Act 2 Chapter 5
Act II: Collision Course
Chapter 5: Crashing Down
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For the past few days, Corey had fallen into a routine. Every morning after breakfast he and Twilight would retreat to a lone room in the library. Once settled in, Twilight would supervise Corey as he went through his lesson. On occasion, she would give him verbal guidance.
At the moment, Corey was focused on the lesson that he had been working at for the past three days: the quill levitating in front of him, his horn and the quill both cloaked in a green light. Corey watched the quill move slowly left and right; guided by his will and nothing else.
I’ve gotten better over the past few days, Corey thought, I can mostly think about other things now while doing this.
He took a quick glance over to Twilight. Normally, she’d be watching his progress closely with great interest. And while she seemed just as interested in making sure he could learn how to be a unicorn, there was something off. She was looking at him, sure, there was no denying that.
It’s almost like she’s looking a million miles past me, Corey noted her ghostly stare, And I’m not an idiot; I can tell she hasn’t been sleeping as well.
That wasn’t the only thing that was off; there were bags under her eyes, and dark circles that showed under her fur. Her mane, which was usually well kept, had become frizzy against her best attempts to hide it. Corey tried to return his attention to the task at hand, but found himself unable to banish his worry.
She’s getting worse, thought Corey, I know she’s not good at hiding things, and worse at dealing with stress. And, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was tearing her apart…
How much longer are you planning on waiting? An inner voice asked him.
I’ve already asked her what’s wrong, Corey thought, And she won’t tell me a thing. What else can I do?
If she won’t tell you, then press the issue. Make her want to tell you.
You of all people should know me better than that, Corey argued back, starting to feel annoyed now. The quill briefly teetered in response, but it wasn’t anything Corey couldn’t handle right now.
I’m telling you this because I know you better.
The inner voice went silent after that, leaving Corey alone in his thoughts. He took another look to Twilight. Her eyes looked heavy, and she looked like she was trying not to fall asleep. It was easily the worst off she’d been since she started acting so strangely. As he continued to look into her direction, Corey couldn’t help but shake a feeling of déjà vu. Eventually, Corey managed to figure out what it was.
It’s just like on that day…
Corey closed his eyes, cancelling the spell with the quill falling point-first to the table, causing a highly audible tack sound against the silence; enough to catch Twilight’s attention.
She shook her head, looking up at Corey to see him looking back at her.
“O-oh,” she said, trying to figure out what had happened, lost entirely in her own thoughts. Eventually, she saw what had made the noise, looking down to see the quill on the table. Looking back to Corey, she asked, “Did you lose focus again?”
“N-no,” Corey looked away slightly, “I, um, I put it down on my own.”
“Oh,” Twilight smiled, but Corey could see the hints of it being forced; it just wasn’t her smile, “Well, that’s great! You’ve made fast progress on summoning your magic,” She rose from her seat, “Now that you’re getting a hang of it, we can—“
Twilight was cut off by a yawn, which Corey knew was a byproduct of missing one too many hours of sleep.
“S-sorry about that,” Twilight said as she recovered, “Guess I’m still a little sleepy. How about we take a little break, maybe have some coffee?”
Corey didn’t even get a chance to give an answer before Twilight turned on her heel and began to walk, very slowly towards the door. He didn’t even have one. All that was on his mind now was how this situation reminded him of a day not too long ago, one that he couldn’t forget no matter what.
The day when a pony needed a shoulder to lean on, and the day another pony provided it.
“T…” Corey stuttered, forcing himself to keep speaking, “Twilight?”
Twilight stopped, turning around. Time seemed to slow down for Corey as she did, his only thoughts on what he was about to do. Or try to do.
I know this isn’t my strongest suit, Corey thought, But I’ll be damned if I don’t try.
“Yeah?” asked Twilight after turning to face him.
Now or never…
“W-why won’t you tell me what’s been bothering you?” Corey asked, noting the change in Twilight’s expression when he got the question out. It was something he’d already seen before, something he’d seen over the past few days. Twilight had put on her mask, the one that said “everything’s fine”. It was a convincing mask, certainly enough to throw Corey off for a time, but after so long and after her decline as of late, he’d learned to see through it.
