Air rushed in, actual atmosphere, for the first time in a long time, as he woke up. She was there now, having stepped from the land she had escaped to, a land founded so long ago by ponies with skills like hers; and she took him, hooves curling over hooves, and he felt great joy.

Another was there, shouting at them, but she was far away now, and it didn’t matter; he and she were for each other now.

He and she looked at the other, and the other was still talking, but it couldn’t matter. They were already of that other world, and this mundane world could not intrude. Even now as it screamed at their intrusion, they were protected.

She led him away, and the world was back to normal, rushing in to fill a vacuum of spirit.

Berry Punch stared at the empty bed, suddenly more apparent than it had been in a long time. The house hummed with reality now, as if it had always been a living creature but too timid to make itself known.

Berry managed to make her way outside. In her head, she was punching a hole in every wall, breaking beams, tearing up the foundation. She imagined the house collapsing on her, and could see herself punching and kicking through the rubble, as family pictures tore and frames broke, as old furniture that was there when she was born ripped and shredded, and the image of her past being destroyed around her couldn’t leave her mind, even as she finally stepped out, an hour later, onto the Ponyville station; the first arriving train of the day.

Cheerilee huffed when she woke up, not just because it was earlier than she wanted (no gradual waking up like a slow dance between her and Saturday morning, no happy realization that she was off today), but because she knew who was in the bed with her.

“Berry, why are you here?”

“Mom came and got dad,” Berry said.

Cheerilee struggled over to the lantern next to her bed, lit it, and turned to the sleepytime interloper.

Berry Punch was on top of the covers, pulling them too tight over Cheerilee’s body, facing the wall. The momentum of her hoof swinging over the edge was causing the bed to sway like a boat on a gentle sea.

Cheerilee touched her, images from childhood of the warm cottage passing through as cozy nostalgia.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said.

“I asked mom to look at me,” Berry said. “When dad woke up, I shouted it at them, but they acted like I wasn’t even there.”

Cheerilee pushed the covers off of her and checked her wall clock. Might as well call it a morning, she thought, as she untangled the covers from her hindlegs and tumbled out of bed.

“Berry, come with me to the kitchen,” she said. “Let’s get some hot cocoa.”

Berry said, “Yeah,” but didn’t move.

She moved eventually, and was now sunk in a plush chair, the red wool blanket thrown over the headrest bright against the chintz design. On the side table was her mug of hot chocolate, steamy and untouched.

Cheerilee lay across from her in a bundle of pillows. She spent most of her workday seated, so being able to lay around was a great comfort to her. Its how ponies were supposed to “sit”, anyway.

It was now, after the initial message, that Cheerilee felt a mix of sadness and anger at her aunt and uncle over their treatment of their daughter. Those two powerful emotions were enough to quench any sort of vicarious triumph at the reunion of those two lovers.

“Are you sure... maybe they didn’t hear you,” Cheerilee said.

“They looked at me when I shouted at them,” Berry Punch said, her gaze off somewhere beyond the simple walls of Cheerilee’s cottage, to some place she could feel but not see. “Both of them. It was like I was interrupting something important, like... like I was a kid walking in on them talking about bills. Then they looked at each other, smiled, and walked to wherever mom went when mother died.” Mother being Double Mint, the other member of the small herd.

Berry finally took her hot cocoa, held it in both hooves and took a sip. She held the mug as her eyes roved across the floor, stopping at the fringe of a scarlet rug.

“Berry,” Cheerilee said, gently. “Look at me.”

Berry moved only her eyes. She took a sip of cocoa. “Now what?”

“No matter how your parents treated you, that doesn’t take away your value as—”

“Yeah, you can stop now,” Berry said. “I’m not one of your students.”

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow and rolled her mug in her hooves, the inside stained dark brown from the cocoa dregs. Berry’s eyes drifted toward that same invisible spot she had been studying before.

“Cheers, I, uh... I seem to be kind of rudderless right now.”

Cheerilee pushed her empty mug to the side. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“I wanted control over my own rudder,” Berry said. “I don’t seem to know what to do with the thing. I slap it against my belly but nothing comes out.”

“Berry, please,” Cheerilee said, her disapproval obvious.

