Migraines

by SwiperTheFox

Chapter Two Part Nine

He then began to walk back over to the train station. He felt pretty lost— having no idea where to go or what to do. Well, this is some fine, friggin’, ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ / ‘Mister Rodgers’ / ‘Raffi’ stuff we have here. But I’m still no closer to any of the three other friggin’ jewels. Not to mention that God only knows what abomination my next headache is going to bring. He walked over by the platform. He suddenly detected a familiar sounding voice.

“Oh, come on, no. It’s got to be somewhere,” said a young pegasus. She turned around and bumped right into Raspberry.

“Jetter!” Raspberry exclaimed. She yelled his name back and they bumped hooves. “Well, why on earth are you here?”

“Why else would I be anywhere,” she muttered back, looking perturbed all of a sudden, “My Mom dragged me over here to see another podunk cousin.”

“Okay, sure,” Raspberry said, and he scratched his head. Well… I guess I’m happy to see you. But I don’t think that helps anything.

She went on, “I’ve been here for WAY too long. Looking for the blasted— HEY! There it is!” She pointed up at the wall behind Raspberry. The stallion squinted. He spotted a single skate resting on top of a pipe on the roof.

“You threw that?” Raspberry asked. Jetter nodded in the affirmative. “Nice distance.” The pegasus shrugged. “So, I guess we’ll need to reach that?” Jetter nodded once again.

“Well, you’re one of the, you know— Why don’t you just fly up there?” Raspberry asked. Jetter shrunk her eyes into little beads and shot out snot from her nose. As she fluttered her little wings, Raspberry nervously gulped. “Okay, I get it. Sorry. Really.”

Jetter calmed down, and then she said, “Since you’re apparently somepony with a good handle on magic…” Raspberry shrugged. He turned over, closed his eyes, and he tried to concentrate. The skate became enveloped by a purple aura. It bobbed in the air. For some reason, it didn’t seem to want to come down.

Raspberry scrunched his face and concentrated twice as hard. The skate seemed to burn with bright purple light. Yet it continued to wiggle up in the air.

Raspberry began, “Well what gives, serious—” A huge wispy cloud formed around behind the skate. The air seemed to pulse with intense heat. The two ponies had their jaws drop. Jetter moved in underneath Raspberry’s legs. The cloud grew darker and darker. In just a few seconds, the stallion found himself face to face with the monster again.

“Well, hello,” he said meekly. The monster let out a horrible growl. Those dozens of cold, soulless eyes focused right on Raspberry. Then, they moved back to the skate. The creature shifted a few feet forward. The skate melted before Raspberry’s eyes into a dark grey husk, and then it disappeared into the monster’s thick smoky body.

Jetter cried softly. Raspberry nudged himself forward until she was sitting totally behind him. Although shaking from pure fear, he managed to slowly nudge his suit over and pull the sonic device out of his pocket. The monster eyed the street beside the two ponies. It then turned over and looked straight at the tiny pegasus.

“Oh, you ugly bastard, you are not going after any little fillies today,” Raspberry said. He clenched his teeth and held up the device. The monster continued to stare at Jetter, and Raspberry lit himself up with purple light. He forced himself to breathe. The creature’s body seemed to inflate from elephant size to building size. Raspberry tasted the sweat pouring down his cheeks, and he saw his glasses start to fog up. “I don’t… I don’t care how friggin’ big and friggin’ powerful you think you are.”

The monster let out a roar that built up louder and louder every second. Jetter seemed to clutch his leg so tightly that Raspberry thought she would leave a mark. The creature suddenly stopped, and it poured itself down the roof like rainwater down a drain. The eyes seemed to burst with a glowing red.

“SMILE YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Raspberry shouted. He fired straight in the middle of its bundle of eyes. Waves of purple energy enveloped the monster’s head, and it screamed in pain. It shifted back over on top of the roof. The dozens of eyes darted about in multiple directions.