“C-Corey, I told you,” Twilight stuttered, “There’s nothing—“
“Before you say it,” Corey cut her off, “I want to say something first.”
I learned to code in Java. I can do Calculus II with enough prep time. I’m learning, slowly but surely, to control my magic, but somehow, this is harder still, was something Corey added mentally.
“I-I still remember the day I learned I’d be stuck here in Equestria for my entire life. It…it almost broke me. The idea of knowing my whole life had just changed permanently in an instant. I…I wasn’t able to hide the f-fact I was scared.”
Corey stopped as he looked up to Twilight. It took every ounce of self-control he had, but he’d managed to take one step forward.
“I…I can’t keep a lid on my troubles. Not like you have been.”
Corey wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that Twilight looked taken aback by this, but there was no turning back now. Twilight, for her part, didn’t know why she was taken aback. Maybe it was the fact he’d finally caught on that something was happening, or maybe it was what he was saying. She couldn’t tell.
“W-what I’m trying to say is,” Corey continued, once again doing the thing where he missed her eyes, but it was…different, somehow. Almost like he was trying to find them and couldn’t, “When I needed it, you provided a shoulder for me to lean on. All I’m asking is that you let me do the same.”
The room fell completely silent after that. Twilight’s jaw had slacked a bit. She stared at Corey for a few moments. Eventually, she bit her bottom lip, and turned her head away.
“Corey, I…” She sighed, “I’m…not sure if you could handle knowing—“
At this point, a hand came down on her shoulder. She looked up, seeing Corey was the one who had placed his palm on it. There was a smile on his face, one that was reassuring.
“Let me worry about that,” Corey said.
Now, things were different. As she stared into Corey’s face; his smile, for the first time since hearing the news, for the first time since those updates starting coming in, Twilight felt herself calm down. Maybe, she could trust him, the unicorn standing before her. If she did tell him, maybe it’d be okay.
Twilight closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, preparing herself for what was to come. That whole thing had been so much information to take in. Eventually, she looked to him again, and began to speak.
“A few days ago—“
“Twilight!”
The sudden shout got both of their attentions. Corey and Twilight looked towards the entrance to the next room to see Rainbow standing there, panting. She had one hand to the frame of the door. In the other, she was holding something.
John’s sweater… Corey thought to himself, his eyes going wide as he realized what the cloth was.
Oh no… Twilight thought to herself as she took a few steps towards Rainbow.
“What happened?” Twilight asked.
It didn’t take long for Rainbow to catch her breath. She gave a very simple answer:
“We’ve got trouble.”
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A few minutes before, Rainbow Dash had taken John back up to that cliff where she’d started teaching him how to fly. Along the way, she had taken it upon herself to put special emphasis on her past achievements. Of course, it was just to keep the two of them entertained.
“And at the last second,” Rainbow said, “Just before they hit the ground, I swooped over and grabbed all of them and flew them back up to the stadium!” It was the story of how she’d won the Best Young Fliers Competition several months ago, by saving several ponies’ lives in one supersonic swoop.
“So yeah, not only did I save all of them and won the competition, but I can also use the Sonic Rainboom whenever I want.”
Of course, John knew the story very well already, but he listened nonetheless. However, once Rainbow finished, all John could think of was one single question, one that made its way to his tongue.
“What’s it feel like?” he asked.
“What’s what feel like?” Rainbow asked, turning slightly too him.
“Going that fast,” John clarified, “What does it feel like?”
Rainbow looked up past the tree line and to the sky, a smile spreading across her lips.
“Calling it awesome wouldn’t do it justice,” Rainbow began, “When I’m going that fast, the wind flowing through my mane and the world around me becoming a blur, I can feel a rush. And I don’t mean like a shot of adrenaline. No, this feels a whole lot better than that. When I’m at those speeds, I feel…alive.”
John was speechless. Up until now, all he’d heard from her was light-hearted, laid-back monologues about how amazing she was, among other things. Well, except for one occasion that John remembered very well. This was the second time John had ever seen Rainbow acting so…deep.
Flying means a lot more to her than I thought, John thought.
