Aetheric Headaches

by Flutterpriest

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Starlight Glimmer
Length: 1413

When a unicorn possesses more natural power than a non-alicorn can hold, consequences take shape. Starlight is one such mare that is victim to the hold of possessing too much magical power for her form to hold. This is her internal struggle.

When a unicorn possesses more natural power than a non-alicorn can hold, consequences take shape. Starlight is one such mare that is victim to the hold of possessing too much magical power for her form to hold. This is her internal struggle.

Published 2017-08-09 19:00:11 UTC
Last updated 2017-08-09 19:00:11 UTC

A Typical Friday Night

When a unicorn has too much magic built up inside them or produces magical energy too quickly, they can be prone to, for the lack of a better term, headaches. Don't be fooled. These aren't normal headaches. I never quite know when one of my headaches is going to hit me. They usually come on gradually, in the background of other mundane things. I'll rub my forehead because I'm focused on a new spell I'm trying to write. Or maybe my eyes will hurt, but I'll attribute it to the strain of my eyes from reading too much that day. Or even I'll blame the nausea on some leftovers that I left in the fridge for too long.

However, the story is usually the same every time. And once they begin to hit, it's too late to stop them.

Yesterday was my most recent one. I was getting ready to start a lesson with Twilight and I realized what was about to happen. We were in her study, wrapping up the last few parts of the aetheric diagram on a chalkboard-- The diagram unicorns use to illustrate in what way and how much magical energy is released from their bodies out to form the spell the want to perform. It's real complicated stuff, -- When she looked at me funny.

"Hey Starlight? Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah," I replied reflexively. "Why wouldn't I?"

I heard myself say the words out loud, and I immediately knew what was going on. They're words I've said a million times before in this same situation. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and realized how much easier on my eyes it was to have my eyelids closed.

"Well," Twilight said, rubbing her mane with a hoof. "I just notice you're rubbing your eyes alot, and you keep losing your train of thought. I've never really seen you so off your game before."

I nodded my head, before considering my options. I promised Twilight I would help with the spell. She cleared her whole day to do this properly. And now that we only have four or five more hours of sunlight at best, we can't afford to lose this time before she goes back to "Princess Scheduling." You know. Where every hour of your day is filled with something at all times? Or is that a term that only gets used around princesses? Not the point. The point is that time was a really valuable resource.

"Yeah, It's just a headache," I said nonchelantly. "I'm sure it'll pass."

"Wait, do you get Aetheric Headaches?" Twilight asked.

I sighed to myself, knowing I couldn't blatantly lie to one of my best friends. The jig was up before it even got started.

"Yeah, how did you know?" I replied.

"I read about them once. They're usually only in the most powerful of unicorns! And the symptoms just get worse and worse the more natural power that the unicorn has. But usually ponies have had them their entire lives."

"Yep. That's right."

"Starlight, if we can't finish this tonight, that's totally okay," Twilight said with a reassuring smile. She walked up to me and put a hoof on my back. I could feel every square inch ofher hoof exactly where it lied on my skin. The hypersensitivity already began to set in. I knew then I was going to have a very, very bad night.

"I... can't thank you enough, Twilight," I said softly, though the words rang in my ears. "I really need to go lie down."

"You do that."

I would have sprinted to my room, but I had to take extra care with every single step I took. My balance was already breaking down and I could feel the room begin to feel fuzzy at the edges. My brain felt as if it were being cooked from inside my skull. I took a deep breath and took the stairs one at a time to my room, then shut the door. I locked it tightly, and with my last ounce of focus, cast a silence spell around my room.

Once the spell completed, I nearly collapsed from the effort as the last few wisps of magic escaped my horn. I placed a hoof on my forehead and slowly walked to my bed. I tried my best to keep the pressure up as I hobbled across the room. It felt as if everything around me were heating up. Sweat was beginning to drip from my hooves. I took another deep breath, and finally laid down.

If the nurse gave me a pain chart, I would still only rate myself about a five out of ten. If it stayed here, I knew things would probably be okay. I'd down some pills, call it an early night, and be right as rain in the morning.

Except, That only works if I caught the headache in it's early stages. This reached puberty, and just like a real teenager, it was out to make my life hell.

I took a deep breath and covered my eyes with a pillow. Then it started. In the faction of a second, it felt like a sewing needle had just been punctured deep within my brain. My whole body twitched, but as quickly as the pain started, it stops. I draw in breath hard and let it out slowly. I taste copper on my tongue. I feel the sheets of my bed grow damp from sweat. Then the stabbing comes again, deeper, harder, and more intense then before. A yelp escapes my lips. Moisture seeps into the pillow covering my eyes as I whimper, grabbing my covers for support.

I begin to count from one upward, whispering each word. A creak across the room makes my ears fold flat in pain. I pull the pillow off of my eyes to use the cool side of the pillow and I notice my vision has gone blurry. My body shivers as another pang of stabbing comes on, but this time doesn't go away. I cover my face with the pillow, screaming in pain. Now, I begin to sob.

'Starlight, focus,' I try to think to myself. 'I know what's coming next. I need my bucket.

My stomach churns. Usually I feel better after my body goes into overdrive trying expel every little excess -anything- from my body. Something about natural uppers. I couldn't think about it or the stabbing would come back. I lifted the pillow and looked accross the room. There it was. Without another thought, I lit my horn.

It was the worst thing I could have done.

It was as if every synapse in my skull were on fire. I curled into a ball, feeling as if some small squirrel were trying to burrow out the prison of my skull. I screamed out, whimpering as I rolled off of my bed. I didn't even feel the impact of the floor.

Once the pain let up, I had only one goal in mind, getting to that pail. I crawled on the ground, like a foal, toward the blurry blue bucket on the other side of the room. An involuntary burp moved up my throat as tears dripped onto the floor. In just a few short minutes, I had gone from completely functional to a non-functional being of misery. As I crawled, I remember thinking how much I just wanted it to be over. For the suffering to end, at any cost. Finally I grabbed the bucket, just in time for my body to force out of it any possible toxin that could be infecting it. My body shook as the bile escaped my body and a trace of dark blue smoke shot out of my horn. It felt like the warmth was being shoved out of me. That my life itself was being pushed from my form to only leave a soulless husk of a being.

The tears flowed freely as I began to dry heave. Why? Why does this happen to me? Why can't I stop them?

I collapsed on the ground beside the bucket, feeling empty, broken. I closed my eyes, and that was it. I was out like a light. Completely comatose to the world for eight straight hours.

Anyway, that was my night. How did you sleep?

Author's Note

Prompt: Describe a Migrane Headache in the form of a story while having one.