//------------------------------// // Relieving the Pain // Story: Cause and Effect: Discord's Truth // by Coltsguy //------------------------------// The throbbing in my head woke me from my sleep. Why, oh why, must my head hurt so much? “I really need some ibuprofen right about now.” “Ibuwhat now?” I looked slightly to my left and noticed Pinkie Pie standing over me. “Pinkie Pie?” She gasped and then started rambling off a bunch of things that I honestly couldn’t understand since she was talking so fast. I probably should have listened more closely to what she said, but my headache promptly reminded me that it was first come, first serve to matters of brain function today. I decided to tell her that I couldn’t understand her, except right when I was about to she bolted out of the room. I focused on where I was while she was gone. It looked like I was back in the library. Why the hell can’t I seem to go five fucking minutes without something making me pass out like I’m a fuckin’ two year old? Damn it, I hate when I’m angry like this. I start swearing more and I get on everybody’s nerves since I decide to go for verbal low blows. Now is definitely not the time for me to be dealing with- I stopped. “Three…two…one…” “See? I told you he was awake!” “You’re right. Thanks for keeping an eye on him Pinkie.” “No problem, Twilight!” “I don’t suppose you have something like ibuprofen for headaches do you?” “Ibuwhat now?” “Don’t Pinkie. I am very unlikable when I have a headache and I don’t want to say something that will make you cry by accident.” “Oh come on now, Mr. Cranky Pants. You need to turn that frown upside down!” “Don’t do this Pinkie,” I said elevating my voice. “You know what will make you feel better?” “Some food, water, and lots of pain meds?” “A party!!!” She emphasized this by blowing a horn about a foot away from my ear. “Aaaaaahhhhhh!!! PINKIE!!!” I sat up and grabbed the side of my head as it throbbed horribly. Lights also started to adorn my vision as well. “Pinkie, I think it would be better if we had that party later, okay?” “Alright,” I heard her say almost stoically. “I’ll apologize better to you later Pinkie. Besides, it’ll give you time to get an even better party set up. Does that sound alright?” “That does sound good,” she said with a renewed vigor in her voice. “Alright, but I want a good apology when you come to that party mister!” With that said, I literally was able to hear her hop away. “Do you think I’ll be getting an apology back from her?” “Perhaps. I don’t think you should have snapped at her like that, though.” “I get angry and generally less pleasant to be around whenever I have a headache. Right now, it feels like somebody stuck a railroad spike in my head.” “It’s probably the magic instability.” “What?” I asked with a mix of anger and confusion. “It was a buildup of magic in your system mixed with a sudden burst of magic that you used for the first time that comes on as an intense headache. It’s common amongst ponies that use magic for the first time.” “But I can’t use magic! I’m a human remember? Humans can’t use magic!” “I know what I saw. You were using magic. You levitated Pinkie Pie and all of her party items. You did that.” I stopped and thought for a moment about that. I did use magic, didn’t I? My hand even glowed like the horn on a unicorn or alicorn’s head. I connected the dots rather quickly. “It had to be the coin. That tattoo it gave me must have let me be able to use magic. There’s no way other than that for a bog standard human like me to use magic.” She gave me an odd look. “Bog standard? Do you live in a bog or something?” If my hands weren’t on my head already, I think I would’ve face-palmed at that very second. “It’s an expression, Twilight. Don’t overthink it.” “I see. I think we ought to do something about that headache.” “I wholeheartedly agree. Does that mean you have some painkillers?” “It’s a headache brought on by magic. Painkillers,” she got on her back hooves and made quotations with her front hooves. How weird was that? “can’t work on those kind of headaches. The best way to help is by releasing magical energy.” “Terrific,” I said flatly. “How do I go about doing that? More levitation?” “That can work. You could try transforming or maybe releasing a beam of magic energy from you, or maybe you could-“ “Wait,” I said as I interrupted her, “what was that last one?” “You could release a concentrated beam of magic energy and release the buildup that way.” Despite the pain I was feeling, I grew a smile on my face. Knowing I could release it that way made me think of something I had always wanted to do. “Well, I did levitating earlier. Why don’t I try that magic beam?” “Sure! We can do that.” “Is there somewhere secluded that we can do that without worrying about hurting anybody?” “I know of a few places. Let’s go there now.” “Glad to hear.” I stood up to leave, and my headache protested the option. I looked