Collision Code

Act II: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 7: The Heart's Desire: Complex and Unyielding

Corey didn't know if he was going to throw up or pass out. He not only felt excessively light-headed as a result of the teleport spell, but his head was pounding again. From prior experience, the former human could only guess one thing: he'd used too much magic in attempting the spell. In addition, because of the light-headedness he was feeling, he could only assume he had in fact warped somewhere.

Did I put too much into it, or...?

"What the Tartarus...?!" This was a feminine voice, startled and in shock.

"Sister, language," A familiar, different voice began.

Oh, is that what Hell is...wait, was that--

"Hold it right there!" Corey forced himself to open his eyes at the last voice to see a...sword, it definitely was a sword, pointed directly between his eyes. His breath caught in his throat, and though his first instinct was to take a step back, he'd already worked out enough details to take a good guess where he was. Sure enough, as he checked around him (which was difficult due to all the knights pointing their weapons at him), he was in the middle of a very royal hall. He'd recognized this from the intro to the show...

Already he knew where he'd ended up. He saw a red carpet on the floor, leading up to a small set of steps. There, he saw a relatively neutral Princess Celestia, and a confused and somewhat angry black alicorn next to her.

No, he knew that character from the wiki. She had fur that was actually a dark shade of blue, with a cutie mark of the night sky. Her mane was much like Princess Celestia's, flowing in an unseen wind; however, it was a strikingly beautiful color. Well, "color" wasn't the right term. It looked more like the night sky with a transparent dark blue background. It was Princess Luna, all grown up.

Princess Celestia leaned closer, as though studying him intently. Evidently, she had seen the complete and utter fear and confusion in his features, or whatever, because her features relaxed.

"Oh, Corey," She was now smiling warmly, and Corey almost sighed in relief were it not for several weapons being pointed at him. "Getting control over your magic, are you? I don't think you should have tried the teleport spell this early on." She looked up to her guards, and sternness returned to her voice. "Stand down. He is not an enemy."

The guards relaxed, slowly lowering their weapons. Only after they began to fall back into line on opposite sides of the hallway did Corey finally stop holding his breath. He couldn't quite help exhaling so fast, but only a few guards noticably twitched at the gasp.

"'Corey'?" Luna asked. "Wait, sister, is this colt one of those visitors you told me about?"

Corey remained absolutely silent as the Princess of the Night rose from her throne and resisted the urge to move in any other way than to bow down out of respect. Of course, he slipped and fell flat on his face since he forgot he was on four legs due to the fact he just dodged death by guards not more than thirty seconds later. Even so, he remained flat on the ground, out of nervousness more than anything, though he swore he could hear a voice snort, trying to surpress his laughter.

Princess Luna, upon seeing this, snorted a little, trying her hardest to not laugh.

"Thou mayest rise now," she said, using, to Corey's slight surprise, old English in communication. "It is just as our sister said, clumsy, yet good-natured."

Our--sister? Corey brushed aside the fact that he'd just more or less been royally insulted since it wouldn't lead to anything good.  Who else could she have been referring to? "Our"?

"She tends to slip back into the old style of talking," Celestia intervened, probably seeing the confused look on Corey's face.

"Actually," Now Luna was speaking...regularly, as though she hadn't just communicated in old English. "In all honesty, I wanted to see if he could understand it."

The round former human bit back the urge to exhale roughly. He didn't quite know what Luna was like, though from that enlightening sentence and the solar princess's lack of surprise at her sister's statement, he'd probably guess she was around the same level of benevolence. Then again, when he considered Princess Celestia only laughed off writing a reply with invisible ink out of a prank, as well as her other actions when confronted with things that would get humans in an equivalent situation executed or imprisoned for life...it really didn't seem that far-fetched her younger sister would have similar traits.

Still, he was talking to royalty, and he really, really did not want to be rude. He sat perfectly still, practically holding his breath, not knowing what exactly to do next. It was just as awkward as seeing a new face, made worse by the fact that one false move could get him killed. He just couldn't think of anything to sa--

"Um," he stumbled all over his words, completely unsure of what to say from there. For all he knew, Twilight had been asking her mentor for relationship advice and then the two sisters would share the letters and have a small giggle. The image would not stop replaying in his mind now that he was confronted with the two. "I...don't know how I got here, but I guess I put way too much into it."

"Please, don't worry," said the solar princess, rising from her throne now so that she could look at him more closely. "Magic backfires more often than not when you're starting out. I'm pretty sure my faithful student has told you about that."

