//------------------------------// // Chapter One Part Nine // Story: Migraines // by SwiperTheFox //------------------------------// “Uh, yeah,” Leo muttered. “Okay, so you, loverboy, get back to that side of the stage,” Raspberry said, and Leo complied wordlessly. Flash went back to his spot without prompting. Scouse was already at the piano before Raspberry had looked over. “Now what,” Leo said, “So… what? What song?” “To hell… with the songs,” Raspberry calmly replied, “Just play.” Leo popped his hooves back in place on the guitar, and then Leo hesitated. Come on Raspberry, think. Just think. A song you like. What was the last one you really heard that you really remembered? It was… oh wait I know it… Raspberry looked over at Leo and said, “Hang on a sec.” I know… it was ‘In the Street’ wasn’t it? From the ‘#1 Record / Radio City’ CD, damn nice CD… oh good that’s a damn simple song. I think. I hope. “I—” Leo began. Raspberry pointed over at Leo, saying, “Start playing… start playing a simple chord, mid-range notes-wise… just go at it a tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap real simple like.” I don’t even really understand what the hell those words really mean… at least not well… Leo complied. Raspberry looked over at Flash, who had started to tap his hooves against the ground impatiently. Scouse hunched over the piano, motionless as a gargoyle. “Flash, please just pluck again and again with an even note of silence in between. Like a ‘bum, pause, bum, pause, bum, pause’,” Raspberry said, and Flash did so. “Just a bit higher sounding, not that low.” Flash complied. “A hair higher.” Flash complied again. “Scouse…” Raspberry began, and the pony looked over, “I… I don’t remember any piano part to this at the moment. Please just sit tight.” “Can do,” Scouse calmly replied. Leo seemed to have a look of despair over his face. Raspberry paused. Oh dammit, try to remember… He said to Leo, “It’s just a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 count note by note getting higher.” Raspberry sang the numbers in that scale. “Then there’s a big slam on six. We hold it for a little bit. Then bounce back over to seven for a hair, and then slam on six again and hold it again. Repeat over and over again.” Leo fumbled through. “I don’t get this riff at all. What are you trying to do here?” he asked. “Just play with it, you’re a professional and you’ll see how it’s supposed to go,” Raspberry said. He took his drum sticks, and then he pounded them down with a slow tap. Oh God, this all sounds just awful… like Wesley Willis level awful… But most of it is me. Oh come on now, dammit, all of it is me! Flash seemed to stare definitely at the wall, with his face carved in a big scowl. He methodically went through his slow plucking. Leo went through several different variations with the scale plus three bump riff. Raspberry paused the drumming for a second. Dammit, this is just not drumming. You know that it’s all energy. So give it some energy, dumbass! Raspberry let out a loud growl, and then he pounded the drums and cymbals. In just about five seconds, he stopped. He started at his hooves, now empty. “Hold it! Hold it! Hold it! HOLD IT!” Raspberry screamed. The rest of the group stopped. “Now where are my sticks?” The colts glanced all around. Flash pointed to a stick on the floor behind him. Raspberry reached out. A purple aura enveloped the stick, and then it flung through the air. It smacked in the back wall behind Raspberry, making a clang as if it had knocked down something. “And the other one?” Raspberry said, mostly to himself. Leo tapped him on his right side, and then Leo pointed up. Raspberry looked up, and he saw the stick embedded into the ceiling. Raspberry extended his hooves. The stick nudged from side to side, and then he fell down towards Raspberry. “MY EYE!” He screamed, rubbing his face with his hooves, “SON OF A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—” He fell backward off the drummer stool, and then his head smashed against something flat and hard. With a loud slam, he was out. The band-mates rushed towards him. “Give me a second, hold on,” sputtered Leo, and he hold his hooves against Raspberry’s neck. He grabbed Raspberry’s side. “Oh gosh, he doesn’t seem to be breathing.” Raspberry’s tongue fell a bit out of his mouth. “That can’t be good,” Scouse muttered. “Flash!” yelled Leo, “Use your— your— your— emergency response training thing! Whatever the blasted thing is called! Do it!” “I, I, I, I, know I r-really should,” Flash stammered, leaning right in front of Raspberry inches away from him, “But it, it— it means— going to lip to lip with him.” “Come on!” Leo yelled, tapping Raspberry’s chest and cradling his head. “Look, I’d totally do it but I don’t know how! Quickly!” “But— But— I only practiced on fillies!” Flash replied. “Flash!” Scouse and Leo shouted. “Pretend-he’s-a-mare, pretend-he’s-a-mare, pretend-he’s-a-mare, pretend-he’s-a-mare,” Flash muttered, moving in close. Flash pressed his face onto Raspberry’s face and locked their lips. Flash put both hooves on Raspberry’s chest and pumped down hard, while he buried his face even deeper. It worked. Raspberry coughed a bit, and then his eyes sprang open. He saw Flash give a caring, feminine-sort of expression like a happy mother. Flash suddenly frowned. “If you got tingly down there, then I’m going to rip your face off,” Flash muttered, and he stepped back. Scouse and Leo reached down to pick Raspberry up, both of