Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 13: Royal Revelation

It wasn't long before the earth pony and the two unicorns were back to the library. Unsurprisingly, Spike was back before them, waiting inside. However, what surprised them was the fact he was holding on to two bags at the time. Twilight knew, however, what those bags contained. They contained a few jewels that Rarity either had no use for, or felt that they'd be better kept in Spike's hands. However, the fact he was entrusted with two somewhat bothered the purple mare.

"Hi, Spike," greeted Twilight upon seeing him. "Where's John?"

"About that, Twilight..." began Spike. He turned to Corey, raising a claw to him. In this moment, Twilight noticed a certain spark in his eye. She realized that the younger dragon either read the note or saw them together. "Hey, you might want to listen up too, and...uh...?"

"Ivan, the guy you didn't meet." responded Ivan, looking up briefly to acknowledge the dragon. "Yeah, I'm with Corey, John, and Noel."

"You mean 'Leo', right?" Twilight asked, turning to the now sneering Earth pony. "What, is that a nickname he doesn't like?"

"No, it's his real name that he doesn't like..." responded Corey, who seemed a little disturbed at Ivan's words. "I would go into further details, but I'm a little concerned. Where's John? The ponies in town didn't appear to like him even though he was 'supervised'..."

"Right, so we were up on a rocky place about an hour away from Ponyville. We were diggin' for jewels, then Rarity screams." Spike started. "It turned out she saw a really large diamond on top of a high rise, and sent John after it," Now there was a very acidic jealousy in his words, but that soon changed as he spoke his next words. "That went smoothly, though he had to carry it by hand. However, Rainbow and Leo showed up and decided to rain pebbles down on him. Then one of them threw a rock down on him."

Corey sighed forcefully. Twilight turned to him, and he had a look on his face suggesting that he knew he was going to ask a stupid question.

"Just making sure: you didn't leave him up there, did you?" he asked, slouching down somewhat.

"He wanted to be left behind. Having rocks dropped on him really made him mad. Said he could find his way back on his own, according to Leo." Spike said, shrugging. "So I don't know exactly where he is."

Twilight grew somewhat concerned, if only for the fact that dragons tend to become angry a lot faster than average. And when their rage overflows, they tend to rampage. Such a thing wouldn't be very good for John's public image. Obviously, the former human must have realized this, and stayed behind to cool off.

"Does John have anger issues?" Twilight asked. "Dragon's rage isn't exactly the best thing..."

"Not that I know of," Ivan cut in. Twilight turned to Corey, who merely shook his head "no".

"So I guess John's on his way back, then," responded Spike. He looked to one of the bags. "One of these is supposed to be for him." Again, the jealousy returned to his words.

"I've been m-meaning to ask about that," the green unicorn stuttered. "What's in those?"

"Well, what did we go up the mountain to get?" Spike questioned.

"Gems?" Corey asked. "But...why?"

Twilight felt the need to cut in at this point.

"Well, some dragons collect gems," she said. "Hoarding them. Others, like Spike here, eat them."

"Like candy, huh?" Ivan cut in this time.

"Even tastes like it!" Spike professed.

"I see..." The pudgy pony trailed off. The library remained dead quiet for a while. Just as Corey inhaled as though he were about to say something, a knock at the door was heard.

"Oh, that must be John now," Twilight smiled, and nodded. At least some things were going right before the meeting. The purple mare knew that Corey still probably wanted to work on his magic some more before the meeting, but she wondered briefly if he would accomplish too much before the meeting and decrease the former humans' credibility. From what she could gather, Leo was apparently learning how to fly from Rainbow, and her friend didn't seem to be aware that the silver colt wasn't really a pony.

"I'll get it," Spike said, walking towards the door with one of the bags in his possession. "I'll go ahead and give him the bag Rarity wanted him to have. After what his own friend and Rainbow basically did to him, I don't want to make him mad again. He's probably hungry anyway."

The younger dragon made his way toward the door, and Twilight registered that the door had opened up. The purple pony briefly hoped that Spike still wasn't holding a grudge about John being there with him and Rarity. She took a deep breath, recalling that Leo was still probably with Rainbow, and would have to be retrieved before the hour of the meeting came. Her stress was beginning to return.

