//------------------------------// // Battles of Another Ch. 5 // Story: Battles of Another // by BraxAttacks //------------------------------// John, followed by the ponies, set out into the forest, setting sun sending the already dark forest into a near pitch darkness. Only vague outlines could be seen underneath the thick roof of leaves, everything melding into one big wall of blackness. Something this harmless did not deter John in any way. They strode into the forest, the red aura still visible to John's eyes. The path they had followed last time was trekked upon yet again as foliage was pushed aside. It was not long before the hum of swirling energy could be heard over the foot steps and hoof steps echoing through the forest. The clearing came into sight, and John grimaced as he looked at the scene of his fight. Crimson still stained the grass and dirt, splashes of color that should not exist in the misty forest. The dull purple glow of the portal illuminated only the small clearing, everything else a deep shadow that served as a backdrop to the focus of this venture. John realized that his friends did not know how he had to close the portal. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they probably weren't going to like it. He turned around in mid-step, catching all of them off guard, each of them walking into the backside of the one in front of them when Twilight suddenly stopped to avoid hitting John. "I did not explain how exactly we go about sealing the portal, did I?" he asked the group of ponies in front of him. They all shook their heads, confirming that he had indeed not told them of the method of sealing. "To cast the sealing spell, I have to place a barrier on each side of the portal, preventing anything from going through it. Everypony but Twilight stared at him with blank looks, and Twilight's was one of distressed surprise. "So... We have to go through the portal?" John nodded his head, watching as equally horrified and scared looks took their place on the pony's faces. "B-but what if their's a big, mean *gulp* d-dragon?" "Ya'll are tellin' me that ah have to go through that?" "Oh dear, that doesn't sound safe at all!" "I'm not sure if this trip just got cooler or scarier." "Oh boy! Maybe we might get to see some party worlds!" John sighed. He had guessed that they weren't going to like the prospect of going into an unknown world that could be filled with whatever God felt like putting in it. Heck, for all they knew, they might not be able to breath in this world. But it was the only way to seal the rift, and prevent the collapse of the fabric of the universe. "Look, I know that you don't like this. I don't either. But this is something we have to do to save this place." It felt strange, to be giving reasurance to the ponies. He was the one from another world. He was the one who had no idea what was happening, or how, or why even. All he knew was that something bigger than himself was at stake. This world was in danger, and he wasn't about to let it die like his home world. He couldn't let it happen again. "lets get this over with." he stated, before calmly walking to within inches of the portal's edge. He could feel the sheer amount of energy leaking from within it, he could feel the boost in his awareness, like a huge dose of caffeine. He felt fresh and energized, like nothing could stop him. He reached out with his remaining arm, and touched it to the portal's surface. Instantly, the world around him faded into the river of purple that flowed around him. He had seen this only once before, but this time he had meant to delve into it. The blast of color that barraged his eyes almost hurt, but he could not close them. Color like this did not exist in his world, only in the pony's world and the gateway between the two. Suddenly, he heard a popping sound, like a balloon that had just burst from an encounter with a sharp point. John turned around, though he did not know how, and saw that his companions and friends had joined him in the flow of purple. They all had bewildered looks on their faces, none of them having expected what they now beheld. As quickly as the shift in worlds began, it ended just as fast. Shapes began to appear, outlines forming from nothing. The purple river disappeared from John's sight replaced by a new landscape. Dunes of black sand stretched out farther than John could see, deep trenches and tall hills the only landscape that his eyes could comprehend. A deep, rust red sky illuminated the pitch black hills, a sun the color of the ocean dominating the crimson sky. Only moments after John had appeared, all of the other followed after him. Not a single one had opted to stay in Equestria. All of them had decided to potentially risk their lives just to offer their support to John. He felt happy that there was finally, after ten years, someone who he could trust to have his back. All of the ponies landed in a heap, groaning as they tried to untangle themselves from the mass of limbs that all wanted to the exact same thing. Eventually, they did manage to figure out who was where, and how to separate themselves from a close contact none of them wanted. Twilight dusted herself off, before looking around at their bleak environment. "So this is another dimension. Other than the colors, it doesn't feel that different." she observed. At she was right, the air did not feel odd, they could breath just fine, and they weren't exploding or anything insane like that. John let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, as he realized that everything had worked out fine so far. He turned to the portal, its brilliant color warped by the strange coloration of this world. Instead of the bright purple that