//------------------------------// // Act 1 Chapter 7 // Story: Collision Code // by SSJRandomMaster //------------------------------// Act I: Collision of Worlds Chapter 7: Some Adjustments ---------------- Equestria Log – Day 4   It’s been two days since we’ve come to Equestria. Two whole days since I found out we’d never be going home. That situation hasn’t changed, and it doesn’t look like it’d change. This world is far less technologically advanced than home…it’s been rough adapting to the sudden change, picking up the pieces. I don’t know how John hasn’t breathed anything more than smoke by now…   The ponies here are pretty nice, even if some seem a little less…”hinged”, than others. The tour of the town went off well. At the very least, I know the local culture well enough from firsthand experience, I think. Haven’t been hanging around at the library too much the past couple of days. That might change, though.   I still can’t believe I’m really stuck here until I die. I can’t believe this happened when I ran that code. But, whatever the reason, I’m going to have to deal with it. Still… why could I see the message where John and the others couldn’t? Why was it in Java of all things? What’s this all about? Who knows, maybe the answers will come up soon enough. Maybe there is a way home, and no pony knows it yet. Doesn’t seem too likely, though.   In other news, I haven’t started magic yet, believe it or not. Part of the reason I haven’t been hanging around in the library is because Twilight’s been busy trying to put together a lesson plan to get me started. I don’t know why, but I’m honestly scared of what she’s going to have me do…   John seems to be able to go out in town now without ponies panicking. It helps that he’s beginning to learn how to speak more clearly without blowing smoke. Still, I don’t think he’s quite there yet… ---------------- Corey sat at a desk, alone, upstairs in the library. In front of him was an open, nearly blank notebook of sorts. It hadn’t been hard to adapt to using a quill instead of a pencil or keyboard to get his thoughts down. He just needed to remember to re-wet the end of the feather every couple of sentences.   Of course, even being in a new body, even writing with a feather, my handwriting’s still terrible… Corey thought, trying to finish his journal entry, a neutral expression on his face, I could write down the whole “other side of the fourth wall” thing and nopony’d be able to read it…better safe than sorry, though.   He continued to write down, the sound of scribbling filling the room, along with Corey mumbling incoherently as he scrawled his own thoughts within the notebook.   Today’s the day Twilight’s supposed to start teaching me. She was going to make sure she had something put together by now…. Corey thought, It’s actually pretty early for me. Wonder what today’s going to be all about…   “Hey,” This was Spike, walking into the room. Corey immediately finished the sentence he was on, shutting the journal afterward. “Twilight said she’s ready to start…”   “Okay then,” Corey said calmly, “Better not keep her waiting then…” He looked around the room.   “What’re you…” Spike stepped forward a bit.   “Nothing, nothing,” Corey responded, “Guess John’s still out around the town…”   “He’s been tryin’ to give back ever since he scared everypony,” Spike said, “Most ponies are lettin’ him.”   “Well then…” Corey stood up. As he began to walk towards him, Spike turned around, leading him, “So, you know anything about her lesson plans?”   “You should I know I happen to be her number one assistant,” Spike said, “Of course I would know…”   Corey could have sworn he heard him start to snicker as he passed into the room—something that didn’t make him feel too good about what was about to happen. He hesitated a bit, before just power-walking his way into the room.   What he saw next made him literally shiver. His eyes went wide. His mouth began to open. His body slumped over. He had no words. The giant pile in front of him was ridiculously huge. No—not pile. There were several stacks in front of him that were taller than most ponies.   Twilight came out from behind a few books, smiling to him, “Well, Corey, I see you’re ready to start…”   She apparently didn’t notice Corey’s expression. Spike, however, did, judging from the fact he burst out laughing. Though already Corey was dialing down his reaction, trying not to let Twilight in on the fact he wasn’t exactly studious as a student, he was already forming some snark.   He let it out, deep in the back of his skull.   Twilight, I know you were preparing a course for me… Corey thought, And I’m no stranger to required reading…   His eye twitched, and he reached up to his face to adjust his glasses, which had gone askew during his rampant face-faulting.   