//------------------------------// // Magic and Memories // Story: Broken Gates // by SuzukiDragon //------------------------------// A green meadow stretched seemingly endlessly away from me, a land of endless opportunity ahead. In the distance, past the grassy plains, were mountains that stood impossibly high. Somewhere beneath those mountains were towns and cities, and a collection of fine folk and families. Wait, where am I? Wasn't I just... In the shower? I asked myself, trying to blink away the weird dream state I seemed locked into. Behind me was my home, That's not my home! and all the memories I had lived inside growing up as a young filly. I'm not a filly! A quiet melody drifted through the air, though I couldn't recognize the instrument responsible. I- No! enough of that! I shook my head violently, and the peaceful green plains and blue skies vanished. A slow tumble of water pummeled me softly once more, and my mouth was again visited by the slight salt of blood, though this time diluted by water as it finally washed away. Washed away just the the quiet brook beside me. A golden gleam caught my eyes, as a royal chariot drifted lazily through the skies. I- NO! STOP IT! I shook my head once more, but though I couldn't see the grassy place I could certainly feel the warmth of the sun. It slowly carried me back to that day, when- Seeing no other way to bring myself back to reality, and my present self, I flung my hoof desperately at my nose. "GAH!" I cried out, as I stumbled on the warm wet floor. I stared straight ahead, waiting to see any signs of my sanity slipping away again before asking aloud, "The hell was that?!" "You mean the magic, curtain closing and shower turning on? That was awesome Sis, you should do it again and find out how you-" I cut my Sister off rudely. "No! Shut up! I just-" I searched for the correct words. "I think I just got some sort of, pony memories." Sam flung back the curtain, a draft of cold followed her wide eyed gaze. In an impressively fluid motion, she flipped the notebook to a new page and scribbled something, probably a page title. "Explain all of them in perfect detail! Now!" She demanded, a little more excited than I was willing to deal with right now. I glared at her, before reaching my hoof up and closing the curtain once more. If I hadn't just experienced what could be either memories or proof of insanity, I would have been quite happy with my progress in magic control of that shower curtain. Instead my mind was running a mental scan on my experience, and trying to determine if... Well, if they were memories or proof of insanity... I saw very ponyish landscape, and that royal chariot at the end was a dead giveaway. I may not be an expert, but I'm pretty sure those were pony memories. The question was, how did I end up with them- Scratch that, you're a pony. They may belong to whoever the previous owner of this body was. Assuming there was a previous owner and that this body and memories weren't randomly generated. Okay Leslie, you thought about this earlier. You wondered about this already. Initiate plan 4.5 Beta. Also known as: I-DONT-ACTUALLY-HAVE-A-PLAN... I'm a very 'Plan on the go' Kind of mare. I mean guy. I think. Either way I now had to actively consider that this body didn't belong to me, meaning that there was still a chance I could go get my old body back. It made me wonder about the original pony though. Was she out in my body somewhere? Was she secretly sharing this body with me? Oh Celestia I'm just a broken record now. I already went through all of this, didn't I? Before I fell off the counter earlier? Sam opened the curtains again, notebook still in hand. "What did you see. Sis?" She said the last word rather spitefully. Apparently my Sister has a natural talent for knowing what annoys me. "Would you stop calling me Sis?" "No." "Could you try and understand that I am freaked out right now, and possibly terrified? I mean I know I said I was fine and better than I was earlier and still am but can YOU JUST- not?" I took a breath, and then another. I really needed to catch my breath and just process things for a little while. But I probably couldn't do that with Sam here. "Okay! Alright. Sorry bro. I'll just, skedaddle for a while. Maybe call Mom and Dad and tell them their son is a mare now." Oh, you better not. I thought aggressively. "Not actually. Maybe. Probably not. I might. Later!" She slipped out of the room quietly, and closed the door behind her. I had no idea what she was wanting to do in here anyway. And no Idea why she was so concerned this morning. It didn't seem like she was concerned I was a pony since when she saw me all she did was giggle over it. So why was she concerned this morning? At the very least, I think I've got a handle on this voice of mine. I am completely fine with it. Yep, completely fine. "I AM SO FINE" I squeaked loudly. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I followed my advice. Okay, status report: panicked and unrelaxed. I had to fix that. I closed my eyes, concentrating on the flowing water around me. Not concentrating like, 'wanting to do magic' concentration, but just focusing on the warmth and comfort as the warmth spilled over my fur. My ears twitched, and I heard each individual splash of every droplet- Okay no. I don't think that's actually possible. If a pony brain is anything like a human brain, it literally wouldn't have the reaction time or be able to process the sensory information fast enough to hear the individual droplets. I think I might be bad at the whole, 'Achieving a Zen state' thing. Attempt two then. I inhaled deeply through my nose, trying to place the individual smells. There was the soap in the corner, minty. There was the- I sniffed again. I have identified the smell of shower. It is a smell that washes away every other smell. Too bad it smells like water. Which is to say it has no scent. Operation 'Calm Down' was being met with mixed results. Was I calm? Yes! Was it just because I was ignoring my problems? Oh definitely. If I wanted to calm down, I'd have to come to terms with my current situation, and accept the weird pony memories I suppressed earlier. I closed my eyes harder, and tried to once again picture the grassy meadows and blue skies of Equestria. I think it's Equestria anyway. Who knows, maybe my pony lived somewhere else. And nothing happened. I merely got the blackness of closed eyes, and no bright sun or blue skies to keep me warm. Well, the warm water of the shower is fine, but- A thought hit me a bit suddenly. I had received my weird vision things after I somehow 'activated' a store of magical power. Maybe all I had to do was unleash a torrent of magic once more? Only one way to find out. I had just one question. How did I do it the first time!? Should I have even been able to do it the first time? I thought I was a Pegasus, and yet the magicky stuff that happened seemed more like unicorn magic. There didn't seem to be any discernible reason for it to have happened either, seeing as all I had done was boop Sam's nose and try to close a curtain. Okay, well if that was unicorn magic, lets see if I can use pegasus magic. Pegasus magic was stuff like cloud walking and manipulating water right? I was in a shower, surely I could make the water do something cool. "Sha-bam!" I said, stomping a hoof and hoping the water would flow backwards or do something neat. Nothing happened at all. Okay, lets try rhyme! "Water... What rhymes with water? Water's flow... Go so slow?" Nothing still. Magic could be a bit harder than the cartoon let on. I sighed, giving up for now. I still had lots of time to figure it out, and I might as well take an actual shower while I was still here. I reached for the shampoo bottle, having no idea how I was supposed to pick it up but having no other expectation than success. A flow of energy still nondescript circled the bottle invisibly, and I lifted it from the corner of the tub. "So why does this work?" I wondered quite loudly, trying to test to see if Samantha had snuck back into the room yet. No answer met my words, and I began to wonder how I was going to open the lid. --- Minutes later --- "Okay! Now we scrub behind those cute widdle ears!" Sam grinned, as I flashed the most malicious scowl I could. "Oh don't give me that, you love this." "Not a chance. This is literally the worst moment of my life." I replied, as she scrubbed viciously. I had called Sam back into the room upon realizing that even with the most powerful arcane mastery I could never hope to know what kind of care I would have to put into washing my fur. Sam had experience washing our dog, and I didn't. "That time you broke your wrist?" "Sunshine and butterflies." "The time you lost your backpack on the bus and there went all your money and ID?" "Best day ever." "The time you got lost in the mall and we went home without you?" "Fish fingers and custard." "What?" "What? You don't get the reference?" "Oh I do, I just didn't know you had such fun with awful days! That means this is actually the best day of your life, right?" She reversed my logic, and gave a mean tug on my mane. "Oh yeah. Totally. Look how much fun I'm havi-AAAH!" She