Chapters The year is 2356. Humanity has pushed itself to the brink of extinction. Ten years ago wars broke out across the world, nuclear weaponry and bio-engineried sicknesses bringing the human population to less than a million, and destroyed almost all of the natural world. This is the tale of John Abraham, and how he came to Equestria.
John hated Mondays. He hated them with all of his very being. This Monday was the king of the crop, as well, putting him in an incredibly sour mood. Perhaps I should explain what made this particular Monday so bad. The day had started like any other day in this god-forsaken wasteland. he stepped out of his meager wooden shack he called a house, with the purpose of gaining some food for him to fill his growling stomach with. Looking around, John saw the dusty plain in front of him. The hot sun poured its beams of light and heat like a boiling liquid, burning anything stupid enough to stay in its flaming embrace too long. No plants could be seen in any direction, only the hilly dunes of dirt and sand and rock that made up the world. John sighed, wishing that some sort of color was present in his dreary existence.
John pulled a picture from his pocket, staring at it with teary eyes as he brushed a finger across it. In the photo, was a woman with long, strait brown hair. She had glasses, thin and wiry adjourning her face, along with a broad smile. Held in a tight hug was a small girl, no more than seven years old. She had poofy blonde hair, and bright, blue eyes. A huge grin was on her face, along with stray blobs of paint, still wet. Tears fell from John's face as he silently wept, sadness racking his body momentarily. "I miss you so much, Diane..."
But now was not the time to linger on sentiments he had thought on many times before. Now was the time seek out food and sustenance for his survival. John grabbed his rifle from the wall, just in case something bigger than what he hunted showed up. He donned a large, dull gray cloak from a hanger, draping it over himself to shield his body from the scorching sun. John was not a large man; he had a lean muscle build. Pure strength wouldn't get you far in the wasteland. You had to be strong, fast, and keep your wits about you at all times to survive. His face had sunken in eyes, hollowed out cheeks, and rough, brown stubble sprouting from his chin. He had blue eyes, the color of an icy lake in the middle of winter. They were the eyes of someone who had known many a tragedy before in his life.
John set out from his dwelling, moving to the first trap he had set up in the great expanse of land. As he drew near, John could hear the cries of an animal in pain growing in volume and urgency. A decent meal, finally thought John with grim joy splayed across his features. As he crested the next hill, he spied his prize, and happiness filled his being. There, in front of his eyes, was a wolf, stuck in a bear trap, having been lured there by a small piece of meat placed in the center. John raised his weapon to his shoulder, taking aim down its iron-sights. He pulled the trigger, a loud bang ringing through the dusty wind. The whimpering of the animal fell silent at once, and John slip down the hill, coming to a stop next to the now dead animal. As he began to undo the trap, he heard a slow buzzing fade into being, seeming to come from behind him. John glanced behind, and did a double take at the sight that graced his eyes.
Before him was a speck of purple, hovering in midair, no more than a few feet of the ground. air seemed to be drawn into the splotch of light, bringing with it the whine of a sharp wind. John could see the dot expanding, growing larger with each passing second. Entranced by the sight before him, John got up from his task and slowly stepped towards the only color he had seen in years.He reached out with an arm, staring at the light in front of him. As his arm finally made contact, the world around him shattered like glass, leaving only a purple void to surround him. John tumbled through empty air zipping along an invisible pathway to an unknown place. He could only sit and watch, not knowing what he might have done. What he might have caused. He could see a bright light looming ever closer, drawing him in like water to a drain. He fought and squirmed, helpless in the purple current. Darkness engulfed him as light surrounded his being, and he slowly faded from consciousness.
John's eyes snapped open, a decision he immediately regretted. Color and sound launched an assault upon his senses in the brief instant that they were in use. He slowly, slowly opened his eyes, and gasped at the wonder that was surrounding him. Huge, healthy trees with thick leaves filled his vision, flowers and bushes popping up in rouge beams of light. sounds of birds and insects graced his ears as a cold mist caressed his skin, and a smile forced its way onto John's face. A low growl from the distance snapped John back to his senses. There were predators wherever he was. he looked around for his rifle, and panic gnawed at him as he couldn't find it. He sighed, the wonder of the, forest? Was forest the right word? Yes, yes, this is what a forest was. lots of trees. Anyways, he gave a deep sigh, the air of wonder now gone, replaced instead by caution. John slowly drew a large, wicked looking knife from a hidden sheaf, held it at the ready, and began silently padding off in a random direction.
As John moved trough underbrush and grass in search of the noise, he continued looking around at his surroundings like a child with a new toy. Tons of plants he had never seen or heard of in his life were in every direction he looked, and only his knowledge that any of them could be dangerous kept him from running through them like an idiot. He had never felt excitement like now in ten years, and all that bottled-up energy was gushing forth at this very moment. he felt like a kid, when everything hadn't gone to hell. John sighed, remembering that he was in a mysterious with vague knowledge about how he got there.
The growling John had heard was growing louder, seeming like it was almost on top of him. Sweat formed in beads as he approached the noise, hoping he could succeed in sneaking up on the beast. He slowly crept into a bush, eyes searching for the noise's source. He froze in shock at the sight before him, the creature halfway in a bush. It was large, with brown fur coating it body. A giant, inky black scorpion tail sprouted from its backside, and it slowly sniffed the air as if sensing his very presence. Its massive head swiveled toward his hiding spot, and its eyes locked onto his position. The to beings simply stared at each other, both daring the other to make the first move. John complied. He sprinted out from his bush, in the opposite direction of the beast. he could hear its footsteps, loud and clear ringing out behind him in hot pursuit. He pushed bushes and branches aside as he leapt over roots threatening to trip him. His breath came out in ragged gasps, and he could hear the thing catching up to him.
John gasped as he reached the edge of the forest. He could see a strange cottage-tree thing off to his left, a pathway leading to many brightly colored homes. He could see movement among the buildings. Now was the time to face his enemy. Pivoting on the balls of his feet, John prepared to engage the beast in mortal combat. The creature bound from the forest, giving out a deafening roar as it did so. It pawed the ground like a bull, staring him in the face. With a yell John charged towards the thing. It, too, began running in a full sprint at him. before they could collide, however, John leapt up and over the beast, bringing his knife into its back as he passed over it, staining his cloak with red. It gave a howl of pain, before flinging him off its back. John landed on his feet, ready to continue the fight with fists and feet. He ran up to its face, spun on his left leg and brought his right foot to smash into the side of its head like a hammer. It reeled, stepping away from Johns mighty attacks. But he would give no quarter, as he rushed yet again, this time grabbing its shoulder, hoisting himself onto its back. Before it could throw him off, he pulled his knife from its back, causing it to release a loud whimper of pain. He leaped from its back, rolling on the ground and coming to his feet, ready to fight once more.
Imagine John's surprise when the creature went back to the forest, whimpering in pain. John collapsed, the adrenaline leaving his system, he suddenly felt incredibly weak, like a gentle breeze could sweep him away. His vision blurred and fogged, as he tried to focus on anything. He heard walking noises coming from behind him, yet he didn't have the energy to turn around and see what it was. He heard fevered whispers, coming from everywhere he couldn't see. His breath slowly returned to him, vision back to normal, and he slowly rose to his feet. He turned, expecting the unexpected. yet John still gasped as he saw what it was chattering behind him.
There were probably 30 of them, forming a semi-circle around him. They stood on four legs, almost all of them brightly colored in purple, blue, green, orange, you name it. they were all staring at him with wide, frightened eyes, whispering among themselves, wondering what he was as he wondered what they were. No one made to move, simply digesting the image of the other.
They creatures standing before John continued to stare, and vice-versa. No one made a move. A tumbleweed blew by, bouncing merrily through the space between John and the ponies. The silence stretched on into what could have been hours or minutes, no one was keeping track. the silence, however, was not meant to last, and was shattered like glass as a thick-accented voice called out to everything gathered. "Move out the way now, y'all hear?" John was equally surprised to hear the ponies speak English as he was to see a group of six of the things to walk towards him through a pathway the crowd had formed. he looked at each of them, taking in their features. It was fairly obvious they held some form of importance.
The one leading the group was a lavender color, with a feminine look about it. It had a strait black mane with pink and purple highlights running through it, a horn parting it at the forehead.. She had purple eyes, and wore an expression of quizzical curiosity. next to her was a orange, well-built pony wearing a stetson hat, one that seemed to carry the weight of much wear and tear upon it. It had green eyes, and looked like it was judging how to respond to the sight it was beholding, with its eyebrows in a deep furrow. On the other side of the purple one, a mass of pink was bouncing, eyes closed and wide grin plastered on its face. John had no idea why it might be happy, but this mystery was dismissed when no easy answer presented itself. Flying above all of them was a sky blue pony, wings beating in slow, lazy motions. Its arms were crossed, and it looked incredibly bored with the whole ordeal. A fifth and final pony presented itself, walking up from behind the others. Its mane was a deep purple color, and heavily stylized, slightly darker than the first pony's colors. Its coat was a marble white, and looked like much care and attention was given to it 24/7. A horn also adjourned this pony's skull.
All of the pony's walked up to within five feet of John, not an ounce of fear in any of them. Silence returned for a brief few seconds, before the purple one cleared its throat, and spoke. "Who and what are you, and how did you get here?" This question was a deceptively hard to answer. How should he deal out information to creatures from god knows where, who would do god knows what to him? John decided that telling them his name would be a good place to start. "My name... is John. John Abraham." This seemed to confuse the purple pony, a single eyebrow raising. "that's an odd name. Again, where are you from?" John thought hard as to what to say. Sate? Country? Planet? Dimension? He decided to start with country, that sounded good. "Ever heard of the United Sates of America?"
