Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 14: A Well-Wishing of Sorts?

No one, former human, pony, or dragon had any idea what to say in light of the recent revelations. A second portal opened around the same time the first opened? What, or who, else could have been pulled in with Corey, Leo and Ivan? It wasn't John - he didn't come in for three hours. It certainly couldn't have been any one of their Skype contacts, either. It was a Skype room specifically for the four of them. Leo confirmed that it wouldn't have sucked anyone else in.

So, the question remained: how many others were in Equestria, and how did they get there?

"It feels like a long shot," John finally began. "Has there been any other 'strange' ponies or other creatures sighted by anyone else here?"

"Not that I have been informed of," Princess Celestia responded. "However, it is strange that whoever came through the portal, assuming it is someone of your world, did not try to find any of you."

"Maybe--maybe," Twilight started, sounding as she was trying to piece something together. "whoever came out of the portal isn't sociable?"

"Whoever it is, we didn't see him," Corey cut in, "We were unconscious for an unknown amount of time. We could have been out from anywhere between a few moments to a few hours. Leo, Ivan, I didn't see either of you...did you see anyone that shouldn't have been there?"

"Nope, nothing," Ivan responded. "My entire body hurt, probably just like yours did."

"Nothing," Leo replied, "Same here. I had my eyes shut trying to block out the pain."

"So you really don't know who was pulled in, hm?" Princess Celestia seemed very patient and understanding with this information. "Whoever was pulled in will likely turn up soon though."

The room became quiet again.

"So, what happens now?" Spike asked, breaking the silence. "I mean, from what we know about their world, they'll need a 'computer' or whatever to find their way back without just winding up back here."

The former humans said nothing to this, and all hung their heads, but of particular note was Leo. He seemed truly ashamed of what his mistake had wrought. None of the natural-born Equestrians had anything to say for a few moments, but thankfully, it didn't take long for the sun princess to speak up.

"I suggest you don't trouble yourself too much with finding a way back," Princess Celestia suggested, her benevolent air fully returning. "Something will turn up sooner or later."

All four of the former humans thought slightly different about this suggestion. Corey had known it would have likely come to this; the problem, as Leo just said, was technological rather than magical. Leo himself still felt guilty, but was otherwise relieved to hear this. Ivan would have shrugged, probably also knowing Leo's mistake was rather critical, but he remembered he was quadrupedal. John suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, if only because he didn't quite know what fully grown dragons did in the show.

However, it seemed like the only one of the four that knew what to say to that was the one that thought of himself as the least vocal.

"There's not a lot of choice in that regard, is there?" Corey finally asked, this question obviously a rhetorical question. "Until we can find a way back, if we can find a way back, I guess we have to make do."

Ivan and John both offered a nod, not really seeing anything truly wrong with what Corey had just said, but Leo said nothing. He appeared to be deep in thought, and no one could see his face.

"Hey, Leo, what is it?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"Oh, no, it's nothing," Leo responded, looking back up. There wasn't the slightest trace of emotion in his voice or his face. It was like he just hung his head for the sake of hanging it. "Just thinking about things. We'll just need to make do for now."

"Don't worry," said Twilight. "As soon as things get sorted out, I'll start searching for a way to get you four home."

"Guess I'd better help," cut in Corey with a sigh. He didn't seem to be discomforted with speaking up about it. Either he wasn't thinking about what he was saying, or he didn't care how it sounded straight away. "I'm probably going to have trouble adjusting to the time in this world for a bit anyway, and besides, if you're still letting me stay here after all that's--" He halted, realizing where that was going. "--after this, it'd probably be more efficient."

"Of course you can stay--" Twilight sounded a little more excited than she intended to. No one in the room seemed to notice straight away, however. "I mean, you probably would feel more comfortable here..."

There wasn't much in the way of noise for a few seconds, before the sun princess lightly chuckled to herself. Ears pricked up where applicable, but it was Corey who spoke up.

"Uh, if you don't mind my asking, what is it?" he asked, trying to act as though nothing was wrong.

"Oh," Princess Celestia composed herself for a moment. She appeared to have "leveled out" to her former benevolent aura, now that the meeting was starting to draw to a close and she'd addressed almost everything. "It's nothing. I'm just glad to see that Twilight's found somepony--excuse me, someone, that she can study with..."

At first, no one in the room quite understood what the sun princess was getting at, and the entire library relaxed. Then Twilight realized what her mentor meant, and her cheeks turned slightly red.

"P-Princess, it--" she started, unable to finish and staring at the floor. With that statement, Corey immediately felt his own cheeks heat up, that all-too familar feeling returning.

D-did I just...get trolled there?! he thought to himself as he fought away the blush that coated his face. The other former humans said nothing. Leo and Spike appeared to be fighting off a small burst of laughter, while Ivan and John were comparatively more composed about this matter. The latter of the two decided to raise a question to shift the focus back onto more serious matters.

"So, what should we do, then, Princess?" John asked.

"From what I've heard today, I'd say the four of you are in good hooves...or hands, if you prefer," the princess responded. "I suppose the best thing for the four of you to do is to be patient. And it couldn't hurt to see what you could learn while you're here."