Princess Celestia then turned to her sister, reminding her that it was just about time to raise the moon. The guards continued to stand like statues, and indeed it almost seemed like they were after backing off.

"I...don't know if I want to take the chance of teleporting back. I fear what'll happen if I try it again..." Corey continued. It was true. After the massive failure he'd had trying the spell, he was just not keen on trying again so soon. Plus, his head still felt like it was being impaled by pins and needles.

"Just try it again. Think of something that always calms you whenever you're in trouble. Whatever it is that does that is a lot closer than you think." The princess continued, sounding eerily like she was talking to a student. Which, given what he essentially was to Twilight, didn't take the former human for nearly as much of a spin as it probably should have.

"B-before I go, I have to ask this," Corey said, breathing out a sigh and preparing to try the princess's advice. "Has anything about that break-in turned up? Or anything on that other guy that got pulled in with us?"

The guards remained still, even with this question. The princess's visible brow furrowed.

"Unfortunately...no, nothing has turned up on either of those fronts." The solar mover said, the benevolence in her aura still very much there.

"Okay, I guess I'd better try your advice..." The former human shut his eyes, and concentrated on the library.

Think of something that calms me down...closer than I think it is...

"Actually, Corey, before you return, I have one other thing to tell you..."

The former human opened his eyes slowly. Princess Celestia was wearing a look alien to her. It wasn't anger, though. He'd never seen the character from the show look so...deep in thought. But the look was only temporary; she soon adopted a half-hearted smile before saying what she said next.

"When the time comes, you'll have a very hard choice to make..."

Corey breathed out a sigh. He'd known this, and the solar princess's reminder wasn't really needed.

"I trust you already know this, of course, but the choice will probably be more difficult than you could imagine..."

The former human felt his eyes close again. Images of Twilight Sparkle soon flooded his mind's eye. It was funny; though the solar princess's statement could have caused those images to force him to start crying out of sheer emotional confusion, instead, the images offered him comfort. He didn't know why straight away, until memories of the times they'd had together over the past days came flooding back to him.

She'd been understanding of me, even before the secret came out...like everyone else, she'd noticed the similiarities between us. Twilight was there for me when my fellow humans weren't...even if we have to come apart at the end of it...we're both going to walk away alright...right?

Twilight's insides were burning with anxiety. Corey had literally vanished to Celestia-knows-where, and she was worrying herself beyond sick about him. He'd used the teleporting spell, and apparently misused it, and now he could have been anywhere.

The sound of what we humans refer to as an "electrical pop" sounded right behind her, followed by a slight coughing fit. The purple mare whipped her head back, and upon seeing the origin of the sound effects, she turned around. A slightly dazed-looking, yet perfectly whole and healthy Corey stood there. The anxiety vanished, replaced with complete concern.

"Corey!" She trotted quickly up to him and threw one foreleg around his neck. The dazed green colt took a few moments to gather his bearings, but soon returned the gesture eagerly. "Are you alright? Where'd you go?"

"Well, I warped dead center in this hall...the Princesses were both there, along with all these royal-looking guards." The answer was so non-chalant Twilight almost fainted.

"You mean you teleported...to the royal hall..." She staggered backwards, looking Corey dead in the eye. "Were the princesses upset?"

"At first," the former human said, now with a notable level of concern in his voice, "but after confirming I wasn't an enemy, they became friendly again."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "After that mess with the Changelings, I'd almost say you were lucky."

Now, the former human adopted a look that suggested that Twilight had suddenly sprouted a pair of wings.

"You said...'Changelings', right?" The concern that was in his voice was unmistakable. "I'm probably not thinking of the right Changelings..."

"It's...a long story," Twilight responded. "You mean you guys have those terrible monsters back home, too?"

"Well, no, just in fiction..." Corey continued. "In the fiction I read, a 'Changeling' refers to a planet destroyer."

"Oh," The studious mare wondered exactly what kind of fiction he had read to have that kind of Changeling in it. "Well, the Changelings I know--"

The door downstairs burst open.

"Corey! Twilight!" It was John's voice, sounding angry and tired. "We need your help with something!"

Twilight looked to Corey, who looked just as confused as she felt...

Rarity could not have asked for a better setting. She'd selected a different clearing not too far off from where she'd seen Corey and Twilight in their romantic moment. Leo and Dash had just finished clearing the clouds, leaving the darkening sky completely exposed. Soon, Luna's moon would rise, bringing about the night, and Rarity wanted the tapestry the lunar princess provided each night to be completely exposed.