“Mere magical force is not enough! Only the potion can be that tough!” yelled somepony that had just jumped besides them. Raspberry didn’t have time to look over. He focused himself at the monster, and he fired again. This shot knocked off most of the creature’s mouth, although it quickly reformed from its cloudy body.

“No, this is not the way to fight! Only the special magic will be right!” the unfamiliar voice went on.

“Well, then, friggin’ HELP!” Raspberry called out. He turned over. He saw a tall zebra with jagged grey stripes and all kinds of golden accoutrements. She looked pretty angry. “Uh, help, please. Zecora?”

“Use it!” Zecora yelled. She tossed a large vial at him. “Don’t lose it!” Raspberry snatched it and then held it up in the air besides his sonic device. The monster burst out from above the roof and shot towards them again.

“NO!” Raspberry shouted. Without really thinking, he jammed the vial on top of the disruptor and aimed it straight above. He let out an angry growl and fired right onto the monster’s nose. The vial flew through the air several feet and then exploded in front of the monster.

Waves of purple sparkles mixed in with bright blue droplets and broken glass bathed the creature’s face. Lightening flew out of its body, and it’s face contorted in obvious pain. It let out a low moan and seemed to shrink five sizes smaller.

“No, it must not flee! This simply cannot be!” Zecora shouted in vain. The monster immediately enveloped itself with a patch of wind and vanished once again. The zebra cursed something below her breath, and then she turned to the two ponies.

“It’s not going anywhere,” Raspberry said, “It’s like a program going from read-only to normal and back again. Or a dolphin jumping in and out of the water world.” He paused and realized that neither metaphor worked for ponies. “Or it’s just, look, the point is it flows in and out of this universe. I know that. I think I can’t send it home. I have to just trap it and kill it.”

“Easier said than done. Most ponies would simply run,” Zecora said.

“Raspberry, what in the world was that thing?” Jetter asked. She hadn’t been able to keep the tears from pouring out. She stepped out a bit from under Raspberry’s side.

Raspberry turned over to her and said, “Just, just go to your Mom and your family. Stay inside. Go right, now. Right. Now.”

“Raspberry?” she asked— this time much more quietly. He leaned over to hear her better. She popped upwards and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks.” She cried a little bit more, but she steeled herself. She then sped off of the platform.

“It’s hardly believable, but it is true. Few ponies believe of this, besides me and you,” Zecora said, looking over right at Raspberry.

“Oh, tell me about it,” he remarked, “And to think that it’s been going from building to building and everything…”

“I believe!” a familiar voice peeped up from the wall opposite from where the ponies stood. Raspberry looked up and saw Derpy flying just above the roof. She swooped down and then sat on the ground next to him.

“Great,” he said sarcastically. We have an eccentric musician from out of town, a bunch of foals, a zebra feared as an evil enchantress, and the town’s own special ed student. That’s just great. A real respected neighborhood watch, an upright citizens brigade…

“We have no time to waste,” Zecora said, and she pressed a foul smelling flask into Raspberry’s face, “Quickly, drink without haste.”

“I’m not—” began Raspberry. The zebra somehow got him into a headlock and pressed the flask deep into his mouth. He moaned as the syrup poured down his throat. It burned his insides and left his taste buds almost screaming for mercy. He jerked himself free and gasped. He saw bluish black smoke coming out of his mouth.

“What the hell was that!” Raspberry called out. He tried to keep himself from vomiting. “Gym socks cooked in a jock strap sprinkled with pencil shavings?”

“I wish I could say I had saved your life. Alas, you face much further strife,” Zecora said. She packed the flask back into a satchel.

“I know, I remember,” Raspberry said, trying to get it together, “That first explosion— I had enough hyperspace blasted into every last capillary that I should have inflated like a balloon or otherwise died some gruesome death. But I guess my own crappy genes saved me.”