Berry put her half empty mug on the side table, and lay across the arms of the chair, her mane sweeping against the floor as she viewed Cheerilee’s cottage upside-down. “Gravity doesn’t work in here from now on. It’s a new rule. We’re actually on the ceiling now.”

“Let’s get to the point,” Cheerilee said. “You wanted to be the aimless vagabond, with no destiny, and now you don’t know what to do with yourself. It turned out you’re a pony after all.”

Berry rolled on the armrests like a log and landed on the floor with a thud. She laid on her side and faced Cheerilee.

“If you had my destiny, you wouldn’t want it either,” Berry said. “I’d rather feel what I feel right now, than to be back... than to follow what my cutie mark tells me.”

Cheerilee’s tail swished, rubbing on the pillows and sounding like a brush on a snare drum. “Could you tell me what it was about?”

“No,” Berry said. “Not yet.”

“Have you told Minuette? Anyone?”

“Nope. Well, I told Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna knows too.”

Cheerilee sat up. “You told them?”

“Sent Princess Celestia a petition,” Berry said. “They’re taking care of it tonight.”

“My goodness,” Cheerilee said. “I had no idea it was really that serious.”

“Yep,” Berry said. She rolled onto her back.

I guess that conversation is over, Cheerilee thought.

“Well, are your feelings of listlessness the reason you fought Lyra?”

Berry rolled her head over to face her. “You gonna give me grief over that?”

“No, it was a sanctioned fight, and she agreed to it, but really, how could you say such an awful thing to Lero?”

Berry grinned. “I actually didn’t say that at all.”

Cheerilee huffed. She knew her cousin well enough to guess at the true story. “Who said that to him?”

“No idea. I heard about it years ago, at a restaurant here. He was telling some of his friends what happened. They were pretty upset.”

“With good reason!”

“He wouldn’t say who said it, though. I figured it was Pinkie Pie.”

“So you pretended to say it to start a fight,” Cheerilee said, ignoring Berry’s ridiculous suggestion of Pinkie Pie, “even though you could have simply challenged Lyra straight out.”

“It was Dash I wanted to fight.”

“Whatever.” She stood up and scooped her empty mug with one hoof, and took it to the kitchen. She was surprised when she saw Berry follow, holding her own mug.

Cheerilee started washing the mugs, but Berry’s presence wasn’t letting her cool down. She shut off the water with a hard slap against the lever.

“Berry, why do you act this way? You can be the town weirdo, or whatever contrarian silliness you’re up to, without being obnoxious about it. Do you know how many ponies have passed that story about what you said?”

Berry shrugged. “I don’t care what they think about me.”

A strangely mournful look passed over Cheerilee. “I really wish you would. Did Lyra’s herd say anything about it?”

“Twilight Sparkle and Lero Macishedlidides visited me in the hospital.”

“Oh?” Cheerilee said. She returned to the living room and laid back on the pillows. Cheerilee wanted Berry to lay next to her, but she didn’t bother to ask, and instead watched her shuffle back to her seat. “Details, please.”

Berry Punch lay in the hospital bed, the potions working their dulling effect on her neck, now in a brace, staring up at the ceiling, not really thinking of anything as she floated through the haze of her painkillers, when Lero and Twilight Sparkle entered the room.

Berry turned just enough to see Lero carrying a vial holding a rich green liquid, sitting on a nurses tray. “You’ll have to denude me,” she said, “because I’m totally nuded right now.”

“What?” Twilight said. “Oh, denature. Um, are you sure you want that? How much pain do you have?”

“Not enough pain in my heart,” Berry said. She laughed. “Heart’s head.”

Lero picked up the vial, and gently put it her her lips. Berry swallowed it, her eyes trying to focus on Lero but bouncing around like a failed shot on a carrom board.

“Lero, do you think we should come back later?” Twilight said.

“She can deal with it,” Lero said, low toned and neutral.

“Yeah Purple Drank, lisshten to the to the handsome monkey he’s a hopstial,” Berry said. “Hopppppssssital.” She blinked. “Ow.”

“Can you deal with the pain?” Lero said, as he sat back down, placing a hand on Twilight as a signal not to pursue the ‘monkey’ slur.