Pinkie and Applejack had both made some treats, the former of whom had also brought a basket and blanket. Ivan had helped Pinkie out with that. Fluttershy had been commissioned to get some birds to sing; that too, went very well. John had gone to get the unicorn couple, and would be back any moment. Spike, meanwhile, was keeping watch, using a telescope Pinkie had somehow had the foresight to bring with her.

As for Rarity herself, she was organizing the whole event. Everything was just about ready. Spike, from the "vantage point" not too far off from this clearing, spotted something through the telescope.

"They're runnin' up towards us!" Spike called out. "John must have gone overboard with his attention getter!"

"I think that would be the only way you could get their attention..." Ivan said dryly. Nopony offered a response.

"Okay, everypony, get in position!" The white unicorn called out.

Corey didn't know what to do anymore. He'd just gotten back from a bad teleportation, and then John had told him and Twilight there was another close scrape with a manticore not too far in the Everfree Forest. No one had been poisoned, like when Leo had attempted to take one on earlier and failed, but the unicorns were apparently needed to move it back into the forest. John seemed convincing enough, so the unicorn couple had decided to follow. Though the green unicorn had a feeling Twilight would be doing most of the lifting, he knew it'd probably be good practice.

"Almost there," John called out, having lead them straight into the Everfree Forest.

"Corey, I'm worried about John," Twilight whispered. The dragon was out of earshot. "I think his new body might be going to his head..."

"How so?" The green unicorn asked.

"Well, you saw what he'd done to try and get your spell speed up..." The purple mare sounded slightly angered about this. "And, I get the feeling he landed most of the attacks on the manticore. He just seems to take unnecessary risks..."

"I can't say for sure, but I'd have to agree with you on that," Corey replied. He had no idea how far John would be willing to go if he were still human, but he can't have imagined him trying to get him to blast him were they still human. Then again, he might have still been a mage, and those that were dragons might have still had their draconic features.

Eventually, John slowed to a halt, panting only a bit from the excursion.

"Alright, you two should go on beyond this thicket. The manticore's right over there..." he said. "I'll stay out here to make sure no other monsters try to help it while you two move it."

"Um...okay, be careful.." said Twilight in response, concern evident in her tone. John flipped his hand dismissively.

"Hey, don't worry about me..."

"I swear those scales--!" The purple mare cut herself off before she could say much more, "Never mind..."

Corey didn't see the point in saying anything about either of their sentiments, not really one for confrontations. Twilight took off into the thick brush, and he followed, only slightly winded from the effort to gallop from the library to here. Only now was his current body's stamina being pushed, but compared to Twilight, she didn't even seem winded by the effort. Quickly, the mare disappeared from Corey's sight, but that didn't last.

"What the..." She sounded confused. "Where's...the manticore...?"

The former human burst through the brush, stopping to catch his breath, just a few inches behind and to the left of Twilight. When he got a bit of wind back into him, he looked up to see the cause of the studious pony's confusion.

There was a blanket spread out, a very plain design. There was a basket at the exact center of the mat, with two plates, a slice of apple pie on each. Around the blankets, candles were lit, giving the scene somewhat of a...romantic glow. If the approaching night didn't already do that. In addition, birds were starting to sing a soft tune, which could have been anything, but Corey assumed it was supposed to be romantic.

"What...?" he whispered, more out of breath from this than the galloping.

John planned this, didn't he? The green colt looked about, half-expecting Ivan or Leo to pop out of nowhere with a camera to snap him and Twilight in the middle of a scene. Speaking of the lavender equine, she was looking at him with an unreadable look on her face.

"Corey...?" She sounded...flustered, to say the least. Corey sheepishly curled one of his forelegs behind his head, adjusting the headband he often sported.

"D-don't look at me," he stuttered, "I wasn't lying when I said I'd teleported to the royal castle by accident, and I was basically never out of your sight all day..."

Twilight blinked. She seemed ready to shout something hurtful, and Corey didn't know who it'd be directed at.

"L-listen...if this was a setup," he said quietly, "which I honestly think it might be, let's just enjoy it. I mean, John told us to go here..."

The gaze of the mare softened. "B-but, I..."

"I know it's awkward. I didn't expect this either...but..." The former human closed his eyes slowly, before opening them, allowing himself to smile. "Let's enjoy this, shall we?"

Twilight fumbled for an approriate expression, but eventually she settled into a slightly bashful smile.

"Okay...we'll play along..."