None of the four former humans had to be rocket scientists to figure out what the sun princess could possibly be alluding to.

"That will be all. I must take my leave now." Princess Celestia finished.

"Don't worry, Princess Celestia," said Twilight, having shaken off the comment made by her mentor earlier. "I'll help them adjust."

The student and mentor exchanged a quick hug. Farewells were exchanged between the monarch of the land and the former humans. With no further words, the sun princess boarded her carriage, and went back in the direction of Canterlot, leaving the former humans to ponder exactly where to go from there.

Twilight watched as her teacher's carriage grew distant, until it became a speck against the sky. She smiled. Her worries, at least about the meeting, were completely gone. Of course, there was the issue that this new portal brought in unexpected guests that were hopelessly lost. However, the purple mare wasn't too afraid for the moment. After all, Corey, Leo and Ivan did not notice anything when they regained consciousness. If someone else came out of that portal, it was very likely they were independent souls.

With this in mind, the unicorn turned to the former humans, who stood, also staring off into the distance.

"So," she started. "If you don't mind my asking, what did you think of Equestria's co-ruler of the sun?" It was a curiosity she had within. Twilight did want to know what they thought of Princess Celestia, since, even as her faithful student, the purple unicorn herself didn't know what to expect from her sometimes.

"For what she is," Corey responded. He cut himself off, his eyes widening. Twilight didn't immediately get why he had this reaction to his own words, but didn't get to ask, for he spoke again. "I mean, for what kind of job she's got to do every day, she's...a lot more easygoing than I expected, even when delivering the news about that other portal."

"Yeah, easygoing," said Leo. He somewhat tried to control himself. "And..." He cleared his throat. "Observant..."

The purple pony felt her cheeks heat up again, and was instantly reminded that even her teacher made note of the parallels between Corey and herself. It made ignoring those feelings even harder than before. Yet, Twilight knew three things about her situation. One, she never felt like this about anypony; two, she wouldn't know where to start (but that made two of them; Corey pretty much told her that); three, the former human in question, along with his friends, would eventually have to go home. However, the meeting only further hardened the potential that the former humans might never get back to their home universe, barring if Equestria finally started using technology like in the human world.

"Dang it, Leo..." Corey trailed off, clearly embarrassed. For a moment, Twilight had considered the former human's own feelings on the matter. Briefly, she wondered if he felt the same way. More than likely, he did, she thought to herself, despite the fact he probably felt similar walls separated them.

"Pretty much what Corey and Leo said. Not really what you'd expect a princess to be, but it obviously works for her," This was John, looking as though he were about to drag Leo off by his tail. Twilight wasn't about to ask why Ivan and John were trying to deflect the focus away. She probably had a good feeling why.

"Ditto," responded Ivan. "Not really a whole lot to say that they didn't already. Though I get the feeling that, her being the princess of the sun aside, I wouldn't want to see her bad side. People that easygoing...you probably don't want to tick off."

"Moving on," the silver pegasus cut in, "is it possible that we could keep this 'human' thing secret, at least for a few more days?"

Twilight felt herself grow just a little suspicious, but soon suppressed it. Certainly, if they were up to no good, by now she'd have been tipped off. Besides, with Rainbow and possibly others seeing something between herself and Corey, she didn't exactly feel up to telling them about the newcomers' humanhood, at least not yet.

"Alright, I'll keep this secret," the purple pony agreed, masking her internal doubts. The other humans gave no objections to this statement, though Twilight could have sworn she saw Corey slightly smirking while rolling his eyes.

"Ivan?" John asked. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, what is it?" Ivan answered, looking over to the large dragon.

"Come with me," John motioned with his head. Leo sighed, probably wondering what they were to talk about.

"I'll come along too," said Leo, already trotting over to them. The other two turned to him. "Want to give them some space."

John applied one of his hands to his face, while Ivan slowly shook his head.

"Are you going to hold that over his head the whole time we're here, Noel?" the brown earth pony asked. "C'mon, get out of here before you make that ancient."

The silver pegasus said nothing and trotted off after the other two.

Twilight found herself asking the same question, and briefly wondered exactly what Leo..or Noel, had been up to with Rainbow. Now that she was really thinking about things that had happened since the newcomers got to Equestria, she couldn't help but wonder why Leo and Rainbow Dash were spending so much time together.

"Spike," Twilight said, before leaning over and whispering into his ear. She knew full well how her request would sound, but she had good reasons. "could you leave us alone for a moment?"

Spike almost fell over and started snickering, but with a measurable amount of effort--Twilight could tell--he held his laughter in.

"Sure, what for?" the baby dragon asked. Now he had a teasing tone in his voice. The purple mare cast a quick look to the green unicorn who hadn't moved much since his friends left the library, and saw that he too was getting just a little annoyed at the constant references.

"Well," Twilight began. "I guess it's a human thing more than anything--" She cut herself off, watching Corey close his eyes, starting to concentrate.

Outside the library, the three former humans known as Ivan, John and Leo stopped in the fields. All three were still wearing their tuxedos. Ivan himself didn't have any real complains about the tux. It was the first time he had ever worn formal clothing, and he felt he could stand to wear it a little longer.

