Collision Code

Act II: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 12: Private Practice

Corey wasn't entirely convinced he could pull this off. Of course, that was his thoughts on magic in general, but he learned all his other spells like one of the unicorns of Equestria. But now he was going to learn spells from somepony who was probably just as attuned to certain kinds of magic as Twilight. Shining Armor was her brother, after all.

The two were now on the outskirts of town, not quite the Everfree Forest but not quite Ponyville either. Corey was totally awake and alert now, and was idly shifting about in place, trying his hardest to hold still while waiting for Shining to do something.

"Okay, so," Shining started, causing Corey to flinch out of reflex, "...Twilight said she taught you a few spells, right?"

"Y-yeah..." Corey stuttered. "Levitation, laser, and shield. That's all I know so far..."

Shining rubbed at his chin. He obviously hadn't trained someone quite like Corey before. He remained silent, obviously trying to think. He lowered his hoof after a few moments.

"So, how's your aim?"

If this were his own world and he wasn't talking to his girlfriend's elder brother, he might have delved straight into toilet humor without hesitation. However, since neither condition was met, Corey opted to be honest.

"Oh, I can hit my targets...long as I see them..." Corey said, "Of course...it still takes me a bit to control my magic so I can actually fire it..." Since he wasn't talking to Twilight, Corey became overly self-conscious, "That, and the only moving target I hit was because he was still right in front of me.."

" 'He'...?"

"Let's just say John takes 'helping his friends' too far..." Corey spat.

"Anyway, what you're talking about, it's common," Shining refocused, "I had just as much trouble at first, you know. You just need to get a feel for it..." He looked around on the ground, looking around. His horn lit up a purplish color, and several small rocks began to levitate around, eventually forming a circle on the right. Corey turned towards the revolving rocks.

"What are you waiting for?" Shining asked. "Go on, try to hit one..."

Corey took a deep breath. At least the test itself seemed simple enough. However, executing the task in front of him would be a different matter; this much he knew. He focused magic into his horn, knowing he needed to keep his eye on the target.

...Let's see... Corey thought to himself, looking to the targets. Video games, don't fail me now...

He let loose the blast, soaring towards one of the moving pebbles. The green magic surge soared towards the rocks, but it slid between the two pebbles.

"...Missed..."

"You came close, though..." Shining said, "You sure you haven't done this before?"

If Corey were more in his element, he might have thought Shining was saying video games were training tools. However, since he wasn't there, he passed over it. "Positive..."

"Just try again. The tricky part: focusing enough on the spell to make sure it does what you want. Following the movements is the easy part once you know what to do..."

Do you know how long I've been a unicorn, Shining?! "Okay."

Magic surged forth into Corey's horn again, and he began to try to divide his focus between maintaining the magic surge and keeping an eye on his targets. For the former human, it was a simple task complicated by his lack of experience with unicorn magic. For the captain, Corey assumed, it was a simple training exercise and nothing more.

Twilight Sparkle had taken the time while her brother and coltfriend were out for the latter's practice to get caught up on her studies. She had something coming up in a few months, and she knew she needed to learn every spell she could before it came along.

"Here!" Spike grunted, setting down an inordinate amount of books next to her. "You sure you need all these books, Twilight?"

"Of course, Spike!" Twilight said, "I need to take this time to catch up on my studies while I still can!"

"...I don't think taking a few days off your studies would hurt..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Spike slammed his claws over it. Twilight turned to Spike, her studious nature now in full effect.

"I still have a test to worry about! Even though things are different and we have unexpected guests..." Twilight began, "I...I've been falling behind!"

Images of the worst naturally flooded her mind. Even though Princess Celestia had made it perfectly clear she wasn't going to send Twilight back to Magic Kindergarten even if she hypnotized an entire town trying to avoid that fate, she still couldn't help but fretting. Twilight was never one to settle for anything lower than an A. Even an A-minus would force Twilight to drop everything and panic just a little bit.

She couldn't take a poor grade as the princess's tutor.

"Besides...I-I'm sure they'll understand..." Twilight said, opening up a book. "I need to learn some new spells for the test, and I think I know which one to start with..."

John had made his way back to Ponyville ever since that morning. He was taking his time getting back to the town, just in case the aftershocks of his near death experience lingered. After all, it was the experience that had him leaving the town late at night to blow off all the steam from that experience. After foraging for diamonds in the mountain range he'd wound up in, he began his long walk. With a toss into the air and a catch in the mouth, he devoured the breakfast. Once again, he had to wonder how diamonds had their own unique flavors. It seemed to vary by color...

Alright, I know I've been here before, he thought to himself, looking around. But I can't tell. All the trees here more or less look the same to me. They don't have apples so I didn't wander into the orchards...

The dragon's ears picked up on the sounds of a gurgling brook not too far off. John realized that he needed to get something to drink, so he followed the sounds well enough until he reached it. The former human never had a reason to drink from a flowing river since...well, he never went camping and had no reason due to the fact both humans and ponies had indoor plumbing. However, now that he was in a foreign body, he was well past not seeing the harm. Dragons struck him as feral creatures anyway.