“Yeah, as long as I don’t turn my head,” Berry said, turning to look at them. “Ow. How’s Lyra?”

Lero folded his arms and looked at some hazy space next to Berry. “She’ll heal. In good spirits.”

“Berry, why did you lie about what you told Lero?” Twilight said.

This wasn’t why they were here, and Berry knew it.

They were here to let lose the emotions stopped up in them from the fight, the anger, the confusion, the left over fear from Lyra’s wound, all of it. The words didn’t matter, the subjects didn't even matter; they were only signals representing what they felt. Ponies, Berry thought. They got Lero playing along, too.

Berry showed no reaction. “To start a fight with Rainbow or Lyra, I guess.”

“You guess?” Lero said, looking at her. “You mean you don’t know?”

“I mean I don’t know.” Berry said. She locked his gaze, and a tiredness suddenly draped over her eyes as her neck throbbed. Her eyes wavered. “It’s something I did without reflection.”

“But why?” Twilight said, the force behind the question causing her to hop out of her seat and spread her wings. “Why did you?”

“Is this a royal inquisition? I’ll need a lawyer.”

Twilight immediately clamped her wings shut and sat back down. “Please don’t think of me as being a princess right now. I’m just a concerned member of herd Bellerophon, wondering why one of Ponyville’s citizens acts in such a bizarre and, well, dangerous manner.”

“Yeah, okay, I signed... did I call you a monkey? I’m sorry, Lero.”

“You called me a handsome monkey,” Lero said with a sardonic smirk; the first time he showed any expression that wasn’t a low current of tenseness.

“Do I need to apologize for the handsome part?”

Lero shook his head. “You were on painkillers, so you don’t have to apologize for anything. Apology accepted, though.”

“Thank you. Anyway, that form was notarized by the constable. It’s a sanctioned fight, Lyra agreed to it, so...”

“Maybe I don’t like you trying to hurt my mares,” Lero said.

“Fight, Lero,” Berry said. “If I had known it would upset you this much, I wouldn’t have started it in the first place.” She delicately turned to face the ceiling, adjusting pressure on her neck. “Ow. I was knocked out before I even left the ground.”

There was silence in the room, only the trotting of nurses and doctors in the hallway outside the door seeped in.

“I’m sorry we’re talking about this right now,” Twilight said. “Maybe we should have waited when you were completely better.”

“Naw, its fine. It keeps my mind off the pain. The pain in my heart.”

“Do you have a pained heart, Berry?” Twilight asked.

“What?” Berry turned over, this time rotating her whole body. “Of course not.”

“It’s the second time you’ve mentioned it. It’s just... if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Berry squinted. “Has Princess Celestia spoken to you?”

Twilight did a poor impression of a poker face, and she knew Berry saw through it. “Well, she said you had something you may want to talk about. She wouldn’t give me the details.”

Lero looked surprised. “You spoke to Celestia?”

First name basis, huh? Berry thought. “I sent her a petition concerning activities in my parents’ hometown.” Berry made a disapproving hum. “Wow, that was snobby sounding. I mailed a letter about stuff going on where my dad’s house is.” Affecting an uppercrust Trottingham accent, Berry said, “I expostulated a missive on uncanny occurrences befouling the hamlet of my fillyhood.”

“On what, exactly?”

“...I’ll tell you later, maybe,” Berry said. “If you want me to talk to you.”

“I’ll listen to anypony that wants to talk to me,” Twilight said, in her best soothing tone. “Especially if Celestia asked me too.”

There’s the trick, Berry thought, and now her neck pain became too intrusive, and she grit her teeth, careful to keep her lips closed. She gained control, and said, “Listen-”

“Before I came over here, I was going to tell you to stay away from me and my herd,” Lero said. “I don’t care about the specifics, or legality, or whatever of the fight. I don’t want to see any one of my mares ever hurt like that again. And I especially didn't want to see the mare who did it.”

Berry’s eyes slowly raised. She didn’t know what to say about that. The pain was creeping in on her now, scratching bone and torching nerve endings.

Twilight touched Lero with a wing and turned to Berry. “I talked him out of it,” Twilight said.