"Alright, what is it, John?" asked Ivan.

"Well, I've been meaning to ask for a bit now, but I never really got the chance," replied John. Ivan felt the need to justify his behavior.

"Hey, the books here are actually more interesting than you think they are," responded the youngest of the former humans. "Can't say it beats manga, though."

"I guess not," the oldest of the former humans responded. Leo merely nodded to this. "Anyway," John continued, "I was wondering, how has doing that farm work been?"

Ivan considered how hard he'd been worked on the farm the past day and a half he'd worked there. The farm's owners had certainly been doing their share of work since their childhoods, or foalhoods or whatever, and didn't feel winded by it. They were all hard workers. The former human himself wasn't particularly known for working hard, but he did bring it on himself.

"I'm surprised I didn't get as tired as I usually do when I work that hard," Ivan finally realized aloud. "Back home, an afternoon of yard work would burn me out."

"Maybe your pony body has more stamina. Certainly would explain why Corey's been able to do so much," Leo responded. "No offense to him..."

"Oh sure, you say that now..." Ivan replied. "When you're probably going to be ripping on him based on this Twilight thing..."

"About that, Ivan..." John said. "Not so sure it's just a 'thing'..."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well," The dragon paused. "Oh, never mind. Corey'd have my head if I told you any of that. More to the point, Leo, what about you and Dash?"

Leo recoiled slightly from this question, making Ivan wonder exactly what he'd missed when he left the group to sleep at the farm. It seemed like the silver pegasus had been omitting parts of the story, but the former human decided not to pry.

"No importa," The former human went on in Spanish.

"Por qué?" This was John responding. "No controlarla temprano!"

"Te voy a matar..." Leo responded listlessly.

"Hey, I can't understand a thing you're saying," Ivan responded, and this was true. "Repeat all that in English?"

"Esto no ha terminado," said the dragon, "Anyway," he now turned his attention back to Ivan. "I was gonna ask if you wouldn't mind me taking your place at the farm."

Like Ivan was going to ask someone else. Whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to do some work. After all, he did impose by napping there. Besides, he didn't want to cause others hardship because of something he did or was. His laziness would not outweigh this personal responsiblity, no matter what.

"Wouldn't want to cause you trouble," responded the brown earth pony.

"I'm a dragon. After what happened today, I'm pretty sure I can take it." John said.

"So wait, you pulled me aside for this?" asked Ivan, raising an eyebrow. "And since when did you become the 'wingman'?"

Leo snickered to himself, while the older dragon shrugged.

"That's what I wanna know," John responded. "Anyway, I guess you're right. Now, let's get back inside so we can get these tuxedos off."

Ivan suddenly realized something that he knew Corey probably realized the night before.

How the hell do these ponies wear clothes anyway? Unicorns, winged unicorns, I get, but pegasi and earth ponies...seriously, how the hell does that work?

Corey sighed. Somehow or another, he had done it without charring the tuxedo or causing it to combust. His brow was somewhat traced with sweat, and indeed, his head was a little sore, but his magic control was definitely making significant improvements. If he kept up, soon he'd be doing the levitation spell with minimal trouble and wouldn't need to close his eyes while doing it. The tuxedo he was wearing was now on the floor in front of him. He caught Twilight's eyes studying him intently again. Spike nudged her, though whether he intended it to be a playful nudge or a "wake-up" nudge didn't exactly register with the former human straight away.

"Huh?" Twilight asked. "Oh!" She gasped, apparently having caught herself looking again.

"You really would be a great teacher," Spike quipped, snickering to himself as he walked over to one of the bookcases. Twilight merely gave a sigh, the blushing from earlier only slight compared to when the Princess made her comment.

"Anyway," the purple pony continued as though Spike hadn't said anything, "I thought...well, removing clothing like that wasn't a decent thing in human culture."

Corey immediately recoiled from this, really wishing he'd thought that one through.

"Well, I'm not exactly human anymore, am I?" asked Corey.

"I know, but..." she halted, lowering her voice. "Yesterday night, when you were wearing that uniform, you were really embarrassed at that..."

The green colt sighed. Was she going to start giving him crap too?

"Yeah, not my brightest move. I'm actually wondering, though, and this is probably going to come out wrong, but," He tried to find a way to say it. "Why do you all wear clothes? Most of you that I've met usually...don't."

"Well," Twilight didn't seem too offended by his question, "We wear clothes mainly for formal occasions, weddings, ceremonies, things like that. Or if it's Nightmare Night."

"'Nightmare Night'?" That was a new one on Corey. He might have read about it somewhere before. "Sounds...kinda like Halloween back on Earth. Do you dress up in costumes and get candy on that day?"

"More or less," Twilight said. The discussion might have continued, if not for a sudden noise outside.

"Oof!" This was a masculine grunt.

"Oh! Hi, Ivan!" And an all-too familiar squeal. "And you two are here too? What's with the fancy clothes? Was there a wedding I didn't know about?"

"Whoa, slow down there, Pinkie," Ivan's voice rang out, with only a faint embarrassment in it. "And uh...could you...get up off me please?"