“While we’re on the subject,” said Rainbow, “You’ve gotten faster over the last few days, which is good. It means we can move on to the next step up in your flying lessons. This is gonna be your last jump?”
The two had finally reached the cliff’s edge.
“So, this is like a test then?” John asked, unzipping his sweater.
“Exactly,” Rainbow responded, “But this time you’re gonna be timed.”
“How long do I got?” John questioned.
“Ten seconds,” John expected the word “flat” to follow, but even though it didn’t, he still let out a small chuckle.
Still saw it coming, John thought. He walked over to the edge and passed Rainbow his sweater. Putting on his best confident smirk, John turned to Rainbow and uttered two words.
“Don’t blink,” he said, just before leaping over the cliff edge. Rainbow watched him fall with an arched brow and a small smirk on her face.
As John fell, he could only smile. The fear of falling from that high up had completely vanished a while ago. The time he walked away from that nasty, should-have-been-fatal fall contributed quite a bit to that feeling.
Ten seconds, starting now! John thought, opening his wings and catching the updraft. He slowed down, but not by much. He continued to go down at a fast speed, but a speed well under his control. As he fell, he looked around him, he started to wonder one single thing.
How much am I gonna be able to see higher up? If I could fly higher… John continued to look around, Right now, though, I’ll just settle for this.
Suddenly, something caught John’s eye—from the corner of his vision. He couldn’t make out what exactly it was, but it was enough of a glimpse for him to pause mentally.
“Huh?” John grunted, looking over to his right where he’d caught that glimpse. Not too far over in an opening in the trees, John saw something moving. Several somethings, to be correct. It was hard to tell from the distance, but he could tell they were walking on two legs. “What the…”
Rainbow watched as John changed the angle of his wings, causing him to very quickly slow to a complete halt. John remained suspended in the air.
What’s going on? Rainbow asked herself, looking over to where he was looking, unable to see anything from her angle, What’s he looking at?
Curious, Rainbow jumped over the edge and flew down to him.
“What’s up?” Rainbow asked.
“Over there,” John said, pointing over to where he had been looking at. Rainbow followed his claw until she found what he was pointing towards. Seeing the bipedal…things, whatever they were, caused her to put up a confused expression.
“Know what they are?” John asked of her.
“Not a clue,” said Rainbow as she shook her head. The two of them watched as the strange creatures moved, but only for a few seconds before John gave a shout.
“They’re heading towards town!” John’s eyes widened from the realization. Rainbow did a double take on the movements of the strange creatures.
“You’re right!” Rainbow said, “If they keep going, they’ll…”
Rainbow halted, her mind rapidly racing back to the meeting she’d had over at the library with her friends and Celestia. She knew they had been warned to keep an eye out for anything strange.
I’d say this is pretty strange... Rainbow said as the realization finally came full circle, I know she said not to handle this stuff alone. But, should I really tell the others about—
Rainbow quickly realized she was short one adult dragon on her left; John had just dropped from the sky, picking up speed. Before he got too low, he opened his wings again and began to glide forward with the momentum. Quickly, Rainbow followed.
Looks like he answered that for me, Rainbow thought.
In no time, Rainbow and John were both over the creatures. Even now, at this distance, Rainbow couldn’t make head or tail of these things. They looked like plain sculptures. As they were currently above them, the creatures, whatever they were, did not pause for an instant. They kept right on course.
Clearly, John wasn’t alright with that. John’s wings shut, allowing him to drop to the ground quickly. In a matter of seconds, John made contact with the ground, which cracked and even cratered in the ground, sending up rocks and dust. The creatures paused, turning to John.
Rainbow landed next to John not too long afterward. And now that she was face-to-face with the creatures, she realized she had absolutely no idea what she was looking at. John didn’t seem to be able to figure out what they were either.
Each of the creatures looked virtually identical. They were all the shape of the ponies from this Equestria; or at least, the same size. They were naked, featureless creatures, not unlike the manikins that littered the Carousel Boutique. But the strangest, most chilling part of these creatures was the hollow eyes, filled with a red light, in addition to the strange red markings that went down the creatures’ limbs, which glowed far less aggressively. All of them stared quietly back at the two.