John reached the vantage point nearby, where the others were, more or less, watching as the unicorns slowly trotted towards the picnic blanket, smiling bashfully to one another (though Corey's smile looked awkward, but that was more or less because John hadn't really seen the former human in question smile a whole lot). The others had varying reactions, from amusement to digust to "aww"...

Then there was Rarity. You could have probably told John she was watching a chick flick and he'd have believed you if he didn't know what was going on. She was watching the scene intently, waiting for something to happen. The dragon felt an urge to facepalm coming on, but given that none of the others had done so yet, it just wouldn't be right for him to do it.

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this counts as stalking... the dragon thought. I'd expect her to be one of those romantic types, but...I didn't expect this...

John found himself wondering if the whole setup was worth it. He wasn't really all into romantic scenes, and watching Corey and Twilight at the picnic table now wasn't exactly anything new. They seemed to be skittishly doddering about; proving they had never been on this kind of a picnic before. There was probably some discomfort between them about it, still, but they did seem to want to try it out.

Rarity started to flinch just a little when the green colt did his usual pig-out session, eating in easily the most impolite manner of the four former humans. At least, until Twilight told him he was doing it again, causing him to blush and calm down just a little.

"John," This was a male voice, coming from a silver pegasus with a female snout. Noel, or Leo, whichever he preferred. "I'm not really all into this."

"I know what you mean," John responded. For once...

"So, I'll see if they left the library open in the rush...anything, really, to get out of here..." said the only other former human capable of speaking Spanish. Leo's wings opened, and soon he was off.

"Hey, wait...!" Dash said, apparently forgetting she was in front of her friends. From the corner of his eye, John saw Fluttershy flinch just a little at this display, and sighed at that. "I-I mean...yeah, I'm not into this stuff either. Let me know how far they get..."

"R-Rainbow!" The white unicorn was shaken out of her trance by the cyan mare's surprisingly dirty comment. Well, surprisingly dirty to John, anyway. She shook her head in light disgust. "Neither of them are in it for...that..."

John scratched the scales on one side of his face, debating on whether or not to leave. He did want to see exactly how this would pan out, but unlike Rarity, he really wasn't into this at all. The dragon looked around the room again. Only Pinkie and Fluttershy seemed to have any interest in this event. From what John could tell, Ivan was sleeping, or quietly meditating (more than likely the former). Spike was trying not to look, with a facial expression that expressed both visual exhaustion with the scene and childish disgust. And Applejack...just looked disinterested in what was going on.

"Psst..." The dragon said. "Psst...!!" The orange mare's ear twitched. "Applejack, over here!" His voice was quiet, so as not to disturb too many of those still there. Thankfully, the farmer managed to turn to him.

"John? You into--" She began, already on the verge of asking him a potentially stupid question.

"No, just noticed that you weren't as enthusiastic as I was..." John spoke up just a little louder.

"The one thing keepin' me from leavin' this to itself..." Applejack seemed discomforted. "I do want Twi to be happy, but I can't put up with too much of this mushy stuff."

John blinked. Wasn't that just a little hypocrit--

"So...why are you still hanging around then?" he asked, wanting to learn more.

"I don't know. Just got a feeling in my gut that this is the calm before the storm..." she responded.

As the time passed and the last rays of sun began to fade into night, the former human turned dragon began to wonder if Applejack was just being paranoid. Yet, he could plainly see her cause for concern.

Twenty minutes had passed, but to Twilight, it had felt a lot longer had passed. The moon was starting to come out, and she'd noticed, with a definite measure of surprise, that the sky was clearer than normal given where they were. Even though they weren't deep in the forest, the Everfree Forest was still known to have cloudy skies most of the time. The weather didn't need pegasi to control the clouds like it did almost everywhere else.

The mare herself might have been just a little miffed about how John had gotten their attention, but the more she thought about the present, the more she'd realized that the pros far outweighed the cons. The two had since finished the food, though not without more of Corey's rather unpolished table manners shining through, and were now staring up at the night sky. Strangely, it seemed to be altering only a little in front of them, but Twilight did not concern herself with that.

The former human on her left was gazing up at the night sky with a suppressed look of wonder on his features. Well, as suppressed as he could ever make it, anyway. She looked upon him, once again smiling.

"No wonder..." he started, probably fumbling for the right words to say. It was something that occasionally happened, she'd learned from the very few stories about himself he'd shared. He'd say something, meaning well most of the time, but the meaning got twisted because he just didn't say it the right way. Or forgot a comma while typing a message to his friends. "No wonder you go stargazing out here. You can see just about any stars...I don't know if it's the lack of light pollution that I'd have back home or the fact it's here...but the night sky is staggeringly beautiful."

