Collision Code

Act II: Fateful Collisions

Chapter 4: A Storm of DBZ References

Following Corey's little outburst regarding the "laser", Twilight found that she couldn't really say "no" to the former human's desire to learn more spells. Were the roles reversed, she'd have probably done the same thing, though probably just a little less enthusiastic than he was. The two had left the library once again, attempting to find an isolated spot not too far from Ponyville to practice the spell. Thankfully, it wasn't too hard to find a good spot.

Much like before, Twilight had opted to use an apple-based target, if only because she had so many on hoof, and didn't want to have the green colt collapsing of a migraine far from home by using rocks instead. Besides which, the apples they were using for this particular test were actually sour apples, ones that Twilight and Spike never quite got around to eating before they ran out.

Twilight set up a few apples to use for her demonstration as she illustrated precisely how the spell worked. She also did it far slower, so that her so-called "student" could see how she learned it. Given that this was one of a few spells that she learned hooves-on rather than by book learning...

"I don't know what this spell is called by our naming conventions...but I know it can't be 'laser spell'." Twilight said, her horn taking on a magenta hue.

"Few things that cool are ever named simple," Corey said, his brown eyes unusually sparkling with utter anticipation. They'd sparkled like that before when he realized he was getting the hang of his magic, and again when he was doing the barrier, but he literally looked like an overgrown foal about to eat his weight in candy. "From my experience, things like that are named stuff like 'Kame'--uh..." He immediately halted, the look in his face dissolving into an embarrassed grimace. "Wow, I'm getting used to this world..."

"Uh...right..." Twilight said, wondering why the heck the colt halted in the first place. He looked somewhat passionate until then... "Anyway, what I prefer to call this is a 'repulsion' spell of sorts. Since, well, it is meant for self-defense." The purple mare quickly switched into a more professional sort of mode. "Anyway, you focus your magic into your horn, just like any other spell. If you do it right, it should come out in the form of a projectile. I must say that you should be careful. If you put too much into it, it might do a bit more harm than good..."

"I understand..." Corey said, nodding.

Twilight scrunched her face up in concentration. It wasn't nearly as dramatic or overblown as the former human's look was. The magenta glow around her horn began opaque, and a spark, much like before, blasted forth from it, nailing the apple dead-center. The impact knocked the apple straight over, the laser having left a hole straight through it.

"Is...is that normal...?"

The purple mare now turned to Corey, who was eyeing the hit apple warily, as though he expected it to grow tentacles and strangle him where he stood.

"No, the apple doesn't have any real magic to it whatsoever," Twilight confirmed. "I wouldn't shoot you with one though, not even if you wanted me to...it would still hurt a lot."

The green colt's eyes seemed to relax back into a state of calmness. With a small sigh, he completely eased. He seemed to be mouthing to himself something, but due to the fact he was facing the ground and trying to obscure his snout with his hoof, Twilight couldn't tell what.

"Alright, I guess I'd better get started, then." Corey took Twilight's place at the firing range, in a sense. The teacher quickly set up her student's targets. Once more, the former human turned unicorn quickly bunched up his face in a look of "concentration" that almost suggested that he was having trouble using the restroom.

The unicorn's horn took on the vibrant green glow it took whenever he did a spell. The glow gradually changed from transparent to opaque as he focused, but unlike with Twilight's horn, his glow fluctuated between transparent to opaque frantically. As she watched him struggle with concentration, she couldn't help but remember that one time Pinkie used her as a gatling gun.

It was perhaps the most painful experience she'd ever had in her life, and as she drifted away for a brief  moment, it occured to her that she never asked the hyperactive party pony how she did that. Then again, with all the chaos in the moment, she hadn't really given it that much thought...

She focused her gaze on Corey, just in time to see a spark, barely more than maybe a centimeter wide, go forth from the unicorn colt's horn. However, it was only for a split second. It curled up about five centimeters from his horn, and faded into emptiness.

"Just a spark..." He sounded very disappointed in this. "Alright, attempt number two..." He looked over to Twilight, who smiled and nodded. Then, a statement she didn't expect to hear; a statement that she probably could have done without hearing for just a while longer. "John...?!"

She also regretted leaving that note, but it was in her nature to do so, and she probably couldn't have changed it if she tried. She turned, to see John, with an unusually distant look on his face. His eyes barely regarded Corey.

"Hey, looks like I've found you two..." His voice was easygoing, indicating he at least managed to calm down after leaving the library. "What are you doing out here, anyway? Has Corey really perfected the barrier yet?"

"Well, not exactly, but while you were gone, I was using this spell to test it," Twilight responded, recalling exactly how excited Corey had been to see that spell in use after his barrier fell away. "He got really excited, and I couldn't say 'no' to him learning the spell straight away..."

