Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 17: That Ominous Feeling

It was such a stark contrast that no one could have predicted. One moment, everything was bright and happy, and the next, it was chilling and ominous. To the former humans, it seemed like something that might have happened back on Earth, but here, in Equestria? It seemed very odd to them. They, along with Twilight and Spike, had a good idea of who the culprit was already. Against their better judgment, they decided to withhold the humanity of the newcomers for now.

John and Spike split up, managing to alert Ivan and Pinkie Pie straight away, since they were still up and about at the Sugarcube Corner. Apparently, Ivan staying wasn't too big of a deal, but there wasn't any time to figure out exactly what went down. Spike, being smaller and a lot less angry-looking than John, went to find Fluttershy, who was, thankfully, still on the route to her home.

She seemed incredibly deep in thought, but for what, Spike couldn't tell straight away, but upon hearing the news that the library had been broken into, she snapped straight into focus in her usual way, before heading to the library. Applejack was relatively easy to catch as well, given she was still up. John handled that one.

The news spread between Twilight's friends like sparks of a wildfire. Some other ponies did catch wind of the incident. There were quite a few frightened looks, wondering precisely what was going on with the strange occurences today. They didn't think too much of the sun princess's visit, but on top of this, some of the more intuitive, or less sane, ponies began thinking about conspiracy theories.

Eventually, the news reached Rainbow Dash, in part because Fluttershy was able to visit her home. At first, Rainbow seemed annoyed with the intrusion, but all it took was the news of the break-in to get the loyalty kicking in. She flew off toward the library, taking the form of a rainbow as she flew.

Rarity also found out, in part because Spike was able to reach her next. She found the situation to be a dreadful one, and put the project she was designing on hold, seeing that her friend was in a serious crisis.

Indeed, all of Twilight's friends were heading straight for her home, and saw the broken in door, and the two unicorns, who had not too long ago fallen on and for each other, trying to make sense of the mess. John remained outside, keeping watch. It was true, he didn't know his body like Spike did, but he knew enough that he believed he could be of some use remaining outside.

Besides, he knew he was probably enraged enough, with the recent incident, to spew flame unintentionally, and he did not want to run the risk of being inside when he did.

What came in with us?! he wondered to himself, clearly angered beyond what he would usually feel. Given the situation, that was saying a lot. He took a deep breath, and feeling the heat inside his chest, he exhaled sharply, letting out a stream of fire into the air in his anger. This has got to be the nicest possible place you could end up, and we *fucked** it up!*

He remained outside, staring passively into the distance.

I don't think Leo did this...but even so, where the hell is he?!

"Leo...Leo...Leo...?! ...LEO!!"

The voice of Rainbow Dash, practically screaming at him, woke Leo from his slumber. He lifted his head, still laying down on the cloud, and immediately realized his entire body was still very sore. He was still overworked and tired.

"I'm up!" Leo said back, more annoyed than anything. He realized that Rainbow looked concerned. "How long ago did the party end?" His tone was slightly softened, but the pain in his body didn't diminish. It seemed to be in his wings, more than anything. Since he'd never had wings to overuse, Noel was feeling the muscles being sore.

"Not too long ago, actually, but that's not what I'm telling you about!" Dash shouted back. "You have to come to the library, quick! Somepony's broken into it!" She then, just as fast as she'd woken up Leo, flew away, a stream of color following her.

"Joder...!" Leo grunted, rising to his hooves. He'd crumpled back to the soft surface of the cloud out of pain, but only once. Soon, against his better judgment, Leo was flying in the direction of the library, hoping Rainbow was joking about this break-in...

That was a couple of minutes ago, Leo recalled as he saw the library get closer and closer. Despite the soreness of his entire body reminscient of a hard workout, he was able to make good time on Rainbow's request. As he drew closer, he could make out figures. Most of them were inside, with the exception of one, a large figure just outside the door. Upon a closer inspection, Noel realized that it was John, standing guard.

The large dragon took notice, and, though it was hard to make out due to the distance at that moment, he physically tensed up, as though preparing to attack. Apparently, he worked out it was Leo quick enough, for his stance relaxed. The rest of the distance seperating Leo and the crime scene vanished. His wings were the sorest part of his body, he knew. The muscles were twitching, vibrating from the overuse.

He landed, closing his eyes, trying to shut out the pain from his system. That was a task in itself, but he heard another object, probably John, moving toward him, so he opened one eye, turning to his direction.

