Act IV: Climactic Collisions
Chapter 2: Mid-Month
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The sound of some impressive machinery could be heard coming from behind the tarp that Pinkie had set up two weeks prior. The guards stationed to watch over it couldn’t help but wonder just what was going on behind it. Her keep-out policy had been upheld; no one was allowed to enter without her permission, regardless of what sounds were heard. The biggest question of all remained the same the whole time: What was she building under there?
“It’s a giant robot.”
One guard slowly turned his head towards another, who had uttered the statement. “What?” he asked with an arched brow. The guard who had brought up the possibility looked back held a serious expression the whole time.
“Think about it,” he said, looking back to the tarp, “She sections off a large piece of land in town and covers it from sight. Suddenly she gets a shipment of unmarked crates filled with heavy equipment and did not let a single creature see what was inside.”
The first guard simply rolled his eyes and sighed. “Everything she and the others are doing is supposed to be secret in case we’re still being watched. Otherwise, no matter what they do this month, it’d mean nothing if the enemy was preparing to counter it.”
A third guard joined in, supporting the proposed theory, “Nah, man, haven’t you heard what’s been going down behind the tarp? The different types of tools used? The revving of engines? The random—“
“Hit the deck!” Pinkie called out, diving out from behind the tarp. This wasn’t the first time it happened, so all guards present were ready and dove for the ground. Just as the lot of them and Pinkie dropped to the ground, a blast of fire erupted out from the tarp. Fire continued to gush out of the tarp, threatening to grow larger with every moment.
“Oh no you don’t!” Pinkie yelled as she reached into her mane and pulled out a large fire extinguisher. Rather than use it as directed, Pinkie took it in both hands and rushed the tarp, a hand placed on the release valve. Stopping her run suddenly, Pinkie skidded across the ground growing dangerously close to the flames. She didn’t even hesitate.
Once she was close enough, Pinkie turned the release valve hard enough to break it off the tank. With nothing to hold back the pressure within, the extinguisher’s contents exploded out of the newly created hole effectively engulfing the flames and snuffing them out before they could cause any further damage.
Smoke rose from the tarp and scorches marked the ground as everyone waited for signs the fire would start again. But after several seconds, it became apparent that it wasn’t going to do it. Pinkie finally sighed in relief and turned to the guards. “Everypony okay?”
Some guards stared in awe. Since Pinkie had entered the tarp, they hadn’t seen so much of a tail out of her for two weeks. What they were seeing now wasn’t at all what they had remembered from the day she’d entered. Her body hadn’t just slimmed in the time that had passed, but she was starting to gain muscle tone as well. Whatever she’d been doing for the past fourteen days clearly had some side benefits, going by her ripping off a hunk of a metal fire extinguisher. One guard finally managed to walk up to her.
“What was that?” he asked.
Pinkie let out a groan and ran her hands through her mane. “Something I need to fix,” Even now, she couldn’t reveal just what it was she was working on, “Problem is, I don’t know how…”
With her head hanging in defeat, Pinkie began to walk towards the tarp again. The guard that watched felt that he needed to say something, anything that could pick her up off the ditch she seemed to have run into in her work.
“You know,” he said, getting her attention, “Sometimes, the answers can’t be found by looking at the problem. Sometimes it comes when the mind is just allowed to relax and let the thought process flow.” Pinkie looked to the guard, then back to the tarp. When she looked to the tarp again, she found it impossible not to cringe a little.
“You know what, you might be right,” Turning back to the guard with a smile, she began to walk away from her workspace, “I’m going to take a little walk. I’ll be back soon.” She quickly waved goodbye afterwards. However, before she could totally leave the area, she suddenly dashed back to the guard, appearing as little more than a blur for a second.
“No peeking,” she said, pointing at him and looking him dead in the eyes. Once the guard nodded in acceptance, Pinkie patted him on the helmet and walked off without a word.
