• Published 31st Aug 2014
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Collision Code - SSJRandomMaster



A hidden message leads to two friends getting themselves stuck in Equestria. Meanwhile, a long-forgotten evil begins to make its move...

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Act 2 Chapter 10

Act II: Collision Course
Chapter 10: Why Military Drafts Suck
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“…that’s the situation as it is now…” Twilight finished, her voice fighting to stay audible despite the bad news she’d just revealed. Several pairs of wide eyes looked back at her: each of her friends, new and old, looking to her with varying expressions.

Fluttershy’s body was shaking, much like it had been when they first heard of the breakout from Tartarus. But this time, it was worse. Her breathing had sped up, and her palm was firmly placed on her chest. Pinkie Pie was in no better shape. Though she wasn’t shaking, one could see the total shock on her face, her jaw slacked. It wasn’t the comical shock she usually had; it was far worse. All the life in her hair seemed to have drained away at the news, a portion of it covering the right side of her face now.

On the other side of the room, her hand gripping the table tightly lest she fall down, was Rarity. One hand was over her mouth, her eyes not seeing anyone around her, but lost in the mists of memory.

“Rarity, I-I saw a rat!” The fearful voice of her kid sister echoed through her mind. A cold chill ran down Rarity’s spine; she realized that the rat Sweetie Belle had seen, and Rarity had never found, was no rat.

The feeling in the air around them was different than all the other times it had settled in. Ever since the girls in the room officially took up the title of “Elements of Harmony”, they had faced many dangers head-on. But when it came to it, most of the dangers were pointed straight at them and no one else. But now they weren’t the only ones. Their families, friends…everypony they cared for, were being dragged into this affair without even knowing of it.

Applejack, Rainbow, and John all sported mostly identical looks of disgust.

There was a long moment of silence, before someone spoke up.

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” Rainbow yelled, “So we’re bein’ forced to play by…whoever’s rules!? Or else, they’ll…they’ll…”

“It would seem so,” The mere thought that someone could see such a life-or-death situation as a simple game was enough to turn Twilight’s stomach inside out, but she held herself together, just a little, “All of us who were around to fight the creatures are being forced to act as…as pieces.”

All eyes went towards John for just a moment, but he felt that they had lingered on him for several minutes. He could see it—they were worried about him. But John wasn’t too worried about himself at this point.

“Even Corey?!” John asked, slightly more forcefully than he thought it would come out, Fluttershy jumping at the slight guttural growl that had worked its way into his accent. Twilight gave a rough sigh.

“Yeah, even him,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “The figure had told Princess Celestia that the ‘pieces’ were decided the instant that battle ended.”

“No…” John said, “I’m probably not one to talk, but if anyone I knew from back home wasn’t a fighter, it’s him! He barely seemed to move. He spent more time sitting still than…pretty much anyone here!”

Rainbow looked as if she wanted to say something to that, but clearly felt that it really wasn’t the time.

“Speaking of Corey,” Rainbow said, looking around, “Doesn’t he usually just stay here most of the time? Where is he now?”

The others finally seemed to notice, for the first time, that Corey was not in the room.

“He already knows,” said Twilight with a sigh, “And right now…right now, I’d say he’s in good hands…”
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It was early afternoon now, the sun having passed the zenith in the sky and was slowly making its way down the western skies. In about four or five more hours, the sun would have completed its trek across the sky. Since Shining had announced the reason he was here, he had already taken his first steps in training Corey. The two were now slightly removed from Ponyville, a small clearing not too far from the Everfree Forest, but close enough to the town that it wouldn’t be a real issue.

“Alright, Corey,” Shining said, turning to him just after surveying the area, “What do you know?”

Corey blinked, unsure of what exactly Shining was asking of him. However, he had some idea of what to start talking about, and began to explain.

“Well,” Corey said, debating if he needed to bring up runes at this point in time when they weren’t even really a thing he could control, “I just learned to start really controlling my magic. I am aware that it’s there and I can use it to float things,” Corey reached up to adjust his glasses for a moment, tugging them back on his face.