It was then he saw precisely what kind of break-in he was dealing with. The door appeared to have been ripped off its hinges, but it seemed that Applejack and Rainbow were teaming up to put it back in place. To say that the break-in was violent was an understatement. Well, that wasn't entirely true, by Earth standards, anyway.

But by what Equestria's standards were, or at least what he knew they were, this was a bad break-in. He forgot about the soreness in his body for a moment, and trotted straight up to the library. The cyan mare, who was helping Applejack stand the door off to the side for the moment, looked up, noticing him. There was no trace whatsoever of playfulness in her features. She was clearly angered about what had happened.

"Finally decided to show up, huh?" asked Dash, setting the door off to the side, and trotting up to Leo. "Gotta ask, do you know who did this?"

"No, I don't." Leo flatly said. He then recalled something he'd heard. "But while I was on that cloud, I heard fast movement down below. It sounded like it was coming from here..."

Dash's ears pricked up, and she fixated Leo with a piercing glare. Applejack didn't seem to be paying attention to the ongoing conversation, Twilight and Corey were both at the shelves, trying to make sense of the mess in the reference guides section. That section, compared to some of the other shelves, which Rarity, Pinkie, Spike, and Fluttershy were tending to, was basically gutted while the others just looked as though they had a few books pulled from them. Ivan was gazing around, his eyes appearing glazed over, looking for loose books that the other four had somehow overlooked.

"Then why didn't you do anything about it?!"

"I didn't really have a reason to believe anything bad was happening...I--" at this point, he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Corey slowly shaking his head, while appearing to be taking control of the bookshelves. "I just didn't think to do it. I was exhausted."

Rainbow softened her gaze slightly, and for a moment, she didn't appear to realize she was gazing. The orange mare, noticing the gaze, shifted, and trotted next to the cyan mare, and whispered something into her ear. The ear of Rainbow flicked, and she quickly shook her head. The look in her eyes did read very clearly, though.

She was a little more concerned than she probably would have been, even under the circumstances. Suddenly, a terrifying roar sounded outside, followed by the unmistakable sound of flames being coughed up. Leo winced, more out of the sudden noise than anything else. Everypony else came to a dead stop, and Fluttershy became scared stiff; thankfully, she wasn't in the air at the time of John's roar.

Ivan cast a sidelong glance out the window closest to him, and sighed.

"John's really mad now..."

From the corner of his eye, Leo noticed something was off about the farmer pony. She was shifting, as though deciding what to do, and her face somewhat showed it.

"What's with you?" asked Rainbow, at first showing concern. This quickly morphed into a slightly playful look. "Don't tell me you're--"

"Don't give me that, Rainbow," Applejack cut off the cyan pegasus before she could say it, "Just that somepony's gotta talk to him, and I guess it's gotta be me..."

John breathed deeply, trying desperately to calm himself down, but no matter how he tried to, his subconscious kept reminding him of the fact that whoever did this break-in was likely the same person or people that came in through the portal that appeared before he was sucked in, but just after Ivan, Corey and Leo arrived. He was justifiably mad over the incident, but he knew he shouldn't have been taking it this hard. It had to have been the new body's complications; he'd never fully remembered a time in which he'd been this mad. Then again, he'd never literally had fire in his belly either.

"John, calm down," A familiar, feminine Southern accent addressed him, in a surprisingly level tone given what he was capable of when angered. "Ya might just cause more damage than what's been done."

He turned, knowing who was addressing him, and wasn't at all surprised to see Applejack standing there. When he noticed the look in her eyes however, he had to do a double take, which momentarily distracted him from his anger. But it quickly returned. Far as he knew, he still couldn't say exactly why he was so pissed. And it wasn't like he could lie to her either. So what was he going to do? This was the question he asked himself repeatedly. Finally, he saw a way out. It was a long shot, but given all the other crap that had happened today, what with Corey's surprisingly uphill learning curve and the romance thing, he was willing to try anything.

"I...I just don't like it...some--" he halted, unable to believe he was about to go through with saying it, "--pony, or something else, whatever, just broke in while our backs were turned. I don't know what happened between Corey and Twilight during their brief absence from the party, but I'd imagine they were happy...then this happened."

He noticed Applejack studying him with a look, one that he just couldn't read. John considered that the mare was scrutinizing him. No doubt she had to have been suspicious of the four newcomers anyway. Their names were strange by Equestria's standards, and a lot of strange things had been happening recently from the perspective of those not in on the former humans' secret. The dragon willed himself not to elaborate further, as he'd definitely give himself away, or give the wrong impression if he did.

