Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 4: Color Inversions

No matter how hard he tried, he was starting to fly lopsided. Every time he tried to go a little faster than hovering slowly, his center of gravity would shift and before long, he would not be able to use his wings properly. Hovering was really all he could do. It wasn't his fault humans weren't naturally born with wings.

Leo was glad Corey wasn't around to see this, though he was sure his longtime friend had somehow made a fool of himself in his absence. For some reason, Rainbow Dash wasn't trying to rush things here. Maybe she was taking pity on him after seeing how pitiful he was at flying compared to...well, pretty much any other pegasus their age. At least, he was going on Corey's assumption he drew that the main cast were at the very least mid to late teens, around their ages.

"I thought you were going fast..." Leo mumbled.

"What?" Dash turned. "You want me to go fast?"

"Oh, oh no, it's just what you said before we started." Leo said. As he thought about this, he realized he was, slowly but surely getting the hang of being able to move while flying. He wasn't sure if he'd completely master his wings before the day was out, or at all, but the silver pegasus was willing to try.

"Well, you look like you could use the help," The cyan pegasus snorted with suppressed laughter. "Unless you're afraid I'll see you crash!?"

"N-no, it's not that!" Internally, the former human knew he was lying to himself and her. It totally is...

"Are you sure?" Dash asked again. The two carried on for a little bit like this, until Leo, pride bent, finally tried to fly straight at a speed higher than one mile an hour forward...

And wound up not only flying lopsided, but reaching terminal velocity fast. He almost hit the ground, but just then, he felt a pair of hooves clamp around his tail and pull him into a proper hovering position. Rainbow was now fixing him with a mischievious, puzzled look. No doubt she was still questioning how anypony her age could be so bad at flying.

"I don't got a whole lot else goin' on today, but jeez, this is beyond 'bad fly day'..." Dash remarked, laughing just a little again. She quickly calmed herself down. "Slow really isn't my thing. Hope you can pick up a little faster than average."

I feel like I'm getting better at this, but she's rushing things just a little bit... Leo was about to voice an abridged, filtered version of what he just thought, when a soft feminine voice interrupted their conversation.

"H-hello..." it said, the voice familiar to the former human. "R-rainbow..."

Leo turned to the source of the voice, slightly below and behind Rainbow Dash. Another pegasus, and the fourth member of the Mane 6 he'd met since coming here. If the shy nature of her voice was anything to go on, this was Fluttershy. She matched the physical description as Leo remembered from the show: light yellow body, pink, heart-shaped mane, tail matching the color and shape to a degree, and light green eyes.

"Oh, hi, Fluttershy," responded the cyan pegasus.

"W-who's y-your friend?" The meek pony struggled to open her wings out of shyness, at least, Leo assumed it was.

"This is...Leo," said Dash, indicating to him. "I'm giving him pointers on how to fly...he needs them."

Again Rainbow reminded him of his plight. To calm himself, Leo reminded himself that he wasn't the only one that needed to adjust to his new powers. Well, when you have wings, technically "flight" isn't a power in itself, but it counted since Corey would have to get a grip on his magic.

"H-hello, L-leo..." said Fluttershy. Her voice faded into a small whisper. "...n..."

"What was that?" asked the former human, trying once again to be polite. As he considered this, he found it somewhat funny. Back on Earth, he hardly ever showed this side, at least to Corey, and especially never to Ivan. But in Equestria, when the only ponies he knew for sure were the royal princesses and the Mane 6 (along with Spike) and a few others, his polite side came out within the first hour of arriving in Ponyville. His mind flashed again to his old friend, and began to wonder if his time here would change him as well. Putting this aside, he leaned in.

He wasn't sure how to explain it, but he was feeling excited right now. The proximity wasn't helping the shy mare any, though. Instead of her voice growing louder, it squeaked and her words were unnoticeable again.

"No need to be shy," Leo said with a sigh, even though he knew deep down telling her that this early on wouldn't have much effect, if any.

"Nice to meet you..." she finally finished, just strong enough for him to hear. The silver pegasus was perplexed at this, and thought to himself. "I-I'm...F-Fluttershy..."

"Well, Fluttershy, nice to meet you," Leo bowed somewhat, though doing so midair was somewhat difficult without going lopsided. He fought to maintain control. While feeling somewhat proud of himself for managing such a feat, internally, Leo could only think of one thing:

This is about to get more complicated, isn't it?