But this is ridiculous! ---------------- It was pretty early in the morning. The town still wasn’t fully active at this point in time, just a few early birds going about their daily lives. The morning was more or less normal, save for one detail: a large crate was being moved through the city streets. That in itself wasn’t abnormal, except for the fact there was no magical glow around the whole crate, no team of ponies moving it. Underneath the crate was a large black and blue dragon, hefting the huge thing over his shoulders like it was nothing.   How’d I end up doing this again? John thought to himself. Didn’t plan on moving things around today. I was going for another walk when somepony decided to interrupt me.   A few steps ahead of him was a pony in a blue postal worker outfit—gray-furred, blonde mane and tail, slightly messy. The pony had a pair of wings poking their way out of the outfit. It was Derpy Hooves, who John remembered to be a meme in her own right.   Right…She had a delivery to make, she couldn’t lift it on her own and asked me for help… John remembered, glancing up to the heavy crate atop his shoulder. And I said “yes”.   Everypony in town had been told John was no threat by this point. He was able to walk around town freely now without anypony starting a fuss. As a result, he’d taken up giving back to the community as a means to apologize for the panic he’d caused by accident—in case anypony wasn’t convinced.   “Alright Mr. Dragon, we’re here!” called out Derpy, stopping in front of a house, standing straight and tall with her arms stretched behind her back. John grunted slightly, moving the crate over and placing it on the ground gently. With the weight off his shoulders, John glanced to the front door of the house, and was able to read the name on it.   “Derpy…Hooves”…? John’s eye twitched as he read the plate, “Wait…this is your house?”   He still had to focus to speak, but it was becoming more natural now—he’d had to learn to talk quick with his community service stuff.   “Well, duh,” Derpy turned to him, “This is my delivery…”   “You deliver…your own mail?” John asked, not knowing what else to say offhand.   “Yeah, this way I’ll know it’ll be delivered on time!” Derpy chirped, turning to the crate.   John tried to formulate a response, but no words would come out. All he could do was force air in and out of his lungs. However, he eventually came to a conclusion, straightening his posture and closing his mouth.   Pretty clever… John thought to himself. Now he had a different question then.   “So what’s in the crate?” John asked, pointing to the crate.   “Month’s supply of muffins!” Derpy said once again.   John gave a mild chuckle, Of course… ---------------- A short time later, John was on his way through Ponyville, as he had been before the unexpected interruption. Derpy apparently didn’t need his help from that point onward, so John merely said his goodbyes and left her to her business.   What else is there to do…? John thought to himself, slowly looking around. I could just walk out of town again…   He paused, sighing—thankfully not producing flames this time.   Back home, I wouldn’t be outside so much… John pondered, pretty much alone at this point in time. Unless I was with friends, I’d just be content to stay at home. But now that I’m here, it’s the total opposite…who knows, maybe it’s the dragon in me. They usually go out into the wildnerness—except Spike, who was raised from birth by ponies. Guess it really doesn’t matter. Gives me something to do.   With that, John decided to continue his walk, wondering exactly what he’d do with his new life today. ---------------- Magic…willpower…possible to do many things with the proper application…stored someplace close to the heart…friendship…love…   Corey had to give Twilight credit on something: when it came to things like this, she was completely thorough. Unfortunately, she was a bit too thorough. It had barely been even an hour since he started and he had already been asked to read through three books. While Corey was a professional skimmer by trade, this was utterly ridiculous.   The books were thicker than his calculus books, and he had to find who-knows-how-much information about the concept of magic. If he had a chance to go back to Earth and tell people exactly how wrong their headcanons were, he would…provided his brain could handle all the sudden influx of information.   Magic…emotions…power can corrupt… ----------------- Spike couldn’t properly contain himself. It was a bit too much to ignore. At first, Corey tried to deal with the workload Twilight had left him. He tried as hard as he could.   Then he marathoned his way through at least two books trying to find relevant information. He didn’t read them—he’d lived with Twilight long enough to know when a pony was actually reading something versus skimming it, and that colt—human—pony guy was definitely skimming. And even skimming these books was doing a real number on him. He was slowing down, his eyes wide, beads of sweat dripping down his face. He wasn’t even mumbling to himself anymore, just trying to hold it together.   