"No, i have never heard of such a place."
"Hmmph. Figures. i don't know what else to tell you, whatever you are." This seemed to anger the creature, indignation flashing across it's face. "I'll have you know, sir, that I am a pony! We have always been in this land, known as Equestria." This was new information to John. A place called Equestria? John had never heard of such a place before, either. He brought a hand to his chin as he thought, only to have them interrupted by the orange pony, which spoke with the heavy drawl he had heard earlier. "So, why was that manticore chasin' you in the first place?" The crowd of ponies began to echo the question, eager to hear what had caused the battle. "Hmmm... Quite simply, I was just in the forest, saw the... manticore, you called it? Anyways, it chased me to here, and so I defended myself." This time the blue, flying pony spoke up, using a high and scratchy voice filled with curiosity. "Why were you in the forest?" John sighed. All these questions, just kept coming and coming. he hadn't talked to a group of people bigger than five in ten years, for Christ's sake! he decided to go with the easy way out. "Long story." Unfortunately for John, the ponies were not to be put off so easily. The purple one, who John realized he didn't know the name of, stepped up to him, practically shoving her face into his. "Perhaps you'd like to tell us this story in a more secluded spot?" At this John gave a frustrated groan, and decided that the sooner he got this over with, the better. "Fine. Where exactly are we going?"
"to my library, of course."
All five of the previously described ponies, plus one John hadn't seen before, had arrived. The newcomer had a long and lustrous pink mane and tail, that flowed like liquid fluff. She had tender, caring eyes that seemed as if the shunned the notion of anything aggressive or violent. She had a creamy tan coat, a color lighter than clouds themselves. The pony continually tried to hide behind her companions, and was held in the open by those same ponies. John sat down in the center of the floor, looking around at the building he was now in. however, building isn't entirely accurate. Instead, where he now sat was the middle of a hollowed out tree. Shelves of books lined the wall, along with various nick-knacks like small statues and masks and flowers. Stairs led up to a balcony above, and from there a small hallway led off to somewhere. He brought his eyes back to the mares in front of him, all of which were now seated. The mental image of a teacher lecturing a class on some subject or other, and this brought a smile to John's face. He cleared his throat, ready to recite his tale. "Now where shall I begin... Ah ha! I know! *ahem* many year s ago..."
It all began on the 15 of March. By shear, unlucky coincidence, many power-hungry leaders had come into power recently. Fights turned in to wars. Sides were picked, and bombs and sickness began its merciless rain upon the world. People died in the thousands, cities were bustling with people, and the next day demolished, ruins looking like no one had been there for century's. The world was dying, and everyone knew it. So we built underground, where the bombs wouldn't reach us. But that didn't stop the sickness. It was always, it wasn't meant to be cured, it was meant to murder and kill those it laid its filthy hands upon. The bunkers were wiped out, save for those few people who had some sort of immunity. i was one of those people. My family were not those people, and my wife, Diane, died along with my daughter. She was only 6 years old. Hr name was Amanda.
As time went on, nature failed to rid itself of the chemicals and filth we had delivered to its doorstep. Trees and plants died, only those few places that hadn't gotten entangled in the web of alliances and pacts. The worlds population had gone down from billions upon billions to less than one million. We, the survivors, weren't going to give up. we began building our own homes wherever we pleased, bearing the sadness of countless deaths on our shoulders. over the decade since the world ended, people have hardly seen another human. Our lives became a dull repetition of the same dusty plains and rocky wasteland. And now, I find some weird purple thing floating in mid-air, and suddenly i'm in a forest getting chased by a manticore and fighting for my life.
John rapped up his story with a few stray tears flowing down his face. His voice had never changed from a deadpan narration, yet his body shook with small, silent sobs. All of the ponies around had eyes wider than thought possible, and their moves hung ajar. They had never heard of such violence and death and sickness. They lived in a Utopia, where everything was perfect. No one said anything, much too shocked for words to properly portray what they all felt. they all sat like this for many minutes, before that thought were shoved aside by a knock on the door, followed ny a deep, gruff voice that demanded attention and compliance.
"By order of Princess Celestia, open the door this instant!"
"By order of Princess Celestia, open the door this instant!"
All present ponies plus one human all jerked their heads towards the door to the library, snapped out of their shocked state. the old oaken door was soon shaking on its hinges as a loud pounding began, and the voice repeated itself. "Open the door, NOW!"
The purple pony stood up, still shaking from John's tale. "I'll uh... get the door, I guess." She slowly trotted towards said door, the banging of a hoof on wood never ceasing. The moment her hoof moved the latch at all, the door was slammed open with a loud crack, sending her head-over-hooves across the room. John watched as four tall, ponies entered the room. They all looked identical, with a sleek white coat and light blue tail. they wore spartan-esqe golden armor which sported a Mohawk of the same color as their tails. They each had a pair of wings sprouting from their sides, and a large and burly build to them. Their blue eyes quickly scanned the room, before coming to rest on John, causing their eyebrows to crease into a sharp angle. The front and foremost guard spoke with the same gritty voice heard from before. "you are under arrest by royal decree of Princess Celestia, human! "
That last bit surprised John. They knew what he was? Why was he being arrested again? He wasn't about to simply let them do whatever it was to convicts in this place without a fight. He didn't get sucked into some portal just to be arrested. John stood up slowly, before raising freshly clenched fists into a fighting stance. He didn't need to say anything in reply to these police ponies, or whatever they were. His posture told them enough. The lead guard snapped out a quick charge! before he galloped strait towards John.
John waited until his attacker was almost on top of him before spinning to the side. He continued his spin while extending a fist, bring it smashing into the passing pony's side, both winding him and knocking him to ground. The rest of the guards hesitated at seeing their apparent superior taken down so fast, but two more of them charged forward nonetheless, one slightly farther ahead than the other. The lead guard turned 180 degrees when he got close to John, and swiftly bucked out with his legs. Unfortunately for him, John caught his legs, holding them in a tight grip. The guard was then flipped onto his back with a loud thump as John shoved the offending limbs upwards. But when the second guard arrived only a split second later, the wind was driven with great force from John's lungs as the pony's head rammed his stomach. The charge continued , barley slowed down from the added weight, until John was slammed into the far wall with a grunt of pain. The guard smirked, thinking his target was finished. he was wrong, so very wrong. This truth was given to him in the form of a knee crashing into his throat, knocking him back with a whiny. As soon as he was free, John crossed his arms over his shoulders, before swinging them in wide arks into the sides of the guards throat, who was knocked out immediately. John gasped in shock and pain as he felt two hooves connect with his back, sending flying into the wall yet again. Darkness swallowed the edges of his vision as he fought to maintain consciousness. Such was not the case, however, as he felt yet another buck push his body against the wall a third time, finally bring the darkness to cover his whole vision, swallowing him whole.
John awoke to a throbbing pain in his head. He grained sitting up, without opening his eyes. It felt like he was on a... bed? Why on earth was he in a bed? He slowly opened his eyes, and took in his surroundings. he was in what appeared to be a square-shaped prison cell, roughly twelve feet across in both directions. The walls were a pristine white, almost blindingly so. he was sitting on a clean, pony-sized bed with dull red covers. One wall, opposite the one his bed was at, was a colonnade of steel bars, with a heavy marble door on the left side, that was separating him from an equally white hallway, with busts of random unicorns sitting on Greek style pillars.
John couldn't see anyone outside his cell, so he sat on the bed, and thought. Why did he get arrested? Other than his display of resistance, of course, but they had tried to arrest him before that. Was it because he was human? He didn't see how that warranted his imprisonment, unless this was some sort of racist dictatorship. But no, They had mentioned a princess. A monarchy? Their certainly wasn't any government back home, certainly not a monarchy. What had become of those six mares he had been with? were they arrested as well? Or was this some sort of complex trap?
Unfortunately, John's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, A slow and creaky sound, almost ominous in nature, to the right of his cell, followed by the echoing sound of hooves on cold stone. John sat waiting for what seemed like hours, an eternity even, as the hoof steps became louder and louder, closer and closer.
A guard, as identical as all the others that John had seen, stepped into view, wearing a face entirely devoid of emotion. The guard turned his head, and reached into a small pouch at his side. The guard pulled forth a small, crystal clear gem from it, Cut into the shape of a diamond. The guard looked strait at John, and the gem briefly glowed a sickly green color. Immediately, John felt his limbs seem to grow heavy, and his eyes begin to feel heavy. he felt sluggish and weak. The guard replaced the gem, and turned one again to John, the slightest hint of a smirk upon his face. "Princess Celestia requests your presence." The guard pulled a large, steel key from another pouch, inserted it into the lock, and opened the door to John's cell. the guard trotted up to John and slung him over his shoulder with as little ceremony as possible. "You'll be much too weak to do anything in your state. Don't even bother trying to escape." John was too tired to respond.
The guard hauled John down a seemingly endless amount of hallways, all the same bleak, white marble passageway that had been outside John's cell. He tried to keep a mental map of where he was going, But his efforts were thwarted by the unountable number of twists and turns, ups and downs that he and the guard traversed. The occasional pony passed them by, and all of them gave him extremly odd looks, like theyed just seen an alien. Of course, this made perfet sense, considering they had just seen an alien.
John began thinking once more on his situation. He was being held prisoner for unknown crimes, in a strange new world, with strange new creatures. He had fought one such creature, a manticore, and won. Then he had met the ponies, who considering the circumstances, were fairly nice. Then he had fought some sort of guard/police force, and been knocked out. Now he was under some sort of magic gem thing's spell, and was being brought to a "Princess Celestia", whoever that was.