Fluttershy found it somewhat odd that this new pony needed tips on how to fly. From the looks of him, he looked around her age, give or take a year. The meek pegasus found his name somewhat odd too. She had noticed Rainbow Dash with him as she saved him from falling, so obviously, he was having some sort of bad day.

"Erm, if it's not too much trouble," Still in a polite tone, and turning to her (though not without almost flipping over sideways), Leo continued, "could you help me with my...well, flight training?"

For some reason, something compelled the yellow pegasus to remain there for the moment and help him. He seemed like he was having a lot of trouble from what she'd seen.

"O-okay," she stuttered out, recalling why she had come into town in the first place, "b-but I can't help too long...I have animals to t-take care of, and Angel wouldn't be pleased if I kept him waiting." It was true, her pet bunny usually got upset if he was delayed, but a little assertiveness training took care of some of the problems she'd usually have with him.

"I understand...so can we start? I don't want to waste anypony's time..." Leo answered, bowing down again in mid-air. This time, however, he lost control, flipping over upside down. "WHOA!"

Rainbow couldn't properly hold in her laughter at this, and burst out laughing. Fluttershy couldn't exactly help herself either, but she tried to keep herself composed, so as to avoid hurting Leo's feelings as much as possible. Leo eventually pulled out of this lopsided flight pattern, seeming to be thinking of something else.

"Okay Leo, follow the birdie..." Dash said, immediately flying off. To Fluttershy's surprise, she didn't go tearing off, but it was still a little too fast for a training pace.

"W-wait up, R-rainbow!" Fluttershy stuttered. Her shyness was returning, but she didn't mind it. It was just in her nature. She flew off after her friend, and found herself looking back in Leo's direction, to see he was managing to follow them, but he was struggling along.

Leo continued to struggle to follow the flight of the pegasi. His wings flapped painfully, his shoulders hurting. Suddenly, and to his horror, he realized he could no longer feel his wings. In this moment, Leo realized what Corey must have felt when he couldn't walk. A little ways out of Ponyville, Leo lost control of his flight, and crashed into a tree.

The pain shot through his wings as he realized one of them was stuck in a tree. Once again, Leo was terribly pissed and embarrassed about what happened, and could almost picture the fat former human or Ivan laying into him about karma. Rainbow once again couldn't restrain herself from laughing a little bit, but she soon pulled herself together, and with the help of Fluttershy, began helping him free from the wooden prison.

They each took a forehoof of his, and lifted him slowly out of his position. As this happened, Leo began to think to himself.

Can't say I didn't see this coming, but damn that hurt! Just my luck... Leo thought to himself. But at least this event isn't a total waste. I am learning...

As the two-tutor flight training reconvened, Leo's thoughts flashed to Corey again.

He should have made it to the library right about now...

Corey peered out of the hay he had lodged himself into in an escape from Rarity. Aside from thinking about how else the locals could compare him to Twilight, he actually had given it some thought as to how he would attempt telling her the former humans' problem. It wasn't easy to think with the occasional bump rocking the hay he was hiding in, in addition to the fact he was about to fall asleep in the hay bale due to the softness, but he managed to find a method.

"Alright," he mumbled softly to himself, so that way the pony carrying the hay wouldn't hear him. He sighted the tree-library to the left of the cart, a little ways behind him, so he began to creep out of the hay on his belly to the best he could. Again, the extra body fat was not making the task any easier on him. "Better get out now."

Little did Corey realize that as he made his valiant escape from the strawbox, above him, on one of the library's balconies, a light purple-furred pony with a dark purple mane and tail each containing a stripe of blue-violet and pink down the left side was conducting her usual hobby.

Twilight Sparkle had resumed her days of studying friendship and recreational reading. The purple unicorn had decided to take a break from pursuing magical knowledge for the time being, and had since laid down on the balcony to read. She saw a pony carrying a cart with a haystack attached to it, passing by the front of the library, which was her right side. Something made the lavender pony focus her purple eyes on the hay bale, particularly when she swore she saw it move.

It was difficult for her to push it aside when she saw something green poking out of it. She focused her eyes on it, and what she saw next made her rub her eyes in disbelief with one of her forelegs: a rather heavy-set green unicorn colt pushed his way out of the hay bale, his four feet leaving the cart and causing him to land on the ground hard. The carrier pony didn't seem to notice the...weight...leaving the cart.

