Cure for Pain

Hey everypony in Ponyville! It’s your resident music nerd, Walker, and I will be accompanying you on your work during Winter Wrap-Up! It’s that time of year again, and we all need some motivation to help us through our hardships. That’s where I come in. See, I was assigned to take control of a radio station and play some good music to entertain you all! So, without further ado, let’s start this Winter Wrap-Up going with a song called “Go With the Flow” By a band called Queens of the Stone Age all the way from my home planet Earth! (Listen to the music mentioned in this part while reading for maximum effect!)

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It was seven in the morning, and all of Ponyville was stirring. I was sitting at the radio tower, diligently planning my song schedule, and Coleton was with the rest of the Pegasi, preparing to start their flight leading the bird back to the north.

“Alright, everypony!” Dash yelled from the middle of a large group of Pegasi. Coleton was towards the middle of the group, listening diligently. “We have a very strict schedule to adhere to, so we cannot and will not waste any time! Got it?” Everyone nodded in response. Dash smiled. “Good. Now let’s rock!”

Everyone flew up after Dash, Coleton towards the front of the pack. He smiled. He had only been a pegasus for three weeks, and everything seemed to work for him. He decided to fly up to Dash. Not really for any reason, just to talk.

He gained speed until he was parallel with her. “What’s up?!” He yelled. The sound of the wind from the high speed was muffling everything, so he had to yell loud to be heard. Dash looked over to see an almond-colored mane fluttering in the wind.

“Not much. I’m just kinda happy you could make it. It’s gonna make things a whole lot cooler to have a friend with me on this thing. It gets kind of tedious.”

Must not say 20% cooler, must not say 20% cooler, Coleton thought as he tried to resist mentioning that meme. “Thanks.” He finally said back. “I’m just glad that the princess saw me as worthy of this after only three weeks being here.”

“Well, you are learning fast. Not faster than me, but still pretty fast.” Rainbow Dash responded with a snicker. Coleton loved how arrogant she was at times. It usually wasn’t an appealing factor, but Rainbow made it funny.

“Who knows, maybe I’ll do the sonic rainboom before long!” Coleton yelled back, bursting into laughter. The conversation went on like this until the nighttime, when the Pegasi found refuge in a cave on the edge of a mountain. It was two to a sleeping bag (the rations for this expedition were a bit lackluster) so Coleton and Dash decided to share a bag towards the mouth of the cave.

“What’s Earth like?” Rainbow asked after she and Coleton settled down for the night. “Well… it’s a lot like Equestria. Right down to the establishments. On Earth, we have a lot of bakeries like the Cake’s, we have a lot of library’s like Twilight’s library, and there are a lot of other cool establishments.”

“How do you guys fly?” Rainbow Dash asked, curious. “We as organisms don’t.” Coleton started “Humans can’t fly using their bodies. We’re like earth ponies. We don’t have any magic or flight abilities, but we use our brains to think of alternatives.”

After seeing Dash’s intrigued face, Coleton felt it necessary to continue. “We have a machine called an airplane that flies us where we need to go. We use our knowledge of physics and technology to make things to take the place of magic and wings. That’s the thing about not being privileged with anatomical aids. We have to think of ways to replace them.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Dash said, yawning after she said it. “But what do they do with airplanes other than travel?”

Coleton knew what she was asking. “There are other ways we use planes. We use them in war with other technology to aid us. We also have flight shows, kind of like the Wonderbolts.”

Dash’s head perked up at the mentioning of the Wonderbolts, just as Coleton knew it would. “Flight shows? Like the Wonderbolts?” Coleton laughed. “Yeah, they’re like daredevils. They do tricks to entertain the crowd, like corkscrews and flips. I know it doesn’t sound impressive, but when those tricks are done with a forty-foot long piece of metal, you may think differently.”

“That’s cool!” Dash said. “I wish I had some knowledge of things in Equestria that aren’t on Earth, but it seems like you know everything about our culture.”

And with that, Coleton and Dash went to sleep. Coleton thought about Dash before he went to sleep. Walker found Octavia. Is there anything wrong with dating a pony now that I’m one too? Things like this are so confusing.

Coleton couldn’t sleep at all with the thoughts rattling in his head, so he went to the mouth of the cave to clear his thoughts. Needless to say, it didn’t help.

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“Hey! Would you like to request a song?” I heard as I received a call late in the night. “Oh hey Coleton. What’s up?” I heard Coleton sigh over the phone. “I figured I could use your help. It’s about me and Dash.” The edges of my mouth crept up into a mischievous grin. “I knew it. You like her, don’t you?”

Coleton “Yeah, actually. I didn’t know in the beginning, but I do. Got any advice?” I shook my head in disbelief at what he was asking. “You’re asking ME for romantic advice?” I was the most inept person I knew when it came to that type of thing, and getting help from me was like asking for rejection. “Yeah, but not like that. Could I have a song spot tomorrow night?” I caught the drift of what he was wanting.

“Yeah, sure. Around what time? And what song?” I could see his smile in my mind. “Around eleven at night, and surprise me with the song.”

With that, Coleton hung up his phone and went back into the sleeping bag with dash, where sleep finally overcame him.