//------------------------------// // Physics be Damned // Story: Cause and Effect: Discord's Truth // by Coltsguy //------------------------------// The bright light seemed to be everywhere at once. I closed my eyes and shielded my face with my arm, but it didn’t help. After what seemed like forever, the light finally died off. My eyes cleared up a bit after that. I looked around and saw that everyone else fared about the same. Oddly enough, there were actual stars circling Dash’s head. I honestly never thought that I would see happen, but look where I am. Eventually, everyone regained their senses and the questions began. “What in tarnation was that?” “Magic,” answered Twilight, “really strong magic.” I looked down to my hand. The coin was still held within it. “Wow, if I knew that was going to happen, I would have just handed it over to you. Sorry about that Twilight.” “It’s not your fault. How could you have known it reacted to magic that way?” “Good point. Let me hand you the coin this time.” This time I carefully put the coin in Twilight’s hoof. She looked over the coin carefully as I tried rubbing the spots from my eyes. It didn’t help any, but that didn’t stop me. “Wait, this symbol on this coin looks like my cutie mark.” “What?” chorused the others. I kneeled down to take a look as the others gathered around to take a look at the coin. Sure enough, one of the symbols on the outside ring had changed to look just like Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. “That’s weird. It didn’t look like that before. That’s the second time that the coin has changed appearances.” Twilight looked up at me. “Wait. This was the second time?” “Yeah. The other side of the coin is blank now.” I demonstrated by turning the coin over to the blank side. “However, when I was tossed this coin there was a large horseshoe on this side. When I landed here, the coin had fallen on the ground and when I picked it up the horseshoe was gone.” I then held my left hand out. “Also, I had this tattoo appear on my hand before I noticed the coin.” “Is that where humans get their cutie mark?” asked Twilight. “Humans don’t get a cutie mark. There’s no magic on Earth remember?” “So it was just there when you got here?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Exactly right.” “Well, that just don’t seem right. You sure ‘bout that?” “As sure as I can be, Applejack.” As everyone was staring at the coin again, I decide that I probably should start up my cover story for all the info I have on them. If I don’t tell this to them soon, then I might spout off something I know that none of them had told me and it will make them much more suspicious of me then. I look up and see Rainbow Dash hovering over all of us to look at the coin. That seemed like a perfect segue. I reach up and grab her and pull her closer to my face. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” “This mark,” I begin with faux surprise, “I’ve seen this mark before.” “Wait, you’ve seen this before?” asked Twilight. “It was in that tunnel. While I was falling, I kept getting these images that just popped into my head. This was one of them.” “Do you remember anything else?” “Yes, yes I do. There were some butterflies, some gems, some apples, some balloons, and-“ I snap my gaze over to Twilight. “Wait, Twilight, can I see your cutie mark thing?” “I… suppose.” She turns to her side to show me. I widen my eyes as if in shock. “That! I saw that too! And a sun and a moon!” “Did you see anything else?” I decide to step it up a little. “Not then, but every time I black out, I keep getting more images and, strangely enough, I think I knew about the forest that way too. I think that’s why it sounded familiar earlier.” “I don’t know. That all sounds like a bunch a hooey ta me,” interjected Applejack. The Element of Honesty at work. From my own observation, she was a terrible liar herself and when it came to her friends it seemed a bit dulled at times, but she did always seem to catch lies more often amongst others. I thought about denying it and sticking with it thoroughly, but I’ve been a bit of a liar for a bit too long. The best tactic to work against suspicion was to meet halfway. “Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is that it is what I believe to be true. That’s all I can do right now.” Applejack seemed to back off at that. I’m not sure if it worked or not, but I don’t think she wanted to press the issue. “Um, about the butterflies…” I looked over to Fluttershy. She had been very quiet the whole time and had barely even spoken since I arrived. It was almost like she wasn’t even there. She followed her statement by showing me her cutie mark. “Were these the butterflies you saw?” I looked intently at the cutie mark on her flank. “Yes! Yes they do look the same!” I reached over and picked her up. “They are the same! They are!” She smiled at me, even though she looked uncomfortable at the same time. I noticed it and set her down. “Umm, sorry about that. I got a little excited,” I said sheepishly. “That’s okay. You didn’t mean to.” “I’m glad. I’m actually surprised at how light you are.” “That’s sweet of you to say.” “Why thank you-“ Hold up. I just picked up a four foot tall pony like she was an empty cardboard box. I’m an overweight pudge. How does that even make sense? “I really hate asking this, especially after what I just said, but how much do you weigh Fluttershy?” Her demeanor changed instantly. It was a bad thing to say and I recognized it instantly. I needed to switch targets. “Nevermind. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” I turn around to Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight, how much do you weigh?” I ended up with a similar reaction, although not as strong as the one that Fluttershy gave. “I’m sorry about asking you. I know that’s not really something I should ask a lady. However, I’m conducting an on the spot experiment and it seems you like science so I hope you’ll help me with this.” Her demeanor cleared up for the most part, but she still seemed slightly embarrassed. “Alright... I weigh about one hundred and fifty pounds.” Spike looked like he was about to say something when he got a death glare from Twilight. I recognized it immediately and pressed forward before anything happened to the poor guy. “Thank you, Twilight. I just needed a weight reference for what I’m about to do.” I walked up next to her and crouched down next to her. “What exactly are you going to do?” I put my hands around her torso. “I’m going to do this.” I lifted her up into the air and fell back onto my back from overcompensating. However, I managed to keep her in the air and not run her into anything. “Woah there partner. Are you alright?” I could hear Rainbow Dash chuckling from just out of sight. “I’m just fine. I just overcompensated when I picked her up. I didn’t hurt you, did I Twilight?” “No. I’m alright.” I set her down on my left just in front of a couch and picked myself up. “Could I try that one more time, please?” I knelt down beside her again. “Alright, but be careful this time.” This time I usd one hand and picked her up with ease. Everyone was quite surprised, but their surprise was nothing compared to mine. “That’s pretty darn impressive.” I stood there, completely bewildered while holding her up. I couldn’t even think straight about it. She felt like she weighed about two pounds, not one hundred and fifty. This just seemed completely illogical. I doubt I could pick up half of her weight back on Earth, yet now I was holding her up one-handed without even feeling strained. “Umm, do you think you can put me down now?” “I may need someone to kick me first. My brain may have just broke.” “Sure. I can do that,” answered Rainbow Dash. I continued to marvel at my new feat of strength. How was it possible? Maybe gravity was weaker here and the scale was different? A pound here could weigh less than an ounce back home. No, that couldn’t be it. For that much of a difference there would have to be almost no gravity at all. The way I’ve seen things fall here made that impossible. “Hey!” Dash’s yell broke up my train of thought and I looked down to her. “Oh yeah. Are you going to do that yet?” She gives me a look of utter confusion. “What are you talking about? I already did!” “Huh?” I watch as she kicks me in the gut. I barely feel it at all. I set Twilight back on the ground. “This is completely impossible. I can barely lift fifty pounds back home, let alone a hundred and fifty. Now, I’m getting kicked by a pony in the gut and I can barely feel it.” I look over to Applejack. “Hey, can you try doing this?” “Ah don’t know ‘bout this. Are ya sure I ought to do this?” “Well, normally I would say no, but Rainbow Dash here just did it and I barely felt anything. No offense.” “Well, why did ya ask me ta do it?” I guess she doesn’t quite trust me yet. Oh well, I still have a way around this one. “Well, I would ask Fluttershy to do it, but I don’t think she could hurt a fly. I suppose I can ask Twilight if you think she can kick harder than you.” The reaction I got from Applejack was priceless. She gave a nice confused look followed by an angry glare. It was so easy I could cry. “Nah. Ah reckon I could do better so ah might as well.” She walked over from the other side of the room, turned around, reared up, and kicked me square in the chest. I felt that one more than Rainbow Dash’s kick, but it still didn’t hurt. I knew she didn’t hold anything back either. Her pride as an apple bucking farmer would allow nothing less after a subtle insult to her pride. “That definitely felt stronger, but it didn’t really hurt.” That got me to thinking. How did Rainbow Dash tackle me like she did? I turned to ask her. “Hey Rainbow Dash, how fast were you going when you tackled me out there?” “I don’t know. Pretty fast I’d say.” “Hmm, I suppose more speed going into tackling me meant more force behind it than the kick that Applejack gave me. That would make sense. I don’t suppose we can go outside and you can show me how fast you were going?” “Sure! I’d love to show you how fast I can go!” “But you just got out of bed. You should stay inside until you’re feeling better,” interjected Fluttershy. “I’m fine Fluttershy,” I said as I looked to her. “I just asked to get kicked by ponies. I think I’ll be fine.” I didn’t mention my headache to her. However, as I said that, I realized the soreness I had before coming down the stairs had went away. What was up with this place? It was like I was in some convoluted fanfic where I suddenly became ten feet tall and wielded life and death with a mere gesture. Pretty soon I’ll be