Collision Code

by SSJRandomMaster

Act 3 Chapter 4

Act III: Collision of Wills
Chapter 4: Monkey’s Paw
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“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Twilight said, looking down into Pinkie’s outstretched hand, which clutched what looked like an oversized party popper. However, on closer inspection, the pull string part at the top had been removed entirely, replaced with a different top; a weird sort of thing at the top with a long spike that extended half the long of the device had replaced it. Attached to that piece, was a small ring.

Corey and John also eyed the very clearly modified party popper, with wider eyes than they should have.

“Something wrong?” Rainbow asked, looking over to them.

“O-oh, no, nothing,” Corey said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, nothing,” John nodded, “Just…surprised…”

How the hell did she turn a party popper into a grenade? thought Corey, looking back at the device. There was a long moment of silence before someone asked a simple question.

“So, Pinkie, what’s it do?” Twilight asked. Pinkie’s ever-present smile grew slightly wider. She took a few steps back.

“Here, I’ll show you!” The pin got pulled at this point. Corey’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull, but before he could do anything, a dragon’s wing shot up, Corey barely reacting in time to duck out of the way.

“Hit the deck!” John shouted, his voice stern and serious. In no time at all, John closed the distance, grabbing the modified party popper and falling down on top of it.

“John!?” Twilight asked, clearly alarmed.

“Save yourse—“

At that moment, there was a bright flash and an impossibly loud bang (muffled only by John’s body). Everyone turned away for a second, shielding their eyes as the device went off. When they turned away, they saw a dazed and confused John, wrapped up tightly in several strands of confetti.

“W-what…happened?” John looked around, eventually realizing he wasn’t sporting a giant burn mark on his chest (at best). He looked down at his body, seeing the confetti binding him. When he saw it, he began to squirm around, no doubt trying to free himself.

“John, you don’t gotta be rude!” Pinkie said, hands on her hips, pouting. Twilight blinked.

“Um,” she said, still confused about John’s outburst, “Nice job…Pinkie?”

Rainbow hovered her way over to John, who was still struggling to get free.

“What was that all about??” she asked of him, spreading her arms out.

“I panicked!” John grunted, still struggling with the confetti bindings, “Ugh, stuff’s durable…”

“And flame-resistant!” Pinkie chirped proudly.

“Seriously!?” John said, still doing his worst imitation of a snake, letting out indistinct grunts and grumbles all the way. Rainbow, who was more or less right next to him, let out a few snickers before eventually bursting out laughing.

“Could someone help out John?” Twilight asked.

“Sure, I’ll just…yeah…” Corey said, slowly moving over to John’s position.

“Well, I guess since we’re all here, we should probably get planning…” Twilight said. Her brows briefly creased as John continued to strain against the impossibly tough confetti, but quickly relaxed as she began her explanation.

“I’ve gone over everything a few times. I think I know what we can do,” Twilight continued, “We need to keep eyes on the outside as well. So…” She glanced over to where John was. Rainbow was still next to him, doing nothing to help. John continued to squirm around like some kind of worm, and Corey was frantically tugging on some of the confetti, shouting something about how he wanted to save his magic for later.

“Rainbow and John will cover the outside,” At the sound of his name, John paused, “You hear that?”

“Yeah, me and Rainbow are—dammit—going to fly around—why’d they make confetti like this…” John strained some more, “Outside, right…?”

“That’s right,” said Twilight, “You two should be able to cut anyone off out there and spot if there’s incoming attackers as well. Then, we have Corey and Applejack.”

Corey looked up, a strand of confetti now between his teeth, one foot pressed firmly between John’s wings, John still squirming, grunting incoherently. Applejack also looked up.

“They’re going to help Shining keep watch over Cadance,” said Twilight, “Both of them have strengths that could help out if the attacker manages to get to her room by some reason. Plus, Applejack should be able to bind whoever it is if she can get that lasso around him.”

