Act 1 Chapter 9
Act I: Collision of Worlds
Chapter 9: Something Else To Do
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“C’mon, c’mon, where are you?!” Rainbow grumbled to herself, panicking. It hadn’t been long since John had started trying to learn to fly. Now, however, she feared the worst. Not long before she’d gotten below the tree line, Rainbow watched John fall towards the hard ground instead of the pond. She had taken off just a few seconds too late, hoping to save him. Instead, all she wound up doing was watch in horror as John’s body disappeared below the trees, followed by the sound of a very hard impact with the cold ground.
Rainbow didn’t even want to imagine what she’d see if she found John, but she couldn’t stop the images from coming. And, in addition, she was having a hard time finding John. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t find any sign of him, not even—
How can there not be a body? They don’t just disappear like that! Rainbow continued to search, her worry growing at every second’s passing, What if the crash buried him?
She was currently breaking out into a Corey and/or Twilight-level panic now, surveying the ground as she landed on solid earth.
There’s so many rocks and holes around here…It’d take too long! What if he doesn’t have that kind of time? What if…?!
“Hey!” Rainbow cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting around the rocks, “If you can hear me, say something!”
There was no answer. For a few brief moments, Rainbow assumed the worst. However, something happened. The ground at her feet began to shift.
“Huh?” Rainbow asked, feeling it. She realized she wasn’t really standing on solid ground, but a large boulder-sized piece of shale. One that was moving straight up, as if it were being lifted, “What the—“
She hopped off of the rock, taking a few steps back from in. After a few moments, whatever anxiety she had about the situation was lifted. Under the large rock, lifting it off the ground, was John, lifting it up off his back with little effort. After doing this, the dragon surveyed his own body, seemingly in total disbelief.
“I’m…alive…?” He hadn’t even noticed she was right in front of him, looking at his own hands as though he’d just realized they were there, “How am I still alive?”
“You’re seriously questioning that!?” Rainbow yelled, immediately getting John’s attention, “You just fell like thirty feet to the ground and you don’t even look hurt! Why are you questioning it?!”
John looked down—it was true, his body didn’t seem to have even a single scratch on it from the fall.
“I don’t feel hurt either…” John spoke up, loud and clear.
“I noticed,” Rainbow said, the shock of the moment finally subsiding, “Just what are you made of anyway?”
John didn’t answer straight away, lost in thought over his apparent survival—no, not even survival, the fact he no sold such a bad fall.
That fall should have killed me… John thought to himself, At least, it would have if I were human…you know what, don’t question it, just be glad you’re completely fine.
“Should I try again?” John asked.
“Hay, no!” Rainbow shouted, “I just about had a heart attack from all this. We’re calling it a day. Tomorrow, I’m taking the fall with you so this doesn’t happen again.”
John found himself wondering how it felt watching his fall. However, he soon banished those thoughts.
“Well, for what it’s worth…” John said, still making sure to pause so he could direct his air to the right spots—an act that got easier with each complete sentence he said, “It was a fun first day.”
“That’s ‘cause you have an awesome teacher like me,” Rainbow boasted, crossing her arms, “Class dismissed, I’ll see you here tomorrow!”
With that, she turned, taking off full speed into the sky, leaving behind only a rainbow blur in her wake. John watched her leave until she was well out of sight before turning his gaze back to the top of the cliff, looking up at it for a few seconds. Eventually, he let out a defeated sigh.
“My sweater is still up there…” he groaned, beginning to take the long walk back up the cliff to retrieve it.
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Finding his way back to town wasn’t too difficult, though if John hadn’t remembered the route Rainbow had taken him down earlier he would have gotten lost.
Wouldn’t that have been a highlight…? John thought on that one, before quickly dismissing it, Ah, who am I kidding, nothing could top what happened today…wait until everyone hears about that one!
The only thing he really felt at that point was the actual impact. No real pain, nothing shattering, just the sensation of colliding with another mass.
