Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 7: The Human Element

Twilight Sparkle was at a complete loss for words. What Leo said felt like it made sense, and at the same time, it really didn't. In all her studies, the word "humans" had never really crossed her mind, except for maybe in fiction. If these three...no, four, new "citizens" were really humans...then their seeming lack of prowess with what was expected of them made sense. In fact, their behavior earlier made some sense to her as well. Even with this information, the purple mare had to make sure.

"Y-you said, humans, right?" She tried to keep her voice level, though the shock of the information was cushioned somewhat by an expectation of things to get strange. She scribbled down her notes for what she should dictate later when all was said and done as she continued, "But...why do you look like...you belong here, in Equestria? Nothing's adding up...first of all, what are humans...?"

Almost immediately, Twilight turned to what usually provided her answers in the past, books. The only problem is, she didn't know where to start. Three by three, books were lifted from the shelves by her telekinetic magic as she searched for answers. Just like all the other times she'd been baffled, much to her chagrin, what she was looking for didn't appear to be on any of the covers. Spike and the alleged "humans", whatever they were, could only look on in silence as she gutted shelves of books.

At least, that's what she thought.

"Uh, Twilight...?" a monotone voice said. The purple pony immediately turned to see Corey, with a book horrifically enclosed in his hooves, hunched over, standing on his back legs, just like earlier when he'd received the book. "...Is this the kind of book you're looking for?"

"'The Pony's Guide To Beings From Alternate Realities, G through K'..." Twilight read the title of the book after liberating it from Corey's forehooves, the green colt seeming relieved by the fact he didn't have to hold it anymore. "Where did you find this book?"

"...Back wall, on a shelf close to a bed..." responded Corey, still sounding uncomfortable talking. "Whoever organized this library must have predicted something like this was going to happen..."

"...Uh, yeah..." Twilight was not by any means capable of predicting the future, and in fact, once again, despite her organization, some other pony...well, not so much a pony, but someone else had found the book she was searching for before she could, despite her organizational skills. "Okay...let's see...'Genies'...'Goblins'...'Homo sapi--'"

"Stop!" John, Leo, and Corey all yelled at varying volumes.

"Uh, the entry says 'homo sapiens'..."

"T-that's...the scientific name," This was Corey again, sounding a little embarrassed at his outburst. "...'Humans' is just simpler to say."

"Oh," Twilight said. Leo had an unreadable look on his face. He seemed to have forgotten that name until now. Discarding this for the moment, the studious mare decided to read the entry. "Homo sapiens, commonly referred to as 'humans', are bipedal lifeforms thought to be descended from primates, along with gorillas, monkeys, and chimpanzees. Commonly, humans are not known to possess wings," She recalled Leo's recent failure, and the fact that he still didn't seem capable of handling things by himself; then again, a single pegasus pony couldn't have hoped to catch a dragon John's age on his own, "or magic," Now she remembered Corey and how he didn't use magic to get the book he wanted to read down. It wasn't because he didn't like to use it, but because he didn't know how to use it. "I see...and I assume there are no dragons in your world either?"

"Only in myth..." Leo responded. "If you want to know other scientific differences, I think that can wait until later. You at least know the truth now."

"It's all comin' together now..." Spike said, interrupting. "No wonder you couldn't fly...so then, I don't guess you're his," A claw extended to Corey, "assistant, right?"

It still felt like there was some weight on Corey's shoulders. Even though he had thrust the burden of explaining on to Leo, he had to do what Leo didn't, and actually back up his friend should Twilight get confused or not buy the explanation. So far, though, she seemed to understand things were making sense. Then Spike had to intervene. For a moment, the former human took an instant to gape at John.

You've got to be *fucking** kidding me...* thought the green unicorn as he realized exactly what Spike said.

"Oh, no, we don't even live close to each other, let alone in the same house," John intervened. "I think Leo can explain everything. I only just got here..."

"...Then how do you know each other?" Twilight asked, taking that new information in. Leo took an instant to glare at John, then back at Corey, before continuing. "And, if you're humans, then why do you look like you do, and how did you get here in the first place?"