"Um," Corey began. "Twilight?"

"Huh?" Twilight shook out of her thoughts, "Oh, right, Corey, what is it?"

"I think I'm going to try and get a little more used to magic now," Corey said.

"Can I watch?" asked Ivan, looking around.

"Sure, why not?" Corey responded, Twilight noting he was doing so through gritted teeth.

Is he nervous?

It had been relatively simple to find his way back to Ponyville, John believed. With Fluttershy's path, he was actually able to take a shortcut and avoid the front entrance to the town, instead entering on a more direct route to the library. The frightened looks from the ponies in town had mostly diminished. There were a few still obviously unsure if having an adult dragon in town was the brightest move a pony could allow, but for the most part, all of them seemed more willing to accept he'd be in town for a while.

It certainly would save the former human some trouble. Even though Leo and Rainbow had nearly caused him a headfirst dive into the ground, he was considering thanking Rarity for trying. He'd been able to work out the reasoning behind her taking him along, despite Spike's (obvious) protests.

The door opened, revealing a smaller dragon-Spike, with a bag in his free hand.

"Finally back, huh?" he asked, looking up to him. John sighed, expelling smoke from his mouth, being sure to turn his head.

"Yeah, I'm back," John responded. "Got lost for a little bit, though, but I made it." The former human decided to inquire about the object in Spike's hand. "What's with the bag?"

"Oh, this?" responded the younger dragon, looking to it. "Rarity gave both of us bags of gems. Guess you'd better get used to food here. And speaking of--" He hesitated, as though thinking of what to say next, notably with a hint of mischieviousness, when a feminine voice interrupted.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded. John wasn't able to place it at first, but he detected a lift of embarrassment in her tone. Spike merely snickered, and handed the bag of gems to John, who merely stared at it as though not really knowing what to expect a gem to taste like.

"Here, I'll go get something else you might want to look at. Has to do with Corey..." Spike left John's eyesight for the moment, only for him to be replaced by a passing Twilight, Corey, and Ivan. John reached out, clapping down on Ivan's back.

"You know, just because you have hands doesn't mean you get to rub it in," Ivan quipped. Dodging the former human's statement entirely, John continued on.

"How'd you get out of farm work?" John asked. He didn't think farmhands would be so willing to let their unwilling extra hands--or hooves, walk off the job early.

"I mentioned the meeting to Applejack. Went in more detail than you did though." Ivan responded. "Probably wasn't the brightest move, but she didn't see any lies in what I was saying. Not that I could tell anyway."

John remained at the door for a while longer until Spike came back, with a second bag of gems in his hand, no doubt his own bag of gems. In his other hand was a paper.

"This was on the door," Spike said. "Have fun with that..."

The former human's eyebrow twitched. He read the note which Pinkie and Ivan had earlier read in the day, and his entire left eye started to twitch.

"Definitely gonna ask him about this later," John noted to himself. He turned his attention back to the bag. "What's Spike think I am? I admit it is a little on the weird side, but--"

Cutting himself off, John opened the bag. He'd never seen so many precious stones in one place, of so many different colors. To think he was going to eat one sort of left him a little depressed. When he felt his stomach rumble, however, he decided to give it a try. He didn't expect gems to have a taste, but he knew from a researched episode that dragons did eat them.

Well, by "dragons", he really knew "Spike" ate gems.

He grabbed a small red gem from the bag, and popped it into his mouth. For a few moments, he'd wondered if he was going to be able to chew it, but his teeth were hard enough to easily rip into the gem's surface. As the gem went from precious stone to mush, a taste of fresh, sweet cherries suddenly erupted in his mouth. In his mind, John immediately knew what to say, and with every force possible he held himself from screaming it out.

Holy mercy! It's like a party in my mouth!

When he thought about it, Corey was somewhat relieved to see John made his way back. At the same time, a feeling of dread crept up inside him as he recalled exactly what he was going to be doing over the next few hours before Princess Celestia would meet the former humans. While Leo wasn't around, Ivan and John were, not to mention Spike. They'd be around to watch him fail.