“You’re aware of your condition? That death is the likely fruition?” Zecora asked.

“That nice family of auto-immune crap— from Addison’s Disease to Grave’s Disease and Celestia knows what— meant that for whatever reason my cells get along with hyperspace like peanut butter and jelly. I’m POSTIVIVE that that’s why the second round of being blasted with hyperspace that sent me here didn’t leave me a shriveled horse mutant corpse,” Raspberry went on. Derpy had no clue what he was saying, but she could tell how upset he felt. She nudged over and gave him a hug.

“It’s your head— it’s deep inside. All of these wounds that you cannot hide,” Zecora said, and she pulled out a salve.

“Yeah,” he said, and he paused. Zecora had cracked open something and began rubbing it all over his forehead. “Is that…” He sniffed the air. “Blueberry?” Zecora nodded ‘yes’ and went on.

“So, anyways, I remember. I remember being out. I was in the hospital. I couldn’t move. But I heard everything," Raspberry said, "I forget it all at first. But I remember everything. They said that my brain had been popped like Swiss Cheese.”

Zecora finished wiping his head, and then she produced a long parchment. She laid it down upon the nearby bench. Raspberry looked over at the various items spread across the parchment.

“Oh, for crying out loud, seriously? I have to take ALL of this— right freaking now?” Raspberry asked.”

“Only every piece of magic together will allay your fears. Otherwise, you shall have blood pouring from your ears,” Zecora replied. Raspberry shrugged and groused something about how Blue Cross and Blue Shield wouldn’t have him dealing with this sort of crap. Derpy gazed silently at a path of tiny, candy-colored pieces on the far right of the parchment.

“Lick this all over and then eat it,” Zecora barked commands as she moved from item to item, “Chew on that leaf and then spit. Breathe in that vapor. Rub your ears with that paper.” Raspberry muffled indiscriminately as Zecora operated on him. He couldn’t feel more ridiculous. “Pour that potion over your hair. Suck on that half a pear. Rub that lotion into your eyes. Do not worry, I tell you no lies. Now, stuff your shirt with that treated hay. ”

Raspberry had enough, and he remarked, “I’m NOT stuffing my clothes like a goddamn scarecrow—”

“You must be exposed to the hay! Do it without delay!” Zecora called out, and she jerked him around. She rammed the hay— soaked in some kind of sweet-smelling chemicals— down his shirt, up his sleeves, and then down his pants. He let out a girly squeal as the cold hay matted down. Zecora then plopped a small piece into his mouth that tasted something like a Skittle soaked in cream soda.

“Well, that seemed to be a total… waste…” Raspberry said, and he suddenly began to shake. He keeled over, and he felt almost like a balloon having the air let out of him. He had the sensation of being tired— so tired that he could nap for a century. He then felt a bubbly kind of feeling in his stomach and up his throat.

Raspberry braced himself, and then he coughed up repeatedly. After several seconds, he got back on his hooves. He stared at the mysterious gritty black substance that he had vomited onto the floor. Zecora wordlessly stepped over and smashed the little pile with a hoof. It seemed to evaporate.

“You’re welcome, Raspberry. Now, to find the monster— we must hurry,” the zebra said. She glanced over and spotted Derpy slyly brushing the candied dots into her mailbag. Zecora smacked Derpy’s hoof and frowned. “No, that you must not do! Those growth pills are not for you!” Derpy gave the zebra a dirty look.

“Raspberry needed only one,” Zecora said, “To take so many would not be fun.” Raspberry and Zecora walked out the platform. They missed out that Derpy had already swiped a lot of the pills. As they all walked down towards the main shopping center, Derpy peeked down into her mailbag and gazed upon them. She felt the thrill and obliviousness of a kid that had found her father’s handgun.

They walked around pointlessly for a while. “Oh, this is no use,” Raspberry said, “It might has well have gone right back into the Everfree Forest by now. And this still doesn’t help me find freaking Twist anywhere.” Raspberry bumped into a thick mass of ponies. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but everyone looked pretty excited.