“Five…six…seven,” John observed, counting the number of creatures, “So, where are you folks heading?”
The manikins didn’t answer, not that they could. They all stood there, their stances strangely…cautious. But despite the fact the manikins hadn’t so much as moved, there was still an air of uneasiness. And Rainbow couldn’t help but feel something was amiss with the way they were—
“Rainbow, you need to get out of here,” John spoke up.
Rainbow looked to him, ready to demand why she should, but at that moment, the creatures all began to glow brighter. Their bodies jerked. The next moment, one charged straight at the two. Or at least, that’s what it looked like at first. But the moment Rainbow caught sight of the creature’s soulless eyes, something clicked in her head.
It’s coming straight for me! Rainbow realized, but before she could form an appropriate response, someone else had already reacted; John had put himself between them, his wings outstretched by some instinct. The moment the creature had gotten close enough, he lunged forward, ramming his shoulder into the creature’s torso.
The hit succeeded in throwing the creature back towards its twins. It lay unmoving for a few seconds. At first, both Rainbow and John had thought that was it for that one. But, all at once, the manikin stood up again, a visible crack on its chest.
“Goddess, what are they made of?” asked Rainbow. John didn’t answer, his mind too preoccupied with something else.
It completely ignored me and went after her, John thought, What’s going on here? I guess I’ll find out later. Rainbow Dash is the Element of Loyalty, and she’s clearly a target. There’s no way it’s a coincidence!
“Rainbow,” John said, taking a step forward, “Go get help.”
Rainbow looked at him, feeling somewhere between insulted and concerned. Insulted that he told her to go get help, and concerned that he was even offering to go it alone.
“No way!” Rainbow shouted, “If they want a fight I say we give it to them!”
John paused. He expected this kind of answer, knowing full well her ego wouldn’t allow her to run away from this. But, he wasn’t about to let that stop him.
“Rainbow, I know you’re tough, and I know you’re fast,” said John, “And I also know that you’re smart. One of them took a hit from me and got up with only a crack. And there are six more in this group,” he turned his head to look back at her and asked a single question, “What do you think are our chances?”
Rainbow wanted to answer, completely assured they could still win. But she still knew John was right. John was stronger than she was and it looked as though even he might have trouble fighting them off.
“But how long do you expect to last if I leave you alone with them?” she asked of him.
“C’mon, you’re the fastest pony in Equestria,” John chuckled, “I’m sure you’ll be back before I have time to break a sweat.”
John took a few more steps forward. Rainbow found herself rising into the air, still debating on what she should do.
“You sure you can handle them ‘til then?” she asked.
“Trust me, I’ve been in plenty of fights before,” John assured her, giving her a thumbs up. Rainbow looked to John again. He looked sure that he could do this. And, he was a dragon after all; one that had previous battle experience.
Of course, John thought, all those fights required a controller, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“I’ll be back soon,” she said, “Just don’t get hurt!”
Rainbow took off in a rainbow blur towards Ponyville, leaving John to the group of seven. Their gazes followed Rainbow until she was out of sight. Their bodies glowed once again, and their heads turned towards the dragon.
“Looks like you get it,” John said, “If you want to get to her, you’ll have to go through me!”
----------------
There was a heavy silence in the library as Rainbow finished recounting her tale on the trouble. Corey and Twilight had both given her their full attention. Twilight glanced over to Corey. She hadn’t intended on letting him know every last detail she knew about the situation with Tartarus, but as she heard that John had seen the end result of something she hadn’t heard of, something in her mind clicked.
Corey and John are going to wind up getting dragged into this, Twilight thought to herself, In spite of how much I worried about not letting them know. They don’t deserve to—wait a second.
At that moment, something that hadn’t quite occurred to Twilight clicked in her head. John had been left to himself against strange manikins, ones that were quite durable. Even if he had asked to be left to himself…
“And you just left him there?!” Twilight shouted.
“He said he could handle himself,” Rainbow said, “Said he’d been in plenty of fights before…”
In Mortal Kombat, maybe, Corey thought to himself, finding himself at odds with not only John’s supplied fighting history, but the fact that there were strange manikins running around, Still, those creatures’ attacking…is that the reason Twilight was worrying?
