Control of The Self

Matthew and Twilight were walking down the streets of Ponyville again, making a line straight to the library.

"I'm so glad Colgate was able to help with your teeth!" Twilight said with an extra pep in her step. Matthew grabbed his jaw and rotated it a bit, getting used to the repairs Colgate gave him.

"Yeah, me too, thought I was gonna get my teeth drilled out and stuff."

"That's a thing in your world?"

"Yeah, when someone's teeth gets too bad they have to drill out cavities and fill them with like… lead I think."

"Oh wow! This must've been shocking for you!"

"Yeah bone magic, I see why it's going to take forever to fix though. Spent an hour on like two teeth."

"Colgate loves her job, she's a perfectionist, it's the reason why she's one of the best dentists I know! I'd say better than some ponies in Canterlot."

"Yeah," Just as Matthew was done talking, he could hear a loud whistling sound above. Matthew stopped in his tracks and looked up into the sky. "What is that sound?"

"Oh no, that's-" Before Twilight was able to finish her sentence, she was cut off by a voice shouting from the high heavens.

"LOOK OUT BELLLLOOOOWW!"

Just as he heard that, he saw Rainbow Dash coming in right towards him at what must be close to Mach speed. He didn't have time to react, he barley was able to flinch in time when Rainbow Dash was a foot away from him. Just as Matthew finally registered what was about to happen, Rainbow Dash collided straight into his stomach.

One second he was standing in an upright position, the next he found himself face first into the solid ground. He get his chest giveaway as Rainbow Dash hit him straight into his abdomen. They were only connected for a second but he could feel the force verberate… around him?

Matthew's body hit the ground like a train hitting a car. The only difference is that Matthew didn't break a single bone in his body, didn't even feel anything fracture. The force of impact might as well have been a single raindrop in a sandy desert.

Matthew, though unharmed, was dazzed by what just happened. He looked around and could see many shapes of different colors moving about as his vision tried to clear up what just happened. But one thing was very clear to Matthew and that was the shouting he heard.

"Rainbow Dash, what were you thinking?!"

"I didn't mean to hit him!"

"How many times have we told you to not practice your stunts near the town?!"

"A lot! But I was away from the town! I just lost control with how fast I was going and ended up here! I said `Look out'!"

"Guys..." Matthew said, his vision clearing up to see a number of other ponies surrounding him.

"He got out of the hospital two weeks ago! What if he- Oh no! We might have to take him back! I already set up more appointments for his dentist!"

"Guys?" Matthew said again, getting into a sitting position as he saw Twilight start to pace back and forth while Rainbow Dahs had her back to him.

"Is that what you're worried about? He could've broken a bone right now and you're worried about a dentist appointment?"

"I wouldn't have to worry if somebody didn't crash into him!" Twilight said, stopping her pacing to look at Rainbow Dash.

"Guys!" Matthew said, one last time. The girls finally stopped their arguing and turned their heads to him. They immediately trotted over and helped him up

"Matthew, are you okay?!" Twilight said using her magic to hoist him into the air, using all forms of magic to see if he broke anything.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Please put me- THAT TICKLES!" Matthew said, quickly falling into a laughing fit as he felt Twilight's magic search every inch of his body. But as sudden as it was, it stopped and Twilight couldn't help but look at Matthew in shock.

"You're… you're fine! Oh thank goodness!" Twilight quickly put Matthew back onto his feet as he giggled away a little. The ponies around him started to let out whispers about what they just witnessed.

"Appreciate the check up, Twi, but maybe warn me next time," Matthew said as he wiped off the dirt he got on his clothing, but before anyone else could say anything, he couldn't help but see a certain Rainbow haired individual walk up to him.

"Hey man, I'm sorry about the whole… hitting you thing. I didn't mean it! It was a total accident! I just lost control and you were in the way and-"

"Hey Dash, it's cool. I'm not even hurt dude."

"Yeah, I know but it's still not a very cool thing of me to do to ya."

"That's an understatement."

"Hmm… oh I know! I'll make it up to ya by taking you to a wonderbolts game!"

"Wonderbolts… Those are the performers. Right?"

"Yeah! That way you can see a real pro at the works instead of… well… me…" Rainbow Dash said as she clearly getting more and more upset at herself. Matthew couldn't help but overhear a couple of the standing by ponies whisper to each other. Matthew, getting more and more anxious of the gossiping ponies, quickly made his way towards Rainbow Dash, Twilight following suit.

"You wanna walk and talk?"

"Uh, sure," Rainbow Dash said hopping up and hovering in place with her wings.