The former human was suffering from a moderate case of performance anxiety. Just like when he had to deliver speeches for his public speaking class. However, he knew that in order to at least have a chance of functioning as a unicorn in Equestria, he couldn't break from the norms by much. So he was stuck learning.

He took a deep breath, and steadied himself. This was going to be a long three hours or so...

"Alright, Twilight, attempt number three..." Corey said. Once again, Twilight obliged to set an apple down in front of him with her own brand of magic. Now, it was Corey's turn, and he shut his eyes, trying to focus.

On his third try, the pressure was still very overbearing, but it was slightly easier to handle than the last. It might have been noticeably easier, however, if it were just him and Twilight. The others around him weren't exactly helping, but they weren't doing anything to hinder him either. His horn glowed a slightly stronger, more consistent green as he focused his magic into it. Once more, he imagined the energy taking the form of a hand. This time, he tried to shrink the size of the hand, making it softer in grip.

The apple bobbed in place, once again slowly lifting into the air by magic. Though Ivan didn't really show his surprise, he was surprised to see Corey had made so much progress in such a short amount of time. He'd probably only started learning today, and already he was lifting things. He surveyed the expressions of the others. Spike looked somewhere between astonished and amused. Looking back at Corey's face, Ivan understood why.

Corey, you know we're not in a Dragonball Z pony parody, right? You can stop looking like you can't crap anytime now... thought the former human to himself. If he could have applied his palm to his face in that moment, he would have. Instead, Ivan decided to look at the others. John looked physically surprised, and wasn't amused like Spike. He stopped, however, noticing Twilight's expression. While she'd seen his so-called "focusing" face in all likelihood, the purple mare had a positive emotion Ivan couldn't quite read straight away. She was staring at him intently.

Corey opened his eyes, finally, relaxing his body. The apple stuttered around in the air, perfectly level with Corey's eyes. However, the instant the former human in question caught Twilight's gaze, his concentration lapsed, and the apple caved in on itself. It was here, Ivan realized Corey's cheeks were not green, but a reddish color. A quick look at Twilight confirmed that her face was reddened as well.

Ivan sighed somewhat. It almost seemed too easy for him to make the reference, but he would have to anyway. Besides, it was either that or make a "marefriend" joke, and after what Leo and Rainbow Dash got through doing to the two unicorns, as well as Spike's reaction to the event (barely stifled giggling), Corey didn't really need that right now.

"I-I'm sorry," Twilight seemed taken aback by her reaction. "It's just--you're--I'm..."

Ivan stopped in his tracks, subtly looking over to Twilight. It wasn't hard for him to mask the mild amusement he felt at the two floundering about. No wonder they might wind up together. They were at least somewhat similar personality-wise. Corey just tended to be more cynical about everything. Not that Ivan could blame him, really. Compared to Equestria, Earth, while not having dangerous monsters, had dangerous personalities on it. Not to say that Equestria didn't have such personalities within its walls; but those were few and far between.

"I-It's alright. I really need to learn to--" Corey cut himself off, and Ivan looked to him. He was still flushed, and his eye was subtly twitching. "To control myself, that's all."

Ivan breathed out. How many times today would he have to do Leo's job. He wasn't the one with wings, yet he was playing the role of wingman. Admittedly, he was doing it unintentionally, but still, it bothered him.

Ivan put on his best trollface (read: blank slate), and tapped Corey's side with his hoof. The crimson-faced unicorn turned to him, and Ivan immediately leaned in to whisper.

"You know, if you watched more Fairy Tail, magic control wouldn't be an issue..."

That got Corey going. Almost immediately, he forgot all about the fact he lost control because a purple pony was looking at him weirdly. His blush vanished, his ears peeled back and he snarled. His teeth bared, but he merely exhaled.

"Fairy Tail" referred to an anime Ivan recommended Corey watch. He wasn't sure if he watched more than the first two episodes, but the fact remained that he wasn't watching it. How could he not? It had awesome fights within it. As for how it possibly related to Corey's situation: the force the characters used was called "magic".

"Dang it, Ivan..." he mumbled. This short distraction had apparently bought Twilight enough time to recover. Meanwhile, Spike and John seemed to be talking about something. John looked sort of like an older brother scolding his younger sibling, while Spike looked like someone would when receiving a scolding. More or less, anyway. Corey turned back to Twilight. "I think I'll try again..."

