Act 2 Chapter 17
Act II: Collision Course
Chapter 17: …That Must Be Broken…
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The day started like the days before the attack did: Corey and Shining would go to the “training zone”, wherever that was, and spend practically the whole day out there. This left Twilight pretty much all alone with her work. Which, considering the situation at hand, consisted of poring over any notes that Princess Celestia sent her, or looking more into the tome that she and the others had uncovered that day. Today, she was finally looking back at those old pages.
For the most part, Spike did what he could to help her, but at the moment, he was elsewhere in the library, tending to some chores that had been piling up from the past couple of days. This left Twilight completely alone at her desk, writing yet more notes on the runic language.
Okay, so that combination was used to contain creatures within, Twilight noted, This, then…
At once, Twilight paused. She stared at the runes she’d been writing down, as well as the runes still within the book. Though she still didn’t know how they translated to English, if they did at all, Twilight could see something on the surface she hadn’t quite thought about in detail. A memory came back to her; the battle at the park. Corey had used runic magic extensively—all one spell that he knew for sure up until he buffed his physical strength. Closing her eyes, letting her quill float instead of holding it in her hand, she tried to think of how they looked. The quill responded, drawing a line of symbols. As Twilight finished recalling the runes Corey used, she opened her eyes, and looked down at the page.
Glancing between the book’s pages and her own, newly drawn line of runes, Twilight blinked.
“Am I seeing this right?” she questioned aloud, her right index finger hovered under the runes she’d just drawn, her left under the runes in the book. There was no mistake about it.
His runes are…different, somehow, from the ones in this book… Twilight asked, His symbols don’t match the ones here…
She glanced up from the symbols, across the desk. Only when she saw empty space did she remember where Corey was.
That’s right…he’s still out with Shining… she thought to herself, lowering her gaze to the papers. It seemed like just yesterday that Corey had his first lesson. Well, first proper lesson; Twilight still didn’t know why she’d dumped all that work on him and expected him to just cope. And as she began to recall all the days they’d spent cooped up in this room, the memories began to wash over her like a river.
The moment that really stood out first was the time when he’d projected his cutie mark successfully for the first time. The look on his face—that smile he gave, marked the first time she’d truly seen any real life out of him. He had quickly receded back into his shell afterward, but it didn’t take nearly as much to draw him out. The memory of what he’d said about her smile abruptly washed back.
Why did that bother me…? No, no, maybe “bother” isn’t the right word…
That subject was quickly dropped, however, as another memory stood out among them. It was right before she went to go help John against the very first wave. Corey had more or less begun to master levitation. She wasn’t really paying attention, her worry pointed elsewhere. He had known there was something wrong, but didn’t press the issue—at least, until that day. It was probably the first time he’d ever even come close to looking straight at her.
“Let me worry about that,” he told me, she thought, Why does remembering that…make me feel so…light?
Twilight sighed, wondering when she decided to get so sidetracked with that. Those were nostalgic times, to be sure, but times had changed now.
Twilight, you’ve got to get a hold of yourself, she thought, We all have a job to do. Thinking about him won’t help… The least you can do to help him is go over this book, and point out anything you—
“Twilight?”
She knew the voice all too well, jumping slightly in response. One hand to her chest, she looked up. Standing in the doorway—no, leaning on one side of it slightly, looking mildly fatigued at worst; clearly having finished a round of exercise, was Corey.
“Corey?” Twilight lowered her hand to the desk, regaining her composure as she spoke, “I…I, uh, thought you’d be out with Shining all day again.”
“After the run today,” Corey said, “Shining and me went our separate ways.”
Now that sounded a little fishy to Twilight. Corey apparently caught some kind of look on her face, because he continued onward.
“We came to an agreement,” he left the doorway at this point, walking over to her, “I asked him if I could try a few days off, training on my own.”
“What?” Twilight asked flatly, unsure what to be more surprised by. On one hand, she was surprised Shining actually allowed him to go through with it. But, on the other… That really doesn’t sound like Corey…
“I told him I had an idea,” Corey began to explain, finishing his trek across the room to her desk, “Well, more like a plan. I’m starting to understand—at least, I think I am—how my runic magic works.”
“You are?” Twilight asked, looking to the blank parchment on her right. She didn’t need to ask him to explain. He continued talking. As he spoke, she realized there was a certain quality to his voice that he didn’t seem to have before.
“Every rune spell I’ve used so far has been on a subconscious level,” Corey said, “The impact spell, I had to relive how I felt at the moment I used it in order to ‘remember’ how to use it. The unlock spell…I’m still not completely sure how that worked. As for the other spell I used two days ago during the battle, the only thing I did was will myself to be stronger. My magic took care of the rest.”
