• Published 31st Aug 2014
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Collision Code - SSJRandomMaster



A hidden message leads to two friends getting themselves stuck in Equestria. Meanwhile, a long-forgotten evil begins to make its move...

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Act 2 Chapter 3

Act II: Collision Course
Chapter 3: Progress Report
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If there was one thing that anyone knew about Corey, it would be his total lack of ability to deal with an unfamiliar situation. And right now, that situation involved figuring out what to do right after complimenting a girl on her smile. Even if said girl was a pony…

What do I say now? Corey thought, No one’s said a word for so long…wait! I know! I can try to shift the subject back to the lessons…That should work! Just say you’re going to try projecting your mark again…

It was certainly a foolproof plan, as well as the most obvious one. However, Corey found that over the course of the next several seconds, he hadn’t said a single word; not even moving an inch from his spot.

Say something, damn you!! Corey snapped at his own mind.

Voice.exe not found. His mind droned back; Corey could have sworn he heard a Windows error sound accompany the error message.

Oh come on! When did I run on Windows Vista?! Corey argued back, completely oblivious to the mare beside him. She stood next to him, staring off into space, deep in thought.

What…just happened? Twilight thought to herself, All he did was compliment me on my smile…why am I at a loss for words? It’s not like I haven’t been complimented before, right?

How many of them were stallions? Her mind asked back at her, Specifically, ones not related to you.

Twilight blinked, That’s…right. The only other ponies who ever complimented me like that were my friends—most of whom are mares. And we’d always throw compliments like that around…I mean, sure, I do have friends who are stallions, but none of them ever said anything like that to me…oh! Why am I at such a loss…

Neither one could bring themselves to say anything. The dense fog of awkward that had settled into the room continued to thicken. All they could do was stand in silence, awkwardly looking away from one another, trying to shift the focus but not seeing any way to do so—

“Hello?” A familiar voice came from the other room, “Anyone here?”

Both Corey and Twilight turned their heads towards the door of the room—that was the way out they were looking for.

“We’re in here!” Both called out at the same time.

Did we just… Corey thought, turning to Twilight; she turned back, having realized it herself. Both subsequently blinked.

So close! Twilight thought, not sure what to think all of a sudden about that kind of thing.

“Hope I’m not interrupting any…thing…” John came into the room, pausing as he stepped through the doorway. He took notice of how close they were standing together, and quickly moved to say something lest he start giggling—a grin was already forming on his mouth, and he tried hard to suppress that.

“Oh…um, is this a bad time?”

“No, not at all!” Twilight said, talking just a little faster than normal, “Actually, Corey just finished his first lesson and now he’s taking a break.”

Twilight found it in herself to move once again, making her way to the door.

“I’ll make us some tea…” she said, leaving the room. John looked back at Twilight as she left, confused. He turned to Corey, who also watched her leave with a puzzled—no, troubled?—expression on his face.

“What was that all about?” John asked.

Corey didn’t respond straight away.

“Corey?” John asked again, finally getting his attention.

“I’m…not sure…” Corey finally said, pushing his glasses back up onto his face and turning away.
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After a few minutes, the tea had been prepared. Twilight poured a cup for John, Corey, and herself.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” Twilight said, “I’m going to take care of something real quick.”

Twilight quickly walked out of the room without too much more said. Once she was gone, John and Corey picked up their respective cups from the table. The two sat in silence for a few seconds, before John spoke up.

“So how’s the magic lessons going?” John asked, taking a small sip of his tea. He winced at the taste, but only slightly.

“Well,” Corey started, fiddling idly with the cup as he tried to gauge the heat of the tea, “I’m making some progress. Managed to project my cutie mark, though it took a while.” Finally, Corey took a small sip of his tea.

“How’d it feel?” John asked.

“It felt…” Corey said, pausing as a very notable smile began to spread across his lips, “Amazing…It was slight, but once I noticed I’d actually done it, I could feel the magic I was giving off. It was the first time since lessons started that I actually believed that I could do it…That—that I can actually learn how to be a unicorn.”