Those two...Man, will they be heartbroken at the end of all this. Ivan thought somewhat sympathetically as he trotted back to his spot. So would Pinkie...

Ivan subtly realized his thought process went back to the happy pink pony, and sighed somewhat. This was going to be one long adventure.

Over the next few hours, several developments took place. Corey's magic control slowly began to get better, even with friends watching. Eventually, he was trusted enough to move his apple levitating inside. He slowly became more accustomed to the pressure and the pain that accompanied using his magic. Twilight voiced her confidence that perhaps Corey could move small objects with slight difficulty now, amazing everyone.

Ivan merely watched Corey's progress, wondering if Equestria had manga. They obviously didn't have anime, or at least, they didn't appear to have a means to watch it. Eventually, he found a regular book, and began reading. He didn't have a lot else to do.

John snacked on his gems, finding each color had a distinct and unique flavor. It wasn't a lunch he was expecting to have, but he was in a world full of magical talking ponies, so he excused himself. Also, after quite a bit of struggling, he was able to settle things with Spike about the whole issue with the gem hunt. It took a bit.

Leo, meanwhile, spent those hours primarily with Rainbow Dash, watching her perform various tricks. They did stop at Fluttershy's eventually, who was happy to eat lunch with them. Nothing truly eventful happened on that front.

Words were exchanged. Magic was learned. A cyan pegasus got to show off more of her athleticism to a colt that she felt she was growing an attachment to.

Meanwhile, as the hour of the former humans' meeting with the sun monarch of the land drew near, a purple mare grew more and more nervous. Her demeanor gradually became less and less relaxed as the time for the meeting drew near.

To her relief, Rarity arrived on time, and, while John was "safe" from the fashionista given he kept his tux in a safe place, Corey and Ivan were not so lucky, however. Even so, Corey's measurements had already been taken earlier. It wouldn't be as much as an issue for him.

With no Leo in sight, it seemed that Twilight was only worsening in nature...

Well, I guess that could have gone worse... Corey thought, looking into another mirror after another "Rarity fashion montage". This time, however, instead of wearing a cosplayer's outfit, he was wearing a white-gray tuxedo, tailor-made for a quadrupedal creature as opposed to the bipedal John, who once more sported the black tuxedo from yesterday. At the green unicorn's neck was a red cloth which Corey assumed was supposed to be the equine equivalent of a tie.

Also, the mane he'd messed up during the applesauce incident had once again been combed back into perfection by the OCD white unicorn. He looked like he was just about ready for some kind of interview. For all intents, the meeting with the sun princess was an interview. But still, Corey felt horrifically out of place in formal attire.

It was Ivan's turn now to be in the hooves of Rarity, and from the looks of things, the first thing she was doing was combing his mane to a more acceptable look. Unlike Corey's, and a little bit less like Leo's, Ivan's mane was long and unkempt, especially after a day of farm work.

"I maintain Applejack needs to brush her mane once in a while," Rarity commented as she worked on Ivan's hair. "It is a good thing you were able to get off easy."

"Yeah, it sure is," Ivan responded, keeping his head still and his voice devoid of emotion. Corey wasn't sure what the brown earth pony was thinking of, but decided not to focus on it. Briefly, he wondered if the group would call on him again to be the spokesperson for the group. He left Rarity's makeshift workstation (which had been set up in Twilight's room for the time being), and went out to the main area, where the others were.

A knock on the door was heard.

"That's gotta be Leo!" Twilight sounded anxious. "Spike--"

"I'm on it," responded the baby dragon. Certainly, he knew something about the pony that Corey did not. Now that he thought about it, Twilight's mane looked a little disheveled, and her eyes had stress marks underneath them. She was obviously trying and failing to keep it together. The sound of a door opening echoed in the library.

"Hey, I'm here--" Leo started, cut off by the very anxious purple mare, who closed the distance between them in about five seconds.

"Good, you're here! Do you know how much time is left before the meeting?" Twilight interrogated, looking every bit as nervous as Corey felt about the meeting. For a moment, he wondered exactly what the sun princess was like. From what he knew, Princess Celestia wasn't a spoiled brat; in fact, she was actually benevolent. She was a little on the vague side, though, if the Nightmare Moon fiasco he'd watched was anything to go on.