His voice, Twilight thought to herself as she scribbled away, making sense of what Corey was telling her. Yet, she couldn’t shake it, He sounds more confident, more sure of himself than I’ve ever heard him.
“No matter what, my will had guided the use of my runes in the end. The impact spell was due to my will to survive at that instant. The ‘strength’ spell, as I’ll call it, was my will to become stronger to combat the threats. My plan, then, is to get this under control. I feel that if I can do that, I should be able to help out a lot more when the next attack comes.”
Twilight looked down to her papers. She had heard every single one of his words. Yet, something didn’t register in her. He had a plan of action, for sure, and it seemed sound judging from what he’d said.
“Then…” Twilight began, “Why are you here? You sound like you know what you’re doing…”
“I can’t execute my plan the way I am, not like this,” Corey said. For the first time since he started talking, he sounded less confident. Even then, however, he didn’t seem like he was going to back down anytime soon. He still seemed convinced of something even as he continued onward, “I had to re-create the feeling just to ‘remember’ my impact spell. If I have to wait for my life to be threatened, and then remember how that felt each time I need to learn how a spell works, I’ll never get anywhere! I need to ‘fix’ how that works.
“If the runes really are guided by my will, then I should be able to have control over what I can do with them. But I don’t have that level of control. I don’t even have the know-how,” At this point, Corey paused, and an unsure look passed through his eyes for a moment.
Several points in Twilight’s head clicked all at once. She wasn’t sure why, but a feeling of excitement began to course through her. Barely managing to compose herself, she finally managed to get her words out.
“W-what are you saying?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight, I can’t do this without you,” Corey said. He said something else, but for a moment Twilight felt herself get hopelessly lost in her thoughts, unable to hear what else he had said.
Why…why am I so excited? Twilight thought, H-he’s just…he’s just continuing his lessons…so why…why is my heart--?
“T…Twilight?” Corey asked, tilting his head to one side. This brought Twilight back to reality.
“Y-you’re saying,” Twilight struggled against herself, her cheeks pinkening as she tried desperately to just move past what Corey had just said, “You…you want to continue your lessons?”
“Y-yeah,” Corey said. Even when he stuttered, he didn’t seem to lose any significant steam.
Twilight wasn’t sure what compelled her to do it, but the next thing she knew, she had stood up from her chair, and put both of her hands on his shoulders. Corey flinched just a little, but offered a small smile regardless. Twilight returned it.
“I’d like nothing more…”
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While Pinkie had her own room on the second floor of Sugarcube Corner, there was another room she used regularly. This room was in the basement. This was where she stored her various party supplies, and a few contraptions she’d built over the years. At that moment, she stood in that very room. In front of her, on top of her working table, was an incomplete party cannon. Her original cannon had been broken beyond repair during the battle with Lyon. So now, she was left with little choice but to build a replacement.
“Could you pass me that screwdriver?” she asked, tightening a bolt on the cannon with a wrench. Sitting not too far from Pinkie was Fluttershy, who had agreed to help Pinkie with her project.
“This one?” Fluttershy reached out for the tool in question as she talked.
“Yup!” said Pinkie, switching tools and going back to work, “Thanks for helping me today.”
“You’re welcome,” said Fluttershy. During the silence that followed, Fluttershy looked down as a small frown formed on her face, “To be honest, it just feels good to be some use to somepony.”
Pinkie stopped working on her cannon and looked up to her. Though Fluttershy had always been adept at hiding her face behind her hair, Pinkie was able to spot the look on her face.
“What do you mean?” she asked. Fluttershy didn’t respond at first, her eyes drifting further away from Pinkie, her mind in deep thought. Eventually, Fluttershy gave a small sigh, turning her eyes back to Pinkie, she continued onward.
“Pinkie, do you think I belong in this…game?” asked Fluttershy. Pinkie didn’t respond straight away, feeling like this was a loaded question. She wanted to be careful with how she answered, knowing just how fragile Fluttershy could be.
“This isn’t a game, Shy,” said Pinkie, “Games are supposed to be fun! Games make ponies laugh and smile!” Putting her screwdriver down, Pinkie sat down in a highly twirly office chair of sorts. As it spun once, she looked up at the ceiling, “There’s nothing fun about this at all!” Pinkie wasn’t the only one who thought this; it went without saying that the others would have agreed with her wholeheartedly. But even so…
“That’s true, yes,” Fluttershy said, “But you never answered my question.” Pinkie scrunched her muzzle slightly, a small part of her wishing she could have just dodged the question.