"Well," the silver former human started, "you see, where we lack in magic or flight, or the ability to walk on four legs," Corey now noted that Leo was looking directly at him when he said that, "humans have developed advanced technology. You see, we each have computers..."

It took Leo a good handful of minutes to explain exactly what he meant by "technology". He explained, in some detail, what computers and laptops were. To Corey, it was sort of like trying to explain what they were to an old person. The only difference, Twilight and Spike at least seemed to understand some of the jargon. Maybe it was an age thing after all with technology...

"...and so, we got here, in part because I got my codes mixed up with a code I received through an e-mail, which, remember, is basically mail sent through the Internet," The silver pegasus continued, "It must have been mistakenly sent to me one day. Anyway, the file caused a portal to open...to your world. That's how we got here."

"As--" Corey started. All heads turned to him at once, causing him to flinch somewhat. "--as for how we turned out looking like we belong here in--uh...you said, 'Equestria', right, Twilight?" He had to keep up the act for as long as he could, act like he didn't know anything about the world other than what he was "supposed" to know.

"Yes," responded Twilight. "Go on..."

"Well, even I don't know...I'm guessing that the code that Leo used makes alterations to the body of those going through the portals." Corey replied. "When I came to, my body still was a little sore...and my head felt like I had just tanked several punches successively."

"My shoulderblades..." Leo motioned to his back, where his wings were, "were the most sore parts of my body when I woke up."

"...Strange, I didn't black out, but now that you mention it..." John cut in, suddenly looking as though he were in a little pain. "...Do dragons have...more endurance?"

"I once substituted as a pin cushion," Spike then cut in, "Something that ponies wouldn't do, and I don't think a human would really do that, either..."

"Depends on who you're asking..." Corey grumbled, his cynicism starting to leak out. If he had a nickel every time he'd heard of some jackass hurting himself just because he wanted to, or if he was doing something incredibly stupid...

Twilight's head was starting to hurt. The four new guys in Equestria were strange cases, and now that she knew the truth, and had a general picture of what their world was like...it was a lot to take in in a short time. No wonder Corey was so hesitant to tell her what his problem was!

Even as she considered that last thought, she began to wonder something.

...Why exactly am I being so protective of him? If this were any other pony, this conversation would have already been had by now... thought the unicorn as she looked to the green unicorn...who she now knew to be a human before all of this started. She recalled exactly how she met him, and nodded somewhat. ...He does remind me of my old self before I started making friends...that's right...

"When we realized we were stuck..." Corey cut in. "The three of us, I mean, counting Ivan, we needed to find a way back. We soon realized that we weren't in a technologically advanced society, or at least a society that didn't have computers. So we decided to look for the nearest city, the nearest library...but I ran into you...I realized you might have lived here, no offense...and decided to ask you for help instead..."

Something about his story seemed slightly off, but it fit nonetheless, so Twilight didn't feel like raising questions about it.

"But you couldn't do it, right?!" Leo yelled. Once again, a small stab of anger hit Twilight-she felt sympathy for Corey's condition, if only because of the circumstances being eerily similar as to why he'd come to the library and tried to avoid as many other ponies as possible trying to solve what he perceived to be a much bigger problem.

"And where were you all this time?" John cut in with a question. "For that matter, how long have you been here?"

Leo twitched at this question.

"I was..." he began, "Learning to fly...we've been here about four hours..."

Twilight looked back to Corey. He seemed once again ready to blurt out something, his snarl from minutes earlier returning. When he snarled, it looked...frightening. It wasn't anything compared to how Fluttershy could give something a death glare and make it submit to her will, but it was just unsettling all the same. There was something else about these 'humans' that wasn't covered in the book. When Corey voiced his doubts about how humans wouldn't substitute as pin cushions, he sounded...a little mad about it. She could hear negativity in his words. Twilight began to wonder if the way his world was affected him significantly.

"...We might not get back home, either." Corey said. "Even if there's some sort of magic that could send us back home, we'd just wind up back here when we got too close to our laptops, our computers. The only way for us to get back home...would be to close the circuit with a computer on this end."

