Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 16: Set Your Clock to Party Time

Rather than taking the short way back to the party site, Corey and Twilight opted to take a slightly longer route back to the Sugarcube Corner, the site of the former humans' welcoming party. The two knew things would probably be severely awkward given why they left, never mind what just happened between them being more complex than the average human or pony relationship.

They weren't entirely sure if giving it a go was a good idea even now, but right now, that was exactly what they were doing, even if they weren't quite aware of it.

"...and that's how Leo met Rainbow Dash," Corey concluded, recapping Leo's first embarrassing moment. There were probably others, but unlike two of his more recent ones, they weren't nearly as public. "So yeah, she crash-landed on him trying to practice."

"Yeah, her ambitions haven't changed over the years," Twilight said. "The Wonderbolts are a team of talented pegasus ponies that perform aerial manuevers at high speeds. For Rainbow, that is her life's dream. Funny thing is, even if Leo does have a crush on Rainbow, I don't know if she's quite the 'falling in love' type."

"When you say it that way..." Corey responded. "For some reason, I get the feeling there's more to it than that. They've been spending most of their time together, at least, from what I've seen. And besides, if that diner incident," he referenced through gritted teeth, "is anything to go on, they're somewhat the same."

Twilight mostly understood the reason he'd gritted his teeth referencing the first date, but she had to be sure.

"When you gritted your teeth, it was because they started teasing us, right?"

"Of course it was. That aside, and the part where I fell off the chair nonwithstanding," Corey responded, "it was pretty good. Though now I wonder, even though we did sort of walk right into that one, should we consider it a date, or...?"

"Hmm..." The purple mare thought for a moment. "Maybe, like I said earlier. I didn't think of it as one, but maybe it could be one. We were together in public sharing our personal lives. Even though you had to do it so that the other diners didn't catch a whiff of what you really are, and all..."

"Fair enough," The green colt said. He didn't really feel like asking if pegasi of both genders had wingboners, so he held his tongue and hoped she'd forgotten about his opening question. Thankfully, he got his answer. Twilight seemed nervous again.

"Well, here we are," she announced, "Ready to go in?"

Corey swallowed. This was perhaps the most gutsy thing he'd done in the past hour. What was happening to him? Usually he wasn't this bold. The former human pushed those thoughts aside for now, and sighed.

"Alright, well, maybe we should go in," Corey replied, feeling incredibly uneasy. Twilight noticed his emotion, but allowed him to trot forward just a couple of steps. Then, he stopped, and Twilight couldn't see his facial expression.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" Twilight asked, looking to him.

"Oh c'mon, John, Leo, that's just not fair..."

"Huh?"

Both of the unicorns saw it through the window. There were two sets of abandoned hot sauce bottles, one containing nineteen and the other containing ten. At the remaining three, Pinkie, her mane and tail usually resembling cotton candy now resembling pink liquid fire, and a relatively unchanged Leo and John sat, chugging the condiment as though it were water at a desert oasis.

"Let's wait for the crowd to get distracted, then we'll slip in and...go from there, I guess," Corey said. "Don't think that'll work, though. At the same time, don't want to interrupt this contest."

Twilight sighed. There were some things she'd never quite get about humans, but it was a fair enough thing to do. She stood next to him, watching the event unfold.

It was certainly an interesting turnout, and an outcome nopony expected. Ivan himself, however, wasn't too surprised, given he knew Leo and John longer.

After the nameless pony dropped out on bottle one, the hot sauce contest continued without further delay. He wondered, briefly, if ponies could have the same complications humans had when drinking copious amounts of spicy condiments. So far, the only thing he'd observed was spontaneous combustion.

As the ponies neared bottle ten, however, to the surprise of all, with reddish smoke coming out of her ears and mouth, and tears coming from her eyes, Rainbow Dash had to drop out of the contest. Even Ivan didn't see it coming. He really thought she'd had a little more fight in her.

Heh, Leo must be distracting her...thought Ivan to himself as he watched this event. Now, it was Pinkie, Leo and John remaining, pounding down hot condiments, and Pinkie's mane and tail looking more and more like liquid flame the more she downed. As a matter of fact, as she neared bottle seventeen, she was visibly slowing down, as the hairs on her body began to turn redder and redder. Leo and John, on the other hand, didn't show any signs of slowing down, downing their seventeenth bottle as Pinkie started hers.

Certainly, they do have an unfair advantage... the former human thought to himself, not even trying to be racist in his judgment, yet he knew back on Earth that would be the exact outcome of his thought. While the ponies in the room wouldn't know what he was referring to, or at least he didn't think so, his transformed fellows would, and thus he kept it to himself.

The sauce continued to pour down. As the contest neared its end, Ivan felt compelled to chant along with the crowd.

"Go! Go! Go!"

As the chanting continued, the former human noticed something. Pinkie had lost just a bit of momentum as she continued to drink the hot sauce. Leo and John were opening up their nineteenth bottles, only looking moderately worse than they did when they started, with no visible signs of slowing down. Pinkie had only just finished her eighteenth, and her usually pink coloration had darkened to a full body red. Her eyes, which were just as bright as ever in spite of the rest of her now resembling napalm flames on a pony body, met with Ivan's. She blinked once, and only once.

