Act I: Collision of Worlds
Chapter 6: Glint in the Darkness
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This entire situation was abnormal. Not one thing about the situation at hand was like it was back home. Back home, John was someone that rarely, if ever, allowed something to get to him. He always found a way to shrug off something negative. But this time, it wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t something he could move past.
It hadn’t been too long since Princess Celestia teleported to the library for the second time that day to deliver some news. At first, the humans were full of hope. Those hopes were dashed as soon as she spoke.
We’re really stuck here… John thought to himself, We’re stuck here for the rest of our lives…but all things considered, I should be taking it harder than Corey…soon as he heard, he started hyperventilating…and passed out.
John was in the next room over, glancing back to the room where Corey had been left to recover. However, he soon turned his gaze to the nearest window. He could see signs that the town had recovered from the shock of the earlier “attack” they’d suffered through. It was like nothing had ever happened.
I can still see their horrified faces… John remembered vividly the events immediately after his arrival, They took a look at me and assumed I’d be trouble…I still don’t know how I’m the one still standing after hearing that horrible news. He could see his reflection in the window now, his eyes focusing on that, and his face bunched up in frustration at the now draconic face that stared back at him.
At least Corey’s able to blend in as a unicorn. No one would give him a second glance. But me…I became a dragon… John released a small sigh, white smoke coming out as he lowered his head. He reached over his shoulder with his clawed hand, pulling his hood over his head. Guess I should get used to hiding my face…
At that point, John figured he’d just enjoy the relative silence, at least until Corey came to. However…
“So this is where you snuck off to?”
In response to the voice, John raised his head, looking over his shoulder. Standing in the doorway with her arms crossed was Rainbow Dash, staring at him with an arched brow. John stared back at her for a few moments, before he dropped his eyes.
“Yeah…” he rasped, turning his head back towards the window, still only able to speak in monosyllables.
“I take it you’re kinda bummed, huh?” Rainbow asked him. John could hear her footsteps approaching him, but didn’t respond vocally.
And your first clue was…? John responded to her question, though he didn’t really say it.
“Yeah, I guess I can get how that could be a downer…” Rainbow continued, leaning her back on the window frame.
John didn’t answer, not that he could.
“What, not gonna answer?” questioned Rainbow, noticing his total silence, “Fine by me,” She shrugged, before giving him a small grin, “I’ll just keep talking…”
Now John made a noise—a small groan.
She could go on for hours about herself. It wouldn’t make me feel too much better…
“So let’s see, you’ve been sent to another world, and just found you’re pretty much stuck there,” Rainbow summarized, “But look on the bright side!”
I’ve been trying to…
“Now you get to be a dragon!” Rainbow cut in, “You’ve got to admit that’s pretty awesome!”
John paused, realizing something was off about her comment, That doesn’t sound like—
“Not as awesome as being me, but close enough,” Rainbow finished.
And there it is… Yet, even as he thought that, John couldn’t resist letting out a small chuckle.
“Praise Celestia, he makes a sound!” Rainbow called out, raising her hands sarcastically, “So now that you feel like saying something, maybe you’d like to say what’s really bugging you.”
John turned his head away from the window to look at her, his best surprised expression plastered on his face.
“What, you think nopony noticed?” she asked him, “You were pretty much shrugging off the fact that you were in another world. Now, all of a sudden, you’re all depressed. So what’s the deal?”
John looked away from Rainbow for a moment, looking back at his reflection in the window, and the town outside. He closed his eyes, bowing his head and choking out his answer.
“Fear…”
A few moments passed as Rainbow took in what he was saying. Eventually though, John heard the sounds of a raspberry filling his ears, blown by Rainbow.
“Are you still thinking about that? It was an accident! Once the town knows it, I’m pretty sure they’ll let it go,” Rainbow responded, blowing past the incident.
John could only turn to her with a skeptical look. Rainbow rolled her eyes and went on.
“Here’s an example: remember Spike, the other dragon?” she asked him.
John nodded.
“Well, long story short, he turned into a giant greedy dragon at one point—wasn’t long ago, really—and pretty much terrorized the whole town. But by the end of the day he went back to normal and the town forgave him. And do you know why?”
Must have missed that one… John thought to himself, not knowing the answer offhand. So, he merely shrugged and awaited her answer.
“Because it was an accident,” she said, “See where I’m going with this?”
Okay, I misjudged. She’s actually able to comfort me…Didn’t think she could be that deep…
“Forgive…and…forget,” John managed, pressing his hand to his throat at least once to make sure that he was saying the right thing.
“Bingo!” Rainbow said, reaching for John’s hood, “So give it some time, I’m sure once we tell them that you’re cool, they’ll move on.”
As she removed John’s hood, she continued, “And if they got a problem with that, I’ll give them a reason to be afraid!”
Rainbow punched the palm of her hand, a loud smack, resulting in John chuckling.
Her approach may have been the bluntest… John noted, But it worked somehow…
The dragon cast one final glance outside, reflecting on what had just happened.
