Cory: The Fear of Water

by artman7391

In Between Worlds/Painful Memories

It was the end of another school day at Twilight's school of magic. Every creature was gathering their belongings from their lockers and heading to their homes or dormitories. Meanwhile, Silverstream could be found with four other friends chatting about some of the lessons they learned in Equestrian history. For some reason, it was on the subject of the formation of the Wonderbolts, to which Rainbow Dash had been their teacher for the day. Yet, as they were discussing their assignment on which Wonderbolt to write a co-essay on, Silverstream's mind was distracted with the memory of her recent date with Prince Capricore. It involved a pleasant outing upon the streets of shopping districts of Manehattan. Of course, given they were minors, they had done it in secrecy, and against their parents wishes. But regardless, it was an unforgettable evening. She was even still wearing the shining gold bracelet he had given her that night.

"Silverstream?" Asked Gallus. "HEY SILVERSTREAM??!!"

"Huh, what?" She replied as she snapped back into reality. "Oh yes, of course, uh what did you think about Prof. Dash's lecture?"

"Uh, that wasn't what I was asking." Gallus replied. "I was wondering when Smolder's coming back from her field trip. I've assigned the two of us to write a paper on Admiral Fairweather."

"She's supposed to come back this evening." Ocelus answered. "Cory's and his tutor have been demonstrating a few of their new magic moves to her classmates."

"Well she better be." Gallus replied. "Cause I can't do this assignment alone."

"Griffon should be lucky you already have Wonderbolt picked out." Said Yona.

"Yeah," Sandlebar added. "Yona and I are still wondering whether to do a paper on Commander Easyglider or Colonel PurpleDart."

"Silverstream and I can take the first one." Ocelus replied. "Easyglider seems like a fun Wonderbolt to write about. Right pal?"

"Oh, uh, yeah sure." Silverstream replied as if she were pretending to listen. "Uh, listen guys. I'm just gonna be heading over to the treehouse, for uh, personal reasons."

"Yeah, to probably have more fantasies of Cory." Gallus muttered, to which he was punched in the arm by Ocelus.

"C'mon Gallus." said Ocelus. "We should be happy the two of them finally made up."

"Whatever." Gallus replied. "Listen, I'm gonna head to my dorm and get started while Smolder comes back."

"Me too." Everyone but Silverstream said.

As they went to their dorms, Silverstream flew past the Everfree forest and into the crystal treehouse where the Tree Of Harmony once stood. She settled in her desk room and went to her studies, which were filled with pictures of her and Cory during their recent travels together. Sitting down, she started to think of the right way to begin her co-written paper on Easyglider. Though a challenge at first, it got a little easier, as she took out a few flash cards from class to make a rough draft of the paper.

An hour or two later, Silverstream was finished, and was able to take a moment to look at the beautiful night sky. From her balcony, there was not a cloud to be seen to obstruct her vantage point. It was as if the Pegusi themselves cleared the sky just for her. As she looked into her telescope for any astronomical phenomena, she noticed a rather peculiar haze, growing over the horizon. It was a combination of sickly green, ghastly purple, and hellish red, and it seemed to be heading in her direction. Upon closer examination, she noticed a pair of familiar looking eyes above the fog, surrounded by other pairs that were just as menacing. Before she could make any sudden moves, the cloud of smoke enveloped her, and whisked her away from the surface of the balcony. She tried to resist, flapping her wings with her might and lunging towards the treehouse, that was getting smaller and smaller, but it was no use. The outside world grew darker and darker and she hopelessly fell into a whirlwind of sounds and cackles. She closed her eyes, screamed and panicked, hoping it would somehow come to an end soon.

And then, all was quiet, still and solid. Her body felt like it was tethered to a concrete wall. Tried as she might, her arms and legs were locked tight against the enigmatic texture. As she opened her eyes, all she could see was a an empty black expanse, with a few shades of dark grey and magenta. What was this place? Where was she? How did she get here? These questions swam in her head as she still struggled to break free. Then, out of the vast darkness, came a figure she hoped she'd never see again.

"Oh, hello Silverstream." Said Cozy Glow. "How pleasant of you to join us."

"Why hello Cozy Glow." Silverstream replied sarcastically, and with a bit of ire. "By the way, I remember that time you organized a field trip to Rainbow Falls. The detour was smelly, messy and didn't give us any time to see the town."

"Golly. That's a shame." Cozy Glow said back. "Because I'm already organizing a fun reunion/get together for your boyfriend a certain group of former teachers. I wouldn't want you miss out on seeing them catch up with OLD TIMES!!!"

Suddenly, she grabbed behind her back what looked like an old, rusty whip that doubled as a belt. Silverstream's eyes curled with rage.