The contest continued, but Pinkie suddenly seemed to catch her second wind. Her nineteenth bottle was downed in a speed comparable to when she first started. John and Leo opened the twentieth, and both seemed surprised at her catching up to them. Just as the mouth of the bottles met their lips, Pinkie opened it, and using the same force that still baffled Ivan, lifted the bottle to her lips...

"Doesn't Pinkie look a bit...red, to you?" asked Corey, looking to the rapidly concluding contest. He knew he was stalling, but it was true. He could see the pink earth pony, now with tears of pain trickling down her cheeks, begin drinking from the hot sauce bottle, her normally pink fur now glowing a mixture of red and orange, and her mane and tail now looking more like an uncontrolled torrent of red flame.

"She's never taken this much hot sauce before," Twilight noted aloud. "But Leo and John aren't really slowing down, are they?" She squinted. "They're not! They must really have a handle on spicy foods!"

"Hey, I can take a fair share of spice myself!" This was the green unicorn, now sounding slightly hurt. He then stopped and thought about what just happened. Almost immediately, he realized he'd had the stereotypical "jealous reaction".

"What?" Twilight asked, turning to him.

"N-nothing..." responded the former human, now feeling slightly embarrassed and looking the part too. Twilight gave a small giggle in response to this, probably believing she had a good idea of what motivated his outburst, but there wasn't any time for the lavender mare to make her move, for a tumultuous cheer came from within. The green unicorn immediately inhaled, trying to get a grip on his composure, "Oh look, the contest's done. Guess we'd better get inside..."

The handle of the door they were near became coated in a green glow, but Twilight immediately stopped him.

"Maybe I should do it..." she observed. Corey immediately stopped, the green glow receding. But then a short thought occurred to him.

He wasn't sure if it was quite within Equestria's standards, given that the show never had a male that wasn't either the butt of slapstick jokes or otherwise didn't have a lot of speaking parts from what he'd seen, but back on Earth, it was usually the male in the relationship that did all the door opening. Corey had figured at that precise moment it'd have been damn rude of him not to do so.

"N-no, Twilight, you see..." he started, trying to find a way to say it, and quick, for the cheers were receding. "It's just...back on Earth, in..." Corey had to remind himself that after that moment on the bridge, they were the closest to dating they'd been since the crush began. "...In boy-girl relationships...usually, it's the male that does all the door opening, out of respect, courtesy..." He desperately hoped that he didn't offend Twilight with that remark.

Strangely enough, if she wanted more info, I'd bet Rarity would know all about common courtesy... thought Corey to himself. You know, I probably wouldn't have even needed to have watched the show prior to this to get that feeling...

"T-that, and I'm used to holding doors for others anyway," said Corey, when Twilight didn't respond for a few seconds. It wasn't a lie. Back on Earth, he did at least that much for others around campus.

"Oh, okay then," Twilight didn't seem offended, causing Corey to give a sigh of relief. "Hey, they're still cheering in there..."

Both of them momentarily leaned up against the door, Twilight remaining on her four legs while Corey, once again forgetting his quadrupedal stature, leaned up against the door right next to her, his ear also against the door. Strangely, he remained quite comfortably in this position.

"Sounds like there was a tie, and the crowd wants it broken," the green unicorn judged based on the chant. It was here, he was once again made aware of his four-legged posture, and stumbled just a little on his hind legs as he tried to maintain balance. Eventually, he was able to find it, and taking advantage of the fact he knew the crowd was chanting, he opened the door using magic once more. "After you..."

Twilight didn't seem to want to object to this statement, probably because she wasn't well-versed in the art of relationships anyway, less so than Corey himself, but only because the male had somewhat dreamed of having someone close to him. He'd just never thought it'd have been a pony in his life.

The two passed inside without much in the way of words from anyone, more than likely because no one seemed to notice straight away that the two unicorns had returned. Their eyes and focus were entirely on the contest stage, where a load of hot sauce bottles, most of which were empty, were strewn about haphazardly.

Corey spotted Ivan towards the left. Pinkie Pie seemed to have cooled off just a little, and had resumed looking happy. He couldn't tell if she was in pain anymore, but he wasn't about to ask. Hell no, he wasn't about to ask; he wanted to remain out of sight for a while. From Twilight's conduct, he assumed she felt the same way about the situation. He'd hoped he wasn't asking too much.

There was no denying the crowd wanted a tiebreaker. Even without the knowledge that the former humans already had to varying levels about the place they were in (and indeed they found it a little too easy to hide), they'd have been able to figure it out. Both John and Leo did not show any sign of tiring out, though internally they could feel their internal organs somewhat burning. Pinkie Pie was a good sport, being behind them by a mere one ounce when the end of the contest was called, and congratulated them on beating her in her own way.

That is, speaking a mile a minute how surprised she was that she was defeated, and that there was a tie, and about three other things that couldn't have been made out. Even more strangely, as she rambled on, her physical detriments to drinking all that hot sauce seemed to just erode away. Her tummy was still burning a little as she watched the winners of the contest look to the crowd, then to each other.