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Pinkie’s walk took her outside the town’s limits. She’d hoped that getting away from everything would clear her mind. Standing at a bridge over a small lake, Pinkie stared down at the flowing water as she tossed muffin crumbs to the ducks below. She smiled as they scattered across the water for the offering of food. Not a care in the world, not even knowing anything that was happening outside their own little world. A life of blissful ignorance that Pinkie had missed the past couple of weeks.
And if I can’t figure this out… I might not be the only one who will have that taken from them…
Her smile faded as she was reminded of her problem. She was close, so much so that she could feel it in her stomach. But she was still one giant leap from reaching her goal, one she was growing fearful that she wouldn’t make. In the back of her mind, she knew that if she couldn’t, then everything she’d tried to do this month would be for nothing and she would be the only one empty-handed when everyone got together for the final battle.
That was something she just couldn’t allow. She was someone who had to have something ready even when no one was expecting it. Or, in her case, especially because no one was expected it. She had to do this, not just because of everyone else, but for herself, so she could prove to herself she was more useful to them than even she believed.
“But what do I do? What can I do?” She asked, never once noticing she wasn’t alone.
“Pinkie?” she yelped slightly in surprise from suddenly hearing another voice, but quickly calmed down when she noticed who it was.
“Oh, Spike, it’s you,” she said, letting out a sigh, “Don’t scare me like that.” She put a hand to her chest.
“Oh, uh, I’m sorry,” Spike said, rubbing the back of his head, “I was just taking a walk when I noticed you. You seemed a little down, so I thought I’d see if you were okay.” Again, Pinkie found it in herself to smile.
“Well, aren’t you my little guardian angel,” She said, rubbing the dragon’s head. Spike grumbled slightly, unable to hide the light blush that formed on his face.
“I wish…” he said, “But it’s pretty clear now that I can’t do anything other than stay where it’s safe while you all risk your lives.” Pinkie’s heard bled out for Spike. The need to help others was something he’d always had since she’d first met him. And yet, due to his age, he wasn’t capable of what he desired to be in this situation.
“You’ll get your chance one day, Spike,” said Pinkie as she hoisted Spike on top of the railing of the bridge, “For all you know, your time might be just around the corner, but you have to let it find you, not the other way around.”
Spike could only let out a small sigh. That didn’t make him feel much better. “I guess so…” He sat down, “Just wish there was something I could do… hey! Maybe I could help you?”
Pinkie looked back at Spike with furrowed brows and clicked her teeth, “Sorry, kiddo, but kind of hard to help me with something only I understand.” Even Princess Celestia wasn’t able to fully understand Pinkie’s blueprints beyond the premise of it all.
“And even I’m kind of stuck on it.”
“What’s the problem?” Spike asked.
Pinkie leaned back on the railing for a few moments, looking up to the sky, “Between you and me, it’s the power source for the engine. I’m trying to find something that can fuel it without causing an explosion.” Again, she sighed and leaned back far enough to look back down at the water below them.
“Coal works, but it runs out too quickly. I can’t just stop to restock it every few minutes. Only way I can fix that quickly is if I could find an endless source of—“ Pinkie’s sentence broke off as something slowly dawned on her. Her eyes opened wide as an idea popped into her head and she turned to look at Spike once again. In a bizarre second, Pinkie’s eyes lit up like a lightbulb and she grabbed Spike, giving him a patented ear-to-ear Pinkie Pie smile.
“Hey Spike,” she said, “How’d you like to help Auntie Pinkie with something?”
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Night had come, bringing with it an end to today’s trials and tribulations. With it, came the time to rest and prepare for the next day. With each day, everyone had grown stronger. At least, that’s what Corey hoped for everyone.
Fourteen days had finally passed now. Corey had started keeping count since the first day of his physical conditioning, if only so he knew when the physical aspect would end. Sure enough, after the last training session had passed, Corey was instructed to go ahead and leave the armor in the room: by that point, Celestia had said it ran the very real risk of falling through a floor or two if he had taken it off in any other room with the weight it was at.