"Uh--" Leo started, apparently not expecting the high-strung mare.

"She'll be here within the hour!" Twilight sounded panicky. She was breathing erratically. "Go wait your turn over where Rarity is!"

"O-okay," The silver colt clearly wasn't sure what else to say. He'd probably never seen the pony quite so stressed, but knew when not to aggravate her further. He trotted silently over to Rarity, who by now had finished working on Ivan's mane, and was taking the measurements from Ivan's hoodie, which had been temporarily set aside for the job, so that she could get to work on the former human's suit as soon as she could.

Internally, Corey began to wonder about something.

Are the suits really necessary? I mean, Twilight's not wearing anything formal. Like Hell I'm asking about it now, though. One wrong statement and she'll invent a doghouse for me to sleep in for a month!

Yet, even as he considered this, the former human didn't feel right standing around and watching Twilight stress out. Normally, he'd have let things play out, but he knew Twilight awfully well even considering he'd watched a few episodes of the show. After the past night and some of the events today, he just couldn't be idle anymore. With a moderate sigh, he started moving over to the stressed-out pony.

"Hey, what are you doing?" John asked, having been standing next to him. Corey turned back to his fellow former human and friend, and sighed again, shaking his head.

"I wish I had a clue, John," he responded, walking again toward the purple mare, "I really wish I had a clue."

Twilight didn't know which way was left or right. She was so nervous she couldn't think straight. There was only barely enough time to get them outfitted correctly. Come to think of it, why was she bothering with it? She had to remind herself that technically the new males in town were from another world and should, by all rights, look their best. They were going to meet royalty, after all.

Leo was almost too late for Rarity to actually get him done in time. She had been just about to finish with Ivan's mane when he came knocking. John and Corey were easy to get done, since both were already here and the latter was already measured. The silver pegasus that once was a human, thankfully, didn't look like he'd need that much work to look presentable.

Not that Twilight wasn't freaking out over the detail anyway. Among her other stressors: one, her teacher wouldn't believe the former humans' tales; two, the fact she got butterflies in her stomach on increasing occasion around one of the former humans. The latter of those two stressors was more of an afterthought, but she was honestly worried about what her family, friends, and mentor would have to say about those moments around Corey.

Oh, who was she kidding? The fact he was making significant progress, given what he was deep down left her impressed. He really was a lot more intelligent than he cared to show. He probably wasn't even aware how much he'd "wowed" her, even after he caught her looking. On top of that, she wasn't even sure if she could allow herself to become that close to him. After all, were they not of different worlds?

"Twilight," Speak of Discord, there Corey was at her side now! "are you...alright?"

So he'd noticed she wasn't herself, and he'd known her for all of a day.

"Alright?" she asked, turning to him, unknowingly with a somewhat demented smile on her face. Corey flinched as she continued, not even noticing his discomfort in her stressed haze. "Why, Leo only came by at almost the last possible second, Ivan's around half done, and I'm not even sure if she will fully believe your story to begin with!" Twilight realized she was about to go on and ramble, and only barely managed to cut herself off before she rattled off what else was wrong. "Of course I'm feeling alright!"

"You..." He hesitated. He looked positively unsure if interacting any more was a bright move. "You really don't look it." There was a very awkward air between them, and the desire to raise her voice towards the former human did not go unnoticed. As soon as she inhaled, the boy did what he did best, and blurted out what he was thinking. Unlike previous times, however, he did not mess up and say the wrong thing or a really awkward thing. This time, his slip lead to something completely different. "For what it's worth, I'm nervous too!"

"I--" Twilight began, completely caught off-guard again by this abrupt confession. "What?" Her expression softened somewhat.

"I mean, it's not every day you get to meet a royal figure that is fully capable of moving the sun all on her own," Corey started, studying her face carefully, but seemed unsure still if what he was doing was working. Twilight could tell all he was doing was taking his slip and running with it. "Not only that, I'm actually wondering who believes us, too. But the fact she's called this meeting in the first place sort of lends weight to the fact that she trusts your word on the subject, right?"