Was he...hiding in that...? Twilight thought to herself, looking down from the balcony, telekinetically reaching for a bookmark with a spell. She couldn't possibly ignore the fact a colt about her age had just done that. So, with this in mind, Twilight closed the book after sliding the bookmark into place, and made her way downstairs. As she neared the door, she saw a young purple and green dragon glancing out the window. It didn't take the purple unicorn too long to figure out what he was staring at.

"Spike, did you see him too?" she asked her assistant. Spike, upon being addressed, immediately whirled around. From the look on his face, she knew he had been giggling about the stowaway.

"I've been hungry before, but he took it to a whole other level..." the baby dragon continued, putting both his arms up to his mouth to try and hide the fact he was laughing. He stood on two legs as opposed to...well, every other character introduced thus far, and he walked over to Twilight.

"I'm sure he..." Twilight couldn't believe she was saying it, but something about the pony outside just rubbed her the wrong way. However, she had to remain friendly. Despite the fact he hid in a hay bale, he didn't seem to be evil in nature, just...something about him confused her to no end. "I'm sure he has a reason for it other than hunger."

Corey was winded from the bad landing, but thanked his lucky stars that none of the ponies seemed to have heard his faulty dismount. This included the carrier pony, who the former human now realized didn't even seem to notice the extra weight.

As a human, I weighed a lot...I assume being a pony doesn't change that even though I might weigh less overall. The green unicorn thought to himself, dusting himself off, which proved to be a challenge in itself given the fact he still had four legs and wasn't in the best of control. He managed to get some of the straw off his mane before dusting a piece or two off his snout. Corey began to think about how exactly he was going to ask for help from the librarian.

Okay, let's see. How do I explain this without creating a fatal rupture in the fourth wall? Corey stood in the road, thinking to himself with his eyes closed. Obviously, we'd have to get introduced first, so I can at least build some level of trust. But after that would come the real test of my fortitude and my ability to describe a problem which I'm sure nopony has ever had: humans in Equestria. Fanon doesn't count in this case. I'd have heard of something amiss by now other than Ivan, Leo and myself. None of the ponies I've met so far seemed to be out of character either, so we're probably somewhere in the canon universe after the first couple of episodes. So, I could go for broke and just tell her the problem, but there is a strong possibility she might not believe me...

The green unicorn was caught up in his introspection, so much so that he couldn't hear steps approaching him.

Damn it, how can I tell her without sounding like an asshole?

"So, were you hungry there, Big Green?" asked a childish voice. Instantly, due to the quote, Corey was reminded of DBZ Abridged, a series on YouTube he watched which parodied his favorite show of all time. At least, until he realized that a certain dragon was referring to him. He flinched, but dared not open his eyes.

...On second thought, maybe I should have let myself get caught by Rarity...can't explain the haystack now.

"Spike!" a familiar feminine voice scolded. Instantly, Corey's stomach sank, and he could feel himself sweating cold bullets.

Wait, ponies sweat? Corey thought to himself.

"Uh..." Corey stuttered, forcing himself to open his eyes. "...no..."

"...I'm a little curious to know myself though..." Twilight began, seeming friendly enough about the subject. "Why were you in the hay?"

Fuck me running...gotta think of something fast without letting them know I know Rarity even though I've never met her! Corey thought, really feeling like a dumbass for thinking that imitating Snake as seen in Peace Walker was a good idea in a pony world.

"I--" The former human knew he was floundering about like no other now. He suddenly became very self-conscious about his appearance, but he couldn't allow it to affect him, not now, when Leo and Ivan were depending on him to do what he had to do...so he resorted to another skill he had, next to writing crazy blends of series, and mathematics: punwork. "--I had a really stupid idea, but I said...'what the hay' and went for it."

A rimshot, very audible, suddenly rang through his ears.

...Pinkie?!

Twilight couldn't believe her eyes or ears. This colt, who was the same type of pony and around the same age she was, acted entirely on impulse as though he were a foal. And he was trying to tell puns? Even he must have known that wasn't the best possible thing to say. And yet, the purple pony could tell he was trying to keep a straight face during the delivery. She could gather if he knew he was about to say something stupid. He telegraphed what he was about to unleash after the word "idea".