The others could only look on. John rested one of his scaly arms on the table, taking a position opposite of Leo. As he moved, however, he spotted Corey and Twilight. He tried to hide his surprise at this, though internally, he had wondered why they'd come back, but was at least relieved to see they hadn't been embarrassed clear out of the building. On another note, he was somewhat shocked to see they had returned together.

"So, how about an arm wrestle to break the tie?" asked John, continuing to look at Leo. The red eyes formed an icy glare, but the former human turned dragon didn't back down. He was damn curious about who was to win this, and thus resorted to something that he knew he probably shouldn't have said. "C'mon, you don't want to give up when Rainbow Dash is cheering you on, now, do you?" This was a whisper, only audible to Leo.

The silver pegasus colt snarled, and his red eyes scanned the corner. He didn't want to be here. He didn't even want to be in the contest, but he agreed just so the others would be happy. Plus, the smell of the sweets, and the slight burning in his gut wasn't exactly the greatest thing to Noel. He looked, and looked, and then his vision zeroed in on his targets.

"Oh, snap, HEY EVERYPONY--"

John had guessed precisely what Leo was up to, given that he did see the red eyes shifting around. Out of ideas as to how to play the role of wingman for Corey now, the dragon did the first thing that came to his mind, and threw himself at the silver pegasus, probably with just a little too much force. The crowd fell silent, and some ponies gasped.

Ivan, meanwhile, resisted the urge to facehoof, taking a small guess and looking around behind him. Sure enough, there they were, the assumed targets of Leo's statement. Why else would John have tackled him? He himself didn't particularly know why he played the wingman.

Noel, on the other hand, felt the pain in his systems overload. The burning in his stomach now extended to his entire body, and at this point, his wings reminded him of their overuse during the past two days. He was aching all over.

"Alright, alright," he coughed quietly, "I won't...now, get up...you're smothering me..."

John pulled himself off of Leo, and Leo himself slowly got to his feet. Neither one, however, knew what to do about the eyes of the crowd that were on them. The crowd had gone deathly silent, and nopony seemed to know what to say.

Rainbow Dash began looking around as well. It wasn't out of the whole situation that had unfolded onstage, but rather, just what Leo was about to say. Obviously, John probably wouldn't have just tackled Leo for no good reason. He just didn't seem like the kind of dragon to just tackle somepony to the ground for no reason to her. All the same, it did anger her, and she sought out the reason.

And she spotted it, and with a tease-inspired resolve she called out, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it.

"Hey, Twilight!"

Tens of heads turned back around, and sure enough, if anyone would spoil the quiet re-entry into the party, it would have been Rainbow Dash. Of course, even if the quiet re-entry had gone off without a hitch, Twilight knew it probably would have come to this anyway. It was just like at the diner, only this time, everypony was paying attention, and there didn't seem to be any way around it.

Corey himself flinched and shrunk just a little, probably wondering why they came back right now after what had happened. The purple mare honestly couldn't answer that question now, but it was too late to regret the action.

"Oh, h-hello, Rainbow," she answered hesitantly, really wishing she hadn't been thrust into the spotlight under the given circumstances.

John watched the scene unfold, with Leo still right next to him. He was coughing faintly, probably from the fact that he'd just had a nearly full-grown dragon tackle him.

"What now, genius?" asked Leo under his breath.

"I...I don't know," the dragon answered, really wishing he knew. All day, more or less, it'd have been him playing wingman for Corey, always the one bailing him out of really awkward situations, while Ivan generally handled less awkward situations, but both of those times seemed to be just him being in the right place. This time, however, he was running a blank, and couldn't see any way out of this one, short of committing arson, but that was the last thing John wanted to commit. It was then, John noticed something strange about Corey's face.

It wasn't as red as it should have been. He seemed oddly composed given the situation, and he seemed to be looking squarely at something in the Sugarcube corner.

What's with that look? the former human thought to himself.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash continued to banter right next to him, but Corey, for the moment, and probably against his better judgment, wasn't concerned with that right now. He was more concerned with finding a way out of his current awkward moment, which seemed to present itself in a somewhat convienient package.

Do I really wish to go with cliches? More importantly, can I do this? he thought to himself, seeing a ticket to cause a more pressing situation, but it would involve discretely using his magic to move objects, something which he knew wouldn't be able to be done so easily, but given how he was the lightning rod for awkward moments, he'd had more than enough of having that role.

His brown eyes, unlike Twilight's, focused on the snack table. While at first this seemed like an obvious fat reference to any normal-thinking being of sentience, what Corey had in mind was something that required one hundred-fold more rational thought. He spied an unattended slice of pie on the table, and from the looks of it, no one had yet claimed it. It was the odd piece out. Nopony seemed to be paying attention.

The corner was deathly still, save for the mares next to him. Twilight seemed to be beating around the bush, probably still trying to deny the even more obvious mutual feelings. Rainbow wasn't having any of it. Corey remained at Twilight's side, wordlessly staring towards the pie. No one seemed to notice his face wasn't reddened.

