Collision Code

Act I: Unexpected Collisions

Chapter 8: Strangeness Abound

Twilight looked out the window. Princess Celestia's sun was starting to set now, tinting the skies slightly orange. It was going to be evening soon, and then night. The purple unicorn was by no means prepared for such unexpected company, and while her instinct was telling her that these new denizens of Equestria were telling the truth about their predicament, she'd hoped that there'd be enough evidence to convince her friends and mentor when the time came.

Ever since Corey, Leo and John left, she'd been trying to find books more closely related to human culture, having kept the guide Corey found earlier. So far, she'd only found one other book, So You Know An Interdimensional Bipedal Creature, which possessed some important anatomical details, and touched upon what their evolutionary line was like. Once again, it said that, with very few exceptions, humans were not known for magic, and were not born with wings.

Of course, that didn't explain why human males had horns--

"You gonna tell the others about this?" Spike asked, snapping Twilight out of her trance. She turned to her baby dragon assistant, a thoughtful look on her face. It would eventually come to that, the studious mare knew, but she also realized how Corey must have felt. To everypony else, they would certainly be strange cases, especially Corey and John at that point, the former having absolutely no training in magic despite being around her age, maybe slightly older; the latter being an early adult dragon paling around with ponies. They would be strange cases indeed, but they looked like they belonged here in Equestria, and really, the only thing lending any weight at all to the human theory would be the lack of magic and flight of the newcomers.

"I...I want to see what Princess Celestia thinks first. My instinct is telling me that Corey and the rest are telling the truth, but I also understand how Corey must have felt trying to phrase his problem." Twilight responded. "I don't think humans jumping dimensions and winding up completely changed is a common thing, even with the advanced technology they told us about."

"I'm still wondering exactly how Leo managed to mix up these 'codes' that way." said the baby dragon. "Even on your worst days, you don't get mixed up that bad."

"Perhaps our cultures aren't...too different," Twilight observed. "Leaving out the advanced technology part, at any rate."

"Well, Corey seems a lot like you before you met the others," Spike reaffirmed again, "Only...a little worse..."

She didn't like her assistant's tone at the end, but she also realized in some weird way, Spike was right. The only other pony she'd been protective of in some way socially was Princess Luna, and even then, she wasn't extradimensional, just socially impaired. But even she didn't scowl as though she did it her whole life, in spite of the past.

"I'm sure there's a reason why he's the way he is...but whatever the reason is, it's not in either of these books. I'd better keep looking..." Twilight finally said after some silence. "Or, maybe he could tell me himself, but...he doesn't seem like the kind of po--" Twilight halted. "Well, you know what I mean, he doesn't seem like the talking type."

But even as she said that, ending the conversation so that she could continue looking up information on the human species, something within her was telling her otherwise. It was a faint voice, but it was loud enough in her mind for her to hear.

Somehow...I feel like there's something underneath the scowl...I'm not sure what exactly...but I'm sure there's something inside of that shell...

Rainbow Dash had continued her aerial acrobatics with her errands for the day done. She'd also read a couple more chapters of the latest Daring Do novel published. Yet, her mind kept faintly tracking back to the colt she'd knocked over and wound up on top of. She wasn't sure why, but that landing felt incredibly awkward. In fact, she was sure she had been blushing at the time. She passed it off as the awkwardness of the position at the time, but her mind kept returning to that moment whenever it wasn't occupied.

Can't be crushing on him, can I? she asked herself as she executed a few more high-speed aerial flips, becoming no more than a moving rainbow against the sunlit skies. ...I barely know him! He's a strange colt, same with his friend! ...Gotta admit though, he does pick up quick...

Realizing that last thought sounded like praise, Rainbow was just about to continue her aerial acrobatic practice when, from the corner of her deep rose-colored eyes, she caught a glimpse of a silver pegasus, feminine snout, that weird black-and-white cutie mark, and some spiky wings.

It was Leo. Despite how she willed herself to try and put him out of her mind for the time being, given she knew very little about him, her drive to continue her training inexplicably halted in her mind. Well, actually, it faltered, and she found herself hovering towards him.

...I want to sort this...feeling out later. As she neared him, she could see some mischievous spark in his red eyes. What's he been up to since I last saw him?

"Oh, hi there Leo, finally work out all the kinks in your flight?" she asked, not really bothering to be sensitive about the matter.

"Looks like it," responded the silver colt. "...You know, when you took off earlier...you sort of knocked me into a bee hive..."

Instantly, a stake went straight through the cyan pegasus's heart, but only for a fleeting moment. However, it was this instant of weakness that forced her to speak.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize..." Rainbow immediately stopped herself, and began to think to herself.