“Ponies are a great deal more forgiving than I’m used to,” Lero said. If there was a clue to tide of emotion drifting in him, Berry couldn’t see it. Lero wasn’t nearly as readable as ponies were, anyway. He had no tail, his eyes were a lot smaller, and his ears didn’t move. But the way he stared at her was clue enough.

Berry controlled her breathing, as anger sprouted in her heart, a strong emotion she didn’t need if she wanted to concentrate through her pain. I did nothing wrong Lyra agreed it was signed approved get out

“I’m sorry,” Berry said. Under the covers, her hoof grabbed the bedspread, and shook. This isn’t fair.

Lero’s eyes moved to the wall before returning to Berry. “I forgive you,” he said, his own fight similar to Berry’s, a secret fight neither of them knew about the other. “But it’s Lyra you need to apologize to.”

“Yeah,” Berry said, “I will.” And now, most horribly, she felt both eyes tear up. “I’m sorry, but I’m really hurting right now, and I need some of that potion.” To her dismay, ignoring her wants and will, both tears escaped.

Twilight gasped. “Oh gosh, Berry, I’m so sorry!” She hopped out of her chair and used her magic to levitate the glass vial glowing purple from the anti-pain medication. She poured it into Berry’s mouth. She swallowed in silence.

“We shouldn’t have come right now. I’m sorry!”

“S’okay, didn’t see how bad it was,” Berry said. She rolled over onto her back, watching the ceiling.

“We’ll leave you alone now,” Twilight said. “I wish you a speedy recovery.”

“Thanks,” Berry forced out. “Give Lyra my regards.”

“We will,” Lero said. He hesitated at the door, trying to figure out some appropriate goodbye. “Thanks for listening to us.”

“Hey.”

Twilight and Lero paused, watching Berry.

Still looking at the ceiling, Berry said, “If you ever have to choose... between the dictates of your heart and the dictates of your head... then good luck. They both suck.”

“Well, thanks for that,” Lero said, his tone touched with darkness, as if he already knew exactly what Berry was talking about.

They both left. They may have said something else, but Berry was diving into the misty land of dulled senses, and so didn’t hear anything.

“Are you telling me,” Cheerilee said, ears flattened in irritation, “they came over just to chew you out?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Berry said. “They were concerned for me, but their herd stuff comes first. Which is how I guess it’s supposed to be.”

Berry Punch had told her story while sitting on the chair upside-down, her mane splayed over the carpet while her hindlegs crossed against the headrest. She righted herself, and sunk into the cushion. Cheerilee looked at her cousin and couldn’t help but think of her as suffering a sort of defeat of the soul.

“They were more concerned about your actions,” Cheerilee said. “I mean, that’s not the best time to talk to you.”

“Emotions riding high, I guess,” Berry said. She was over the whole ordeal. She was surprised at how sickened she felt at apologizing for something she didn’t think she should apologize for, at least at the time, but now she was fine with it; it was to smooth over relations—

“Huh,” Berry said, frowning.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She hopped out of the chair. “Thanks for listening at a bad time. I owe you lunch.”

“Wait, Berry,” Cheerilee said, pushing herself up from her bed of pillows, rising like a flower from a thatch of leaves. She trotted over and nuzzled her cousin, who returned the gesture.

“Your parents were wrong to treat you like they did,” Cheerilee said, finishing her sentence with a gulp. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“Well, me too. But they’re together again.” Berry said this evenly, but turned away as she spoke.

They were outside now, the early dusk signaling the sunrise, and Cheerilee figured she might as well get this day over with instead of going back to bed. It wasn’t like she couldn’t take a siesta anyway. She couldn’t help but furrow her brow at Berry; she still insisted on doing things in the most unponylike way.

“You should talk to Minuette,” Cheerilee said. She trotted up next to the slowing Berry. “Pack a bag, go to Canterlot for a couple of days. With what’s happened to you recently... just go talk to Minuette.”

Berry turned to face Cheerilee. “I could stand to get out of Ponyville,” she said. “I don’t know about that telling Minuette anything, though.” Maybe if Celestia and Luna take care of it, she thought.

“Just a thought,” Cheerilee said. They hugged goodbye. Cheerilee went back inside to start her precious weekend. Berry Punch trotted toward the train station to check the schedule, before heading home to pack.

She still imagined herself destroying that old house.