“Sounds about right,” Applejack said, “I’ll do my best.”

Corey didn’t say anything, still preoccupied with trying to free John from his bindings.

“Next, Pinkie,” Twilight said, “You have…a strange ability that I’ve never been able to figure out…But it would serve useful. You can get into the strangest of places without anypony ever finding out you were there. I’m thinking you could probably get the drop on Cadance’s attacker, especially if you have more of those…what are they called?”

“They’re Super-de-Duper Party Poppers!” Pinkie said, winking and flashing a “V” sign with one of her hands.

The sound of bindings snapping, followed by a relieved “Woo-hoo!” echoed through the room, while everyone processed the long name Pinkie gave to her invention.

“Uh…right,” Twilight said, “Anyway, I’m confident you should be able to fill that role quite nicely.”

“Okie dokie, loki!” chirped Pinkie, saluting.

“Now then…Rarity,” Twilight said.

“Yes, Twilight?” asked Rarity in response.

“I want you to help Pinkie out with her job here,” Twilight said, extending one of her arms up.

“With all due respect, Twilight, I do not see how I can help her,” said Rarity.

“We have to try to stay together,” Twilight pointed out, “I feel like putting you and Pinkie together would be the best way. You’ve learned some combat magic now, right?”

“Yes, I have,” Rarity said.

“Then you can back up Pinkie in case the attacker isn’t so easily taken care of,” Twilight said, “We have no idea who we’re dealing with. It’d be better to stick in groups of two if possible…”

There was a small silence afterward. Rarity looked at Twilight for several long moments, weighing what Twilight was saying.

“Very well,” said Rarity, though the tone of her voice suggested she wasn’t totally convinced with this.

“What about you, Twilight?” asked Applejack, “What are you going to do?”

Twilight took a deep breath.

“I have a job too,” she said, looking slightly away. More observant people could just make out the beginnings of a sweat bead on her brow, “Don’t worry about me…”

The room remained silent for a few more seconds. Everyone looked to Twilight once more.

“So, one more time, from the top…”
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With everyone’s attention undivided, Twilight recapped the plan, making sure everyone could hear their roles this time.

“Alright, does everypony know what they are going to do?” she asked, after going over the roles assigned. The others nodded in agreement. They all knew very well that they couldn’t afford to mess up here. But, while everyone understood their roles, their respective goals, there was one thing they hadn’t heard about.

“And you, darling?” asked Rarity, turning to Twilight, “What is your part in this?’

Up until now, Twilight never said anything about it. Twilight looked up to Rarity, a small, confident smirk on her face, reflecting on the brilliance of her plan…

“I—“ Before Twilight could specify, though.

“I know who he is!” The sound of Cadance’s voice made everyone jump—no one had expected her to shout out like that. All heads turned to the door; sure enough, there she was, supported by Shining.

“Who?’ asked Twilight.

“The one who attacked me…” Cadance, still helped by Shining, walked over to the others. Only now did everyone realize there was a rather thick folder in her free hand, looking like it might burst with the amount of paper inside of it, “It wasn’t the first time he’d made an attempt on my life…”

Holding out her hand, Cadance allowed Twilight to take the folder. She unfolded it, but she hardly had to read even the first page before horror spread across her face all over again. Seeing this sudden surge of unease from Twilight made everyone want to know what she had just read about; it sent a chill down their collective spine.

“All of you need to listen carefully,” Cadance advised, “I’m about to tell you just what you’re up against.”

The others didn’t comment on her words; all of them gathered around Twilight. None of them looked to the folder. None of them even made a grab for it. Instead, all of them focused on Cadance, everyone waiting for the information.

“Several years ago, while I was still young, I became an alicorn princess after unlocking the true meaning of the magic of love. Most of you know that,” Cadance started, “But what you don’t know is that the moment I did, a large target was placed on my back.”