“To be honest, there are a lot of us who don’t belong in this not-game,” Pinkie said, “Dash and Applejack are both strong. They can fight their own battles alone if they have to. Twilight’s one of the most powerful ponies I’ve ever seen. John’s a dragon, and if you saw the fight he put up, you’d know he can handle this. And from what I’ve heard about Corey, it sounds like he’s found his own boat to ride around in.”
Fluttershy realized this was probably the longest Pinkie had ever spoken without just rambling nonsensically about what was on her mind.
“I mean, they can take care of themselves and each other, but then there’s the rest of us. We’re not in their league,” After Pinkie finally finished speaking, there was another silence that pervaded the room.
“No, you’re wrong,” Fluttershy said, catching Pinkie’s attention, “The only one who’s out of her league is me.”
Pinkie blinked at what Fluttershy said. Up until now, she’d just gone with the belief that Fluttershy, Rarity, and she herself were the weak links to the team. Was she missing something?
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you and Rarity are more helpful than you think,” said Fluttershy, “Sure, Rarity is a fashion designer, and she will try to avoid getting her hands dirty unless she has to. But she’s a lot stronger than even she knows. Not to mention what she was doing during the attack; somehow, in a short time, she learned how to fire a laser like Twilight. That alone proves she can keep up with the others if she needs to.”
Pinkie thought it over for a bit, and she quickly realized what Fluttershy was saying was true.
“But what about me?” she asked, “I can’t fire a laser like Twilight and Rarity! I can’t fly like Rainbow! And I’m pretty sure no mare alive is as strong as Applejack!” she summed up.
“It’s not about what you can’t do, Pinkie, it’s about what you can,” said Fluttershy, earning a confused look from Pinkie. Fluttershy then pointed at Pinkie’s new cannon, “I mean, look at this. You built a cannon that fires confetti. I watched you build it and I still don’t know how you did it,” Getting up from her chair, Fluttershy then turned her attention to some of the other things Pinkie had in the basement.
“Not only that, but you also have those umbrella hats, and a bike that can fly,” Fluttershy continued, “With the things you’ve built already, Celestia knows what else you could build if you put your mind to it. But me, what do I have to offer? Other than being able to talk to animals…”
Pinkie opened her mouth to answer, but quickly found she couldn’t think of one. Fluttershy had always, always been the kind, gentle one—hence why she was the Element of Kindness—the one who tried to find a solution where everyone could be happy. But that wasn’t an option this time, no matter how much they wished it could be. The silence dragged on for a while longer with Pinkie being unable to come up with something to say. However, Fluttershy got the message.
“Thanks again for letting me help you, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said, breaking the silence, “I should go. It’s almost lunch time.” Fluttershy made her way towards the door. But Pinkie wasn’t about to let Fluttershy leave just like that.
“Fluttershy, wait!” Pinkie called out, zipping over to her as she was about to go upstairs, “Not everypony starts off as a fighter. Some never have to fight at all! But if push comes to shove, we all find a way.” This wasn’t something she’d come up with on the spot; nor was it the beginning of an improvised music number—Pinkie didn’t have the time to do that yet. It was her speaking directly from her heart. Fluttershy did stop for a moment, but didn’t say anything to Pinkie as she left the building.
Pinkie, left alone with her own thoughts, felt down on herself. She’d wanted to have been able to give Fluttershy a better answer, but she couldn’t think of anything at the time. But, she also had something else on her mind. What Fluttershy had said about her contraptions struck her in a way she couldn’t understand. Yes, she built them with her own two hands, but she’d never really thought about it. And now, as she stared around the room at all the devices she’d built, she felt as though she was looking upon them for the very first time.
Celestia knows what you could build if you put your mind to it…
Fluttershy’s words echoed once again through Pinkie’s head. This time, something—a bell, perhaps?—began to chime. But whatever it was wasn’t important now. At that very moment, Pinkie was struck with inspiration.
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Outside of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was walking through a path that she had taken a few times before. Her head was still bandaged, the doctor having ordered her to refrain from flying until the cut had fully healed. Though she protested, her friends insisted that she follow those orders. But though she was grounded, Rainbow wasn’t going to let that stop her from doing what she had set out to accomplish. There was someone she was looking for, someone she’d wanted to talk to since the fight with Lyon, but she hadn’t gotten the chance.
The walk was longer than she remembered. Then again, it was a walk now, and not a flight to where she was going, but she got there eventually. It was the very cliff where she had started teaching John how to fly. Rainbow found her luck had changed—John was sitting on the ground level, his head craned upward as he stared up at the waterfall.
Rainbow walked up toward John, silently at first. He was unable to hear her light footsteps over the roar of the waterfall.