However, it wasn’t to last. Corey finally gave in, banging his head on the table in frustration.   At this, Spike finally burst out laughing. However, it wasn’t long before somepony stepped in.   “Spike!” At this, his laughing fit came to a stop. He turned, seeing Twilight staring back at him, hands on sides, and her foot tapping steadily on the ground.   “I’d appreciate it if you kept it down, Corey’s trying to study!” Twilight scolded.   “Emphasis on trying…” Spike responded, starting to giggle again.   “Did I not give you enough chores to do?” Twilight arched one brow. Spike took the hint, taking his leave to attend to those chores. Once he was out of earshot, Twilight turned into the room where Corey was studying. She walked in with a smile on her face.   “Who’s ready for a pop quiz?” Twilight asked, barely able to contain her excitement, holding up the quiz next to her with her magic.   “Eh?” Corey asked, raising his head from the table, “P-pop quiz? But…” He looked over to the clock on the wall, “It’s only been two hours…”   “I know!” Twilight responded, completely oblivious to Corey’s slight breakdown—which was still underway, had she noticed his twitchy eye, “Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?”   Using her magic, Twilight moved away all of the books near Corey.   “This should be an easy one…” ----------------- Being a college student, Corey was no stranger to the concept of pop quizzes. He was no stranger to the concept of quizzes. However, as the quiz made impact with the desk, Corey realized her expectations may have been a bit much.   Twilight, the name “quiz” generally implies it’s not that long… This thing is ten pages…front and back…   It took all of his reserves to not headdesk on realizing what was going on.   “And I’ll let you use your notes for it.” Twilight continued to give her instructions. Corey glanced to what notes he did prepare.   All one page of them? Corey thought to himself, Two hours wasn’t enough time for this kind of thing…   Corey looked to the quiz, and barely noticed when Twilight set a kitchen timer on the table, a glow still around it.   “You have one hour,” The glow vanished, and the timer began to tick, “Good luck!”   Twilight made a quick exit of the room. Corey continued to stare at the quiz, totally unsure of what to do. There were so many questions to this, and he was sure in his mad skimming he didn’t remember even half of what these were.   Corey removed his glasses, holding them in his left hand. He could only let his head fall to the desk again with a loud “thump”.   I suddenly don’t want to be a unicorn anymore… ----------------- There was something fishy going on, and Twilight knew it. She stared blankly at the pop quiz. Each page, each question—it all seemed impossible, even for someone like him.   “He didn’t answer a single question…” Twilight muttered, unable to process the information.   “Shocking,” Spike said under his voice, shelving a couple of books.   “I don’t get it,” Twilight said, having not paid Spike’s comment any mind, “I gave him all the information and time he’d need…”   “Don’t you mean ‘you’d’ need?” Spike asked, walking past Twilight with a cart of books in his hand.   “What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, placing the quiz down and turning her head towards Spike. Spike took a couple steps more on his course before he stopped.   “Well, every time you study, you close yourself off in your rooms with a ton of books for a couple of hours and cram all of them.”   “Well yeah,” Twilight admitted, “What’s wrong with that?”   “Ever think that not everyone can study the way you do?” Spike asked, leaning on the cart. The cart began to move, and thus he turned to grab it before it went flying out of his personal space.   “I’m sure they could if they tried.” Twilight said honestly.   “Sure they could…” Spike snarked, going back to his chores.   With all that over, Twilight returned her attention to Corey’s blank quiz. She soon began to come to a conclusion.   “I know!” Twilight said, “Maybe he wasn’t sure of which books to read!”   She stood up, making her way to the next room, “If I number them in order, he’ll know which books to read and when! That should help!”   However, as she walked towards where she had left Corey, thinking about what Spike had said.   “Spike’s just being negative…I’m sure everypony can do it if they put their minds to it…” she thought aloud to herself, “He’ll see. Once I sort things out with Corey, he’ll be just like I was.”   It wasn’t long before, hearing herself, she stopped in her tracks.   “Just like…I was…” With that, Twilight quit thinking aloud, remembering details of her own foalhood.   That’s right…Back when I was learning, I was already ahead of the curve. It didn’t take me long to move up to the advanced courses. I wasn’t in classes with unicorns that were my own age. I studied so hard even the teachers couldn’t keep up with me. All this did was just give me more to study…and I loved to study…I still do.   