"Lame!" Spike cut in, breaking the awkward silence. Twilight felt inclined to agree, but she saw the colt flinch with this word again, and he began to think, seemingly mouthing words to himself through gritted teeth. She also noticed something else: after he flinched, he seemed to be scowling, but she couldn't plainly tell why he was.

"Spike..." Twilight really didn't know which side to be on right now. There was something about this new pony that reminded her of somepony she knew, but she couldn't figure out who it was straight away. "Could you...tell me the real reason why?"

She watched the new pony flinch even harder than when her assistant laid into him about his terrible pun. He seemed to be feeling pretty stupid about his apparent split-second decision, and she began to wonder if there was more to him than what she was saying.

In her study of friendship, she had learned that you only get one chance at a first impression, in most cases.

And this new colt wasn't off to a great start to her, but something about him just didn't sit right with her. It almost felt as if he didn't belong. She waited patiently for his answer.

"I-I really have to get going now," Fluttershy had somewhat adjusted to his presence by this point of his flight training, which Leo was somewhat relieved to hear. Seeing her slowly smile at him closed the case on that, and caused him to slowly smile himself. It was probably the first sincere smile he'd had in a while.

"Thank you for your help," responded the silver pegasus. Fluttershy mumbled a polite "You're welcome" before flying back on her errands. Leo felt just a little guilty for keeping her.

It was now Dash and Leo hovering in the air. Rainbow looked in the direction of a large tree, a library, and when she looked back to him, the former human realized with some level of amusement that she was smiling impishly again.

"We should head over to Twilight's place..." she said. "See how your...'big' friend is doing there."

Leo wasn't stupid, he caught the subtle comparison that the cyan pegasus made before Corey left on his own to head in the direction of the library. Maybe she wanted to see if they were discussing friendly matters. Leo remembered that in another story Corey wrote, this pegasus was a tease factory on matters such as that, and he was starting to wonder if Dash was in fact going to do the same.

"Yeah, I kinda want to see myself," Leo nodded, this time, not even coming close to flipping lopsided. The past minutes of flight training had really paid off. He wasn't sure if the fact he had two females in his proximity or if he was just that tired of being made fun of for his flightless style--he didn't know which one was the cause of his fast learning, but he could hover just a little faster. He still wasn't quite able to fly except for short bursts quite yet, but it'd have to do.

"Keep up!" the cyan pegasus commanded, immediately flying off at a decent speed. A speed that Leo couldn't hope to match at his current level of experience.

Shiiiiiit!! Leo thought to himself, immediately taking off as fast as he could stand to go. He knew he couldn't keep up and try to at least shield Corey from whatever Dash had in mind if he kept this pace, so he began pushing himself, even as the rainbow became distant. He flapped his wings hard, pushing himself to his limit...

Corey knew he had to explain himself to Twilight, without telling puns this time, but he just wasn't able to find the words to express himself. He was aware he was facing the ground and scowling, but he couldn't think of anything to say for himself. More importantly, with what he was realizing more and more before he actually met the purple pony before him, it was in his best interest to say something soon, before one of her close friends interrupted and made things unbearably awkward. For him, anyway.

"W-well, you see, the r-r-reason for my being in the hay...it was a st-stupid i-idea, but--" Corey stuttered all over his words. He wasn't sure why his mouth decided to completely fail him now, but he found himself unable to speak. The former human's nerves were jittering with unspoken amounts of electric impulses. Or whatever the impulses consisted of in a unicorn body. Point is, he was painfully aware he was nervous, and he felt his face heat up past the outside temperature.

G-god damn, I'm blushing here...! he thought. Good thing no one's around to see this other than Spike--

"So how's it goin'?" an all too familiar voice cut in. Corey's blood froze in place as he realized which character that voice belonged to.

"Rainbow? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked, turning from him along with Spike to regard the new arrival. The green unicorn's sense of danger began to kick in, and he looked up, and grimaced when he realized Dash had a tease-tastic grin on her face. Things were just not looking up for him.

Oh no...oh no, this probably will not end well if she's the one telling her I came for reading... Corey thought to himself, his embarrassed scowl refusing to fade from his features. This situation could not be made of more horse shit if it tried! Which is saying a lot when I think about it! Clearly, he was so afraid that Rainbow was intending to damage his pride with statements that he was disregarding what Twilight and Rainbow had gone through along with their friends.