It’s still not easy. I’ll never see anyone I knew back home again, I’ll never see my home again…But now, I’m starting to wonder if it’s really as bad as I think it’s going to be…
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“Hey, I think he’s waking up!”
The voice echoed in his ears. Corey let out a small groan. Thoughts began to go through his mind, one at a time…
What happened…? Head…hurts…can’t see…
He felt his eye muscles twitch and realized that his eyelids were shut, so obviously he wouldn’t be able to see.
I feel like I just threw my head into a boulder or something… Corey thought, gritting his teeth and applying one hand to his face—his glasses were still there, they didn’t feel damaged. So was that horn on his forehead. Yet, when he forced his eyes open…
Can’t see…
At first, everything around him blurred together; he couldn’t see a single thing, but eventually, the image began to focus: first, he was able to identify a large purple blob right in front of him. However, his eyes managed to focus quickly, allowing him to make out exactly who it was.
“T-Twilight…?” His voice sounded raspy, even groaning at a low volume.
“Oh good,” she gave a smile of relief, “You’re awake!”
Corey tried to get up, but immediately his head seemed to hurt a lot worse. It nearly forced him flat on his back again. However, pressing his hand harder to his face, he managed to pull himself up into a sitting position.
“What…happened…?” He asked the first question that came to his mind.
“You went bonkers and passed out is what happened!” Corey turned his head—it had been Rainbow Dash who said that. He took a brief moment to look around—it seemed like everypony was there.
“Blunt…” Including the still near-mute John, summing up Rainbow’s explanation neatly. Rainbow turned, sticking her tongue out at him. Twilight gave her a glare, but quickly returned her attention back to him.
“What Rainbow means is…” She hesitated. However, she looked into his eyes, nodded to herself, and continued on, “After…after Princess Celestia returned, you were given some pretty bad news…”
Corey blinked, but eventually, the memories began to return as Twilight continued on.
“After that, you started to hyperventilate, saying some things we couldn’t understand. We tried to calm you down, but…before we could, you lost consciousness…and hit your head on the floor. You’ve been out for two hours…”
“I am sorry, but your stay may be longer than you expected…” Corey remembered the disappointment in her words, in her face, What…what do I do now…
His head lowered as it sunk in all over again, his right hand pressing to his face, under the glasses this time. There was nothing he could do now to hide what he was feeling, his hand shaking—no, his whole body began to tremor, and his breathing rate began to spike.
I…I’m…I’m alone…There’s nothing left for me here…I’m…all alone…
“Easy, Corey,” Twilight tried to say something to him, but Corey wasn’t listening at all now, “Just…just try to relax…It…It’ll all be okay.”
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John knew full well what Twilight was trying to do, but he knew from prior experience it was no use.
I can’t say anything to him, either…I doubt he’d listen right now anyway. He wouldn’t even stop to read it, I’d bet. Once he gets started…
“No…” Corey sounded like he was deliberately trying to hold his emotions in, and he wasn’t very good at it. “It won’t…”
You won’t stop him… John thought.
“It won’t…be okay…” Corey struggled to his feet, eyes not meeting anyone’s, “It…it’ll never be okay…”
“Corey—“ Twilight tried to stop him, but Corey was as far from being in a listening mood as John feared he was. Without warning, Corey bolted…towards the door of the library. Twilight followed him, worried.
“Corey, wait,” Twilight called out to him. Corey halted at the door, his shoulders slumped, “You can’t just run off!”
Without any warning at all, Corey turned around. John immediately knew what his expression was despite the fact it was his first time really seeing it.
It was Corey’s angry face.
“Leave me alone!” His voice broke just a little as his anger blew up…at Twilight, causing her to take a small step back. Corey paused, looking at her. John could see it very well in his face.
He looked completely horrified. Corey looked down, but he couldn’t even muster an apology, turning tail and running with no more than a grunt, heading into town.
Of all the—I’ve gotta…!
John immediately moved to go after him, but somepony immediately put herself in his way.
“Whoa, whoa! Hold it, big guy!” Rainbow interrupted, being that pony, “You run out there now, and we might have a repeat of earlier, and I don’t think you want that.”
John paused. It was night now, but there were probably still ponies out. If he ran out, they’d see him.
“Well, we can’t just leave him alone in the state he is in,” Rarity said, looking towards the door, “The poor dear was so distraught, there was no way he could think straight…”
“I know…” Twilight said, walking up to the door, “I’m going to find him…and see if I can try to calm him down again…”
Before long, Twilight had vanished from John’s sight as well, out looking for him.
“And she just leaves us alone…” Rainbow groaned, sitting down, “Now what do we do?”
John kept looking towards the door that Corey had bolted through.
I can’t help him…not this time, no matter how much I want to. Not like this, John thought to himself, a little afraid to breathe right now lest the incident from earlier repeat itself, I have to trust Twilight to do this…but until then…
John sat down on the floor, focusing entirely on where his vocal cords were. He uttered a sentence: two simple words.