For his part, Corey didn’t doubt it; it seemed very likely it would be able to do that. That said, he didn’t bother asking if his armor really was that heavy. It was heavy enough the first day and he knew the weight was increasing each day.
None of that was truly on his mind now, though. Tomorrow morning, his mental training would finally start, and he’d be building his magical abilities directly. That was the hope, anyway.
Matching his chosen path, Corey hadn’t stayed at the library like usual, but in one of the castle’s spare bedrooms. It was quite a walk from there to the training room, three floors down and almost clear on the other side of the castle. Needless to say, the path was a lot easier to walk without the tons of extra weight.
Right now, he was changing out of his regular clothes into something he felt comfortable sleeping in. He had managed to get into some pants when his gaze fell onto his shoulder. Sure enough, that old wound hadn’t healed right, even with the aid of his magic’s return. He ran two fingers over the area. Some of the fur still hadn’t grown back fully on either side of his shoulder, and he could feel a crater on the skin in the same general area.
It didn’t heal fast enough, huh? Corey thought, pausing in reflection, I guess not.
Corey continued to survey himself. A few weeks ago, he’d have been lucky to do anything other than walk in a straight line for a few minutes without running out of breath. Even after the transfer his body hadn’t completely slimmed down. Now, after weeks of doing so much more than he ever thought he’d ever do, that he’d ever thought possible for him to do?
He could tell he was healthier than he’d ever been in a long time just by looking down at his torso.
Why did it take me this much to get me to change myself? Corey paused, running a hand over his face.
“Oh, there you…” Twilight said. Corey’s ear flicked as he registered the voice and turned to face her. She had just enough time to recover from whatever had given her pause, “Are, Corey.”
“Twilight?” Corey asked, standing up and beginning to walk over to her. He hardly felt self-conscious at all now, but where that came from, Corey didn’t exactly know, “Why’d you come all the way up here?”
“We’re halfway through the month now,” Twilight said, “I… I wanted to see how you were doing.”
Corey paused for a moment. He eventually rubbed the back of his head and sighed. “I’m not going to lie, the last two weeks were tough. Which, yeah, that’s the point, but still… I thought conditioning with Shining was bad until this.”
Twilight paused for a few moments, “Yeah, but I think the results speak for themselves.”
“Wearing an enchanted suit of armor that got heavier each day made it harder still,” Corey said, “Princess Celestia said she’d gotten the idea of weighted armor from—“
“Rainbow, yeah,” Twilight said, “They’ve all gotten used to it now, but from what I can gather, looks like they’re changing up how they’re going about it for the next two weeks.”
There was a short pause, during which Twilight’s gaze flicked to her right—Corey’s left. “Oh, your shoulder…”
“Huh?” Corey looked, having somehow forgotten what he’d just ran his finger over, “Oh… yeah. It didn’t heal like the rest of my injuries did. Didn’t get my magic back in time, so it had to heal naturally.”
“I guess the fur over it will grow back evenly, eventually,” Twilight observed, “But still… Is it the same on the other side?”
“Yeah,” Corey said, “Though, truth be told, I’m… I’m actually sort of glad this didn’t heal over like the other injuries.”
“Why is that?” Twilight asked.
“It left a mark on me, something I can look at to remind myself about what brought me to the point I’m at now,” Corey said, “How much I’ve grown…”
Twilight sighed. “I think this whole mess has left a mark on us all, Corey. And everyone’s grown for it,” She moved forward, lowering her hand to his shoulder softly.
She blinked a moment, and looked to the shoulder again as though fully realizing what it was. Corey immediately took notice of this, and felt something pass over him.
I’m getting déjà vu… Corey thought.
“S-some… more than others,” Twilight said, her eyes growing wide as a small blush grew on her face. She shook her head and retracted her hand quickly, “D-don’t take this the wrong way now… but c-could you put a shirt on, Corey?”