tugged through a knot, ripping out about forty percent of my skull. I glared at her, "So. Much. Fun." She had probably finished with my mane by now, if not six minutes ago, but Sam was the type of girl who took very, very long showers. For all I knew I could be here for the next four months assuming a 'more hair equals more time' standard. She began brushing out my tail again, for the third time, and I nearly jumped out right there. "How many more years is this going to take?" "About nine." She replied in a completely serious manner. At this rate I wouldn't have to worry about telling Mom or Dad that I'd become a pony over the phone. They'd probably be home long before that. ---- A couple of minutes more ---- I lay on my side on the bottom of the tub floor, having given up on ever getting out. I wasn't in a rush to do anything anyways, and I could barely walk on my own. At the very least I had finally achieved the calm I had been searching for earlier. I certainly wasn't planning on freaking out over anything anytime soon. The slight flow of water around my fur tickled it gently, and my eyes had closed long ago. An occasional brush of a fine tooth comb teased my side, as Sam was careful to avoid my feathered wings. Just when I thought I might fall asleep, the relaxing flow of water stopped with a trio of squeaky knobs. "So, how many millenniums have passed?" I inquired. "It's been thirteen minutes Sis. You're really bad at keeping track of time." She sighed, standing up to go fetch a towel. I continued laying there, even as the last of the water that hadn't soaked into my fur slipped down the drain. "Really though? Thirteen? It doesn't take that long for you to wash Mackerel. And he's usually way smellier than I am. Are you sure you put as much care into me as you usually put into our dog?" "Sis, even though you're basically the same size now, I don't have to worry about giving Mackerel a glossy mane. I don't have to worry about whether Mackerel's tail can be braided easily and without problems so he doesn't trip on it. And most importantly..." She breathed, and I could tell the next words were going to be harsh. "That creature doesn't have wings that he is constantly using to shield himself from my brush. Oops. "Hey, I was just, trying to learn how to maneuver them. I'm still getting used to this body you know!" I half-lied, seeing as how that was true but I HAD been actively shielding myself with them. I finally worked on standing up, and found my hooves were a lot more co-operative than they were earlier. I stood in the tub, as an ocean of water drained from the fur that had been pressed against the floor. Sam threw a couple of towels at me, and my vision went dark as I was ravaged by friction and soft cotton. One towel scrubbing later, I was a tad fluffier than before. I wasn't on the level of Fluffle Puff quite yet, but I was certainly on the scale. Sam hung up the towels, as I hopped gently over the edge of the tub. Again I was surprised at just how silent and spring-loaded my hooves were. "Okay. So you just gave your seventeen year old brother a bath. I hope you feel like a creep." I remarked, trotting my way to the door. "Hey, you're the one who asked for it, becoming a helpless pony and all." "Oh, I was just so willing to go through all this. So much choice on my part." "Yeah yeah. Technically I gave my Sister a bath, and my friends will confirm they shared the bath with their younger sisters growing up." "Yeah, growing up. So, you know. Not anywhere close to our ages." I trotted out the door, thinking I was the victor of the conversation. It was when I had made it three steps down the hall that I realized I had forgotten to- "And I'm your brother! Stop that!" I called back. "You keep thinking that Sis. It will only result in confusion in your later life." Whatever, as if I'm gonna stay like this forever. Some nagging doubts tried to assault my brain and remind me I had no way of knowing that I wouldn't stay like this forever. Nuh-uh nagging doubts, I just had a shower! I am clean mentally and physically, and you shall nag me no more! Somehow that worked, and I began to think other thoughts about how I was coming along with my walking. I looked down, and my hooves proceeded without issue in a straight line at a speed half-way to decent. I was a well oiled walking machine, I was unstoppable! Believe it or not, I got stopped. A sudden tug at the place just beyond my butt that I now knew as the nerves attached to my tailbone told me I had just tripped on my still excessively long tail. The ground came up to meet my poor nose once