A hoof crashed down on his shoulder. He absently allowed himself to look. Apparently, the cyan pegasus had had enough of bantering with Twilight, and was moving in for the kill. The hoof touching him was the same color as Rainbow's, and sure enough, with that mischevious look on her face, she was pushing him and Twilight closer together, so that they were pushed up against each other, shoulder-to-shoulder. Since he was just a little bigger than she was, her horn came up to about his eye level.

"So, did you two make it official yet?"

Fuck it, I'm goin' for it. thought Corey to himself. Willing himself to keep focused, he began reaching out, long-distance, toward the pie, trying to keep his magic as discrete as he possibly could.

Obviously, since horns glow when magic is being used; his being a rather vibrant green, it would be obvious he was trying to use some sort of spell, but what, nopony knew.

Everypony and everyone that was once human, or otherwise, was born a baby dragon, kept their eyes focused on the three ponies. One of them looked embarrassed, but now the purple mare looked a little confused. Most of the ponies didn't know what she knew about the green colt. They thought he was attempting an entirely different spell, their gazes focused on him and the other two.

Ivan, Leo, and John, however, caught it, but did not say a word, for fear it would break the tension too soon. Ivan didn't want to say anything, and John also thought it best to preserve the silence. Leo, on the other hand, had no idea what to think. Pain was still coursing through his systems, and he thought it best if he could just sneak out while everyone was distracted with this.

"Hey, hey, what're you doin'?" asked Rainbow, breaking the rather tense silence. "Trying to make yourself invisible?"

Corey remained oddly focused given his situation. His cheeks weren't tinted a notable shade of red. That wasn't to say they weren't tinted at all given he wasn't used to being at the center of attention, but his pride took precedence, allowing him to remain somewhat focused on his task.

Twilight did not say a word, but it was obvious she was wondering what he was trying to do. Unlike Rainbow and basically everypony else in the room, she knew Corey's magic control was still a little iffy at best. But Rainbow wasn't glowing green, so he obviously wasn't trying to use it on her.

Excepting the former humans, no one really noticed the anomaly at the snack table. There was an unattended slice of pie, that didn't appear to have been claimed by anypony anyway, now glowing vividly with a green glow. It was floating haphazardly at about face level with Rainbow Dash now. Twilight finally noticed this.

He can't be...can he? she thought to herself. Corey remained focused for a few seconds longer, then, something happened.

It wasn't a smile per se, but he wasn't scowling vacantly either. It was more a proud, self-assured smirk, another look no one had seen out of him. He spoke clearly: two words.

"Heads up."

There was a whoosh sound, which no one recognized straight away. It took Twilight precisely half a second to realize what Corey had done. He was pulling the pie towards him with quite some force. Dash gave a confused look in Corey's direction, then looked ahead. By the time she realized what had happened, it was too late. The confection splattered all over her face, changing the entire situation in an instant.

It wasn't an awkward moment anymore. While it was obvious it was Corey's retaliation for Dash putting him and Twilight at center stage (again), the entire scope changed. The ponies in the party certainly hadn't forgotten the kiss scene from roughly twenty minutes prior, but they had forgotten the current moment. Some ponies gasped, including Ivan and John, but Leo remained oddly still, given his crush on the cyan mare.

None of the former humans quite expected Corey's sudden boldness, or at least, not to this level. They hadn't expected their friend to do what he'd just done. Other ponies that weren't in on the humans' secret that didn't gasp either laughed or remained awkwardly silent.

"Corey!" Twilight whispered, trying to hide the fact he'd stunned her yet again with his performance, which wasn't too hard considering that was her friend he just pied in the face, but it was still a bit of a task given it shifted the attention off them a little bit. "Wasn't that a little much?"

"Maybe, but I'm really getting sick of being the epicenter for awkward moments, aren't you?"

"W-why, why you..." Dash recovered from the shock of being hit in the face with a confection. "Is that how you wanna play?!" Her look changed from dull shock and disbelief to outrage. Without bothering to make a quick trip over to the snack table, she merely scraped off the confection on her face and quickly rolled what she got into a ball. "Alright, then, let's play!"

Rainbow raised her hoof, cocked it back and released. While Corey was free to dodge, he felt it better to take the hit. Besides, the blue pegasus still had enough ammo left over for another cream ball anyway, and it would be better if she paid the pie to the face back now.

The green colt took the food hard in the face. At first, it seemed like that would be the end of that, but something within Twilight stirred. Even though, to her, it felt like a whole five seconds had passed, it took her less than one to cast aside the fact Corey had more or less asked for it. She took the food off of Corey's face with her magic, with every intent of returning fire.

Fluttershy sensed that things were about to get out of hand, and while Corey's attack on Dash was unexpected even given that the two never really interacted, she certainly didn't want to see her friends start fighting. A rare feat occurred as she noticed Twilight beginning her plan. She moved away from her "silence" zone within the party, and flew over near the feuding ponies, intending to head things off.

She never got a chance to get a word in, though. By the time she closed the distance between her former position and the chaos waiting to happen, she was in an indirect path to getting food in the face. Rainbow Dash evaded without realizing the yellow pegasus was behind her, and the meek pony wound up catching the pie in the face.

There was a tense silence. It seemed like no one in the room knew what to do to ease it, given what had just occurred. Finally, somepony did.

"Food fight!!!"