Is this really the same Corey from when we first arrived? John thought to himself, noting Corey’s reaction now versus way back then, After Celestia told us we were stuck here…I’d never seen so much despair in a person—pony, before. But now he looks…happy?

“So what about you?” Corey’s face went back to its natural blank slate as he asked his next question, taking another sip.

“Huh?” John asked.

“What have you been up to?” Corey said again.

“Oh,” John recovered from his slump, “Well, Rainbow’s offered to teach me how to fly…”

Corey looked to John and raised a brow.

“Can’t say I can see it…” Corey said, “So how’s she going about it…”

“Well, do you know how birds teach their young?” John answered with another question.

Corey stared at John for a few seconds before starting to snicker, “You just let her push you off a ledge?!”

“She blindsided me!” John said, “She took me to the top of a waterfall, told me she’d teach me how to fly, lead me to the edge and—“

John only now realized the look Corey was giving him as he went on. Only after Corey started to full-on laugh did John realize exactly what was wrong with his explanation.

“I should have seen it coming,” John groaned with a facepalm.

It took a bit for Corey to control himself, but as soon as he did, John continued on with his story.

“Anyway…” John cut in, making sure to redirect the conversation towards what they learned, “I started to learn how to control my wings,” John opened his wings and flapped them, hard, but just once, “Haven’t tried to take off on my own yet, but I’m making progress.”

“Guess we’re both getting used to our new bodies,” Corey said, looking down to his tea, looking at his reflection, “Still hard to believe we’re in these bodies sometimes…”

“Yeah,” John said, “Bet the guys back home wouldn’t believe it either.”

At the mention of “home”, both friends went into silence once more. Since the first day, neither had mentioned their homeworld to one another.

“…h-how often do you think of it? Home, I mean,” Corey asked after a few minutes of silence. John placed his cup down, letting out a small sigh.

“I’ve thought of home since the moment we learned we were stuck here…” he said, “Sometimes it makes it hard to sleep at night.”

For the first time since arriving, Corey noted that John definitely seemed bothered—his laid-back demeanor had vanished, the much larger dragon hunching over in his set.

“It’s…kind of been the same for me…” Corey said, “Only time I can get my mind off of it is during my lessons…even if only for a while, they help me forget,” Corey took in a shuddering sigh as emotions began to wash over him, emotions he’d tried to forget from that night.

I wonder how they’re doing right now… Corey thought to himself, Mom…God, I don’t want to imagine how she must have taken it… Dad…I’m sorry…My sister…can’t be taking it well…either. Ivan…Leo…how are they holding up now that we’re not around…

Corey had hung his head, and had realized his eyes were starting to water now.

You don’t even realize the niche you have in your world until after you lost it… Corey thought, How will everyone remember me?

John didn’t look at Corey, too busy thinking about his own personal life.

What do they think happened to me… John thought, How are they coping with me being gone? I…I can’t get the image out of my head, of my family sitting around, crying, wondering if I’m okay…

“John…” Corey said, his glasses on the table, rubbing at the bridge of his nose, not looking up to him, “Think we’ll…ever stop thinking about it…?”

“Doubt it…” John responded, sighing again, “But maybe with time…it’ll get easier…”

Both Corey and John went totally silent, a somber cloud having found its way into the room. It settled in, and refused to leave.
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Twilight stood outside the hall, just to the side of the door. Her brows were furrowed, and she was frowning. She had just about made it back to the room when she heard their conversation. She had tried to give them privacy, but when she heard them start talking about home, she found it impossible to move away. Now, she wished that she had, as the cloud that was in that room was starting to affect her once again, creating a pit in her stomach.

I knew they were having a hard time, but this… Twilight thought, This…

She hung her head, turning her head away from the door.

This confirms it… Twilight continued, They are already going through so much…I can’t let them know about the breakout. I hope everything’s going to be fine, and that they’ll never have to know what’s happened…
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Once Celestia and Luna left the intensive care unit of the hospital, they both made their way towards the roof. As they walked, Celestia couldn’t help but notice the troubled look on her sister’s face. Something was wrong. There was no doubt about that, but she knew there could have been quite a few things that were giving Luna trouble. At the moment, there was one particular possibility that crossed Celestia’s mind more than once, and she prayed that she was wrong.