more, and I slammed my hooves forwards hopefully. My head tilted to the left, but it was too late! The ground was inches away, and my nose was- A sudden tug at the nape of my neck caught me, and I froze up like a cat. It was quite surprising how hard it was to make myself move all of a sudden. "I told you I still have to re-braid your tail and everything. You are now being returned to the bathroom." Sam informed me, picking me up and leaving me still paralyzed in that cat like grip. Well, it's not the grip that's cat like. It's just the way Sam is holding me is how most people, the ones who don't handle cats nicely, handle cats. My tail was curled up, but the vibrations traveled up the fur and let my tailbone know just how far away the ground was. My wings attempted to spread out, but Sam already setting me back down on the counter so I closed them up again. Nice to see I've already gotten most of the knowledge down on how to move myself and my body. Was it only this morning I couldn't even figure out how to move my tail or ears? I flicked both simultaneously, quite satisfied with myself. I went back to watching my expression in the mirror, and spent a while getting lost in those huge pony eyes while Sam folded and twirled my tail and mane. They were such a lovely purple, but if you looked deeper you could see they faded to an almost red in some parts, and almost blue in others. Strangest of all though, was that they didn't look like young filly eyes, but rather old-people eyes. The type of eyes that have seen tales untold, terrible and wondrous things, and things that- Or maybe I was just reading into it too much because I wasn't used to seeing such large eyes on any creature, much less myself. "All done! Now hold still while I grab a picture." Sam requested, though I wasn't having any pictures just yet. I stepped forwards just as I had before, and once more my legs, wings, and tail all worked smoothly to ensure a perfect and silent landing. I began trotting my way through the door and down the hall once more, leaving Sam with a rather exasperated expression. Before I knew it, I was at the staircase leading into the living room, and beyond that the kitchen. somewhere past the kitchen was a door, that led to the backyard. Why did I want to go there? Because outside meant a chance to finally try and learn how these darn wings worked. And who wouldn't want to learn how to fly? Before I could do anything else however, I felt a slight complaint of hunger from my belly. I had no idea what type of food I was craving, but food was food and I wanted food. The only obstacle that lay ahead of me was the most dreaded obstacle I ever found in a pony transformation fanfic. The Stairs of death and desperation. So I cheated. "Hey Sam, you can have my picture if you carry me downstairs. Please?" I turned around slowly to face her, putting on my most begging and cutesy face. "Your picture? Why would I want-" She noticed my attempt at being adorable, and nodded slowly. "Hmm, I could want pictures of my 'Sis' being humiliatingly adorable. I could always use a bit of blackmail." She admitted. I dropped the puppy dog eyes and the pout. "Okay, never mind. I'm going to have to tumble down and break every bone I have." Sam was distracted, "Maybe I can force you to wear a dress too! Those would be the best pictures ever! What do you think 'Sis'?" "I will destroy everything you love." I responded bitterly. Sam began laughing again, evidently hearing those words come from a three foot tall creature that originated from a cartoon about friendship (And magic) was probably one of the more silly things she had ever seen. Okay, if I can't get her to do it through bribery, I will have to force her hand through... I wasn't quite sure. How would I get my Sister to carry me down stairs with out throwing away every shred of dignity? Aha! I turned around entirely, and slowly began trotting down the stairs dangerously. Not even one hoof at a time, but moving every hoof at once. Sam noticed my reckless decent down the stairs. "Aaaah! Hold it!" She took a quick step forward, and scooped me up onto her shoulder. She sped down the stairs at the quickest pace I had traveled at the whole day. I had barely made it down two steps, which was probably a good thing, considering I had just begun to feel my balance slipping away when Sam had snatched me up. On her way to the kitchen, she plopped me into the computer chair, instructing me to, "See if anything new has happened since this morning." She strode into the kitchen, and disappeared from sight. I rotated my insanely stretchy neck, which