“And…” Shining started, pausing a bit, looking Corey over, as if debating the best way to say what was on his mind, “Physically?”

“Well…” Corey trailed off, feeling himself grow slightly self-conscious, “Not that much. Back home I never worked out, and even here, until a couple days ago, I really didn’t have a reason to think I’d need to. I was actually wider than this before I came here…”

Shining blinked upon hearing this. He blinked a second time, his gaze shifting from scouting to serious.

“I guess the only way I can know for sure is something quick and simple. Something I’ve had to do every day since joining the academy,” Shining said.

“I think I know where this is going,” Corey said, trying not to groan as he took a few steps towards Shining, “So how far are we running?”

Shining cast a look back to Corey that sent shivers down his spine. It wasn’t like he gave Corey a psychopathic glare or anything, but it was still unnerving all the same.

“That’s just part of it,” Shining said, “I’ll be taking you through everything we had to do. I need to know what kind of colt I’m dealing with…”

Corey tried as hard as he could to not clue in Shining that maybe this wasn’t the best way to “condition” him physically. Earlier, when he first saw Shining, he had a feeling he was going to die by his hands. Now…

This is the murder weapon… Corey thought, Not magic, knives, magic knives, or anything of the sort. I’ll die of overexertion…

Or, you’ll pull through and become strong enough to help the people, ponies, whatever; that you care about… His inner voice talked back to him again, Best not keep your spotter waiting.

But this isn’t gym—

“Hey, what are you waiting for?” Shining asked, arms folded, waiting for Corey to step into line beside him, “It’s not like we really have a choice here…”

“Fair point,” Corey conceded aloud, more to his inner voice than to Shining, finally taking his spot at Shining’s side. It was then, Shining turned into the forest ahead, and uttered four simple words.

“Try to keep up,” he commanded, taking off at what was, for him, a pretty steady pace. Corey quickly took off at just short of a full sprint. Shining kept ahead of him. Despite the fact they had taken off running into a forest, Shining managed to keep them on a beaten path; the only hazards that Corey seemed to need to deal with was the occasional root here and there.

At some point, Shining stopped for a moment, looking back at him. Corey was easily more than thirty paces behind, the only thing keeping him going at any sort of speed sheer willpower. His legs felt like two rods of pain connected by nerve-filled jelly, vaguely attached to the rest of his body. He was already breathing hard. As Corey went to catch up, Shining immediately took off running back towards that clearing.

Corey let out a strangled gasp that barely represented speech as he turned around, following Shining again, shambling along, struggling to just stay upright as he shuffled again after the much more fit former captain. How long had they run? It felt like forever. How far had they run out to? Again, Corey wasn’t sure; his legs were telling him one hundred miles, his mind told him ten. But deep down he knew neither of them were right.
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In light of the situation, knowing Shining Armor was in town did bring a small sense of relief into the room.

“But that ain’t enough!” Applejack shouted, “Sure, your brother can protect the town, but we got family all over Equestria! Who’s gonna protect them!?”She demanded, clearly worried for her extended family; a family, Twilight remembered, spanned practically the whole country.

“Princess Celestia said she’d keep them under careful watch until this is over. But ultimately,” Twilight swallowed hard, not liking the way this sounded, “The best way to keep them safe is to play by the rules of the game.”

“And how do we know this psycho will, too?” Rainbow cut in, “Last time we had to play by someone else’s rules, he ended up cheating mid-way in!”

Twilight wasn’t sure how she should respond, knowing full well who Rainbow was talking about. And what she said was true in any case; no one had any way of knowing if the escaped prisoners would keep to the rules as well.

“And what about them?” Rainbow said, motioning over to Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity, “We’re not dealing with foot soldiers this time, Twilight; we’re not focused on just one problem! We’re dealing with murders straight from Tartarus itself! How are they supposed to be able to stand up against something like that?” Her voice was filled with more concern than anger; more concern than her voice usually had when talking about a friend’s weaknesses.