Weird. First I learn I actually enjoy reading, now I'm being a little too sweet to somepony I barely know...who am I, Fluttershy? What next, maybe I enjoy collecting gems? The cyan pegasus realized she was taking just a little too long to finish her sentence, and this silence was too awkward for her to handle.

"Anyway, you look like you just pulled, or might just pull, the biggest prank you could stand to do," The speedy flier continued, abandoning her previous tangent for the moment. "Care to let me in on it, or is it payback for the whole knocking you into the beehive thing..." She smirked, expanding her forehooves as she hovered in front of Leo, who backed up a little to give her some room. "Because if it is, I'm warning you right now, you won't win a prank war with me!"

"Uh, actually, I managed to payback Corey for a couple of things today..." Leo responded, making her really wonder how she'd managed that. She did remember those...comments...Corey had made after her crash-landing, right before he started stumbling all over his words. It seemed like he could only speak correctly while being sarcastic.

"How'd you do it? Bait him with food?" Dash asked, abandoning restraint on her words for now. Leo chuckled in response, and hearing him chuckle made her snicker just a little too.

"Well, he baited himself..." Leo responded. "You see, while on his way to the library..."

Rainbow Dash found it hard to believe that Corey somehow eluded Rarity. From what she remembered, he had a near-permanent scowl, that only seemed to worsen with the fat jokes thrown his way, bagged eyes, and a very messy mane, one that wasn't properly combed by any means. But when she heard he jumped into a strawbox to avoid capture, she couldn't properly contain herself. It was easily the most hilarious fat joke that could be made, and the funniest part was that he apparently didn't eat any of the hay there. Picturing the round green colt with pieces of hay still attached to his fur amused her to no end.

"So...then how does that tie-in to your prank?" Dash asked, realizing that she and him had been laughing for a little bit too long. She felt the tiniest scrap of warmth well up inside her as she realized it, but once again, she suppressed the feelings for the moment.

"I lead him and another friend of ours who...recently arrived, John..."

She had to cut off Leo.

"So that's why I heard screaming...is he a...dragon?"

"Pre-adult, but don't worry, he's harmless. Works a lot with us." Leo paused for a moment, adding "mainly Corey" after a few moments.

Seriously, it's almost like Corey and Twilight were made for each other! recounted the mare as she snickered to herself remembering all the other comparisons that she'd made to herself. She found herself smiling just a little too much in Leo's company. She also knew that "John" was yet another strange name to add to the pile.

Sure, Leo could barely fly, but he seemed to have control over his flight for now. Part of her couldn't believe what the other parts of her wanted to do, but a tiny voice in her heart told her to allow him inside, bit by bit. She decided to wait until he finished telling his story.

"I lead Corey and John to the back entrance of Rarity's shop," said Leo, smiling at the thought of his own prank. "I knocked on the door, then bailed out as fast as I could. I can only imagine the look on Corey's face."

Even as he said this, he had his doubts. Though Rarity had initially struck her as a bitch, certainly too "princessy" compared to Rainbow Dash, she was still kind. Corey probably wasn't enduring the kind of torture he'd expected, but he knew John and Corey might be steamed when they next saw him. Rainbow laughed, and in turn, he laughed as well. It carried on like this again, until Dash spoke up with a small smile.

"Leo...could you meet me at the entrance to Ponyville tonight?" Dash asked. Leo's heart skipped a couple of beats, but thankfully, the rainbow-themed mare was able to shoot down his hopes. "No, it's not what you think it is."

Cursing his inability to keep his emotions in check, Leo nodded and managed a small "Yeah, sure."

"See ya then!" With that, the tomboyish pegasus once again flew off, leaving the former human alone with his thoughts.

"That was...kinda vague...and a little cruel." Leo scoffed. How dare she get his hopes up like that? Oh well, guess it didn't matter. The fact she'd asked him gave him a silver of hope, though, but he knew he'd have to wait and see how it turned out.

And hope that Rainbow Dash wasn't just pranking him.

"Wonder if Rarity's done with Corey and John yet," he snickered, immediately flying off back towards the Carousel Boutique. "She's got to have finished with them by now."

John and Corey were both quite surprised at how quickly a person's perception of another could change in such a short amount of time. While Corey didn't harbor especially negative feelings towards the snowy unicorn whose company he forced himself to be in after Leo unsurprisingly ditched him again, John had his own personal feelings about the mare. However, Rarity proved herself to have a soft side underneath the very obvious "princess" personality.

Despite the fact Corey had ditched her, she was surprisingly calm. Whether she understood his social introversion or not remained to be seen, even after the makeovers they got. But it wasn't as extreme as they thought it was going to be. It had been an hour and a half since Leo ditched them, and quite frankly, neither of them were mad at what happened. At least, not as mad as it would have been had the pain they expected befell them.