had been facing nearly completely backwards, and squinted my eyes against the bright computer screen. The living room was a dark contrast to the bright hallways of upstairs, and it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the monitor. But when they did, I was a little unnerved by the news page before me. Free poker online! WHOA! Hold everything! Get it? Hold? Texas, Hold 'em? Anyway, I moved my hoof to try and find the mouse, which was much father away than I was used to. I rotated myself to the left, falling forelegs first out of the chair. stepping around it, I gently put a hoof on the height lever, raising the chair to it's maximum height. I stepped back, and took a mighty leap, (For a three foot equine,) into the chair. It spun around violently as I clung to the seat desperately, my wing locked around one of the arm rests. It slowed and then stopped, and I slowly struggled to my hooves. And... Aw feathers. I'm backwards. I realized. Wait, feathers? I- Aha! I spread my wings gently, then fluttered just the left one until I was facing the monitor again. I raised a single hoof dramatically, and laid it to rest upon the mouse, which was now an optimal distance for my adorably short hooves. Well, not really short. Just not quite as long as the human arms I'm used to. I'm sure that my forelegs are miles longer than the average pony. I moved the mouse, the magical flow of energy encapsulating the mouse with almost no effort on my part this time. If only I could figure out how it worked I would be quite content with my magical aptitude. Alright, now let's go check where I can see what's happening to everypony. I mean, what? I mean everybody. I slid the mouse across the mouse pad, and somehow clicked the red x on the advertisement Sam had left open. "Aha! it was a 'Rainbow Dash Presents' animation she was watching last night." I confirmed. "You betcha!" I heard the response from the kitchen. I closed the tab, I didn't feel like 'My Little Dashie' was a good inspiration for my Sister to learn pony-care from. The next animation was another 'RDP'. Cupcakes. That's even worse pony-care techniques! Do not want! I ended up closing all the tabs and just opening up a new browsing window. The Google logo had a pony inspired icon today, good job Google. Now where should I go? Facebook? Probably being spammed with 'Imma dorable pny pls liek' posts. I need to get better friends. Where else then? Tumblr? Twitter? Reddit? I decided on Twitter, because it would probably contain the most sane people. Probably. I clicked a few times on our bookmarks bar, and wondered how far I would get if I needed to use the keyboard. Oh no. It wants me to login. What the hay am I supposed to- The hay? Okay, why did I keep using various pony words in my mind? I had been ignoring it up until now, but it had been an issue stirring at the back of my mind for a while. Okay lets try to say everypony. I mean everyone. Wait, no. That right there is what I'm talking about. I would be less weirded out if it only happened when I spoke aloud, but an invasion of my thoughts was just wrong. Sam returned from the kitchen, asking, "So, whatcha want for breakfast?" She asked with a smile. "Something with Alfredo sauce. Its that or waffles. With strawberries." I requested, wondering what types of things I should eat. What sorts of food could my digestive system handle? Should I aim for sugary treats like the Pink pony of fame? Or should I stick to daisy sandwiches and other floral things? I tilted to the left once more, and clambered out of my chair. Sam followed me with a quizzical look as I marched my way into the kitchen. An array of decisions had been laid out by Sam, from muffin mix, to frozen spinach lasagna, to a jar of pickles. "Did you just... Take everything you could find out of the fridge?" I asked, though a glance at the still ajar fridge door confirmed that. "Well, everything except meaty things. Since, you know, I figured you don't really have the teeth or digestive system for that anymore." "What about the lasagna?" "Spinach and cheese only! No meat to be found." "Then why did we buy it to begin with? Everyone in this family is a meat lover." "That... Is a really good question. I mean I'd still eat it, but you know, I'm the black sheep." "Oh, you're the black sheep? Pretty sure I'm the only intelligent quadruped in this family." Really though, I was pretty sure I've always been the black sheep of the family. Sam always was fine with everyone else, or at least as far as I knew. "Hey, don't you talk down about our dog like that, he's way smarter than you!" "And I'm sure that he's smarter than you as well." "Maybe, but I'm not a quadruped." "Well then I am the black sheep here!" "Nope! I'm the black sheep since at this point I'm the only child left who isn't a pegasus!" "What? What do you even mean by that! You're the only human left and therefore its a bad thing?" I was honestly confused. I guess I hadn't exactly explained to Sam just how hard it was to deal with so much being different, and she was still jealous of my being a pony. "Yeah! Think about it, someone asks Dad what his kids are like. 