John nodded, "I see. Guess he's really eager to learn it, whatever it is..."

"What's up with you, John?" asked Corey, looking over to his fellow former human. "You look a little...distant, for some reason."

"Oh, nothing, Corey, go on and practice your new spell...I'll be watching." John assured, walking over to a nearby tree and sitting with his back against the bark. Twilight looked over to John, a little concerned.

"Okay...then..." Deciding it wasn't appropriate to pry lest she accidentally set the dragon's rage off, the studious mare quickly looked over to her student and special friend. "Corey, go on and try again..."

John had been jogging along, trying to keep all traces of anger off his face lest he accidentally scare a pony. Leo's excursion and subsequent outburst had left the former human all but confused and angry. On top of that, he didn't quite know what he could do, and just needed to let out the frustrations one of the first ways he knew how to back on earth, when his body didn't advance into a five-alarm rage every single time he was confronted with a fitting stimulus. Physical activity was something he'd taken up whenever he got angry back on Earth. He'd hoped that it would be enough.

He'd aimlessly jogged around for the better part of a half-hour just trying to release the steam that had built up in his chest from the anger he felt at Leo almost getting himself killed. He pressed his back up against a nearby tree, and sat down.

Darn it Leo, he thought, closing his eyes and trying to banish his anger while he rested for a bit. That isn't what I meant at all by that. You have to know that you're our only chance of getting home all the same.

The black and blue dragon remained underneath the shade of the tree, until he heard falling hooves approaching him. He turned, and was surprised to see Applejack was watching him curiously. It wasn't unlike the look she had given him a few days ago when he couldn't stop breathing fire following the library break-in. It was a bit on the softer side, given he probably wasn't visibly angry, but the farmer mare obviously knew a little bit about John, having worked with him the past few days.

"Oh, hey Applejack," John said to her. "What brings you here?"

"I caught the sight of a dragon with a dark cloud over him and thought he needed somepony to talk to," responded the farmer mare. "So what's eatin' ya?"

The former human hesitated before answer. "Oh no, I'm fine, really."

The orange mare obviously sniffed that lie and gave nothing more than an "uh-huh" in response.

"Besides, don't you have something to do on the farm?"

"Big Mac can handle the work for now. What's eatin' ya?" Applejack was not having John remain silent about his trouble. Here, John knew he wasn't going to get out of this, not this time. With a sigh, he relented.

"Okay, you win..." John recounted the tale of how Leo went into the Everfree Forest alone and fought against a manticore. Applejack promptly relayed how her friends went up against one once, but John had to say how it was different before she got too far ahead of herself. When she heard that Leo had actually been poisoned, her look changed to a far more serious one, but she obviously knew he was being honest about it.

"...I felt like I couldn't do anything, but thankfully, Twilight and Fluttershy knew this zebra...Zecora, I think her name was, and managed to cure him. After he woke up, I didn't choose my words carefully enough, and he flew off in anger or something. He misunderstood what I meant." John kept the humans' true species ambiguous throughout his explanation, hoping that Applejack wouldn't pry further.

The sounds of hooves echoed precisely four times in John's ears. He only knew that because looking back on the incident enabled him to count the number of steps it took for the mare to walk up to him.

"I see what's eatin' you." she said simply. "Ya just want your friends to be safe."

"Not like I'm much help," the dragon set his hands down on the ground at the base of the tree. "Every time something bad happens, I lose control of my anger..."

"Everypony has their flaws," Applejack cut in. "So what if you get a little steamed when something bad happens?"

John felt a warmth suddenly against his hand. He looked to the appendage, and saw an orange hoof hooked underneath it, pulling it up to the mare's eye level.

"Ya know what it proves to me?" asked the orange mare. "It tells me you have a kind heart, sugarcube."

The dragon's head immediately snapped to look directly to Applejack. For a few moments, neither one spoke, only allowing their faces to grow redder--

John was abruptly called out of his deep thoughts by the sound of something being fired. He looked up, just in time to see a green laser shot puncture straight through an apple. Or rather, the side of the apple. The dragon blinked, obviously not believing what he saw.

"What was that...?" John asked, now completely brought out of his thinking on the incident that had risen on his walk. "Was that a laser?"

"Huh?" Twilight turned to him. "What's wrong with it?"

"Oh, no, nothing, I just didn't expect that..." the dragon responded.

"Neither did Corey..." the purple mare responded, turning back to him. "Oh, he's trying again..."

Corey closed his eyes, randomly turning toward the next apple.

"Wait!" Twilight advised.

"Huh?" The green unicorn turned to the one addressing him.

"Please, try it with your eyes open this time..." She motioned to the fallen apple. As the shooter looked upon it, he realized what she was saying. It was a wonder he'd managed to hit it at all, John realized, seeing the narrow trench down one side of the apple.