John now sported a rather spiffy tuxedo, black in color, yet his claws on his hands and feet were still uncovered. It seemed sort of fitting given that there didn't seem to be a way to make appropriate dress shoes for dragons, at least, from what either of the former humans could gather.

As for Corey, he was currently upstairs in another fitting room with the fashionista mare. John didn't particularly like the way she said she had "something special" in store for him, and from the horribly disturbed look on the green unicorn's face, neither did he. The former human tried to suppress his laughter, trying his hardest not to turn it into a dirty joke.

He was failing miserably though.

Corey's eye twitched as he regarded how he looked now. A mixture of wanting to appear happy so as not to upset Rarity, slight humiliation as he considered what he basically looked like now with the getup he had on, and a little confusion all welled up inside him.

First, Rarity had fixed his mane and graciously brushed whatever traces she could see of the hay from his fur. He had tried his damned hardest to keep a straight face when she insisted on brushing the area around his hindquarters, trying to keep his outrage and embarassment in check. After all, he'd brought it on himself. He was also immensely grateful the only one around to see it was John, and thankfully, the dragon didn't see the need to blackmail him with the emasculating moment of a OCD fashionista brushing the hay out of his rump and tail as though her life depended on it. There was hardly any emotional attachment there, but Corey hadn't been borderline violated in that way before. The way he covered for the reddened cheeks that he sported by the end of that segment?

"I've never had that great an eye for detail."

The last thing he'd wanted was for her to think he was hitting on her with any statement he'd made, because he knew he wasn't the prince she was looking for by any means, at least physically. Probably not emotionally, either. As he cursed his word choice, he could hear John resisting the urge to laugh. Thankfully, she didn't see it that way, offering a small smile and referring to him by his name instead of the pet name she gave just about everyone striding through that door (save for Spike and a few others). Leo had apparently informed her of his name.

Second, she'd measured John. Apparently Corey's hay-coated fur and horrid bedmane were far more important than getting a pre-adult dragon fitted for the tuxedo John now sported. John seemed oddly perplexed when there wasn't a price tag for such a suit, as did Corey. At least until they both happened to remember that she was the Element of Generosity, in spite of her occasional bursts of princess tendencies. As she did this, Corey looked in the mirror. His mane was now much more like his human hairstyle, just refined to where it better suited his unicorn body. The...bangs, Corey called them in his mind, curled around his horn somewhat. What could he say? He was glad she didn't overdo it.

Corey was a little worried when she said she had "something special" in mind for him, but he was relieved to see it involved a suit. First, the headband came, a dark blue color, which was wrapped around his head, compensating for the horn by wrapping it in such a way the bandanna bent up around it. He didn't mind that...but he did somewhat mind the stuff that followed.

In addition to the headband, he now sported what he could only describe as a gray jacket with a blue-gray vest, which was appropriately fitted for him. It took Corey quite a while to figure out who he was supposed to be representing, but when he did, it slammed into him like a ton of bricks, and though he willed himself to not put a confused expression on his face, the slightest traces of emotion began to work its way into his facial cues.

...Why the Hell am I--how am I, how does she-- His thoughts mashed together, and for a moment, the former human swore he heard his brain fart audibly, but the thoughts soon returned twice as powerful. Does Equestria have a Metal Gear Solid pony parody I'm not aware of? Play it cool...

Putting forth a little confusion on his face, which wasn't hard at all given the question surging through his mind, Corey urged himself to speak and not stutter.

"I like this outfit, but..." he started, "what exactly am I looking at?"

Rarity didn't seem offended by this question, which Corey was grateful for. Sometimes he could pick his words carefully after all.

"Well," Rarity mused, apparently remembering exactly where she snatched the inspiration for this from. "if you must know, I will inform you. Though I try to avoid discussing stories with Twilight, she did mention a story she'd read where a pony had to pull disappearing acts similar to the one you did earlier..."

"And my hasty actions earlier reminded you of it?" Corey asked, trying to make light conversation for the moment, trying his hardest to fight back the laughter. Fate was seriously taunting him now.

If Twilight has read a Crash Ponycoot thingy, I don't care who sees me do it, I don't care if I'm human by then, I am going to hug her close just for that. Realizing he missed what Rarity said while thinking that, Corey nodded in agreement.

"Fascinating," he responded to whatever he was saying. Thankfully, he'd timed his words perfectly, which improved Corey's spirits slightly, forcing him to crack a smile, however barely noticeable it was. She seemed to be studying him as though she heard him right, which scared the hell out of Corey as he rethought the timing of his words.

...Did I just agree to a da--?

"It appears I was right about you," she murmured, trotting away. "You and Twilight are indeed somewhat similiar...or I should say were..."

Corey fought the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. He'd been getting those comparisons for long enough, and they were starting to wear on his nerves. He needed to do something to stop them, but he couldn't precisely help it. The former human inhaled, but Rarity merely smiled.

