Collision Code

Act II: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 6: Plans of a Hopeless Romantic

John sighed, running his hands over his scaly face while contemplating what he'd just witnessed. Like he'd promised himself, he wasn't going to judge Corey for whatever he'd accomplished while he and Twilight were out. Still, the situation struck him as so odd that he felt his laughter far outweighing his natural instinct to cringe just a little at the thought. He kept one clawed paw pressed to his face as he tried his hardest not to laugh at what he'd just witnessed.

"What happened after I left...?" he whispered to himself, trying his hardest to maintain his composure. This was almost as bad as that ghastly look Corey'd pulled before Rarity put him the Solid Snake cosplay, only it would have been a look of unsurpassed bliss instead of abject terror.

Through motion, he eventually cleared his mind, but just a few moments later, Rarity and Spike walked up to him, the latter sporting a bag of gems.

"Oh, you're out and about!" Rarity noted, sounding...blissful, for some reason John couldn't figure out. "Excellent...Spike, could you be a dear and find some of the others?"

"Of course, Miss Rarity," said Spike in response, moving past John in the direction of the library.

"And you," the white mare said. "Could you come to my Boutique a little later? And help Spike find the others too?"

"Uh, sure, what for..." John responded, not getting it at all.

"Just do not tell Twilight or Corey about this for any reason..." the white unicorn said. "I saw something happen between them that..." Abruptly, she sniffled, and instantly the entire atmosphere became awkward between them. "...I almost can not speak of it...it was the most beautiful moment I'd ever seen between a couple."

John slowly began to understand what had happened between the two unicorns wherever they had gone.

"I get it. I'll get...well, any-" He almost forgot he wasn't talking to Twilight or Spike. "-pony that'll help."

"Thank you," said Rarity. "Now, I must go prepare my shop for this meeting. Please do not keep me waiting."

And with that, the white unicorn turned tail and began walking back to her shop. John stood there, rubbing at the scales on his head.

What's with her all of a sudden? She acted like she was watching some kind of chick flick. I can only assume she caught Twilight and Corey making out... John thought to himself. But that's just me. The sun ain't setting yet, but it'll probably be setting by the time we gather everyone.

With a short sigh, the black and blue dragon decided to go to Sweet Apple Acres first, seeing as how he didn't know where Fluttershy lived offhand.

Oh, who was he kidding? There was another reason he wanted to go there first...

The adult dragon didn't take too long to get to Sweet Apple Acres. Somewhat surprisingly, Applejack was still in the orchards by herself, probably because of the small amount of work she missed out on from earlier. He had managed to get past her family members, mostly because he did help work there from time to time, handling heavy lifting that even Big couldn't handle on his own.

It didn't take him long to make his way into the apple grove. It also didn't take him a long time to find the farmer mare he was searching for either. The sound of a tree being hit, followed by apples cracking loose, soon resonated within his ears, and it was a simple matter to find her from there. As soon as the baskets on her back-no, saddlebags, John reminded himself-filled with fruit, she looked up, and noticed him standing there.

For a few seconds, neither one could speak, probably due to the fact they'd had that moment a few hours prior. Eventually, the dragon cleared his throat.

"Hey, Applejack," It was the only thing he could think to say in greeting right off, but he had to remember he had a job to do.

"Oh, howdy, John," said Applejack, equally awkward, a fact that, as John realized it, indicated that she too had been having trouble forgetting it. "what brings you back to the farm?"

"Well, something happened between Corey and Twilight, and Rarity saw the whole thing-"

"Ain't that just like that mare to get her nose into that kinda business!" Applejack exclaimed in mostly amazement. There was another emotion in there that the former human couldn't quite place. "Sorry, didn't mean to cut in..."

"Well, she saw it, and now she wants us all to come to her house for...something related to it." John finished. "Don't worry about it, I'd thought the same thing."

"What's she want us to do, talk about it?" the farmer mare continued. "That mare's been readin' far too much love stories..."

"So, are you going to come along?" John asked after some silence, quietly considering the distinct possibility given Rarity's personality. Applejack sighed.

"Sure, I guess, wanna see what she's gotta say about it?" The orange mare said.

"Alright, I guess I'd better get Fluttershy next, considering I know where she's at and all..." The dragon began to mentally recount how to get to her cottage from Sweet Apple Acres, when Applejack took a few steps first.

"Wait, you're gonna go to her place first?" asked Applejack. "I'd better go with ya."

John decided to act sly, just for a little bit.

"Any reason why?"

"Because Fluttershy might still be afraid of ya..."