“Huh?” Corey’s surprise was a lot duller than he expected it to be. It wasn’t that she seemed blown away by his new muscle tone… again, that got to him. Well, okay, it was that, and he was not used to getting looked at in that way. But also, it raised one very important question, “A-am I distracting you?”
Had that statement left just about any other person’s mouth, it would have been taken as flirting. Even leaving Corey’s mouth it probably came off as such. And had anyone else been in Twilight’s position, they would have probably taken it a bit differently.
“M-m-maybe a little…” Twilight meekly said, with absolutely no flirtatious intent in her tone. Not that she could have mustered any under the circumstances.
There was a long, awkward pause afterward as Corey shuffled his way over to the nearest shirt to put it on. The whole time, neither of them wanted to tell the other they could hear someone, somewhere nearby, suppressing the urge to laugh. Twilight made her way inside the room. As Corey finally slid some fabric over his upper body, he finally found it in him to break the silence.
“So, Twilight, what’s happened on your end?” Corey asked, “How has it been for you?”
“It hasn’t been easy,” Twilight smiled, “But it’s worth it. Rarity’s working her way up to reversing the flow of a waterfall with her magic.”
Corey blinked. “Reverse a waterfall?”
“Yeah. She saw me doing it, which surprised me, too,” Twilight said, “I didn’t think we’d get so far along in just two weeks… I wonder where we’d be by the end of the month, if we’re already where we are now.”
“I…” Corey started, “I don’t know where I’d stand in terms of magic. The last two weeks were all physical. Other than what I’m sure happened overnight every night; my body repairing itself from the training done all day, of course. The magical part should start tomorrow.”
“That’s the other two weeks, then?” Twilight asked, “How do you feel now? About what you’ve done?”
“I still feel stronger than I was two weeks ago,” Corey said, “And I don’t know how much more powerful I’ll get in the next two weeks.”
There was another short pause, as both considered what the rest of the month would mean to them. This time, Twilight broke the silence.
“Once all this is done, I’d like to see what it’s come to for you,” she said, closing her eyes as the situation washed over her yet again, “If we’ve won it in the end—“
“No,” was Corey’s only reply.
Twilight opened her eyes, blinked them once, and found Corey was looking her directly in the eyes. “W-what are you saying?”
Corey didn’t even seem to doubt what he was saying, and didn’t even take a second to think about it. “It’s not if we win, it’s when we win.”
Twilight blinked again, taken aback by one simple thing. She supposed it shouldn’t have been surprising, all things considered, but matching with his mental state just before Kurama’s attack? No, even that wouldn’t have encapsulated it.
He’s gained more confidence than I’ve ever seen anyone gain in such a short amount of time… Twilight thought, He said that with more conviction than I’ve ever seen in anyone…
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Celestia sat in her office as she began putting the final touches to her plans for the rest of the month. After spending half of it working on Corey’s physical attributes, it was time to the equally important mental aspect.
“He’s progressing faster than I could have hoped,” she said, “At this rate, there’s no telling what he could accomplish.” She looked down to her notes once more. It had been quite a while since she’d done any kind of training like this. But still, she felt there was no other way that would truly push Corey’s progression faster.
“So far, Norma’s been quiet. No doubt, she’s so sure that her own victory is assured no matter what we do… It’s best she continues to hold on to that belief,” If nothing else, arrogance would lead to her downfall, and more importantly, their victory. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time she’d seen it happen. Yet, as much as she enjoyed the much-needed silence, she knew deep down there would still be waves in the water.
“Princess Celestia!” A frantic voice accompanied by a rapid knocking on the door caused her heart to sink.
No… She rose up, immediately marching over to the door, It’s too soon!
As she opened it, the guard standing outside quickly saluted her.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You ordered us to keep an eye for any suspicious activity regarding the escaped prisoners. And… something has occurred,” The guard looked confused as he tried to explain, an envelope in his hands as he tried to think of what to say, “We… we haven’t seen any activity from the remaining active prisoners, but… Just look at this…”
He allowed Princess Celestia to take it from his hands. She undid the seal of the envelope and pulled out what looked like a photograph of a large, freshly dug up hole.