John passed through the Ponyville streets, which by now had become a lot more active than earlier. The town overall was sending him mixed messages. Some of the locals offered a friendly wave—the ones who had allowed him to help them over the past few days. Others tried to stay out of his path, not offering him much more than maybe a fearful look.
Can’t blame you guys—I’d probably react the same way if a dragon came out of nowhere… John thought.
There were the small few who were giving him openly unfriendly looks—the most disheartening of all, but John knew well enough acceptance could not be forced on a group.
I’ve just got to hope that, through being myself, that the locals will grow to accept me with time… John pondered, Something that I have plenty of…
It wasn’t long before John reached the library—the place he and Corey had stayed for the past couple of days. Once inside, he didn’t have to look far to find his friend. He sat at a desk, book in one hand.
“Still learning?” John asked.
“No, class ended not too long ago…” Corey responded, “And I decided to read a book to fill the time…”
John took a look at the title of the book and raised a brow.
“Of Parasprites and Stallions?” he thought, So are all the novels here like this—pony versions of ours? I live here too. Might want to check on that at some point…
For now, though, John decided to sit down next to Corey. He took notice of the apple that was on the desk.
Doesn’t the student give the teacher the apple? John thought to himself, swiping the apple while Corey’s attention was on the book. Eventually, Corey reached for it, only to notice John was eating it.
The annoyed look was something John hadn’t seen Corey really throw out in a while, and it was refreshing to see it make its triumphant return. However, it only lasted a couple of seconds. With a dismissive wave of the hand, Corey turned his nose back to the book.
“So,” John bit down on the apple, “How’d your first lesson go?”
“I showed Twilight my cutie mark…” Corey said, about as casually as if he’d swatted a fly. That wouldn’t have been so bad by itself, but the subject matter, coupled with his unnaturally light tone was what struck John.
John spat out the hunk of apple he’d been chewing in surprise—the bits of apple had been roasted, and as John continued to reel from what Corey had just revealed, John coughed up small clouds of gray smoke.
“What?” Corey asked, turning to him, obviously getting it straight away, “Oh…” He glanced to his book, nodded, and then closed it before turning to John.
“H-hold on, it’s not as bad as you think it is…” Corey stuttered awkwardly—the way his face lit up as he did so did not help.
“You should have bought her dinner first…” John choked, willing himself to not breathe fire right now.
“It’s not like that!” Corey said, “See, first she showed me hers…”
John shot Corey a look that rivaled the one he would often give his computer monitor back home.
“No, it’s not—“ Corey started, unable to keep focus anymore, his thoughts clearly going a mile a minute now, “I mean, she just—and then—you see…”
“Stop!” John’s mouth expelled black smoke as he extended his clawed hand and slammed it over Corey’s snout as the unicorn’s voice became muffled. After taking a few breaths to try to get himself focused, John tried to speak up again.
“Alright…let’s try this again…what happened…during your lesson?” John asked.
“W-well, the subject came up during my training,” Corey responded, “You see...”
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“Sounds…” Corey said, “Simple enough.”
“Great! Now…” Twilight gave what, to her, was a simple order, “Show me your cutie mark.”
Corey’s entire thought process was obliterated, overtaken by an extremely loud, internal scream of terror. His face barely matched what he was thinking, but it was enough for his teacher to see something was wrong.
“What’s…?” Twilight said, immediately before her face lit up in realization, “Oh! Right…I guess I should show what I mean…”
She held her hands out in front of her. Her horn didn’t light up this time, the glow instead coming from her hands. After a few moments, the familiar image of Twilight’s cutie mark materialized in front of her—a full-color projection of the image.
“It’s a spell that every single pony can do as soon as their get their cutie mark,” Twilight said, “When they discover their special, unique talent, their body reacts, and they automatically project the image. After that, they can do it at will.”
