//------------------------------// // Act 2 Chapter 2 // Story: Collision Code // by SSJRandomMaster //------------------------------// Act II: Collision Course Chapter 2: Tension ---------------- The royal Canterlot hospital had seen a good number of guardsponies from time to time, whether it was a training accident or some other workplace-related hazard. However, this was the most they’d seen since the scuffle with the Changelings. While they’d all survive, some were less lucky than others.   A light gray unicorn was flat on his back in one hospital bed, his hospital gown draped over him like any other patient. Bandages covered most of his body, including one side of his face.   The other ponies around him were his comrades down there in that horrid place. All of them had experienced the same terror he had. Were it not for what he had done, his comrades may not have seen the light of day again.   Now, however, Noble Sword remains in slumber, having passed out since delivering the message to Princess Celestia. His body jerked around as he grunted lightly, as though he were fighting some unseen enemy. ---------------- “Watch out!” Noble Sword ducked low as one of the prisoners clawed out at him with his intensely sharp claws. He had no time to drum into his head the details of this prisoner, more focused on just staying alive, planning to report this to the Princess as soon as possible. All had seemed normal…until the guards had gotten close enough. Just behind the gates was a festering crowd of prisoners, held back by elite guards from the day’s Royal Guard and the night’s Night Patrol. Noble Sword and company had managed to get close, but, like a massive zit, the gates of Tartarus had burst open—a full-scale prison riot had erupted. The elites had somehow failed to contain the rioting prisoners, fueled by what seemed like a need for the freedom they did not deserve. The elites had already been through hell and back; some of the prisoners also looked significantly banged-up. It only got worse from there. The crazed prisoners drew energy from their drive for freedom—he wasn’t sure where it was all coming from. Nopony could tell him. Noble Sword struck back with a laser spell, knocking his aggressor back a bit. However, as expected of an inmate, it wasn’t enough to take them down. Suddenly, a crushing blow struck Noble from the side, putting a dent in the side of his breastplate. Noble stumbled, managing to right himself. There was no time for him to really register the newcomer, either, especially since the newcomer—he had to be maybe twice the height of the average pony—began to charge him, the intent to kill in his eyes. Noble Sword’s magic began to manifest itself. His horn lit up in a red-violet light, and a moment later, his left and right forearms grew magical blades—meant for use in this kind of situation, of course. He stood his ground, aiming to disable his new assailant with an “X”-slice. However, his blades didn’t even make it past the creature’s hide. The blades on his arms skidded to a halt against his skin and actually chipped, and a moment later, Noble was lifted from his feet by the strike, his armor getting another huge dent in the center of his chest. Noble stood up, looking around. It was a horrible, horrible mess, and he grit his teeth. “Darn it…” he said, looking back ahead of him as the large prisoner leapt towards him, aiming to continue the fight. “You feelin’ powerless yet?!” the prisoner roared, Noble quickly raising his chipped arm-blades, trying to defend from the prisoner’s claw attack. Not only was his hide insanely durable, but so were his claws. While the prisoner’s attack didn’t penetrate the magic, it did cause his swords to shatter the rest of the way. A follow-up claw came down, coming dangerously close to putting a gash through his eye. Noble Sword already knew he was starting to bleed, even as he was knocked back again, this time from this prisoner’s kick. This was the one that shattered his armor, and he went flying back, eventually sliding to a halt on his back. He looked up, trying to get on his feet. “Can’t…let this guy out…” Noble grumbled to himself, trying desperately to get himself back into fighting condition. “Noble!” A voice shouted, and his opponent turned his head. Two of the ponies from his squad were coming to his aid, looking only slightly better than he did. “Brave?! Proud?!” Noble shouted the names of his comrades. One was an earth pony with a bulky build wielding a large hammer, striking the large prisoner hard enough to manage to make him take a step back. This was Brave Hart, red in color with a dark blue mane and tail. The other pony, Proudshot, was a pegasus pony, dark blue with a goldenrod mane and tail. He held a bow and arrow in his hands, three arrows set for an attack. Proud, as he was called, released the string of his bow, sending them flying towards the wayward prisoner. These arrows would have totally ineffective were it not for the fact the arrows were enchanted with the element of ice. The arrows soared towards their opponent, making contact with his body, each arrow exploding into solid ice. “That won’t hold him for long!” Proudshot shouted, landing in front of Noble. “We have to send notice of this to the Princesses,” Brave said, joining his comrades, holding his hammer in both hands. “There won’t be time!” Proud shouted, “By the time it gets there, it’ll already be too late!” The three stood close together, racking their brains, trying to find the best way to get the message out. “Even the fastest pegasus among us would take over an hour to get there…” Noble panted, having finally gotten to his feet, “And that was if he was healthy!” “We don’t have direct lines to the princess either,” Brave said, “That would make it easier…” “And we can’t just keep fighting…This isn’t going to end well if we just keep fighting like this…” Proud pointed out. The prisoner was beginning