver, trying to understand where this was all leading.
Fair Vista nodded. “Yes, but she is not one any longer, although why anypony would want to throw away a gift like this is beyond me. But, more importantly, she killed the pony who I loved and for that I want revenge. Since you two are going after the youngest of her family and aren’t impared by not having an ethereal form which can’t really interact with the physical plane, and obviously I’m very knowledgeable about werewolves being one myself, I figure we should join forces so we can all get what we want.”
Silver Spoon still was suspicious about the whole affair. First off, the idea her best friend was so willing to accept the help of a werewolf poltergeist which had arrived very conveniently when it was needed most disturbed the gray filly. There was also the problem about how far this mess would end up going if simply exposing Apple Bloom wasn’t enough for either the ghost or the pink filly, the former most likely being perfectly willing to execute anypony if she had to and the latter already having demonstrated a severe lack of morality when it came to respecting anypony other than her parents or Silver Spoon. But at the same time there wasn’t really any alternative to cooperating with these arrangements, mainly because Silver Spoon didn’t dare risk her friendship with Diamond Tiara namely because she was the only pony Silver could truly consider a friend, and also because she wasn’t convinced the werewolf was being totally honest in what she said about not being able to interact with the physical world.
“Alright, I guess I’m in.”
Fair Vista grinned, exposing her disturbingly sharp teeth that had no place on a pony. ”Excellent. I’m looking forward to working with you two, should be fun.”
______________________________________________________________________________
“Now, Ah don’t mean to be rude, Babs, but Ah think you mighta packed a little too much!” groaned Applejack. It wasn’t the largest load of luggage she’d ever seen, she knew from experience that Rarity practically refused to stay overnight anywhere under normal circumstances without bringing along half her wardrobe, but for a pony like Babs who couldn’t possibly have had even a fraction of as many apparel items it was strange she’d need ten large suitcases even if she was temporarily moving in for a season or two. Plus, she wasn’t sure she could safely carry it all in the tiny apple cart she’d brought, assuming it would have been at most four bags.
“That’s what Ah said, but mom and dad still insisted I’d need several coats because of how cold it can get around here,” replied Babs.
“But Ponyville is almost exactly in the middle of Equestria, within sight of Canterlot even!” pointed out Apple Bloom, gesturing to the tiny shape of the cliffside capital just visible on the distant mountain range. “Plus, isn’t Manehatten known for its super-cold winters as well?”
“Yeah, but accordin’ to some friends of my parents the winters here are longer ‘allegedly’ because the populace never gets Winter Wrap Up done on time.”
“That’s not true!” interjected Sweetie Belle, “ever since Twilight was appointed the manager of Winter Wrap Up, Ponyville has always been on time for the start of spring!”
“Yeah, well we’re all runnin’ late for getting’ y’all back to the farm, but there’s no way Ah can fit all of this into the cart, it’s too small!”
Apple Bloom looked at the luggage, then the cart, then the luggage again, before she smiled. “Ah think Ah know how to do it…”
Thirty feet of knotted rope later, Applejack still couldn’t believe how Apple Bloom had secured all ten pieces of luggage to a degree that could be carted to the farm safely.
“Ah! Much better!” sighed the now-clean alicorn, “Now to get to business!”
She descended the familiar stairs of the library this time, wishing to give her wings a rest. Rainbow had drilled her hard in order to ensure the basics of flying were ingrained into her head, to the point both of them had lost track of time, and as a result they still felt sore. But Twilight ignored the feeling, instead anticipating what she would learn momentarily. There, sitting next to Raspberry Beryl, was an honest-to-Celestia green phoenix. The princess could hardly wait to get started.
“Spike!” she shouted, although intending to get the attention of the phoenix and its owner in addition to her assistant, “Can you put on some tea!”
“Sure thing, Twi!” answered the dragon.
Heliodor twittered slightly, alerting Raspberry that reading time was over.
“Thanks, Heelee,” she whispered to her pet before turning to Twilight. “I trust your highness is feeling better, now?”
“Please, just call me Twilight, honestly I prefer to be seen as just a regular unicorn while in town.”