“Oh,” Corey said. He held his own hands out in front of him, “I see. Well, I guess I should give it a shot…”
He tried to focus his mind on the concept he’d learned not more than ten minutes before. It was similar to Ki, a concept which he’d only heard of in fiction. As a kid, he would often pretend to use it. Now, however, he had to see if he could get it to work.
He stood there, trying to relax, thinking of nothing but seeing if he could pull off the “Display Cutie Mark” trick. Whatever he did, didn’t work. Corey tried a couple more times over the next few minutes, but continuously failed to produce any results.
“Nothing…” Twilight said after his fourth attempt.
“Yeah…” Corey said, putting his arms at his sides, “W-would I even have one?”
“What?” Twilight asked, “I mean…why wouldn’t you? At your age--”
“I…I wasn’t even really born here, and all…” Corey reminded her, stuttering now.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out…” Twilight bowed her head, now sounding awkward. Corey turned directly to face her. She seemed definitely conflicted now. “But… it’s…usually what ponies do when they’re…close…”
Corey began to feel just as conflicted, more so with what she just said.
“No choice…” Twilight said, “If we want to know whether or not you even have one, you’re going to have to show me the other way…”
Corey blinked, and sweated just a little as his face unexpectedly turned red. His reaction embarrassed him far more than the simple thought that he was going to have to drop his pants.
“D-don’t worry! It’s not…that revealing…” Twilight said, “I guess… Anyway, a pony’s cutie mark is located on the back, towards the shoulder blades.”
Corey blinked again, this time merely processing what he was told.
Less awkward, Corey thought, Then again, I’ve never liked being shirtless back home…
However, Corey had no other choice. By now, he really just wanted to know if he even had one.
“W-well, if it’s the only way we can find out whether or not it’s there…” Corey said, already taking his jacket off…
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Corey’s face lit up unnaturally as he remembered the feeling of that moment. He usually didn’t care if he had to do such a thing—provided he needed to. It also didn’t help he seemed to be about the same age as Twilight.
“So did you even have one?” John asked, seemingly blowing past the awkward look on Corey’s face.
“Well…” Corey trailed off, trying to remember, “If you can believe it…”
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Corey stood, top half now bare. Something about the situation made him realize he wasn’t quite as lean as he once thought he was in the new body. Maybe it was the fact a female was looking over him.
He couldn’t see Twilight now, his back to her. His arms curled around his stomach area, as though he were trying to hide what remained of his girth.
“Well?” Corey asked, already sick of standing around with no shirt on, “Do I have one?”
“Yes…” Twilight said, sounding unsure, “I’m not sure what it means, though.”
“I have one?” Corey questioned, pausing, looking over his shoulder, trying to see it for himself, “What’s it…look…like?”
“It’s…” Twilight started, “It looks like a...black thought cloud, with…a lot of green…numbers in it. I can barely make out the numbers, though.”
“Can you see what the numbers are?” Corey asked yet again, having an idea of where this was going. Twilight responded to this question by inquisitively putting a single finger to Corey’s shoulder, which caused him to flinch a little.
“They look like…a bunch of zeroes and ones…” Twilight said, sounding confused, not noticing Corey’s discomfort at being poked.
All of a sudden, Corey understood what his cutie mark was supposed to be…
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“So…” John said, nodding, taking another bite of the stolen apple, “Your talent is…”
“Coding,” Corey responded, turning back to his book, “Like I thought, my unique skill lies in something that doesn’t even exist here…”
“Well, look on the bright side,” John said, after a brief pause.
“Bright side?” Corey asked.
“You have the most original ability on the planet,” John responded, raising a finger as he took yet another bite.
“Great, but that’s not the problem,” Corey said, “In case you haven’t noticed, there is not a single computer in this world. How am I going to use that skill of mine without one of those?”
After a brief pause, John gave his answer: “I have no idea…”
Corey set down his book and lifted his glasses slightly, putting his palm to his face, letting out a grumble that vaguely sounded like, “Helpful…”
“Well, if you can’t use technology, why not use magic?” John asked.