Twilight looked over to where Rainbow was pointing; their expressions hadn’t changed, even after all this time. None of them looked back at her; deep down, they knew Rainbow was right. They didn’t have the strength from years of farming; the stamina of an athlete, or even the magical know-how of somepony who spent years studying it. While they’d managed before, this time, the problem, they feared, was way over their heads.

Twilight let out a sigh before starting to speak again.

“Princess Celestia said that ultimately, she has to choose who goes to confront the prisoners. But her biggest fear is that if we split up, that this other pony will send another against whoever stayed behind,” said Twilight, “Though I’d hate to admit it, we don’t have a choice. We need to stick together now more than ever.”

“Then what do we do now?” asked Applejack, “We can’t just sit around and wait for when they decide to attack again.”

Twilight looked up to see Applejack—and the others—staring back at her. They knew the reason why. If any single pony in the room had a contingency plan for a given situation, it would be here. If anyone in Ponyville had an answer to your question, it’d be her. But this time…

“I don’t know…” Twilight said, after thinking it over. For the first time, her vast stores of knowledge had failed her before the real action had begun. At this, the entire room fell completely silent and still. The idea of having to just wait in fear for what was to come was too much for them.

“I do,” All heads turned to John. His back was now to them, his legs carrying him towards the door. Wordlessly passing through it, he closed it behind him. Once outside, he continued forward; in a time like this, what else could he do?

“Hey!” In an instant somepony dropped down in front of John. It was Rainbow Dash herself, “Where are you going!?”

“You heard Twilight,” said John, “Another attack could happen at any moment. And right now, none of us are ready for it. Right now, Corey’s being trained so he can be prepared for what is to come. I plan to do the same.”

Rainbow looked into John’s face as he spoke, never once breaking eye contact. The look on his face reflected nothing but unshaken determination.

“You don’t gotta do that, you know,” Rainbow said, “This wasn’t supposed to be your fight. Yours, or Corey’s. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You don’t have to fight with us.”

John stared back at Rainbow. Eventually, a small smile appeared on his lips, memories of his own first days coming back to him.

“You didn’t have to give us a chance to explain ourselves,” John responded, “You didn’t have to give us the benefit of the doubt. And in the end, you never had to believe a single word that came out of our mouths.”

One of John’s scaly hands made its way to Rainbow’s shoulder.

“But you did,” he continued, “And not only that, you were quick to accept us both as your friends. You even went so far as to help us adapt to our new lives, our new bodies. And the only reason you needed to do so was because that’s the kind of people—sorry, ponies, that you are. And right now, you’re all in deep, and could use as much help as you can get. And we’re going to be that help, because that’s the kind of people we are.”
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Shining made his way easily back to the clearing, maybe slightly winded from the effort. It had been a while since he’d had to actively go through the conditioning. In total, Shining guessed he’d managed to get the five miles in. Now, Shining looked back, squinting down the path he’d taken off. For a few moments, he blinked, immediately feeling himself grow worried, just a little.

“Did I lose him…?” he asked, his eyes slightly wide. However, as he caught sight of something emerging over the horizon, he sighed, “Nope…”

Corey staggered into view, barely even able to walk. He was covered in a heavy sheen of sweat. His breathing was haggard, fast. His glasses were dangling off his nose, barely even able to stay on his face. As he finally staggered back into the clearing, Shining hesitated. Corey had no idea what was about to happen next.

“How…” Corey wheezed, finally falling to his knees after taking only a single step past Shining, “How…far did…we…?”

“That was five miles,” Shining said.

“Five…miles…” Corey said to himself, “Well…the conditioning thing is over now, right…?”

Shining hesitated for just a moment, but he knew he couldn’t wait too long for Corey to even catch his breath. He looked down to Corey, who was barely able to lift his head up to look back.