John knew, it was now an obsidian color, a black that reflected a purple sheen. It was such a drastic change, that the portal almost blended in with the hills of sand around them. John focused on his right arm, now his only arm. He had grown used to the sensation of no sensation in his missing left arm, but now that he was focusing on his right arm, the void it had left presented itself to him once again. John tried to force the distraction out of his mind; he needed to concentrate on the task at hand. The runes on his arm glowed brightly, small streaks of red electricity running down his arm's length. He poured every once of his energy into his arm, trying to fill it with as much power as he could. He brought his arm back over his shoulder, raising a now clenched fist into the air. He brought it crashing into the portal, a shattering sound echoing across the dunes as crack spread across the rift's surface like a web. Almost instantly, a sphere of red light expanded from John's fist, surrounding the portal. When the sphere was complete, John removed his fist from the orb, and the light seemed to solidify, taking on a glass like appearance. He smiled as he looked at the finished product of his work. He had half expected it to fail, somehow bringing a worse crisis on top of their heads. He looked to his pony friends, and smirked at the looks of awe and amazement they were giving him. He felt tempted to give an overly exaggerated bow, but he decided that it would go against the mood of what they were doing. Then, suddenly and without warning, Pinkie Pie gave a huge gasp before tackling John. "Oh my sweet sugary-goodness, that was awesome! you were all like, concentration~! and then you punched the portal, and then it cracked, before it got eaten by a red ball, and now you feel like bowing!" John blinked in surprise at her last statement. How in God's name did she know that he had wanted to bow? Was she physic, and nopony had told him? He did not not get time to ponder how Pinkie knew these things, as cheers from everypony else droned out his thoughts. This was not something that he had expected. Even the meek Fluttershy was screaming in excitement. He had no idea why they were cheering so ferociously, but he didn't care. He just smiled along with them. Their moment of fun, however, was not meant to last. A deep rumbling shook the ground they were standing on as a sudden wind stirred the black hills into a flurry of sandy grains that stung the eyes. A deep, growling sound seemed to come from all sides as the shaking grew in severity, everyone having long since fallen over. A sudden moment of calm came out of nowhere, the wind coming to a dead halt as the quaking stopped as suddenly as it had begun. No one spoke, slowly standing up as they listened for any sign that the shaking was going to return. An anonymous sigh came from everyone's lips as they felt satisfied that the temporary ordeal was over. It was not. An explosion of black sand flew into the air. In the middle of the group, a geyser of sand seeming to flow from the very earth suddenly flying into the air. The once deep growling warped into a horrible screech that hurt the ears just to listen to filled to plains of sand. Everyone looked at the explosion of sand, and gave horrified gasps as the beheld the cause of the problem. A giant worm had flown from the earth, moving in a lazy arc through the sky as it continued to screech at all of them. Its skin was a sickly yellow color, wielding a bloated texture of bumps and bruises across its body. A huge maw filled with razor teeth was attached to one of its ends, the source of the horrible screeching. "RUN TO THE PORTAL!" John screamed at the top of his lungs, almost drowned out even then by the wailing of the massive worm. Everypony still heard, all of them running as fast as they could towards the dull red sheen of the portal. They all placed their hand or hoof an it at the same time, and the sound and wind of that dimension disappeared instantly as the ventured once again into the purple flow of the trans-dimensional gateway. No one said anything as the were pulled along the dimensional river's current, simply relaxing in the bliss of quietness that greeted their ears. The worm had come out of nowhere, and none of them were keen on going back to find out more about it. The sudden rush of action had left them shaking as they suddenly found themselves no longer in danger. They once again found themselves in the Everfree forest as they left the purple embraces of the portal. The feeling of mist on their skin was one of bliss after their ordeal. Seeing trees filled to the brim with green leaves felt good on their eyes, after the endless sea of black sand. John turned back to the portal, once again concentrating on his arm. He found that it was much easier this time to call on the power of the runes inscribed on his skin. He repeated the process of punch, shatter, sphere, remove. This time, once the portal was surrounded with the red orb, cracks appeared on its surface. They slowly spread, before the whole thing was covered. The portal shattered with a brilliant explosion, sparks of red and purple flying into the night sky, little specks of color against a backdrop of dark blue. They all dispersed, leaving a shimmering cloud of sparkles in their wake, and everyone was entranced by the sight. It reminded John of fireworks, something that existed in the time before the cataclysm of sickness and death. When the last shimmering bits of dust disappeared from sight, no one's eyes left the sky. They all simply kept staring into its infinite beauty. The stars were something new entirely to John. He had heard stories of the specks of light in the night