"Right..." said Corey sheepishly, crossing his eyes in concentration as he looked upon the apple. This time, with his eyes open, the former human had a good look at his target. His horn glowed, and the glow rapidly advanced from translucent to opaque. A green spark-unmistakably a laser, shot forth from it, nailing the apple straight-on.

"Death Beam!" John suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, standing straight up. What happened next could only be described as an awkward pause. Corey stopped, turning to John with an unreadable look on his face, while Twilight looked honestly confused as she did the same. For the first time, it wasn't one or both of the unicorns blushing when in his company. Rather, it was John himself, utterly embarrassed at his outburst. "Right...well...uh, keep at it."

"Uh, okay..." Twilight said, still very confused.

"We'll just...do that..." Corey sounded as though he was trying not to laugh as he focused back on the task at hand. He mouthed something to himself, but John couldn't see what. The dragon sat back down, feeling completely foolish for losing control of his mouth in that manner.

Subconsciously, he was glad Applejack didn't follow him.

No matter how she sliced it, seeing what she saw hurt Fluttershy deeply. It wasn't like they had been in any real relationship, but still, it hurt worse than any other pain she'd felt before.

It had happened a little after she finished feeding some of the forest's inhabitants, and of course Angel. The rabbit's attitude had improved quite a bit as the time had passed since Twilight's arrival. There wasn't really a whole lot else to that event. That went as though any other day. However, when she attempted to take a break, she'd noticed a rather large, white cloud. From the angle she had first saw it at, she couldn't see if anypony was on top of it, so she decided to flutter upwards to see if Leo had been atop it.

But who she saw on the cloud with him, huddled up near him just as it had been back at the library, was Rainbow Dash. The meek pegasus couldn't process what she had seen at first. But when she finally did, it came roaring at her like a rabid manticore. The yellow pony had spent the better part of her time since then grieving over the heart that had been broken.

There was really nothing she could do, though. Even after she'd learned to be assertive, it still wasn't her dominating nature, especially after what she'd done to her friends while making it her dominant nature. If only she'd made her move...

But there wasn't any time for regrets now. Even if she didn't have love, or a chance at it now, she certainly still had friendship to lean on. She looked up towards the sunny skies above, and whispered to herself.

"Leo...I hope you find happiness..."

Noel immediately jerked awake. It was almost like he'd been slapped in the face by something with thorns. He looked around, only seeing Rainbow curled up against his side, appearing to be napping. For a moment, he'd wondered what had happened that had caused such a thing. It wasn't as though they were exactly incognito here; everypony with wings would certainly be able to float up and see them in the middle of a nap.

Wait...the triangle I've been in... For some reason, a bad feeling arose in the silver colt's stomach. He turned over, trying to figure out what it was that had woke him up. Something finally hit him. Oh no...

Yet, there was nothing he could do in his present state without alarming Dash. He did not really want to know what would happen if they'd realized they were in a triangle or not, but from the looks of things, it didn't seem he'd have to worry much. With this, Leo immediately want back to sleep.

It was perhaps the most scenic spot Ivan had ever seen. Well, in Equestria, anyway. Back on Earth he'd been dragged on a slew of camping trips, but he really didn't do much in the way of hiking. The spot Pinkie had chosen was a small clearing not too far from Ponyville, which overlooked some of the city. This was a very scenic spot.

"Alright, Ivan, we're here!" Pinkie said as she set the basket which she had been carrying down in her mouth. "It's so pretty up here! I can see a lot of Ponyville up here, and I like that, but some sights need to be shared!"

Ivan merely nodded, but did not smile, at least, not in a way that was noticable. In no time at all, the hyperactive party pony had spread out a dark pink and white checkerboard blanket on which the lunch would be had. The lunch itself consisted of, to the former human's surprise, sandwiches. Well, and baked goods for desert. Two cupcakes, one pink...the other brown. If Ivan didn't know better, he'd almost say that were it somepony else up here with him, the not-pink cupcake would match the fur color of whoever it was up here.

The lunch itself was relatively uneventful. Pinkie began rambling on about things, and Ivan found himself either resisting the urge to smile or spittake depending on what the earth pony said. Somehow, he'd managed to get her focused on she met her friends. He'd managed to get a few words in about how he "met" his. Together since young, found John later, he stuck with the group. It was a story he had been told to tell by his friends until the whole "we're human" secret came out. Ivan really didn't see the point in doing that; it was bound to come out sooner or later, and he'd rather have gotten it out of the way as soon as he got the chance, but in the end, he wasn't the one calling the shots among the former humans' group.

"Oh! That's really interesting, but my friends met under a different situation!" Then, Pinkie began rattling off precisely how she met the others, aside from Twilight. It seemed like even before the purple mare came into town, the Mane Six had already formed friendships with each other. Well, except for the part where they didn't really interact much outside of a day here, a day there.