“Uh, okay, your maj...Er, Twilight!” responded the other unicorn, catching herself before she did the very thing she’d been asked not to do.
The lavender alicorn smiled. “Besides, you’re the one who truthfully has more honorability than me, as nopony, not even Princess Celestia, can claim they have a pet like yours.”
“Who, Heliodor? No, no, I’m sure other ponies have pet phoenixes, too, it’s just that meeting one who is willing to stay with you like a pet is so rare.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Other ponies? Under natural circumstances, phoenixes can only be domesticated if they decide to imprint upon an individual they deem worthy of their company. As it stands, I’m only aware of three phoenixes that have ever allowed themselves to be pets: Philomena, who is the pet of Princess Celestia; Heliodor, who is your phoenix; and a phoenix who Spike rescued about a year ago.”
“Yeah, Pee Wee’s still with his family right now, but he does come to visit sometimes,” added Spike, who walked in with a tray supporting a tea kettle and two cups. Having been imprinted upon by Pee Wee in return for having saved his egg, Spike was technically the only dragon who ever had a phoenix as a pet. But, due to Spike also being a baby dragon with the maturity of a young adolescent pony, Fluttershy had advised letting Pee Wee be returned to his parents, which had been accomplished with the help of Philomena. Twilight not willing to let an unhousebroken bird that had a tendency to shoot fire inside her library had also been a factor.
However, for whatever reason the phoenix in the room suddenly looked depressed, prompting Razz to rub his back with a hoof.
“Wh-what’s wrong?” asked a shocked Twilight, simultaneously using her magic to levitate the tea kettle and fill the cups without even having really thought about doing so. “Was it something I said?
“It’s…well, Heelee never knew his parents, actually,” explained Raspberry.
“Rarity said that you mentioned to her that Helidor –that’s his name, right? – was just a hatchling when you first met him, but she didn’t mention much else. But…not know his parents?”
“Maybe his egg was stolen, kind of like what happened with Pee Wee?” suggested Spike.
Raspberry nodded. “As far as I know, Heliodor’s egg was stolen by diamond dogs, probably because his egg must have looked like a precious stone unlike any other. But he hatched inside their caves, to which the dogs obviously didn’t like and possibly considered some kind of magic trick at their expense, and proceeded to chase him around the caves trying to kill him. At least, that’s what the scene was when I got there.”
“Why were you at a diamond dog cave entrance?” inquired Twilight.
“As I’m sure many ponies have already told you, my special talent is finding gems.” Raspberry turned in her seat slightly to let the princess get a better view of her cutie mark. “I actually hadn’t known it was a diamond dog cave at the time, especially since it had been described to me as an Earth pony mine, complete with the wood supports you’d expect, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt if I just went in and took any gems that were left. You can imagine my surprise when all of a sudden I see a flying green and gold blob trying to outrun some very angry canines.
“Next thing I know, one of the lead dogs tripped and caused them all to collapse on top of one another, allowing their quarry to clumsily land on my head and cling to my horn for dear life. I wasn’t going to let the dogs get him, or me, for that matter, so I yanked out one of the wooden supports as I ran out of the cave so it would collapse and prevent the dogs from chasing us. It wasn’t until I’d run a good mile away that I finally stopped to catch my breath and realized a baby phoenix was still attached to my head, traumatized and half-dead from exhaustion.
“I was in between towns at the time, so I didn’t really have much to provide for myself, but I did what I could for him and as you can tell he fully recovered. I tried going around and seeing if I could find his parents, but I didn’t find any phoenixes at all, and since the baby phoenix had only hatched inside that cave he didn’t know where his nest was, either. He needed somepony to look after him, though, and after I’d been traveling alone for so long it was nice to have a companion, so I named him Heliodor and he’s been with me ever since.” Raspberry then leaned over to nuzzle her bird, which he returned in kind.
By that point Twilight had already whipped out a notepad and quill, furiously jotting down notes, but she’d had a question or ten readied once the story had ended. “Fascinating…I didn’t know diamond dogs would potentially steal phoenix eggs. Heliodor’s egg must really have been different from a normal phoenix egg I guess. Although he himself seems to be different from even normal phoenixes, as he can apparently sit on your horn?”