"Oh, right!" Twilight blurted out. "In all the commotion, I nearly forgot about--!" She cut herself off. "Never mind, Pinkie's probably been looking to talk to me all day about something."

"What about?" Corey asked, trying to play the "clueless" card. "Can't be physics..."

Without pausing to answer, Twilight began to hurry out the door, and Spike soon followed, though he was still at least somewhat amused over previous events. Corey breathed an exhale and thought to himself.

Good thing they're not planning a Christmas party...if I know Rainbow Dash like I think I do...mistletoe would be an integral part of her pranks... thought Corey.

First John, then Rainbow, then Leo, then Ivan and Pinkie...and now Princess Celestia. My God, it's like fate itself is trying to push us together...

Terrified, Corey turned from the door, hearing somewhat of an argument taking place outside.

I don't know....I probably shouldn't let it, even with the fact I might be here forever. But...can I help myself? She's...adorable, intelligent, and...and a little on the high-strung side. And she's been nice to me... thought the green unicorn to himself. From that talk I had earlier, should I really just let this go?

He never quite finished that train of thought, for the front door slammed open. The three other former humans walked inside, looking back towards Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie, who were looking in.

"Um," Twilight started, "Pinkie needs me to check up on something. I'll be back soon!"

All four of the former humans weren't dim. Even John knew what was going to come next. However, they all once again pretended to be clueless as to what was going on, and let the ponies and dragon go wherever they were going. With that over, it was John who spoke up next.

"So, I guess your magic control's getting better?" John asked. Corey was immensely grateful he didn't directly ask whether or not he got the tuxedo off. But it took him a few seconds to understand John's question all the same.

"Yeah, it is," Corey said. "So...who else wants to get their suits off before the next event starts?"

The looks he received from the other three indicated his paramount misstatement. With an exasperated sigh, and possibly against his better judgment, the green unicorn added.

"Please, you heard the Princess..."

Minutes later, the four former humans were on the streets of Ponyville, en route to the so-called "Sugarcube Corner". While they knew full well what was going on, they bought the purple duo's story that there was a small cake there they wanted to get from the shop. Something about Pinkie's treat, too. Yet, something would have seemed off even if the foursome hadn't watched a single episode of the show. The streets were mostly empty, save for maybe a couple of necessary ponies.

John, Leo, and Corey had decided to ditch their tuxedos. Surprisingly, Leo managed to get his off without tearing the fabric. It wasn't a lot of trouble, but it took him a good five minutes to get the main part of the suit over his head. From there, the sleeves just slid down to the floor. John didn't have any trouble since he retained thumbs even as a dragon. Ivan, on the other hand, didn't even bother trying.

He was still wearing the suit.

"Honestly, Ivan," Corey said, trotting along, still looking downward. "It's like you want to get your head mounted on Rarity's wall..."

"Hey, it's the first time I've ever worn formal clothes," Ivan responded, looking to Corey. It was one of the few times he had shown any emotion, but the boy remembered it to be the same look when the younger former human referenced Fairy Tail. "And I have to say, I don't care, I'm keepin' this on."

"Suit yourself," The unicorn colt responded with a sigh. The sense of dread from before was returning now that he knew he was about to enter a party. From the looks of it, most of the town would be there, and he honestly didn't do a whole lot of mingling with anyone. Now, however, he probably wouldn't have a choice.

"Well, I knew Ivan was gonna be the first," Leo said. "Look, he's even dressed for his funeral!"

"Oh for the love of G--" Corey cut himself off. Could he really fully adapt to the dialect, and keep that part of the cover up? After all, she was the closest thing to one in the series. "C-Celestia," his voice lowered dramatically, and the other three snickered to varying degrees, if only for the fact they knew what he was aiming for in saying that. "Leo, cut it out with the references!"

It was a real struggle to keep his voice lowered, since his patience was starting to reach its limits with the near-constant Cupcakes references. Then again, Corey considered it was karma for the preceding summer when he wouldn't stop referencing a Pokemon-related creepypasta. Still, his references were harmless. If Pinkie caught wind of fanfiction back on Earth, a shitstorm would brew incredibly fast.

"You know, Noel," Ivan cut in.

"Leo!" the silver pegasus angrily retorted.

"Pinkie did let me try a new cupcake she'd made..."

"Don't encourage him, Ivan!" It took all of Corey's restraint to not scream this information to his friends. His patience was close to being exhausted, on top of all the stuff that had been happening to him since arriving in Equestria.

He was the lightning rod for awkward moments, and he had a pretty strong suspicion he had a very close bond with Twilight-perhaps a dangerously close one at that. He was the only one that had to be undressed by a mare. That, combined with the general situation and the fact most of Twilight's friends probably saw something between them, had brought Corey dangerously close to exploding in fury.

"So, anyway," John cut in, apparently sensing this and wishing to prevent the outburst, "we all pretty much know we're going into our...welcome party, right?" This last statement was said while looking around, making sure no ponies were in earshot.

All four former humans agreed. Corey's dread refused to leave. He wasn't one for public venues. A high school pep rally would exhaust him if he didn't deal with it properly. All the same, he knew there was no use in avoiding the party. If he didn't find it, it would find him.