"Please, I insist, do not worry about it. Much like with your friend, your suit is free of charge..." She smiled friendly, seemingly shaken out of her thoughts. Corey was just about to express his gratitude, when suddenly, the door opening downstairs could be heard. Disregarding this, the green unicorn merely nodded.

"Thanks," He wanted to elaborate, since this was a very generous gift, even though he never quite asked to cosplay Solid Snake in pony form, he'd supposed he'd get used to it soon enough. He didn't get the chance, though, for a screech sounded downstairs. Rarity's ears pricked up for a moment, then wilted considerably when she appeared to realize who it was.

"Oh dear..." Rarity frowned, immediately looking regretful. She began to trot at a fast pace downstairs, and Corey followed, barely hearing her follow this statement up with, "The poor dear can't handle herself around dragons..."

Who? Was Corey's only question.

This was something Fluttershy had not expected to see, but it was right in front of her, paralyzing her on the spot. When she walked into Rarity's shop to stop by and say "hi", she had not expected a pre-adult dragon, black and blue in color, to look over to her in confusion. It had taken her a few seconds to process exactly what she saw, and when she did, she uttered the most powerful screech her body could muster.

It was a conditioned response, and that condition was her overwhelming fear of dragons. The one time she scared one into tears was a fluke, she later considered, and that realization had caused that fear to return. She had quite forcefully reminded Rainbow Dash of her fears when the others went to the dragons' nest, an action which she later apologized for when they got back. Yet here was one now, and for some reason Fluttershy couldn't imagine, he was wearing a tuxedo. He seemed oddly confused, but unwilling to make any sudden movements. Likewise, she was rooted to the spot, making sudden movements next to impossible.

The staredown had been going on for what felt like days, though in reality only half a minute had passed when Rarity came down, followed by another colt she only barely knew through Pinkie Pie's invitation, dressed out in a suit the meek mare hadn't a clue as to what he was supposed to be, nor with the dragon in the room didn't care too much.

"Fluttershy," Rarity called out, immediately rushing up to her, but her eyes were firmly locked on the dragon, her phobia completely dominating her vision. "He's--with the colt over there," she indicated the green colt, who was studying her reaction intensely, as though trying to determine exactly what was wrong. The semi-scowl on his face indicated some concern, but it was still off-putting.

"B-b-but..." The yellow pegasus wanted to speak, but the dragon in the room was too much to ignore. "h-h-he's....not like...S-Spike..."

"...Oh, John?" came a familiar male voice, "Yeah, him, and the three of us, we go way back."

A name she hadn't heard before. Didn't really help the fact she generally feared dragons that weren't Spike's age or lower. Fluttershy slowly turned, to see Leo hovering, his red eyes showing clear concern. The instant she saw him, something in her began to unfreeze. Her joints and muscles began to loosen. It was almost like the sight of him made the fear recede, even if only minimally.

"We've known him since we were younger. Kinda stuck with us. Provides a lot of the muscle," he appeared to be looking directly at John now, but the dragon gave no indication of anything to the contrary. The meek pegasus dismissed it. "Helps a lot, really."

"I-I..." The yellow pony continued, now staring at the floor, still finding it very hard to move from the fear that refused to go away. "I-I-I d-don't know...but..." Her mouth was moving ahead of her fear now, and she couldn't figure out why. She felt her cheeks redden as she looked up to Leo, her conflicting feelings on the matter becoming clear. "...I...I...think...if...if he's..."

"I'm not that bad," this came from the dragon across the room, and he clearly looked discomforted by her fear, as his stride appeared hesitant. "I don't harm ponies because I feel like it. I don't know what happened that caused your fear, but whatever it is--"

The dragon was edging a little too close for the pegasus's taste, and she found herself unconsciously shuffling backward. She bumped into something, and turned her head to see a somewhat red-faced Leo looking to her...

Corey raised an eyebrow, seeing Leo's blush. Certainly he couldn't have been developing feelings for her too? As he considered this question, he watched the fallout from John's meeting with Fluttershy, feeling even more emasculated than he did when Rarity insistently brushed his rear end and tail. Only difference is, there, he was red-faced and clearly discomforted with a female brushing his rump as though her life depended on it. Here, he was more or less humiliated by the realization his fear of bees and all other insects with stingers was incredibly petty compared to the much meeker Fluttershy's fear of dragons.

Then again, when the former human considered that dragons were just myth in his world, he felt somewhat relieved at this. Deciding against speaking up about this fact, Corey decided to try and be sociable too. Given John was trying his hardest to pacify Fluttershy's fear of him specifically, so should Corey. He approached Rarity, given she was closer and he knew less about her than he did John and Leo.