“That,” Shining said, “Was just the warm-up…”

“Warm-up!?” Corey weakly squeaked, falling the rest of the way on his stomach. Shining grimaced. He had a feeling Corey wasn’t that strong, but even so, it was somewhat disheartening to see. However, he knew he couldn’t go easy on him.

“Well, since you’re already in the position,” Shining said, crouching down next to him, “Think you can do twenty push-ups?”
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It was hard for the friends to part ways, knowing what was ahead of them. However, in time, the others had, one by one, left the library until it was just Twilight again. Day changed to night, the stars dotting the skies one by one. All day, ever since her friends had left, Twilight sat down with the old book, carefully studying the text as she had intended to before Shining showed up with the bad news.

However, after calling it a day, tired of looking at the tiny text and having amassed quite the pile of notes for Corey to later sift through, Twilight felt herself grow worried. The sun had set about an hour ago. Neither Corey nor John had returned since they left. While John did tend to be out a little late on some days, and Corey was out with someone she trusted very much, she still couldn’t help but worry.

I hope they’re alright, said Twilight, though the worry would not leave her be, They have to be! Shining used to be the captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot! Even if he’s technically retired it hasn’t been that long!

She tried not to think about it, urging herself to keep calm. Now, more than ever, she delved into that breathing technique her former foalsitter once taught her not that long ago. Just then, she heard a rhythmic knocking at her front door. Hoping it was who she thought it was, Twilight quickly stood up, making her way for the door.


“About time you two got home—“ Twilight said, only to find herself staring into a very massive, sweater-covered chest. She looked up, seeing John, and instantly felt just a small pang of disappointment, “Oh, John…”

“What is it?” He sounded more tired than annoyed at her disappointment, “I always make sure to come back here at night…”

“It’s nothing, really,” Twilight said, moving aside to let John enter, “Come on in.”

John walked into the house. He paused, looking around. Eventually, he turned back to face her.

“Waiting for Corey to return?” John asked. Seemed like a simple enough question.

“Yeah, Shining never said when they’d come back,” Twilight responded, still looking at him, “I figure, it’s the least I can do.”

There was a bit of a pause, a much more comfortable silence than the one from the afternoon meeting. Eventually, though, John spoke up yet again.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” John asked. Yet another innocent-sounding question. And who was Twilight to deny her friend a simple answer?

“Well, of course I care,” Twilight said, “He’s—“

Twilight halted. She was still looking over to John. He was smirking at her very slightly. It became very apparent that John wasn’t asking about Shining all of a sudden.

“Oh, you mean—“ Twilight said, finding herself stuttering. Her reaction embarrassed her far more than the realization. Far more than it should have, “Well, I-I mean, of—of course I care about C-Corey! I-I thought you meant…”

“I wouldn’t expect you to not care about your own brother,” John snickered, obviously enjoying Twilight’s reaction. She suppressed the urge to chew him out for it; she already had at least two potential sources of ridicule for that kind of stuff, and one of them wasn’t even her friend until a little bit ago.

“Well, I care about both of them,” Twilight sighed, a feeling of frustration replacing the heat on her face, “John, is this really the time to be poking jokes?”

John’s expression became slightly serious now. With a shrug, he said, “Always find time to laugh when you can. The chance might not appear later…”

Twilight might have responded to John, but before the words could leave her mouth, there was a knock at the door. Both heads turned towards the door. Twilight quickly moved towards it. This time, she checked the peephole. On the other side, she could see a rather glum-looking Shining, and a slouched-over shape that sort of resembled Corey.

“Oh, there they are now!” Twilight’s elation quickly turned to concern, seeing Shining’s expression, “But Shining looks…”

John moved behind her, but Twilight didn’t turn straight away, “Did something happen?”

Twilight hesitated for a couple of moments, but eventually opened the door to let the two outside in. Only now, with the door removed, could she see what was really going on.