Twilight was almost taken aback by this information. So Leo hadn't just sent the wrong "file", he'd also sent one that left the humans stranded here, in new bodies, and with only each other as support. And, as Leo seemed to love demonstrating, from what she'd seen of him, he wasn't the most supportive friend a guy could ask for. He seemed to keep blasting Corey on his failure whenever possible, and even hit him across the face.

"...So, what will you do...?" Twilight asked. "I can try to help you find your way back, but...it might take a long time..."

John gave an irritated growl, and Leo sighed. Corey did too.

"Well, I was learning how to fly..." Leo said. "Might be a long shot, though, given that you just said humans aren't known for magical talent..."

"What?" Twilight began. She looked to Leo, then back to Corey.

"I...I'm curious." Corey stuttered. "If I'm going to be here a while, I may as well pick up what I can. I've been curious to see what it's like to use magic..."

"Wait, so humans can use magic?" the purple pony questioned, turning directly to the green colt, who, unsurprisingly, flinched again and even took a nervous step backwards. Clearly, he didn't appear to have chosen his words carefully.

"W-well, they can, but it's not...'real', like you used earlier on John and Leo to slow their fall. That...'spell?'" He questioned what it was called. Twilight nodded, encouraging him to continue, "That spell reminded me of a fictional series I'd read back home, and that's what hit home for me...it was 'real magic'..."

"And...me saving Leo the first time, didn't?" Twilight asked. She wasn't offended, but this pony seemed...a little slow.

"I was...worried about the problem I couldn't word right--?" Corey's last word broke, and he went wide-eyed at what happened. Confused by his sudden gawk, she turned...

And saw a fire erupting at John's feet.

Corey was really unsure of how things in Equestria would go now that Twilight knew the truth. Indeed, she may spread the word to all her friends, and he wasn't quite sure if he could handle that. And it seemed that he was about to learn how to cast real magic, provided that the "former human" status didn't inhibit his unicorn abilities any.

Then again, when he considered what had happened with John just now, it didn't seem likely that was going to be an issue. Apparently, the human-turned-dragon found Corey's lack of vocabulary prowess to be irritating, or something like that, and sighed. The sigh, in turn, caused him to breathe flames-involuntarily, it appeared, and wind up catching the floor at John's feet on fire. Quickly, Twilight sprang into action, her horn glowing a magenta color. Meanwhile, Spike burst out laughing at John's expense.

"You know Spike, you've had a couple of accidents like this in the past..." interjected Twilight, silencing her assistant's snickers. A stream of what Corey assumed was water quickly doused the magical fire. "And...uh...your name?"

"I'm Jonathan, but everyone just calls me John," responded the dragon. "That was an accident, I didn't even think that was going to happen..."

"Estupido..." Leo interjected, using a language other than English, surprising all present.

"No digas eso," responded John.

"What...?" Twilight asked, apparently understanding they were communicating. Spike didn't appear to know what was going on either. Corey was just about to intervene and tell them that they were communicating in Spanish, but Leo quickly intervened.

"But yeah, that's what I was about to say. Since Rainbow had taught me some of how to fly, it's only fair that you teach Corey how to use his magic..." Leo said.

"You mean...I tutor him...?" She responded, taking a quick look at him. "I...I don't know if I can tutor him, but I suppose I can. I've only learned from books though..."

Up until that point, Corey had only said things when addressed or if he felt something he was about to say was important or pertinent to what was going on. Mostly the former than either of the latter things, though. But at this point, the filter unexpectedly broke off.

"...I've...never been that good of a tutor either..." he said, loud enough for the others to hear. Instantly, as all eyes once again focused on him, Corey could only think of one thing.

Strange, I only say things like that when... he cut himself off before he started thinking about the dream he'd had, more specifically, the part featuring himself and Twilight Sparkle...

Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Even with the truth now known about what he really was, Corey was still finding ways to surprise her. Maybe that one was just pure coincidence? He seemed to regret saying things aloud, but from the look on his face, the purple unicorn knew that he knew that couldn't take it back now.

"What do you mean?" asked the purple pony.

