Well, that's a comfort.
“I… But… What?” I stumbled out after a few moments, still trying to move through all the information at once. “Can’t survive that?”
“Oh, sorry. I forgot you’re still new to all of this,” Twilight thought out to me. “Terminus energy is something I probably should have explained first.”
“You’re not answering questions,” I pushed, starting to freak out a little, which was an odd feeling-- especially when I realized I was doing so despite the fact I’d laughed about almost having drowned in a lake.
Another wave of irritation rolled through my head. I quieted myself for fear of causing a headache if I hadn’t.
“Right. Terminus energy is a quickly generated form of energy, used to perform spells in the same way you’d use other forms of energy. The defining part of this type of energy is that it generates only when it’s needed, and the greatly amplified potency from the energy being pulled directly from the source.
“This alone sounds nice, but there’s a huge drawback in that generating the energy puts a tremendous amount of strain on the body. There have been unicorns to fall over dead on the spot from using too much of the energy.
“In a voluntary research done on those who didn’t immediately die from using it too often, they were always found to be almost constantly disoriented, distracted, and even occasionally hallucinating for what may seem to be no reason.”
“O...kay... Basically ‘don’t screw around with magic, it will frick you up,’ is the theme here...” I said, silently happy that I didn’t seem to be on fire anymore as the nervous tone came back to my voice.
“In an odd, though fairly simple way of saying it, I guess.”
“I’ll just uh... preoccupy myself then...” I said sheepishly. “You know, keep my mind off things...”
“If you think it will help.”
“Hey, maybe you can get that nap Twilight was talking about! Some sleep would be awesome.” My... other part-- or whatever you’d call it-- chipped in.
“If you two could keep quiet, maybe I could,” I shot, still agitated about it.
“Are you sure it wasn’t you in here talking to Twilight? Because I could have sworn I was yelling at you two to shut up.”
I took a breath in as if I was going to yell, but then I hesitated as I realized something. “I... Don’t know,” I admitted vocally.
“Well, that’s a comfort.”
“But you two are different colors, how can you not tell?” Twilight asked, almost as if she was still having a hard time with the split.
“We have individuality from each other, but we’re the same person.”
“A single mind in two parts,” I added in hopes of clearing things up, rolling my eyes at the ambiguity of my comment, and the difficulty of not only trying to understand the disorder, but trying to actually put words to it.
“To really understand us--”
“You’d need to look past the colors.” I never trusted myself to talk about advanced interpersonal concepts, even the more simple ones.
“Um... Asher? You’re starting to talk together.” I had to repress a laugh as I felt a suppressed indignified “Hey!” try to come through from myself.
“I think that’s normal, actually,” I responded, not really sure of the validity of the guess.
“We are only one person after all,” in-head me added on, trying to-- figuratively-- sound more introspective than the sentence actually is.
“Why do you appear as if you’re two then?”
“I think that has something to do with association,” I said, rubbing my jaw with a hoof. “Don’t quote me on that.”
“Association?” The question felt more doubtful than confused or curious.
“Well, I don’t exactly agree with some of the things he’s done.”
“Two way street there, pal,” I put out with a disapproving scowl.
“He’s way too content with doing nothing. It’s asking to be put in a chair for the rest of your life, and banality isn’t something I want to do.”
“So, you can’t associate yourself to some of the things you do?” Twilight asked before I could comment about banality, though it felt like she was just going through the conversation just to be courteous.
“It’s a complex life I’ve lived. Never tried to make sense of it.” I might have sounded bored-- not that I’d do well with actually knowing. Too many mental disorders skewing my perception on it.
“But doesn’t that mean you don’t understand yourself?” Twilight asked-- a rather spot on question if I’d heard one.
“I never tr-” I started before the a knock at the door took my attention. “Uh, come on in?” I called out, wondering why anyone would need to knock on the door.
“So it’s safe now?” I heard Vigil shout through the door.
“Why wouldn’t it be safe?” I shouted, jumping off the table.
“You were on fire from what Johnny said.”
“Er, right well…” I checked my hoof again real quick for a white coat or maybe some flames. Nothing wrong with double checking. “I’m not on fire anymore...”
The door opened slowly, Vigil hovering in the hallway with a worried look on his face. “So... are you going to put the suppressor back on?” He asked, motioning to the ring on the ground.