To some in the group, the idea of a royal figure being a target wasn’t new. Neither was the idea of Cadance being a target, given the whole wedding fiasco. However, no one said anything, continuing to listen to Cadance’s story.

“That target was drawn on me by the very pony who attacked me,” It wasn’t lost on anyone she had said pony specifically, “Someone who had made a name for himself all around the world.”

One question filled everyone’s mind, but only one of them knew how to word it.

“What was it?” Corey asked, dreading the answer.

“The Princess Slayer.”

All eyes turned to Twilight. She turned her face away from the now-closed folder, visibly disgusted and horrified at what she’d seen, and the new information.

“That’s right,” said Cadance, “No one knows his real name, only his title. And as the title suggests, he only had one target: princesses. When it comes to his target, he will do whatever it takes to get them, regardless of where in the world they live…or how old. But, his luck ran out with his final target…”

“That was…you…” John said, stating what was on everyone’s minds perfectly.

“Yes,” she said, “I wasn’t told until I was old enough to handle the news…but the Princess Slayer had made an attempt to target me, and he failed. Before he could get close to me, Princess Celestia had already discovered and confronted him herself. Needless to say, he didn’t stand a chance. She wasn’t lenient either; for all the crimes he’d committed worldwide, he was banished to Tartarus where he would never see the light of day again…or so we thought.”

An uneasy feeling spread across the room once again. It wasn’t just the news they’d heard, but another blood-chilling realization had dawned on them.

“Wait…so if he only targets princesses,” Rainbow said, trailing off.

“Th-that means…” Corey’s stutter was not out of awkwardness, but out of fear, but he couldn’t say it either.

“He might come after me…” Twilight said, her gaze focused on the ground.

No one knew what they could say; the room fell completely silent. Eventually, though, someone had to say something.

“Are you gonna be okay, Twilight?” Applejack asked, “I mean, it can’t be easy knowin’ something like that, but—“

“No, no,” Twilight said, looking up. She had a composed look on her face, “I’ll be fine. Yeah, it’s really…concerning that a known serial killer is likely targeting me…but we all knew we’d be targeted sooner or later, anyway.”

Applejack tilted her head, but didn’t offer any resistance to this explanation, “Yeah, that’s about what I thought…”

Corey was standing up straight, his arms crossed. Though his facial expression hadn’t changed much, his foot was tapping the ground impatiently.

“Now…” Twilight said calmly, “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go…look around one more time. I need to make absolutely sure I didn’t miss anything…”

All eyes were on Twilight as she turned and walked out of the room. As far as they could tell, she seemed to be in no more a hurry as she usually would be when double-checking something. She had scarcely left the throne room when someone else began to make some noise.

“I’ve…” Corey started, suddenly sounding like he didn’t want to be in the room, “I’ve gotta go…” He paused again, immediately turning around before anyone could see his face fault, “To the bathroom.”

“Because we totally needed to know that,” Rainbow retorted, but Corey had already started moving for the door. His pace was quick, frantic, and for a moment it seemed like he was telling the truth.

However, as he left, he turned again to the right. This in itself wasn’t anything to cringe about. But, there was one detail that completely destroyed Corey’s façade.

“The bathroom’s on the left…” Shining said.

And when Twilight had left, she had turned right. The same direction Corey had just moved down…

“He still needs to work on subtlety…” John remarked, shaking his head.
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Though he trailed Twilight by several steps, Corey managed to avoid being seen by her. Or by anyone else, really. After what he’d just learned, he definitely didn’t want a guard getting the wrong impression. For at least a minute, Twilight just seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Something which definitely didn’t add up.

He didn’t understand why no one else saw it. Maybe they didn’t feel like pressing the issue? If that was the case, what the hell did he plan on doing? Knowing his own history, Corey knew doing that would probably just make it worse…

Suddenly, Twilight stopped. Corey froze, wondering if she’d heard him coming. Taking a quick glance left, he saw there was a part of the hall that jutted in, like a doorway, and moved to hide there, pressing tightly against the wall.