Shining stood straight and tall, as he usually did when he was healthy. But, on his left, one arm being held over the glum-looking Shining’s shoulders, was an extremely exhausted-looking Corey. His eyes were half-closed, his other arm hung completely slack in front of him, same with his upper body, and his mane and tail both looked very, very disheveled compared to when he’d left. When—supported by Shining—Corey stepped into the house, he let out a small groan, and he clearly was having trouble even moving his legs.

“Corey…!?” John said, taking in the sight of his friend’s condition. Corey’s head bobbed as he tried to look up. Here, Twilight realized Corey was, yet again, not wearing his glasses.

“Oh…” The noise was a very gravelly-sounding groan, “H-hey, John…”

Shining looked concerned, almost…regretful?

“Geez,” John sounded completely taken aback, “You look like hell…”

“Feel—“ Corey paused for a moment, wincing, “Feel it too…”

“Think you can make it back to your room?” Shining asked. Corey offered him just a small look; it seemed like he could barely turn his head to look at him.

“We’ll see,” said Corey. Slowly, Shining lowered Corey’s other arm until it hung slack over at his side. Then, Corey took a single step forward, and Twilight honestly felt her heart sink just a little.

Each step Corey took wasn’t even a step. He was dragging both of his legs, swaying dangerously from side-to-side. His arms jittered with each “step” he took forward. Corey looked down, seemingly bewildered to see the condition he was in. But it was pretty obvious what had happened out there. Despite the fact he looked as though he were ready to fall over, he seemed to be making his way just fine, so eventually, Twilight turned back to Shining, who was now looking at John.

“So you must be the dragon I’ve heard of,” Shining said.

“That’s me,” said John, walking over to him, “I’m John. And I take it you’re Twilight’s brother?”

“That’s me,” Shining said, putting out a hand, “Name’s Shining Armor. Twily there tell you anything about me?”

“Don’t think she had the time…” John said, taking Shining’s hand and shaking it. After that, their hands returned to their sides. Shining’s other hand went into his jacket pocket, and withdrew something: Corey’s glasses, neatly folded.

“He kept losing them at some point,” Shining said, “He just decided it’d be easier to give them to me until the day was over. Pretty sure he’s gonna want these back tomorrow morning…”

“On the subject,” Twilight said, “What exactly did you do out there?”

“Same stuff I did back at the academy,” Shining said, “Five miles, twenty pushups, the standard physical conditioning stuff,” The glum look, which had vanished after he had started talking to John, had returned.

“Didn’t go too well?” John’s voice was low, whispering his question. On cue, there was a highly audible thud in the next room, followed by a very sharp-sounding grunt. All heads turned.

“Corey, are you alright!?” Twilight asked, being the first to say it.

“Fine,” Corey groaned, sounding anything but, being out of sight. Specifically when, a couple of seconds later, more grunting could be heard from the next room, followed by another thud. John turned his head.

“Do you need help in there?” John asked, looking over to the next room. There was a bit more struggling from the next room, followed by one last thud. After a few more seconds, Corey’s voice was heard again.

“Y-yeah…I don’t think I’m gonna be picking myself up…” Corey croaked from the next room, clearly still attempting to get to his feet anyway.

“Don’t strain yourself,” John advised, “I’ll help you the rest of the way.”

Briefly, John turned to Shining, collecting Corey’s glasses before walking out of the room, leaving Twilight and Shining alone. Shining’s almost guilty look hadn’t lifted ever since the subject of Corey’s “conditioning” had come up. Twilight looked over to the other room, already dreading the worst. However, she had to know.

“Tell me,” Twilight said, “How’d he do…”

Shining released a heavy sigh, massaging one temple. Eventually, he spoke up.

“If this wasn’t something he had to do,” Shining said, in a completely serious, concerned tone, “He would not have made it past basic training. He was already completely out of breath by the time we finished the warm-up.”

Twilight’s heart sank. What could she say to him to try to argue the case?

“I don’t know much about what John can do,” Shining continued, noticing Twilight’s silence, “I’m not sure if he’ll need any work or not. But Corey...actually, this seems like the best time to ask; I couldn’t really get much out of him. What have you taught him?”