If there was a moment John ever felt shot down, this would have been one of them. With that exchange over, the dragon and the mare left together for Fluttershy's house.

It didn't take them that long to reach the general area of the meek pegasus's cottage. The walk they took there was done in moderate silence. What didn't help the silence: some of the looks of the local ponies. However, they still managed to find something to talk about: speculating on why Rarity would call them together over the moment she'd witnessed.

"I know for a fact there's somethin' between them two," said Applejack. "She probably saw a really mushy moment between them and got teary..."

"That's exactly what happened when I talked to her about it. I didn't have tissues on hand..." John responded. "Anyway, as for Corey and Twilight, pretty much all their moments I've seen have been mushy. Either that, or Corey gets really jealous. You know how they play chess?"

"Didn't really think they did, but it's no surprise to me now that you mention it."

"Well, I happen to play it too, and I noticed a move that they didn't. Twilight asks me to play her sometime, and Corey just slumps over looking even more defeated." John summarized the incident in question. For a moment, neither one spoke, though Applejack did kick off her next statement with a light chuckle.

"Twi's either a lucky mare or Corey's got some jealousy issues," the orange mare observed. "Hard to tell, though he's gotta know you wouldn't do him wrong..."

"Would I now?" John asked, definitely sarcastic. Applejack turned to him, obviously picking up on the sarcasm, yet not appearing to care he'd said it like that intentionally.

"John..." she said in a playful, warning tone.

"Relax, I'm kidding..." The look in the green eyes of the mare suggested she'd already known. Any evidence of the earlier awkwardness was gone from her by this point. John would have said more, but the pair had managed to reach Fluttershy's cottage.

"So why does she live so far from town?" John asked.

"She cares for the animals in the forest." Applejack replied. "You might think it's unfittin' for such a meek pony, but she openly cares for even the most vicious of creatures. She did once tame a manticore by removing a thorn from its paw..."

The dragon nodded, really starting to wonder how such a pony could be so scared of her own shadow. Or dragons as a whole, for that matter. Realizing he was once more getting distracted by his thoughts, the dragon raised his hand to the door, and knocked as lightly as he could. The mare he was with nudged his side, signaling him to get back a little. The former human obliged, knowing full well the meek mare within might still harbor some fear of him in her body.

Eventually, the door opened, revealing Fluttershy...whose eyes did look a little red, almost as if...

Almost as if she had been crying... John felt a small pang of anger course through his body again, and unconsciously he clenched one of his fists. What could have hurt this mare so badly she'd cry? Well, there were probably a lot of things that could do that, but something about her aura just seemed a little off. Did you have anything to do with this, Leo...?

"Fluttershy, you okay?" asked the orange earth pony.

"N-no...I'm fine, really."

John subconsciously looked over to Applejack. Her green eyes sent him a clear message: she was lying, but it was best not to push her into telling. The black and blue dragon gave a small nod.

"Well, Rarity wants us all to go over to her shop. Seems like she's got something in mind for Corey and Twilight, and she wants all of us to come if possible," John said. To his moderate surprise, Fluttershy only flinched a little bit when he started speaking. "Do you want to come?"

The meek mare looked as though she were considering.

"You don't gotta if you don't wanna," said Applejack, cutting in after some silence. John didn't argue that point. If Fluttershy wanted to remain alone, that was her decision.

"N-no...I'll-I'll come along," the yellow pegasus said, still with a somber tone in her voice. Applejack looked troubled as John turned to her.

"Listen, could you take her and go on ahead...I'll go try to track down Leo and Dash next," John whispered, trying to make sure Fluttershy couldn't hear her. "I get a feeling that that's what she's upset about..."

"How could you say that?!" Applejack whispered back.

"I'll explain later..." John said. "Promise."

"Okay," The orange earth pony responded, confused. "Rainbow's house is a sky home, made of clouds. Can't really miss it."

With this exchange over, Applejack gently told Fluttershy to follow her to the Carousel Boutique while John continued on, ready to round up the two lovestruck pegasi...

Spike couldn't lie to himself this time. Rarity's reaction to seeing Corey and Twilight express their love wasn't exactly unexpected, but why did she want to push them even closer together? In his eyes, they were close enough already! He'd lived with them for the past four days now, and while their moments did leave the baby dragon with a case of the giggles at first, after that time had passed, it was getting just a little old. In fact, thinking about what the white unicorn saw did make him a little sick to the stomach.

The purple dragon didn't quite know it yet, but there was a picture of him in the dictionary next to the word "hypocrite".