Moved too quick! Corey realized, sucking in his stomach out of habit in a feeble attempt to conceal himself further, She had to have noticed that!

Corey waited for Twilight to say something to him. Acknowledge she knew he was there the whole time, put on her brave face again, and do whatever. But the hallway stayed completely silent. Confused, Corey put one hand to the doorway and peered out, looking at Twilight again.

Her back was to him. She was squatting down, her knees bent sharply, her wings open, angled around her as though mid-flap. Corey quickly did a once-around: no one was around. She seemed to think she was alone.

“I-I…I…can’t believe it…”

Corey’s head snapped back to Twilight at this, realizing her voice was not at all normal. It was trembling, slightly higher in pitch...

No, Corey numbly realized, clutching the wall tighter—if not for the fur covering his hand, his knuckles would have been seen turning pasty white, Not just her voice…

Though she was clearly trying to hide herself in a private little ball, he could see that her wings were now moving, the feathers at the very edges twitching. Her body itself also seemed to be jittering in place, ever so slightly. One of her hands went to her cheek, the other still around her legs.

“T-that…monster’s….going to…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence, changing to a different subject, “Cadance…me…he’ll...”

Corey had seen and heard enough. That inner voice of his was telling him to approach her and try to say something, but the rest of him was thoroughly overclocked. If he had tried to approach her, he knew what he’d probably sound like—anything but comforting. He pressed his back against the far wall, a dangerous feeling swelling in his chest and threatening to burst out.

S-she’s…terrified… His voice had totally caught in his throat; any attempt to call out to her was useless anyway. Corey slumped against the wall, his jaw, eyelids, and both of his fists clenched shut, She read that guy’s journal, didn’t she...? And now she fears she may very well be in the same position as…as…

He stopped himself before he could go further, but already his mind was made up. He took another glance at Twilight. She seemed to be getting somewhat of a grip on herself now, but the damage had been done.
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“T-the others are…counting on me…” Twilight whispered to herself, feeling the fear clawing at the inside of her head all the same, threatening to eat her alive, “I can’t back out now…”

There was a sound behind her, like a burst of wind. Twilight jumped when she heard it. It took a great deal of courage, but she turned around. Nothing was there. Looking around again, she was completely alone. No one was with her.

“M-must be…my imagination…” Twilight said, “I’d…better head back all the same…”
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With the sun setting, the group found themselves seated at the table in the castle’s dining hall. Corey and Twilight had both rejoined them separately sometime after excusing themselves. Everyone else had their own theories as to why, but in the end, all of them chose not to delve into it. With all that they’d learned today, it was understandable that it would shake some of them. For now, they all chose to simply enjoy each other’s company as they prepared to eat the meal that had been prepared for them.

Before they could dig in, however, the group’s attention was caught by the sound of Cadance tapping a fork on her glass.

“Attention everyone,” she said, everyone else looking towards her, “Now that everypony is settled, I feel that I can finally do this the right way.”

Putting her fork down, Cadance took hold of her glass and rose from her seat.

“On this night, I’d like to propose a toast to everyone sitting here today. To old friends who continue to stand by my side, and to new friends who have chosen to brave the danger along with us. With all of you here today, I can say without a doubt that for the first time since my attack, I truly feel safe. And I know that if we stand together, we can overcome whatever the future has in store for us.”

One by one, the others rose from their seats, each of them lifting their own glasses, raising them into the air to meet Cadance’s toast. All of them could feel it in their hearts that Cadance’s words were true; they could—no, would overcome any and all challenges, no matter how—

“My, my, what an admirable display…”

In that moment, everyone went into high alert. Before Cadance could even react, she noticed a shield being formed around her. Everyone looked around frantically; they knew they’d heard the voice, but they could not pinpoint the source.