"Yeah, that's right," responded the former human as the foursome continued their trek. Finally, they found the building, which looked like a gingerbread house with two cupcakes atop it. Needless to say, it literally looked sweet. "Alright, we're here..."

God, this building is making me hungry! thought the former human, agitated by this fact.

"Well, here we go," John observed, folding his arms or arm-like appendages. They looked like arms enough to the former human, though, so as far as Corey was concerned, they were scaly arms tipped with claws. At least he could hold things without breaking logic. "Hope no one melts down over this..."

"So, you guys ready to become cupcak--" Leo began. Corey whirled his head around, and glared with more intensity than he probably intended to. Then he realized that Ivan and probably John were also looking at him in a similar way, for he did see Ivan showing some level of exasperation on his features. "I mean, ready to party?"

Clearly, even Noel had his limits when it came to trying other people's patience. With this exchange over, Corey felt it was time to brief the others in his travelling party, when suddenly, Ivan was shoved at his side. John stumbled just a little to move out of the way.

Leo had just pushed Ivan in front, with a crooked smile on his face.

"Ivan first!"

"I swear to God, Leo..." It was really hard for Corey to keep the silver pegasus's name preference in mind with his constant need to be a dick to the others. Realizing the four were wasting time, Corey dropped his voice as low as he could get it so his friends could hear. "We...we all know what's on the other side of this door...so no matter what, be surprised..."

He reached out with telekinesis, the part with shaping the magic energy coming naturally to him. He turned the door's handle, and applied gentle force to it, using quite a bit of effort to prevent crunching the handle in his magical grip. He pushed it open, and the other three filed in. The green unicorn then followed in himself, and shut the door.

The instant the door closed, the lights within the corner came on, and ponies of all shapes, sizes, and colors all appeared, and all screamed out a single word.

"SURPRISE!!"

Confetti seemed to rain down from above. The large "foyer" area behind the front door, Corey realized, was one gigantic party scene. From the looks of the crowd, quite a bit assembled. He'd figured John's appearance would have thinned out the crowd more, but it appeared that wasn't the case.

As for Corey, he was glad he'd let the handle go and applied gentle force to the door. If he'd been in the midst of performing a spell, he might have burst the handle clean off from the honest shock he'd felt. He held the shock on his face for as long as he could stand to. He only hoped that his friends mirrored the same surprise that he held.

Noel was just a little amused at the preceding outbursts from Corey. It looked like smarts and to a certain extent social awkwardness wasn't the only thing he had in common with Twilight. All the same, Leo still needed to break his so-called phobia. The party scene wasn't exactly helping. The sweet scent of baked goods filled the air, and the former human had a low tolerance for sweet scents. The fact he was at a party didn't exactly help either. However, he also knew there wasn't any use in avoiding it.

For now, Leo decided to stay as under the radar as he could, and try to avoid the one that planned all thi--

"Hiii!!" This was Pinkie, somehow coming up behind him. In this case, Leo jumped up from the shock and landed perfectly in John's arms.

"C'mon, she's not that scary," Ivan responded.

"Were you surprised? Even I was surprised, too!" The party pony went on about a mile a minute. Leo tried to shut out the thoughts of the creepypasta as he got down off of John. There wasn't any time for it. "C'mon, let's try out the cupcakes!"

Oh God not the cupcakes! thought the former human to himself. It seemed like he wasn't able to avoid the constant references to the fanfiction. Apparently, his friends were ignoring his warnings too, given they were actively following the party pony. Leo sighed, and followed them to a table.

He was going to deal with this one way or another. Pinkie continued the trend of lifting things on fingerless hooves as she somehow passed the cupcakes to each of the ponies. Leo found himself and Ivan replicating a similar feat as they received the cupcakes, while Corey concentrated for a moment, and lifted the cupcake off of Pinkie's hoof. Some of the confection slightly caved in, and as soon as Corey noticed this, he loosened his grip slightly, Leo assumed.

The cupcake had a little too much frosting for Leo's liking, so, while no one was looking, he quickly grabbed a napkin and scraped a good deal of it off before quickly putting it into his mouth, which his friends had already tried. Corey, Ivan and John weren't experiencing any symptoms of discomfort. A quick check on Pinkie confirmed she had produced a bottle of hot sauce and was putting the condiment on the confection she now held.

As Pinkie indulged into her spicy sweet dessert item, Leo ate the cupcake he'd eaten.

"Hey Leo," This was John, whispering. "Do you think she put hot sauce in these?"

"Not that I can taste, no," Leo responded, still using his low voice. "A lot sweeter than the ones back home."

It was true. The cupcake tasted as though it had around thirty-three percent more sugar than they usually had back on Earth, and this was after he'd taken off some of the frosting. He wondered vaguely how much sugar would have been on it had he not taken the icing off the cake.

Afterward, the foursome that swapped world split up. Corey remained at the table, while Ivan and John decided to socialize, more so with John than Ivan. The dragon was actually greeting some ponies and talking with them here and there, and Ivan mostly seemed to be interacting when called upon.