"I don't like it either, sugarcube, but try to calm down," she said after sighing. She either didn't quite sniff a lie, or she thought something was wrong, but didn't want to pursue it right now since it wouldn't make sense for whatever reason. "Might jus' wind up scorchin' the whole town if you don't." Applejack sounded oddly calm given the situation.

John tried to breathe in and out, trying to get a grip. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Applejack was right. If he didn't get his anger under control, it might take complete control. Much as he didn't want to be here, he still had absolutely no reason to light all of Ponyville on fire in a fit of anger over this incident.

Applejack knew one thing about these newcomers: they weren't bad at all. Somehow, she just knew they weren't bad, but she couldn't shake the feeling that all the strange happenings, minus the romance that was sprouting up like weeds, were tied to them. Never mind their names; the orange mare couldn't remember a time such a violent burgulary had taken place in Ponyville, or even Equestria. No, even Applejack knew that was a lie. Ponynapping and crashing weddings was still worse than what just happened, but on the scale of "strange things" that she and her friends endured, this would have to be up there, somewhere.

Realizing that Twilight was the one that made lists, not necessarily the farmer pony, Applejack had to continue the conversation. She didn't know why she felt like she had to; John's attention wasn't quite on the break-in right now, and he didn't seem to be quite as angry.

It also bugged her that this alone would get him angry. She just knew that while he was telling some kind of truth, there was something underneath it. Ordinarily, she might have pursued it, but the orange mare just didn't have a reason to think that the four of them were in on it. Leo was the only one that could reasonably be considered a suspect other than Corey, and he didn't appear to be in the condition to run ten yards let alone steal books. That condition may have applied to both of them, though, but for entirely differing reasons.

"You're right," John said, finally breaking the silence. "It's just, I didn't expect this."

"Nopony does..." Applejack responded, seeing that her remaining calm in the face of anger had worked on this particular dragon. It was stating the obvious, but there wasn't much else to say. "It wasn't your fault, John. Sure of it."

She wasn't precisely sure why, but for some reason, his anger seemed to come more from within than he was letting on. She wasn't going to pry into why he was blaming himself for this-there wasn't a lot of time for it, and besides, it probably wouldn't do any good.

There was a silence between them, even as the cleanup efforts finally subsided inside.

"Hey, Applejack?" John asked.

"Yeah?"

Applejack had only noticed that John had crouched down, so that he was eye-level with her.

"Thanks."

No matter how Ivan sliced it, something like this would have come up sooner or later. If the episodes of the show he watched was anything to go on, inevitably, some crap would have happened, and due to their befriending of the Mane 6, they would have been sucked into it. He just didn't expect it on day 2. Now he had to assist in another clean up effort, using his hooves to scoop books up and shelving them back whenever he found a few off-center.

He continued this action for a few more groups of books, eventually working his way over to where the others were--

"Oh, this isn't right at all..."

This was a familiar, very high-pitched voice, coming from behind him. Ivan turned his head to look, and saw Pinkie undoing the shelves that he'd fixed.

"Hey," he said, not really sounding angered or anything. He wasn't even as annoyed as he should have been. "Pinkie," she stopped, a book hanging out of her mouth by its spine. "...what are you doing?"

The pink mare shelved the book after putting it back on the shelf, in a different place than where the former human had had it not two moments prior.

"Well, Twilight likes things organized the way they were before, so we've gotta put them back in place the way they were, because if they aren't chances are she can't find them, or maybe she can find them since she always seems to have trouble finding that book she's looking for, and--"

Ivan didn't exactly consider himself to be a rude fellow, but he also didn't consider himself a gentleman either. He had to cut Pinkie off before she issued a run on sentence so large it wouldn't fit on a comic book page, never mind inside a single panel.

"I get that, Pinkie, but..." Ivan began. "How do you...know where the books--" A sensation hit him full-on, like someone had just pressed a cold can of soda to the nape of his neck. "--go?!"

It was a strange feeling, and one that rocked him to his core. It was freezing, without a doubt, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. His pony body shivered in response to the stimulus, but he quickly got control of it. A few more moments passed, and the sensation was gone. The former human blinked. Whatever just happened certainly wasn't normal. He turned, to make sure Rainbow Dash wasn't floating there holding an ice cube.