Corey closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose. Nothing about what was going on was appealing. There were very tough manikins out there. John was engaging them, and soon so would Twilight and her friends. While he was sure they could handle themselves, a single thought ran through Corey’s mind.
Why don’t I feel right just sitting here?
“We have to go get the others,” Twilight finally said, “C’mon, we’ve gotta get going!”
“Way ahead of you,” said Rainbow, already making her way toward the door, Twilight moving that way as well.
The word worked its way out of his mouth before he was even aware he was saying it.
“Wait!”
Twilight halted in the doorway, Rainbow a bit further ahead of her. She turned back to Corey, not quite understanding why he was suddenly standing up so tall straight away.
“Corey,” Twilight responded, “I’ll explain everything later, I promise, but right now we—“
“I know,” Corey responded, “We’ve got to go help John.”
Twilight looked at Corey, still not quite understanding what it was he was doing. That is, until he started walking towards her.
Wait, he wants to--?!
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, “I don’t think you should come with us. Not to this.”
Corey stopped mid-step, “And why not?”
“I don’t think you’re ready for—for something like this,” Twilight said.
“But John’s out there,” Corey continued, “I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”
“Twilight!” Rainbow shouted from what could have easily been the front door, “We need to get going!”
“I’ll be along in just a second, Rainbow!” Twilight shouted back, before turning back to Corey, “I know he’s your friend, and I know that you don’t know what’s going on and want to, but I can’t ask you to come along. You’ve just barely started learning magic and…and…”
Corey sighed, “And I haven’t ever done something like…like whatever it is you’re about to do, right?”
“Yes,” Twilight said, “So please, just…just sit tight here. We should be able to handle this on our own. I know it’s not something you’re comfortable with right now.”
Corey’s shoulders slumped, and he released a second sigh. It was clear she wouldn’t let him go, and it wasn’t like he could follow them where they were going, either.
“Alright…” Corey said, “I’ll stay here. You know what’s going on better than I do, anyway…”
“I wish I could say that,” Twilight said, turning her back to him, “But—“
“Twilight!” Rainbow called up again.
“I’m coming!” Twilight shouted back, already heading out the door, “Spike, I’m going to need you to watch after the library while I’m out!”
“Why,” Spike called out, from where, Corey didn’t know offhand, “What’s going on?”
“Something just came up! I’ll explain it later!” Twilight said in a rush, “John’s in trouble right now!”
“Wait, what--!”
The next thing Corey heard was the door slamming. He gazed out the nearest window, and could just make out the two retreating forms below as Rainbow and Twilight, going to retrieve their friends. From there, they’d be able to help John out with whatever those creatures were.
“Do you know anything about what’s going on?”
Corey turned to see Spike standing in the doorway, looking just a little annoyed about being left behind without a proper explanation. Corey shrugged, looking back out the window.
“Sadly, I don’t,” Corey said, “Partly because I didn’t even know something was wrong up until now.”
“And why didn’t you go with them?” Spike asked.
Corey sighed, continuing to look out the window.
Because against what John is—a durable, strong adult dragon—and what they are—strong girls in their own right—as I am now, I don’t even hope to compare to them…
At once, Corey realized he was clenching his fists. With yet another deep breath, he relaxed his fists.
“Because right now, I’d be in the way…”
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Nice chapter there. And I just hope everything will be fine for John (even if he's a dragon).
Fists?
5250372
Second "fists" should probably have been "hands". My bad.
5250569
No I mean he has hooves doesn't he?
5250621
Uh, no. This is an anthroverse sort of story (this time around). The ponies have the same overall physical attributes as humans (two arms/hands, two legs/feet) with horns, wings, and technicolor fur. I don't know what else to really say. There is an [Anthro] tag on this though.
5250634
Well, look at the fool I've made of myself. Oh well sorry bout that.
5250655
It's no problem, really.
5250372 Anthro Fic. Its even got tags for that.
Possibly the first time a story protagonist made mature decision. About their fighting capability
These things remind me of FMA's grown army. Is that what they we're inspired from? It's what I'm getting but I can't be sure.