"Well, I mean...in school, people would always turn to me for help, and I really couldn't help them because...I'm terrible at explaining things--"

Twilight could barely contain herself. The fact that parallel worlds also could have schools fascinated her. Maybe there were other intelligent life forms out there.

"You have school in your world too?" Twilight asked, unable to control herself. Spike, Leo, and John could only look on in silence as the two talked, all three unable to believe what they were seeing. Spike and Leo were trying to control their laughter, while John was trying his hardest to avoid sighing in irritation at Corey's constant vocal blunders.

"Y-yes..." That cynical tone returned momentarily to his voice. "T-tragically," he appeared to be hesitating to talk now, but the words were forcing their way out of his mouth. It was almost as if he was just talking to talk now. "Most other humans my age, before g-graduating...h-high school...don't seem to value the education process..."

And I just crossed the line...damn it, why am I rambling now!? I can't shut up!

Corey thought this to himself as he saw the shocked, surprised expression on Twilight's face. Past her, he could see Leo trying to control his laughter, John applying his palm to his face, and Spike...appeared concerned, given Twilight's reaction. He was no longer appearing to enjoy the spectacle. He probably understood the pony better than any of the others in the room. Well, it probably wasn't that hard to do so anyway.

"That's...terrible!" Twilight squealed, incredibly distraught. "Why would they not want to learn?"

Ordinarily, Corey would have clammed up at the sight of an emotional living being, and not said anymore, especially if he were the one responsible for the emotional outburst, but something inside him stimulated him to continue. It was either a cynical drive or a drive motivated to cheer Twilight out of this, but once again, the former human was moved into an abnormal action.

"Well, I can't say for sure, but..." Corey soon went off on another tirade, this time, emoting hilariously with his forehooves, occasionally getting on his back legs to prove a point. It looked almost like he was flailing about like a fish out of water. "I do remember them whining and complaining about all the homework they get, and then subsequently not doing it, thus creating an endless cycle of failure that inevitably drags the scholarly down! I may not have liked going, but I realized the importance of it! That counts for something, right?!"

The green unicorn lowered his head, panting, from the exertion. It was at this moment, Corey realized he revealed he didn't like school to the worst possible member of the Mane Six to reveal it to, and awaited a second eruption.

"Uh...well...yes, that...does count for something..." Twilight responded, clearly confused by his outburst. "Though I don't know why you didn't like going, I guess it doesn't matter. At least you did what you had to do."

This answer shocked Corey to his core. Why was Twilight being this way? He'd have fully expected her to lecture him for days about why it was cool to like school. Leo and John seemed confused too.

"Twilight, didn't Princess Celestia ask you for an update on these two?" Spike reminded. Immediately, Twilight raised one of her hooves to her mouth, and gasped.

"Oh! That's right...Spike, take a note..." And so, with the former humans, minus Ivan, present, the studious pony began to write her so-called update, as Corey realized something else.

Wait, Princess Celestia already knows about us?

"Dear Princess Celestia,

The truth has come out about the strange ponies that I wrote to you about earlier. There are actually two others with them, another pony, and a dragon that looks to be starting early adulthood. These two are named 'Ivan' and 'John'. In addition to the ones called 'Leo' and 'Cory'--

"

"Uh, it's spelled with an 'E'..." Corey interjected.

"Huh?" Spike asked.

"My name is spelled 'C'-'O'-'R'-'E'-'Y'. Not the first time this has happened, though..."

And so, after the letter was restarted, Twilight continued:

"

these four are actually flightless, magicless beings known as humans. Their society developed a means to cross dimensional barriers without the use of magic, but advanced technology. Something happened to them during the transit that caused them to look the way to do. I haven't met 'Ivan' personally, but my friends Pinkie Pie and Applejack have. It would explain Corey not being able to use magic, and Leo being bad at flying. Once again, they don't seem to be bad, though their society is doubtfully like ours. If anything else happens, I'll be sure to let you know.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle"

Spike then breathed onto the scroll, sending the letter to Princess Celestia once more. Twilight wasn't exactly sure what would happen from there. Would she believe her now that the truth proved to be stranger than what was expected? Or would she ridicule her and tell her to pull her nose out of the books every now and again? Once again, the studious mare was anxious.