He saw empty air directly behind him. Rainbow was over with Leo and Fluttershy. The silver colt was staggering somewhat, and his wings, while closed at his sides, were twitching. He looked as though he was trying to hide the pain, while the mares expressed concern in their own ways. Rarity was fronting the reshelved books, Twilight and Corey were still trying to stack up the overturned reference guides with assistance from nopony at the moment; given that gathering them up was nearly done, it wasn't a surprise. From what he could tell, Applejack and John were still outside and the door was still not in the best of states. That left one question: what was that cold sensation?

"Huh...well, that was weird," Ivan observed.

"What was it, Ivan?" This was Pinkie, probably oblivious to the sensation he'd just experienced.

"Oh, nothing," responded the reddish-brown earth pony. He didn't really feel like explained why he'd just tranced out. "Just could have sworn some..." He hesitated, but the hesitation wasn't that noticable. "...pony was putting ice on the nape of my neck."

Pinkie said something, but since she had a mouthful of book spine, it was hard to make out what she was trying to say.

"Uh, what?"

The pink earth pony set the book down on the shelves.

"That is weird! I'd feel weirded out too if it felt like somepony put ice on me and I didn't see anypony behind me!" This was Pinkie again spouting off on a tangent. Ivan started considering his options. Sure, they technically were living together after that particular agreement--now he had to help out around the Corner instead of the farm--but he was sure he could handle the pressure, but they'd been dating for a grand total of zero hours.

Then again, when he considered where he was, he wasn't too surprised that a friend was allowed to stay. But, after what had happened just now, Ivan knew it wouldn't have been prudent to straight-up ask Pinkie about how she felt. Besides, he was going to take it slow anyhow, and a soap-opera styled confession scene just wouldn't do.

His ear twitched as he registered that Leo was talking.

"Is there any way I can help?"

Had these words come from anyone but him, Ivan wouldn't have been too surprised. He knew John helped out enough; of course Twilight's friends would help her; even Corey could be a help when he felt like it. But Leo offering assistance, even in his obvious pain?

He didn't know Corey for sure, but what he did know was that when they first arrived, the green colt looked pissed-off all the time. In the light of recent events, however, he was noticably quicker to smile. Well, obviously not now since he was pissed again, but there was a change in his personality.

"Has Leo changed too?" Ivan wondered aloud.

"The party worked..." Pinkie said, now randomly right next to Ivan. "You're a lot more awake, Corey was happy to be places (though in a cute way), and John now has friends here in Ponyville! It looks like even Leo changed a little!"

"...Oh, yeah, like you were telling me," the brown earth pony said.

Corey continued to look in Leo's direction. The guy looked sore. His wings were twitching, but it looked more like the muscle twitches that occurred when they were overused. He also appeared to have a hard time moving about. However, he continued moving toward Twilight's direction. When Corey looked again, he realized she now held, in a telekinetic hold, the records for the books of the library.

Spike was over at the shelves, shelving the books while appearing to be fighting off sleep. The others appeared to be out in the main area, helping. Corey sighed. He had to help too, at least a little more than just being Twilight's emotional support during this time.

Then again, when he considered the male roles in the universe, from what he could gather, it wouldn't surprise him if that was all he managed. Yes, he learned magic quick, but now that shit was physically hitting the fan, it did appear it was crisis time in Equestria.

Leaving that aside, Corey never thought he'd hear Leo willingly offer help. Usually, it'd take quite a bit of prodding, and spamming the message "*pokes with stick*" into Skype as a means of getting his attention. Usually, he remained invisible. John and Ivan had similar results when trying to get his help. But here Noel was now, in obvious pain, offering his help to sort out the mess.

First me, now Noel...who's next to change? Will Ivan stop being sleepy? Will John-- Almost immediately, the green unicorn colt realized he was wasting time worrying about it. This world was going to change him, now that he was experiencing it first hand, something that no one back home could have predicted, and something that Corey was convinced nopony here would predict either.

"Whoever did this was looking for a specific reference guide," Corey said. "Given that the section that received the most attention was the reference guides...it's almost together, now." He summarized the damage. "We just need to find out what was taken..."

Leo took a gesture of thought.

"Reference guides, huh...?" Leo began to think, then he staggered a little on his remaining three legs. "And I guess Twilight has the records there..." He crossed his eyes while looking straight at Corey. Then, he looked towards his twitching wings. He turned completely, and Corey could only guess he was looking towards where John was. "Twilight, I think I have a good idea of what was taken...may I see the records?"

Corey wasn't even going into the part where Leo was being polite for a change. Then again, he'd seen this behavior before from him, earlier with Rainbow, and with Fluttershy when he got stuck in the cosplayer's uniform by Rarity.