John's thoughts were interrupted when Guard carrying him stopped. He heard the sound of a massive wooden door opening, and then his forward progress continued, Into a huge room that John could only describe as epic. A long red carpet with golden lining ran down the entire length of the room. Huge windows that depicted scenes of battle and victory over some sort of creature that looked like one of, well, everything. Massive columns of stone, at least three feet across, lined the side of the room, each with intricate spiraling designs sprawling up and down their lengths. As he and the guard reached the bottom of a small staircase, John was deposotid on the ground, before he heard a stiff and formal your Majesty , followed by the sound of retreating hoof-steps.
John felt his odd state of tiredness immediately lifted from his being as he heard the huge doors he had entered through close, and he jumped to his feet within a split second, whipping his head towards the staircase, and took in the monarch that he had heard of many times by now. She was much taller than the other ponies, roughly the same size as John himself. She was adjourned with a golden necklace, and large golden shoes that glowed with the radiance of the sun. Her coat was a pristine white, the same white as the halls John had traveled trough only moments ago. A huge unicorn horn took up almost all of her forehead, along with a golden tiara. Huge wings, each four feet in length at least, spread wide to her sides. But the most interesting part was her mane and tail. They were blue, pink, and green at the same time, running in strips down their lengths. They seemed to flow in a nonexistent wind, simply hanging in the air and defying gravity. A deep scowl was on her face, and John would bet good money that it had to do with him.
Celestia spared no time in introductions, speaking in a regal and elegant, yet currently rough and demanding voice. "Who are you and how did you get here?"
John decided that wasting time thinking of some sort of lie could end very badly for him. "My name is John Abraham, princess , and i'm here by accident." Apparently using sarcasm was totally fine, though.
Celestia's frown deepened at this news, her eyebrows looking like a giant "V". "And what exactly was this accident, Mr. Abraham?"
Look at us, already on a last-name basis. Sarcastic thoughts aside, John proceeded to explain for the second time how he came to this place, and not once did Princess Celestia interrupt or suddenly yell out 'LIAR!' or anything of the sort. As John's story reached its closure, Celestia brought a hoof to her chin, and muttered, almost too quietly for John to hear, "So my suspicions were correct..." She lowered her hoof back to the ground, and adopted an apologetic face. "I am sorry to have put you in jail, Mr. Abraham, but the last time humans were here..." A slight shudder ran down Celestia's body, before continuing. "Anyways, I am afraid I must keep you here a bit longer; I have an offer to make to you."
This greatly confused John, this whole conversation. There have been humans here before? What did they do that caused Celestia to shudder, and what exactly would this offer have to do with? Everything was happening so fast, he didn't know what to think of anything anymore. He hope he would get a chance to sleep soon, hopefully without getting knocked out this time. He sighed, resigning to his fate of a puppet of destiny. "How long do I have to wait exactly?"
"With any luck, my student and her friends should be here any minute now."
"Wait, who? an why does this 'offer' concern them?"
"You'll just have to wait until I tell all of you, won't you?" With that, Celestia let an extremely non-regal an troll-ish grin posses her face, before giving a small chuckle. John, on the other hand, was frustrated with his inability to gather any knowledge on the subject. Just then, the huge wooden door was once again pushed open, and some familiar faces passed through the open doorway.
"Princess? what was it that you wanted me and my friends fo-"
the purple mare stopped, as she noticed John standing only a few feet away from Celestia. She saw the human, John if she recalled, turn and look at her, and she saw surprise etch itself onto his features.
"What the he- shes your student?!"
Princess Celestia only giggled more, trying and failing to hide her grin behind a hoof. "Indeed. Have you two met? John, this is my prized pupil Twilight Sparkle, and Twilight Sparkle, this is John." Both the pony and human simply stared at each other, Twilight wondering what exactly had happened after John's arrest, and John wondering how he had managed not to learn her name before now. All of Twilight's friends walked up behind her, with equally perplexed faces on them, before a blob of pink smothered John's face.
"John, your all right! when all those meanie-begenie guards came in and went all bang! Pow! Crash and then left with you I was sooooooo worried, even though I had just met you, and then I was like *gasp* i left the sink on! and ran back home to turn it off!"
John was entirely confused by the small mass of vaguely related sentences that had just come out of the pink ponies mouth. "Uh, glad you care, miss...?"
At this, the pink pony gave and even bigger gasp, and immediately began bombarding John with words yet again. "Oh my sugary sweets, I didn't give you my name! How rudie Mc rude pantsie of me! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I love sugar and spice, and everything nice! especially the spice part, I love to eat my cupcakes with hot sauce!"
"Uhhhhhh..." John gave a pleading look to Twilight, only causing her to giggle.
"*ahem* while we're at it, why don't I introduce everypony? This i Rarity-" he pointed to the white one with purple mane. "-that's Applejack-" he pointed at the orange one with a hat. "-This is Rainbow Dash-" the flying rainbow one "-and this is Fluttershy!" she concluded, pointing to the shy, cream colored one, who was currently shivering and hiding behind Applejack. John committed the names and faces they belonged to memory, and then remembered something else entirely.
"Um, what was the offer you had for us, Celestia?" All eyes turned toward the Princess, who only just managed to wipe a smile off her face as all the ponies looked at her. She cleared her throat, and adopted a serious expression; It was time for business.
"The offer I have for all of you is this. Actually, let me tart with some back story. Recently, something has felt... odd with the world, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was wrong. I had my suspicions, which were only now proven by the means of John's arrival. I realized that rifts between worlds; portal, if you will, have been appearing all over Equestria. The spell I cast to separate world, cast many millennium ago, must finally be coming undone." She paused when she saw the eager hoof of her favorite student in the air.
"Princess, why can't you just recast the spell? Does this have to do with the Elements again?"
"Allow me to explain. I was not the one cast the spell. Rather, I was the one who created the spell. It was not even ponies who had casted that spell, but rather, a race forgotten in the winds and tides of history. A member of this race is standing among us right now, as we speak."
All eyes turned towards John, surprise on their faces. John himself was just as surprised by this revelation as anyone else. human had been here? They had used magic? How did Celestia make a spell from millenniums ago? But all of their attention turned back towards the princess as he began to speak again.
"Yes, you heard me right. It was indeed a human who used the spell I had crafted, and separated the many worlds in this universe. The humans used to be a part of everyday Equestrian life, you see. But, at some point, They had grown blood thirsty. Their true nature burned through their peaceful disguise, and the human race as a whole became more violent and angry with each passing day. The time came when I had no choice but to banish them to another world, using the elements of harmony. I left the human race to their own devices, hoping that their violence would never again reach Equestrian soil. That is why, when I heard that you had appeared in ponyville, I sent my guards to capture you. I can see that you are not as blood thirsty as they were."
Princess Celestia paused, partly because she wanted to give them some time to digest some information, and partly for dramatic effect. She allowed a smile on the inside. She had always been a trickster. It was just so much fun! But she had a story to tell. On with the show, as it were.
"the only way that we can restore this spell is by placing the runes of power needed for the spell to work on your arm, John. Then you must travel to every portal that comes up, and seal it with the magic. I need you, dearest student, to accompany him along with the other elements of harmony. You may be traveling to remote parts of Equestria, and John may need some extra protection. Do you accept this request?"
Of course, all ponies and human present could tell this was not a request. This was something that could change an entire universe, almost certainly for the worse. What would they say if they refused, that they had something more important to do? All of the ponies present bowed, and gave out a chorus of "of course, your majesty." But John did not bow down. Not yet.
He was deep in thought, swallowing everything Celestia had said in her tangent. The boundaries between worlds, which had been created with a spell cast by humans, was deteriorating. The only way to fix the problem was to have magic runes placed in his arm, and go around sealing every portal they found. if the entire country of Equestria was filled with creatures like the manticore, John could see why the protection of "The Elements of Harmony" were needed, whatever they were. there was still so much unexplained to him, so much he didn't know. He realized that he didn't really have a choice in the matter.
He looked at Celestia, and sighed. "I accept your offer. So how does one put on these runes of power?"
Dear gods , I just wrote this entire chapter in one day. And it was almost all in one sitting. I can't believe I just wrote that much. But this is good. If I can keep writing chapters this long, I'm set! I also just realized that this chapter took a random turn for the happy. Expect some sort of pointless and overly sad tragedy in the future.As always, keep giving me feedback, so I can improve further. I think I might be improving some!
A/N: I am sooooo sorry that this took so long. My creative juices randomly got depleted. No idea why. I hope to go back to the 'couple of days' system. again, sorry, and please give me feedback. On with story.
Deep under ground, thousands of feet of dirt and rock above, was a lone earth Pony. A old, dusty drill, tip blunt with use and age was spinning slowly, grinding against the walls of a small passage. The pony was a stallion, with a light grey coat, the color of freshly fallen ash from a campfire. His mane was a deep, crimson red, eerily close to the color of dried blood. The stallion's eyes were a sharply contrasting forest green, the color of lush vegetation.
The pony allowed his thoughts to wander as he dug away at the dirt, carving out his tunnel through dark and dry underground air. He hated this job. It was so lonely, just you making fractions of progress every hour, only rarely bringing back anything more valuable than a pretty stone to look at. But it kept food on the table. But only just. he wished he could just leave and find another job that didn't involve breathing the same dirty air for hours on end. But his hometown of Maneison, capitol of Wisclopsin, meant too much to him.