them asking again and again if he felt okay and if he needed a glass of water or anything else. “I’m, I’m just fine actually,” Raspberry calmly replied, and he sat back on the drummer’s stool. He paused, and then he got back off. He held out his right hoof and then nudged the stool four feet or so to the left. He followed suit with the drum set. When he sat back down, he made a satisfying glance behind him and saw soft-looking burly black bags of wires and cable rather than hard concrete. “Wow, you’re a real trooper,” Leo said, smiling back at Raspberry as he put back on his guitar. In just a moment, the members we’re back to their positions. “So, what are we playing now?” asked Flash. “Playing… yes…” Raspberry muttered. Oh God, oh please… Oh… Just… “Do you want me to just run through one of our own songs I wrote?” asked Leo, and he seemed to put on the gentle expression of an older brother, “You can just go in and start jamming how you want it, when you want it. Don’t worry.” “Jam,” repeated Raspberry. He picked up a drum stick with his right hoof and held it about his head. It immediately slipped right out of his grasp with a ‘plink’. “Hey… I’d like to get some air…” “That sounds more than reasonable,” replied Leo, and he began taking his guitar strap off. Raspberry motioned over to the back door, and then he paused. He stepped through the room back to the entrance of the back alleyway. He walked outside and then gently shut the door behind him. Raspberry then got down on his hooves and buried his head on the ground. “OH… GOD…” he cried, and he felt some tears beginning to come up, “Who am I kidding? I don’t know a goddamn thing.” He teared up a little. “Not a thing. Nope. No way.” Raspberry heard some muttering. He turned around and then opened the door. He didn’t see anything. “You know that we can hear still you from in here, right?” Leo asked from within the store’s main room. Raspberry walked back inside. He sat on the ground beside the door— clasping his hooves together and otherwise looking like a naughty kid in the principal’s office. Leo walked up next to him and sat down. Leo put an understanding hoof beside Raspberry’s head. “Hey, do you even know what we do around here?” Raspberry shook his head. “HALF of what we’ve done, for the past several weeks now,” Flash said, “Is just sit around.” Flash swung both of his front hooves in the air. “On our rears. And wait. And wait. AND waaaaaaaaait.” Flash tapped his hooves against the ground. “For customers who have barely shown up since Twilight Crash left.” “The other half of our time here,” said Leo, “We’ve spent sitting on a bench with some little pony or clueless adult who half-heartedly fumbles through nursery rhymes.” Scouse waved his right hoof in the air and made an approving grunt. “So then…” Raspberry began. “So,” Leo replied, “I teach for a LIVING. And I can’t tell you how happy it would make me to teach someone who’s actually is into music and has some kind of actual talent.” The other two band members nodded their heads. “Look, I… I appreciate the gesture. I really do,” said Raspberry. “But just let me seriously think about things and get some air. I’ll be back in just a minute.” Leo made an understanding smile, and then Raspberry walked down the alleyway towards Market Street. It had gotten very dark, and the once busy streets were totally deserted. Raspberry couldn’t shake off an unpalatable eerie feeling. He stopped and then scanned the entire street. Not a soul, but still he couldn’t help from feeling tailed. He was now a few blocks from Knack’s place. He spotted a concrete stoop besides some clothing store and took a seat. Well… what the hell am I supposed to do? Does it even matter? This whole damn thing was a total waste of time from the get-go. He glanced at his reflection in a huge water puddle to his right. Well… I don’t know. It’s important to Knack. So, then, it should be important to me. I help him, he helps me. But it just doesn’t make any sense! He kicked against the stoop. I know I was flying before. It was effortless. It felt just like breathing out when I threw myself at those drums. Raspberry leaned back and started straight up at the moon. What was the difference? I guess it’s obvious. I didn’t hold on to anything. I didn’t actually touch anything. I used magic. But then HOW did I use THAT? Maybe I should just duplicate everything from the very beginning, starting with walking into the place. I suppose that makes total sense. Raspberry reached out towards the moon. Wow, it looks so damn similar! It’s almost as if I’m still home… just as long as I don’t look down. Yet he looked back down. He then got back on his hooves. I guess I have some time. I’ll play ball with them. I’ve got a week. I’ll talk to the dragon guy tomorrow. I’ll talk to the Everfree Forest chick tomorrow. Between them I should have some clue about where to go. I’ll do a little playing with the Attractions, a few concerts… So what if we suck? Most bands suck. I’ve got the time. I’ll work it all out. I just need to trust myself. Instinct. Instinct is what it’s all about. Raspberry accidentally stepped in the puddle. He stepped back, and then he leaned down to get a closer look at his reflection. Please, oh please… let I only see ONE pony… He saw just himself, but glowing, fuzzy blotches had begun creeping up in his eyesight. He threw his head against the ground. “NOT AGAIN!” he screamed. He placed his hooves against his temples and rubbed. He felt as if he had