to Twilight to follow her out, but her horn was lit up instead. “What are you-“ I was interrupted by a flash of purple and suddenly the two of us were on a rocky hillside. From where I was, I couldn’t see any trees or grass nearby. Though, through some of the rocks I did manage to catch a glimpse of Ponyville and, in the distance, Canterlot. I hadn’t seen Canterlot until now and I realized just how odd it looked coming right out of the side of a mountain. It was just another one of those ‘t.v. and real life are different’ moments that I kept encountering. I was pretty sure that Twilight had said something so I turned away and brought my attention back to her. “Sorry, I was looking at that odd castle. What were you saying?” “I was saying that you could use your magic out here without worrying about hurting anypony. By the way, that castle you saw is Canterlot.” “Canterlot?” “Yes. That’s where the two princesses rule over Equestria.” “Interesting. Say, how is it we got here anyway? We just seemed to teleport from the library to here.” Twilight giggled a little. “We did teleport here. I did it with my magic.” “So you can use your magic to teleport you from place to place?” “I can indeed! Though there are some limitations.” “Such as?” “Well, I can only teleport to places I can see or to places that I can remember. Also, I can only teleport a few ponies or things with me when I do. It’s also limited by the amount of magic I can use with it.” “Interesting, although the flash is a bit annoying. It’s too bad you don’t have something like a portal to make it a little less awkward.” “A what?” My headache came on harder as she asked that. “Can I tell you later? I think my headache is getting worse.” “I can wait. Let’s get this going!” She looked around the place and spotted a large boulder about a hundred feet or so away. “Alright, I want you to aim for that boulder. Just concentrate your magic into your horn and-“ “I think you mean my hand, right?” She blinked and quickly recovered. “Right. I’m not used to that. Then for you, try concentrating your magic into your hand and once you feel it tighten up, release it towards the boulder there.” “Alright. Let’s try this out.” I did as she told me. I concentrated my magic towards my left hand and tried to gather it there. After a few minutes, I finally started to feel some flow to my hand. At the same time, the tattoo on the back of my hand started to glow as well. I kept gathering magic as much as I could and finally I felt a little pressure in my hand. I then thrust my palm out towards the boulder and a beam of blue magic shot out towards the boulder. There was a bit of recoil, but not really bad. I felt worse firing my dad’s rifles than I did with this. The beam itself crashed against the boulder and cracked it in a few places. Overall, however, it held up. “Wow, that’s really good! It usually takes longer to do that for unicorns learning about their magic.” “I’ve had some visuals before. My headache seems to be a little better. I’m going to try that again.” “Okay. Be careful!” I got ready to do it again and looked at my hand. Then, an idea popped into my head. It made me give a toothy grin. The kind of grin that would make people nervous if they saw it. “Hmmm, why not?” I moved into a horse stance I’ve seen before. It was perpendicular to the boulder and I faced down the boulder as I did so. I then cupped my hands together near my hip away from my target. “What are you doing?” “Something I’ve dreamt about doing for a long time.” I felt the magic gather in my hand again and willed it into the space in between my hands. It took a bit of work, but it quickly came together. “Alright, let’s do this.” I then focused my magic together even harder and started speaking. “Kaaaaaaa.” I noticed a glow behind me. I didn’t let it distract me. “Meeeeee.” “Haaaaaaa.” “Meeeeee.” The light behind me got even brighter. I focused and the magic suddenly tightened in my hands. It was ready. I threw my hands in front of me seeing a head sized ball of light where my hands were. “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” The light burst forward from my hands towards the boulder. It was slower than the first beam, but I could easily tell there was more power behind it. When it got to the boulder, it offered little resistance. It plowed through the boulder and went on for a solid half-mile before it literally exploded. The shockwave almost knocked me over. In Twilight’s case, it did. The scene lasted for about ten seconds before the light dissipated. There was dust everywhere. It was really hard to see. “Are you crazy!?!” I looked back over to Twilight. She too was covered in dust and dirt. “I am so sorry! I had no idea it would be that powerful.” I watched as she glared at me. I stood silently as the dust continued to hang in the air. Then, I finally broke the silence. “That might just be the coolest moment I will ever have in my life.”