If he was going to be stuck in Equestria, he may as well pick up what he could, friendship or magic-wise, even if he could only take the former back with him to Earth.

"...Is..." The words sounded awkward coming out of his mouth. "Is she going to be okay?"

From the glare he received, Corey instinctively took a few steps back. Rarity was staring daggers, as though he'd somehow magically added hay back to his fur when she wasn't looking. Then her gaze softened.

"I'm terribly sorry about that," she apologized. "It's just that..." She looked to Fluttershy, who seemed to be very slowly adjusting to John being a safe six feet from her form. Leo seemed to be giving her some level of encouragement, probably more than he realized he was. "...she's...fragile compared to the rest of us. We're all very careful to try and avoid upsetting her. Even Rainbow Dash treats her decently..."

Corey nodded, at least somewhat understanding of this.

"Though she is becoming more independent, when it comes to matters like this, she still can barely handle herself, unless pushed..."

The green unicorn's nose wrinkled at this, but he decided not to comment. However, before he could go ahead and introduce himself formally to the meek pegasus who still looked frightened at John's appearance, Rarity stopped him with a hoof in front of him.

"If I may ask," she continued, fixing him with a puzzled look. He'd been getting a lot of those lately. "what had you in such a hurry?"

"...Well, I guess--" Corey halted, exactly wondering if he should tell the complete truth, or just say he was going to the library. He settled for the latter, at least for the moment. He would leave that detail to Twilight, unless extreme circumstances dictated the truth came out. "--I was in a hurry to get some reading done."

Rarity almost invaded his personal space once again, this time almost pressing her face to his. The proximity at which she was at didn't seem to bother her, but it sure as hell bothered him. Like with being called "darling" or "dear", and having his rump brushed, he'd never quite had a female this close to his face. She took a breath, then spoke clearly, in a quiet voice so as not to disturb the conversation.

"You and Twilight are almost made for each other," she emphasized, striking a small chord within Corey, but he repressed it with the greatest of efforts. He would not be caught blushing at this instant in time, not now. "Except for the prioritizing aspect, of course...when she went to the library...well, I assume you met her, right?"

Corey could barely find the strength to whisper "Yes", but he managed to do so. All he wanted to do was get out of there. Thankfully, she was out of his face by this point, so at least it wouldn't be as awkward for his face to light up like a Christmas tree.

"She'll tell you that story, I'm sure, if you want to hear it and she trusts you enough." Rarity responded to Corey's statement. Really tired of being the lightning rod for the comparisons and awkward moments, the former human sucked in his breath.

"Well, I'm just going to go and introduce myself now...and I guess I'll just..." He couldn't believe he was about to say it. "Show this off. You did work very hard on this," The boy tried to suppress any indication that he saw something wrong with cosplaying Solid Snake in a quadrupedal body, and was on the verge of failure, so he broke what little eye contact he was trying to make. "And hard work...well, it needs to be shown off somehow."

Too bad this world doesn't have YouTube...

Rarity didn't seem to be too disconcerted about his sudden need to stare at the floor, and instead guided him out the door, where he saw Leo and Fluttershy saying their goodbyes, and John looking a little happy.

"Did she finally accept you'd be sticking around a little?" he asked, looking slightly to the much taller dragon.

"Sort of," responded John.

As Corey watched Leo and Fluttershy speak, a small pang of anger welled up inside him. It couldn't be called jealousy, so much as it was concern and maybe slight outrage.

What do they call colts that date more than one mare? he thought. If he keeps this up, he could very easily break Fluttershy's heart, and Rarity just got done glaring at me for something that must have been insensitive of me...And as for Rainbow Dash...I don't even want to know if she has feelings for him, but if she does, I certainly do not want to find out what a broken-hearted tomboy looks like.

The walk back to Ponyville wasn't nearly as painful as Ivan expected it to be. Applejack's older brother had pulled the majority of the harvested apples, Applejack carrying a fair share herself. Ivan expected the weight of the apples he was expected to carry to feel a little heavier, but his new body was a good deal stronger than his human body, making the effort needed to carry his load of apples a lot easier.

As soon as he'd figured out how to lift the buckets onto his back, anyway. He was allowed to go about the town, see if he could meet up with his friends, since they'd been in town for an hour, and the apple sales, while still pretty decent, were slow given the size of the harvest. Clearly, Ivan helped a little too much, even with all the fruit that bounced off his head.

It had been about two hours since he'd arrived, and while he'd been given the ability to walk around for forty minutes, the Apple family seemed to understand he had no idea what was where in Ponyville.

Which explained why Ivan was being lead around by a pony half his size, and probably around two-thirds his age at most.

