Cory: The Fear of Water

by artman7391

This isn't Real/True Love

"Golly, where to start first?" Taunted Cozy Glow as she examined the dilapidated Academy. "So much to choose from and yet....so much time!!"

The other teachers giggled behind her with their prey dangling by the arms.

Silverstream helplessly saw the horrors unfold as Cory was dragged and tossed from classroom to classroom, each one worse than the last. First, there was English class. He was brought before a room of snickering students, forced to read a complicated version of Marquis de Sade. In his early years, Cory was scared stiff to speak in front of an audience. He tried his best, but all he could do was shutter and stammer.

"CHOKE!! CHOKE!! CHOKE!!" Students started chanting, which made Cory curl into a ball.

As the thin teacher hit him hard across the head with a pointing stick, he fell to the ground, squealing in pain. Staggering to stand back up, he looked up to see everyone laughing and yelling at him, making obscene remarks and trying to throw stuff at his head. But then, he looked to his side and noticed Silverstream staring out the window. Tears began to fall her eyes, as if she were ready to give up on her sweetheart. Then, he remembered what she said before: 'None of this is real' 'None of this is real.'

So, he put on the bravest face he could and stood back up. The adversity surrounded him. It was dozens against one. But he knew he had to conquer this memory, as he had before. He opened his mouth and began to speak from the book:

"To be or not to be...Call me Ishmael....It was the best times it was the..."

The teacher smacked him on the head with the stick, as if to shut him up. The rest of the class just laughed hysterically at his misfortune.

"Whether tis nobler to suffer the slays of outrageous fortune." He continued trying to ignore the snickers..Your'e a wizard Harry....One ring to rule them all..."

The teacher hit him yet again, this time enough to leave a little blood on his back. But he just kept going.

"Why do you doubt your senses Scrooge.." He spoke loudly as if to drown out the heckling. "You might as well say, I get what say is the same as i get what I see...Remember, remember the fifth of November..."

He was smacked a few more times, as the teacher tried desperately to push him back to ground. But it was no use. He had gotten stronger and knew of their weakness.

"Whether or not you find your way, you'll find someway....Some enchanted evening, you will see a stranger....You want the truth, you cant handle the...Wait a minute."

Cory looked at the book he was holding and noticed something different. It was just a collection of random quotes all meshed together into one poorly written notebook. He remembered how the teachers purposefully switched up sentences and rigged tests in order to have the lesser lucky students fail.

"This is a fake!!" He shouted. "This is all a fake!! Everything here is fake!!"

"That's right Cory." Silverstream replied through the window with joy. "This is no longer real."

Just then, another teacher grabbed him by the side.

"We'll show you what real is." The fat teacher muddled. "TIME FOR MATH EVERYONE!!"

The room transformed into the old math class. As Cory was thrown back and slammed against the chalk board, he saw an overtly complicated calculus problem that only a huge genius could understand.

"You remember this Cory." Said Cozy Glow as he flicked Cory's head. "The one that you slipped on during all those tests!! Everyone seemed to solve it but you! And that makes you an IDIOT!!"

Cory stared once again at the dreaded math problem. How he loathed it so. It was the reason he had been held back those years.

"CORY!!" Shouted Silverstream. "Your mother told me!! It was unsolvable! Remember!!?"

Cory nodded back as he threw a set of chalks against the board and threw the white powdered dust into his captives faces.

"You can't fool me!!" Cory shouted as he sprinted out the room.

"After him!!" Cozy Glow shouted, to which the classmates vanished and the room turned into another hallway.

Cory ran as fast as he could. But as he turned around, Cozy Glow and the others were gaining up on him. Then he turned forward and saw the edge of the hallway grow further and further away, taking on the form of what looked like a track and field stadium. Before he knew it, he found himself among a few other stronger looking classmates. Their faces made wicked sneers as they whispered into each others ears, as if to plan something wicked behind his back.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS!!" The coach shouted. "DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME A HUNDERED!!"