jackhammers on his eyelids. He breathed in an obnoxious metallic odor, and it seemed to seep into every last inch of his head. He let out a loud whine. His pain built up higher and higher. Then, in a matter of seconds, the feelings were totally gone. He stood back up and blinked repeatedly. His attack seemed over before it had even begun. Raspberry scanned the Market Street, seeing nothing. “I’m— SO— not staying—” He panted as he ran back to Knack’s place. “To— see—whoever’s coming—” A loud squeak sounded. Raspberry stumbled, and then he found himself thrown against the ground on his back. Raspberry opened his eyes and saw some commotion on the roof of the building beside him. He heard another squeak. Then came a series of quieter whining noises. He recognized the next noise as a distinct ‘meep meep’. Raspberry got back on his hooves and continued running forward. A bright flash shot out of the side street beside him. Raspberry stopped. Well… dammit… too late… I might as well see what I’m going to be dealing with NOW. He very delicately poked his head over the corner. A very short and very skinny clot wearing a dark blue cape and a matching dark blue sorcerer’s hat stood in the middle of the alleyway facing away from Raspberry. His inky black body shimmered in the moonlight. Raspberry took a deep breath, and then he stepped a little bit past the corner. The alley ran to a quick dead end. The colt paid no attention to Raspberry, who slowly stepped even closer. The colt raised his right hoof, lowered it, and then raised his left hoof. He panted uncontrollably as he surveyed the wall at the end of the alleyway. Some mysterious pinkish film dripped down from the ends of the colt’s hooves, a color contrast that probably would make Rarity scream. The colt had a jagged, bent nose— as if he had taken a knife to the face— beneath his beady blue eyes. “Where, where,” the colt murmured— with a voice that sounded to Raspberry like a younger, quieter Orson Wells. The colt also had this strong, pungent odor to him that almost seemed like stale cheese soaked in bubble gum. Raspberry continued moving closer, but he tried not to make a sound. The colt’s small eyes darted back and forth. Suddenly, there was a motion on the wall at the end of the alley. The colt’s eyes turned from blue to black as he shoved his right hoof in the air. A flurry of blue sparks went off on top of a small crate, and a loud ‘meep meep’ sounded. The umbrella popped out into the middle of the street and began running about frantically. A trail of blue sparks erupted on the ground in front of it. “Hey,” Raspberry said without thinking. The colt put his hooves down and turned over in Raspberry’s direction. Their eyes met. “Oh, it’s you,” the colt calmly replied. He turned back towards the end of the alley. “Good, good. I trust you’re moving all according to plan.” Raspberry stepped closer. The colt raised his right hoof again. His ears perked. A soft patter sounded over on the left wall. The colt shifted over, and then a smattering of blue sparks descended down the wall. The umbrella left into the air out of nowhere and then appeared in the middle of the street about twenty feet in front of them. “Oh, you are mine now,” the colt declared, and his eyes seemed to flutter with blackness. The umbrella ran back straight to the end of the alley. “NO!” Raspberry called out. The colt paused and then nudged over a step towards Raspberry. Without taking his eyes off of the umbrella, he asked, “What, what is it?” “Don’t. Don’t hurt him,” Raspberry said. The colt’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes went back to blue. Raspberry went on, “Just leave him alone. Stop.” The colt chuckled softly, and then he put his hoof back on the ground. He calmly asked, “What is it?” “Just leave him alone!” Raspberry responded. The colt jolted his head back and forth. He then turned himself around and faced Raspberry directly. The colt made a little grin, leaned his down, and then asked, “Why aren’t you with R.F.?” “I… I…” Raspberry stammered. What the hell am I supposed to do with R.F.! What the hell are you thinking I’m supposed to be doing! “Well, how about I,” the colt slowly said, raising his head back up. “Zap your dumb ass!” A bright explosion of blue sparks riddled all over Raspberry’s chest. He buckled back and then crumbled onto the floor. He groaned worldlessly. “Bow down to a true pimp, bitch!” yelled the colt, who stepped over Raspberry’s body. “It…” Raspberry murmured, “It hurts you… you—” “I don’t give a damn,” the colt replied, holding his head high and standing over Raspberry’s body. “I’m made out of pure magic, you dumb little ass.” Raspberry whined. The colt stepped onto Raspberry neck with his front right hoof, and their eyes met. “And you’d better get yourself in line, because I’m getting pretty damn tired of waiting for when it all starts to happen,” the colt went on, “Very, very tired. I know R.F. in particular has been extremely busy, and dammit we can’t all keep running around while you’re just walking. You know Celestia should have been your hooker by now. And then I’d have Luna all for myself.” “What, what,” Raspberry moaned, still feeling as if his insides were on fire. “And I’m pure magic, bitch. I’m magic. I’m magic,” the colt continued, closing his eyes and singing to himself. “I’m magic. I’m magic. I’m magic. I’m mag—” Raspberry heard a huge whack. The colt smashed the ground beside Raspberry. “Ic,” the colt spouted, and he seemed to freeze.