Cure for Pain

Part 5: She Said, She Said

“Wow.” Octavia said the next evening. “Just… WOW!”

Aceymac and I had arranged the evening prior for him to jam with the Alicorns today. He came over and tore the place apart. His distorted, bluesy guitar complimented Octavia’s dynamic bass style and my powerful drumming.

“Thanks.” He said, tipping his hat back. “I try.” Octavia set her bass down and went over to the drum set to talk with me. “He’s AMAZING… does he want to be in this band?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. Hey Acey!” I yelled. “Are you sure you want to be in this band?”

He laughed. “Yeah. We all just sound good together, we click better than any other band I’ve been in. I want to be a member!”

“Well…” I said before Octavia interrupted me. “You are!” She yelled, giddy with anticipation. “We’ve got to get together before the end of the week to show you the songs, and to write some new ones, and to-“

I calmly kissed her to silence her. “It’s alright.” I said. “We’ll arrange for something.” Acey started packing up his gear. “Sounds good, guys. I’ll text you guys the next time I have an extended period of time to dedicate to practice.”

With that, he picked his amp up and started to walk home, leaving me and Octavia alone. “Well.” I said. “That went we-“

She cut me off with a long, passionate kiss. It was surprising, but it wasn’t unwelcome. We went to the living room, turning the radio on and continuing the kiss.

She turned away, a red streak covering the top of her cheeks. “Walker…” she started. “Have we… done it… yet?”

I tried not to look surprised, but the concept of sex was generally a very red area that I never talked about with anyone. And having sex with an animated horse when I had been a human for almost twenty-five years was not necessarily an event I was jumping to experience.

“Yeah.” I said, my cheeks turning red as well. “Remember after the Gala?”

She sighed. “Yes, but neither of us remember that!” She argued. “And besides, we’ve been together for over a month! I would have figured we’d have some something along those lines that we would remember by this point in our relationship.

I mean…” She inched herself closer to me. “I want to remember it.”

I shivered at the connotation of her words.  I tried to remember everything I learned from the shipfics I read… on occasion… but nothing I couldn’t think of any way to hold her at bay.

“But…”  I stammered, trying to think of an excuse. “What about pregnancy?” It was a half-assed excuse, but it was the only one I had. “I mean, I’m not a master on the anatomy of ponies, but I do know that much.”

She pointed to my horn. “Isn’t there a spell you can use? An anti-fertilization spell?” I sighed. She had me there. I guess all of those wasted hours in the library after magic sessions with Twilight gave me the knowledge on how to perform that spell.

“But…” I stuttered again, trying to form a coherent sentence. I was cut off by a pair of wide, light purple eyes. Wide… purple… enticing eyes. I sunk into them like each was an ocean, and they attracted me like oppositely charged magnets into the bedroom with Octavia.

“Here comes the sun, du du du du…”

My eyes creaked open to the sound of George Harrison’s trippy voice, and the bubbly sound of “Here Comes the Sun” entertained me as I took in my surroundings that morning.

I looked to my right to see my beautiful marefriend next to me, her hooves draped around me. The night prior’s incidents rushed into my head, and an goofy, trippy smile enveloped my face. I looked at Octavia’s bedside clock, which read 12:00 PM.

“Shit.” I whispered. As I was getting out of bed, Octavia’s hooves forced me back next to her. “It’s Saturday.” She said, her voice affected by sleep. “We don’t have to worry about work.” I heaved a sigh of relief, and retreated back under the covers. Octavia and I sat under the soft covers, enjoying the other’s warm embrace for an hour or two, until we both agreed to get up.

“You want something to eat?” Octavia asked. “I woke up at ten and made some breakfast.” I smiled. “Sure, but you make me feel bad.”

“Oh?” Octavia turned around to face me. “How’s that?” I gave a chuckle. “You get up early on a Saturday to make something to eat for the both of us, and I just sleep through it all. I’m such a lazy-ass.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She said, walking up to me and giving me a quick peck on the cheek. “But you’re my lazy-ass.”

We went in the kitchen, where Octavia prepared some eggs and fruit. “Huh.” I said. Octavia looked back at me. “What?”

I reclined in the chair, leaning the chair on its hind legs. “I forgot that Equestria is vegan.” I said. “Back on earth, breakfast would be something like eggs, bacon and sausage, but here, those last two aren’t an option.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She said, giving me a playfully sarcastic tone. “Maybe I should go out there and butcher some animal so you can eat it.”

I shivered at the thought. “Nah, I like fruit better anyway.”

“Oh!” She exclaimed. “Something came in the mail today that I thought would make you happy.” She slid a piece of paper over to me, and I picked it up and read it attentively.

Battle of the Bands: Best Unknown Talent in all of Ponyville!

Do you have what it takes to rock the hardest? To be loved the most by the crowd?

Sign up at The Joint!

“A Battle of the bands?” I asked. “Why would we join this?” Octavia laughed. “Look at the reward!”

I looked down where her hoof was pointing. “A record deal? Who is Vinyl Scra-“ A wave of realization washed over me. “Wait… that blue haired unicorn that does all that Deejaying? She’s going to record an album?”

“Yup!” Octavia said, a smile spreading over her face. “We have to win this thing! IF we do, it could be the beginning of our large-scale career!

“Oh, and Acey called earlier this morning.” she said, changing topics. “He said he could spend all of today learning our music. Does that sound good?”