"This here would be the town hall," the much smaller pony, who Ivan was introduced to as Apple Bloom, explained, indicating with a hoof the building. Her fur was a very light, sort of grayish yellow, and her mane and tail were a color somewhere between red and pink, the former of which was held in place (or something, probably "adorned" would be the better term) with a light red bow. Ivan wasn't entirely enthusiastic about having a pony smaller than him and younger than him lead him around like he was a--oh wait, he was a horse, essentially.

Apple Bloom, on the other hand, seemed particularly enthusastic about giving the new pony in town a complete tour. It wasn't until he'd considered the fact that she didn't have a cutie mark that he got it.

She was trying her hardest to earn one. She did, however, demonstrate some knowledge of where everything was, but Ivan was convinced that this was an "everypony" skill (he couldn't use the term "everyman", could he). At the same time, he didn't precisely have the heart to bluntly inform the foal this wasn't going to do the trick.

"And this here's where I go t' school!" the foal called out enthusiastically, then turned to Ivan with her somewhat strange eyes. While her eyes normally looked a red-orange color, sometimes, if the light hit her just right, her eyes would appear to have a gradient between apple red and sunset orange inside them. "Hey, are you listenin'?"

"Of course I am," Ivan looked up to regard Apple Bloom's statement. This amazing tour went on for another ten minutes, until, down one road, he could see Leo hovering in the air, laughing at Corey, who now appeared to be decked out in some sort of black ops suit, and a headband to boot. With them, was a black and blue dragon, who, he realized with moderate difficulty, was the one he'd seen in his dream alongside Applejack. For some reason, he was wearing a suit. "Oh, uh, Apple Bloom, I think I've found my friends..."

"Huh? Oh, them?" asked the young pony, immediately peeking towards them. "That big green colt must have run right into Rarity," she observed. "Oh, that reminds me! I've gotta go--" She halted. "--places. If you see my sis, tell her I'm hangin' out with my friends!" Her southern accent was just as strong as the pony in question. "See ya!"

Before Ivan could stop her, the foal was bounding off in some direction. Deciding he'd probably find out later what that was all about, Ivan began trotting up to his friends.

"Though I've gotta ask," the dragon said, turning to Corey. "Do you...have a thing...for her?"

Though he couldn't see Corey's facial expression, Ivan imagined some sort of demonic look of anger on his face.

"No, John, I happen to just be bad around most women!" He was clearly trying to control his mouth, lest he be overheard by main ponies, or hell, Rarity, given that he was standing directly in front of her shop.

"Then why did you feel the need to ramble on?" Leo asked, now with an incredibly tease-tastic look on his face, the likes of which caused Ivan to cringe out of anger. "You know, earlier, with Twilight, when you started gesturing and all that?"

Feeling the need to step in before Corey completely flipped his lid (judging by the way he was trembling, Ivan didn't have all evening to watch the spectacle), the former human quickly took a few steps forward, enough such that the dragon noticed him.

"Who's that?" he asked, extending a claw to him. Corey, grateful for the distraction, immediately whirled around.

"Ivan!" he responded, a little too loudly. He flinched, and repeated himself, a little quieter, "I mean, that's Ivan there."

The three of them went up to him, rather than waiting for him to make his way over to them. Probably for the best, because as Ivan remembered, Corey's mane was just as messy as his was before. As such, he could only guess, based on where he was before, why he and the dragon were suited up and why his mane...and his tail, too, looked so much more refined. In fact, he'd also noticed Leo's mane was also brushed into place as well.

"Are you..." Ivan looked to the black dragon, thinking for a moment. "Saskes...?"

"Well, John, but yeah," answered the dragon with a nod. "...We sort of just got out of Rarity's shop. Despite her...personality faults, she's actually sort of nice."

"...Then why does Corey look like he's cosplaying--" The name of the character was lost on Ivan, but Corey was very quick to remind him.

"Solid Snake...or his pony counterpart," responded the green unicorn. "Funny story about this, really...I actually ran past here on the way to the library..."

"So you actually went to tell her our problem," Ivan decided to skip the story about why Corey looked like a black ops pony for the moment. "How'd that go?" The former human noticed he was, for the moment, all business. Perhaps the fact he was a pony now made him somewhat serious?

"Well...she believed our story," Leo said, looking discomforted.

"Partly because you crashed and partly because I didn't use any magic whatsoever..." added the green unicorn, his eyes closed as he seemed to mumble this loudly to the ground. "She got in touch with Princess Celestia...and we're supposed to meet her tomorrow. Approximately three hours ago, tomorrow."

Ivan nodded with this information.

"I'm guessing she wants to make sure we're at least not lying about being humans--well, formerly humans, anyway." John whispered. "Don't know why Corey wants this information to remain secret, though..."