Then suddenly and without warning, came a dull 'clank' from the tip of his drill. The stallion stopped turning the antique, moving it to the side to look at what had caused the odd noise. His breath caught in his throat when he saw a speck of shimmering gold concealed by the dirt walls. He grabbed his drill once more, and began carefully digging around the gold, as its shape slowly came to his awareness.
It was a disk, roughly a foot across and an inch thick. This was enough gold to rid him of this pathetic job. But what intrigued him more was the strange runes and patterns engraved upon it's surface in swirling, symmetric patterns. the pony wondered how such an artifact had come to be buried under layers of dirt and rock, if it was anywhere near as valuable as it seemed. He reached out a hoof to grab the disk. As his being came into contact with the disk, he immediately cringed and fell away from the gold as a sudden and burning pain enveloped him. thoughts, motives and desires that were not his flooded into his mind as the purpose and use of the disk all became clear to him. No longer the simple miner pony, a smile slowly spread across his face as he grabbed the disk, and became enveloped in a purple light before disappearing into nothingness.
"So, how exactly does one put on these runes of power?" John asked, looking at Celestia, hoping she would say something simple, like 'you paint them on' rather than some sort of complex magic voodoo crap. He really could not handle more weirdness beating him up every chance it got.
The princess brought ta hoof to her chin, deep in thought trying to recall exactly how to complete the ceremony involved with acquiring the runes. "Ah-ha! I remember! Just follow me, John, and I will explain once we reach a more private area." John was confused as to why they needed to be in a private place, but followed the princess nonetheless, leaving behind the six confused mares.
John and the Princess walked down more of the impressive, searing white halls, passing by more and more twists and curves, John second attempts at making a mental map failing miserably yet again. After many minutes, they reached a door, just a little taller than John and Celestia. The door was enveloped in a blue aura, Celestia's horn similarly glowing as the door was opened. Celestia walked into the room, John following her after a moment of hesitation.
The room was utterly lacking in furniture, other than a plush red rug that smothered the floor. The walls were a gray knock-off of the pristine whites of everything else. Celestia walked to the far side of the small room, before sitting down on the rug. John sat across from her, unsure what exactly was going to happen. Celestia gave a mischievous grin, before stating with as much menace as her cheerful voice could manage, "Lets begin, shall we?"
Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie-Pie, rarity, Fluttershy, and rainbow dash were tired of waiting. It had been roughly an hour; Twilight had checked with a spell. Rainbow Dash was trying to pass time by doing lazy loops through the large, spacious room they were in. Pinkie was playing a game of chess with Fluttershy, though no-pony knew where exactly she got the chess board from. Rarity was absently brushing her mane, looking out through one of the huge windows. Applejack was simply watching Pinkie and Fluttershy play chess.
They all looked up from what they were doing when the return of Celestia and John was announced with the now familiar sound of the massive entry doors opening. they saw Celestia enter the room, nothing different about her. Then they all let out a gasp when John walked in.
He still had his dull brown cloak on, but it was no longer over his shoulder like a shroud. It now hung behind him like a cape, revealing the cloths below. he wore gray, digital camo pants, tons of pockets in the typical military fashion. A dull green shirt, covered with dirt and grime, was covered with belts holding knives and pockets for whatever he needs to hold. The biggest change was his right arm.
Red patterns arching across his skin were tattooed to him in the form of glowing red symbols. Flowing purple lines swirled in spiraling patterns, floating half an inch above his skin. Clear purple plates of magic covered his knuckles and joints, giving the limb an armored appearance. On the back of his hand was a pattern of a closed eye, and on his palm, an open mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.
John looked at all of the mares in front of him, each of them gaping like they had forgotten that Christmas was tomorrow. He smiled, soaking in the attention like a dry old rag. Going for a cliche, he flexed his arm, giving a grunt as he did. This caused everypony present to burst into a bout of uncontrollable giggles. His smile grew larger at the sight, and he felt strangly... like a part of everything. Like he belonged here. It was incredibly surreal.
Celestia allowed them a little bit of laughter, before moving on to business. "I hate to interrupt your play, but we have more pressing matters, wouldn't you agree?" Everypony gained an ashamed look, glancing at the floor. "I will have some guards bring what you will need for this journey." Celestia walked out of the hall, not even bothering to close the massive door.
Everyone just stood there, now unsure of what to do. they now had a sense of urgency and importance shoved onto their shoulders, making it feel like they were undermining the issue if they simply went back to silly shenanigans. So they simply stood there, each and every one of them trying to think of something to break the ice.
Their struggles were relived, much to their inner thanks, when princess Celestia arrived again, this time with seven guards in tow, each wearing large and durable looking packs, presumably filled with survival equipment and food and water and such. A guard walked up to one pony/person each, and slipped the packs off of their backs onto the ground, accompanied by the sound of rustling and tinkling sounds from within the bags.
the packs were picked up and placed upon our hero's backs, John somehow fitting despite its equine design. Celestia nodded, satisfied that they were ready for the journey ahead of them, before barking out in a very official sounding voice, "My most faithful student and friends, plus one human, are you ready to depart on your journey?" they all nodded, while steeling themselves for whatever lay ahead. "then go to the exit of the main castle; Twilight will know the way. Take my chariot to Ponyville, and start your search from there. Good luck, everypony!"
Twilight led the way through the many maze-like halls of Canterlot castle. No one spoke up, just wordlessly following Twilight wherever she may lead. John thought about what he was leaping into, with hardly any idea what this world was like. For all he knew, there were Manticore's everywhere, and fighting them was a common occurrence. Of course, unknown to his pony companions, the magic in his arms did more than locate and seal the dimensional rifts. The princess had made sure he and her student would be safe.
Eventually, after what seemed like an un-countable amount of time, they arrived at the exit to the castle. It was perhaps more grand than the throne room. Expertly trimmed hedges lined the door frame, tiles of a rich crimson flowing out of the entryway like a river. Fresh air was blowing across John's body, and felt simply blissful. However, when they all walked towards a golden chariot, which was strung to two more guards, John got a massive case of vertigo when he realized there was an edge, and that the edge looked over a land that was hard to make out, due to clouds obscuring the view.
John stumbeled away from the edge. They were above the clouds. The clouds . He had always had a fear of heights, and the fact that they were on some sort floating castle or something scared him, to say the least. Everypony else just looked at him like his reaction was weird.
Understanding slowly dawned on Twilight, and she trotted over to John to help him up. "Come on, your not going to fall." she slowly eased him to his feet, walking him to the chariot, before, hopping on herself. After a second of hesitation, John followed. He could hear barley contained giggling behind him, but decided that it wasn't worth the effort to silence it.
The guards attached to the chariot spread their wings, before leaping off of the castle and into the vast expanse of land below. For a few seconds, the ropes didn't pull on the chariot, but then they suddenly snapped taut before dragging John and the ponies along with the chariot. It flew through the air at an unnaturally smooth way. there was no rocking or anything.
As soon as he wasn't plummeting, John sighed in relief, glad that the horrible falling feeling was over. He once again heard the giggleing, and he turned around, ready to face the culprit. rainbow Dash was trying her best not to fall off the chariot, she was laughing so hard. She could almost feel the daggers being stared into her head when she looked up to see John staring at her with an intense amount of rage. it frightened Rainbow Dash in a way see didn't know how to describe. Like you should watch your back at every living moment.
the chariot slowly began a downward decent. Pinkie Pie peered over the edge, and gave her signature gasp of surprise. "Hay! were almost there! Now I can finally turn my sink off! Hooray!" Indeed, they were close, closer than Pinkie made it sound. In only a few moments, they felt the jostling of touching down on the ground.
They all hopped out, ready to find their first dimensional tear. This raised the question of how does on find a dimensional rift? Everypony looked to John, deciding that he was the most likely to know. "Alright, lets hurray up and find a portal thing." he said, only hints of excitement in his voice.
He raised his right hand into the air. He gave a grunt, everypony gasping when they saw the mouth on the palm of his hand begin to move, knashing its teeth over and over. John placed the hand over his right eye, and a distinct crunch could be heard, almost sickening in nature. yet another round of gasps was given when the eye on the back of the hand opened, revealing the blood-shot iris and pupil inside. the eye began frantically looking around, before focusing an one spot in a direction Twilight and her friends recognized all too well.
It was looking at the Everfree forest.
With a horrible squelching sound, John tore his hand from his face, giving a sharp intake of breath as it left his face with a sizzling pop. He fell to the ground, shivering all over. Everypony rushed to his side, all of them worried for his safety. He was breathing in quick, pained breaths, his body shuddering every time he did so. Slowly, slowly the shivering and shuddering stopped, and his breathing returned to normal.
He stared at his right hand, now worried that it might try to eat his face. The entire process hadn't acually hurt , but it had left this empty chill in his body. He wanted to do that as little as possible. He glanced up, past the ponies surrounding him, and towards the direction the eye had pointed him. He could still see the red aura in the distance, a strange outline of the forest roof that did not belong there.
John shakily got to his feet, the shivers leaving his spine. he took a deep breath in, before calmly looking into each of the ponies eyes. "Well, lets hurry up and go!" he began walking toward the red aura, not even checking to see if they were following or not.
"Hold on, sugarcube! Were ah' comin'!" They all gave a quick dash to catch up with the slowly retreating form of John. When they caught up, he didn't speak to them, simply acknowledging that they were there. Everyone just walked in silence, this time guided by John rather than Twilight.
They reached the edge of the Everfree forest in only a brief few moments, pausing when they came upon its edge. Everyone but John was quaking in their hooves. They had all had many frighting experiences and troubles brought by this forest. But john only had one such experience, not a lifetime of fear.