“Hey, where is… hey wait… hey, excuse me…” Raspberry murmured, and he found himself carried as if he had an invisible escalator deep into the crowd. He glanced around and couldn’t see or hear from either Derpy or Zecora anymore. He tried to interrupt other ponies, but no one listened. He then softly bumped against a stage. He surveyed the area and realized that he had been moved back into the circular shopping center.

“Oh, there you are,” Spike said, and he lead Raspberry over behind a curtain to some kind of staging area. The dragon jumped up and down in total enthusiasm. “I did it. We did it. We did everything. And doesn’t it look amazing? I think almost every single pony in Ponyville is in the center right now.”

“Oh, that’s really cool, yeah,” Raspberry said. Well, I guess this would be a pretty soft target for the friggin train-monster. All of the city’s horses lined up just like a buffet. But, then again, there’s no reason to think that it’s still in the city right now. It’s sort of afraid of me. I think. I hope. It may be halfway on the way back to Coltsville for all we know. Best not to worry about it too much. Or maybe I’m just stupid.

“And even Twilight showed up, about out of nowhere,” Spike went on, “It was crazy. I guess her special project or whatever for the Princess already ended. Pretty quick, huh? I don’t know where she is right now.” Spike surveyed the area behind the curtain. “Oh, well. The Mayor should be somewhere here. Or maybe she’ll be here any minute now. I think Applejack had to step out for just one second too.”

An orange mare with a brown cowboy hat and a pretty yellowish white mane popped out of the curtain. She exchanged pleasantries with Raspberry. The stallion felt like breaking down from the pure frustration. Seriously… this could not be a worse waste of time… He informed Applejack that he just planned to speak a few words at the beginning of the auction and then she would be in charge of everything afterward. She grinned and nodded.

“You’re on,” Colgate said, suddenly popping out from another curtain behind them. Raspberry took a gulp and then he wandered through. He stepped up some steps. He then found himself upon a large stage in the middle of the shopping center. All of the buildings along with dozens upon dozens stared straight at him.

“Okay…” he muttered. He hated crowds, open spaces, and public speaking enough as a human. He tried to keep himself from going into full panic attack mode. “Not fight or flight. Not fight or flight. There’s no danger. No danger. Not fight or flight. No danger. Not fight or flight. No danger.” Somepony snuck up behind him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the sharply dressed mare told him. He immediately put two and two together and realized that she was the Mayor. He talked with her for a little bit. He then took a deep breath.

The Mayor walked out to the end of the stage and made a quick announcement. She then stepped back and pointed at Raspberry. He made the same walk over. He then stood alone in front of the crowd with Colgate, Spike, the Mayor, and Applejack some distance behind him.

Oh… oh boy… oh… boy… oh dear… “So…” he began, “How are ya’ll doing today?”

The crowd cheered back at him.

“That is,” he replied, and he did a little pumping motion with a hoof, “FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!”

“The crowd cheered once more.

“And I’d like to thank you all very much for coming. From the bottom of my heart, it’s truly great. I’m so glad to be here. I’d like to give a special thanks to the team here that helped put everything together,” Raspberry announced, and then he gestured at the ponies behind him. They all waved modestly. The crowd applauded. “Yes, you’d be hard pressed to find a better, a more productive, or a more helpful set of ponies in all of Equestia.” Okay… what now? Raspberry scanned the crowd.

“Could Twist come up to the stage please?” Raspberry asked. The mass of horses stirred. Batches of them looked at each other in total confusion— wondering what on earth he would want with that foal. Some group of strong stallions produced Twist. She found herself picked up and then carried over to the stage. She carried the special umbrella in her mouth.

“Oh, awesome!” Raspberry yelled. He looked out again into the huge mass. “Could Twilight come up as well?” The crowd mingled with itself. Twilight appeared somewhere far off besides stage right. She ambled up and plopped herself onto the stage. She trotted over to where Raspberry stood.