Twilight blinked. Slowly, some form of logic was breaking through the thick walls of insecurity that had built themselves around her psyche. Usually, nothing short of painful realization, either via a spell that got too far out of control or a visit to her past self, would do this. Did Corey have any idea what he was able to do? Probably, for he seemed to adjust for the fact she appeared to be relaxing.

"Please," Corey started, his voice getting gentler and quieter without realizing it. "Don't stress yourself out over it so much. I can't say for sure; you obviously know her better than I, but I think she has some level of trust in what you sent earlier. If she didn't--well, wouldn't she have sent you a message similar to the one when you first told her about Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight had almost forgotten she'd told him that tale. Of course - even though her message did lead to the "purification" of Princess Luna, it still was a rather rude reply to get. She began to level out. Was he the first pony to legitimately address her concerns the first time around? Not a chance on any account. Yet, even though he clearly felt like he was only going to make things worse, he still tried. Her mind raced. Some more layers of insecurity began melting away. And her insecurities about the meeting were not the only uncertainties being erased. She wasn't aware of it, but the two had begun trotting toward each other, to the point they were now face-to-face.

"Y-yes, I suppose so," the purple pony stuttered, becoming aware of this fact. What was she doing, getting sidetracked like this? She couldn't let herself get this way, not now.

She wasn't able to ignore it so easily as she had before, but with every force in her body she tried to keep her mind in the right place, even as she realized her heart was drifting elsewhere. It wasn't working.

The sound of a throat clearing broke the two from their thoughts. Twilight looked up, but John wasn't the one that did it. He was elsewhere. The two unicorns turned back to each other, then to around where Rarity was. Leo was now in the fashionista's workstation. Ivan stood outside the door, still with a lack of emotion on his face. The purple mare wasn't immediately sure what the former human was thinking.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something," Ivan said. "But Leo's in there now. Rarity said it shouldn't take too long. Not as much work as I was. She also told me to tell you not to worry, but I guess Corey beat her to the punch."

Twilight was relieved to hear these news, and at the same, embarrassed and frustrated with herself. She'd never experienced something quite like what she was feeling before. Each time Corey did something that left an impression on her, her defenses were getting weaker and weaker. Underneath the sour look he often sported, she understood, was something bitter. But something sweet festered deep within, and something was bringing it out.

The studious mare wasn't stupid. She knew full well what-or rather, who, was bringing the sweet side out to play.

"Y-yeah, I guess I did," Corey stuttered. He sounded genuinely embarrassed to have been caught in that situation, just like back in the cafe. "T-the meeting s-shouldn't be that much longer, huh?"

"Y-yes, that's right, um," The purple pony was honestly flustered by the sudden turn of events. "Once Leo gets done..."

Using her magic, she reached for the checklist. Telling Rarity was done. Getting the humans together was the next step, which had been completed. They were nearly fitted, and as soon as Leo was out she'd mark that off. That only left a review of etiquette left once Leo was done. She'd have to get it done fast. It was a detail that she felt was necessary.

Even with these feelings slowly clouding her mind, she remained resolute on making sure the meeting went smoothly, and that her mentor would believe the former humans' story. Everything seemed to check out about them at the time, but now they seemed more "normal" by Equestria's standards. Yet...Corey said it himself.

If Princess Celestia had a reason to disbelieve Twilight, she would have sent a reply saying so. With this in mind, the purple mare set her mind back on-task.

"Do you understand all of that?"

This was Twilight's question after running down a laundry list of advice in dealing with Princess Celestia. She was calmer than earlier, but she was obviously still stressing over the event. None of the former humans knew what else to say other than an affirmative. There wasn't much else to do. Rarity had retired to the boutique once again, and Spike voiced his disappointments that he couldn't follow. After all, he was a good witness to meeting three of the former humans, one of which dropped from the skies.

The baby dragon was told to stay in a position where he could see the sun princess approaching. The seconds ticked by without much further incident. Then, Spike could see something approaching from the direction of Canterlot.

At first, it was distant. He broke out the binoculars from when John was falling the previous day, and began looking through them at the object. Through the lens, he could see a golden chariot, much like the one from so long ago when he and Twilight went to Ponyville. Only this time, the passenger was Princess Celestia herself!