"Um..." Twilight started, hesitating just a little, probably out of her expected job at the library than anything. Corey had to say something, so he spoke the first thing that came to his mind.

"I think Leo might be on to something," Corey responded to the purple mare's unspoken concerns. "But that 'something', I can't say for sure, but remember," He dropped his voice to a whisper. "If the one who is behind this is who we think it is..."

"You mean...the other humans--"

"Or human..."

"Leo?" Twilight asked, clearly phasing her question to Leo. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Leo staggered over to the unicorn couple, his teeth gritting from the soreness of his body. Once he was within close enough range, he began talking again.

"When I first got here, I have to admit I wasn't as focused as Corey was on our 'problem'. I wanted to learn about my wings. And Corey started learning magic today, right?" By "talking", I really mean "whispering", as that was what the silver colt asked.

"That's right--oh!" Twilight responded, keeping her voice low. "I see...you think that the other human or group...want to know the workings of their new bodies...that should save some time."

Leo nodded, as did Corey, more out of response than anything. He fully understood Leo's logic, given that he was from the same side of the fourth wall as he was, but he had to make sure Twilight knew what he was getting at.

"...so can I look at those records?" Leo asked.

"You've been a good help," Twilight said, looking up from the rapidly turning pages, which were glowing as she cast her telekinetic spell on them. "Now...I suggest you get some rest. You look like you could need it."

The silver colt with a feminine snout quickly bowed his head in a sort of nod, and left the sight of Corey not too long afterward.

"Spike, you still awake?" Twilight asked.

"Y-yes!" The baby dragon wasn't completely awake, judging by the sound of his voice, but he sounded like he was trying to force himself awake.

"Listen carefully, we're looking for specific reference guides..."

The purple mare began to give her assistant directions. Spike followed the directions, and when Twilight asked if a certain guide wasn't in its usual place or in the remaining stacks of books, Spike answered.

Through this process, the missing books were at last discovered...

As Twilight and Corey sorted out the mess with the reference guides with Leo's direction, the others began to talk amongst themselves, seconds blending into minutes, and minutes going into an hour. Everyone was winding down, but willed themselves to stay awake. Three of the ponies in the room were still dead-set on a certain task, however, and that task was door repair.

"Alright, John, could you move the door a couple of degrees to the left?" This was Rarity giving a set of oddly specific directions on door repair. The hinges had been replaced with a little help from Applejack and John, the latter of whom mostly held the parts in place. Now, John was tasked with helping set the door back in its place.

"Like this?" John asked, adjusting the door as instructed. The door bucked in his hands. "Right, your left, my right..." He adjusted the door again.

"Okay, it should be back in place, now, Applejack--"

"I'm on it, Rarity," The orange farmer pony, defying real-life ponies' posture by standing on her hind legs, was doing Rarity's assigned task. She was putting the pivot back into the hinge, first on the upper hinge, then again with the lower hinge. "All done!"

"Let me test the door, Applejack, just so we know it's just as good as new," said John, standing on the side opposite the outdoors. He pushed and pulled the door normally. The hinges silently moved about as he opened and shut the door a few times, just to be sure.

"I believe that takes care of it," Rarity observed, shutting the book that she'd been using as a guide for the door repair. She didn't follow it to the letter; making her own personal changes to the procedure as she went. Which is why the hinges had a purple tint to them...

"Not quite," John responded from the other side of the door. "Just a second..."

The door opened once more, but then John slammed the door loudly, shaking the library. John then roughly opened the door. Through it all, the door stayed perfectly attached to the hinges. Didn't mean that those within the library weren't startled by this.

"What are you doing?!" the white unicorn squealed.

"Making sure the door can hold up if somepony walks out angry or whatever..." John responded. "Or tries another break-in. Hinges seem strong. Then again, we don't know how the door was dislocated in the first place."

"I'd reckon magic," Applejack interjected. "Then again, the hinges were ripped apart, so it could have been anythin'."

"Brute force would be the next best guess," This was John, re-entering the library and making sure the door was shut behind him. "Why I started slamming the door to make sure it could hold up."

"That's all well and good, partner, but..." At this point, the three all took turns looking in Fluttershy's general direction, who claimed to be alright, yet one could see her wings still twitching over the slight fear. Apparently she still needed just a little more convincing that John wasn't going to do anything to her or her friends.

"I do what I do out of concern more than anything," the large dragon defended. By this point, the white unicorn and the orange earth pony had both abandoned the conversation, though if one listened close enough, they could have heard the fashionista mare whisper "Honestly!" in response.