'Oh, my younger daughter is a pegasus! She can fly and for some reason do magic!' And the other guy is all, 'Oh that's cool, what's the older one like?' And Dad is all: 'Well, she's just a boring human. You don't wanna hear about her!'" Sam finished with an exhausted breath and a growl. "Wow... I didn't know you were that jealous Sis. You know it's really not that great being a pony-" She cut me off quickly. "Not that great? You've only been awake as a pony for like, maybe an hour, and you've already figured out how to move shower curtains WITH YOUR MIND. Do you not know how amazing that is? Do you not know how lucky you are to get this kind of opportunity? And then you released a wave of magic that turned on the shower to the perfect temperature and even though you don't know how you did it, you should know that its impressive! My showers are almost never the right temperature!" She paused for a breath, evidently having a lot more feeling about this than I thought she did. "And you've pretty much mastered walking within the first thirty minutes! If you had found the news articles on Facebook you would have found that some people have been ponies for hours and they haven't figured out standing! You're a damn prodigy at this, and it's pretty much all I've wanted in life, and you dare to say it isn't that nice!" Okay. Wow. I- Apparently I'm a prodigy? That's news to me. Darn it, I thought Facebook was mostly nothing but spam! I forgot that the half that wasn't spam was probably useful. Equally important news was that Sam wasn't just jealous, she was downright upset. "Okay, I enjoy being trapped in a small female horse's body with no idea why this is happening to me and occasionally being assaulted with memories that aren't mine and saying things I don't mean to say! Sure I have magical powers and could probably even fly if I spend weeks and weeks learning how, but in the mean time I'm probably going to be terrified that I've lost my mind when I suddenly ask if you can braid my mane. Or when I try and use magic I start seeing visions of things that I really shouldn't." I raved, glad I had somewhat excuses on my behalf to not be having the time of my life. Since I'm not even sure this is entirely my life anymore. "SO we're both angry at this entire situation, and would rather have it reversed?" Sam inquired in such a way that made me wonder if she knew a way to make that possible. "Oh, I am so angry at this situation, and would love nothing more than to see you in my horse-shoes." This time I had actually meant to use a ponified version of the phrase. If it was going to happen anyway might as well have some control over exactly what I was saying. "Then it's settled!" Sam proclaimed. "There's nothing either of us can do about that, so lets forget the entire thing and make some breakfast already! Are you with me Sis?" "Yeah! Lets do it! Wait hold on what?" I responded with a tilt of my head. Sam was never good at keeping up an argument or staying mad at people, she was always far too keen on keeping the peace. "Perfect! Pancakes it is! Help me grab a mixing bowl!" Some part of me, probably the ponyish part, though maybe the human part, was a little surprised at how quickly the situation had mellowed out. That's the way it works from now on with me and Sam pony and or human self! We get mad, yell a bit, let each other know how we feel, and nod. No point being angry about things we can't change anyway. Sam waltzed over to the fridge, pulling eggs from the top shelf. I lamented on how I was no longer tall enough to reach the top shelf. It's like I'm a child again. I realized, and I began to wonder how old the pony I had turned into was. I think I'm physically a few years younger than Leslie wa- Than I was as a human. Making me not quite a filly, but not quite a mare either. teenage pony, sweet. Being a teenage pony was fine with me, the only thing that worried me was the thought that didn't quite make sense. A mis-thought, I decided to call it. I am Leslie, why am I referring to myself as a separate person? I shook