"Where are we? What have you done with my Cory?!!" She yelled out in anger.

"Why, Cory's right here with us." Said another menacing voice.

Silverstream turned to her left to see what looked like a desolate hallway, In the center Cory, in human form, with his arms and legs tied to a run down desk, and his mouth and eyes gagged.

"Help me!!" He muffled. "Someone!! Help me!!"

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT HIM!!" Silverstream shouted as she tried once again to break free.

"Golly, who said anything about hurting him." Cozy Glow replied. "Like I said, we're just going to take a little trip down memory lane."

"And there is nothing you can do to stop us." The gym coach said sinisterly. "You see, from what our friend tells us, we're in between our world and your world."

"In between?" Silverstream asked.

"Yes." Cozy Glow replied. "By combining a certain advanced spell with some of the essence from the mirror portal, I was able to create a new reality that sits right between the Human world and Equestria's. Anything is possible for us to do, even expose a certain somepony's deepest, darkest secrets. For example..."

Cozy Glow tapped her foot on the ground and transported them all to what looked like a recreation of an old, forgotten town. The sounds of snickering and teasing seemed foreign to Silverstream's ears, but not for Cory's. It was that of those merciless bullies that picked on him each day without rest.

"No," Cory pleaded. "Please not this. Anything but this."

Silverstream budged even harder to free herself from the bondage, but it was too late. The snickering sounds turned to menacing shadows, as they picked Cory out of his desk and tossed him around like a rag doll.

"Oh, this takes us back so much Cozy Glow." Said the Fat teacher. "I remember when the hall monitors used to teach him a lesson every time he out of line."

"Yes, yes." Said the skinny teacher. "Now sock him in the stomach."

"NO!" Silverstream shouted. "Please don't hurt him!!"

But her calls were no use. The bullies began to sock Cory in the nose, stomp on his legs, and throw him against the sidewalk pavement. This was a painful memory Cory knew all too well.

"And what reunion could be complete without a trip to your old living quarters." Said Cozy Glow with an evil grin.

With the clap of her hooves, everyone was transported to the inside a shanty old orphanage on the bad side of town. The coach ripped the bandage off Cory's eyes, forcing him to look around the one place he felt the most lonely. It was then Cory let out a wailing scream, much to the torturers' delight, as he knew what was going to happen next.

"Hello Freak." Said a bully who had just opened the door behind him. "Say you're a freak! Say it!! Say it!!"

A few other bullies joined in his chant as they pushed him to the ground and pummeled his face in.

"Now you all play nice." The thin teacher taunted. "We don't want to waste his punishment just here."

"Why are you doing this to him?!!" Silverstream shouted angrily.

"Why?" Cozy Glow replied "Why?!! Well, it just seems fitting given how you broke my dream of power, and what better to exact my revenge than to watch me torment your widdle lovebird."

Silverstream saw that they were floating in the air as the bullies were now dragging him onto a bus, while other students threw objects at him at his seat. As the bus started to move, Silverstream pushed herself over to the windowsills, eventually finding Cory's. She could see the frightened look on his face, and wished she could open the sill and give him a big hug.

"Cory!" She shouted. "Listen to me! None of this is real!! You have the power to end this!! You've done it before!!"

"How?" Cory asked meekly. "How when they're controlling my mind?"

"Well show them that it's your mind! Show them what you're made of! Show them you've changed since the last time you faced...."

The bus hauled to a violent stop, causing Cory to fly several seats over and land flat on his face. The other students just stepped all over him, sometimes spitting on his skull as they headed to school. At that moment, the scene changed to Stiffson Academy's interior.

Everything was just as Cory remembered it, and hoped to forget. It was cold, damp, bland in color. There was no talking, no playing, not even laughter, except of course when a weaker student was teased upon.

"Oh, what grand memories this place had." The fat teacher boasted with pride. "If only some FREAK, hadn't burned it to the ground. "

"And the best part was, we didn't have to mandatorily close if for the night." The thin teacher added. "We could've had class time 24/7."

"GET UP YOU MAGGOTS AND HEAD TO CLASS!!" Shouted a a voice over the intercom. "ALL STUDENTS WHO ARE LATE SHALL BE SENT STRAIGHT TO WEEK'S LONG DETENTION!!"

Two hall monitors tightly grabbed Cory by the arms and dragged him towards a classroom. Meanwhile, Silverstream was seen floating up above, powerless to stop them from hurting her love.

"This isn't real Cory!!" She shouted. "Remember! None of this is real ! You took down this school! Remember?! They got rid of it!! There's a better school that replaced it!! Your mother told me!!"

But Cory couldn't hear her. He was all washed up in fear and anxiety.

Comments

[Bumblebee16]

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