The Sugarcube Corner erupted in utter pandemonium. Sweets flew all about. Ponies attacked other ponies, others darted for cover, and there were a select few trying to break up the whole mess. Yet, for the most part, it was a shower of sweets flying back and forth.

John tried to avoid being hit, but due to his relative size, it was impossible. Three sweets to the side of the head, and he quit trying to be passive. Taking a more active approach, the former human turned dragon quickly grabbed two cupcakes, one in each hand, and chucked them randomly, nailing two nameless background ponies right between the eyes.

Ivan dove for cover, trying his hardest to remain relatively unscathed. The former human's efforts seemed to be paying off. The athleticism that he had in his human body was at least somewhat retained in his quadrupedal stature, but it wasn't as refined given he'd only been an earth pony for two days. He rolled behind table legs, and through a force that he could only barely identify as cartoon logic, he pulled a "Matrix" out of his ass, and proceeded to hit a pony that had been throwing things his way.

Pinkie actively participated in the fight. She'd been saving something for a while now. The party pony quickly vanished from the party scene, returning with a rather small-looking catapult, which she rested on the table. Ivan managed to make his way over to her location, and by some miracle, he'd managed to stay relatively clean, save maybe a couple of flecks of icing on his side.

"What's that?" he asked, his curiosity mounting as he ducked another pastry, barely avoiding the remnants of the slice of pie.

"I've been saving it for a party like this!" the pink earth pony answered, loading it with several small cakes that had been left on the snack table. She then flicked a switch with her hoof, and the pastries launched into the air, raining sweets down on helpless victims. Ivan was stunned.

"So...you keep this lying around?" Ivan questioned, for the first time actually showing more than slight shock in his features. He realized who he was asking, but still, this was new, even by Equestria's standards.

"Yeah, I mean, this is the first food fight I've ever had at a party I've thrown, and I wanted to be prepared for it, so I made this if it ever broke out, because I wanted to have a home advantage? Wouldn't it be nice to have a home advantage, I mean, other than the fact I live here and..."

Pinkie continued to ramble, and the former human found himself oddly mesmorized by the pink pony's sugar-style monologue, at least until something brought both of them crashing down to reality: a cupcake to the side of the head for each one of them.

Applejack, being the kind of mare to like roughhousing, was very quickly sucked into the bakery brawl. Rarity, conversely, was doing everything in her power to not get nailed. She was, surprisingly, managing to keep herself clean, even with Pinkie's pastry catapult in place.

Rainbow Dash kept above, making herself harder to hit in theory. At least, until she took the wrong turn and wound up comically taking about half a pound of pastry to the back from Pinkie's catapult. With a flap of her wings, icing and pastry guts went everywhere.

Corey and Twilight remained together, trying to take cover behind a chair. Twilight glared at Corey, but it was clear that she was having a hard time staying angry. For a moment, she'd wondered why. But the look on his face. Even though it was partially obscured with the icing by now, she could tell that he was feeling happy. No matter how utterly dumb his idea was, she couldn't be mad at him - that seemingly permanent scowl that had been on his face when he wasn't emotionally roused wasn't on his face at all even though he was half-coated in sweets. There was a fat joke in there, the purple mare knew, but to make it wouldn't make any sense given the situation.

"You should have known this would have gotten her fired up," she scolded.

"I said it before, I couldn't think of anything else, and besides, it worked," Corey responded, nodding. Inside, though, he was somewhat troubled by the changes he was undergoing.

The human me wouldn't have done half of the things I've done here...I've become undeniably bolder since coming here. Am I just acting like the typical Internet douchebag who acts under condition of anonymity and just cutting loose, or am I honestly changing for the better? The green colt thought to himself, trying to make sense of what was going on. While he was distracted with his thoughts, however, Twilight was hit with something and dropped down, now with cake guts splattered on one side of her head. Normally, it should have been funny, but Corey didn't feel the urge to laugh.

No. He felt pissed.

With this in mind, keeping in mind the theme of recycling that had been done at the very start of the food fight, Corey quickly scooped some cake guts off of Twilight's face (the word "scraped" not even close to applicable, given he was gentle as he could manage with a hoof and in his anger), and flung the guts in a crescent arc, not even bothering to think about what logic would have to apply to such a situation.

As for Leo, as soon as the pandemonium started occurring, he began slowly sneaking his way out, keeping against the wall and dodging however he could once the food really started flying. By some miracle, the silver pegasus had managed to sneak out without being seen by anypony or any other member of the other species in the room. He was in quite a bit of pain, what with John tackling him and the copious amounts of hot sauce he'd just ingested. Not to mention, he'd overworked his wings quite a bit over the past couple of days.

Well, somepony did in fact see Leo make his way out. She wasn't the kind to get mad so easily, and indeed, she'd already forgiven Twilight and Dash for both indirectly causing her to get nailed with the cake. However, when she'd managed to clean her face off with a napkin she quickly retrieved when she realized what had happened, the mare had realized a food fight had broken out.

She'd tried to stop it from doing so, but it seemed like her getting hit in the face with a bit of pie was enough to set it off. Long story short, she managed to spot Leo leaving in the pandemonium, and, with the same tactic that Leo employed, she too, gave the party scene the slip...