my head somewhat violently, and my stomach rumbled quietly. Oh yeah! Food is a thing, I should check on how Sam is progressing. By now Sam had put away most of the other food, and all that remained was the materials required to make pancakes. Blue berries, eggs, milk, water, stirring spoon, frying pan, and the pancake mix itself. The only thing missing was a mixing bowl. Hang on, did ponies eat eggs? They were meat weren't they? "Uh, Sam? About the eggs." I inquired. She looked at me and I shook my head. She took the hint, sighed, and put them back. Our pancakes would be crumbly today, but that was fine with me. Taking the initiative, I slid my way over to a cupboard to the right of the sink, and barely noticed the ease which I was able to create a flow of magic that tugged it open. One day I swear I will figure out how I'm doing that! A large black glass mixing bowl lay before me, but I didn't quite trust my magical prowess to the point of trying to lift glass just yet. Sam stepped over me, giving me a reminder of just how small I was right now, and reached down for the glass bowl. She leaned back, standing up and carefully trying to- Yeowch! One of her feet caught on my tail, and I reflexively skittered backwards. Sam staggered momentarily, and I watched in horror as the glass bowl slipped from her hands. I wish I could stop that. I thought, reaching towards the falling glass hopelessly. Or at least I thought it was hopelessly, but then I got a familiar taste of pomegranate. It looked like time was slowing down for a few seconds, as the glass bowl stopped inches away from the floor. But a faint shimmer of purple around it was the only visual indicator Sam needed to know she could feel free to recover the bowl. I certainly wasn't able to do anything, I was too busy being overwhelmed by the shock of exposure to pure magic. I couldn't move at all, and I could tell my eyes were glowing again due to a visible brightness on the slight blur that was my nose. The unexplainable sensation was back in full, and this time it was staying more than a half second. It wasn't something my mind could comprehend successfully, that much was obvious. But I could understand what I was sensing. It was the flow and movement of magic, of life. It had no color, but it was the most vibrant thing imaginable. It moved slowly, but freely. It was a bazillion times greater than me, but somehow my will to not let a glass bowl break had changed it, made it flow where it wouldn't normally, and alter the physical world. My head began to hurt. A lot. I wasn't quite sure how to break out of it, and Sam was trying and failing to pluck the bowl from its floating spot in mid-air. Okay, looks like I have to find a way to cut it off somehow. Break my connection with magic. I tried to move my hoof, but it was paralyzed. It was like trying to wake up from a dream. Sam was asking me something, but it didn't seem that my ears were working any more. My head, it was- A buzz of pain. I was beginning to think my skull had split apart while I wasn't looking. I need to stop this! NOW! AGHHH! The pain began to intensify, and the dull buzz was quickly becoming a loud yell, and then next thing I knew it was a piercing scream. I shook my head violently, and everything stopped. Sound returned to me, and my head stopped screaming. I waggled my hoof, and brought it back to the floor. "That hurt a lot more than it should have. I probably should stick to pegasus style magic for a while." I found myself saying, no longer caring who or where the wise words were coming from and just being glad that my head wasn't in pain anymore. Sam placed the bowl safely on the counter, her eyes wide with surprise. Oh, she's the surprised one? "So, are you okay? You looked a little hurt there, like you had a paper cut on your eye." "It felt- Actually yeah, that's about the right level of pain." "Didn't you get a sudden rush of pony memories last time you used magic like that? Got anything?" Not yet, though I was beginning to stagger a little bit. I looked to my left and- Whoa! Who put that wall there! Oh wait, that's the floor. I think I just fell over. I certainly felt a little bit dizzy. Maybe I should just close my eyes for a little bit. I'll deal with whatever memories when they get here. "Hey! Are you okay? You look really bad! Should I call an ambulance or something?" I heard Sam cry, getting genuinely concerned just a little too late. Everything faded to a dark black as I lost consciousness once more. My last thoughts were: I hope the pancakes are done when I wake up again, I really am getting kind of hungry.