"... Not really walking, but whatever," Matthew said as he started to walk back towards the library again.

"Not really a big fan of gossipers."

"Gossipers? Wait, who's gossiping?"

"You gotta get your eyes checked, man."

"I guess."

"How you holding up?"

"I've taken worse crashes, I'm more surprised you're fine considering you're all skin and bones," Rainbow Dash said as she flopped over to look at Matthew. Twilight quickened her pace to join the conversation.

"Actually been meaning to ask, are you humans typically that resilient?"

"To what? Trauma? Depends, but uhhh… think I just got lucky, yeah."

"Lucky? Well… I guess so. It wasn't nearly as bad as when Dash broke her wing," At hearing that, Rainbow Dash flipped right back up and started to talk.

"Yeah, you're lucky I wasn't doing that routine again or we'd both be in the hospital by now, dude," Rainbow Dash said as she lightly slapped Matthew's shoulder, Matthew quickly let out a small yelp of pain and grabbed his shoulder. Rainbow Dash was letting out a small laugh and started to talk to Twilight. Matthew on the other hand was thinking about that slap.

How come he felt her slap but not the cannonball to the chest? It didn't make sense to him. Was it him flinching? Does he have to see it coming and prepare? Is it based on a sense? Is it random? He's going to have to experiment a little when he gets back to the library. Until then, he couldn't help but think about what this means for his powers.

In no time, the small entourage made their way back to the library, the two friends had apologized for their earlier behavior and were talking about the latest Daring Do books. Twilight opened the door up and Matthew walked straight in, leaving Rainbow Dash and Twilight to talk.

"Yeah, I promise I'll go further out of town before trying that trick again."

"Please do, we're lucky Matthew's fine, but I'm not sure if any pony else could take a hit like that."

"Yeaaaaah…. But Matthew!" Matthew stopped in his tracks and turned back around to face Rainbow Dash.

"Huh? Yeah?"

"Remember, Wonderbolts game!"

"Uh, sure… when is that?"

"About a month from now, it would be sooner if somepony on the team didn't bust their wing doing a trick! Now they have to reschedule everything and push back the tour by a month because of it. I swear the pony that-"

"Yeah, cool, sure," Matthew said, continuing to walk into the tree house and down into the basement below, leaving Twilight and Rainbow Dash to watch him walk off.

"Uhhh, is he okay?" Rainbow Dash said, unsure of Matthew's reponse.

"I think so? Not really sure if I'm honest," there was a pregnant pause between the two friends, neither of them knowing exactly how to react to the situation in general. That was until Rainbow Dash came up with a rather valid answer to the situation as a whole.

"Humans are weird."

Down in the basement, Matthew was sitting on his bed, looking down at his hands. He never really had the time to actually think about his powers and what they could do with them. Every instance he's had free time he's slept, thankfully he's out of college now and has all the free time in the world.

"Now… I just gotta figure out how that… invincible thing happened."

Matthew looked at a nearby wall, much like the rest of the place, it was hardened timber. He pondered on what he could do to test his new ability, unsure if he can trigger it or if it activates on its own accord. He could only think of one thing he could do that would be able to settle if he could or couldn't do it manually. He looked over to a nearby wall and let out a deep sigh.

"Fucking hope I don't break my fingers."

He got up from the bed and walked over to the wall, uncertainty welling up in him as he balled his fist. Nerves got to him quickly as his head filled with images of broken fingers and the pain he's sure to get into. He quickly put those thoughts away, shut his eyes tight, and raised his arm up before throwing a punch directly into the wall as hard as he could.

Just like before, he felt the pushback from the force go around him but not into him. Matthew opened his eyes and saw that the wall was unscathed, he was fine, nothing broken at all. He pulled his hand away from the wall and started to laugh.

"Oh shit! I'm invincible!" Matthew said while punching the wall again, the same feeling going around him. He did this again and again and again, his laughter only growing more and more as he saw the wod start to split from his punches.

That came to a screeching halt when he felt a sharp pain go right into his arm and up to his shoulder.

“FUCK!” Matthew screamed out, grabbing his hand in pain. He let out a couple hisses of pain as he felt his hand throb. He quickly took a look to see that it was going to be a very bad bruise, but none of his fingers were broken. The pain in his hand subsided after a while being replaced with a headache in his head. He grabbed at his temples and started to think.

“Okay… so there’s a limit? Is it per hit or can I only take so much before it breaks… shit…” Matthew said, his head now throbbing as the headache grew worse.