“You?” Twilight asked. She looked pretty frustrated as well as totally confused.

“Yes, me,” Raspberry replied. He gestured with his hooves to say that he was yielding the floor to her.

“I just have one thing to say right now,” Twilight announced, and the crowd whooped it up. She braced to call out something, but then Raspberry tapped her side. She glanced over into the distance where he pointed. The air atop the florists’ shop appeared wavy. It looked as if the shop was about to burst into flames. A large grey cloud developed atop the heated air. “I just have one thing… to say… right now…”

“LOOK OUT!” Twilight screamed. The crowd all did an about face and looked off into the distance. The cloud had transmogrified into that all too familiar face with dozens of eyes and a gaping mouth. It swelled from cabinet size to the size of an RV. The monster snorted from its two noses and let out a gigantic roar.

Everypony panicked. Raspberry heard all kind of desperate screaming. Mothers and fathers grabbed their foals. Short ponies hid behind chairs, benches, pots of flowers, and anything else they could find. Dozens of horses rushed the stage. Raspberry felt himself grabbed on multiple ends. He protested to no avail. The monster let out a horrific metallic whine that stopped the horses in their tracks. Many of them clutched their eyes to keep out the awful sound.

The monster built up the whine, and it poured itself down off of the florist’s place onto the entrance of the shopping center. Ponies writhed on the ground as they clawed at their ears. The creature then swelled itself a bit bigger, and the noises stopped. The screams of terror resumed.

“There’s got to be something… something… I can… do…” Raspberry muttered. He pulled out his sonic device. “I can’t… I can’t just zap him…” He got tossed about in the confusion. “Dammit. It’s not enough. He’s gotten himself too big, too powerful. I have to do something… special…”

“What is that thing?” Twilight asked, and the two unicorns found themselves shoved on top of each other. Raspberry muttered back at he had given birth to the monster on the train over, and Twilight smacked him upside the head. She went to grab his disruptor. “And, Praise Celestia, what is this? Some kind of explosive or something?”

“Explosive,” Raspberry repeated. He looked in vain as the monster smashed into a shop and tore the building into pieces. The nearby bench melted like a marshmallow at a campfire. “Wait… OF COURSE! I’m such an IDIOT!” He glanced up at all of the mirrored decorations all across the arc of buildings.

“What is it!” Twilight yelled.

A chuck of marble and tile flew over their heads, and the unicorns ducked under a table. Raspberry yelled back at her, trying to reach over the sudden winds, “We’re standing in the middle of a freaking solar power station, basically. If I got everything to light up—” He gestured at the sphere-bearing sculpture nearby. “I could turn on this things’ light-powered bomb and then blow that bastard to kingdom come.”

“What are you waiting for then!” Twilight shouted. The wind had built up. Bits of debris flowed through the air. The screams of horses kept coming and coming. Raspberry hoped that no one had been totally eaten yet. “Raspberry! Just move over and have us zap the globe with magic. Then use your thing, if that’s really how it works.” She looked more than skeptical.

“It’s not that easy,” he replied. They found themselves lying down alone as the bench blew right off its hinges and flew upwards. They ducked into a small alleyway. “It does a fat lot of good to blow up the device on the ground right here. The son of a bitch has to be standing on top of it. Or better yet, have the damn thing shot right into his mouth. We need help.”

“Help—” began Twilight. They then found themselves rocked back and forth by something like an earthquake. They looked up, and they saw nothing but a huge grey mass like a blimp. The unicorns plopped their heads out of the alley, and they saw the wind die down. They stepped out into the street and then looked backwards.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” screamed the monster. It coiled upwards like a cobra about to strike. Yet it faced completely away from the terrified crowd of ponies below.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Derpy yelled back. Her gigantic head stuck right through the roof of the building besides Raspberry and Twilight. She let out a massive roar, and then she burst right out onto the middle of the street. She backed up on her hind hooves and braced her front hooves in the air. She looked like a T-Rex sized Joe Frazier. “LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!”