“I… I don’t understand…”
“That… That is where Nemean Lyon was buried.”
Celestia’s heart froze, the implications rushing into her mind faster than she could process them. He was dead, they had examined his body for days and there were no signs of anything that could have said otherwise. And yet, now she was staring at a grave, void of any body. The thoughts continued to surge, but Celestia forced them into repose; silenced by a pair of closed eyes and a deep breath.
“Insure that the other prisoners’ bodies are still where they were buried. Inform me if anything about their status changes. While you’re at it, investigate Lyon’s grave for any indication of what occurred.”
The guard saluted once more before going off to accomplish the delegated task, leaving Celestia behind with the photo.
Whatever this is, it’s clear our enemy is preparing as well…
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He’d lost track of the time that had passed since he first woke up, floating in that red sphere of magic. He’d lost track of the time that had passed since the fire within him had kindled. Above all else, he’d lost track of the time that had passed since he vowed revenge on the pony that did this to him. Norma had periodically checked on him whenever it seemed to occur to her that yes, he was still within her healing magic.
Slayer had silently floated in the orb ever since he’d learned of the delay of the endgame. He had made his intentions clear from the start he’d never intended to stay there while they let them have their time. Maybe that was why Norma was delaying letting him out.
No, no, she’d been perfectly clear on what she would do if he tried anything of the sort.
“You’ve stewed in your hate very long already, Slayer,” She had said in a mock-sweet tone, “And although it does you great to keep doing that, should you break the terms of the agreement, and go attacking them before our time is up, I can guarantee you’ll be right back in that orb, stewing in it some more. And if someone should kill your target at the final stretch? What will you do to fill the void he left you with?”
Ever since then, Slayer had quietly continued to stew. He would have his revenge. No one else would take it from him. He had waited before for a target, and although this one had caused him personal grievances, he would continue to wait.
The sound of steps could be heard. Slayer had finally opened his eyes. Sure enough, there she was, walking into the room. She still had not taken her hood down, not once, since Slayer had first met her and been roped into this game of hers. She stopped just in front of the orb and put one hand to it for a few moments.
“Hmm,” Norma said, “Alright, I think you’re finally done in there.”
Slayer didn’t say anything, continuing to watch as Norma’s hand began to glow.
“Brace yourself,” was her only command as the orb began to vanish. Slayer felt gravity start to assert itself on his body once again. Quickly, Slayer began to move to right himself, and managed to land on his feet despite the rather sudden intrusion. Slayer slowly began to stand up straight.
“I trust you know what’ll happen should you break my trust?” Norma asked.
“Of course,” Slayer said through clenched teeth.
“Good. Now, do whatever you wish to in order to prepare. I know the other two have already begun their own preparations,” said Norma, already turning to leave, “And I must do the same. There are quite a few things I need to make sure I account for on that day…”
Slayer watched as Norma turned on her heel and began walking in a straight line out of the room. While he would love to do nothing more than turn his back on this game, he couldn’t chance it. There was still too much he didn’t know about his so-called leader.
“Remember,” Norma reminded, “Whatever you do, I would advise you keep it to the caves. I will tell you when you can move for your revenge…”
And just like that, she was gone, leaving Slayer in the room again. Slayer began to feel his body shake for a moment, as several feelings began to hit him all at once.
He’d survived.
He’d healed.
He had his chance now. And it would be very, very foolish to blow it now.
“Very well,” Slayer said with nothing more than a minor sigh, “I will remain here. But only until this is over.”
Slayer lifted a hand to his face, which glowed with a burst of dark magic, same with his horn, as a truly demented grin split his face.
“I know you know I’m still alive,” he spat in disgust, his thoughts once again turning to those of vengeance, “And I will make you suffer so much for what you’ve done to me. Prepare yourself…”