He walked forward, confident in his ability to handle whatever this forest threw at him. He could take it. He had taken so much on before, this was not a new experience. He could hear the other following behind him, entirely reliant on his ability to lead them through. He would not let them down, he couldn't. That wasn't how he worked.
An endless sea of green passed them as they continued to march through the thick undergrowth of the Everfree Forest. Chirping of birds and buzzing of insects could be heard from all sides, deafening compared to the silence that prevailed their group. Shadows dappled the ground, shifting as one with the canopy of lush leaves.
They were close. John could feel it, a numbing vibration of his muscles. Adrenalin began pumping through his body as it prepared itself for whatever lay ahead, all of John's body's own accord. He began stepping lighter, leaving all but a whisper of sound where he stepped. He could see a clearing ahead, right where the portal was, a dazzling array of light pouring through the gap in the thick roof of leaves and branches.
He almost stepped into the clearing, before he saw something that did not belong with the picture. Something that should not be there, something he hadn't thought of, or even occurred to anypony, Princess Celestia included. There, standing in front of the brilliant display of purple mist and light, an unnatural vortex of color, was a pony chanting in a deep, rhythmically voice, speaking words and syllables that John could not decipher or understand. Floating next to the ash-gray pony was a disk of gold, an almost liquid purple dripping off of its surface, light bending and fracturing as a purple mist floated away from it and into the portal.
It took a moment for this to sink into John and company's minds. There, standing in plain view, was a pony in the process of assisting or creating a portal, tearing a rift through dimensions as if it were as tough as butter. They stood dumbfounded, not believing that this wasn't simply a natural occurrence, but the efforts of a pony with motives and reasons unknown to them.
They had to act, had to prevent the completion of this tear through time and space. Almost as one, they leaped out of the undergrowth and bushes, and into the clearing. John did not wait for the pony in front of him to notice his presence, he announced it himself, in a loud and angry voice. "STOP! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!" the ashen pony startled, before turning around to face the intruder upon his plans.
He did a double take when he did not see another pony, but instead a strange creature that stood six feet tall, and wore a large brown cloak. The creatures face was flush with aggression. The stallion didn't know what this creature was, but it had spoken and could go off at any second, by the looks of things. Only then did he notice the six mares standing behind the thing, all of them bearing equally enraged expressions.
It was then that the stallion also became angry, angry that these ponies and things were trying to stop him, dared to go against his goals. He could not tolerate a disturbance, and the situation must be dealt with immediately. He went into a charging stance, brushing his hoof against the ground, preparing to dash strait at them. The mares did likewise, but the strange creature did no such thing. Instead, it slowly, with an almost practiced precision, pulled back the right side of it's cloak, revealing the mass of red tattoos and lines that covered its arm.
The stallion took this as the signal to strike. He began barreling towards the group, forming a cone of magic that he should not have into a spear of deadly magic. The mares began to charge, put the strange creatures held his hand out to its side, gesturing for them to stop. The stallion continued his charge, noticing the confused looks the mares were giving the creature. He smiled. His spear of magic versus some strange tattooed animal would end badly for the latter, he was sure of it.
John allowed a smile onto his lips as the stallion in front of him charged, some sort of magical spear floating in front of it. John signaled his nerves to unleash the restraints set upon his arm, and the tattoos spread across his whole body, unnatural strength and energy coursing through his body, filling his whole being with a sense of power and superiority. He could feel magic surroundig him, giving him an elated high of satisfaction at how simply good it felt.
"Come and get some."
A/N: by the way, I got a proof reader, so the quality should improve a lot. Other than that, no new news. Other than that episode three was amazing, of course.
John braced for the inevitable charge of his opponent, the mysterious ashen-grey stallion. He saw the stallion snort a puff of steam from his nostrils, dragging his hoof across the ground for emphasis, the classic signal for an incoming bull's charge. John was not disappointed, as the stallion did indeed charge forward, changing from a stand-still to a quick dash in mere moments. He was upon John almost immediately, rearing up on his hind legs, spear pointed downward.
But John would not be taken down so easily. as the spike of energy came swooping down, John dove forward, smashing his shoulder into the stallion's stomach. He could hear the wind rush out of his opponents lungs as he tumbled away from him, rolling across the ground like a rag doll.
The stallion got up almost instantly, hopping to his hooves in a flash. His attack had been countered, but that didn't mean he would lose. He wouldn't lose, couldn't lose. Once again, he charged, his tactic appearing unchanged to someone with no experience in combat.
John was no novice, however, and he was expecting something different. The stallion spun on a dime as he reached the spot just in front of John, pulling his legs back for a buck. John smiled a little, as he realized that one of his arresting guards had done the same thing. he sidestepped the hooves that shoot out at where he just was, hearing the 'whoosh' of air being shoved aside by a rushing force.
John grabbed the leg closest to him, gripping it in an iron vise. He yanked it to the side, hauling the stallion off his hooves as he was pulled in the direction he had kicked. John brought his knee smashing upwards, right into the passing chin of the stallion. He then released the leg, allowing his foe to fly through the air, the force of John's knee spinning him like a pinwheel.
A loud crack! rang out across the clearing as the stallion's body smashed into a thick tree. he slumped to the forest floor, limps splayed out in random directions. John breathed out, leaving his defensive stance. It came right back as the stallion became surrounded in a sickly purple haze, his body floating back into a standing position, limbs forced to bear the weight of his body. A snapping sound was heard as limbs came back into place, the stallion finally standing on his own two feet.
John did not let the stallion get a chance to attack him first, as he ran strait at the ashen form in front of him. He ground his feet into the ground when a lance of energy suddenly appeared out of thin air, right in his face. He ducked underneath it, already pulling his arm back for a punch, as a brilliant plume of pain spread across his left side, as he was hurled rolling across the ground.
John stopped, coming to his feet slowly. He looked at the stallion, only to see him already charging strait towards him, a maniacal grin plastered across his face. John lurched to the side, just in time to see the lance literally grind against the runes on his arms, sending a shower of red sparks through the air.
John spun with the tug of the lance's scrape, extending his left elbow as he did. He felt it impact, felt it hit something, before a burning pain like nothing John had ever felt before swarmed his arm, snaking through his bone and muscle. He saw a splash of red pass by his eyes, as everything slowed down. He turned his head, looking for what was bleeding. He saw the tip of the stallion's lance, then his arm, then the lance again.
His vision swam as he saw his arm pierced by the purple spike, before a horrible scream tore it self from his throat. In a rush of pure, unguided instinct, he lunged his open hand into the neck of the stallion. He squeezed as hard as his arm would allow, before lifting them up off the ground, then tossing them through the air.
The lance came with the stallion.
John screamed in pain, a new round of horrible burning sensations corrupting his being, filling his mind. Blackness began taking over his vision, cold, sweet blackness, free of pain and hurt. He dove into the dark, the unknown, allowing the wonderful relief of nothingness to wash over him.
The miner emerged from the haze of purple light, looking around him at the new environment that surrounded him. No longer was he in the catacombs of his little tunnel, but rather the top of a mountain, overlooking a misted valley, lush trees obscuring his view of the land below. He breathed in a deep breath, savoring the taste of fresh air. A smile found its way onto his dust-coated muzzle, the fell of wind simply divine compared to the stale air of the underground.
Now was not the time for sitting around and thinking about how wonderful the outdoors were. Now, he could be outdoors whenever he wanted, go anywhere he pleased at anytime. This simply wonderful thought made his smile grow even larger, to insane per-portions.
Yet, he had a sense of urgency, about him. He needed to complete his task. he didn't think about how he had never had these desires before, he didn't think about how he knew the things he now did, he simply began doing what his mind instructed. A deep chanting bean, words he had never spoken rolling out of his mouth with the ease of somepony who knew what they were saying. taking an almost musical undertone, the rhythm continued, a swirl of purple mist spiraling into a condensed mass of energy.
he didn't question how he was doing magic, or where it was coming from, only that he could do what he wanted, accomplish the goals he had. He let out a low, chilling laugh, growing in pitch as the mass of purple grew ever larger, sucking the very frames of the world into it's depths.
John's eyes snapped open as he was wrenched from the depths of his sleep. His mind worked itself into a fever as he took in surroundings that weren't there when he fell asleep, that shouldn't be there. Clean white walls were pressing in from all sides, seeming to get closer with every moment. John's first thought was that he was back at the castle, as he sat up in his bed. Wait, he was in a bed? When did this happen? John shook his head, trying to clear it of all the clutter inside of it.
He realized that there was a dull throbbing emanating from his left arm, and in a sudden rush of realization, he remembered everything that had happened before he passed into a deep slumber. He snapped his head to his left looking with suddenly frightened eyes at where the magical spear had punctured his body.
Tons upon tons of bandages, all stained a horrible crimson red, were wrapped time and time again over his left arm. Or what was left of it. A stump was all that was left, his arm ending just above where his elbow should have been. A cold sweat broke across his forehead, the sensation of not feeling his arm horribly disorienting.
His state of confusion was given long to live, however, as a door, disguised among the white walls due to its equal amounts of pure lack of color, opened, and a white pony with a red cross mark on its flank walked into the room. She wore a small, white hat, in the typical nurse fashion, that also bore a red cross on it. In a bout of wild, untamed genus, John guessed she was a nurse.
"Good morning, Mr. Abraham! You got brought in here by Twilght and the others. I looked at your wound, and it should be good for now. I'm... I'm sorry about your arm. They didn't tell me how you lost, but it must have been horrible."
this new information took a moment for John to process. He had been brought to some kind of hospital, where he had been treated by this nurse pony. He realized that his companions were nowhere to be seen, which confused John. Where exactly did they go, with him sitting there in the hospital?