"It always is. Astronomy is something else I like, besides reading." Twilight responded.

"I actually did some work back in middle school. Whenever I got the chance, I actually picked astronomy-related articles..." Corey continued. "And I once had a globe with all of the constellations on it...Don't know where it is now, though."

The purple mare began to blink, almost astounded were it not for the fact that comparisons had been drawn between them since day one of the humans' arrival. Still, yet another subject that the two shared...if you had told Twilight she'd met a color inverted and much less fit version of herself from a different pony universe where the genders were reversed, she would have believed you were it not for the overwhelming evidence that Corey had told the truth about his humanhood.

"We really are..." she whispered. Never in her life would she thought she'd have met somepony like Corey. In layman's terms, he was technically an alien trapped in a pony body, had somewhat of an aptitude for magic (though it seemed to be more draining on him than it would normally be), and had issues with others. The difference between them was that Corey seemed to have come out more cynical and antisocial than she did. Mostly because she'd had no choice. "We really are alike, aren't we?"

"Not entirely, but..." Corey hesitated. From the moonlight reflecting off his face, Twilight could see his face beginning to flush with a color other than green. "Yeah. The others hit their mark when they made their comparisons."

The two sat in silence, scootching close to each other until their shoulders rubbed together. The height difference was noticable once more, her head just overtaking his snout when they sat side-by-side like this.

"Corey," Twilight felt something. It was in that book she read, this feeling, but it wasn't exactly new to her. She'd known what it was from the start, but the book did shed some light on her feelings, and how she should act about them. "I feel like we can make it work."

"Huh?" he asked, turning his head to her.

"You might be here for another week, another month, another year..." She said this quietly. "It's such a wild value I thought it would be a bad idea to take the chance, but...I feel happy when I'm around you."

Corey's face faulted in that way it often did whenever he was flustered, but was trying not to show it, something else that had developed in him over the past six days in Equestria. Perhaps she'd tried a little too hard to see him that way...

"I feel that way too..." Corey responded. "And like I said way back on day two, a friend told me if we wait too long, we lose a chance...so..." He paused, his eyes telling her that he was searching for the right words. His face flushed for some reason, and Twilight couldn't figure it out. "...Ah, I've never been good with words in situations like this!"

That was the last thing he said before moving in for her mouth with his own.

Ivan snapped to attention by the coos of three mares, having dozed off some time after the date began. Strangely, he had managed to not fall flat on his face while napping, and his ankles, all four of them, felt a bit numb. Pinkie, who had stood right next to him, had been watching the end results of the event intently, but not nearly as intently as Rarity, who had Spike tending to her with a few tissues. Fluttershy didn't appear to need them, but he couldn't tell from the bad angles. John and Applejack seemed neutral to the event. Spike, meanwhile, was pointedly not looking, but for what reason he couldn't see straight away, until he noticed exactly how red the faces of the unicorns were. Well, the fact he could see it from the vantage point was impressive enough.

"Well..." John said. "I guess Corey doesn't need help anymore..."

It was fitting that he would make that observation. He was, in a way, his wingman. Applejack gave a small chuckle, as though understanding something that the others did not. No one seemed to care, except for Ivan, but right as he was about to make a remark on the matter, something stopped him. And it wasn't the idea that Rarity would try to bring them together.

Just like the night of the break-in, a cold sensation suddenly rushed through him. Unlike before, where it felt like someone had just pressed an ice pack to the nape of his neck, the coldness spread to his whole body, giving him a full-body chill and causing him to visibly shiver. Once again, the sensation passed away just as quickly as it had appeared. Pinkie, however, seemed to notice the former human's discomfort.

"Ivan, what's wrong?" Pinkie asked. Ordinarily, Ivan would have dismissed it as nothing, but after that vision earlier today when he apparently tranced out and became unresponsive, as well as what happened before the last time he'd felt that cold chill, he didn't quite feel like doing that.

"I...I don't know..." Ivan responded, blinking it off with the slightest traces of worry in his features. He couldn't hide it this time. Either his new pony body came with some radical complications, or--

A ground-shaking explosion made everybody at the vantage point jump.

"What the--!" John grunted, more startled than angry, though that soon changed as the shaking subsided. Corey soon echoed the statement, loud enough for Ivan to hear.

