Cure for Pain

Part 26: Airbag

“All I’m saying is that they came out of nowhere, man! They were in the trees, man!” I said at the bar later that night. It was me, Coleton, Octavia, and the mane 6 all crowded in a large, tex-mexy bar on the outskirts of town. Before I could continue, Coleton slapped a hoof over my mouth and interrupted me. “First off, they weren’t in the trees, they were flying in the sky. Second, stop embarrassing yourself, man.”

“Whatever, man!” I said, my alcohol level somehow not affecting my speech pattern. “I ain’t no senator’s son!” I will admit, I may have had a bit too much to drink last night, and I probably should have stopped after cider number… three…. four…. carry the six…. ten, but hindsight is always 20/20.

“So…” Rarity said, significantly less inebriated than both Coleton and myself in a half-assed attempt to change the subject. “What is Twilight teaching you, Walker?” I laughed idiotically. “Magic, silly.” I bopped her on the nose playfully. “Don’t you remember?”

Dear sweet Celestia, I was drunk.

“I think she means a bit more specific than that.” Pinkie chimed in, her bubbly attitude showing itself. Ever since we got back to Ponyville from Earth, Pinkie stayed away from all types of alcohol… for obvious reasons, of course. “Oh!” I said, reaching the point of her words. “I can’t remember. War trauma, man.” Coleton covered his face in embarrassment. “We were there for three days, dude.”

I looked at Coleton and shot him my best mock look of anger, which I’m certain made me look constipated. “Whatever, it’s canon!” Coleton’s face shone red with embarrassment. “I wish it wasn’t, honestly. You’ve had too much to drink.”

“I completely agree!” I said, draping my arm around him. He was a good friend. “Bartender! Let’s get another cider for my friend here, and one for me! Or just two for me, that’d be fine!”

“Oh, man.” I said the next morning at the library, looking at pictures Twilight took at the bar. “Another drunk show. Where have I seen this before?” I laid down on the couch, just wanting to die. “You can’t go to sleep, Walker.” Twilight said, a grin spreading across her face. “We’ve got a magic lesson today.”

I looked at her with my bloodshot eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She simply laughed. “But I’m not! Now stand up!”

I did as she commanded, and she shoved a book into my hooves. It had a spell that I had never seen before; a teleportation spell.

“Wait!” I said, mind racing to form a sentence before she started her trance-like lecture. “I know this.” At these words, Twilight looked at me incredulously. “No, you can’t. This is far too advanced for you to already know. I mean, this is far more advanced than where you are in the curriculum now!”

“And you choose today, the day of a raging hangover, to teach me?” I said, but I realized I was digressing. “Whatever. Just watch.”

I recalled to my mind what I did to teleport, and redid it. It didn’t get me far, but it transported me across the library, and that was all I needed to do.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” I said, picking up my drumsticks and heading out the door. “I have a certain band to practice with and a certain marefriend to meet.” As I departed the library, I heard a familiar dragon yell from inside. “What are you gonna practice with? Your drum set?”

“Yeah, Spike, what did you thi-“ I suddenly remembered the gruesome vision of my broken drum set, far beyond repair by even the most powerful magic.  “…… fuck.”

“You know,” Spike started. “You could use a new drum set.” I looked at him, giving him a look of pure contempt. “Gee, no wonder you’re Twilight’s assistant. I mean, you have such a perceptive mind.” I deadpanned.

“Whatever.” Spike said, returning to the library. “Just ask the Princess, I guess.” And the door slammed shut, leaving me confused on where to go. I could go to Octavia’s house, but I wouldn’t be able to practice without a drum set. I guess I would go just to see Octavia, but that would be awkward not practicing with her.

“I know!” I said, picking up my cell phone. “Hey, Coleton! What’s up?” I asked. A frown washed over my face. “Oh, you’re out with Dash? Sorry to disrupt.” I hung up the phone, leaving me one less option. I got a text from Octavia. “Where are you?”

I responded. “Just left my magic lesson, if you could even call it that. Do you want me to come over and practice with you guys, even without a drum set?”

Octavia sent a response. “We actually cancelled practice last night. You were a bit inebriated, but we figured you would remember.”

I laughed. “Actually, I don’t remember anything from last night. So, can I come over and hang out for a while?”

She responded. “That sounds splendid.”

Indeed.

“So I was thinking…” I said at my marefriend’s house, grabbing a nearby guitar. “That we could write a song with an intro like-“ She interrupted me with a quick kiss. “Don’t worry about that now. Just relax.”

“This is HOW I relax!” I said. “And the bass…” I said, reaching for her bass. “Could go like this.” She took the bass out of my hands and snuggled against me. “Let’s just watch some TV. Sound good?”

It was moments like this that I never wanted to lose. Hanging out with Octavia was like listening to a really good album, like The Big Come Up or OK Computer. There are no “low points” or “high points” or “good songs” or “bad songs”; they all sound superb, and you never find yourself reaching to skip the track. And when I’m forced to leave Octavia’s house at night, it feels like the last song of the album just ended, and the CD player is awkwardly skipping to the first track, ready to be played again.

Only thing is, you can’t replay it right away. You have to wait until the CD player wants to play the CD again, and you never know when that is. It could be tomorrow, or it could be next week. But whatever time it is, you enjoy it, and you’re grateful for it.

“Have you ever noticed…” Coleton said to me later that evening at the Carousel Boutique. I can’t exactly remember why we were there, but it must have been a damn good reason if I was there of my own will. “that time here seems to go by really fast?”

I looked at him. “What do you mean.” Coleton sighed, attempting to voice his thoughts. “It’s like nothing ever happens for extended periods of time. Everything seems to go by quickly, and there seems to be very little correlation between one even in our time here and another.”

“You know, you’re right.” I said, acknowledging the truth in his statement. “But isn’t that kind of like what happened on the show back when we watched it instead of lived it?” He looked up, a look of clarity on his face. “The canon MLP world operates the same as this one! That makes so much sense!”

“Yeah…” I said, not paying attention to what he said. “Why are we here, anyway?”

“I dunno…” Coleton said, boredom in his voice. “Dash dragged me here for some reason, and I invited you to hang out because she said it would take a while.”

“Dash… came here?” I asked, not believing it. Coleton nodded. “I’m as surprised as you are.”

“Why in sweet Celestia would Dash come here of her own free will? I mean… it’s a boutique… of fashion… something Dash has never been particularly interested in.”

“Huh…” Coleton said. “I dunno. Sometimes, girls are crazy.” I laughed in agreement. “True.”

“Darling! What can I do for you?” Rarity said, surprised to see her good friend Rainbow Dash enter the back room of the Boutique. “Not much." Dash said, obviously hesitating from doing something. "Just needed some advice...”