to shake off the effect of the ice arrows, looking over his opponents menacingly, like a predator waiting for its prey. At once, Noble Sword came to a decision. “There is one way…!” he announced, gathering all his focus. By the time Brave and Proud turned to see him, they saw his horn glowing a brilliant red, his entire body seemingly glowing with yet-unseen power. “Noble, no!” Brave shouted, “Canterlot is too far! If you try to teleport straight there, it could take up more magic than you have!” “If I do nothing, the result’s going to be the same!” Noble shouted, “This is the kind of thing we’ve trained for, remember?! ‘To protect and serve together’…that was the pact we made as kids, right?” Brave and Pride both hesitated, but eventually gave a slow nod, knowing he was right. “Lay your trust on me,” Noble grunted, only now becoming aware of how much magic he was using up, “I promise that we will live to fight again!” The magic on his horn and in his body reached its critical point. At that moment, there was a violent flash that enveloped Noble’s vision… ---------------- Noble Sword gave a sharp gasp, sitting straight up in his bed, sweat coming out of what felt like every pore on his body. His entire body immediately screamed at him in protest, and he immediately slumped backwards with a groan. Finally, his eyes opened—and he realized he was only able to see out of one eye. He patted at his face with one arm—even that act sent his nerves on a hissy fit.   “Right…” Noble grumbled to himself, “Last night…”   He looked slowly around the room, seeing a lot of familiar ponies resting up. They were probably in no better condition than he was, and Noble began to worry.   “Did…” Noble said aloud, “Did I make it?”   “Do not worry,” a gentle voice said from his left, causing him to give a knowing gasp, “You have done your duty.”   Noble gently turned his head towards the voice, seeing Princess Celestia standing there, overlooking not just him specifically, but the whole room.   “P-princess…” Noble groaned, trying to lift himself up again.   “No,” Princess Celestia said to him, in a gentle voice, “It’s okay. Please do not push yourself any further.”   “The gates—“ continued Noble, trying his hardest to convey the situation he wasn’t sure if he had managed to tell.   “We know,” Celestia said, “We know very well what happened down there now. After your…report, on the incident, Princess Luna came down to help resolve the issue. Still, we’re trying to figure out who escaped and how this all happened…”   Noble paused, looking down towards his sheets now. He felt ill, knowing this had happened the way it did.   “If only I’d realized it sooner…” Noble said after an uneasy silence, “Maybe we could have—‘   “Calm down,” Celestia said, all calmness herself, not letting her tone betray the uneasiness she felt knowing that Tartarus had, even if for a little while, been compromised, “Nopony had any way of knowing that this was going to happen. You did what you could, and because of it, nopony from the squads was mortally wounded. For now, take a rest. You have done your duty.”   Noble continued to look up towards the princess for several seconds, but he had no words to say. He looked around the room—truly looked around the room, for the first time. He could see many familiar faces from the battle that night.   “They are here today, thanks to you…” Celestia said.   Noble at last closed his eyes, letting out a small sigh of relief. He allowed himself to lower back onto his pillow, feeling comfortable for the first time since the riot broke out. Within seconds, he was back to sleep. Not that Princess Celestia could blame him. She sat there for a while longer, looking over the injured.   I can not thank you all enough for your efforts, Celestia thought to herself, Were it not for your brave sacrifices— “Sister…” The voice was familiar; Celestia turned to see who it was. At the door was Princess Luna, in her royal battle armor—the same color as her usual regalia, but far more protective. Aside from a few scuffs on the armor itself, Luna was completely unharmed—seeing her sister unharmed, Celestia sighed in relief.   “Welcome home, Luna,” Celestia said, walking over to Luna. However, as she got closer, Celestia quickly took notice of her sister’s expression. It wasn’t a proud look; one that let you know everything was alright.   “What happened?” Celestia whispered—even that would be pushing it, she spoke so quietly. Luna looked around at the guards who were bandaged up in the room, before looking back to Celestia.   “Come with me,” Luna said, taking half a step away, “There is something I must share with you…” ---------------- John had found himself a nice open area on top of a hill to lay back on. After the blood that was in his head had finally begun circulating normally through his system, John decided to take some time to himself for a change. He looked up into the sky, at the clouds, something he hadn’t done in years, as he indulged in his rest.   Wonder what it’d feel like… John thought to himself, reaching up to the sky with one clawed hand. To stand on a cloud? Maybe I’ll get a chance one of these days. You can stand on clouds here, after all…   Much as he liked just lying back and thinking about things, it wasn’t something he found entertaining in large doses. Picking himself up from the ground, John began to think about other things, or rather, people.   Wonder what the others are up to… John thought, Other than Fluttershy, I haven’t seen any of the others…usually I’d have run into Rainbow practicing or Applejack going in or out of town by now. But then again, Fluttershy did say she had somewhere to be…so maybe they’re all together?   John began to make his way down his hill, wondering exactly what was going on. It certainly made sense that they’d be together. Yet, previous experience from the show told him that it could be bad; however, John dismissed this—since he and Corey entered Equestria, it had been peaceful. He had no reason to worry about it.   