Everyone but Cory simultaneously made the position and started away. A colleague pushed him violently to the ground face first, an experience he was all too familiar with, and forced him to push up along with them. Little did they know Cory had some training experience from Rainbow Dash, and had improved vastly in the last two years. So with a devious smirk, Cory started his routine. Everyone was in shock as he swiftly pushed himself up and down with the greatest of ease.

"SIT UP'S ON THE BARS!!!" The coach shouted, to which everyone quickly ran to a set of metal bars.

"This isn't real." Cory muttered to himself as he started to easily pull himself up. "None..Of this..Is real!"

"Yes, you're doing it!!" Silverstream shouted with glee. "You can do anything in this place remember?"

"TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!!!" The Coach shouted in frustration as he pointed to the race track. "LET'S SEE IF YOU MAGGOTS CAN ENDURE THIS!!"

The class took their place on their starting marks, and began to run at the sound of the gunshot. To everyone's amazement, Cory did not run out of breath or tired out. In fact, he was in fine step with every other student.

"This isn't real, none of this is real, this isn't real, none of this is real, this isn't real, none of this is real...." He kept saying to himself.

Without even noticing, he was already in front of everyone else, speeding like a cheetah on the hunt. He felt like he could do anything, any obstacle that could stand in his way.

"GO CORY GO!!" Silverstream cheered. "YOU'RE KILLIN EM, YOU'RE SLAYING EM, YOU'RE KNOCKIN EM DOWN!! KEEP IT UP!!"

It was then the coach threw a nearby table over and slammed his clipboard on the ground.

"GET HIIIIM!!" he shouted.

Everyone ganged up on Cory and made fists, as if ready to beat him to a pulp.

"Oh you poor souls." Cory said tauntingly as he messaged his knuckles. "You have no idea where I got training from lately."

With one fell swoop, he started blocking each fist and foot with the greatest of ease. Some fell on the ground with a grunt, while others were flung away in midair. But all were no match for Cory, as they were just manifestation of his past. That being so, the classmates disappeared into dust upon impact with the ground, leaving only Silverstream, the coach and himself

"I am not afraid of you." Cory proclaimed as he caught his breath and strengthened himself up.

"We can fix that." Said Cozy Glow who appeared out of nowhere. "Care for a little swim in your old home tub?"

Everything around them started to melt, as if it were an oil canvas on a hot July day. The colors swirled together, creating a whirlpool that sucked Cory and Silverstream into the black void. Before he knew it, Cory was of smaller stature and found himself inside a bathtub filled with water that reached the rim. Cory tried to stand up, but was somehow chained by his skin to the bottom of the tub.

"SAY YOUR PRAYERS MAGGOT!!" Shouted the fat teacher as the rest cackled in joy.

Before Cory could comprehend it, a giant hand, which would only be describes as his tyrannical mother's pushed him into the watery depth, as Silverstream helplessly looked on. The tub got bigger and bigger as Cory tried to push the hand away from his face. But tried as he might, the hand only got bigger. The tub now resembled that of a large vat of blue, saturated water.

"This isn't real." Cory muttered and gurgled to himself. "This isn't real..this isn't real...this isn't real...THIS..ISN'T REAL!!!!!"

Suddenly the vat exploded on the side as Cory was washed away by the wave liquid, landing on a flat marble like surface, coughing for breath.

"It's a shame we couldn't be friends." Cozy Glow said as she stared down at him. "But luckily, I was able to make a few more. So I guess I win."

"I'll have more friends than you ever will Cozy Glow!!" Cory shouted back.

"You know Cory," Said Cozy Glow tauntingly. "I had the chance of becoming acquainted with your former tudors. They told me some rather disturbing fates regarding a few students at Stiffson."

"What are you talking about?" Cory asked.

"Golly, you never heard.? Boy have you been out of the loop lately. You see Cory, as far as they told me, some students at the academy had nowhere else to go. Stiffson Academy was their last chance for an educational future. Do you deny that?"

"No," Cory said regrettably, to which Silverstream gasped in disbelief.

"They were on a desperate search to find some kind of GED," The fat teacher added. "And despite everything, we were their guiding light."