“Should have known you’d be here,” Rainbow said as she reached John’s side. John jumped slightly at hearing Rainbow’s voice. He turned his head towards her, only to see her smirking back at him.
“Oh, hey, Rainbow,” said John, turning his sight back to the waterfall, “How’s your head?”
She grumbled slightly, putting a hand on the bandage. Just from touching the wound, she could still feel a dull pain.
“Better than yesterday, I guess,” she said.
“That’s good to hear,” said John, a slight smile forming on his mouth.
The only sound that could be heard after that was the sound of the rushing water. Both John and Rainbow stared up at the cliff for several minutes.
“I never got to thank you,” said Rainbow.
“Thank me?” John questioned, turning to her, “For what?”
“For what you did that day,” once again, Rainbow put a hand to her head, “If it wasn’t for you, this would have been a lot worse.”
John trembled, just a little, at the mention of worse.
If I was just a second slower… John thought, just before forcing himself to trail off, not wanting to think about it further. Even though he trembled only slightly, Rainbow looked over to him. She saw the serious expression on his face.
“Something’s been bothering you since that fight, hasn’t it?” she asked, John closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He wanted to try and forget about the whole fight, even if only for a bit. But he knew now it wouldn’t help him.
“He got away,” John finally said, “Lyon tossed me around like a ragdoll. I was losing that fight eight ways to Sunday. Even though I managed to find a way to pull off a come-from-behind victory, he still got away. And ever since then, this feeling just keeps building inside of me, and I just didn’t know what it was. At least, not right away.”
John stood straight up, “I’m scared. For the first time since this all started, I’m actually afraid. Not about what could happen to me, but about what could happen if I can’t fight anymore—of what could happen to my friends if I can’t protect them.”
John clenched his fist as the feelings all built up inside of him again. His mind reached the worst possible scenario once more—if he were to fail, he could see it now…
The feelings suddenly stopped building at the sensation of a gentle touch on his fist.
“You’re not the first,” John looked over to see Rainbow holding his fist with both of her hands, her brows furrowed as she stared at him, “I’ve told you before that we’ve been in dangerous situations. I know what it feels like, to be afraid of what would happen if you failed. Of being worried about what would happen to the ponies you care about because of it,” As John heard Rainbow talk, he could feel himself calming down, releasing the grip he had on his hand.
“But I can’t afford to let ‘what-ifs’ control me. I have to rely on my abilities and the trust I have in my friends. And hope that somewhere down the road we’ll find a way to save the day,” Rainbow continued onward, “Even if Lyon did get away, it doesn’t change that you still managed to win in the end. It doesn’t matter how many times he comes back, because if you stand by your friends, then you will always find a way to win.”
And she does it again, John thought to himself, letting out a small chuckle.
“Thank you,” he said, turning around and placing his free hand on Rainbow’s shoulder.
“No problem,” said Rainbow, as she let go of John’s hand, “Tell anyone what I said today, and I’ll kill you,” she said, poking John on the chest.
For the first time since the fight with Lyon, John laughed.
------------------
His talk with Rainbow helped lighten John’s spirit by a large margin. But even if he was feeling better about himself, it didn’t change an important fact. Lyon was still going to come back soon, and right now, John knew he still wasn’t ready for that moment. But even so, he longer felt himself stressing out about it. Maybe, it was because Rainbow’s words were still hanging over him.
“I just have to wait and hope for the best, I guess,” John thought to himself, finally entering the library. The first thing he noticed was just how empty the building was. No sign of Twilight, Corey, or Shining.
“Where is everyone?” asked John, not expecting an answer.
“Corey and Twilight are upstairs,” John turned towards the corner of the room. Spike was sitting on a sofa, reading a comic book, “Shining’s still out.”
After answering John, Spike put his comic off to one side and reached into the pocket of his shorts. He pulled out a rolled up parchment with a light blue ribbon tied around it.
“What’s that?” asked John.
“Yours,” said Spike, tossing the parchment over to John.
John quickly, carefully unrolled the parchment and began to read the writing on it. After a few seconds of reading, John’s eyes opened wide, a different set of words now re-joining Rainbow’s over John’s head.
“There’s always a way…”
As Corey’s previous words echoed through his mind, John found himself smirking once again.
“So there is…”
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Okay... I'm far more interested in what Pinkie's going to build than what was in that scroll. I realized recently that too many fics and authors (myself included) ignore the inventive side of the Pink. More people need to remedy that.
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John didn't breathe fire (on command) because up until now his focus had pretty much been exclusively on his wings. And he was letting the fact he was a super-tough dragon sort of go to his head. The fight with Lyon served as a reminder that he wasn't invincible even now.