"Hey Leo!" Rainbow Dash greeted, snapping Leo from his thoughts. There was something different about her, but Leo did not know what to say.

"Oh, hello Dash," responded the former human as he turned to her. Again, his heart remembered the crush, but he did not flounder about as Corey did. It wasn't nearly as obvious, at least, that's what Leo hoped as the conversation took off.

Rainbow Dash found herself convinced of something. After Leo departed to attend a meeting with, of all ponies, the sun princess herself, she had some time to think. Things certainly had gotten strange since Leo and his friends showed up in town yesterday, but it didn't seem evil. At least, from what she could tell. The newcomers certainly weren't banished or worse, they were still alive and didn't look scared, so obviously they were able to pass the Princess's test.

More to the point, she spent the last few hours leading up to the party thinking about the silver pegasus colt with the rounded snout. She'd found herself thinking a little too much about him lately, but it was starting to get worse and worse with preceding incidents.

She had a good feeling that John didn't have any feelings towards Rarity, at least, not that she could tell. The earth pony, Ivan, on the other hand...well, she couldn't really tell either of them. Pinkie had way too much energy. It would have been hard to tell if she brought him along out of a budding crush or just because she was Pinkie Pie. As for Ivan, she couldn't tell how he felt about much of anything, even now, though she could have sworn he saw him start to smile again when Pinkie personally greeted them.

If any of the newcomers were obvious, it would have been the colt that stuck out like a sore hoof. And had a weight problem to boot. He couldn't mask his emotional scape as much as he probably thought. Twilight too seemed obvious enough. They probably didn't completely realize how they were meant for each other, in Rainbow's eyes anyway.

And man, oh man, were they ripe targets. Two bookworms in love, and a library to themselves. What could have possibly been better.

With all this considered, Rainbow found herself letting more and more thoughts about Leo come readily into her psyche. The thoughts came and went, but they weren't as distracting as she thought they would be. It didn't seem fathomable to her that she'd find herself crushing on a pony like him, and indeed, she'd spent the last day or so denying it, even when it was right in front of her.

But could she admit to having these feelings that she'd never felt before? Not yet. She just couldn't bring herself full circle. For now, Rainbow resolved, she'd play it cool and see what came of things first.

"So how was the meeting with Princess Celestia?" she asked, in a low whisper to prevent prying ears. Some of the ponies had been talking about the event, but still, she had a friend that was basically close friends with the royal family, so the cyan mare figured she could at least respect that.

"Pretty standard, not a whole lot to expect. Twilight was fussing over the details though," Leo responded. Dash stifled a giggle that worked its way up in her throat.

"I warned you how she can get sometimes!" Rainbow playfully hoofed Leo in the side.

"S-speaking of Twilight," the silver colt suddenly looked discomforted, and indeed he didn't look like he wanted to say what he wanted to.

"Oh no, go on, Leo," The rainbow-maned pony encouraged with a mischievious grin, "I promise I won't tell what you're about to say."

"Well, during the meeting, Corey decided to say something, said he'd help Twilight study, and..."

"Oh my gosh! Really? No way! She said that?!"

Ivan's ear twitched as he registered the fact that Rainbow was laughing openly at something Leo obviously said to her. Given the somewhat guilty look on the male's face, it probably had something to do with Princess Celestia's statement. If Ivan were prone to showing emotion, he'd have given a disapproving frown, but instead, he just sighed.

Man, Corey's going to hurt him one day. He looked like he was considering it outside... Ivan thought to himself, though his face did not betray this whatsoever. His face had went back to its emotionless husk. Whenever a pony would try and start conversation with him, he would socialize. However, he didn't start any conversations on his own.

He was still doing better than Corey, who remained at the punch table and merely answered some of the background ponies in short, incomplete sentences. He seemed slightly agitated, but he could tell he was trying to be happy at least. And when he did a double take on Leo's position, Leo seemed to be perfectly content with his arrangement. John seemed to be the one that could be social, though.

"Iiiivan," Pinkie immediately brought him out of his trance, this time by seemingly appearing out of nowhere, directly on his left. "Why are you still wearing that? This isn't some high-class party, it's just a simple welcome party! Well, not simple! This one I took special care in planning, every little detail."

Ivan looked around at this statement, trying to take in details he might have overlooked. There were streamers, balloons, and confetti, all brightly colored. The cupcake that he was given was sweet, not like the recipe Pinkie was trying. There were smaller details, strewn throughout the room, which slowly tipped off the former human one by one.

She really put in a little bit of effort into this...

"I had to make it extra-special for you four," Pinkie continued. "Your unicorn friend doesn't seem to smile, the silver colt seems scared of something I'm not sure of, you seem to be a real sleepyhead and John's...a much bigger dragon than Spike! He's almost full-grown, and usually they turn out to be real mean, but from what I can see he's not too bad..."

The sheer energy of the pony forced Ivan to smile, slowly but surely.

"I thought you were asking about why I was wearing this?"

"Oh! Why are you wearing it? Trying to impress somepony?" Her voice dropped to a whisper, and for a few good seconds Ivan wasn't entirely sure what to make of the following statement. "Or me?"