“Oh, right... I probably should do that.” I said, picking the ring back up from the ground and placing it on my horn.
“Right, thank you.” Vigil said as he flew into the room. “So, I figured where you figured out magic, You’d be cool with me flying around.”
“I honestly don’t remember how I blasted Lieutenant Dachs.” I admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s really not like I’d have blamed you for doing something you’ve learned how to do anyways. I mean, you did kinda learn.”
“That’s... actually rather mature...” Vigil said, giving me a confused look. “How old are you?”
“I’m seventeen,” I answered, trying to pop my neck.
“That sounds about right…” he said, shaking his head as he looked to the side.
“Really?” I asked, much more used to hearing comments on others thinking I’m older than I am.
“With a temper like that, but the maturity to at least accept what you can’t control? Yeah, around early college years is where I’d put it. To be honest though, I was thinking you might be a year or two older than seventeen, but… Ech, close enough, I guess.”
“Ah… ‘Kay, that sounds about right…” I said, nodding my head at the difference in age of the guess.
“The hell is with your temper, anyways?”
My ears folded back in mild annoyance at the reminder of my temper. “Right... That’s just something I was born with. Been trying to get control of it.”
“Really?” he asked, looking at me skeptically.
“Let me put it this way; I once hit my cousin with a solid plastic guitar as I ran past him, just because I didn’t agree with the way he was telling me to play a game. I was two,” I told him. The only thing that kept me from laughing at the story was the fact I was being totally honest.
“Over a game?”
“I never said I was mature,” I said with a bit of a laugh, picturing myself running through the living room my family had at the time-- half naked-- as I was rushing through with plastic guitar that could have well been half my weight at the time.
“I’m curious on why you’re Twilight now.”
I sat there in silence for a moment, thinking about it. “I...” I started, putting my hoof to my head and rubbing as I thought. “I... really don’t know, actually.”
“Well, I guess we’ll figure that out when we hit that road.”
“Guess so,” I said with a slight chuckle.
“Well, anyways, my shift’s over. We can talk about whatever you’d like.”
I tried not to laugh, but I felt the smile on my face. “Dude, I’m the wrong guy to get to spark a conversation.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I can’t make small talk to save my life.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
------
“Every conversation I’ve had thus far has either sucked or been Twilight.”
“I’ll be sure to let the captain know he’s a boring person,” Knightly said with a smirk.
“Pfft, he’s about as amusing as used tissue. He’s a family man, they’re way too easy to read.” I shot back at him, trying not to laugh. “Then again, sometimes used tissue is more fun than even stencil paper.”
“What?” he said, face scrunched up in confusion, and what might have been mild amusement.
“I ‘unno man! I’m weird!” I said, putting my hooves up in an overdone shrug.
“Right the fuck on man.”
“Hey, at least I’m not one of those kids who’re so messed up in the head they can’t wipe their own butt,” I said with a smile. “... Unfortunately, I think I’m related to two of them, and I think both are older than my younger brother.” I could feel my smile wilting as I said this, rolling my eyes slightly.
“And how old’s he?”
“Fourteen,” I stated rather aloofly.
Knightly smirked, which got a small chuckle out of me as I thought about the absurdity of the notion. It wasn’t long after that that he started laughing in full bravado, and I wasn’t far behind. Fortunately Lt. Dachs stepped in to keep us from choking on our laughter. “What the hell?”
“Porn,” I said with a suddenly straight face. Knightly lost it, I got Dachs to chuckle, and I couldn’t keep the straight face for more than three seconds.
“Again, how the hell are you Twilight Sparkle?” Knightly shot out through the laughter, bringing me back from hysterics slightly.
“Again, I have no umpty-fluff-a-doodle of a clue as to why I’m Twilight,” I answered, shaking my head as the laughter subsided a bit more.
“There’s a reason you guys became specific ponies?” Lt. Dachs asked, glancing between Knightly and myself.
“Apparently? I don’t know, probably something to do with compatibility or something. Twilight understands magic more than I do.”
“What kind of girl smacks their cousin with a guitar, anyways?” Knightly asks, still laughing slightly.
“Sh- Wait, what?”
“Not a girl,” I said, staring at Knightly sourly.