Noel felt completely drained. His whole body was sore, and his stomach burned quite a bit from the twenty bottles of spicy condiments he'd just pounded down. Plus, he'd just spent a fair amount of time in an environment he didn't particularly like. His sense of smell was especially sensitive to sweets, so he wasn't in the mood to do much of anything at the party. Hell, the silver colt had to try just to have fun.

The former human located a cloud, a decent height above Ponyville, but not too far up where he couldn't be seen from ground level. The gray pony lay down on the cloud, trying his hardest to just get some rest. His body was aching, and he was finally feeling drained for the day. Being in that atmosphere for that long did a number on his stamina.

His senses, which were trained through his martial arts back on Earth, however, were retained. Because of this, his hearing was a little bit better than average. He could still hear the sounds of the shouts and jeers coming from the ongoing food fight within the Corner. His ears twitched as he registered the sound of a door opening. It sounded like it was coming in the direction of the Sugarcube Corner. The door softly shut behind whoever exited.

Who the hell followed me? thought the silver pegasus to himself, as he willed himself to crawl over to the edge of the cloud so he could look. Below him, he could make out the figure of a yellow pegasus pony with a pink mane and tail.

Fluttershy had managed to see his exit and had followed him out. She now appeared to be searching for something, looking to her left, then to her right. She then looked up, and managed to spot him. Though he couldn't make out specific facial features, he assumed, from the way her wings opened, that he was the "something" she was looking for.

Noel laid back down on the cloud, trying to be disinterested in the fact she was probably looking for him. The former human tried to quietly assess the condition his pegasus body was in, keeping his eyes closed and his voice low in volume as he began to note his status aloud.

"She's looking for me, isn't she?" he wondered aloud, feeling the pain in his head start returning. "...did John give me a concussion?"

He laid down in silence for a few moments longer, until the familiar, soft voice of the yellow pegasus broke his thoughts.

"L-Leo?" she questioned. She sounded close; very close. The former human quickly found himself snapping to attention. He wasn't able to ignore her like he thought he would. Probably because he wasn't on the internet. Though he tried not to be in real life due to the people that surrounded him, he was a little more sensitive than he let on, and certainly a lot more sensitive than Corey, Ivan, or John would give him credit for.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" he asked, rolling over on one side to face her. She flinched, obviously not expecting to receive his attention. He didn't pick up on it right away, but he could have sworn he saw her light green eyes sparkle briefly before she asked her next question.

"W-what are you doing out here?" It was a soft, sweet voice, one that very few people couldn't pick up on. "It-it's your party in there."

He couldn't tell if that was her trying to be assertive or not, but she did have a point. Leo had to admit that much.

"I could ask you the same thing...your friend is catering the party..." said Leo, not using the same tone as he would if he were talking to any of his fellow former humans. He was using a noticeably gentler tone than normal.

"Well, I-I didn't want to be hit by any more food..." responded the meek pony. She seemed to be concealing something. Noel knew the more pressing reason she'd come out. He wondered if she would admit it, but for the longest time, it remained awkwardly silent. Leo's ears twitched as he heard the sounds of the food fight dimming.

"I think the fight's starting to simmer down..." said the silver pegasus in response. His whole body felt sore, so he didn't know what he was going to do. "I know what you mean, though. Didn't want to get involved."

As he said this, he felt his insides stir a little. He didn't think it was possible to puke on-camera in Equestria, but his soreness and his sensitivity to sweets wasn't helping any. Thankfully, he didn't even come close to retching. For a couple of minutes, the two really didn't say nothing, but both knew there were things left to be said.

"Um," Leo said flatly, trying to get some time alone. He was feeling a little conflicted at the moment, and didn't need people--or ponies, clogging up the gears of his mind right now. "You can go on in, Fluttershy. I'll be along in a bit."

This was a lie, and briefly, Noel wondered if Fluttershy caught on to it.

"O-okay," He couldn't tell, due to the volume of her voice, if she was legitimately hurt or if this was her normal response. "I'll, um, see you later."

With that, the meek pegasus turned tail and floated back down to the Sugarcube Corner. Leo couldn't hear anything much from the corner, except for what sounded like cleanup. He looked up. The sky was now completely darkened, with nothing but the stars and the moon lighting it up. He looked towards the stars, and allowed his mind to wander.

No matter how I put it, it would have taken a lot more back on Earth for me to feel this way. And to top it all off, I...I have feelings for both of them. This is the first time I've felt like this, and I don't know what to do...Who...if I can choose, should I cherish it with? Hell, I think that Corey and me are on the same page with this...no. No we're not. He doesn't have a second girl...well, mare, to consider. And I don't know what's going on between Ivan and Pinkie. Hard to tell with both of them. Ivan is barely emotional in person and Pinkie...ugh...

A headache seized Leo. He was overworked, there was no denying that. Hopefully Fluttershy at least understood the hidden fatigue. He relaxed, keeping his balance perfectly on his cloud.

In Noel's mind, he knew one thing. He needed some sleep. His red eyes began to close, but suddenly, his ears twitched, registering rapid movement. It was strange. It didn't sound like it was coming from the corner, but the library.