Raspberry pumped a victory hoof in the air, and then he grabbed Twilight. They saw the monster edge closer to Derpy. She slammed a haymaker punch right into the creature’s face. Although it reformed in just a few seconds, the monster screamed in pain. Derpy’s hoof seemed a bit burnt, but she kept her angry stare— focused right on that batch of forty eyes.

“Come on!” Raspberry screamed at Twilight. He hopped over on top of hunks of debris and ponies that lay curled on the ground. He spotted Twist besides a huge upturned crate of apples. He grabbed her and pulled her out. Thank goodness, no worse for wear… Twilight gave Twist a tender, motherly hug. Raspberry buried his face in the crate, and he returned with his umbrella in his mouth.

“What’s that for?” Twilight asked. Raspberry thrust the umbrella in front of her and then pointed her at the pony version of Lady Liberty.

“No time to explain, just use it. Use it like a lightning rod. It’s magic. It’ll concentrate magic. Neither of us can reach that reflective sphere thing with our bare hooves,” Raspberry told her. She nodded and sped over to the middle of the complex. “I’ll be right over, just hang on.”

“Do it Derpy! Yeah, knock him with another left! YEAH!” Apple Bloom shouted somewhere. Raspberry glanced up and saw her sitting on an upturned pullcart atop a ruined bakery.

“YES! Now another right! YEAH!” Sweetie Belle yelled. The three fillies pumped their hooves in the air and cheered. Scootaloo danced at a haymaker punch that knocked half of the monster’s mouth off.

Raspberry cheered as well at Derpy’s moves. “Hey!” Raspberry called out to them— trying not to get distracted. The foals smiled and waved at him. “You wouldn’t happen to have the…” The foals held up their crossbow-like things.

“I had thought that we’d have the opportunity to be Cutie Mark Monster Hunter Crusaders,” Sweetie Belle said, “But I guess Derpy is handling it pretty well!”

“Listen!” Raspberry yelled, “I need your help.” He held up the sonic device. “I need one of you to fire this bomb at the monster. When it’s in the right place. It’ll go off like C4. I know it’s dangerous.”

“See… four?” Apple Bloom asked. They then chatted with each other.

“Okay, we’ve decided that Scootaloo will fire the bomb. The two of use will provide covering fire with our, uh, marshmallows,” Sweetie Belle said. They all gave a salute. The stallion saluted back.

“Celestia, please forgive me for giving an explosive to children,” Raspberry muttered to himself. He grabbed the pushcart and pulled the foals over towards the center of the complex. Twilight tapped the umbrella upon the sphere impatiently. She told Raspberry that something seemed wrong. It almost seemed as if the mere presence of the monster had started sucking out her magic.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders lined up right behind the pushcart and aimed right in the middle of the complex above the sculpture. Raspberry grabbed the device and prepared to activate it. He turned to Twilight. “Look, if it’s you plus me, it’s got to be enough magic, despite anything. I don’t care. It’s now or never,” he said. He turned over towards Derpy.

Derpy seemed worried about burning her hooves. Gigantic drops of sweat dripped off of her face and crashed upon the ground. Yet the monster shuffled back and forth— looking pretty tired. She growled at the creature. She called out, “L'amour des amis!”

“I’ve heard that,” Raspberry muttered. ‘For the love of friends’? Or something like that. The love of friends. He put his hooves to his mouth and screamed at Derpy. “HEY! DERPY!” She looked down at him for a moment. “KNOCK HIM OVER HERE! RIGHT HERE!” She nodded.