"We were only doing our job." The thin teacher added tauntingly. "We wanted to save them from the brink of pure destitution. And you took away their chances."

"Cory, no. Tell me this isn't true." Silverstream shuddered.

Cory paused for a few seconds. and then...

"Yes." He replied. "It is true."

"You took they're one chance of really making something of themselves, and crushed it to pieces." The coach added coldly.

"I clearly remember that. But they all got another chance by becoming Canterlot High students. All of them have better futures...

"Almost all of them." One of the teachers muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Cory asked worriedly.

"Oh Cory," Said the Fat one with her head bowed in mocking shame. "You were so naive, so full in yourself you didn't even realize all of what was in front of you."

"Yes," Cozy Glow commented. "These former tutors told me all about this sad story, about a few desperate students, just like you, only smarter."

She flicked Cory with her hoof as he fell to the floor.

"Stiffson Academy was their last chance." The gym teacher said.

"Their very, very, very last chance." The thin teacher added. "Once that beacon of hope that was a school blew up, they had nothing left!"

Soon, Cozy Glow and the others ganged up on him, as if pushing him into a corner. Around them, the realm starting to spark lighting and thunder, as if a storm was beginning to brew.

"And do you know what they did next?!" A teacher asked maniacally. "WELL, DO YOU!!?"

A moments silence, then Cozy Glow grabbed Cory by the ear...

"they killed themselves." She whispered.

"No," Cory shuddered. "No! That's not true!!"

"I obtained their death records." The Gym Teacher said sadly. "Just before we played our little game!!"

Everything was beginning to shake violently around them. The floor was falling apart.

"The cause ruled suicide." Cozy Glow added. "Poor little things. All because you wouldn't leave your school alone!!!"

"I didn't know anything about these students!!" Cory tried to profess as he walked backwards. "I didn't mean any harm onto anyone!"

"In a way, you are the sole murderer!!!" The fat teacher shouted.

The tone of the realm blackened as large pool or roaring water grew from behind.

"No! I didn't lay a finger on them!!" Cory begged.

"If you had not got in our way, they would've still had a chance and sill be alive!!" The skinny teacher spat. "Do you deny it!?"

"No, but..."

"Then you are guilty!" Cozy Glow and her gang said together.

"No! I am not a murderer!!! I am not a murderer!!"

"murrrrderer...murrrderer." Said a stinging voice in his ear.

"Get out of my head, you're not real." Cory sobbed as he was pushed further back.

"Oh, you stupid little boy." Said the thin teacher. "You're letting yourself get distracted again, only this time, no is there to defend you. Because you slipped up real bad."

"Shut up!! You don't know anything about me!!" Cory shouted back.

"You have no one to blame but yourself in this Cory." Said the coach. "And now everyone knows why."

Suddenly, Cory lost his balance and fell over the edge of what looked like a diving board.

"CORY!!" Shouted Silverstream as she tried again to break herself free.

Cory found himself dangling over a large pool of raging water. Thunder and lightning could be scattered all around them. There was no turning back now.

"Golly." Said Cozy Glow as she flew towards his bony fingers. "This looks quite familiar for you doesn't it?"

She thought for a moment.

"Oh, now I remember." She said tauntingly. "This was from when you were doing those high dive examinations. Every student had to do this, regardless of their conditions. They told me you did very poorly in these exams. You had to do them over and over again, just to be excused from school. Deep into the night you dived without a moments rest. But you never got any better. Little bruise marks from the watery impact plagued your back and chest. Finally, they just gave up on you and branded you unteachable. They sent you home to that orphanage in shame, an embarrassment to their athletic stamina. All these years gone from Stiffson Academy, and you're still the same, weak, scrawny, naive, stupid little boy you were then."

"You told me we were friends." Cory shook in anger. "You told me I could trust you."

"I asked you to be MY friend Cory." Cozy Glow snapped back. "I gave you a chance and you FAILED me. Just like you failed those students. Friendship is about obedience, friendship is about trust, friendship is about POWER! And you failed all those things!!"