"Oh, you know, just wanted to see if Corey found his way alright..." Dash looked straight at him now, and he almost passed out when she started giggling again. "Hey, why are you covered in hay? Couldn't keep your appetite at bay? Hey, that rhymed."

"Rainbow...!" Twilight scolded, though she seemed to be restraining herself. After all, she knew she tended to be somewhat insensitive to other ponies, especially when first meeting them. Meanwhile, Spike couldn't refrain from snickering. The green unicorn felt his body tremble.

Oh God...oh God...I really could use a distraction... As he thought this, a noise came from behind him. His ears, which had wilted before due to his conversation, immediately pricked straight up as they picked up a distant noise. It sounded like someone was yelling in terror. Corey turned his head, to see a silver flying object doing super-fast aerial tricks...without much control.

"What the--?" Twilight asked, apparently hearing the sound. "...Is that a pegasus...?"

"Oh, there he is! Thought he couldn't keep up!" said Rainbow. Instantly, Corey knew what that silver object was: Leo, finally being the full victim of karma. This realization caused Corey to smirk with his head hung for a few seconds. However, he quickly realized in order to lord this incident over his old friend's head should he ever start referencing Cupcakes or hitting Ivan upside the head, he would need to play his cards right while the silver former human was in range. With this in mind, the green former human once more ducked out of the way of Leo's flight path, out of reflex. He was now hurtling straight towards the library.

"He's going to crash!" Corey yelled, making sure to at least appear to care, even though Leo recently has been pissing him off. It wasn't too hard when he considered that Leo was the only one that knew the code to get the former humans home. Only a few moments later, a purple glowing mass appeared in front of the library's wall, and Leo collided with the rubbery mass face-first. The mass acted as a trampoline, allowing Leo to bounce harmlessly off the surface and impact the ground, landing flat on his back. He seemed stunned from what just happened.

"Nice save there, Twilight!" Dash cheered. The former human didn't really see anything wrong with how she said it.

"Rainbow, how exactly do you know him?" Twilight asked, turning to Rainbow, discarding the compliment.

"Well, he wanted some pointers on flight, and I had nothing better to do." Dash answered, looking to Twilight. "He's Corey's friend, Leo."

Leo lay flat on the ground, completely dazed from what had just happened. One minute, he was doing all sorts of aerial tricks without even meaning to, barrel rolls, side rolls, back flips, and even a loop-de-loop in mid air, before finally falling diagonally down, clearing Corey by a mile even without the green unicorn ducking down. Then he crashed into something purple and glowy just before the library side, and landed flat on his back. The fall from there didn't hurt, but he was still stunned.

He heard Dash's statement, and acted as though he were recovering from some head trauma. His pride had already taken enough damage today, and he needed to do some acting.

"Now, Corey, why were you in the haystack?" Twilight asked, sounding as though she were resuming her questioning. Leo subtly turned to Corey, to see that there were yellow pieces of straw attached to his fur. It wasn't hard to see given the bright colors of the world, but it still took a little squinting to see it.

She looks serious...what did Corey do? Leo thought. Realizing he needed to get back on his feet, and have a little acting too, Leo quickly made his move. With some groaning, he worked his way back to his feet. Dash appeared to have heard him, and hovered her way over to him.

"You still need a little practice, but good try..." She sounded really amused by the crash, "Good try!"

"W-" Leo tried to put as much effort into his voice to sound convincing. "-Who...who are you?"

Dash fixed him with a puzzled look.

"...You must have a short-term memory." Dash didn't sound convinced. Leo, by this point, had worked out what that purple glowing mass he hit was, and maybe that was not convincing the cyan pegasus. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria!"

"D-doesn't ring a bell," The former human continued to try and sell his amnesiac act.

"Leo, are you that fragile?" The cyan pegasus asked again, fixing him with an even more puzzled look. "You gonna be alright?"

"...Leo...that name sounds familiar..." said Leo, trying to act as though he were starting to come to his senses, realizing if he kept this up, he might only make things worse for himself. With a shake of his head, he came out of his state. "Huh? What...happened?"

"You wiped out big time..." Dash confirmed with a small giggle. "Welcome back."

