//------------------------------// // Act 4 Chapter 8 // Story: Collision Code // by SSJRandomMaster //------------------------------// Act IV: Climactic Collisions Chapter 8: The Day of Reckoning ------------------------------ For days, they’d spent their time honing their respective skills. For weeks, they’d labored to be sure they were ready for what was to come. For the entire month, their sole focus was to prepare for the final battle. All of them had taken steps to ensure that when the dust settled, it would be their respective team that would stand on top.   All that the eight of them could do now was go forth to the day and hope that when it was over, the fruits of their labor would be plentiful enough to win it all. As soon as the word was spoken, all eyes turned towards Canterlot, and the heroes converged.   It was time to end this. ------------------------------ Princess Celestia sat in her throne room, looking over the various plans for today. It was a simple plan, and indeed, a plan that hadn’t been put into practice for a long time, but with things being the way they were, she had no other choice.   The first step was to move all the citizens out of town—Canterlot was about to become a warzone, and the last thing she wanted was for any of her little ponies to get caught up in the chaos if it could be helped. The evacuation order was passed down in the days leading up to today as preparations were finalized.   Secondly, Canterlot was partitioned into four zones using the castle at the center. Each of the zones was one of the cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. The guards, as well as the team that had been at the epicenter of the incident, had also been split among the quadrants, each guarding a sector. She didn’t expect things to stay that way forever, but at least for now, it was a safe bet to have them guard each one.   There was one other thing to do, but until the chaos began there was no point in carrying it out. Celestia and Luna had their own plans to deal with the leader.   John should have gotten word that his time was almost up, and should be on his way back, Celestia thought, He bought us all this time... Last I heard, from Luna, he was holding up well. Then, there was the issue of the latest of her students. He’d been more or less holed up in the meditation room, and only really came out to eat. She had no idea what he’d come up with in the last three days since his breakthrough, and hadn’t had time to really check. All she’d heard from Corey in the time leading up to today was about his vision.   Celestia sighed. While Corey’s story had helped them out a bit in preparing, there was still nothing they could do to pinpoint exactly where Para Norma was. However, knowing what was at her disposal, and exactly why she was in Tartarus to begin with, that was enough information for Celestia to make her conclusions.   She had other plans in store for Para Norma. For now, though, it was up to everypony—everyone, that is—to ensure that things went smoothly today.   From here on out, it’s up to you all. Princess Celestia thought, But don’t worry… I don’t intend to take this invasion lightly… ------------------------------ He could feel it in the air—it was almost time for everyone to see if their weeks of preparation would pay off. But it was just that—almost time for that to happen. Right now, it was merely the calm before the storm. For the first time since the month began, Corey found himself with little to do but wait. He had to trust that everything he’d done until this day would prove enough. So, Corey was left with a choice—what would he do until the time came?   Reading, of course! It wasn’t like he had video games or Youtube to kill time with now, and he couldn’t exactly do any kind of exercise—he needed every bit of stamina and power he could spare for today. Besides, Corey did enjoy the act of reading. He just hadn’t had the inclination or the time to pursue the hobby until now. For his part, it was refreshing to simply sit back and read a story without its content driving him mad.   I could get used to this… Corey thought to himself as he flipped through another page.   His chosen area for reading was a large balcony close to the top of the castle, one with a clear view of the vast land of Equestria stretched out beneath it. It was peaceful, bright, and calming, but there was another reason he was there: a promise he made four weeks ago. He would be the first one seen upon his friend’s return, just as he was the last seen before that same friend departed.   Although Corey didn’t know when he would arrive, something in the back of Corey’s mind told him that the friend would be there very soon—else, the promise would have held no meaning. So, Corey waited—it was all he could do. Time passed him by without notice as he drew towards the middle of his book. He was so invested in the story by that point that a shadow that passed over him went either unnoticed or ignored. What he couldn’t exactly claim to have not noticed was the floor at his feet quaking, but it did not steal his attention away from the pages.   