"What was that, Twilight?" His voice was clear, and all ears were now tuned into their conversation once more. The purple mare responded, before she gasped, and indicated with a hoof.

"That's not an ordinary fire...!" she said. "That's an elemental...sp-spell!" Her excitement momentarily hindered her ability to speak without stuttering.

"Looks like we've found our thief, everypony!" Applejack said, all business. "Who's up for showin' whoever it is what happens when they steal from our friends!"

As the two unicorns left the view of the vantage point, there was a murmur of agreement among the group. Ivan knew he didn't have a real chance, not being a fighter in any sense of the word, but it'd just look bad if he didn't come along, and besides, he wanted to know who it was that took the books.

Still, what just happened right before the fire spell went off troubled Ivan. Deep in his subconscious, a thought echoed within his mind.

What's happening to me?

Corey quickly galloped alongside Twilight. Though he'd just felt like he was on cloud nine, the event that had just occurred decisively knocked the former human spiraling off said cloud. He knew he was going to be counted on for whatever occurred. In his mind, he didn't know if it was the fact he'd watched Dragonball Z all his life or common sense that was telling him there would be a fight, and the green unicorn was more scared than anything. Yet, he said he'd try to protect Twilight when things like this came up while he was here, and he wasn't going to turn back on his word now.

He'd never really fought in his life. It just wasn't in his nature. The fact he was about to get into one with an unknown character was causing him to tremble somewhat in fear.

"Twilight," he began, trying to take his mind away from his fear, though his voice definitely came out at a higher pitch than intended. "are you sure those spells just used were elemental."

"Unmistakable. I would say the spells used were basic. I never got a chance to read the book, but I did ask Princess Celestia what to watch out for." Twilight said. Any evidence that there was a romantic moment not half a minute ago was not in her demeanor. She was once again all business. "Hey, are you okay?"

"No, I'm fine, really," His voice wavered so hopelessly he knew she saw right through him.

"Corey..." she started to whisper. "You're scared, aren't you?" Her facial expression softened. "It's okay. I don't blame you. You've never been in the kind of situations I have."

Corey remained silent, and tried his hardest not to look away or slow down, utterly ashamed.

"Listen..." Twilight said. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Just don't push yourself too hard..."

With a sigh, the green unicorn could only bring himself to nod. They closed the distance to the site, and saw a figure mostly hidden in the shadows. It was pony-shaped, but that was all that Corey could see.

"Hold it right there!" A familiar, feminine, southern-accented voice called out to the figure. Confused, yet relieved, Corey turned to see Applejack, and most of the others already there. While those that were naturally ponies or a dragon looked at least somewhat ready to throw down, Ivan and John (mostly Ivan) looked just as unsure as he did about this. John mostly looked pissed.

"Hmm...I guess practicing tonight was a mistake. But no matter, I've already taken the knowledge I need from the books..." The figure moved about, taking one slow step forward. The voice was masculine, and just hearing it gave Corey a chill down his spine from how evil it sounded. The figure had white fur, judging from the hoof that came forth from the shadows.

"There, Leo!" A different, feminine voice, rapidly closing the distance, echoed over the trees.

"I see...!" This was Noel's voice coming in loud and clear.

For some reason, the former human couldn't bring himself to wonder why most of them were so close by, ready to assist, but his relief at not having to take this creep on alone was magnified when Rainbow Dash and Leo floated down close by. Leo, like himself, looked unsure, but was trying not to show it. Rainbow, however, looked mad.

"So you're the one that stole from my friend, huh?" The tone in the cyan mare's voice was dangerous. She seemed ready to charge, and for the life of him, Corey wondered why she wasn't ready to attack.

"That's correct." The figure took another slow step forward, and two shapes at his sides opened.

"Wings...!" Fluttershy commented, sounding just as frightened as Corey felt.

The figure continued to walk forward. His mane and tail were spiked back, black in color. His eyes were yellow, but as the group fully took in his appearance, there was a collective gasp.

"A horn, too?!" Pinkie asked, the excitement still evident in her voice, though underneath it, Corey could barely make out the serious nature of her tone.

"An alicorn...?" Corey felt a chill run up his spine just looking at the figure before him. For the life of him, however, the green unicorn couldn't figure out why. He knew full well what was causing it, but his mind was working full-tilt, trying to figure things out.

I-I don't remember a character like this from the show...nor did I read about one like this in fanfics... the former human said to himself. If he's the thief, and the fifth of us pulled in...why do I feel like I should know him? I don't know anyone from the Skype chat, let alone real life, with spiky black hair like this...!