The brown pony immediately recalled a fact from his dream, something he'd overlooked. The other main characters seemed to know exactly what was going on with the new ponies and dragon in town, and didn't seem bothered by it. Hell, he'd have expected Corey and Twilight to be bothered by the fact their relationship wouldn't have happened any other way other than this extreme circumstance, so much so they wouldn't attempt it...and yet they seemed perfectly content with the arrangement they were obviously in. Was his dream telling the future accurately?

Ivan decided to stop thinking about things, and roll with whatever was given to him. If he did wind up with Pinkie as his dream indicated, he didn't care. So long as she knew the truth about him, and what would have to be done when the time came to go home. The same went for Leo, Corey and John and the position they were in.

"I just don't want to explain things. If Twilight had that many questions, imagine how many the others would have. I'm leaving that detail up to Twilight for now. Unless extreme circumstances mandate us to come clean, of course," Corey responded to John's concerns. Ivan was just about to voice his agreement, when a voice called out to him.

"Ah, there you are!" Applejack called out. She then apparently noticed Corey and Leo, and called out to them, "You two are here too? Uh--" Ivan turned to her, and she looked concerned and at the same time, confused. "...why is there a dragon that size in Ponyville?"

"Oh, uh," Corey cut in, trying to speak clearly this time, as though he hadn't almost sliced her up earlier. "He's with us, Applejack, he was just a little...delayed... in getting here."

John didn't object to this explanation. Applejack smiled in response, as though relieved.

"That's good t' hear," she said. "Would explain the suit he's wearing...and your name is," She was now looking up, making it impossible for any of the former humans to mistake who she was talking to.

"John," responded the dragon.

Applejack was stunned. That made four strange names, and one of them belonged to a dragon, now. There was something strange about all four of these newcomers, yet the orange pony dismissed them just as quickly as her concerns came up. Sure, John was a big dragon, certainly far older than Spike from the looks of him, but if he wanted to cause destruction, he'd surely have done it while in the company of Rarity.

The orange farmer pony knew her friend too well; judging from Corey's mane, it seemed that she got a hold of him as well. Not to mention that costume he now wore.

"What exactly are you supposed to be?" Applejack asked, indicating with a hoof what she was pointing at: Corey's incredibly goofy-looking jacket and vest combination. "Rarity must've really had a spark of inspiration..."

"...Yeah..." Corey grumbled, just a little embarrassed at the fact he was dressed that way. "Funny story about how I ended up like th--"

Leo immediately shoved his hoof up against Corey's mouth, shutting him up. However, unfortunately for him, it seemed, John spoke next.

"Well, we were about to explore Ponyville, Leo having seen everything from above, when he decided to take us into Rarity's shop, as you probably already know," the dragon, taking a few tenative steps forward. Applejack was only mildly worried, if only for the fact he was a dragon away from its nest, but then she reminded herself Ponyville would have been in flames by now if he wanted to. "...Think you can show us around?"

He seemed to instantly regret this question, and from the look of his face, he was wondering why he'd even asked. Applejack, however, couldn't really turn down the opportunity. These four, despite whatever faults and social difficulties they would encounter while here in the city, were not bad in nature. However, all four of them, Ivan, Corey, Leo and now John, were all incredibly strange cases.

"Well, Apple Bloom was supposed to be showin' Ivan 'round these parts. That reminds me," Her sisterly concerns became visible as she turned to the pony that had helped her in the harvest in his goofily effective way. "Where'd she go?"

"Said she was going to hang out with her friends." Ivan responded. Applejack immediately remembered about her little sister's friends. The three of them were just about inseparable, now that she thought about it. By this point, though, it was obvious what the three of them were trying to do.

"Anyway," The apple farmer quickly got back on the matter at hand, "You four said you wanted to see your way around? Harvest went good, so I've got some time to spare."

"That'd be...nice, yes." John hesitantly answered. The other three with him offered no objections either, though Leo seemed slightly anxious about something.

"Follow me," said the farmer pony.

A couple more hours went by in Equestria as Applejack showed them around town. They visited the town hall, the library, the education place, just as they all knew in one way or another. The frightened looks were diminished now that John wore the tuxedo. Either that, or they noticed Corey's cosplaying and thought it was hysterical, but didn't want to laugh for fear that he'd hear them and get mad.

The entire tour was relatively uneventful, though Corey almost stumbled over himself and barely managed to avoid getting his horn stuck in another surface, much to the amusement of most of the others. And Leo's disappointment. The sun began to go down, indicating it would be night soon. The Earth boys knew one thing, and one thing alone: Ivan didn't have anywhere to sleep.

It was a good thing Applejack was leading them to her home, then, since it would be a perfect time to ask.

One thing had lead to another. As they approached her home so that Applejack could make sure her sister made her way there alright, Corey's stomach growled in utter starvation from the lack of nutrition he'd gotten since coming to Equestria. John's soon followed, the last thing he'd eaten being a few bites of cereal. The farmer pony decided to be hospitable, and offered them a couple of slices of apple pie. Now, the four former humans were waiting outside.