Wordlessly, Heliodor just launched himself from the table and flew a complete circle around the library before landing on Razz’s horn. The unicorn, on the other hand, had just looked right at Twilight the whole time and barely even seemed to react to the sudden landing made on her horn.
The princess was dumbstruck, the quill coming to a halt. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
“What do you mean?” asked Raspberry.
“A bird of even his size should be pushing down on your horn with enough force to be triggering pain receptors in your brain, since a pony’s horn is a natural extension of the skull and brain in order for it to conduct magic. To have something like, well, Heliodor on your horn should by all rights be weighing your head down and making you scream in agony.”
“Really? That’s never happened with Heelee, but then again he’s the only creature who has actually used my horn as a perch.”
“If it’s alright, could I have him try to sit on my horn, then?”
“I…guess?” All the confidence that had been building up in her about talking to a princess suddenly drained out of her. Twilight wanted to try having Heliodor sit on her horn…after everything she just described? She glanced up at Heliodor, prompting both unicorn and phoenix to go into a silent conversation composed purely of pantomimed gestures and expressions. Twilight recorded the entire thing in earnest. Finally, some sort of decision had been made. “Alright, Heelee says he’ll try.”
“Okay, how about just to simplify this, we put our horns up to each other so he can slowly walk onto mine. If anything happens he can just latch back onto your horn.”
“O-okay…” was all Beryl said.
Maneuvering around the table, the unicorn and alicorn lowered their horns to allow the phoenix to cross over. However, Twilight noted that Raspberry was trying very, very hard not to let their horn tips touch, which seemed odd. She soon figured out why when Heliodor, also nervous from what seemed like a needlessly complicated acrobatic maneuver, had one foot on each horn but suddenly lost his balance and in his attempt to regain it caused the horn tips to touch only briefly.
It was less than a second of contact, but Twilight instantly knew the unicorn in front of her had been hiding something far bigger than the origin of a green phoenix. Normally, when two ponies with horns put their forehead extrusions tip-to-tip, their separate magic fields will interact with each other, in most cases allowing them to combine for whatever reason. However, when Twilight felt the presence of Raspberry’s magic, there was something decidedly wrong about it. What that was, Twilight couldn’t figure out before the magic fields separated, but it felt both sickeningly similar and yet totally unfamiliar at the same time. She didn’t even pay attention to the phoenix, who by that point had given up trying to cross over and had flown off to perch on a lectern that happened to be nearby, clearly dizzy from having nearly done the splits on top of two magic fields reacting to each other. Right now she was more concerned with the unicorn across from her. “What are you hiding?” accused the princess, shifting into a readied stance should Raspberry turn out to be an enemy of the crown.
“L-look, your majesty, I can explain, please!” Raspberry, on the other hand, was now deathly afraid. The very thing she hadn’t wanted to reveal had just been revealed by complete accident, meaning if Twilight already had made that assumption she was as good as dead.
“You can explain? Alright, then tell me what’s wrong with your magic, because that’s not normal magic I felt from touching your horn!” Twilight charged up her aura, ready to lay down the hurt if necessary.
“Y-yes, j-j-just give me a s-second! D-don’t’…hurt…m-me…plea-” pleaded Razz, who evidently was now so scared she was having trouble breathing, gasping for air in between words. Twilight, against her better judgement, powered down her magic in light of this. Either she was the dumbest assassin ever, or the unicorn did have an honest explanation for why her magic felt differently.
“Raspberry, take deep breaths, okay? I’m not going to hurt you, but it would be hard for you to tell me what’s going on with your magic if you pass out from oxygen deprivation, right?” Razz just nodded, but after a little more encouragement Twilight had the mare doing calming breathing exercises in the way Princess Cadence had taught her. “Feeling better?” she asked when Razz finally had regained some of her composure.
“Y-yeah…”
“Can you tell me what’s going on?”
Raspberry took a deep breath in preparation for what she was going to say. The details would need to match up to what she told Rarity and Sandalwood during that aromatherapy session, but after years of retelling the modified version of her past there would be little deviancy, if any, from either time of having to retell the tale. Besides, it was pretty much the truth anyway. Or at least most of it.