Leo didn't pursue the motion, thinking little of it. He was deathly tired, after all.

When he sliced his action up into how stupid and reckless it was, Corey felt utterly stupid. It was bad enough he'd nailed Rainbow Dash in the face with a pie out of pure desperation, but the resulting food fight, everyone cut loose. Except Rarity. That fact later blew up in his face.

--

"Just what were you thinking, doing that?!" Rarity scolded, sounding precisely like a mother to a child, and for all Corey knew she could have been the oldest of the six main ponies. "You should have guessed that Rainbow Dash would have reacted that way! Not to mention Ivan's got icing in places on the suit...oh, it's a fashion nightmare!"

"Um..." Corey meekly started, trying to give any excuse in the hopes that the white unicorn wouldn't rip his throat out in a fit of fashionista rage. He quickly realized he still had a lot to learn about being social, pony or no pony, and buttoned his lip. A fact resonated within him. Somehow, this was just as embarrassing as the accidental kiss, and for the life of him Corey fumbled for why Rarity didn't at least try to understand.

"There is absolutely no excuse for such outlandish, ruffian behavior!" It was here, when Rarity turned away, that he saw the particular reason why she was so pissed: there was a cupcake splatter, probably no bigger than a peanut, in the section of the mane right around where her neck met the rest of her body. In her usual style, she had blown it completely out of proportion, not that Corey knew that offhand. "Now then, we're going to have to clean this place up..." She levitated a napkin, and for a moment he could have sworn she saw some weird gleam in her blue eyes as she raised it to his eye level. "Starting with you..."

And so, for the next thirty seconds, Corey had the most unpleasant facial wiping he'd ever experienced. For a moment, he was honestly afraid Rarity might have scrubbed the fur clean off his face. While he wouldn't have minded if he were human, the same didn't apply here since it was natural for unicorns to have fur on their faces. His face burned with friction as the mare finally finished her handiwork.

"Wow...it looks like I'd had clown makeup on," he stupidly remarked, earning a sigh from Twilight.

"I'm sure she'll understand eventually," said Twilight (earning a sarcastic "Doubt it" from Spike), breaking Corey from his thoughts. "Now, we've gotta clean this place up. The Cakes won't be too happy if they discover this mess."

That was a foreign name to Corey, or at least, one that he didn't remember offhand. "Um, 'the Cakes'?" He whispered.

"They own this place. Pinkie also lives upstairs," she whispered in response. "She works here to pay the rent."

For the life of him, the former human just couldn't comprehend how that free spirit could hold down a steady job. Hell, he knew really free spirits back home that couldn't hold their appetite at bay, never mind a steady job. Then again, Equestria probably didn't have non-perscription drugs available. At least, certainly not Earth-illegal ones.

"Though I really have to say, doing that wasn't the smartest move you could have made," the purple mare re-stated. "Rainbow doesn't take too kindly to slapstick comedy."

He wasn't sure if Twilight just did a fourth-wall break or not, so he didn't bother to ask that question, even as it forced its way to the tip of his tongue. He suppressed it with the greatest of efforts.

"I gathered. 'It's only funny 'til it happens to you' is commonplace where I come from too." responded Corey.

The ponies at the party, Pinkie included, were now involved in a massive cleanup procedure. Icing, cake guts, and assorted pastries meant for consumption were now splattered everywhere. Rarity practically insisted on the course, and no one really wanted to argue. After the ponies within cleaned each other off, they set about doing the cleanup procedure.

And of course, Pinkie went from group to group, zipping around in a blur of pink or even just randomly appearing in places to inform them how fun the party was for her.

Clearly, a food fight was the highlight of Equestrian parties. At least, that was the vibe Corey got.

John was certainly confused by the behavior of the locals. This was in part due to the fact parties on Earth, especially the messier ones, just didn't wind up with this, a majority of the partygoers staying behind for the cleanup effort. Usually, everyone just partied hard and left things messy. While the former human was a nice guy at heart, he was guilty of this. But with everyone, even Ivan and Corey, pitching in...

Where'd Leo go...? asked John to himself, only just now noticing his fellow former human's absence. With a snort, he returned to cleaning the higher-up areas that the ponies normally couldn't reach. Seems like something he'd do...I, on the other hand, will just clean this mess up.

The clean-up procedure went on, the volume of bodies making the progress slightly easier. It might have taken a team of five about an hour to fully clean up the mess, but with the partygoers pitching in, the cleanup time was reduced to about a third of what it would have been. At least by John's calculations, anyway.

The cleanup was nearing an end, and the extra tables had to be put away. John was commissioned to do  it, and so he did. Ponies said their goodbyes, and went their own ways. The welcome party for the four newcomers reached its conclusion, and soon, everypony was going their separate ways.

Ivan, for some reason, had stayed behind, saying he'd send for his hoodie later. Strangely, Applejack didn't seem too terribly off-put by this. Pinkie also seemed happy to have company, but given what Corey just found out, he wasn't entirely sure if her landlords would allow this. Just because his sister had let him stay in her apartment when things were getting sour one winter in his house for that week...

He pushed aside the incident, trying his hardest to not immediately appear pensive after such a fun time. Sure, he'd had Rarity psychotically and nearly rip his face off when he'd started a food fight, but he still felt like he came out a winner on that one.