Meanwhile, over at the reorganized shelves, Ivan and Pinkie were talking. As it turned out, Ivan was expected to help however he could. The brown earth pony didn't seem like he'd had much in the way of culinary skills, though since he'd be likely to work at the bakery in Pinkie's place whenever she was up to some physics-destroying bit, the pink mare was bound to teach him how before long, in her own way.

That is, until the subject of childcare came into play. It came as somewhat of a surprise to hear that Pinkie's landlords had kids that the pink earth pony was expected to care for. While Ivan didn't particularly know what caring for toddlers would be like, he did babysit his younger siblings on occasion. While he didn't have much experience in caring for those younger than five, he still had more experience handling childcare than handling baked goods.

Pinkie assured him it was easy work, and seemed eager to teach him. Ivan finally realized that he needed out of his tuxedo, and back into his original hoodie, so he went into the library's bathroom to change (after a little direction from Pinkie and after the pink earth pony also found his original article of clothing).

Leo, meanwhile, had taken a reference guide for himself after informing the pair of his need. He was off to the side, reading it. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were talking, with no evidence of rivalry between them. Mostly because the latter pegasus never really communicated it. She had considered it, but the words failed to come to her. She just didn't want to sound condescending of Rainbow.

Eventually, though, a loud snore came from the reference guides section. All heads turned to the section. Two unicorns returned, the ones that made sense of the mess. They seemed to be talking between each other.

"Spike does go to bed around this time, huh..." This was the male, sounding a little distracted with the fact.

"Yes, but remember what was taken. Leo's hunch was right," This was the female, voice also low in volume. A few heads turned in Leo's direction. He merely shrugged in response and went back to reading, still in obvious pain. She then said something that none of the others could pick up.

"So what was taken?" This was the cyan pegasus, sounding slightly angered now that she was reminded why she had come. "When I find whoever did this--"

"Whoever took the books was probably waiting for the library to be empty. He or she is long gone by now." John said.

"I..." Leo spoke up. "I might have heard him running away, but I didn't know what it was until I saw the library."

The room remained silent. Given Leo's condition, it certainly made sense. Somepony might have spoken up to argue about it, if not for Twilight's interjection.

"Whoever did it wasn't very good with magic, but there's two books missing on magic usage, not just one." The purple unicorn announced. "One was a guide about basic usage, so the one responsible had to have been a unicorn."

"That's fine and all," Ivan cut in, finally looking up, having been looking down in the silence. "But you said two books were missing. What's the other one?"

Both of the unicorns physically hesitated, and a couple of observant denizens in the room noticed there was a very slight look of guilt on the green colt's face, but before anypony could point it out, Twilight spoke up again.

"It doesn't make any sense..." The purple mare began. "The second one was a far more dangerous guide, one that I have to admit I didn't even expect to have here in the Ponyville library...It was a guide on elemental magic."

The room fell silent. Not even Pinkie knew what to say right away, and she was usually the one to break silences. All ponies and the single awake dragon considered what could possibly be at work, though only the unicorns, Leo, Ivan and John had an idea of the truth at work.

"And he's long gone with that?!" Rainbow Dash finally spoke up. "That sounds like something that definitely shouldn't be lying around in a library!"

"I don't know why there was one here..." Twilight answered. "It could have been a leftover of the days before Princess Celestia, but the fact remains that it was taken."

"Whoever it is would have to be somepony very dangerous," John interjected. "That goes without saying."

There was something unspoken between the former humans. Whatever the case, they'd likely be sucked into whatever was to come, even if the one behind it wasn't the suspected fifth person or second group. They were just going to have to be ready, and considering that they were males, be especially careful of anything that might come up.

"All things considered..." the large black and blue dragon continued, "I think it'd be best to get some sleep."

Heads turned towards him. Even his fellow former humans gave him a look that suggested that they thought he'd gone mad.

"Sleep?" Rainbow asked. "A friend just got robbed, and you want to sleep?!" It appeared that she wanted to charge, and given that she was able to make him fall like a house of cards with a simple kick, John knew he needed to reply quick. Thankfully, he wasn't Corey.

"It's not that," the larger dragon continued. "But we're almost coming down from the sugar high from the party, and aside from me, it looks like everyone else is a little tired. I can stay up and keep watch in case whoever did this comes back for seconds."