After taking a long refreshing drink from the surprisingly clean brook, John found himself hearing the sounds of movement nearby, and he immediately tensed up. His tension relaxed a little, however, when he saw who it was.

It was Fluttershy, eyes closed, humming quietly to herself, walking along the brook. Only now did John realize exactly where he was. Somehow, by pure dumb luck, the former human had wound up here again. And Fluttershy was deathly scared of dragons, John knew, especially ones any bigger than Spike.

...Not this again... he thought to himself. John tried to move quietly away from the scene, not wanting to disturb Fluttershy again. He knew full well she'd freak out again and hide from him. He could understand phobias well enough, but the fact he was the trigger made him feel even worse. He tried to watch his footing, hoping to quietly elude Fluttershy's area before she saw him again.

However, luck never worked out the way John wanted it to. No matter how careful he was to move away, the talons on his foot scratched very audibly on a nearby tree root. John froze and turned, hoping Fluttershy did not hear him. However, she had stopped dead in her tracks, ceased humming, and now turned straight toward the source of the noise. The instant the two met eyes, John fully expected the mare to run away.

However, Fluttershy only seemed to step back a few steps in fear, not at all like the last time they'd met.

"Oh, it's just you..." John could still detect the fear in her voice. She was trying to keep herself rooted to the spot this time, however.

"Um...hello," John blinked, rooting himself to the spot, afraid if he made even the slightest movement, he'd scare the pegasus half to death. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"It's okay...it's..." Fluttershy trailed off, apparently not sure if she should continue her statement. John wasn't about to try and get her to finish her statement, glad enough to just have her talking to him without needing to hide behind the nearest shrub. John didn't even bother to get closer, afraid if he did, she would once again hide from him and lose all the progress made here.

"Are you...still afraid of me?" John asked, feeling like he needed confirmation on this.

"A-a little," Fluttershy admitted. "B-but...after what happened last night, after what you did to protect my friends, I know you're...you're not like the other dragons..."

John finally smiled. Fluttershy was trusting the human inside rather than the dragon outside. It made his near death experience worth it. Of course, he didn't want to convey this to anyone. He could see just about any of the others lecturing him about it.

"Thanks, that made my day," John responded with a nod. Fluttershy smiled very slightly--he could barely tell from the distance he was at. "Well, I'd better catch up with my friends...I'll see you around."

John finally waved goodbye. Now that he knew where he was, it was a simple matter of getting back to Ponyville. Briefly, he wondered if any of the others even noticed he was gone...

"Alright! Aim, fire!"

Corey took the cue almost immediately, the rocks spinning even faster now. However, by this time, he'd been able to adjust to the training regiments. His reaction time had been helped by video games. The closest thing he could relate to "shoot the spinning rocks" would be trying to beat games on their highest difficulty as fast as possible. He had to aim fast, shoot faster, and most of all, stay alert. Using his magic like this was tiring mentally and physically since he still wasn't used to undergoing strenuous activity, but he wasn't about to give in now, not if it would help him be a bit more useful the next time Zer showed up.

Green laser blasts surged forth from his horn, connecting with rocks two times out of three. By the time the test ended, the ring of rocks had reduced to several rocks orbiting a point. Corey looked at his handiwork, trying not to give in to his urge to breathe heavily.

"You're really getting good at this!" Shining cheered, dropping the remaining pebbles. "You alright?"

"Of course..." Corey tried to keep himself from giving away the fact he was running a bit low on stamina. "What's next?"

Shining blinked, before chuckling lightly to himself, "She did say the two of you were similar..."

Corey brushed aside the comment, trying to focus on whatever the royal guardspony had up his sleeve. Or whatever ponies said instead of "sleeve".

"Alright then..." Shining said. "Let's see...Alright, I think I can teach you a spell."

A new spell? Azure thought to himself. From...the captain of the Royal Guard?

"Don't worry, it isn't overly complicated," The white unicorn continued. "Here, watch this..."

The unicorn turned to the nearest tree. He looked up and down, "What do you think? Think there's any animals in this one?"

Corey looked at the tree Shining was looking at. He couldn't see any animals using it for a home. It was a dying tree. Some of the bark was peeling off. The only wildlife the former human could see inhabiting that tree consisted of small insects, ranging from termites to bees.

"Don't think that'll be an issue," Corey said. "The tree's half-dead..."

"Okay, good," Shining took a few steps back, still facing the tree. "Don't want to upset Fluttershy while I'm in town...I hear she can get a little vicious when her friends are threatened..."

Corey remembered very well how Fluttershy managed to save Leo from being killed by the manticore. She hadn't so much as lifted a hoof. She'd simply yelled at it like it was some kind of child and gave it the evil eye. And it worked.

"Now watch..."