Though she was trying her hardest to put it aside, Twilight now had a nagging feeling in the back of her head that Corey and Leo were strange in their own ways. From what she could gather, Leo could barely fly straight at a high speed, and Corey...she still didn't know why he did what he did. She had to hear his reasoning, and she had to hear it now. There was no way that a pony her age should be so bad at flying. Something was up...and yet, something told her that these new ponies weren't bad at all. But they certainly were strange cases.

"Corey?" she asked, just to be sure. "Is that your name?"

The green unicorn nodded, seeming to be a little calmer thanks to that intervention. He seemed to require his space to think.

"That name's...something I haven't heard before..." Twilight continued, making note of it. "Anyway, Corey, why were you in the hay?"

"Well, you see...the story is, I was walking around town, following Dash's direction to get here, when I decided to see how I looked." Corey answered at last. "Unfortunately, I picked the wrong window to check my reflection in. As I passed, a sense of danger went through me, and I turned my head somewhat, to see a white unicorn with a finely curled purple mane and tail. It looked as though she spent hours styling it this morning."

Twilight cocked her head to the side, not really believing what she was hearing at first. Did he have a run-in with Rarity? A second look at the pony confirmed that he didn't-his mane was a mess, like he just rolled out of bed. And, since his eyes were slightly bagged and he appeared to be scowling naturally, even now that he was able to talk about the incident, he seemed like a prime target for Rarity to work her fashion magic on.

"I...think he's talking about Rarity," Spike cut in. He sounded slightly offended.

"So..." Twilight continued. "You saw her look at you, and that had you worried?"

"She didn't look like she knew what she was gonna do to me, and I wasn't really in the mood to find out."

I feel like I've been here before... Twilight thought to herself. "I see...keep going..."

"So, I did the first thing that came to my mind, and jumped into the nearest haystack I could find." Corey continued. "It was a really stupid decision, and I'm surprised it worked at all."

For Twilight, gears were beginning to turn. The feeling that she and this pony had a trait in common-or at least, one she had was now once again observed in him, was returning, and growing stronger as she began to process the event.

"But...what was your 'important thing'?" asked the purple pony.

"I...had to get to the library as soon as I could."

Twilight's heart almost jumped straight out of her chest, and not in a good way. That was the exact way she'd met Rarity a long while back, only she'd allowed Rarity to work on her just a little bit since she didn't want to be rude. But this colt just seemed to have a worse one-track mind, and seemed to be somewhat asocial. Was he here to warn her of something that was about to happen in Equestria? Masking her concerns, the unicorn smiled.

"And...why were you in such a hurry?"

"I'm interested in what Ponyville literature has to offer." Corey responded with a sigh. Twilight masked a sigh of relief, and a somewhat annoyed sigh came out of her mouth instead. Something about this pony just didn't add up. But she knew that he liked reading, at least.

She then noticed Corey was looking over in Leo's direction, who by this point was seemingly arguing with Rainbow about his flight failures. Dash appeared to be telling Leo that the only time she failed at flight that spectacularly was when she was a filly. The green unicorn's scowl was somewhat on again. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as it was when he was apparently embarrassed about his split-second decision.

Twilight knew it might be a little bit of a mistake, but she was curious. Even if this pony was an oddball in just about every sense of the word, same with his friend, she wanted to know what else this pony was like. And she wanted to see if his current attitude mirrored her attitude before meeting her friends. It was an overwhelming curiosity, one that suppressed some of her better judgment. A sense of duty suppressed whatever was left.

The purple pony never quite saw herself as a teacher, but this colt appeared to need an intervention...

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time," Leo finally said after he and Dash finished their argument. Apparently, he'd realized that was getting them nowhere. Corey really wanted the pegasi out of his mane so he didn't have to worry about throwing out any other wrong impressions. The way Twilight looked for a split second when he mentioned he ditched Rarity so he could get to the library seemed to indicate that she knew his efforts at not getting made over were eerily similar to Twilight escaping.

The difference between us? She didn't do something as stupid as to dive into hay to hide, thought the former human to himself as he watched the spectacle. Admittedly, he was somewhat enjoying Leo getting grilled by Dash about the flight failures he'd obviously suffered today, though he knew Dash wasn't stupid. Even though the cyan pegasus was an athletic tomboy, she had to have suspected there was something seriously wrong with Leo.