Rainbow looked toward Leo. Then she looked to Corey. Then Ivan. Back to Leo briefly, which John did notice, but didn't point out. Her dark red-violet eyes focused on John.

"Rainbow, there's no reason to go suspectin' them. Corey and Leo were the only ones that left; Leo probably couldn't make an escape goin' by how he looks," This was Applejack cutting in. "And Corey left for..." There was a small giggle. "clear reasons..."

"Fine, I'll drop it for now," Rainbow said, still giving John a dirty look.

"What do I have to do to make sure that you know I'm on your side? Swallow lightning?" John asked. "Get back to me on that one..."

A couple of ponies winced, if only for the painful electrocution that would result from that.

"But you can't swallow lightning!" Pinkie interjected. "I mean, it's fast, it's bright, and it doesn't do whatever it strikes any good!"

"...That's the point, Pinkie..." Ivan commented.

It was something Twilight wasn't entirely prepared for, but given the situation, no one in the library was quite ready to leave for the night. They weren't going to abandon their friends. It was going to be a tight squeeze, fitting nine ponies and two dragons into the same place, but thankfully, everyone was able to find their place. Over time, everyone slowly began to fall asleep in place. John remained outside, back propped against the trunk of the tree that was the library, keeping watch.

Eventually, the only ones awake aside from John were Corey and Twilight. The others remained asleep in a variety of positions. Funnily enough, by some force, Fluttershy and Rainbow had wound up both sleeping close to Leo. Rarity wound up in Spike's bed, an action which no human doubted Spike would appreciate (given how things went in their world). Spike remained asleep where he'd fallen asleep, in the reference guides section. Pinkie Pie and Ivan fell asleep on top of each other.

Applejack remained asleep curled up close to the door, just below a window looking out toward the front yard.

Corey gave a small yawn. This had been quite a day, one that he'd hoped he wouldn't have to experience. It was true, he wasn't the one paying the rent here, Twilight was, but he felt like someone had just robbed his home, and it wasn't a very good feeling. On top of that, there was the stress of telling the purple mare how he'd felt, but that excursion was worth it. Plus, he'd started a food fight, something he wouldn't have even considered back on Earth. Then again, most of the stuff he'd done since coming to Equestria was all about risk.

He was by no means a daredevil. He'd hoped that things would at least settle down for a little while longer after their welcoming party, but after Princess Celestia had informed them of that other portal, he'd had his doubts. With the break-in occuring on top of this, it seemed unlikely that things were going to settle down for a time.

Granted, things settling down in Ponyville was a rare occurence from Corey's perspective, and given his relationship to Twilight, it didn't seem likely that things were going to be easy for him in the long run either. But that was the way the pieces fell into place.

"It's not your fault, Corey," Twilight said, quietly so as not to disturb any of the sleeping. "I don't think any single one of us could have saw this coming." After saying this, she yawned.

"I can't help but feel guilty," Corey admitted, turning to her. "I mean, assuming this is who we think it is...that other guy..." He kept his voice really low, basically having his mouth really close to her ear, speaking about his guilt as he whispered. "He came in with us..."

"I understand..." The purple mare rubbed her eyes with her hoof. "Oh!" She snapped to attention. "I've gotta write the princess about this..."

Corey snapped to attention as well, forgetting about his tiredness for the moment.

"Are you sure? I don't think Spike's able to be your mailbox right now..." he nodded in the direction where Spike was, and looked all around the room. "I think we're the only ones up aside from John..."

"I can write it now, at least, and send it to her tommorrow morning..." answered the purple mare, and soon, the two were off to Twilight's room. Rarity was rolling over, appearing to be attempting to get comfortable in the young dragon's bed. She, however, didn't stir to the sounds of hoofsteps approaching.

The purple mare quietly opened a desk drawer, and found a piece of paper...or parchment, whichever it was. Corey left her to do her report while he spied the bed he didn't use from last night. There was something off about it. It was well-made, but that wasn't what concerned him.

What concerned him was the clothing that was on it. It was the Solid Snake outfit from yesterday. Had Rarity been snooping around between the door being fixed and when she went to bed? Whatever the case, it was there. He walked toward it, feeling an odd feeling in his heart.

From what he knew of the Metal Gear Solid series, and he knew quite a lot about it, Solid Snake fit the definition of "black ops badass" quite well. That sort of title did not, by any means, suit Corey. He was known more for programming, math, and fanfiction back in his home world. A relatively quieter and less tumultous life.