Then she got to the part where she'd met Twilight, and went into way too much detail on some aspects of that day, in her usual style. All Ivan could do by that point was chew, nod, and appear to smile, though he was obviously listening. For some reason, listening to Pinkie's account of the events was interesting, even though he knew how it happened firsthand. Then again, Ivan considered the pink party pony probably had that gift anyway.

"I just can't figure out how Princess Luna got so big!" Pinkie said. "I mean, she was so small compared to Princess Celestia, but about a year later she's a lot taller than all of us and scaring everypony on Nightmare Night!"

Ivan bit his tongue to prevent the question that was just on the tip of his tongue. One thing, Pinkie didn't know the truth about him; two, it did sound awfully familiar, the Nightmare Night thing, anyway. If he didn't know better, he'd say she was referring to Halloween.

"I see..." Ivan managed. "Well, that sounded about right. The part with Nightmare Night, anyway. Leo's been known to do quite a few pranks of his own on that day...all of which at my expense, but hey, eventually karma's gonna get him..."

Saying that reminded the brown earth pony he still needed to see if he could find out what happened earlier that day. If anything happened. More importantly, he needed to know what was up with that dream he had. Usually Pinkie'd be able to shake him out of any nap he'd been taking. But she looked genuinely worried, almost like he wasn't waking up...

"Maybe, if you're still here in town when Nightmare Night comes up, you can get him back!" Pinkie said. "I sometimes pull pranks with Rainbow Dash! Oh, but her and Leo are awfully close...Okay! I know what we'll do!"

"I thought you planned parties...not pranks..."

"With the right planning, a prank can be like a party!"

Ivan couldn't hold himself. After the few seconds it took for him to fully understand what the earth pony said, he started chuckling, which gave way to open laughter in about ten seconds. Pinkie joined in, and it took them both about a full minute to recover. Clearly, this pony earned her element.

The two eventually managed to finish their lunch break. Just as effectively as she'd spread it out, the pink party pony quickly stowed away the picnic blanket in the bag she'd been carrying it in. The two earth ponies then began making their way back to town, taking a different route than the one that took them to this spot.

The two walked in relative silence, with Pinkie talking about things in a slightly more reserved manner than usual. She was still going a mile a minute about some things, but Ivan was able to keep up with what she was saying just a little better. As they neared the town, suddenly, Ivan's ear twitched in response to a noise he'd heard. It sounded like something was zapping.

"Pinkie, did you hear that?" he asked.

"No--" Then both of her ears immediately perked up. "Now I do!" She then turned to him. "Wanna go see?"

Ivan shrugged. Whatever this noise was, investigating it would likely beat working.

"Sure, let's go..."

John continued to watch as Corey rapidly got the hang of the laser spell. The green unicorn accurately aimed and fired successive green bolts of magical energy into each of his targets. He was hitting them in an accurate manner, but the former human turned dragon just didn't feel right with the way his friend was controlling the magic.

Yes, he was making strides, but if he wasn't levitating objects, it was taking him an awfully long time to get started. As Corey sighted another apple, John decided to count how long it took for Corey to fire the attack.

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10-- His thoughts were broken by the actual firing of the laser spell, which at least made its mark. "Hold on, Corey, time out for a second here." The dragon stood up to his full height for the first time since arriving at the so-called "training grounds".

"What is it, John?" Corey asked, turning to him with a noticable amount of sweat on his face.

"He's doing well," Twilight said, a small smile on her face at the "pupil's" progress.

"I know he is, but...his firing is...slow." John responded. "I just timed it. Ten seconds. Right now, in target practice, that's not so bad, but if we were to get attacked by the guy that broke into the library..."

"And what makes you so sure he'll attack us, again?" asked the purple mare.

"Probably because he busted down the door, and like you said, he took a dangerous guide with him. I wouldn't put it past him." The black-and-blue dragon responded, sighing a little. "Anyway, ten seconds is an abyssmal start-up time. A lot can happen in ten seconds. While stationary targets are good for accuracy, something more...challenging, needs to be done here."

"What do you have in mind..." The green unicorn asked.

John paused somewhat, considering what he was about to do. Even though dragons did seem to be more durable than the equines his former humans were transformed into, he wondered if his scales would hold up to this idea. However, his concern for his friends outweighed his concern for himself. With a sharp exhale, he extended a thumb, and pointed it at himself.

"I'll be your moving target!"

My upload "schedule's" been deteroriating, and there's no excuse for it given the length of the last two chapters. I'm still debating on posting an experimental sort of fic I have on the side, simply because it's even more cliche than this, though it isn't a HiE fic. It's also not a crossover.