Eventually, Spike arrived at the Sugarcube Corner, and knocked on the door. No less than two seconds passed after he finished this action did Pinkie answer, her energy still just as high as it ever was.

"Hi Spiike!" she greeted with a large, pearly white smile. Then again, if she didn't greet anyone she knew like that, there was something wrong. "Why did you come here?" Without warning, she produced a cupcake from behind her back (i,e. from nowhere). "Would you like a cupcake? Ivan really likes these kinds."

Blinking back whatever remark might have been formed in his mind, the baby dragon continued with a wave of his hand, knowing Rarity's business far outweighed the business of any other pony.

"Maybe some other time, Pinkie, Rarity wants you and Ivan to help plan some kinda surprise for Corey and Twilight," Spike responded, avoiding the question entirely. "If you're-"

"Oooh!" The pink party pony immediately hopped around excitedly. "I know all about surprises! I love planning them!"

"What's going on, Pinkie?" The earth pony mare immediately stopped mid-jump: a feat Twilight would question if she were present, Spike knew. She turned to Ivan, who was walking down. "Oh, Spike. Why are you here?"

"Rarity wants us to come to her shop," Pinkie said, landing with a plop sound on her rump, facing Ivan directly. "She wants us to help plan a super surprise for Corey and Twilight!"

Ivan blinked, "O...kay...?"

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Before Ivan could form a coherent way to say that his 'okay' wasn't out of agreeing with the plans, or otherwise voice his complaints on why Rarity watched them in the first place; Spike didn't really know what the poor former human intended to say before Pinkie physically lifted him onto her back and began skipping along to the Carousel Boutique. Suddenly, the pink pony began skipping in reverse.

"Pinkie-" the brown earth pony said, his verbal tone hard to read.

"I forgot to put the sign up," she said, quickly putting the "Closed" sign on the door of the Sugarcube Corner before skipping off again. "Alright, now we can go!"

Spike stood silently, blinking. While he was sure John was helping round up the others, save for Corey and Twilight, he didn't know whether he could take the time out to laugh or not at Ivan's predicament. It sure was humorous, though, certainly a welcome change from the 'so-sweet-I-might-hurl' moments between the unicorns he shared a library with.

Trying his hardest to keep himself from falling over backwards laughing his scales off, the baby dragon walked along, a bad case of the giggles already starting to afflict him as he made way for Rarity's shop...

Rainbow Dash had never been so elated to meet somepony before. Well, okay, she was lying to herself if she said that, but meeting Leo was definitely a close second to realizing her friends and her had more than just being the Elements of Harmony in common, but that was well after she'd met them. However, the fact she'd found a sparring partner who was also a fellow pegasus was not lost on her.

After their most recent sparring session, they had opted to bathe; seperately, of course, but it had been funny to see Leo's reaction when she teased the option of bathing together. Truthfully, that wasn't such an issue, except for the whole gender thing. After the post-workout bath, the two laid down on the ground somewhere to relax for a while.

The cyan mare turned to the silver colt on her right.

"You're pretty good, you know, the whole martial arts thing," Dash said. "But c'mon, you're not gonna beat me anytime soon..."

"Really?" Leo asked. "I was holding my own, even with the one eye, after you got serious..."

"Yeah, well..." Without warning, the rainbow-maned pony immediately launched herself at her silvery coltfriend, tackling him hard to the ground and sending him rolling. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow found herself with her hooves pinning down his chest, holding him down. "Can still pin you down with the right moves."

"C'mon, that's not fair, I was off-guard!" Leo responded, completely prone underneath the pegasus's grip. He tried to struggle, but all he did was squirm around. "The first time was just luck, too, you know..."

"Yeah, and if you're lucky, this might happen a lot more..." With that, the mare quickly bumped her snout against Leo's. "Or, maybe you'll pin me down, but c'mon, you can't get me that easily."

She didn't know what she enjoyed more about Leo's reaction to her advances: the fact that his face turned a shade of pink, or in some cases, red; or the fact that he almost shut up completely whenever she made one. Secluded in a small forested region not too far from her home, the two pegasi curled up in a manner that was all too human (not that Rainbow knew what Leo was hiding), and Rainbow allowed her eyes to close, a smile creeping its way on her features.

All was well for what only seemed like a few moments until they heard what sounded like a throat clearing. The cyan mare's eyes shot open, and both pegasi turned to see John, his fist steadily lowering from his mouth as he processed the scene before him.

"Well, I guess we're even for you throwing me off the cliff..." John said, mild amusement in his tone. Rainbow immediately peeled herself from Leo.