“He doesn’t know much beyond what most unicorns would know,” Twilight commented, remembering all those days spent around that desk, “Projecting the cutie mark, levitation…” Twilight paused for a moment. She felt unsure if she should tell him.

“Anything else he can do?” Shining asked, having noticed her pause. Twilight bit her lip a little, but ultimately decided it couldn’t hurt.

“Yes, there is one other thing he can do,” Twilight said, “But I’m not sure how he’s doing it. Somehow, he’s able to use runic magic…”

“Runic magic?” Shining questioned, “That stuff hasn’t been used in eons; you know that…”

“I know,” Twilight said, “But that’s why it confuses me. He has runes, but he doesn’t even know how he’s using them. Both times he wasn’t even aware he was doing it until after the fact.”

There was an uneasy silence for what felt like forever. Neither of them were sure exactly what to make of the situation.

“Man, oh man,” Shining sighed, sounding worried, “I knew I was handling somepony that was unskilled, but someone like this requires me to take it slow. And I can’t take it slow, not the way things are…”

Twilight looked to her brother. This was the first time she’d seen Shining at a complete loss for what to do. Well, when he was of sound mind and body, anyway.

He was the captain of the Royal Guards…A post he dreamed of holding as far back as I can remember, Twilight thought somberly, And yet, he doesn’t know how he can help Corey out.

“Honestly?” Shining finally finished, going over what he was worried about, “I don’t know if he’ll be ready when the next attack happens…”

Twilight’s brows furrowed, and she cast another look back to where she knew her room was; the place Corey was probably lying down in. She knew he was likely in horrific pain, judging from the way he was moving around, or the way he couldn’t move. Unconsciously, a single name wormed its way from her vocal cords.

“Corey…” Twilight whispered, unsure of how to help him, or help Shining help him.
---------------
Even Corey’s snoring sounded slightly off, when he’d finally gone to sleep. As the night continued on, one-by-one, the rest of the inhabitants of the library went to sleep. Shining seemed a little concerned that Corey and Twilight had been in the same room, but seeing that they were on opposite ends of the room, let it go.

Twilight had resumed looking over the book on runic magic, trying to see if she could find anything else that could help Corey. In the dim candlelight of her room, the text was more or less illuminated enough. Shining had gone to bed; the siblings had figured they’d catch up tomorrow morning. Neither had really felt up to it beyond the usual questions: “how’s Cadence,” “how’s Spike”, and a few others that wouldn’t have generated much discussion. The situation was too heavy.

Shining slept in a bed a few feet away, directly on her left. He let out a snore or two here and there, but it wasn’t so constant.

Twilight was so engrossed in her book she hardly noticed a dim green glow that was building behind it. However, when she did notice it, her brows furrowed. Trying to write it off as her imagination, she soon found herself lowering the book when the glow began to fluctuate slightly.

“Corey,” Twilight whispered; loud enough that if he were still awake he’d hear her, but quiet enough to not disturb her brother, “You should be resting right…”

The sentence broke off in her mouth as she realized Corey was still asleep; his snore sounding slightly more normal now. She set the book aside, seeing a green glow covering Corey’s body from the neck down. Rising from her bed, she started walking over to him to examine what was going on. Only when she got close enough to see it did her step quicken; she was now right next to his bed, looking down over him.

The green glow on his body consisted of multiple small runes which hovered centimeters above his body. Twilight looked over him, wondering what was going on.

He’s clearly still asleep, Twilight thought to herself, eyes half-closing as she mulled it over, He probably isn’t even aware he’s doing it…

For a few moments, Twilight debated waking Corey up to tell him what he was doing, but decided against it.

I can’t do that to him… Twilight thought, letting out a sigh, He’s been through everything today, and he’ll need whatever energy he can get for tomorrow when he has to do it all over again…

Author's Note:

Here's the end of this week's update. Don't know what else to say. So yeah, we're pretty good.

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