able to transform into a dragon and bitch slap Galactus with no repercussions. Damn, I hope my mental state doesn’t deteriorate any further. I’m stretched thin as it is. We all walked out the front door to see Rainbow Dash give her demonstration. Well, they walked out. I, however, almost had to get to my knees to get through the doorway. I still drew a few chuckles from the group as I struggled to get outside. Once there, we all lined up to watch Rainbow Dash. “All right! Prepare to be amazed!” She leaned back and suddenly burst forward like a bullet. She then gained altitude in almost a complete ninety degree turn. Looking at that up close was pretty impressive. She then did a few loop-da-loops to show off, finishing with a dart right in front of us. She then circled back in front of us and landed with absolute grace. “Wow that was amazing!” “Told ya!” she boasted with a huge grin on her face. “You were going that fast when you tackled me?” “Yeah!” Wow, she had to be going about half the speed of sound. For some reason I held out my right hand and tried to shoot a laser out of it. Thankfully, nothing happened. “What are you doing?” asked Twilight. “Making sure my sanity is still functional.” “And you’re doing that by holding out your hoof?” “It’s a hand, and I was seeing whether or not I could fire a laser from it.” “A what?” “A laser. Essentially it's high energy light particles. I seem to be breaking the laws of physics that exist where I’m from and I just want to make sure I’m not just hallucinating this whole thing.” “And how exactly would that help ya?” asked Applejack. “I honestly don’t know anymore. So, I might as well just roll with it. Is there anything else that you all needed?” “Well, there are a lot of questions that I still would like to ask you. Unfortunately, it’s almost sundown.” I took a look at my watch. Something I hadn’t done since I had woken up. It read 12:33 p.m. set time. It meant that either they weren’t on a set schedule or that it was one of the warmer months. “Hey, what’s that on your arm?” asked Twilight. “Oh this? This is my watch. It lets me know what time of day it is.” She looked closely at it. “But there aren’t any hands on it.” Oh right. They have no idea what a digital clock is. “It’s a digital watch. It displays the time of day in number format instead of using the hands of a clock.” “Did you use science to make this?” Twilight’s voice was beginning to rise in pitch. She was definitely interested in this. “Science is responsible for making this, yes. Unfortunately, I don’t know any of the details.” She kept staring at the watch closely. I looked at the others. They seemed just as lost as I did. Well, everyone except Rainbow Dash. She just seemed to have a bored look on her face. I needed to get this back on track. “You said it was getting late. Does that mean you need to head back home?” She finally pried her attention away from the watch to answer me. As she did, I put my hand behind my back. “Yes, I do need to get back home. I’m sure the rest of us do as well. Right girls?” “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash answered first. “I got some stuff I need to do tomorrow. I’ll see you all later!” Rainbow Dash then took off like a coiled spring. She then flew off towards what I assumed was the direction that Cloudsdale was in. “Ah reckon I gots to go too. Them apples ain’t gonna pick themselves you know. I’ll see y’all later.” Applejack then took off by herself. “Well, I don’t think you have a place to stay the night. Why not come with me to my place and we can talk more while we’re there?” “I suppose I can do that. Give me a second.” I walked over to where Fluttershy was sitting. I then kneeled down to her level. “Twilight Sparkle said that I could stay at her house. Are you okay with that? I could stay here if you want me to.” She looked and sounded a little flustered as she spoke. “Oh, well, umm, I suppose, um, you can, umm, stay wherever you want.” I placed her chin in between my thumb and forefinger and raised her gaze to meet mine. “I know that this is uncomfortable for both of us. Please, tell me if you would rather have me stay here or if you want me to go to Twilight’s house. I promise I won’t be mad with you for either choice.” She manages to keep her eyes focused on mine as she answers. “I want... I want you t-to go stay with Twilight,” she says and then looks away. It looks like she still has her doubts. Oh well, I’m fine with that. I take my hand off of her chin and place it on her head. She gives a slight ‘meep’ sound as I do. I then gently rub her head. “Alright, I’ll go stay with Twilight then. I hope you’ll come and say hi to me tomorrow.” I take my hand off of her head and rise to my feet. “Alright, Twilight, lead the way.” “Sure thing! Come on Spike.” “Aye aye, Twi!” I chuckle at that and follow the two of them away from Fluttershy’s house. I look back while walking to see if she was going to change her mind. Her lowered head and avoided gaze told me otherwise. I then turned back to the way I was walking. “I hope not too many ponies are around. I really don’t like being the center of attention. All the staring would really make me uncomfortable.” “Don’t worry about it!” proclaimed Spike. “You’re with us. Nobody will think anything of it.” Yeah, that was quite reassuring.