“We…wait…”
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He ran as far as his legs could take him—surprisingly far, considering it was the first time in a long while he’d actually done any strenuous running. But that didn’t even register with Corey right now. He sat on a bench in the town square, slumped over, holding his glasses in one hand. Drops—tears, were dripping off of his hung head. Yet, Corey made no sound. His body, however, wasn’t still. He was still trembling, his other hand pressed firmly to his face.
Damn it all… Corey thought, I’ve really done it this time…why is this happening? Why was that code there? Why did it do this? Why did I take the time to compile together a mysterious code? Now I’m stranded in a world where that skill is meaningless, with just John…no family, no other friends…
His shoulders shook as what happened over the past several minutes caught up with him.
And to make it worse, I took out my anger on the wrong kind of people… He could still see her face when he’d snapped at her, They have nothing to do with what happened. I feel horrible…I don’t think I could face them right now, after all that.
Corey’s slump seemed to get worse, and he took a deep, shaky breath.
And at the rate I’m going, I’m going to have a lot of trouble here…
Corey sat in silence. It was late, so nopony was around to see him. He was totally alone.
“Oh, there you are!”
Corey immediately stopped shaking, and swiped an arm over his face. However, he didn’t dare put his glasses back on, at least, not yet.
Did she come to find me…?
“Corey,” Even though he was looking down, away from her, he could see her legs as she stood off to his left. Corey turned his head away, trying not to let her see him like he was, nor able to look her in the eye after snapping at her.
“I…” She paused again, as though trying to think about what she was going to say next, “I can’t imagine what must be going through your head right now…”
Corey shifted as she sat on the bench next to him—he could tell it was her without even needing to look. He continued to be silent. Twilight said nothing for a few moments, as though processing his lack of answers.
“Corey, please, just…”
A hand touched his shoulder. Corey turned his head, his eyes dodging Twilight entirely, looking off behind her and down. He knew his face probably had tear streaks on it—much more visible since his face was covered in fur now, and he knew she saw them—her hand had removed itself from his shoulder.
“Listen to me…” Twilight said, after an uneasy pause, trying to complete her thought, “I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re feeling. You’re in a world that’s not like your own at all, surrounded by life you’ve probably never seen.”
Corey closed his eyes.
“But you can’t shut everypony out,” Twilight continued, “It won’t help…”
“I…” Corey started. His voice sounded unusually raspy—odd since he hadn’t really sobbed aloud, “I…I know…I know…b-but…”
“But…?” Twilight asked.
“It’s...I’ll never go home again…” Corey responded, “I…I was going to school in computer-related stuff…and then…this happened…”
Twilight paused, “You were…?”
“I-it doesn’t matter now, anyway,” Corey once again dodged Twilight’s gaze, returning to looking down towards his feet, “I’m not going to be able to go home…”
There was a short pause between them. Corey awkwardly tapped on the bench with his left hand.
“I…I…” Corey stuttered, “I’m sorry…that—that I snapped…”
“D-don’t worry about it…” Twilight said, sounding surprised. “From what you told me, I can’t say I can blame you for snapping like you did.”
Another awkward pause ensued. Corey felt like he needed to say something else, but he wasn’t sure what he should say.
I…I don’t think I could…ask her to help me anymore than she—
Corey’s thoughts were cut short by a simple command.
“Corey, look at me.”
Corey tried his best, finally putting his glasses back on as he did, but he couldn’t look her in the eyes.
“I know that you’ve been through a lot, just today…” Twilight said, blowing past the fact he wasn’t looking right at her, “I know…that you’re probably hurting a lot, right now…”
She paused again.
“But…since you’re going to be here for…” Twilight stopped, seeming to think about her next words, “Longer than you thought…”
Corey sighed, speaking his words just a little too quickly, “It’s fine. I already know that much…”
“Why not…” Twilight continued, as though Corey hadn’t spoken up, “Why not learn to live like a unicorn?”
For the first time since she had found him, Corey looked at Twilight—looking up so that he could see most of her face. He still didn’t have the heart to look her directly in the eyes.
“I…” Corey started, “But…I…”
“I’m not holding that against you,” Twilight repeated, “You’re obviously under a lot of stress. I may not know what it’s like to be in a world that isn’t your own…but…”
“Twilight…” Corey was at a complete loss for words.
“Now…” Twilight started, “Come on…” She stood up, holding out one hand to him, “Let’s head back to the library.”
Corey looked at her hand like it was some kind of alien tendril, “Uh…”
“I know you need some place to stay…” Twilight said, giving him a small smile, “You and John both. And I’ll teach you how to be a unicorn…I’ll teach you how to use your magic.”
“I…I don’t know if I can…” Corey responded, looking around uneasily.
Twilight continued to hold out her hand, “It can’t hurt to try…”
Corey closed his eyes. It still hurt hard that he was likely to never return home again.
And yet…this kindness she’s giving me, even after I acted like a jerk… Corey thought to himself, It’s still…soothing, somehow…
With that in mind, Corey finally came to a decision. He reached out for her hand, grasping it tightly, causing her to gasp. She helped him to his feet, smiling.
At last, Corey gave a small smile; awkward, yet sincere.
“Alright…I’ll…I’ll g-give it a shot…” Corey said.