Show off… Corey shook his head lightly, finishing the chapter he was on as the trembling came to a halt. Noting the chapter and page numbers for later, Corey closed his book and placed it down to his side. After getting up, he began to walk over to the center where the impact had occurred.   “You’re early, John,” The dragon in question was still in his landing position, kneeled down with his fist planted on the ground. Corey lightly chuckled at the pose, “And really, the superhero position? I haven’t let out a ‘You’re too slow’ in weeks…”   John looked up and grinned as he stood up. “But that’s too much?”   “Maybe,” Corey continued to walk as he drew his arm back, “You been training hard?” he asked as John brought his own arm back as well.   “Yeah, and you?”   “Let’s find out.”   Once both were close enough, they swung their arms, each hand colliding with one another and held in a firm grip. There was a small pulse that came off from the force of the impact, a visible yet light shockwave pulsing out from around them exactly once.   “You’ve grown stronger,” said John.   “I see you’ve grown a few more scars yourself,” Corey said, looking John in the eyes—well, eye, rather. While one was fine, the other was closed, a visible scar running over the eyelid. It didn’t take much to connect the dots, “You probably have a really good story about it—“   “And do I ever…”  John grumbled.   “But you can share it at the party.”   John looked at Corey for a moment in confusion. Even with Pinkie being… Pinkie, he was sure even she had some limits as to when she would and wouldn’t throw one. “What party?”   Corey smiled and patted John on the back, beginning to walk towards the balcony entrance. “It’s it obvious?”   Corey stopped in the doorway, turning his head aside to look back at John, “I mean the victory party.”   John stood there for a moment, watching his friend leave. He almost couldn’t believe the Corey he just saw was real, all things considered.   Well… you’ve grown more than I thought, Corey. ------------------------------ Twilight knew this day was coming for a long time. Yet, no matter how she went about it, she just wished it didn’t have to come down to this. If they lost here, that would be it. She had heard of Corey’s vision, where he’d talked with Esper again. Though Twilight had tried to do something to prepare herself for the level of magic she knew she’d be up against, there were still many, many things she hadn’t tested.   There was another, more pressing matter eating away at her too. The attack was likely to start at any moment, and she had been stationed in North Canterlot together with someone—someone she hadn’t seen as much of for the last month.   “Just where is he?” she asked herself, looking around from one of the building tops. The buildings, as expected, seemed deserted, except for the guards all facing out towards the north border of the city. They knew the situation, and stood at the ready, waiting for something to happen.   Twilight reviewed her options for a while, and sighed, reaching into one of her pockets to pull out a small device that could fit over her ear—another gift from Pinkie Pie. Twilight found herself wondering how Pinkie found time for this—especially with the project she’d been laboring with for the past month. She sighed again, putting it over her ear, and was just about to speak up when she noticed a few of the guards’ heads snap to the left.   “What is that?” one of the guards asked.   “Looks familiar…” another commented.   “It’s a…green blur?”   Twilight looked to her left, able to see what the guards were looking at. She saw the rapidly approaching green blur and realized immediately what it was.   “That’s him!” Twilight said, squinting, “I think he’s faster than he was before…”   Within several seconds, the green blur stopped, within view of Twilight and everyone else. Corey stood tall, looking around for a few moments, seemingly surprised—did he not notice he was moving fast until now? His eyes eventually fell on her, and he waved.   “Corey!” Twilight said, lifting off easily enough and floating over to him, “Where have you been?”   “Fulfilling a promise,” Corey said, his eyes flicking over to her ear, “Up at the castle until recently. Were you about to call?”   “Well, yeah,” Twilight said, “Just what were you doing anyway?”   “Meeting John. He made it back in time,” Corey said, “This time, there’s a little time to spare though, right? Last time he left to improve himself he was a little late…”   Twilight paused. Something about Corey’s behavior seemed off compared to all the other times, disregarding the incident up in the Crystal Empire. He seemed… casual, almost. If he was scared, it didn’t show as clearly as it did before. She couldn’t help but frown.   Corey noticed almost right away. “Is something wrong, Twilight?”   Twilight sighed. “I’m concerned… I know you’re confident we’ll win out in the end, but this isn’t just a game, you know.”   “I know,” Corey said, “But I can’t let it get to me…”   There was a short pause. Twilight managed to put a smile on her face for a moment.   “Just don’t do anything rash, okay?” Twilight asked.   It was then Twilight heard a voice in her ear.   “For crying out loud, you two, save it for after this is over!” Rainbow’s voice came through loud and clear over the device in her ear. Twilight immediately paused as heat rose to her face.   Corey paused as well, digging into his pocket for his own earpiece. “Was that on the whole time?”   “I didn’t know…” Twilight whispered, mortified, “I’ll have to remember that for later…”   “Indeed…” Corey shook his head, putting his in place, “I made it to North Canterlot, everyone. John’s back. He’ll be down south soon enough.” ------------------------------ Rainbow had always been the laid back time, able to kick back and relax one moment, then jump into action the next. She never really sweated the big things and was always more than confident enough in her own ability to take on any challenge that may come her way. Today was different—the task at hand felt larger. Not just that, either—her own body felt like it wasn’t hers. She’d trained hard for the last month; the weighted armor she’d worn making it hard to see if she was making any progress at all.   But that all changed the moment she could finally take it off. Until that moment, she felt chained down to earth. As soon as that weighted metal was removed, though, she felt like she truly knew what it meant to fly free. But now that she had, she wasn’t sure how far free she could go. The upper limits were unknown to her, and her body was restless in its desires to find out just what they were. She had to wait though—she needed all the stamina in her for what was to come.   “Everything’s ready on our end,” said an approaching guard, Rainbow nodded at him and then looked up.   “Still just one thing missing,” At Rainbow’s words, the guard looked down to his chart before looking back to her.   “What?”   “That,” Rainbow pointed straight up and the guard followed her finger until he finally saw something: a large object dropping down on them. The guard instinctively shuffled backwards out of the way, bracing for impact. But as the object drew within feet of the ground, the object’s momentum slowed to almost a complete stop, and landed softly on the ground.   “Miss me?” Rainbow smirked at John for a moment before beginning to walk past him.   “Oh, you were gone?” she asked, “Handn’t noticed.”   John chuckled and followed along, taking note of all the guards positioned in the area.   “Couldn’t help but notice that landing. Seems you got better,” Rainbow said looking back at him.   “Picked up a few tricks while I was away. Can’t say it came easy,” John ran his hand over the impressive scar over his closed eye; something that Rainbow hadn’t quite noticed. She was sure that there was a story behind that, but there wasn’t time for that stuff yet.   “I know the feeling; it hasn’t really been a cake walk for the rest of us either. Problem is, we haven’t really gotten the chances to see what we can do. And to be honest, I can’t wait to cut loose and find out.” But wait is what she would have to do, and she always found that to be the hardest thing of all. ------------------------------ Any time Rarity found herself standing in Canterlot, she always found herself noticing the fine craftsmanship that had gone into its creation. It was truly a sight of beauty to her eyes, and soon that sight would change. She had no doubt in her mind that when this was all over, the dust settled, that Canterlot would be in serious need of reapirs.   But I suppose it’s a small price to pay…   There were far more important things to worry about right now—namely, that there was still a Canterlot to return to when this was over.   “Rarity?” At the sound of the voice, she knew who it was immediately. Turning around, she was ready to greet her friend with a large smile.   “Fluttershy, it’s good to see you—whoa…” Aside from Twilight, Rarity hadn’t seen much of her friends for well more than a week. The last she saw Fluttershy was at their celebration marking the beginning of their training. And at that time, Fluttershy was still slim and meek.   That memory was quickly shattered when she saw Fluttershy now. Meek could no longer describe the pegasus she was seeing. There was some lean muscle visible on her exposed arms.   “Is… is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked. Immediately, Rarity knew that while Fluttershy had changed a lot on the outside, she hadn’t changed herself on the inside—something she found herself grateful for.   “No, darling, everything is just fine,” Rarity reassured her, “I suppose you can just chalk it up to pre-combat jitters. Even when counting the invasion from a little over a year ago, this certainly feels like a step above anything we’ve had to stand up against,” That was no exaggeration, either. Rarity had never prepared quite like she had before.   “I understand,” said Fluttershy, “Up until now, I’ve always tried to avoid these kinds of confrontations. I never thought I’d learn the hard way that sometimes you can’t run away from it,” Fluttershy paused, no doubt letting the memory wash over her. Rarity wasn’t sure she’d ever allow herself to forget it in the first place, given the kind of pony Fluttershy is.   “We all have done some growing, have we not? Even if the conditions weren’t as we would have liked…” They were all different ponies when this began, forced to change to fit what was required of them in this trying time. But neither could deny that they may very well have come out better for it on the other side.   “Ma’am?” Fluttershy and Rarity turned to see a guard in a saluted pose, “The weapon you requested…”   Rarity took notice of the mace in the guard’s hands, which was soon accepted by Fluttershy.   “Thank you,” Fluttershy said, before turning to look at Rarity, no doubt noticing the surprise on her face, “Her idea.”   Fluttershy motioned to her temples, and Rarity understood immediately.   “She thinks it’s something I can handle.”   As though to test the theory, Fluttershy took a few steps back until she was clear of everyone else. Then, Fluttershy gave the mace a near-effortless swing with one arm. After a few more test swings, Fluttershy allowed the length of the handle to rest comfortably on her shoulder.   “I think she may have been on to something,” said Rarity,” You’ve made a stunning amount of progress, dear. I can not wait to see it.”   Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Thank you, I can’t wait to see what you’ve learned too.”   “I may have a few surprises for you when that time comes.” ------------------------------ Unlike the others, Applejack’s position was different. While the others were posted with dozens of guards around them to protect their section, she was more or less alone. Leaning against a pillar close to the Canterlot train station, Applejack looked down at the clock in her hands. On occasion, the piece of straw in her mouth could shift from one side of her mouth to the other. Eventually, she clicked her tongue and pressed a finger to her ear.   “Hey Pinkie, you planning on showing up late?” she asked.   “I’m almost there!” Pinkie chimed back, her voice rather shaky, but Applejack couldn’t figure out why.”   “You said that twenty minutes ago.”   “And now I’m twenty minutes closer,” Pinkie stressed, “Sorry, Jackie, but I’m not going to be there as soon as I’d hoped. Don’t want to ruin the surprise but let’s say it’s hard to move around.”   Applejack wasn’t sure what to make of that, but after hearing how hard Pinkie worked on keeping it all a secret, she wasn’t going to pry. She and the others would see it when Pinkie was ready. Pinkie Pie being the pony known to deliver, Applejack had no reason to doubt her.   “Do what you can, Pinks. You know it ain’t a party without you.”   Just then, Applejack heard a faint whistle blow far off in the distance. A smirk slowly spread across her lips as she lowered her Stetson over her eyes. Turning her back to the tracks, she stood straight up.   “Besides, I’m sure I can handle things until you get here.” ------------------------------ Canterlot had always been a lively city, befitting of Equestria’s capital city. It was always filled with the sounds of thousands of ponies just going on about their lives. Its streets were usually flooded with near-endless streams of well-dressed individuals chatting amongst themselves and looking and acting important.   Today was far different from the norm in a lot of ways—the homes and businesses were empty. Today the streets were filled with nothing but battle-ready soldiers, their weapons and armor making clanking noises as they all got into position.   These sounds were eventually overshadowed as the clock stations atop Canterlot Castle struck twelve, signifying high noon had arrived. The bell rang, the noise resonating all through Canterlot. By the end of the first chime, any and all movements within the city stopped. By the sixth chime, all were at attention, physically and mentally preparing themselves. When the twelfth and final chime finally ended, all was quiet in Canterlot. There was no warning, no heads-up for what would come, but at that moment, everyone currently in Canterlot could feel it deep down.   Slowly but surely, however, the silence which had blanketed the city was fading away, overshadowed by a sound outside its walls: the rhythmic beat of an army marching towards the capital. They were coming, how many was not clear, but they would know soon enough. Those stationed at the first gate were first to take notice, quickly filling in the others through their communicators. Everyone steadied themselves for the battle they had been waiting for.   The last two months had been nothing short of hell for all those involved. Their sanity was tested and their relationships definitely got strained, and blood from both ally and enemy were spilled before them. It was all leading up to this very day, the day they would finally put this game to an end. Everyone had fought, pushed themselves to their limits and beyond so that they could stand tall on this day. Whether it would end in total victory, or in grim defeat, there was one thing everyone knew for sure.   The final battle had arrived.