“Another gender change case?” He asks with a renewed chuckle. “How many on the ship is that now, eighteen of twenty-three? Oh, no wait, with Twilight it’s twenty-four. You know what, fuck it, let’s just say the ship is a guy.”
I couldn’t contain my laughter at that comment. It hurt to laugh. Then again, it hurt trying not to laugh, so I suppose I couldn’t win there.
I personally believe that man is secretly a comedic genius.
Or a really good assassin... Either or.
I was pretty sure he’s a cool guy though; left us all laughing until dinner an hour later.
The walk there was no less entertaining, and when that last guy in the berthing I was staying in showed up, he seemed a lot less apprehensive. I forgot his name, honestly.
Not really important anyways.
Getting dinner went about the same as lunch, which thankfully, due to whatever mind-bugging witchcraft Baba Yaga did, I could actually remember.
“Would you like any help with your dinner?” Knightly asked as we made our way to the table.
“Naw,” I sounded, making my way to whatever table they were leading me to. “I’d like to see if I can actually learn magic this time.”
“Why didn’t you offer to carry your own plate then?” Lt. Dachs asked, setting my plate down at a table, and taking the chair next to my seat.
“Apparently I don’t have much energy to work with,” I said, looking around the area once again, though nothing really caught my attention. “Something about a sharp saturation tolerance reduction.”
“... I don’t know much about magic, but being Twilight Sparkle, I wouldn’t think that would be much of a problem for you,” Lt. Vigil poked, settling down in the spot on the other side of me.
“Apparently it is. Something like seventy or so thaums? It’s apparently a rather low limitation...”
Knightly started laughing a little as he set down his own plate. “Right, so, what happened to your... what, three giga-thaum pool?”
“That’s an over-exaggeration. I was a few hundred kilothaums short of two megathaums, sure, but that’s… okay, it’s not normal, but it’s not quite so absurd. Who could even withstand that much energy?”
“Celestia maybe?” I asked aloud, giving a shrug with a small smile, as I always loved looking crazy.
The table just gave me weird looks, which I ignored as I listened to Twilight’s answer. Figuratively.
“Maybe? It’s not a normal question.”
“Who likes normal?” I threw out, shrugging. “I’d rather lead an interesting life than a life that conforms to the idea of ‘normal.’”
“Yes, the curse of an interesting life,” I felt myself think. “Not that I entirely disagree, but I’d rather life just be slightly abnormal. Something not entirely relaxed, but definitely not ‘interesting.’”
“Asher, you’re talking to yourself. No one can hear what you’re thinking up there,” Knightly said, dragging me from my to-self conversation.
“That’s… kind of the point?” I gave a shrug, not really sure what else I could say.
“You’re going to get the wrong kind of attention doing that,” Dachs says, picking at his meal.
I give another shrug. “People can draw all the assumptions they like. I might agree with them.”
Pretty much everyone at the table shook their heads and stopped paying attention to me, which let me reach up to take the horn ring off. An awkward movement, all in all, since I had to balance on my hind legs.
I started to tune out the world around me, thinking back on what I could remember of magic. Or… everything I associated with it, I should say. It was pretty easy where almost everyone was minding their own business, and those who were paying attention to me were
“We can’t use magic because we can’t feel it!”
“Feeling…” I started to focus on Twilight’s horn, and the sensations related to and coming from it. “… Check.” I also silently berated myself for completely blocking out the sensations that are about as vital as my eyes.
“As for the use of mana, you could compare them to calories-- though I don’t think it would be very accurate, as you burn both calories and manilliane energy when using magic.”
“That’s a bit harder… Hard… Heart… Magic lies at the heart… Clearly a metaphor… Interpretation. Perception… There’s a perception to it that I’m missing.” I shook my head. “I’m off point. She was saying it’s a limited supply, nothing deep like that.”
“The focus, or Spellform… I can’t show you when we share a body.”
“Well, could you explain it?”
“If you were familiar with feeling magic, maybe, but you’re just learning.”
“… I’m going to need help… Uh, Twilight?”
“Yes?” She replied, though I wasn’t sure if she felt tired or slightly annoyed.
“Can I get some help with levitation? I’m kind of at a brick wall.”
“I can’t do much from here aside from try to tell you how to go about it, and even then, you don’t have any experience with magic to go off of.”
“I’d rather say my ability for magic being naught is not from a lack of trying. Give me what you have,” I thought back, rolling my head slightly.