Shining's horn lit up, just like any other spell. Corey watched, wondering what Shining was going to do to that tree. As he continued to observe, he noticed something about the glow on Shining's horn. It looked less like a glow. In fact, as Corey began to focus on that detail, it looked less and less like a magical glow and more like--

A high-pressure stream of water, like that shot out of a firehose, ripped forth from the horn, and hit the dead tree, sending wood flying everywhere from the sheer force of the water hitting the soft surface. A few seconds passed, and Shining ceased the spell, the water stopping just as quickly as it started.

"...That was a basic water spell..." Shining finally said. "I haven't exactly found a use for it other than putting out fires, but I'm sure somepony's found a use for it somewhere else..."

Corey looked to the disturbed tree again, "I...see. So that's what you're going to...to teach me?"

"That's right..." Shining responded with a nod, "So, let's start small, with the very, very basics of the water spell. Once you know those, you should be able to figure out to do what I just did."

Magic is used similarly to Ki, Corey resolved, In that it can be shaped to the user's will and whatnot...Well, especially considering I'm a unicorn...

"Alright," Corey closed his eyes, and began generally focusing magic to his horn, preparing to do as instructed.

"It's really not too hard. Rather than forcing the magic out, let it flow out like a river," Shining advised. "One step at a time..."

Corey continued to keep his eyes closed, trying to do as he advised. He relaxed, trying to picture a running faucet. The tip of his horn was where the water would come out, and the valve was a little hard to work with. The magic began to flow forward...

Truthfully, Shining didn't expect Corey to get anywhere on his first try. He watched the green glow around the horn flicker and slow, just like it usually did during an application of the water spell. However, the flickering was sporadic, and the glow speed wasn't stable: one moment it was normal, the next, it was faster than normal, and the moment after that, it was slower.

"Flow, not force," he commented again.

Corey didn't even seem to be listening, his focus entirely on controlling the magic in front of him. However, Shining could see now a glaring problem with his pupil's current status.

Is he already tired from all that before? he asked himself, seeing the beads of sweat on either side of the green blob's horn and on his face. I guess it makes sense. He hasn't been a unicorn long...

Shining's brow creased. When training with a group, he usually adopted a much harsher way of training, similar to how he was trained. However, in one-on-one situations, he could try to tailor-make the situation to his pupil's liking. He hadn't been nearly as harsh with Corey as he was with some others on his team.

He wanted to test Corey's limits. An idea crossed into his psyche, and he sighed. It was definitely something he should try, given what was going on between Twilight and him. It only slightly bothered him that Corey wasn't a pony by nature, but Shining figured he'd get over it quick if Corey was a decent colt...guy...thing by heart. So far, he was living up to that standard.

He walked over to the still-focusing colt, whose condition hadn't changed too much. He was still pretty confident the former human wouldn't be able to manage a heavy pressure yet, so he walked up to Corey.

"Corey..." He stated, "I'm pretty sure you can do better than that..." When that alone failed to get a response, Shining finished his statement, "...boy, oh boy, Twiley'd be disappointed if she found out you couldn't get this one down--"

A spray of water hit him dead in-between the eyes. It wasn't high-pressure, but it definitely was more than he expected, and he had to take a step back out of reflex.

Well that worked... Shining thought, shaking his head to clear away the droplets, A little too well...

Corey's eyes remained closed, but it was clear the remark had gotten to him. "I know I'm not guard material, but--!"

"Easy there," Shining said, "I was just messing around..."

Corey remained silent, completely unaware he'd somehow pulled off the spell. He sighed and shook his head, no doubt trying to clear the hot air that had invaded his mind. He opened his eyes.

"...Did I do it?"

"I was standing in your face..." Shining noted aloud. "But I guess I shouldn't be in your line of fire when it comes to my little sister..."

"Uh..." Corey's face reddened slightly.

"But," Shining quickly shifted back into "trainer" mode, "If you think you can take it, try doing the spell one more time! This time, try not to hit me with it!"

Corey stumbled about in place, caught off-guard by the sudden change. "O-okay!"

He closed his eyes, and began to focus his magic into his horn once again. The white unicorn colt watched him intently, waiting to see if he'd repeat the same results he'd shown with the spell.

It wasn't that Leo didn't think he could do it. It was just not helping that Rainbow would pop in after every stunt to see if he'd made any progress on doing his trick on cue. Leo was doing his best to remember what exactly had happened when he attacked Zer that time so he could replicate his feat on cue.

I know I had thought about Dim Mak... retraced Leo mentally. That means I have to focus energy into a point. But I'm no unicorn, I shouldn't be able to do as Corey does...

He glanced to his forehoof, then to his target. But still...instead of focusing on Zer's pressure points...due to all the Dragonball Z I've watched, was I subconsciously thinking about--

"Leo!"

The former human snapped his head up again. Sure enough, there was Rainbow Dash, once again checking on his progress.

"You got it yet?"

"...I think I'm close..." Leo responded. He prepared to strike his target: a large boulder. He would either accidentally push it off the edge, or...

Focus the energy to the end of the hoof...not into the target...

Leo continued forth, this new idea in mind...