Once on the roof, Celestia locked the door behind them. For added protection, Luna cast a spell that caused the light to refract away from them such that nopony could hear them. After Celestia put up yet another soundproof barrier encompassing the roof, she turned to her sister, and began to speak.

“No one should be able to hear us now,” Celestia said, walking up to her sister, “Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

Luna didn’t turn around straight away as she prepared to speak. Soon as she gathered herself, she turned towards her sister, and began her report.

“I’ll begin with what I’m sure we were both worried of from the moment we heard of the break out,” Luna said, “Tirek is still in his cell.”

Celestia couldn’t withhold her sigh of relief.

He was possibly the greatest threat, out of all the prisoners in Tartarus…and yet... Noting Luna was still uncomfortable, Celestia’s relief suddenly went back down.

“If this is true, then what is it that troubles you?” asked Celestia, not liking the fact her sister didn’t look relieved at that news.

Luna looked away for a moment. With a sigh, she turned back to Celestia, and said: “As of now, three prisoners are unaccounted for.”

Celestia felt her heart lurch—it was exactly what she feared. There was no telling exactly how many escaped, or how far they could have gotten by now.

“I will assemble a team,” said Celestia as she turned towards the door, “With any luck we can find them before—“

“There’s more.” Luna cut her off midsentence. Celestia stopped; this had to be more important information.

“Celestia, tell me, how many levels are there in Tartarus?” Luna asked.

“Don’t you know, Sister?” asked Celestia, “There haven’t been any alterations to Tartarus for eons. We should both know the answer…eight? Is that not right?”

“What if I told you…that I found a ninth?”

Celestia froze; she’d been to Tartarus before to lock away prisoners. Not once had she ever heard of that before then.

“How?” Celestia asked.

“It happened when I went to Tirek’s cell,” Luna began, “As I said, he was still there. But before I left, I found something else that I have never seen before.”

Celestia would have answered with another question, but found that it would have been redundant.

“On the very edge of the eighth level, I found a staircase that lead downwards. Around it were the scattered remains of what we thought was the impregnable wall. I followed the path down to a ninth level, only to find that not only was it no bigger than a normal room, but that it only had a single cell.”

Luna paused, clearing her throat.

“This cell was like nothing I have ever seen before. There was powerful magic behind it; magic more powerful than what our combined strength could manage. And…it was empty.”

Celestia felt a cold chill run down her spine as she processed this information.

I don’t understand…why would there be another level in Tartarus for just one prisoner—one prisoner with a specially designed cell as well? It doesn’t add up…All this time, I’d thought I’d known everything there was to know of that place…but it would seem not…
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Day 5

I actually did it. I projected my cutie mark. I can actually do magic. I’m actually going to learn how to be a unicorn. If anything…it’ll soothe the pain of…not being able to see home again.

I can’t believe it, though. I’m wanting to be happy about what I’ve done—I should be. I need to be. I sort of am. But there’s just one thing that’s holding me back. Maybe I shouldn’t worry about it, but…

Twilight was nice to me, right from the start. I know what it’s like to be the one that everyone has doubts about…time and again I managed to prove them wrong. However, that was the one time I genuinely feared I wouldn’t. Even when she had every right to assume I could have been a sick monster that sicced the least destructive dragon in the history of man ponykind, she still managed to treat me nice.

She didn’t even hold it against me when I’d lashed out at her. Ever since I dropped in, she has been nothing but supporting of me, trying to help me out when I was feeling down. But now, she’s the one that seems to be worried about something.

Something tells me I shouldn’t stick my nose in her business—whatever it is that’s bothering her…But…but…

I can’t just leave her like this…from the moment I woke up she was worried, and even now she still can’t seem to settle down. I want to do the same thing for her that she did for me. Even if the situations aren’t similar.

Well, I guess that’s that, huh? Better try to get some sleep. Gonna start learning magic tomorrow.

--Corey

Author's Note:

And here's where we leave off for another week. Pretty much all I have to say on that.

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