“Please, promise me you won’t freak out, okay?” pleaded Raspberry, to which Twilight gave a stern, affirming nod. With no other choice, Raspberry closed her eyes and brought up her own aura. Her horn became encased in a light blue essence, but to Twilight’s shock it wasn’t a smooth glow. Instead it was more like a fog that bubbled around the horn, as if it was dark magic. But it looked less like the dark magic that was practically synonymous with King Sombra, instead more like a version of Sunset Shimmer’s magic when the former student of Celestia had been turned into some kind of monster on the other side of the mirror where everypony had hands. But despite Sunset’s intentions at the time, especially the whole ‘brainwashing the school’ thing, whatever magic she had been using couldn’t be considered true dark magic as it had only been a result of Sunset’s magic not being fully compatible with the Element of Magic, in a form that initially wasn’t able to properly use magic in the first place.
“What’s wrong with your-WHOA!” Twilight started to ask, but was interrupted when Heliodor swooped close to her before landing on Raspberry’s horn, which strangely didn’t lose the unnerving fog around it, but the presence of the phoenix was enough to get her to open her eyes again.
“Princess...I know what it looks like, but I swear to you it isn’t! The truth is, I actually don’t have a lot of control over my magic. Anything stronger than basic telekinesis or my gem finding spell is too much for me to handle, even just showing it off like this takes a lot of focus to keep under control, and I don’t think I need to go into detail about what can happen should I lose that control.”
Twilight was silent as she digested this new information. The idea that a unicorn’s aura could be affected by the amount of control they had over their magic was in line with what she had observed in various instances. When Trixie was under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet, her aura had turned blood red and periodically manifested as sparks coming out of her eyes, then with Sunset Shimmer it wasn’t out of the question that her magic had gone out of control from the aforementioned incident, and Twilight herself had been encased in her aura when her magic quickly exceeded her ability to handle it during her application test to Celestia’s school. But in each case, there had been an outside acting agent or catalyst; an enchanted amulet, the Element of Magic, and Rainbow Dash’s first Sonic Rainboom. But Raspberry didn’t have any of those…then Twilight recalled Rarity had also mentioned Raspberry had had a very traumatic foalhood.
Without a response from the princess, Raspberry powered down her aura and began to tell her story once more. “I’m sure Rarity’s already told you, but growing up wasn’t easy for me, being a unicorn in an entire town of Earth ponies. I don’t know much about my bloodline, other than it’s Earth pony all the way through, even my father once said my mother’s side claimed to have originated from the Crystal Empire.”
“The Crystal Empire?” repeated Twilight in surprise. “You have ancestry among the Crystal Ponies?”
“Allegedly, although it does sort of explain how my mane and tail are sort of different.” Replied Raspberry, taking a lock of her mane hair in her hoof and holding it up. Twilight walked closer, seeing that instead of a sharp difference between the colors of the mare’s hair like with most ponies, Twilight included, the sky blue and purple instead had a gradient not unlike a crystal pony’s between them, but from a distance they looked like normal colors with a hard split between them. “Popular belief has it that before Sombra made the Empire disappear, some Crystal Ponies managed to escape and vanished among the populace of the rest of Equestria. Whether it’s true that I have Crystal Pony blood in my veins or not is irrelevant, I still was born as the only unicorn in a town full of Earth ponies.”
“But…that’s impossible!” responded Twilight, “there isn’t a single settlement in all of Equestria that doesn’t have at least a few members of any given regular pony subspecies!”
Razz just shook her head sadly. “Not in Lonesome Dove. Completely one-hundred percent Earth pony population, both when it was founded and most likely right now if the town still remains. To my knowledge, I was the only non-Earth pony to ever live there, in my short time as a resident, and nopony trusted me being able to use my magic much less try to teach me how to use it. My father especially hated my magic, always forcing me to do things physically and punishing me severely whenever he caught me trying to use magic. It hurt, both because of having to do daily chores that demanded an endurance I wasn’t gifted with at birth, and because sometimes he’d try to simply break my horn off. He never succeeded, but I’m fairly certain he’s the reason why my magic aura is so different.”