I drank my milk. “Yeah, it does. But how did I sleep through your phone ringing?”

“Because you’re her lazy-ass.” A voice rang from Octavia’s couch. “HOLY SHIT!” Octavia and I yelled in unison as we looked over to her couch to see a familiar guitar playing pony. “When did you get here?” I asked.

“Neither here nor there.” Acey said, taking his guitar out and tuning it. “What is relevant, though, is that we get to business. I've got songs to learn and shit to PLAY!"

“Dude…” I said, walking home from band practice with Acey that night, taking a detour through Sweet Apple Acres. “You are a fast learner.  I thought it would take at least two days for you to learn all of our stuff, but it only took you a few hours!”

“Well…” he said, taking his hat from his head and putting it in his guitar case. “I guess it’s a result of having a smart family. Especially my aunt and uncle.”

“Oh really?” I asked curiously. “Who?”

Acey’s face became somewhat grim and melancholy at my question. “Well… you wouldn’t know them, but Applejack’s parents were really smart. They actually left the farm to pursue more academic endeavors when I was just a young colt.”

My eyes lit up. “AJ’s parents? They were the scholarly type?” Acey sighed, almost as if he was holding something back. “Yeah. They went abroad to study somewhere other than Equestria.”

“Really?” I asked. I never considered Applejack to be the product of two intelligent ponies, but I held my tongue about it. “Where did they go?”

His face became strained, as if what he was holding back was becoming harder to hold back. “They were going to this really educated place called Haysia, but they never made it.”

Tears started rolling down his face, but he maintained his composure. “Nasty accident with their boat resulted in them drowning. When they surveyed the shipwreck, my aunt and uncle were the first ponies they found.” He fell to the ground, crying without the fear of being seen, surrounded by the apple trees of Ponyville in the dead of night.

“Man…” I said, consoling my friend. “I’m so sorry. How did Applejack react?” He looked up, regaining his composure and wiping tears from his eyes. “She didn’t.”

My look of confusion must have required an explanation, because he continued. “The thing is… I was eleven when this happened. Applejack was only two; she never got to know her parents that well. Hell, the only reason they left Applejack back at home with Granny Smith was because the rest of the family persuaded her to.

“So… we keep what happened a secret with Applejack.” he said. “We say that they’re still in Haysia today.”

I kept walking with him. “Don’t you think that gives Applejack’s parents a bit of a bad reputation? I mean, leaving Applejack as an infant and never seeing her again is never the sign of a good parent, is it?”

Acey wasn’t crying anymore, but I could tell that it was simply because his lack of tears to cry wouldn’t allow it. “She doesn’t see it that way. They’re her parents, for Celestia’s sake! She’s not going to recognize fault in someone she can’t remember seeing!”

I shrugged. He was right. They were her parents, and even if she hadn’t seen them before, she would still have that bond that only child and parent could share.

“I’m so sorry, Acey.” I said, trying to console him. “Don’t worry about word of this getting out; I won’t tell a soul.”

HE looked up, a weak smile on his face. “Thanks, man.”

“Dammit, Coleton, pick up!” I said, redialing his number back in my apartment. Finally, on call seven, he picked up.”

“Walker, I don’t know what’s so damn important, but it must be for you to call me seven times.” Coleton said in an angry voice.

“Umm…” I said. I didn’t know how to respond to what he said, so I went with the default. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” he said, voice rising. “It’s eleven o’clock at night on the last night Dash and I are on this beach for our honeymoon, what do you think is up?”

“oh… OH!” I said, finally putting two and two together. “So I interrupted you two…” I didn’t want to say the last part, but he interrupted me before I could.

“Yes, Walker.” Coleton said. “You did. What is it?”

I sighed. “Speaking of sexual relations, last night, Octavia and I… did it.” I could hear a sigh over the other end of the phone. “Dude, you did it a month and a half ago, what’s so damn special about this?”

“Well, I remembered this time.” I said, realizing as I said it how bad it sounded. “And…” Coleton said, waiting for me to say what was important.

“And I enjoyed it.” I finally managed to squeak out. “Well, it’s sex, dude.” Coleton responded. “I’d be concerned if you didn’t.”

“No, you don’t get it.” I said. “I REALLY enjoyed it. Like more than I’ve ever enjoyed sex with a human.”

“Okay…” Coleton said, still apparently waiting for the important part of what I was saying. “What’s so weird about that?”

“Well, we’re humans at heart.” I started. “So technically, shouldn’t we be sexually attracted to humans still?”

“Dude…” Coleton said, his voice turning a bit more sincere and considerate. “We’re not humans anymore. We’re ponies. We’re animated, Technicolor ponies. So by that logic, where should our attraction lie?”

“Other ponies.” I said, realizing as I said it what he meant. “I get it now! We changed more than just physically when Zecora put that spell on us. She went into our minds and gave us the mentality of other ponies AS WELL AS the appearance of them.”

Coleton did a slow, demeaning clap over the phone. “Look who finally got it. Anything else you want to talk about? I don’t want you to call again.”

“Actually…” I started, thinking about Acey and the situation with Applejack’s parents. I realized before I said anything, however, that I made a promise to Acey that I wouldn’t tell a soul. And I don’t break promises. “…no.”

“Okay, Walker.” Coleton said. “Goodbye.”

With that, Coleton hung up, leaving me with the multitude of thoughts bouncing around my head and keeping me from relaxing.