"Where'd Leo get off to," asked John, though this seemed to be more to himself than anything.

"I don't think I'd worry too much about him," said Corey. "He doesn't know this place like...Twilight here, for example, does." He was still trying to be vague about the former humans' identities. The purple mare in question nodded as though agreeing, though she seemed slightly saddened by the fact Leo ditched the party.

"Still wondering why Ivan stayed behind, though," wondered the dragon to himself. "For the life of me, I can't figure out Pinkie and Ivan, either one."

"You're not the only one having trouble," responded Twilight. This told Corey a lot.

Leaving aside the fact Leo had given the partygoers the slip, the others left to their residences, Rarity and Fluttershy going their own ways while Applejack and her older brother made their way back to Sweet Apple Acres. The night air was cool and crisp, a decent temperature to be in. Rainbow left to, Corey assumed, her home, though a small part of him suspected she may have been trying to find Leo.

"Well, they do say 'opposites attract'," Spike yawned, riding atop Twilight's back. "I mean, I can't tell what Ivan's feeling most of the time by his face, and Pinkie's got enough energy to...to..." He trailed off, with another yawn. Clearly, he was still relatively young.

"Light a lighthouse, or something. Or power a computer nerd's collection," Corey piped in, trying to finish Spike's sentence with a human twist. He closed his eyes, trying to sort out thoughts. "I guess it was fun in the long run. Though I really can't say for sure, given where we're from, I don't really go party a lot."

"Yeah, it was fun, compared to parties back on Earth. A lot of awkward moments--" John began.

"Really awkward moments," Spike said in such a way that Corey, along with Twilight, hung their heads in embarrassments.

"But nothing that we can't live with..." John trailed off. Corey looked up, confused as to why his friend trailed off in the way he did. Spike then gave a sharp gasp, apparently seeing what was going on. Twilight gave a sharp inhale.

"Oh no!" she yelled, taking off into a gallop that sent Spike spiraling right off her back. At first, it seemed like a slapstick moment waiting to happen, where the purple dragon would fall straight to the ground after spiraling for a good three seconds suspended in mid-air, but John managed to catch the dragon and set him down. However, it seemed that whatever the others saw was enough to wake the younger dragon up.

By the time John had snatched Spike out of the air, however, Corey had seen it. It wasn't hard for him to piece together what he was seeing.

The library did appear to be intact, minus the door. To say it was wide open was an understatement. The whole thing was ripped straight off the hinges, and off to the side on the inside. Twilight was inside the main area, no doubt surveying the damage. Somehow, Corey understood where he needed to be. With an exasperated sigh, he turned to an angry-looking John and very concerned looking Spike. It seemed at least one of them understood what might have caused this.

"I know this is going to sound very comparable, but if there was a time to care about that, it isn't now," Corey said, turning to them. He forced urgency into his tone. Damned if he'd ever been in a situation like this before! "I'll stay here and try to help Twilight survey the damage. You should go get the others, if they're not already asleep..."

"Forget 'if they're not already asleep'!" John exploded, expelling dark smoke from his mouth, no doubt out of mirth. "I'll wake them up myself if I find them sleeping first!" He seemed to be aware he was not quite normal right now.

"Is that what I'm gonna be like when I'm older?" Spike asked, no doubt a moment meant to be humorous if this was being externally observed. But to Corey and John, the threat was real.

"Not the time, Spike, let's get going!" The blue and black dragon put special emphasis on the last two words of his statement, and appeared to be reaching out as though making to drag the smaller dragon if he had to.

"Uh, right!" Spike said, and started to move. "You know, Twilight's gonna want to write the princess about this!"

Is she even awake at this-- Corey cut himself off. If there was ever a time for his mind to wander, it wouldn't be now. He watched the two dragons leave, feeling a small twinge of guilt well up in him. After all, it would have had to been those that came out of the second portal that did this. He didn't know for sure on that, though, but he had a nagging feeling.

He galloped back towards the library, where a very distraught Twilight awaited.

"Who could have done this?" she asked herself.

"I've got a pretty good feeling..." Corey responded, causing the purple mare to turn.

"Corey..." She seemed slightly relieved to see him behind her, but then she looked confused. "Where's John and Spike?"

"I...sort of sent them after the others. At the very least, Ivan and Leo should know about this." answered the former human. "Don't know if it'd be quite prudent to tell them that 'human' secret, though, at least not tonight."

Twilight gave a skeptical look. "Are you sure?"

"Not really, but it'd probably look bad if this was the cause of the fifth guy, or other group or whatever." answered Corey. "Anyway," he surveyed the damage for himself, "looks like whoever it was, came here for a specific kind of book. The reference guide's section been gutted."

"I noticed!" Twilight snarkily responded, sounding mad, and as though she didn't need reminded. Corey flinched out of reflex, and sighed somewhat. He really needed to quit stating the obvious. She sighed in response. "I'm sorry, it's just..."

"I know. I'd be pretty mad if someone broke in to my home and stole stuff from me too." responded the former human, with a small bit of resolve working its way into his features. "So then, let's find out what was taken..."