Twilight had raised a hoof to her mouth in horror. Damage to a unicorn’s horn during their childhood years and encouraging them to withhold the magic they would naturally try to discharge…It would explain why Raspberry’s magic felt so wrong; it had never been given the chance to fully develop. Additionally, if her father had tried to break off her horn multiple times during her fillyhood and probably even early adolescence, the physical trauma would certainly have left permanent damage to the ability for the horn to conduct her magic.
“I…I’m sorry…” apologized the shellshocked princess, “there…how…I had no idea…”
Oddly, Raspberry smiled, if only briefly. “It’s alright, you’re honestly the first pony who has been willing to listen to me about it, every other time anypony has seen my magic they immediately think the worst and…it never ends well for me. That’s what happened when I dared use my magic again one day and discovered my special talent in finding gems, when really I’d just been trying to pick them out of the ground with my telekinesis so I could plant some seeds. Dad was furious, his wife had died in childbirth to only give him a weak unicorn filly instead of a strong Earth son, the farm he’d been stuck with couldn’t grow crops because the soil was littered with almost worthless gemstones, and to top it all off his offspring was now even more of a reminder of everything that had gone wrong in his life.
“A few months later, I overheard him muttering how he was convinced I was in fact some kind of evil creature that kept bringing misfortune to him and it was his duty to kill me. I had no choice but to flee for my life, but since nopony in Lonesome Dove was going to protect me, I was forced to jump a train with what little I was able to take with me. Ever since, I’ve been going from town to town, using my magic to find gems that I sell at low prices simply to keep myself afloat, then merely going on my way when somepony inevitably gets the wrong idea about my magic.”
Silence reigned in Golden Oaks for what seemed like forever. Twilight just looked at the unicorn in front of her, now believing that she was in fact far stronger than she looked after having gone through such a horrible upbringing. But her pet Heliodor was certainly part of that. While he was far more than a pet, Spike was sort of the same thing to Twilight as Heliodor was to Raspberry, both males were companions that both ponies had known for the majority of their lives, and most likely in times of great distress were possibly the only ones that their counterpart mares could talk to at any time openly. Maybe there was even more to this pony then what Twilight had originally been led to believe.
“Hey, Raspberry, if it’s alright, would you like to stay for dinner?”
The addressed backpedalled in shock, Heliodor squawking in surprise, but a small smile came upon her face, and Heliodor’s momentarily after in response to his mistress smiling.
“Y-yeah, sure, why not?”
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... Am I the only one who wants to deck Raspberry's father? Repeatedly? Into a cinder block?
Also, why do I get the feeling Raspberry is gonna play some important role in bringing Fair Vista to justice?
....there is something more to this pony......
3388764
Unicorns! More than meets the eye!!
3387587
*drags Raspberry's father's body back holding the head and a bloody axe* welp I went Jack from the Shining on his ass. Redrum.
Given that the author already explicitly included in the text that Raspberry is telling a "modified" version of her background, it'll be interesting to find out just what she's hiding.
3391144
Well, her Cutie Mark features the Crystal Heart, which is also on the flank of Princess Cadence. I'm thinking that the poor lass has more than simple Crystal Pony ancestry. However, unlike Cadence, given the condition of Razz's magic and her affinity for gemstones, I fear who she might have in fact been descended from...
Maybe she's related to sombra?
No...she wouldn't freak out over meeting Twilight if that was the reason for her wonky magic. When she received the summons she was practically going out of her mind with terror at the prospect of Twilight "finding out"...if that story she just spun was true, she'd try to find Twilight so they could figure out how to fix her magic.
There's definitely something else going on here.
As of right now, I am far more interested in the Rasberry Beryl storyline than the AB Werewolf storyline. But somehow, I know they will come together, and that intruiges me even more.
oh, I thought she was a werewolf or something
To be honest, I really despised child abuse. So when Raspberry told her story of how her father just downright treated her like she was a slave and tried to break off her horn multiple times, I feel like I wanted to just kill this guy with a machine gun, if he hadn't been killed already.
3387587
No worries, brother, I feel the same way as you.