Did she just...? wondered the former human to himself. If she did, she sure isn't shy when it comes to this stuff.

"You know, seeing you in that suit makes me feel like dancing..." Pinkie continued, causing Ivan to jump on the inside. He didn't show any of his shock externally, but this statement did catch the brown earth pony off-guard. "What do you say? Wanna dance?"

"I..." Ivan started, completely unsure of what to say. "I don't know if I can dance..."

"C'mon," the pink mare continued, "It's easy! Here, I'll show you how!"

The incredibly bubbly pony proceeded to bob along to the music, as one would expect of her. However, she began adjusting to the rhythm of the music in the background, and soon she was moving around in the body.

Huh, she can dance in a very humanlike way...

John looked all around the party scene. Ivan seemed to be fighting back the urge to smile as Pinkie danced, Leo and Dash were having a pretty good time together, even though Dash seemed to be the one having most of the fun, and Corey still hung out at the punch table.

No, wait, he wasn't alone. A double take revealed that while he'd been socializing, Twilight and Spike had arrived. The purple mare in question appeared to be trying to coax the green colt away from the comfort zone he'd allotted himself, and actually socialize at least a little bit. Corey seemed a little hesitant, and Twilight seemed to be understanding of him.

God I feel like a spare tire, thought John to himself. With a small sigh, the former human turned dragon  nodded to himself. Oh well. Guess if Applejack's here, should see if she'd let me help out around the farm. Wonder how that'll go.

Deciding to get this taken care of right now, John stood up from the chair he'd sat down on, his height allowing him to peer beyond the crowd of ponies. Sure enough, he spotted her, the hat giving her away. He began to walk towards the crowd. By this point, the ponies were only mildly shocked that a dragon was in their midst, and seemed to be adjusting to this, so they didn't find it too frightening that there was a near-adult dragon walking within the Sugarcube Corner.

It wasn't that hard for Applejack to notice him. She'd seen him coming a ways off, but it was he who spoke first.

"Hey, Applejack, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

"Sure partner, what is it?" the orange farmer pony responded. She still seemed just a little wary, but John couldn't blame her. He still looked like a dragon and no one aside from the sun princess, Twilight and Spike knew the truth behind the scales. Or the fur, in the case of the other former humans.

"I'm wondering, how's Ivan been on the farm?" John asked again, wanting to hear the orange pony's opinion first. "I only assume you had him work."

"Up 'til lunch, then he told me 'bout the meeting with, of all ponies, Princess Celestia herself! I didn't want to believe it, but then I saw the carriage not too long ago." The orange farmer pony said. "I'm not sure what to make of it."

"Well, you see, I'm kinda concerned that he's not gonna make it through many more days without falling asleep on the job," John continued. "So I was wondering, can I take his place?"

"Wha--?" Applejack's face twisted into somewhere between confusion and concern. "You work on the farm?"

"Yes, that's what I'm asking. Don't know how long Ivan's gonna hold out..."

Applejack was at a loss for words. One thing, she had a dragon that was a good deal bigger than she was asking to work voluntarily on the farm, something that didn't normally happen straight away with newcomers. Another thing, he seemed genuinely concerned for his friends' well-being. On top of everything else, her questions about the four newcomers increased. What exactly was going on here? She'd managed to convince herself that something would come out so far, but so far, nothing was going on.

"If you want to, we could always use extra muscle," Applejack finally responded. "Don't know if I can let Ivan go so easy, though. He does better than I'd have expected of him."

"He also tires out way too easily," the dragon responded. "If you work him too hard, he gets really tired really quick. I'm a dragon; I think I can take it."

The orange farmer pony found herself getting relaxed, even as they began arguing back and forth about the brown earth pony. It wasn't as though the farmer mare had any attachment to Ivan; there wasn't much in the way there for him, but John did raise a good point. He seemed to tucker out awfully easy, but he would trudge on in spite of this. She wasn't entirely sure why she was arguing with him over the issue, certainly this dragon could take farm work if he could take digging for gems, but she wasn't sure if Corey needed him more in the same way that Twilight needed Spike.

She was just about to raise this issue when the music changed. This in itself wasn't important; however, Applejack felt something bump into her side, and turned to see Pinkie dancing around. The music had apparently gotten her into quite the mood for moving, and she continued to bounce off others, first John, who really didn't have much of a reaction other than to stand there and wonder what happened. Then she spun around a little underneath the silver pegasus, Leo, who flinched somewhat. She continued to bounce off other ponies, who started to dance along.

"Is she always like this?" asked John, probably to himself more than anything.

"Yeah, that's Pinkie Pie for ya," responded Applejack. This was perfectly normal for the pink earth pony in some cases. She was still unpredictable though. "If she feels the need to do somethin', not a lot's gonna stop her."

A thought nagged at the orange earth pony, however, but she quickly shut it out, trying to focus on having fun.

It was true. Even at parties thrown for himself, Corey never felt truly comfortable in them. He just avoided social contact, even at large gatherings like this. Hell, he'd had his chops busted at a college orientation over his introversion, though like Twilight told him, his condition wasn't easily identifiable even now.