The young dragon went on alert.

"Here she comes now, Twilight!" Spike called down. Immediately, Twilight's expression twisted into alertness as well.

"Outside! Hurry!" There was that insanity in Twilight's features again, but only for a moment, as she ushered the four former humans outside.

Ponies in town gazed to the sky as the chariot drew closer. Most of them did not think much of it. They had known for quite a while that the town's librarian was also the sun princess's student. To them, this was just a visit from teacher to student. Only a few in town--namely Twilight's friends, had a general idea of why Princess Celestia was really coming to town. Rarity had the closest idea, but even then, Twilight managed to leave out the "human" detail.

Ponies closer to the library showed their respect, bowing down to the chariot. As the chariot drew closer, the former humans were able to make out not only the flamboyantly armored pegasus ponies pulling the cart, but the royal figure they were carting.

She was tall, more so than any other pony in the town, including Big Macintosh. She was a cloud white color, with a magnificently colored mane and tail - pink, blue, green and purple. The mane was probably the one thing that stood out most of all, for, even as the chariot slowed to a halt in front of the Ponyville Library, the mane continued to billow, as though a flag in the wind. Her cutie mark, appropriately enough, was a representation of the sun. Of particular note was the fact she had both wings and a horn.

Corey, being a fanfiction reader, knew this as an alicorn. Leo, however, being an expert on mythology, knew said term was really used to refer to a unicorn's horn. Twilight and the other ponies referred to her species as a "pegasus unicorn".

If the flowing mane and possession of both wings and a horn wasn't regal enough, the fact she had on a golden crown, what could have been considered golden cuffs for ponies, and a golden necklace around her neck sure was. If any of the former humans were openly disrespectful, they probably would have still been compelled to bow down in begrudging respect.

Thankfully, all four of them knew that there was only one chance to make a good first impression. As the princess dismounted from the chariot, the six assembled at the library began to systematically bow. Twilight did so more out of habit than anything; Spike as well. John bowed as though he were human, which wasn't hard considering the only things seperating him from being human were scales and budding wings.

Ivan and Leo mimicked Twilight's posture, neither having a lot of difficulty. Corey looked around, having sort of zoned out at feeling the regal aura of the sun princess for the first time, and realized what he was doing. With a startled grunt, he quickly tried to mimic the postures of the other ponies around him. Unfortunately, as with most of his first impressions over the past few days, it went rather poorly. When he bowed, he bowed over way too far, shifting his balance too far forward too quick.

Thus, Corey's attempt to be respectful was met with further proof his new pony body was accident prone.

"Rise, my little ponies," commanded the sun princess. While the other former humans and natural-born denizens had little trouble obliging to this command, the pudgy green unicorn tried to rise up, only to realize his horn was stuck in the ground again, his rump high in the air and his forehooves scrabbling for traction.

"Corey..." Twilight started.

"Stuck again..." Corey responded, sounding more annoyed than anything. In response to this, John sighed, producing gray smoke. He splayed his fingers around the pony's forehead, and pushed back. The former human's new appendage quickly became unstuck, allowing Corey to stumble backwards off-balance.

Leo and Ivan, mostly Leo, snorted in suppressed laughter, as did Spike. Twilight, on the other hand, hung her head for a split second. She realized, however, that it probably couldn't be helped. With this in mind, the studious mare quickly went about business.

"Greetings, Princess Celestia," Twilight looked calmer than before. There was only slight nervousness in her demeanor now, compared to earlier. "These are the four beings from a different world I mentioned earlier in my letter."

"Well, at first glance, they certainly don't look the part," The sun princess stated (the obvious). The humans were caught just a little off-guard by how easygoing she seemed to be about all this. "But you did mention that they took the appearance of beings from this world."

"With all due respect," Leo cut in, "Can we move this meeting...inside? Right now, we are not sure we want our situation being publicly known just yet."

Both Corey and Ivan were stunned at Noel's capacity to be...polite. Corey decidedly less so, since he'd seen him earlier with Rainbow Dash.

The Princess didn't seem too disturbed by the question. One of her eyebrows raised, but her benevolent demeanor did not diminish. Her light purple eyes scanned the newcomers. Externally, they appeared to be normal ponies. However, she had to know for sure.