She reached the door of the room where she’d left Corey to do more work. Now, she noticed exactly how stressed he was with the workload she’d so unceremoniously saddled him with. One hand was trying to scribble out notes, the other hand running through his mane. He hadn’t even noticed that she was there. She took a second look at the curriculum she’d arranged to give him.   This is basically what I read in a weekend. I’ve read all those books myself, some of them twice. That’s why I gave them to him… A hand went to her chin, But nopony in this town that I’m aware would gladly read so much. And Corey’s not even really a pony to start with.   Her hand moved over her face now, as she sighed.   That’s just completely unfair. I shouldn’t have done that to him… ----------------- Corey’s focus was entirely on the books in front of him. He hated disappointing people, and right now that was exactly what he’d felt he’d done. He was trying to make the most of what he had to work with. However, he noticed a familiar color glow surrounding him, and the books surrounding him began to move.   Corey’s surprise was compounded when he’d realized Twilight was standing in the room with him.   “You know,” Twilight started, beginning to shelve the books one by one in their rightful places, “When I agreed to teach you magic, I was excited about the idea. I was going from former student to new teacher with her own student. I couldn’t wait to share what I knew with you.”   By now, the last of the books hit the shelves.   “But when I think about it, not even my own teacher did that. And, she’s an immortal goddess. You can only imagine how much she must know.” She laughed just a little. Corey would have said something, but he couldn’t even find his words.   “I guess she realized what I’m realizing now. I can’t just ask you to read something and leave you to your own devices. While that may work for me, to ask you to do the same was unfair, and I’m sorry for that.” As she continued to talk, Twilight pulled over a chair with her magic and sat down in it, sitting across from him.   Corey looked around self-consciously, unable to say anything.   I should have expected as much… he thought to himself, So why am I so shocked she changed her method up?   “I said I’d teach you how to use magic. That’s what we’ll focus on for now…if you’re up for it, that is,” Twilight finished.   Corey blinked, realizing he needed to say something. He set the quill in his notebook and moved it said before turning to face Twilight—though once again his eyes dodged hers.   “I’m listening…”   “Okay, but before you can use magic, you need to understand just what it is. So, are you ready?” Twilight asked.   Corey could only nod.   “Alright, so…Lesson One: What is magic?” ----------------- There was a pond not too far outside of Ponyville. A small rock had just been thrown in it, displacing the water just a bit. The rock was followed by several smaller bretheren. Eventually, the rocks paused for a moment.   A few seconds later, a large rock—the size of two grapefruits—crashed into the water with a loud splash.   On the far side of the water, John stood, having thrown the rock into the water. He was slightly annoyed.   How do people skip rocks… John thought to himself. I’ve been trying for a while now and not even a single skip.   “It’s all in the wrist,” said a familiar voice, from directly above. John looked, seeing Rainbow Dash slowly descending from the sky above. She touched down, taking hold of a nearby rock and threw it towards the pond. The rock skipped five times across the surface of the water before sinking to the water, joining John’s many failed attempts from earlier. John turned his head towards Rainbow, who was polishing her nails on her chest.   “Show-off…” John grumbled flatly.   “Yeah, I know, I’m awesome,” Rainbow said, completely ignoring what John was saying. John knew enough to know she did it on purpose.   “How’d you know I was here?” John asked, “Never tell anyone where I’m going…half the time I don’t even know where I’ll end up.”   “I saw you leave town this morning,” Rainbow responded, “Figured I’d tail you and see what you’d do.”   John regarded her with slightly narrowed eyes.   “Don’t judge me…” Rainbow crossed her arms, “But now that I see that you aren’t up to anything too important, there’s something I want to do with you.”   Rainbow flapped her wings, beginning to hover off the ground.   “Do what now?” John asked.   “I’ll tell ya when we get there,” Rainbow said, “Just follow me for now.”   She began to fly in one direction, mere feet from the ground.   “Can I…get a—“ John couldn’t even finish his question before Rainbow gave her answer.   “Nope!” Rainbow called out, not even looking back. The dragon followed her for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh.   I have a feeling this won’t end well for me… thought John to himself, following her.