Raspberry held the device in front of him. He saw Derpy brace herself. The monster flew towards her. She slammed a right hook straight in the middle of its body. She followed up with a left hook over on its left chin. The monster left out a gruff moan, and it stumbled backwards towards the center of the complex. Raspberry shot out a victory hoof.

The monster got back upwards, and it made one last final lunge. Raspberry clicked the device. He heard it begin to count down, and he threw it to Scootaloo. He jumped over to the side on top on Twilight. They held hooves together on the umbrella. They screamed as they tried to concentrate their magic. A pulsing purple cloud with thousands of sparks developed around them.

*Pow* Derpy thrust both hooves straight in front of her. The monster had its face completely bashed in. Raspberry heard a “4… 3…” count off as the creature tumbled onto the middle of the complex right in front of him. The fillies fired, and little things flew up in the air right inside of the monster’s mouth.

“2!” screamed the two unicorns. They poured every last ounce of their magical strength through the umbrella into the reflective sphere. It burned white hot. Suddenly, every last corner of the shopping complex became bathed in light. The crowds of ponies shielded their eyes— everything a solid white blur. The unicorns let out a “1!”

Everything went completely black. Every last photon seemed to be sucked out of Ponyville. The crowds heard an incredibly loud hissing sound like a celestial vacuum cleaner. They braced themselves.

*Boom* A gigantic blue ball of energy enveloped the middle of the complex. Pulses of purple electricity shot through it. It cracked like a gigantic egg and then flew off in all directions. Raspberry found himself thrown back several feet as thousands upon thousands of bright sparks flew out above him. The sparks danced around in the air farther and farther out, and then they slowly dissipated. He got back to his hooves, and he looked out.

A smoking crater had replaced where the stage, sculpture, sphere, and miniature park had been. Raspberry blinked and said nothing. Then, he started to cheer. The crowds around him began to erupt. Ponies clapped, cried tears of joy, and danced in the street. The Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped up on top of Raspberry’s side. He hugged them, and he didn’t have the heart to tell him that even this didn’t give them their cutie marks.

Raspberry found himself in the middle of a mass of happy horses. He thought for a second that they were about to cheer his name. They shouted for Derpy shouted instead. Other ponies shouted for Twilight. Raspberry laughed, and then he joined the chorus.

“Three cheers for Derpy! Hip! Hip! Hooray!” Everypony cried.

““Three cheers for Twilight! Hip! Hip! Hooray!” Everypony cried afterward.

Raspberry ended up being pushed over to the end of the still smoking crater. “Oh, my, where are you… Wesker…” he muttered. He felt like he had been kicked in the side. “Somewhere in there?”

“Ra’thberri!” Twist yelled. She pounced on Raspberry— knocking him down into a pile of fresh vegetables, smashed apples, torn up papers, and various debris.

“That’s right, we did it,” he said, rubbing her hair and smiling. He cracked an even bigger smile when she produced his umbrella from on top of his back. He gave it a hug, and then he placed it back in his inside suit pocket.

“I think you forgot this,” said a stallion behind him. He turned around and saw Rich holding up the sonic device. It seemed— somehow— just in as pristine condition as before. Raspberry put the disruptor back in his other pocket and thanked Rich.

A crowd of ponies— including Colgate, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, and many others— swarmed around behind Raspberry. They started to pull him back into the jubilation. Raspberry smiled and waved at Rich.

“And you also forgot this,” Rich said, and he threw something. Raspberry tried to clutch it, but he quickly got sucked back into the huge crowd. He bobbed back and forth in the jubilation. He suddenly thrust his hoof straight up to see what he had held. The necklace sparkled in the sun. He gazed into the light bluish crystalline material.

“YES! YES! YES!” Raspberry screamed, and he put the necklace around himself. He looked pretty silly, but he couldn’t care less. Some of the horses had made a conga line of celebration, and he jumped at the back. He spotted Pinkie Pie somewhere up ahead. She yelled over something about bringing the party to the streets. Raspberry couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.

=End Chapter Two