"I must admit, I'll eat anything right now," Corey admitted as he looked towards the farmhouse. There were still ponies awake inside, so he didn't feel bad about having developed severe hunger pangs. "Never really eaten pie before, though."

"I'm not a pie person either, but...well, I'll eat it." John responded. He then turned to Ivan. "Hey, you gonna stay here?"

"Huh?" Ivan snapped out of a somewhat sleepy trance, looking to John with an unreadable look on his face. "Oh, well, if she'll let me..."

"Twilight's out of room at her place," Leo said. "Probably won't be too much of a problem, though. John will be sleeping outside because he needs background noise," John nodded to this, "and I'm probably not gonna sleep."

"Good thing Twilight has a third bed. Might have gotten really awkward." said the green unicorn from out of nowhere. "Well, anyway, I think we'd better ask her soon. Don't know what you'll do if she can't let you stay."

The four sat or hovered in silence outside for a while longer, until Leo looked a little panicky.

"Uh, guys, I just remembered something," he recalled, immediately hovering off into the distance. "Catch you guys tomorrow!"

"Wait, Leo!!" called Corey, as he watched the silver pegasus fly away.

"Now why's that colt in such a hurry?" asked a young pony's voice. The three remaining turned to see Apple Bloom, alive and well, standing alongside her sister, who looked equally concerned.

"Who knows?" Ivan asked. "I've never been able to read his motives on much of anything."

"Ivan," Applejack interjected, now looking directly at him. "You look plum tired, again..."

"Yeah, well, it's late," answered the brown earth pony, to which the orange mare quickly fixed him with a certain look.

"C'mon Ivan, you can be honest...the work you did at the harvest is why you're tired, ain't it?" asked the orange earth pony, still using the skeptical look. From Corey's perspective, Ivan looked like he just realized he'd backed himself into a corner, so he decided to move in.

"Uh, well, actually," Corey attempted to cut in, trying to find a way to phrase the group's latest problem. "You see, the four of us are going to be in town for a little longer. John, Leo..." He trailed off, suddenly unsure of what Leo was up to, "and me, are going to be down in the library," He suppressed the urge to pause and let Applejack take that morsel of information. "but...there's really no more room..."

"Way ahead of ya," Applejack interjected, "At least tonight, he can sleep here," she answered with a small smile, and Ivan was somewhat shocked. Corey was too. He always thought farm owners were a little stricter with visitors.

"...Though," John interjected. "I have to say something...there's...something over at the library Ivan's gotta be there for tomorrow afternoon."

Now Applejack turned her green eyes onto the dragon. Corey felt once again caught between a rock and a hard place. To be more precise, he was caught between a stone, a boulder, and a hard place. She scanned him carefully, then sighed.

"Well, anyway, I guess you'd better come in." There was no mistaking the scrutiny in her voice. Corey tried his hardest to suppress his instinct to swallow in a cartoony matter and give away everything, and managed to keep the urge in-check.

"T-thanks..." Corey stuttered. The other two gave out similar sympathies. Applejack and her little sister lead the trio of former humans to a table. A red earth pony, even taller than Corey, was staring out the window. He had an orange-colored mane and tail. The colt's very presence sort of shook the green unicorn to his core, just because he didn't give any sort of indication that he was angry or disturbed by the intrusion of the dragon and unicorn to eat.

There was a restrained silence in the room as Corey and John took a few tentative bites of the apple pie prepared for them. Corey somehow managed to use a fork despite his lack of fingers, which baffled the former human to no end, and he examined his free hoof to see if there were microscopic cartoon fingers there when he figured none of the canon ponies were looking.

Other than that, the meal proceeded with some talk about why the former humans were there. Corey once again was forced to explain he was looking to do some reading, the semi-truth being easier to tell the more he said it. Besides, now he was curious to know how the Scarlet Sleuth managed to finish his first case.

After the meal, Corey and John thanked the awake Apple Family for their hospitality, and so did Ivan, though Corey internally suspected that one was because he didn't want to be shown up by them (even though he wasn't leaving). Whatever the case, it didn't truly matter to the green unicorn. All he cared about now was getting back to the library such that he could sleep.

The boy valued schedules and itineraries, but he knew that right now, he couldn't expect to fall into a comfort zone anytime soon. The situations were not normal by any means, and he'd be lucky if things were ever normal, from what he'd seen of the show. Of course, Corey didn't voice his concerns to John. He knew deep down whatever came up they'd all have to deal with, since they'd more or less befriended the Mane 6.

As the minutes passed, John and Corey drew closer to the library. Some lights were off, others were lit up by candlelight. There were very few ponies up late.