"...What just happened?" Corey asked, breaking the short silence. Twilight looked up to him and sighed.

"Well, you see, Spike has a special fire in him that lets him send letters to Princess Celestia, as well as receive them from her." the purple unicorn explained, smiling somewhat.

"...So...is he some kind of walking mailbox, or...?" This offended Spike, who now turned a purely acidic glare onto Corey.

"Hey! I take offense to tha--" His protest never finished, for with a belch of green fire, he coughed up more correspondence. Another scroll, this time from the Princess. Twilight swallowed, and she wasn't aware of it, but she was grinding her teeth, hoping that her mentor would believe what she just wrote.

"Spike...go on and read it..." she whispered, trying to keep herself calm. Spike nodded, understanding her anxiousness, and took a deep breath.

"To my most faithful student Twilight Sparkle--" the baby dragon started.

"No wonder you got a reply so fast..." John mumbled, apparently unable to control himself.

"--This is truly a remarkable event indeed. It would seem that they are telling the truth, but I wish to meet them myself." Thankfully, Spike didn't let John's intervention bother him. Twilight felt her anxiousness melt away, but then it returned when her mentor mentioned she wanted to meet the supposed humans herself. "I will be coming down to Ponyville to meet them at this time tomorrow. If they are indeed from another world, there might be other cues that would be different, and certainly more obvious, given 'humans' aren't known for their magic or flight and shouldn't be able to disguise malicious intent as easily."

"Um..." Corey started. "What exactly is she--?"

"It's a long story..." answered Twilight, turning to him, trying to hide her anxiousness for the time being, given that the meeting was tommorrow, and not immediate. It would give her time to at least get the humans adjusted...or at least partway. "Let's just say your disguises would be poor if you tried to pose as ponies..."

"Technically we are..." mumbled the green former human in response. Twilight discarded his sarcastic statement for the moment, realizing there was a couple of things that needed to be addressed before the night would come.

"So this 'Princess Celestia'..." John cut in, "Does she rule over the land on her own, or...?"

"No," answered Twilight. She was at least willing to explain this part. They probably didn't have the same rules back where they came from, after all. "She does a little more than that, but she also co-rules with her sister, Princess Luna. Princess Celestia is in charge of raising and lowering the sun as well," John, Corey and Leo gave a small gasp at this, confirming Twilight's suspicions on what their world may be like. "and Princess Luna is in charge of the moon. You'll probably meet them both before long," Once again, a small chill of anxiousness ran down the unicorn's spine. Luna was a good friend of hers, and Celestia was of course, her mentor. She internally debated on telling them about her sister-in-law, Princess Candance, but decided that right now, it wouldn't be needed to mentioned.

The quintet once again sat in silence, until Twilight remembered there was a very important matter to be addressed.

"If you all need a place to stay for the moment...it might be a little trouble..." Twilight spoke up. She was soon interrupted, however.

"So what, am I sharing the bed with all three of them?" Spike cut in, still a little sore about the fat green unicorn that had napped there. "Not happening..."

"Spike, not now," said Twilight, as the three former humans grimaced and looked away. "But this does raise a point...when the time comes, I'm afraid even with a spare bed, I don't have enough for all of us to sleep..."

"...I'll be good," Leo responded after some silence. He looked like he was considering options. "Really, I could sleep on the floor. Though I'm probably going to wind up staying up the whole night..."

"I..." John started, "I've always had trouble with sleeping without some sort of white noise in the background. Maybe if there's a breeze outside, I can sleep out on one of the balconies..."

Twilight sighed in relief. At least that meant that there likely wouldn't be a bedding issue so much as a pillow issue. Then again, she had plenty of spares commonly used for when her friends had a pillow fight.

She looked to Corey. He seemed oddly relieved of everything that was going on. For a moment, she wondered about him. How bad was he, in terms of being awkward around other poni--well, not ponies, but how awkward could he get around his peers? He seemed to have two different gears when it came to talking: rambling about things, or being mostly quiet and only speaking when called on. Even if he was a human inside, she still knew he needed tutoring in more than just magic. But at the same time, maybe he could answer some questions she had about his world later, when he adjusted. Coming to a world of ponies may have contributed somewhat to his social impairment.