“Levitation is a mostly instinctive spell, so listen to it a bit… if you have the instincts. Mostly it’s just moving the existing energy.”
“Not as simple as it sounds, I assume…” I said to myself, looking at the fork on the table.
Twilight’s answer was a little delayed but she did put forth a comforting, “Maybe?” Only to make it better she added on, “I probably make a horrible frame of reference, being exceptional with magic.”
I gave an internal sigh at the thought, going back to paying attention to the sensations coming from my horn. I could feel the energy… The shifts… Even on the smallest degree. In me… Around me… It was almost surreal.
“Is this what a stoner feels like?” I asked, more than loud enough to get the entire table looking at me with mixed expressions of confusion, amusement, or slight glares. The was a chuckle or two even, but they were quiet.
Though, quiet as they were, it seemed to help my nerves. It almost felt like eyes shifted from me. Helped me clear my head… though, only for a moment as a familiar feeling struck me, filling my head with words.
Words I said out loud as they came to me, for whatever reason it was.
"Food, eggs, waffle, pancakes, eggs, fork, fork, knife, FRICK! Eggs, pancake, knife, fork, FRICK, FACEBOOK, FRICK!
"FRIIIIIICK! FRICK!" I shouted before throwing myself backwards off my seat, laughing hysterically. "WHAT. AM. I. DOING?!" Was the last thing I shouted before my laughter was the only noise for awhile.
The collective silence was heavy enough to kill a blue whale if you were to have dropped it on one. Little unnerving actually.
“I need to check facebook when we dock,” I said, smiling from my place on the floor.
“Have a smartphone?” one of the sailors that was at the table with me said as she stood up and walked over to help me to my hooves. Good thing too, as the ground is cold, and I still took awhile to get to my hooves on my own.
“Er, yeah… Why?” I asked, accepting the hand offered in assistance.
“You can just hook up to the ship’s wi-fi, but you’ll have to get one of those lugs to do it for you,” she said, motioning to the lieutenants.
“... I guess I’ll check Facebook when I get back to the berthing.”
After getting back to my hooves, I hopped back onto the seat, then… magically I ate my food.
… By stuffing my face unceremoniously into the meal.
“I thought you said you were going to try to figure out magic,” Lt. Knightly said, sounding rather unamused.
I lifted my face, looked over at him, swallowed the facefull of whatever the kitchen had served that night, then I told the pegasus, “I’d rather practice with my phone after bathing--since I already need to do that after lunch--and preserve energy for something more immediately relevant to my interests and goals than waste it on something that’s not going to change anything.”
I might have gotten a few looks, but I think Knightly understood what I was talking about. Or pretended to. Either way, the questions stopped, and I could eat in silence.
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So does Asher have multiplicity?
You could say the other Asher is his plural.
Plurals tend to be similar but not quite the same and in some cases can converse easily with one another.
Well, are all the mane six in this shared universe going insane?
4312516
Mane six can't possibly go insane, they are already insane.
...
K, I get why and all that, it makes sense, in context
but having 'yourself' get told he was mature for his age just rubs me the wrong way. (Also, getting angry easily but later being able to put it behind you isn't really a sign of maturity, it's a sign of high levels of stress. It has nothing to do with how mature you are or aren't, it has to do with being so stressed you freak out, and everyone regrets it after they freak out... though most would represent such differently, when discussing the issue vocally.
Right, so he knows how to use magic now right? Just doesn't know how to make it work normally.
I really don't like the idea of Asher having a split personality. It seems easy to get lost in the story.... But it is your story and that was just a suggestion.
I never could get my head into this series of stories just becuase when you state its 'our world" as is in a world clearly without magic and then saying "oh thee is magic cause yada yada" it just breaks immersion an all I'm thinking about is that is is some sort of self insert nonsense with author favorate character.
There only so far my mind can supssend before being unable to support the weight. Oh lauran fuast as Celestia...ugh i'm sorry that was the nail in my coffin just no why!
This is dead, isn't it?
5852600 I hope not..
5937392
Is been over a year and the author has not even changed the story status, eeyup, is dead.
5938577 C'mon, this was a good story! I'm sad now
5957795
The story also has not been updated for over a year and not even the status has changed, so is dead.
Well this person gave up