“Shit, how the fuck am I gonna get a handle on this?” Due to his oncoming headache, he wasn’t able to see a certain draconequus come into being behind him.

“That is a great question, my boy,” Matthew shot away from the sound and into the wall he’s been punching, spinning in place to see Discord floating in midair his hands around a phone.

A phone.

“What the… Is that a fucking iPhone?!”

“Hmm, yes, I believe that’s what Greg called it. I must say this is a rather interesting device, I’m surprised at how it works!”

“You… You went to the human world?!” Discord stopped what he was doing on the phone and looked up into the sky, pondering what Matthew just said before realizing that he outed himself.

“... Ooooooh, I see I’ve been caught in a lie!” Discord whirled his hands and the phone disappeared from view, going back to its own storage place.

“You… WHY WOULD YOU LIE!” Matthew felt his raging starting to boil over as he realized how much sooner he could’ve gone home. While looking at Discord, Matthew felt a claw grab his shoulder from behind. He quickly turned around again to face the wall to see Discord’s devilish smile in the wall, as though he'd become the wall itself, and started to speak.

“Oh please Matthew, you think it’s really the best idea for you to go back there? What with your powers or magic progressing the way they have? It’s only a matter of time until you become a ticking time bomb!” Discord said, his face contorting into a clock that started to tick.

“So you’re forcing me to stay here?!”

“Well… yes,” Discord said, flashing before Matthew and sitting down in a fancy floating chair, he pulled out his newly acquired phone and started playing around with it again. “I don’t see a reason as to why I should send you back, it’s rather fun to have you here.”

“Fun?! I WANT TO GO HOME!” At the last syllable, Discord felt a great force hit him like a tidal wave, the phone in his hand launched straight out and hit the wall next to him and the wind that was coming off of Matthew was over turning the furniture. Yet, despite how strong of a blast Matthew was giving off, Discord didn’t even move an inch, barley even flinched at the impact. After Matthew’s small outburst, Discord whipped away nonexistent sweat on his face and magicked over the phone back into his hands, thankfully unbroken.

“Well, that was a little rude, don’t you think Matthew?”

“I want to go ho-”

“Home, yes, I get it!” Discord said, teleporting out of his chair and standing right in front of Matthew, his usual smile gone off his face now. “Look around you Matthew, tell me, is this a normal thing you humans do?” Discord started to take small steps towards Matthew, intimidating the man as he himself started to slowly step away.

“N-N-No-”

“Do humans usually hold a ridiculous amount of power in their head just waiting to be unleashed in childish tantrums?!”

“No, I just-”Matthew said, his back finally hitting the wall. Discord lowered his head down to look at Matthew squarely in the eyes as he talked further down to Matthew.

“Do you have any control of it whatsoever?”

“... No…” Discord continued to stare down Matthew, not daring to move a muscle. As soon as Discord was sure, he pulled his head back and went right back into the usual attitude.

"Now, I believe it’s time that I help you with your power… or magic or whatever in the world it is."

"... Now?"

"Why yes, my good boy! Now! Just a show of good faith is all!” Discord said, grabbing onto Matthew and snapping his fingers away. In a flash, the two of them disappeared from Matthew’s room, leaving the room quiet for the first time that day.

Deep in the heart of the Everfree Forest, was a clear plane of grass, the trees making way for the subtleties of the winds to pass through each blade of greenery. The sky was starting to turn into a hue of orange, signifying the coming of night. It was a calm and serene place.

Then in a flash of white light a human and a drconquess stood in its place.

Matthew looked around him, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing things clearly. One second, he was in his room at the library and the next he's outside in the middle of nowhere.

"What the fuck?!"

"Why do you humans curse so much? It's quite unbecoming," Discord said, snapping his fingers and putting on a trainer outfit from the 80's.

"What did you-"

"I teleported us into the Everfree Forest! Good place to practice those abilities of yours without prying eyes!" Discord said, as he started doing insane stretches, pulling his leg off and literally stretching it.

"I… I… What about Twilight?! She's going to be worried sick if I'm not there! She'll think I've disappeared or that I-"

"Oh calm down, Matthew. You'll be back before she even knows you're gone," Discord aside as he reattached his leg back to his body.

"But I-"

"Do you want to learn how to control this stuff or not?" Discord said one last time, annoyance being placated on his face. Matthew looked between Discord and his hands, contemplating what he should do. Learn how to control his power or stay in bed sulking? There was really only one option. With a sigh, Matthew clenched his fists and looked up at Discord.

"What do I do?"