Corey sighed with some relief. Things seemed to be looking up for him for once since coming to Equestria. Though, questions were bugging him as he considered everything that had recently happened.

I wonder if Ivan's still asleep over at Applejack's farm...? he thought, once again taking off into a daydream-like state of thought. For that matter, Twilight is acting...a little strange. She isn't bombarding me with questions, or hell, even insults and lectures. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but for some reason, she isn't doing half the things I'd have expected her to do in most cases. She didn't interrogate me, she didn't seem too bothered by the fact I mentioned I didn't like school before college...is this because she sees parts of her old self in my current self?

"...Corey, you still in there?" John asked, snapping Corey out of his thoughts at once.

"Oh, uh, yeah," responded the green unicorn. Like hell he was going to tell him what he dreamt about. It was probably just his blender acting up again, stimulated by actually being in Equestria as opposed to watching the adventures from the outside. "It's nothing really, just...thinking is all."

"Well, Corey," Leo began in a level tone. "I've had time to fly around this town," He seemed to willfully ignore Spike snickering again, no doubt the young dragon envisioning him crashing around like a pinball. Or the Equestrian equivalent of one, anyway. "Want me to show you guys around?"

Corey didn't detect anything wrong with Leo's intentions at first. He did notice his mane was a little less messy since he last saw him, now that the crisis was all over for the time being. However, given Leo had been able to fly like he was, Corey dismissed it. Besides, the silver pegasus didn't appear to be mischievious in nature with his question.

"I suppose so, given the most I've seen of this town was from the inside of a box of hay..." responded Corey. "I guess if we're going to be here for a while, a long while," A pang of nervousness hit Corey as he realized his college graduation would be put off by at least a semester due to this, if time was still passing with John now in the world of ponies, but that was visible with no more than a slight facial twitch. "we'd better get to know the geography."

"I could show you around," Twilight offered.

"No, I think I know this town well enough," said Leo, graciously turning down the purple pony's offer. "I'll be alright to show them."

"Well," John said, "I guess we'll be seeing you around..."

Corey merely nodded in response, offering up his own quiet "see ya" in response. His introversion was returning, now that the crisis, the problem, had been momentarily abated. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head about meeting royalty, one that refused to go away.

I wonder...what the hell happened here since the last episode I saw. A lot, evidently. This feels like the canon Equestria, but...Noel said we could be anywhere in the timeline. Could we have ended up past even Discord? ...I wonder now...if he's the spirit of Chaos, and our Earth is certainly less serene compared to what I've seen of Equestria, even with the mythical animals it contains...could the Princesses possibly be able to tell where we're from with a casual look into the eyes?

The trio of former humans began to make their way back into downtown Ponyville, at Leo's direction. Corey wasn't sure why, but for some reason, the path his old friend was taking him on felt awfully familiar...

Ivan knew he'd regret asking to help Applejack out with the harvest, but the farmer pony knew exactly what she was doing when she bucked the apples out of the trees. The former human, on the other hand, was still getting used to his pony body, which had a marked difference in strength compared to his human body. Not that he knew how to throw that strength around any.

For example, when Applejack gave the trunks of trees a hard back kick, a cascade of apples would fall perfectly into the baskets the earth pony had on her back. By contrast, when Ivan attempted the same manuever, only a few handfuls of apples would fall from the trees above. And not all of them would fall into the baskets. Some would completely miss the baskets, and some would bounce off his head.

Worse of all, the pace at which the work was being done, Ivan felt all that hard-earned rest going to waste the longer the minutes dragged on. Thankfully, from the looks of the trees the Apple family had lined up according to Applejack, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot left for him to endure. Why was he choosing to endure?

He offered to help, and damned if he was going to be an ass and complain about how hard the work was now.

"C'mon, Ivan!" Applejack called after him, noticing he had been slowing down, "Still got more left to harvest, partner!"