"Ah, don't worry about it!" said Rainbow in response, moving one of her forehooves with a casual wave. "I don't need too much time in my day to do what I need to do!"

To Corey's surprise, she wasn't talking about what she wanted to do. Rather, she went off on an abridged account of all the things she could do in little time. Some of them were aerial acrobatic moves, and other moves she'd performed during the episodes. She talked about clearing the clouds from the first episode in "ten seconds flat", but then she went off on events Corey only heard of through internet fanfiction and the My Little Pony wiki: the Fall Weather Friends episode's events; winning a competition with her Sonic Rainboom...

Corey's mind began to drift as he daydreamed. He knew he didn't have a whole lot of time. One way or another, they were going to be found out. The magicless fat green unicorn...the near-flightless silver androgynous pegasus...and the sleepy brown earth pony. Something about all of them was bound to tip them off sooner or later, and Corey really wanted to avoid a panic. Telling Twilight and possibly Spike was the top priority. From there, it was all up to how Twilight acted with the information.

But then Corey remembered he, Ivan, and Noel were in a Skype room for four.

Will John be pulled in too?

The sound of a female clearing her throat resounded in Corey's ears. He turned to see Twilight, who appeared to be watching him, with Spike following close by.

"Excuse me, but...you looked like you were thinking hard about something." Twilight said. "I hate to pry, but...what were you thinking about?"

"Oh, it's...nothing. Just reflecting on current issues facing me, that's all." The former human responded, with a nod.

"I see," Twilight responded with a small smile. She didn't seem entirely convinced of him. Even though the cords connected in her head much like they had for him, that they did share some uncanny personality traits, she seemed somewhat off-put. Was she starting to see past the pony outside already? If so, Corey knew this worked to his advantage somewhat. If not, he had no idea what she was thinking about. "Well, if you're here to do reading, then come on in. We'll see what we can find..."

"Right, so..." Corey responded, turning to Leo and Dash. "I guess I'll be seeing you guys around..."

And so, the purple and green baby dragon, the purple unicorn, and the green unicorn began to make their way into the library. Dash, of course, had to get in one last parting shot.

"Have fun!" she said with a smile, mirroring Corey's farewell statement when he left her and Leo.

Really should have seen that one coming... thought Corey as his self-assuredness deflated slightly. Things were still probably going to be hard.

Rainbow Dash watched as the unicorns and baby dragon made their way inside the library. Leo, by now, was hovering alongside her, having finally recovered from the shock of his fall, or at least, that's what it looked like.

These two new ponies...who do they think they're foolin'? They don't seem bad, but...there's something off about them. Leo can't fly...and Corey just seems weird in his own way. I mean, they're doing things only foals do! Rainbow thought to herself. Rainbow began to leave, but something else hit her. Her face filled with an evil smile. She turned to Leo, who seemed surprised she wasn't leaving straight away. Then again, I'm curious...if Leo's attempts at flying are laughable, will Corey be the same way with performing magic?

"Hey, Leo...wanna spy on Corey and Twilight in there?" Dash asked. There seemed to be something about this pony's personality. One moment, he's apparently being a total pain in Corey's neck, judging from the way they seemed to be talking before she crashed into Leo. Then the next, he's seemingly polite, when dealing with Fluttershy and herself. And then he seemed to be having some sort of amnesia attack, though that struck her as an attempt to preserve pride. Twilight's spell appeared to cushion the impact enough.

Then there was the green load that accompanied Leo, Corey. There was something else off about him too besides his method of getting to the library, which she only assumed was because he rode around in a hay bale. He was snarky one moment, then the next, he'd be speaking in a dull, monotone voice, or else he'd be stuttering.

Maybe he and Twilight would make good friends...really, good friends... she thought to herself, recalling the look on the green colt's face before she landed. The poor pony looked as though he were backed helplessly into a corner. The rainbow-maned pony smiled wider, and rubbed her hooves together in anticipation. So many possibilities, so little time! I have to see how Corey handles himself!

Leo turned to her, and he soon smiled. Something of interest to Rainbow: his smile seemed to be mirroring hers.

"I don't have a lot else to do...sure." responded the silver colt, soon hovering level with her.

"Follow me..." The cyan mare responded. She began to lead Leo to a spot she figured would lead to some easy eavesdropping...