“Now, now, there’s no need for hostilities,” At that point, something dropped from the high ceiling and landed hard on the center of the table. The others looked down on it and quickly recognized its form. Though it was shaped like a rat, it shared the features of the manikins they had earlier done battle with. They watched carefully, preparing themselves for any form of attack, but none came. Instead, a bright red light began to emit from the creature’s back. And from within the light, something began to form, a cloaked figure that towered above them.

“Who the hay?” asked Applejack, the others not knowing the answer. None of them had seen this before. Except for Twilight—her correspondence with Celestia since the start of all this had given her valuable information before. One such letter, she had heard of this very kind of event.

“You…” Twilight said, “You’re the one behind all of this, aren’t you!?”

The others turned to Twilight in shock for a single moment, before turning back to the projection.

“That is correct,” said the figure, “I am the one who started it all.”

A surge of anger quickly passed through everyone. Everything that had happened. The fear, the pain, the danger…it was all caused by who was standing before them now.

“So, you decided to show your sorry face, huh!?” said Rainbow, just about ready to climb on the table, “If it’s a fight you’re looking for, we’ll be happy to give you one!”

Despite the threat, the figure only laughed, “Relax yourself, Elements of Loyalty, if I desired battle, I would have done so already,” it said, “I have only shown myself today so that I may have a small talk…”

“Like we’d have anythin’ to say to you!” shouted Applejack.

“You elements are not who I desire to speak with,” said the figure, “My words are for the two who have fought by your side alone. To begin with, I’d like to inform you that I know of how you came to be what you are now: travelers from another world.”

Both John and Corey were caught off-guard, each sharing a very short glance at one another. This figure had been watching all of them; they knew at least that much. It was entirely possible the prospect had been brought up by someone else discussing it.

“What do you want with us?” asked Corey.

“I simply wish to share some information with you, something I’m sure you will want to hear,” Neither responded, waiting for the figure to elaborate, “As you may have guessed, I was a prisoner being held in Tartarus, as well. I was placed in a form of dimensional stasis; my imprisonment was intended to be eternal. That is, until that day came. Something happened that rose my subconscious from its deep sleep for a brief moment. That moment was all that I needed in order to make my escape…”

Dimensional…stasis…? John thought, trying to process the information.

A brief moment… Corey thought, trying to figure out what the figure was talking about, But what could that have--!

Corey’s eyes snapped open, hit by one of the worst realizations he’d ever had in his life.

No… Corey looked over to John; John looked equally horrified. Both had come to the same conclusion almost simultaneously. Both heard the figure start to cackle, the mocking undertone only adding to their disgust with what they now knew.

“I see that you’ve already figured it out,” it said, “That’s right…that brief moment, the one that insured my freedom…was an imbalance in the dimensional barriers. The one that sent you two here…”

The others let out a small gasp as they heard this, their gazes turning to the two former humans. Their bodies were physically trembling with what they had heard. Corey couldn’t even meet their eyes, his glasses having a sheen on them that would have seemingly obscured his vision. John was looking to the figure, his pupils narrowed to slits, but not retaliating further.

“It seems you two need some time to let this sink in,” the figure said, clearly amused, “Very well, I will make my leave. Worry not, there won’t be any hostility from my pawns on this night.” The figure’s image began to fade away. But before it could vanish, it chose to get in some final words.

“Think of it as my thanks… for making all of this possible,” With the figure now gone, the rat evaporated into dust, leaving the others alone. The others continued to stare at the stunned Corey and John. They slowly began to move towards them, trying to show any form of comfort. But their consolations fell on deaf ears. Each of them were in their own worlds now. The figure’s words haunted their souls.

More so, a different set of words began to echo.

The fear…the pain…the danger…

“You know what? Screw it… I’m going to run it right now, and see what happens!”

All because I chose to run a piece of code…

Author's Note:

Afraid it's only going to get worse from here, really. Don't know what else to say.

Comments

[Gobeman]

.....kinda saw it comming......

[RuneStone]

Now let the real fun begin.

[Lord_Kalbario]

Called it