sky. But they had been swallowed by human pollution and corruption long before he had been born into his world. Their simple design captivated John, and felt like he could look at them forever. Sadly, he could do no such thing. Eventually, he felt the tapping of a hoof on his shoulder, and he looked down to see a bemused Rainbow Dash looking at him. "Hey, you done spacing out yet?" she asked, before she fell to the ground in an uncontrollable fit of giggles at her own, terrible joke. The sheer cheesy-ness of it had its own humor, and soon everyone was laughing along with her. The novelty did wear off eventually, and the laughter died away. Except from a certain pink pony. "Spacing out! Hahahahaha! Your a riot, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie fell to the ground, continueing with her laughter long after everyone else had stopped. Even Rainbow Dash thought it was a little too much laughter. Twilight cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention to her. "You do all realize we are in the middle of the Everfree forest at night, don't you?" Everypony but John looked around at their surrondings, and gasped when they came to the conclusion that they were indeed in the Everfree forest at night. Twilight face-hoofed as she groaned in annoyance for getting caught in this scenario. Then, as if a light bulb had apperead over her head, her eyes brightened as she snapped to attention. "I know! We can go to Zecora's, it shouldn't be too far from here!" She briefly glanced at the moon, before turning herself a bit to the right. Without another word, Twilight began trekking into the woods. Everyone stumbled after her, all of them glancing nervously around them with ever-shifting eyes. John didn't understand what made the forest so much worse at night. Perhaps there was some sort of nocturnal animal worse than a manticore? John looked once again to the sky, only catching fleeting glances through the canopy of leaves. The stars were so beautiful. Each of them was like a hole poked into a dark blue fabric, a pathway to somewhere beyond what we could see. An endless expanse of sky, clear of pollution and corruption that John was so familiar with, seemed like a dream come true to him. He looked down from the night sky, looking at all of his friends. He didn't really know why he had began to call them that. Yes, they cared about his well being. Yes, they were worried when bad things befell him. But they were not of the same world. They should not even have met. It had taken the incoming destruction of the universe to bring John to the group of close-knit friends. He noticed a light ahead. Not the light of the stars and moon, but the light of torches and fire. He could see the outline of a massive tree, much thicker than any others surrounding them, appearing in the middle of a small clearing. As he stepped into the clearing with his friends, he jumped a little at the tree in front of him. It was indeed huge, about the size of a small house in width. Small windows were spaced unevenly across it, set deep into the wood. Large masks with seemingly angry faces were placed around the door, glaring at John with hollow sockets. Light was seeping through the window from within the tree, casting eerie shadows throughout the nearby forest. This was not what John had expected when he heard that they were going to "Zecora's". He hadn't expected a five-star hotel either, but he wasn't sure what to expect from the tree's residence. Hopefully they wouldn't freak out and try to kill him. The ponies walked up to the door without an ounce of hesitation in their hoof steps. They had obviously gone here many times, and weather they had been unnerved at first, they weren't anymore. Twilight stepped up to the door, before knocking on it with loud bangs. "Zecora! Its me, Twilight! Can we come in?" she asked to the door, awaiting a response. John could hear the sounds of movement from inside the tree, items being placed upon shelves, and others being taken from those same shelves. The clop of hoof steps approached the door, before the handle on it turned slowly. The door opened with a creak, revealing the one inside. They looked very similar to the ponies John had become familiar with, but her body structure was a bit different. Golden rings wrapped around her neck, gleaming with a polished light. She bore black and white strips across her body, and lacked the strange symbol on her flank that all of the ponies had. "Please ponies, come inside. The forest at night is no pace to hide!" She spoke with a heavy accent, an origin that John could not quite place. It seemed familiar, but after ten years of only his own voice, he had no idea what accent belonged to who. She spoke in rhyme as she looked at the ponies, before her eyes came to rest on John. They widened in surprise, as her mouth just hung open. She shook her head, before giving another rhyme. "What craziness have you brought this time, pony folk? Is this some sort of weird joke?" Twilight simply giggled, before motioning to John with a hoof. "Zecora, this is John. John, this is Zecora! And no, this isn't a joke of any kind. Lets just say its a long story." John didn't know how to better introduce himself to the creature in front of him."Um... Hello?" he asked, uncertainty apparent in his voice. The pony-like creature laughed, before returning the greeting with more confidence. "Hello to you as well, strange creature! What insanity has got you featured?" * * * * * A/N: I think this chapter turned out pretty well. When i post this chapter, we should be at the 2000 views marker! Woo-hoo~! I did not expect this story to gain any sort of popularity at all! Don't forget to rate and comment if you can!