The nurse seemed to sense the question in the air, speaking with the same artificial happiness. "your friends are waiting for you in the lobby, Mr. Abraham." John nodded, before standing up. the ceiling just barely was above his height, and John realized that that meant he would have to duck through the doorway. He sighed, as he passed by the nurse pony, limped through the cramped door, and into a strait hallway.
Almost immediately, John was given a dose of deja-vu as a mass of pink swarmed his field of vision. "Oh my gosh! Your alright, mister human thingy! When that meanie-baginie guy poked you with the magic stick, I was all mad, but then you threw him into a tree, and I was like, 'go human guy!' and did you know you snore really loudly?"
John's eyes practically spun at the quick barrage of words, but he had made sense of them, at least he hoped he did. "I'm glad I had someone cheering for me, Pinkie." There it was again, that strange sense of comfort and belonging. He simply didn't understand what it was, perhaps their bright colors, or simple, innocent ways? He didn't know the answer to that question, and he didn't think he was ever going to find out.
He noticed the others walking up behind Pinkie, concerned frowns turning to cheerful smiles when they saw that he was well enough to handle one of Pinkie Pie's greetings. he smiled in return, happy that there were people that cared about him again. Memories of a darker time resurfaced in his mind, and he drifted into the realm of the past.
* * *
Dammit, Diane! You can hold on, come on, don't give up now!" John was holding his wife's hand, squeezing it with pent up stress and anxiety. "Come on, don't give up, don't give up! Not now!" John's voice was cracking, his worry for his wife's safety making itself known to anyone who could hear him.
"Don't worry, John. I'm not giving up. Just facing reality." her voice was angelic to Johns ears, even in its weakened state. His worry only grew, though when he heard that sentence come from her mouth. It was similar, too similar to the cliche lines from movies.
The cliche lines of people about to die.
"No, you can't die, you can't! think of Amanda, our daughter!" His voice was even more frantic now, slurred with tears dripping from his face. His wife gave no response, her eyes slowly closing and clouding over, arm going limp in John's grasp. "No no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO!" but scream and cry as he might, John could not prevent the inevitable. He could not change destiny, could not save a single life.
Diane's hand fell from his grasp, his hands shaking as his wife's breath stopped, her chest no longer rising. It couldn't be real, it coudn't be happening, but try as me might, the cold truth would not be denied, would not be ignored. So John wept, wept for everything that the horrible cataclysm had reaped from the world.
* * *
John was shaken from his memories by a orange hoof, shaking him by the shoulder. "Hey! you alright, sugarcube?" John stumbled back, the sudden shift from the past to present jarring him. he realized that tears now stained his cheeks, and he wiped them away with his good arm. Applejack stared at him like he was insane, along with everypony else.
"I-I'm sorry, just got lost in thought there." he muttered in apology, still shaken from the transition from dream to reality.
Applejack stared at him some more, only this time as if accusing him of lying. "Must ave' been some sad thoughts to get you into a cryin' fit."
John sighed. He didn't want to burden these ponies with more tales of sadness from his past. "Look, I might not be fine, but we don't need to turn this into a bigger deal than it is already, alright?" Applejack decided not to press the issue, but by no means was she going to forget it. She would try and ask him about it later.
Everypony else made their concerns known, asking him if the stump hurt, what it felt like, so on and so forth. He answered their questions as best he could, trying to find the right words to describe the feeling of not feeling. It wasn't easy. He then asked a question of his own, inquiring as to where they were.
Twilight was happy to supply an answer. "We're in the Ponyville hospital, of course. Applejack here carried you back from the forest after you passed out." John nodded, satisfied with the answer. A realization hit him like a speeding train, however, interrupting his nodding.
"Wait, what happened to the pony I fought?" he asked, looking at each of them for an answer. They all looked down at their hooves, as if ashamed of something. This was a good enough as a spoken reply for John, who brought his hand to his forehead, rubbing his temples with thumb and forefinger. "He escaped, didn't he?" They all nodded, somehow managing to do so at the same time.
John sighed, an occurrence that was becoming more and more common in his messed up life. "How , exactly, did he escape?" he asked, his already bad mood becoming worse.
"Well, uh, you see, sugarcube, he, uh, jus' sorta vanished." Applejack stammered, visibly ashamed that John's wound went in vain. John sighed, wishing that he heard heard wrong, but knowing all the same that he had heard right.
Of course, the mysterious stallion's presence raised more questions than John cared to have. Why was this pony opening portal between world? Was he not satisfied with world domination? How did he open a portal, wasn't that tough to do or something? It sounds like it would be. John shook his head, clearing it of the messy jumble of un-answered questions.
"So now what do we do?" he asked, talking more to himself than anyone else. Every single person/pony in the room brought a hand or hoof to there chin, stroking it like they had some sort of imaginary beard. No one really knew the answer, not for certain. Should they wait out John's recovery, or head out to different portals?
John realized that he hadn't even sealed the portal in the Everfree forest. he face-palmed, groaning as he did so. This meant that they would have to go back into the Everfree forest to actually solve the problem that got him hurt. His mind wouldn't let him simply ignore the portal until he got better from getting his arm chopped off , he had to settle at least one problem before he gave up for a while.
"You ponies do realize that we didn't seal the first portal, right?" they all stopped their respective chin-stroking, eyes wide with surprised realization, before a chorus of slapping noises assaulted John's ears as they all did simultaneous face-hooves. The scene would have been comedic, if not for the reasoning behind there annoyance.
"S-so we h-h-have to go b-back into the f-forest?" Fluttershy practically whispered as she began quaking with fear at the prospect of going back into the horrible sea of green.
Rainbow Dash trotted up behind her, before laying a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Hey, its no biggie. that guy ran away, right? So he's not gonna be there anymore, alright, Fluttershy?" Fluttershy's shacking grew less violent, and she got out a nod in-between shivers.
"Well, I guess there's no point in waiting. We should head out right now and get that out of the way!" John proclaimed with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. It wasn't much, but apparently it could inspire a march from the ponies. they all walked out of the hospital, and immediately, glances were thrown in John's direction by the citizens of Ponyville, noticing the lack of arm.
The attention was unnerving to John. Nopony said anything, simply looked on and stared at the missing part of him. He was suprised that his arm wasn't hurting that much, although he was in a world where you could open rifts to other dimensions, so stopping the pain in an arm probably wasn't to hard.
They continued to weave and wind through the twisting streets of Ponyville, once again heading for the fringe of green that could be seen just above the roof's of the town's buildings. Hopefully, no new monster or pony or anything would be waiting for them just inside the forest boundaries.
Eventually they did reach the forest edge, as the sun was beginning its lazy descent from the sky to the horizon, Luna's moon beginning to break away from the earth and soaring into the sky. They hesitated at the edge once again, thinking that it might not be worth it to head out in the beginnings of nightfall.
They got close to voicing their worries, their doubts. Fluttershy was about to speak up and say what all of the ponies thought, but she never got the chance; she was interrupted by John. "It's now or never. You gals don't have to come with me, you know."
Twilight, however, simply could not abandon the person that her teacher and trusted mentor, not to mention princess , had said they had to protect him. "No way are we going to let you go an your own, John. Princess Celestia said we were your guards, and we aren't going to give up because of some big trees!"
Everypony else echoed Twilight's thoughts, all of them refusing to let John go on his own merry way. They all cared about him, even only having met a day ago, or however long he had been in the hospital. They were, dare he say it, friends, and a good friend doesn't just let you wander off into dangerous woods.
What good is a friend, if they don't look out for you?
A/N: Hmmmmm... this chapter feels a little iffy to me. At least the middle section does. I think the fight turned out great, but some of the dialogue feels really awkward. Oh well, if you guys like it, I like it!
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.
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?
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!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!
John sighed, winded from his explanation of all the events that had brought him up to this point. He was sitting on a small wooden stool, barely large enough to fit him. Across from him sat Zecora, a zebra as he had found out. She was staring at him with one eyebrow raised, sorting through the information he fed her.
"Your tale is very interesting,
John looked around, and realized that there were no clocks to speak of in the tree household. Once he had settled down on his stool, he realized that it had a homely feel. The masks had stopped unnerving him a long time ago, and the warm fire relaxed his tired muscles.
He glanced out one of the small round window, and was surprised to see the hints of a downs light creeping above the horizon. Had he really spent that long telling his tales? It had seemed to go by in one big blur, moving too fast for him to remember any details of how it went.
Looking around him once again, John realized all of his friends were passed out on the floor. All of them had their eyes closed, peaceful expressions dominating their faces. He would go so far as to say they looked adorable. A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him, drowsiness overcoming all other senses.
He could feel himself begin to slump over in his small, little stool. He was hardly aware of the sensation of a warm, thick blanket being draped over his form. the warm embrace of slumber gripped him as he sank into its comfortable depths, enjoying the sense of relaxation in the room.
* * * * *
A beam of light sneaked its way from the noon sun, in through the window of the tree house, and onto the closed eye of John Abraham. His eyelids fluttered open as he tried to cover them with his left hand. When he felt nothing, the memories of everything crashed down upon him.
All thoughts of sleep now gone from his mind, he simply looked at the cealing as he thought about his life as it was at the moment. He had been thrown into another world, with the task of saving many worlds on his shoulders. It was almost to much to bear. Yet, he pulled through, and had survived so far.