Yet, when Twilight talked to him, he changed, even if only subtly. It was true, he still wasn't completely comfortable talking around others quite yet, and she seemed so patient and understanding with him that he couldn't help but attempt being social. Slowly but surely, she'd lead him away from the punch table. They conversed about his sociability, something which wouldn't put off Corey completely in the past, but it was also something he wasn't sure if he could talk about.

"I'm sort of curious, though," Twilight said in a low voice so others couldn't listen in. "Is there another reason, beside what you told me about, that you're being so shy about things? It is your party, well, yours and Leo's, Ivan's and John's, but still, you're one of the guests of honor."

"Well," Corey began, his mouth once again taking off ahead of him. "Honestly..." He realized what he was about to say, and he hesitated. Twilight gave him a sort of pleading look. She really wanted to know, and he wondered how he could say no. He found that he couldn't, and relented. "I'm afraid...I'm afraid of rejection too."

"Corey," she cut in, leaning in a little closer to him, "From what I've seen from you, there's no need for you to be that afraid. You're not as bad as you think you are. Yes, you tend to say the wrong things most of the time, but sometimes you say some..." This time she hesitated. "Sweet, I guess would be the word for it, things. Yes, sometimes you can be goofy, but I think it's something that worked for you."

Twilight was right. It had in the past. Granted, he wasn't sure if he'd made acquaintances by screaming out internet memes from memory, but it had worked for him. He was content with being able to make people laugh, sometimes at the expense of himself. Even now he'd attack himself based on weight and anything else undesirable about himself: his lack of social life, his hobbies, just about anything society would look down on. In his mind, he was encouraging "creative" insults that didn't involve any of his negatives.

"Yes, it has before," admitted the former human after some silence. "But I don't know if what I did back home would work here."

"Don't be scared of the unknown," the purple mare continued, smiling gently to him. He could detect a flicker of emotion in her eyes, but what it was remained unclear to him.

"I wish I could," Corey thought aloud. There wasn't any use in denying it. There was something there between himself and the purple pony before him, but he doubted he could ever bring himself to tell her how he felt. He was afraid of the unknown factors in that.

Caught up in the conversation, Corey didn't notice something straight away. Twilight's eyes widened, and she said to him.

"Watch out!" she warned. Corey whirled around, and saw a pink pony dancing around with random movements. The music had changed; the green unicorn knew that. Was this Pinkie's "song"? Whatever the case, if he got pushed, he didn't want to know what would happen, so, by pure instinct, he dodged, tensing the muscles in his rear end and standing up straight.

"Not this time," the former human whispered. He remained suspended in that position for two seconds, then realized, as Pinkie went out of sight and around to the other side, that he once again forgot his new quadrupedal stature, and started to lose balance. Twilight got up on her hind legs, a little shakily, trying to help him back down. Corey shut his eyes, and the next, he heard something collide. Then something, probably Twilight collided into him.

What happened next, he doubted he could ever forget. His senses momentarily left him as he registered he was falling over backwards with a girl--well, mare--on top of him. Just like Leo on the first day with Rainbow Dash, and just like Ivan a little while earlier with Pinkie Pie. Only this was an accident that probably was even less avoidable than either of those incidents.

Corey's eyes remained closed as he assessed his senses as they came back to him. He was in fact on his back, his forehooves pinned to his chest and his hind legs stretched out flat on the floor. There was a warm body atop him, and pinning him to the ground with its slight weight. Just as he registered this was Twilight, the sound of hooves thudding on the floor occurred, probably Pinkie.

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry Twilight, I was just--" Pinkie began. She then halted, something very uncharacteristic. Here, Corey realized he felt a wet pressure on his mouth. It wasn't until the party pony gasped loudly, just as she had done on day one, and the chatter around the room ground to a halt, that the green unicorn's eyes shot open, just as Twilight's did now.

Her purple eyes were widened in shock, and his were as well. Truth be told, Corey had absolutely no idea how to feel right now. His brain had gone numb, and none of the muscles in his body would respond straight away. Twilight's snout and his were pushed up against each other as a result of the fall. That alone was embarrassing enough, but the fact he realized their lips had somehow become interconnected as a result on the fall...

He could do nothing but lie there, trying desperately to finish processing what happened and hoping Twilight was a faster processor than he was under such conditions, because from what he could feel, she couldn't move either.

--

It was something no one, unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, dragon, or former human could have possibly foreseen. There, somewhat away from the punch bowl but not quite at the main "dance floor", was the town's librarian atop a heavy-set green unicorn, locking lips. They both began to redden in the face, and neither of them could move.

No one knew what to say right away, but "oohs" and "awes" started to come from the crowd, most of the former and a deliberate sprinkling of the latter.

Of all the living creatures in the room, the ones who knew the least about what to do were the ones at the epicenter of the incident.

Corey and Twilight Sparkle had been spending the last couple of days trying to avoid awkward moments, only to walk into them. Recently, they'd been getting into more and more of them, if caused only by the word of others. Now, as realization dawned on them, they realized Pinkie's dance had inadvertently caused a milestone for both of them.

For the green unicorn colt that was once a human and the purple unicorn mare that was naturally born a pony; for each of them, it was their first kiss.