"C-coming!" Ivan quickly snapped to attention, trotting after her, new, empty baskets on his back. As the harvest continued, with the earth pony still ineffectively harvesting apples, the brown earth pony began to wonder what his friends were up to, and if they were having the same feelings of foreboding he was having at the moment.

It's not the ponies that have me worried...it's that dang octopus...why does it seem so familiar...and ominous...

Leo continued flying at a comfortable rate, becoming slowly aware that once again, he really shouldn't be using his wings so much at his current level of mastery over his pegasus body. Yet, after the crap he'd endured with explaining the "human element" in Ponyville to Twilight since Corey was unable to do it despite the former unicorn's secret suspicions, he willed himself to ignore the pain. He knew exactly what he was about to do, and John...well, he'd be collateral damage.

He'd run into Rarity, who by this point was informed by Pinkie Pie that there were three new arrivals in Ponyville. She recognized him good enough, and after the near-mishap with a gender mistake (damned feminine snout), Rarity styled his mane into a more masculine cut despite its length. And, since she knew what Corey looked like, she told him to lead him back to her, since she was doing some other clothing styles anyway, and she had one that would be perfect for somepony like him.

His curiosity at this was further magnified when he realized he may well rat out John too. Mischieviousness rose in him, the likes of which he'd experienced quite a few times already since coming to Equestria, but this time, he wouldn't get caught until it was too late. And Rainbow Dash wouldn't knock him into a beehive when she got bored with the stakeout.

"Leo, where are we going?" Corey asked, seeming to grow impatient with the walk. They'd been walking from the library for a good ten minutes, and indeed, to throw off his old friend's suspicions, he had taken a roundabout way of getting to Rarity's shop. Along the way, ponies turned in a mixture of confusion and fear at John's appearance. A rare sight indeed: a pre-adult dragon walking the streets of Ponyville, and said dragon not being a douche for one reason or another. The gossip eventually died down, however, when they saw the other ponies nearby, which Leo was grateful for, though he could have heard a few screaming when they saw the dragon at first, but those eventually died away.

At last, though, Leo realized that he was getting too close to Rarity's shop. Corey was bound to notice where he was soon enough, and that would tip him off. So, rather than taking the front door, Leo lead them down an alleyway behind the Carousel Boutique. It was a large back entrance which he'd seen during the past few hours' flight training.

"Oh, you'll find out where we're going soon enough," Leo answered, smiling evilly to himself.

Seriously, where is this going? We've been walking in random directions. It's true, he knows his way somewhat around this city, but... Corey thought, his irritation at the situation rising. As weird as it sounded, he'd have rather stayed in the library with Twilight. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but if he had to guess, he'd say she was researching humans as a species. Even though he detested explaining things, in this case, he'd make an exception, since history was something he could always explain things about. But, he then decided to make an exception to this exception. After all, he was now a magical talking pony, and by God, he was going to at least try to blend in just a little more.

And more importantly, he wanted the comparisons between Twilight Sparkle's older self and his current self to stop. In some ways, he could identify with her character, but in others, he'd like to think he didn't have those qualities. Of course, so far, his time here proved that, but the cases where the two were comparable were still far too many for his liking, given that her friends, and maybe even his own, would point them out whenever possible.

"Alright, Corey," Leo said. "Do you know where you are?"

"An alleyway," John answered, cutting in. "I don't know, Leo, where did you take us?"

The pegasus's red eyes met Corey's brown. In this moment, Corey could see a glint in them that wasn't there before.

"That's your problem," retorted the silver former human, immediately knocking on the door and flying off. Instantly, Corey sensed danger.

"What did you just--?" Corey started, he and John turning to where Leo went. Just then, he heard the door open. However, the former human continued to look up towards the spot where his friend occupied, until...

"Ah-ha!" called out a certain pony, causing Corey to freeze in place. He dared not turn. "Now tell me, what was the meaning of disappearing on me like that? Your mane is a mess, and--is that hay stuck in your fur?!"

Corey snarled, baring his teeth, though his eyes were wide open, his pupils shrunken to a third of their normal size.