His ears twitched when he heard the sounds of movement all around him. The dull echo of hooves on wood came from all sides. Apparently everyone else had already woken up. John sat up, giving a groan of delight as he stretched his back, a loud crack emanating from his bones.
he looked at everything around him. He could see Twilight holding plates, bearing many waffles on top of them with her magic grasp. Applejack was setting out syrup while Rainbow Dash put out eating utensils like forks and knives. Fluttershy was looking out a window, staring at a large bird on the other side. Rarity was nowhere to be seen.
As she set the plates of waffles down on the small, wooden table, Twilight let out a greeting to John. "Good morning, mister sleepy-head. How long did you spend talking to Zecora anyways?"
John blinked a few times, before letting out a small yawn. "I think we talked until sunrise."
Twilight stared at him, before letting out a short giggle. "No wonder you're so tired! Even I think that's too long, and I study late all the time!"
John froze for a second. She had just said that she stayed up late studying. His wife, Diane, had done the same thing. He had often found her slumped over in her favorite sofa, drooling on some textbook or other. His mind began to piece together similarities between Twilight and his deceased wife. It was phenomenal how slimier they were to each other.
Twilight put on a slightly concerned look, before waving a hoof in front of his face. John fell over backwards in his stool, crashing to the ground with a loud 'Bang!' , eliciting another giggle from Twilight. "Just checking if you were spacing out again!"
John sighed, staring up at the ceiling. He hated remembering every day of his life that his wife had died, that she was no longer able to comfort his woes. And now, every time he looked at Twilight, he would remember it all, down to the last terrible detail that his mind had kept locked inside.
Then the scent of warm waffles drenched in delicious syrup reached his nose, and saliva instantly began filling his mouth. He swallowed, before getting to his feet, and walking over to the small table where the delicious-smelling breakfast had been placed.
He sat himself down, glancing at the ponies next to him. Fluttershy was on his left, Rainbow Dash on his right. he realized quickly that with only one hand, it would be a tough task to enjoy the meal in front of him. Lively chatter arose almost as soon as they all started eating, and many questions about Earth before the apocalypse were asked.
* * * * *
Once the meal was finished, The group of ponies and one human left Zecora's tree abode, breathing in the morning air. The smell of exotic flowers wafted through the air and into their nostrils, bringing small smiles to the group's faces. A gentle mist left much of the forest in a white haze, obscuring their view to roughly fifty feet.
Once again, John placed the palm of his right hand on his eye, the horrible crunch causing a wince to come to his face. the dull red eye on the back of his hand opened, and once again searched in quick, shifty motions for the nearest tear in the barrier between worlds.
It locked on to a spot, back in the direction of ponyville, its pupil dilating, before the eye closed once again, resuming its still state of being. John tore his palm from his face, managing to remain on his feet this time. He breathed in deep, letting his nerves return to a calm state.
Fluttershy walked up to John, and tapped him as high up as she could with her hoof. "So, um... How far away is it?" she said, managing to barely stutter at all.
John wished he knew the answer to that question. "I don't actually know how far away it is. I just know it's that way." He lifted a finger, pointing towards the red smudge on the horizon that only he could see. Apparently satisfied with the answer, Fluttershy nodded her head, hiding her actual disappointment.
They set out, walking through the the underbrush of the forest. Small side conversations sprung up between various ponies, and John made no effort to intervene. He simply placed one foot in front of the other, walking in a machine like fashion. They had basically just started their journey, and he had lost an arm. He couldn't think about this issue enough.
If things kept going at this pace, would they even last? Would Rainbow Dash lose a wing? twilight her horn? Any number of things could go wrong, yet they moved forward, unwilling to step down from their task. Their chances of success seemed to slim with every second that John lingered on his thoughts, as if victory was now impossible.
Eventually, they did make it back to Ponyville. They stopped, letting everypony tend to their various needs, checking on a pet here, making sure a sibling had everything under control there. And through it all, John simply stood waiting at the chosen meeting place, the side of the town opposite the Everfree forest.
John was just standing there, looking at the landscape beyond on his vantage point on top of a small hill. Hills sprawled out for a long distance, rolling hills of green. But on the edge of the horizon, the terrain suddenly grew rocky and rough, giving way to mountains, filled with the entrances to small caverns.
He looked at all this natural beauty, and only sadness filled his mind and heart. His world had destroyed this beauty, murdered it with weapons of mass destruction. Humanity had leveled entire cities and mountains in bickering, and had brought ruin to the natural world that had lived on the brink of destruction.
The view was one he could not pull from the depths of his memories. John was content to simply sit there and enjoy the view, time flying by in an instant. Before he knew it, everypony else was already there, tapping their hooves impatiently. "So... we're going that way?" he asked the whole group.
"Well, ya'll are the guide, right?" Applejack stated, and John immediately felt silly for asking that question. Of course he was the guide, with the whole magic powers thing going for him. He began trekking off into the hills, all of his friends following after him. Finally, a feeling of belonging began to creep up on him, though he didn't realize it.
* * * * *
It had been many days since they had set out on their second journey. They had long since passed the peaceful plains of hills, the rocky mountains, and even a small desert. Now, they were stuck in a jungle, clouds of bugs mercilessly swarming them every chance they got, humid air causing sweat to break their brow.
This resulted in the trademark whining from Rarity. No one's ears were in good condition only a few minutes into the jungle, and it was beginning to form tensions in the air.
"With all due reh-spect, sugarcube, shut 'yur pie hole! " Applejack was on her last nerve, and it was not feeling to good at the moment. Finally, Rarity's constant steam of high-pitched whining stopped, if only for a moment. The relief on everyone's ears was immediate, and a collective sigh escaped their lips.
The sun soon began its decent into the horizon, and they began to set up camp. Tents were put up, and a fire was started. They all got out packs of food, and settled in as darkness began to surround them in the swamp.
Eventually, when they were all getting into their tents, John in his own separate tent, he heard the zipper on his tent go down. "You mind?" It was Twilight, standing in the doorway, looking at him with a sheepish grin. John had no reseaon to say no, so she stepped into the tent.
"What do you think will be on the other side of the next portal?" she asked, sitting down next to him. He still wore his cloak and all his cloths, preferring the familiar comfort they brought to the blankets in their back-packs.
"I don't know what to expect. There could be anything on the other side, friendly or out to kill us. We just have to wait and see, won't we?" he said in an almost monotone voice. he himself had thought this many times as they hiked through woods and mountains, occupying his thoughts through the boredom. There was really no way to predict what they would find.
"I hope that we go somewhere without anything, so we don't have to worry about dealing with anything, good or bad." John sighed, looking out the open tent flap at the stars. He felt a small wind, chilly against the little exposed skin he had, and he closed the tent flap.
"What does it feel like... Without your arm...?" Twilight almost whispered, fearing that she would strike some nerve with her inquiry. John only looked straight at her, before he spoke slowly, carefully choosing his words. "It feels like it should hurt, that there should be feeling there. Iinstead, the'res just this... Hollow feeling, a cold bit of air that should be my arm." Twilight digested this information, and nodded.
They sat there for awhile, thinking silently on what they were to face. They didn't even know if they might find the portal tomorrow, or in a week's time. The feeling of being in the dark, of not knowing brought down a weigh ton all of their shoulders, and the warmth of the tent help drive away their fear. They could worry in the morning.
In the end, Twilight never went back to her tent. Both John and her simply passed out at some point, sprawled out inside the small confines of the tent. Already in the depths of sleep, neither was aware that the now slept leaning against each other, side to side in the tent. The warmth of the other served better than any of the blankets, and they both slept peacefully.
* * * * *
Rainbow Dash woke to the sound of birds chirping. It was a familiar sound to her, her flying sessions often bringing her close to the birds themselves. It was comforting to her, since her back had other thoughts about sleeping on the ground. She stretched, and slowly walked out of her tent.
It was a surprisingly chilly morning, and she shivered in the tiny breeze that filtered through the trees. She immediatly regretted getting out of her wram blanket, but shook her head clear. She was the toughest and coolest of ponies, she could handle a little cold weather! Hay, she controlled some of the weather.
Deciding to tough it out, she looked at where they had made last night's fire. All that remained were tiny ashes, not even a hint of heat or light present in them. She would have to tell John to go out and find more firewood, so they could cook breakfast.
She steeped over the patches of mud that littered the campsite they had chosen. It was the only flat chunk of land that wasn't one huge pit of mud, and they had taken what they could get. rarity had even used her magic to 'tidy up' the place, meaning she cleared out any rocks or bushes, made certain the groud was perfectly flat, and dug a little pit for their fire.
Rainbow Dash trotted up to John's tent, and un-zipped the flap, her request already in the tip of her tongue. It stuck in her throat when she saw Twilight laying next to him. That in and of itself wouldn't have been a problem, but there was no space between them. John was slumped over, still sitting up, and Twilight had her head on his knee, her side pressed to his leg.
It almost made Rainbow Dash queasy. Neither of them looked at all uncomfortable with the close contact, but that wasn't what really bothered Rainbow Dash. Something she had managed to keep locked up inside of her, always hiding her real feelings. The closets call had been when she was demolishing Applejack's barn, and Twilight had told her she didn't need to hide her feelings from her.
She neede some fresh air. She pulled her head from the tent, and took a deep breathy of the chilly morning air. It helped calm her confused mond somewhat, and she shook her head. Come on, Rainbow! Your the coolest of the cool! Stop getting flustered over something so small. She went off into the trees to gather the firewood herself, no longer having the confidence to ask John, though she would never say so herself.
Nopony else had been awake, so she assumed that she had somehow been the early-bird of the group. The concept of Rainbow Dash, champion napper, waking up before everyone else was ridiculous enough that it brought a smile to her lips. She snapped small branches off of any trees she passed, and soon had a big enough load.