"So what do you want?!" she yelled, both embarrassed and angered at the intrusion. John raised his hands defensively.

"Easy. Rarity wants to see all of us, except Corey and Twilight, at her shop." John said.

"Why would she exclude those two?" asked Leo, turning to her right.

"Beats me, but whatever she saw must have made her shed tears of joy..."

Rainbow felt her face pull into both disgust and intrigue at the same time. On one hoof, she didn't want Rarity nosing around in her relationship with Leo, or anypony else for that matter, since she wasn't sure if she wanted her softer side exposed to all her friends. On the other, she knew that Rarity had a thing for romantic moments, the kind of stuff that would have made the cyan mare start gagging even just a week ago.

"Well...I have a good idea of what she saw..." Leo said. "But what's she want us for?"

"I think I can think of a couple of reasons why..." Rainbow Dash said, turning to Leo with a sly smirk on her face. "And I'm thinkin' she wants to discuss something about those two..."

"So, are you two interested in coming, or not?" John asked again. "Fluttershy and Applejack are coming along, and I think Spike's convinced Pinkie and Ivan to come too by now."

The cyan mare felt herself weighing her options. It seemed odd for Rarity to have called everypony except those two. In addition, she and Fluttershy were the only ones without somepony new and special to them. Rainbow could have sworn that this was Rarity about to vent her jealousy at how all her friends except for Fluttershy had found somepony special for them. Then again, Ivan and Pinkie was still a hard case to figure out. Nopony really knew how Pinkie would act in a relationship.

"What do you think, Dash?" asked Leo, turning to her.

Ultimately, though, when it came to it, maybe she'd just find out more about how their relationship functioned. Twilight was just as new to it as she was, and though Rainbow would never admit it, she had no real idea where to begin outside of spending endless amounts of time with Leo. It was a long shot, but maybe she could find something there all the same.

That, and it was too good an opportunity to pass up getting new teasing material for those two lovestruck unicorns. Dash turned to Leo, and nodded with the same smirk she'd gotten right before she would tease them.

"Let's go see what Rarity wants us to do..."

Rarity didn't expect the turnout to be so massive for her little plan; she'd never imagined that Applejack or Rainbow Dash would be so interested in what she had in mind, though she was immensely grateful that they had shown up. Everypony with the exception of the two lovestruck unicorns had turned up. This actually worked perfectly.

First, Applejack and Fluttershy arrived. Rarity had brewed some tea upon seeing the latter's reddened eyes. When she'd asked what could have upset the meek mare, Applejack merely answered that John knew better than she did.

Not too long after that, Pinkie and Ivan arrived, and the white unicorn found herself torn between stifling a giggle, masking her jealousy, and scolding Pinkie for treating a colt as she did all at the same time. The poor brown pony looked utterly...actually, she wasn't sure what he was thinking. He only uttered a confirmation he was there, and went back to looking toward the ground, sitting firmly. Not too long after Pinkie began interrogating her about what the surprise was, Spike arrived, bordering on insane laughter.

Last but not least, lead by John, Rainbow Dash and Leo arrived. With all of the ponies, and the draconic duo in attendance, Rarity gave a sigh, remembering the reason why she'd invited the lot over.

"As you all are aware," the white unicorn began. "Twilight and Corey have a love between them that was obvious from the first day the four of you first arrived here." She motioned to the other colts that were in the latter's party, one of which sported an exaggerated "gag me" look alongside Rainbow Dash and Spike, though the baby dragon was obviously trying to restrain himself.

"That much is obvious," said Applejack. "Ya didn't call us all here just to tell us that, did you?"

"Of course not, Applejack," The classy mare reassured. "But it's quite unfortunate that they are so similar. Neither one has really made time to allow the love between them to bloom like it should, too buried in their work ethic to realize what's in front of them."

More exaggerated looks of nausea from the same three suspects. The white unicorn didn't falter; after all, that behavior was to be expected out of the pegasi, though she was a bit surprised that Spike would be joining in, considering...

"So, you're saying...that this 'surprise' you're talking about..." Ivan said, looking up. Rarity couldn't withhold a smile-somepony was starting to get why she'd done what she had.

"Please, darling," The snowy mare interjected. "Be patient. I will explain everything about why I called you all here..."

It had been about an hour since John left for another walk, leaving Corey and Twilight alone in the library again. For some reason, Spike hadn't yet come back yet from Rarity's gem-hunting romp. Not that the former human was complaining; he did prefer the solitude, especially since he had such understanding company with him. Of course, the green unicorn suddenly found himself itching to learn another spell to add to his repitore, even though he hadn't yet fully mastered the barrier spell or the laser spell.