"John, want to hear a funny tale?" Corey growled, trying to keep his voice level despite the fact he knew Noel had just ratted him out to the one-mare fashion police of Equestria. Of course, as with any other time Corey attempted to be emotionally neutral, occasionally, his voice would alter subtly or greatly.

"Did you just switch accents?" John asked, dropping in volume as he leaned in to whisper. "You sort of sounded like TFS Frieza just now..."

"I did?" This time, Corey returned to his normal, deep voice.

"...Are you...?" Rarity questioned, sounding somewhere between frightened and interested. "...A teenaged dragon? What are you doing here in Ponyville?!" Her fright won out between her interest, and she sounded ready to scream louder.

This question was undoubtedly directed at John. Quickly, Corey moved for damage control; the first time he'd had to directly address a pony about his former human turned dragon friend.

"It's alright," Corey turned to face the snow white unicorn directly, as did John. "He's not here to do harm. He's with us," he referred to Leo, himself, and Ivan, who he was pretty sure hadn't met Rarity yet. Quickly spinning something of a credible backstory, the green unicorn continued, "We found him when we were young, and he just sort of stuck to us."

Before the former human turned dragon could object to this backstory, Rarity interrupted.

"I see, but you still have quite the bedmane issue," Corey could tell Rarity was trying to keep herself composed this time around. "Please, do come in, I can not allow you to trot around looking like you just rolled out of bed. You too, 'John', was it?"

"Y-yes, ma'am..." John stuttered, apparently wishing he wasn't getting dragged into this. "...And you are...?"

"Rarity," answered the pony, appearing to study John, "Since seeing an adolescent dragon, I've wondered exactly how I could suit them up, but the ones I encountered before were brutes." There was just a trace of remembrance in her words. "Not the model citizen like Spikey-wikey is..."

Spikey...wikey...? What the fu- Corey was once again unable to think properly, his mind getting sidetracked by this. Exactly where are we? I know there was a Season 2 episode where Spike came within three words of revealing his feelings to her, but I never watched it...

Realizing he was stalling the cascade of pain he felt was about to befall him and John, Corey sighed. He wasn't one for getting a makeover, but now that his problem was taken care of for the time being, he didn't have an excuse to turn down Rarity's insistence. Besides, he'd figured he'd made quite enough horrible first impressions on the main cast.

"John..." Corey began, his voice monotone and as devoid of emotion as he could manage. He decided to abandon revealing Leo's meeting with Rainbow Dash for the time being, feeling like doing so in front of Rarity would just make things worse, given she and Dash were good friends. "Come on. Let's go."

John winced, not expecting Corey to submit so easily, from the looks of his wincing. The dragon began to walk in, and Corey followed. Rarity gave them a small smile.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you see it my way, darling," Corey felt himself blush just a little. Even though there wasn't any emotional attachment whatsoever between them, he'd never quite had a female call him that before. At least, not that he could remember. "I can tell you're just a little uneasy..."

As Corey crossed the threshold with John, the latter turned to him.

"She's seen you before? When?" John asked, clearly just as uneasy as he was. Neither of them really had a specific liking for Rarity. In fact, Ivan didn't either, now that he remembered. While Corey didn't know Noel's opinion, generally, they viewed Rarity as just a little too whiny for them to handle.

That wasn't the exact term they used to describe the makeover artist of Ponyville, but nevertheless, neither Corey nor John were particularly eager to become Rarity's test subject.

"...Well, it's a funny story. See the hay on me...?" Corey asked, remaining quiet. "...I made a daring getaway. Doesn't quite work when your friend rats you out though. As for that tale I was about to tell? After this."

As the door to the back closed behind them, they turned to see Rarity, whose horn was now glowing a blue color.

"Now..." A pair of what appeared to be reading glasses floated down onto her snout as she appeared to be contemplating exactly what to do about them. "Let's begin."

Corey swallowed, and John sort of rocked back and forth in place, awaiting what was to come. The two took an instant to look at each other, and deduced they were thinking along the same lines.

This is going to be brutal...right?

And I feel I must mention this: two of the characters are capable of speaking Spanish. Not really sure if it's allowed by site standards, but it is part of some of the story. And less so in the RP.