“Don’t think it works that way…” Corey responded, massaging his forehead, already tired of this conversation.
“Worth giving a try though, don’t you think?” John followed this question with yet another crunch on the apple.
“Yeah, I’ll get right on it after I finish another impossible feat,” Corey mumbled, turning back to his book.
“You mean like sending two guys to another dimension?” John asked.
For a moment, Corey couldn’t respond. Even after a few days of ruminating on the matter, he still hadn’t come up with an explanation for how the code worked. He felt that he needed to inform John of this.
Before Corey could answer, a high pitched squeal interrupted the otherwise meaningful conversation.
“Hi!”
John’s apple sprayed out of his mouth once again, while Corey fell out of his chair. After recovering from the shock, he looked up, spotting Pinkie Pie—not that he really needed to see who it was to know who it was. That squeal could be identified through the way it pierced Corey’s eardrums alone.
“See you’re laying down on your studies, huh, Corey?” She asked with a bubbly giggle.
“How do…you do that?” John responded, which was a valid question. Corey had experienced firsthand Pinkie’s odd ability to teleport herself into rooms without even needing a door.
“No time to explain!” Pinkie said, turning towards John, “Take this and follow me!”
John stared at the object that Pinkie had just forced into his right hand—a fork, with complete confusion.
“What’s—“ John tried to start.
“No time!” Pinkie moved behind John before John or Corey could even notice her move, grabbing him by the hood of his sweater. Then, to both of the boys’ respective surprise, Pinkie dragged John out of the room with no demonstrable effort.
“How are you—“ John tried to question this as well.
“Sssh!” Pinkie gave him this for his efforts. Corey stood back up in silence, shaking off his shirt and jacket, trying to figure out what was going on.
Pinkie just dragged John off…to what, I’m not sure. It’s Pinkie Pie, the pony who exists in and out of the fourth wall… Corey thought to himself, She handed John a fork, but who knows what that’s for…oh well.
He quickly moved back into his seat, sitting back down and picking up Of Parasprites and Stallions, picking up where he’d left off.
“He did offer to help anypony who asked…” Corey chuckled to himself.
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It had been over an hour since the lessons had ended. Twilight had spent most of the time pondering the information Corey had told her after he showed her his cutie mark. She wasn’t sure what to make of his situation, but had nonetheless been relieved there were no hard feelings from the whole ordeal. Last she left him, he had started Of Parasprites and Stallions by Inked Pin. It was a book she’d read through a couple of times before.
I wonder how he’s enjoying it… Twilight thought to herself as she walked through the hallway, towards where Corey had been left to his devices. It couldn’t hurt to ask, could it?
She stopped at his door, which was half open. Twilight nearly passed through the door all the way, but decided to knock anyway. She wouldn’t want somepony just barging in on her when she was trying to read. Besides, it was common courtesy.
“Come on in,” Corey said, turning his head slightly.
Twilight passed into the room, her main question already on the tip of her tongue: “So how’s the book?”
Corey didn’t respond straight away. Twilight could see he was still reading the book, which in itself was understand. However, as she drew closer, she realized just how much Corey had done.
He’s already most of the way through the book? Well, to be fair, I did kinda overload him earlier… Twilight remembered.
Finally, Corey spoke, “I have to say, I’m surprised.”
“Surprised?” Twilight asked, “How so?”
“Well…” Corey paused, looking over his page briefly before closing the book…without a bookmark. Twilight flinched just a little.
“If you want, I could get you a bookmark…” Twilight responded.
“I’ll know where I am in the book. No worries,” Corey said, turning to her, “Anyway, I’m surprised…I thought this book would be like one I read back home some time ago.”
Now that was certainly interesting. Twilight had to learn more.
“A book you read back home was like this one?” Twilight asked, moving over to the chair she’d left and taking a seat, “Do you remember any of it?”