"You lie!" Silverstream shouted. "Cory don't listen to them. That is NOT what your mother taught you. She taught all of us what it means to be friends. I know because Cozy Glow tricked all of us at the School of Friendship. She only said those things so she could take over Equestria. But we reminded everyone what friendship truly is. And you taught me somethings Cory. Things I will forget. Friendship isn't just Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter and Magic. It's also Family and Love."

"I taught you that?" Cory asked.

"You certainly did Cory. And our friendship is one stronger than any other. It's ..it's... true love."

Cory felt his heart lift itself up from a deep cavern inside. Never before had he heard anyone say that to him.

"I love you Cory." Silverstream said under a stream of happy tears. "I've loved you since the first time we met. I feel like I was destined to be with you. Even when I was cooped up in Seaquestria from the Storm King, I felt a calling that would soon lead to you. And I would be more than willing to give my life so that you may live the best existence there is."

"I..." Cory muttered. "I would do the same for you. I couldn't bear to see you suffer like this either. I never thought in a million years I would be saying this to anyone, but I love you as well, with all my heart. Who even knew it would be that of a Hippogriff that I was destined to love."

The two looked at each other dreamily, like they were ready to embrace.

"True Love they say, True love." Cozy Glow mocked. "Blah, Blah gag. I'm tired of hearing this sentimental garbage. Time for the punishment to fit the crime."

She tapped her hoof as Cory looked down at the raging, watery abyss. Surrounding it were what looked distorted figures of students from Stiffson academy. Each one more gruesome than the next.

"Drop!! Drop!! Drop!! Drop!! They all began to chant.

"Ah, music to my ears." The coach said menacingly.

Cory closed his eyes as he tried to drown out the chant. But it was all too familiar to him. He remembered those dreaded days when he was on the high board. Every time, people would taunt, push, scream and curse at him as he started to clumsily climb those ladders. Once at the edge of the board, every one would encourage him to drop into the deep end. After a few moments, he would, nearly drowning in the process.

"Drop!! Drop!! Drop!! Drop!!" They continued as their screeches grew louder.

"Come on fellow students!!" The thin teacher shouted mockingly. "See that he gets what's coming to him!!"

Soon, the whole realm was crowded with the uproarious chant. There seemed to be no way Cory could block out the sound. Sweat fell down all over his body, as his fingers began to slip.

"YOU ARE ALL JUST BIG...FAT...MEANIES!!!" Silverstream shouted. "YOU'RE WORLD IS NOT REAL!! NONE OF THIS IS!!"

But the teachers and Cozy Glow just laughed and scoffed at her. That was when she had enough. So once again, she tried to free herself from the chains, only this time, a heavenly sparkle gleamed from her necklace and eyes. The chains began to rapidly loosen as she pushed further away from the rock.

"YOU...LEAVE....MY...CORY...ALONE!!!" She shouted with all her might.

And with those words, she broke free from her prison and lunged forward to her love. As Cory let go of his last desperate clasp on the board, she grabbed him by he claws and kissed him hard on the lips. For a moment, Cory felt as though everything was going in slow motion. Then for another moment, it was if everyting, time and space stood still. This must've been what true love feels like. As they fell further towards the watery abyss, Silverstream's necklace shimmered again, And below them their legs lusciously turned into fins. Now the water was of no problem for him, nor his love.

When the two of them had already the water, they still found each other pressed against their lips. It was then they looked at each other romantically, and tilted so they could touch foreheads. Cory wished this moment between them would never end. He had found his soul mate and she found hers. Next thing they knew, they were swimming and chasing each other across a watery expanse, filled with beautiful coral and luminous fish. The very thing Cory was afraid of had now become an intimate fantasy. His inhibitions were truly conquered.

"You really do love me, do you?" Cory asked.

"More than anything in this world and the next." Silverstream replied.

From up above the surface, they could hear the cackling sounds of Cory's foes. They looked at each other confidently and hatched up a plan, only this time, they would do it together.

Comments

[Bumblebee16]

awesome