He cracked puns and bad jokes relatively easily, and on some occasions he would amuse his friends and family members. That just wasn't the character Rarity had dressed him up as, and even if Equestria fully changed him, he doubted that colorful ponies could churn out black ops badasses except in fiction.

However, one of the articles of clothing on the pile caught his eye, that being the headband. He didn't know why, but he always preferred headbands. For some reason, it just screamed "cool". It added cool points to just about anyone that wore them. Certainly asthetically pleasing, if anything.

It was then, Corey made his decision. He gently lifted the folded vest and jacket pieces, and set them off to the side on the floor, using his telekinetic magic, of course. After taking a few moments to recover, he turned his attention to the strap of cloth, and focused hard, lifting the strap as though he were about to knot a rope.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Something terrible happened during the welcome party for the humans! While we were there, an intruder broke into the library and stole two books pertaining to magic use. The first one was a basic book, the second relating to elemental spells. I'm not exactly sure how such a book wound up in the Ponyville library, but the book has been taken! I have a very bad feeling about this. While I'm convinced that Ivan, Corey, John, and Leo are okay, I'm worried about the beings you mentioned that came out of the other portal. They seem to think that whoever it was was behind this. None of them seem to know who it is, either.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight smiled to herself, having taken down the information herself using her magic to write the letter as opposed to having Spike write it down instead. With her latest report on the new beings in Equestria complete, she turned back to Corey, and noticed that he had changed his appearance. She did recall that the costume had been on Corey's bed. The purple mare was somewhat surprised to see that Corey had put it back on.

Or at least, part of it.

"What...are you doing with the headband?" asked Twilight. Corey turned to her, an unreadable look on his face.

"...Twilight, question." his response came. "Do I...look cool?"

The purple mare's jaw almost hit the floor at the question. She had to remind herself that Corey could sometimes be unbelievable in this way. He did pop a hay pun when he was supposed to be telling her of his problem, after all. Plus, she didn't want to hurt his feelings. It was a side of her that probably would have come out under other circumstances, but given she had feelings for him, it just didn't feel right to be herself, at least, not entirely herself.

She scanned his appearance. Yes, the headband did make him look different, but not in the way he wanted.

"Cool...not really. However...you look cute..."

"...What?"

As it turned out, Corey hadn't tied the headband properly. It had been knotted at the back of his head, yes, but he had formed two loops, like bunny ears, poking out from either side of his head, rather than the straight lines that the bandanna had borne when Rarity had tied it.

"...You don't have the loop right, Corey," she said. "You...sort of tied it...you have bunny ears right now."

Corey was struck silent, and Twilight smiled when he changed color again.

"If you want help looking 'cool', do you think you can wait until tommorrow morning?" Twilight asked, giggling slightly.

"Yeah..." Corey said, sounding dejected as he removed the headband.

"Though, what were you going for, anyway?" the purple mare asked as she trotted over to her body.

"...Well, most 'cool' characters wear headbands..." he responded. "In fiction I've read, and all...I guess I wanted to emulate them."

"Oh?" Twilight asked. "And...may I ask, why?"

"Given the situation, I'm going to need to apply myself harder than I've ever done before. I feel responsible, and I want to be able to help you out." He seemed to want to elaborate more, but the instant he inhaled, he appeared to have thought better of what he was saying. "Being the colt...boy...whatever, who's close to you and all..."

"Do you think I need protection?" the lavender pony asked, making sure to sound insulted.

"N-no!" the green pony stuttered. "I-I'd have to be stupid to believe that! I-It's just...something I want to do...to be able to help you if you need it."

"Okay, okay," She'd gotten about the reaction she was looking for, and she liked his answer enough. "Go to sleep, Corey..."

She could hear the rustle of him climbing into the bed next to hers. She lay back, staring up at the ceiling.

It had been a strange couple of days. What had she learned from all this? She learned that beings from other universes could be adorable sometimes. She learned that they could make good friends.

And she learned that they could be similar to ponies from her own universe. She looked over to Corey once again, who was shifting around, trying to get comfortable. A smile formed on her face.

I think I have a pretty good idea of how I want to feel about him...I guess I can give it a chance. Besides...he is pretty sweet when he tries to be, and cute even when he isn't trying...

Despite this, she turned back away from him, her smile fading.

Still, I wonder who came in through that other portal. If our hunch is right, then whoever came in through there is no friend. Either that, or a horrific troublemaker...

Twilight shifted around in her bed, trying to get comfortable. Surprisingly, it wasn't as easy as last night. Eventually, though, the pony found her spot, and drifted off to sleep.