“Well…” Corey started, leaning back with one hand to his forehead, just to the left of his horn, massaging his forehead, “The book back home was called Of Mice and Men, and that novel isn’t so…idealistic, I guess would be the word. The book was written before I was even born.”
“So was this book,” Twilight said, one brow raised at Corey’s statement, “Well, for me anyway. Now, what makes you say that the book is idealistic?”
Corey’s eyes were slightly wide at this comment.
“What?” Twilight asked, “I really don’t get the chance to discuss this kind of thing with anypony else…”
“I…see…” Corey responded, looking vaguely like he was thinking about it, “Now…how do I put this? Well, the book in my world took place during probably one of the worst economic disasters in world history. Not a single developed country back home wasn’t affected by it…”
Twilight listened intently—it was context to Corey’s world’s version of the book, as well as interesting extraterrestrial historical knowledge as well. From his account, the author of Corey’s version of the book was someone who lived through that time; that human didn’t have much reason to have such an idealistic outlook given how bad things were. Whatever the case, Twilight Sparkle sincerely hoped never to experience this “Great Depression” thing.
“…and, even though the books seem to have similar titles—though I don’t know what a p-p-parasprite is…” Corey said, trying to wrap up his explanation.
“You don’t want to know,” Twilight nodded, recounting that little experience.
“The books are…different,” Corey said, “There’s a lot of…very controversial things in my world, things that are…absent from this world’s version.”
“What do you mean, exactly?” Twilight asked.
“Well…” Corey looked away completely, having been more or less unable to meet her eyes—something which he’d had trouble doing anyway, so Twilight didn’t take it as a bad sign, “I may not know how this world’s version of the story ends, but I do know how my world’s ends…”
“And…” Twilight tried to get the info out of him.
Corey’s gaze shifted a bit, though it was clear he was uncomfortable. Twilight thought she’d had an idea.
“If you’re worried about spoilers, don’t worry,” she said with a reassuring smile, “I don’t think…” She paused awkwardly, immediately reminded of Corey’s very unique situation, “…Well, you know...”
“Well…” Corey said, “It…it doesn’t end well.”
The tone of his voice suggested he was uncomfortable with talking about the ending. Whatever it was, Twilight did not know, but when she took into account what Corey had told her about the context of his world’s version of the book, she had a funny feeling the tale took a much…darker, turn.
“I…” Twilight started, “I see. Well, you haven’t finished the book yet, right?”
“I—“ Corey said, before immediately blinking and looking down to the book on the table, “Oh, this book…Right. I…haven’t.”
Compared to earlier, Corey’s face didn’t turn so red, but he was still blushing. Twilight didn’t get why he was doing it now.
“Well…” Twilight said, nodding towards the book, “Why don’t you…finish the book, and maybe we can compare the books in full?”
The alicorn could barely hide her excitement at the prospect of doing so. The human turned unicorn was a little unsure if he could hold up through such a thing.
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On the balcony, just outside of the royal bedchambers stood the two rules of Equestria. Neither looked to the other; their attention fully centered on the cycle between day and night. Celestia’s horn was glowing a brilliant shade of amber as she willed the sun to move. And indeed, it began to, descending from the sky. When the sun began to go below the horizon line, Luna moved into action, her horn lighting up bright blue. The moon began to rise, along with the rest of the night sky, as the sun finished its hours-long arc across the sky for the day.
Now, not only was it officially night, but it also signified a change of hands in who dealt with the royal duties. Like the sun, Celestia too would rest for the night. Like the moon, Luna would now watch over the kingdom. Now that the change was completed, Luna turned to her side and gave her sister a warm smile.
“Pleasant dreams, sister!” Luna said, bidding her sister goodnight.
“Thank you, and have a pleasant night as well,” Celestia responded, both returning to their chambers.
It had been a long day, though Celestia could not say she wasn’t used to them after living for so long. Even now, though, it was a blessing to be able to rest her head for the night and relax. More so that her sister had returned—something which she would be forever grateful to Twilight and her friends.