Eventually, John managed to make his way back into town. At first glance, everything looked normal. Everypony in the town seemed to be going about their business, walking around on the ground or flying over his head. Speaking of which, as John continued to look into the sky, he noticed two certain pegasi up there.   “Hey, it’s Fluttershy and Rainbow,” John said to himself aloud, seeing them flying in his direction. He raised a hand to them in a wave.   “Hey Rainbow,” John raised his voice just a little—not too much, he was in the middle of town, “When’s the next—“   As if they hadn’t noticed him, Rainbow and Fluttershy kept going past him.   “Flying…lesson…” John watched them fly off for a few seconds more, before shrugging, “Guess they didn’t hear me. They were pretty high up. Oh well, guess I’ll try to catch her later.”   With that, John began to walk back towards the library, one thing on his mind.   “Guess I’ll see what Corey’s up to,” John said, chuckling to himself as Corey’s sleeping habits popped up in his head, “If he’s awake, that is…” ---------------- Corey held his hands out in front of him, cupping them like they were full of water, eyes closed, focusing. He’d been at this step for at least an hour after getting back in his regular clothes and otherwise just preparing for the day. Of course, he hadn’t had much luck in his previous attempts.   Twilight was more or less reading one of the beginner’s books, trying to figure out what to do next, despite the clouds in her head. She would occasionally glance over to him, but mainly left him to his devices.   What should I teach him first…? Twilight thought, looking over the pages, I guess you can’t go wrong with levitation…but what else after that? It’s not like I can teach him self-defense spells without him knowing something’s up…   She looked over to him, his face strained with focus.   He’s already been through so much… she thought to herself. As she looked to him, she saw something come off of Corey’s hands: a pulse, green in color. Twilight paused, seeing this.   “Is he…” she said aloud to herself, seeing it. A few moments later, small, indiscernible shapes began to form around Corey’s hands.   It happened all at once from there. Another pulse of magical energy came off of Corey’s hands, then another. After the third pulse, a black mist seemed to form, and the green zeroes and ones began to fill the mist. Twilight suppressed the urge to call out to Corey to tell him what was wrong—he’d spent quite a while trying to get this far, and she didn’t want to risk him losing his concentration now.   Instead, Twilight rose from her seat and walked up to Corey, reaching out to touch his shoulder. When her hand made contact, Corey turned, eyes open, apparently not noticing the magical projection over his hands. All he could see was her smiling back to him.   “What?” Corey asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.   Twilight didn’t say anything; she only tilted her head slightly, motioning him to look back to his hands. Confused, Corey followed the direction, and eventually, he saw it, letting out a gasp.   “I…” Corey started, staring at the binary cloud, “I did it…”   “I knew you could do it,” Twilight said.   “Up until now…that made one of us…” Corey said, “Part of me wondered…if I’d ever be able to pull it off, but now…”   Twilight giggled a little as a memory washed over her.   Reminds me of when I first used magic… she thought to herself, Though…it wasn’t as…controlled. But still, I bet I felt the same way…   Twilight blinked, realizing she was now looking up towards the ceiling. Had she zoned out? Whatever the case, she had to get back on track as a teacher.   “Now that you managed to use the spell, we need to work on your control a bit,” Twilight said, moving her head to look back to Corey, “It took you nearly—“   She halted, looking at Corey now. He hadn’t changed back into whatever he looked like before; he certainly hadn’t undergone any massive change. But it was the smallest change that counted.   He’s…smiling. Twilight thought, looking at his face. It’s not like I haven’t seen him smile before this, but now… Twilight continued to stare at Corey, who continued to smile at the projection of his cutie mark. There was a certain sparkle in his eyes, a glimmer of pride she hadn’t seen in him since he first arrived. It’s like all of his previous smiles were just a mask…Is this…is this the real him?   Corey eventually noticed Twilight wasn’t looking at his projection anymore. When he looked back to her, he saw that her focus was now entirely on him—a fact that suddenly made him very uncomfortable.   “W-what’s wrong?” Corey asked flatly.   Twilight realized she was staring, and very lightly blushed, realizing what she was doing.   “O-oh, it’s…it’s nothing,” Twilight said, looking away slightly, “It was just…well, your smile…”   “M-my smile…?” Corey asked, his eyes wide, “W-what’s wrong with…?” Corey’s projection disappeared, as he moved his hands to hide his mouth.   “N-nothing!” Twilight said, turning back to him, “Nothing at all! It’s just…well, for the first time since I met you, you actually looked happy…”   Corey blinked, unsure what exactly she was talking about. But any response he had was shot down by Twilight’s next statement.   “You have a really nice smile, you know…”   “O-oh…” Corey stuttered, his face rapidly flushing.   Fatal error at response.exe. Reboot in Safe Mode?   “Um, thank you…” Corey said, “Y-you have…you have a nice smile too…”   Why did I say that?! Corey thought to himself, embarrassed at his reaction.   Twilight blushed slightly, and the air in the room changed again—now a fog of awkward had settled into the room, and for the life of her, Twilight couldn’t figure out an answer to the new question that plagued her.   W-what…what just happened?