He didn't care what the ponies called that spell, it was a laser spell, and he needed to remind himself to hug Twilight extra-hard for letting him learn it. He looked up from the novel he was in the middle of re-reading, to see the purple mare once again poring over a book, a scroll at her side, and an ink bottle and quill nearby as well. She looked at a certain page, nodded, and began scribbling, using her magic, of course.

I'd almost forgotten how cute she looks when she's concentrating... thought the green colt to himself as he shut the book and began trotting over to her. Twilight, hearing his hoofsteps, immediately gasped, and shut her own book, storing the writing materials under her bed.

"Oh, Corey, I thought you'd be reading for another few minutes!" she exclaimed sheepishly, turning to him with the lightest blush on her face. "What is it?"

"Well," Corey decided to wonder what it was she was reading later, lest he wonder what was so important about that book that she'd hide it and the notes she was taking from him. He probably had a good guess given what had been going on between them, but he wasn't about to pry. "I'd been thinking, and I think I want to expand on what I know of spells for far."

The look on Twilight's face was an unreadable mix to him, but she looked happy enough, so whatever other emotions that might have been there didn't immediately matter to Corey.

"What do you have in mind?" The flushed cheeks and any evidence of embarassment were gone. She had once again become all business.

"Well, if things come to it, where there's no way I can make it out of something, or even just for convienience's sake," Corey said, having an idea of which spell he'd wanted to learn next. Even though he only had five episodes' knowledge, and had been blind-sided by the laser spell, he did know one other one he felt he needed to have. "I need to make a fast getaway. Know anything like that?"

"I know a couple that increase speed, but I guess you're looking more into 'instantaneous', right?" Twilight asked. "Oh...teleportation..." She nervously tilted her head at him, "Don't know if you're ready for that one...I mean, because even I have had trouble with that spell. You have to be calm when using it, otherwise you end up in places that aren't where you want to go..."

Corey blinked. This spell was definitely more of Ivan's thing, but seeing as how he himself was the unicorn of the former humans, he'd have to try his best to remain calm while using it.

"I mean, if we're talking about the actual difficulty to learn, it's easy, but it's the most complex simple spell a unicorn can know," The purple mare said. "Just because of all the complications that can arise from using it."

The former human gave a small nod of understanding.

"I know, but I'd rather know it and not need it, than need it and not know it," he replied. "So, do you think you can teach me how?"

Twilight gave a sigh, and a half-hearted smile.

"I suppose so...but you need to be careful with it. If you lose focus or put too much into it, the spell becomes unpredictable and will take you anywhere except the place you actually want to go." she said, clear concern in her eyes as she got off her bed. "In essence, it's a very simple spell..."

The explanation for how the spell was used didn't take as long as Corey thought it would. The pony he'd identified as a girlfriend-or marefriend, whichever she preferred-certainly knew him enough by now being vague wasn't going to work. Not that she ever was to begin with, but if she had been, she would have adjusted by now.

The former human listened attentively to her explanation, but the gist of it was that he had to focus magic into his horn while willing himself to be at another place. The amount of magic he'd had to use to transport himself there depended on how many others he was taking with him and how far it was from where he was before he used the spell.

"If you're sure you're ready to give it a try, be careful," Twilight finished, taking a few steps back. Her vision glazed over, then her eyes brightened for a moment. "Oh!" She sounded as though she'd forgotten to do something and immediately invaded Corey's personal space (not that he minded, but he was confused at what she was doing). "Um..." Approximately two seconds later, the green former human realized there was a moist pressure on his cheek, but it only lasted about half-a-second, since Twilight gave him a quick peck. "Good luck!"

By this point, Corey had a strong feeling that the mare next to him was looking at guides on how to keep a colt at your side. If his hunch was right, it was both a little sad and yet adorable at the same time, so God help him, he couldn't have given her crap for it.

"O-okay," the green unicorn stuttered. Even now, he was still a little unused to the fact he had a significant other. Call it lack of self-confidence, but he just never imagined himself being an adequate companion, even though he wanted to be one. "Here we go..."

His plan: to teleport a short distance: from Twilight's room to the door, outside Twilight's room. Magic began to surge into his horn as he visualized his goal. A few moments later, the former human felt his body change to pure energy, and warp away to his destination...

Twilight recalled that Corey wanted to go a short distance, and went to check the area outside her door after a few seconds. However, to her surprise, the green colt was not there. She blinked once, and looked around the main area of the library. He wasn't there either.

"Oh no..."