After removing her regalia and placing them safely in their box, Celestia made her way towards her bed. Already her eyes were feeling heavy as sleep called to her. However, something much more urgent began to call to her attention.
There was a loud clamoring and clattering, and a loud slamming noise that filled the halls. Along with that, a panicked voice.
“Where is the princess?!” it shouted, its call echoing in Celestia’s head as a sign that all was not well.
“By the goddesses!” Another voice shouted, filled with concern and fear, “What happened to you!?”
“No time!” the first voice said, “I must see the princess!”
“You can’t see her in your condition!” a third voice joined in, having apparently heard the commotion. There was more of a commotion, grunting and more clattering—the sounds of what could have been ponies trying to hold this determined one back but to no avail.
“Get off!” he shouted, “I must tell her!”
There was no point in not hearing her subject’s distress. It sounded too severe to overlook. With that in mind, Celestia made her way towards the door. However, before she could get there to hear what the problem was, the doors slammed open violently.
She gasped as she saw the figure that had been causing the panic. That much at least seemed obvious: it was one of the Royal Guards of the daytime. A light gray unicorn pony, who was battered and beaten, his armor damaged in several places, and slashed open in another. His mane and tail, silver in color, were both slightly singed. He had a couple of severe wounds that were bleeding, staining his fur and what was left of his armor. His eyes were wide—perhaps from shock.
“P-princess…” the guard wheezed, his previous strength seeming to vanish. By now, the two other ponies that had tried to stop him from barging in were directly behind him, their own eyes wide. The injured guard began to wheeze, “It’s…it’s happened…”
He only managed one step towards her before his knees buckled, causing him to fall to the floor. Finally, Celestia called herself from her shock, making her way to the guard’s side. Sleep could definitely wait now.
“Call for medical attention, immediately!” Celestia commanded the other two guards. They saluted and immediately ran off to fulfill the request. She then knelt down at the guard’s side, seeing his condition. His wounds were certainly grave, but he’d live if he got medical attention.
The guard was fighting to remain conscious, trying to relay his message—he’d obviously been through a lot, though.
“It’s…it’s happened…” He groaned, repeating himself.
“Do not speak right now,” Celestia said softly, trying to be reassuring, “Conserve your strength.”
“They’re…they’re open…” The guard continued, ignoring her, weakly raising himself upwards.
“What....” Celestia’s face became stern as she considered what the injured guard was telling her, “What’s happened?”
“The gates…the gates…” The guard coughed, extending his hand outwards, forcing himself to relay his message. A message that left no doubt in Celestia’s mind the gravity of the situation at hand.
“The gates…are open!!!”
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Okay, I'll admit, I have no idea where it's going really. I hear 'the gates are open' and I think The Outer Gates from Dresden Files.
Midsentence though, I thought about Tartarus, so maybe.
Also; Thoughtbubble + Codes. Spellcoding. Perhaps a new school of magic/new theory of formulating and casting magic...
On the other hand, I wonder if the code in his cutie mark actually means anything...
Oh my god, this is awesome!!!!
5101040 Heh, That was my first thought too. Especially considering them having what may or may not qualify as Outsiders in the world.
Admittedly, Earth might be part of the same universe. Also other spoiler-ish stuff from later Dresden-files books probably invalidate that. Anyhow...
Also, if the Outergates fell in that universe, you wouldn't ever hear about it. Well, probably. I imagine reality would end up getting sundered, after all.
Gates of Tartarus do seem to be a more likely reference.
Magic based programming can be fun. Faster and easier to set up if you can get a basis to work on, albiet tends to be a bit less flexible, due to more preparation needed. Admittedly, both acts would require insane amounts of mental effort, holding so much information either way. Could be fun.
“The gates…are open!!!”
i thought it was the arena master from hearthstone who said that
7913308
If so.... to qoute Bender, "Welp, We're boned"