"Very well," answered the white alicorn. "I may have taken this meeting inside in any case. We do have a lot to discuss."

And with that, the group of ponies and dragons moved inside. The ponies outside went back about their business, thinking it odd that the three new colts and their friend, the pre-adult dragon, would be meeting the ruler of the land. Well, the co-ruler, anyway.

"Now then," Princess Celestia continued, looking down upon the former humans, still seeming to scan them for information. She still had a benevolent air about her, but it seemed a little lessened compared to outside. "I trust Twilight has already informed you of who I am, but I am Princess Celestia, one of the rulers of Equestria alongside my sister, Princess Luna."

Each of the former humans merely nodded.

"Please, introduce yourselves?" The princess looked to the four of them again.

"Ivan," This came from the brown earth pony, whose face betrayed barely any emotion whatsoever.

"Leo," This was the silver pegasus colt, who notably had a curved snout, like a female.

"John," The dragon spoke up. He was the closest one to the height of the princess, but still short in comparison. This left the green unicorn, who stared at the floor.

"C-Corey," He stuttered, looking up, as though he got caught doing something wrong.

All of their names were just as Twilight described them, all very abnormal by Equestria's standards. Things were pointing in the direction, but to be sure, Princess Celestia had to make sure that the humans' story didn't change much.

"So, if you wouldn't mind telling the story of how you four came to this world again, I would like to hear it?" Almost immediately, the eyes of the dragon and ponies all fell upon Leo, who shrunk just a little bit from the sudden glares.

"Leo screwed up!" This was John giving a false cough, no smoke billowing from his mouth.

"Big time!" Ivan falsely coughed.

"Remember what got us here," This was Corey, surprisingly not coughing.

"So, it was night time where we were, and all four of us were up late..."

The re-telling of the story began. Once again, Leo explained how high-tech the human world was, and all the important events that took place since the humans' arrival in Equestria.

Corey was subtly relieved to see that Leo didn't go into any embarrassing details. More importantly, he was relieved to see that Twilight wasn't as stressed, and that Princess Celestia was actually believing their story. Or at least, she appeared to be. She didn't interrupt as though Leo had contradicted himself. Once more, the story finished, and the room remained silent for a few long seconds.

"I see..." The sun princess said, taking all the information in. "So you wound up here through technological means rather than magical means, hm?"

"That's right," Leo responded. "No magic in our world."

"Your world sounds wonderful, though I wonder exactly what it's like to live without magic," Princess Celestia remarked, "I can't imagine it'd be altogether different, though it would be quite an adjustment."

If you only knew, thought the green unicorn, and he guessed his friends were probably thinking the same thing.

"Though, I must ask, you say there was only four of you, right?" the Princess asked. "And you, John, I understand, did not enter this world until later?"

"Yes, that's right," John responded. Tension filled the room. The benevolent air was still there, though now the princess appeared troubled by this information.

"Well, when Twilight informed me you four were of another world, I looked into any disturbances that might have been caused by your entry." The white alicorn continued. "And I found something odd. There was a second portal opened at the time Corey, Leo, and Ivan entered! Like the rest, it closed soon afterward, but it remains that there was another portal opened."

Everything stopped. Corey became numbed. What happened in the portal? He surveyed the room. John, Leo and Ivan were also stumped. Princess Celestia had the same somewhat concerned look on her face, and Twilight and Spike seemed just as concerned, if not more, by this information.

What happened in that vortex? thought the green unicorn. I didn't see Ivan or Leo in there. I just remember my body--mainly my head, hurt like hell...damn, I can't remember anything other than that!

"Does this mean..." Corey mumbled. "That another world was affected? Leo--"

"No," Leo continued. "Surely we would have seen fallout from something like that by now. I don't know what caused that other portal to open."

The library became dead quiet. This was normal on most days, excluding Twilight's slumber parties and the occasional conversation. However, this stillness was not normal. It was chilling, and no one, pony, former human, or dragon, had any real explanation.

Yeah, I'm convinced I messed up somewhere on the sun princess's character in this chapter. So yeah, call me "CliffMaster".