She walked back towards camp, trying her best to not think about what she saw. It was simply so... weird that it had trouble computing in her brain, and it gave her a headache. Her mental complaints were interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping, and she sharply turned around, her wings stretching out.
Rainbow Dash didn't see anything, but she peered into the forest loom with an intense stare. Pinkie, if your trying to prank me, I swear i'll... She never finished that thought. The tree in front of her began to shimmer, a haze on its bark. Something began getting out of the tree, stepping into the swamp.
To put it lightly, rainbow Dash was scared. The thing looked reptilian, with large mud brown scales covering its body. It had a large alligator like head on its wide shoulders, with long needle teeth lining its mouth. Cold amber eyes stared at Rainbow Dash from sunken in sockets, and large, well muscled arms bore large claws.
It slowly began to advance on Rainbow Dash, its long alligator tail dragging behind it. She didn't even think, just acted. Her wings pumped, and she shot into the air. The sticks she had athered were no longer important, and the chilly air wasn't either. Just getting away from that... thing .
She flew as fast as she could in the direction of camp. The tips of the tents could be seen, and Rainbow Dash flew all the faster. Wind whipped at her, but it was nothing compared to the speeds she went at trying to do Sonic Rain-booms. She reached the camp quickly, and her stomach dropped when she didn't see anypony awake.
"MONSTER!" she yelled, putting as much volume as her tired lungs could manage. Almost instantly, ponies got out of their tents, looking frightened and very much awake. Applejack trotted over to her, looking around frantically. "Wheres th' monster, Dash?"
"I was out getting firewood, and this reptile thing walked out of a tree, and-"
Applejack shushed her with a hoof, laughing a little. "Walked out of a tree? Ah' aint' ever heard something more story-like in all mah' years!"
Rainbow Dash gave her the best glare she could. "Applejack, we fought a demented goddess who wanted to bring eternal night. That was a story."
Applejack realized that she was being silly. "Sorry, sugarcube. Either way, where is this monster?"
Rainbow turned to point at where she had come from, and found out that she didn't need to point at all. Standing there, just inside the clearing of their camp, was the lizard monster. It licked its lips, and began stepping towards them, brandishing a large stick that most certainly was not there last time Rainbow Dash checked.
* * * * *
A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this one out, guys! I had a week-long bought with writers block, though I think its gone for now. In other news, A small plastic SHIP was seen sink-ING in my tub yesterday.
John's eyes snapped open when he heard Rainbow Dash's shrill scream outside his tent. He got to his feet in an instant, and burst into the sunlight as he drew his knife from its sheath. He quickly scanned the campsite, and saw the reptile beast immediately. It glared at him as it made eye contact, and it seemed to hesitate for a split second, confused by the strange new creature it saw. Then it sprinted at John, bringing the club over its head.
John sidestepped, the sound of the club whizzing past echoing in his ears. He slashed at the creature, but his knife bounced off of its scales harmlessly.Frowning, he changed his tactic. He brought his knee up towards the creature's stomach, and felt only air when it leaped away.
John continued to aim blow after blow at the creature, yet it avoided every attempt he made at harming it. having only one arm didn't help, and was limiting his fighting abilities considerably. The reptile, grinned, before lunging forward with its maw open wide. John stumbled backwards, tripping over a small rock. He fell to the ground, the razor teeth snapping shut harmlessly overhead.
John saw his chance, and kicked upwards, shooting his legs into the creature's gut. It let out a squeal, and fell backwards, stepping away dizzily from John. Without a moment's pause, John brought his fist swinging in a hook, and smashed it into the huge jaw of the creature. Without giving it a chance to recoil, he jabbed his elbow into its throat, and kicked it away from him.
The creature was wobbling on its scaled feet, eyes unfocused and glazed over. John took a deep breath, collecting himself, before bringing his knife back for one more try. "WAIT!" John froze, stopping his knife in mid-swing. Just in front of its deadly point was Fluttershy, holding her hooves out and signalling him to stop.
Everything froze. No one moved, and silence took its place in the camp. Even the lizard stood still, confused as to why John had stopped his knife, and why the pony was defending it. Fluttershy slowly moved towards it, whispering calm reassurance in its ear. When she got close enough to touch it, John held his breath, expecting it to attack suddenly. Yet, the lizard accepted her kind motions, and glared at John before walking back into the forest.
Fluttershy walked back to the group, a soft and satisfied smile on her face. "What did you tell it?" John asked, not really sure how she managed to make the beast leave.
"Oh, I just said that if he left, their wouldn't have to be any fight." The simple answer was enough for John, He didn't know how wildlife worked here. Maybe it wanted to give them hugs until he attacked it. He sighed, feeling tired from the short but tough battle.
"I think I could use some more sleep after that." John offered no other explanation, simply turning and walking towards his tent. As he turned, he noticed a glare from Rainbow Dash. He kept turning, and walked into the tent regardless.
Why was Rainbow Dash glaring at him? Was she angry for him allowing the lizard to go free, or because he had tried to kill it in the first place? Or was it something else? Quite frankly, John was too tired to think about something so trivial. He sat back down in his tent, hardly noticing as Twilight's still sleeping form snuggled against him.
John drifted off to sleep almost instantly, not noticing when he himself snuggled up closer to Twilight. All he felt was a comfortable warmth on his side, and that it felt nice.
Outside the tent, everypony was moving about, preparing for breakfast. Applejack was sent out for firewood as a replacement for John, and everyone else brought out various vegetables, and waited for Applejack to return so they could make fried veggies.
Rainbow Dash sat on a log, farther away from the camp than the others, and the annoying thoughts crept back into her head. Why couldn't she get some peace and quiet in her head for once? she rolled over constantly, no position satisfying her irritated mind.
Why did this bother her so much? it wasn't like her feelings were known by anypony other than herself, and she had no idea if Twilight returned those same feelings. The fact that Twilight slept in John's tent didn't bode well, but Rainbow Dash held on to her hope that it was an accident, rather than intentional.
Her ears perked up when she heard the clop of hoof steps behind her, and she raised her head to look who it was. To her slight surprise, it was none other than Rarity, who wore a concerned look on their face. "Why are you sitting alone out here, Dash? Is something the matter?"
No buck something is the matter. "I'm just fine, Rarity, thanks for the concern." she said, some of her discontent seeping through her attempts to hide it.
Rarity didn't have to think too hard to realize that she was lying. "So what is the matter, Dash?"
Rainbow Dash sighed, wishing that she could think of a way to avoid saying something like this to anypony. "I, well, you see, ummm..."
Rarity simply smiled, trying to reassure Rainbow Dash. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." She sat down on the log next to Rainbow Dash, waiting for her reply.
Rainbow Dash began sweating, thinking hard on a way to say what her problem was, without saying what her problem was. "Well, um, you see, I ah, may have a crush on a... colt... Who I'm not sure returns my feelings..."
Rarity's eyes lit up. This was a subject that she knew she could help with. "Well, do they know you have these feelings? If they don't, you need to let them know! Oh, but don't be blunt about it, they don't want it all laid on them at once, they might be overwhelmed."
Rainbow dash continued to suck in everything that Rarity said, memorizing every word spoken. Rarity had a long list on the finer points of romance, and the list was growing larger and larger every minute. Roughly twenty minutes after the talk began, Rarity finished.
"Well, that should be every thing you need to know. Good luck with your romance quest, Dash!"
"Thanks, Rarity!" Dash said as Rarity moved to the now roaring fireplace, Applejack having arrived many minutes ago. Rainbow Dash moved to join her, but then thought to wake up Twilight, not seeing her around the fire.
She approached the tent, fearing what she might find inside. She gulped, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat. Your just waking her up, Rainbow. No biggie. She opened the tent, and found her fears confirmed. Twilight was perhaps smuggling closer than last time to John, if possible.
Rainbow Dash stepped over to Twilight, and nudged her roughly. "Come on, enough sleep, up and at 'em!" She continued to nudge Twilight, until she stirred.
"What... what time is it?" Twilight said, before yawning loudly. She blinked, trying to clear the drowsiness from her eyes.
"No idea, but breakfast is ready. Come on." she left the tent, not even checking if Twilight was following before plopping herself down on a log. Grabbing her meal, she didn't even glance at it before digging in. It tasted like fried cabbage, but she both didn't care and didn't wan't to check.
Twilight sat beside her, grabbing herself a serving of the meal. She too ate without speaking, just sitting in silence. It was an awkward meal, to say the least.
It was going to be a long day, Rainbow Dash could just tell.
* * * * *
Finally, after many more hours spent trekking through the insufferable forest, they had finally found the portal. It stood before them, nestled in the crutch of many tight-knit tress, hard to find unless you knew where it was, which they did.
John approached it, before looking back at the group and giving a smile. "So, who's ready to go somewhere new?" He looked around, and everypony nodded. They all made a ring around it, and placed their hooves on the murky red sphere once again.
The transition from world to energy river was just as jarring as ever, and everyone took a moment to clear their heads via shaking. They all looked around at the familiar purple stream, the sheer volume of color never ceasing to amaze and entrance them.
Then they were placed into another world, and they all looked around quickly, hoping to get their bearings on the surroundings. They saw snow falling from the sky in large clumps, making it hard to see far in any direction. The silhouette of a mountain loomed in the background, large and ominous. Sparse trees could be seen on the rocky terrain they were standing on, and the chill quickly began eating away at them.
John decided that the less time spent turning into a living popsicle, the better, so he turned to the portal and immediately began the process of sealing. He focused on his arm, the sparks of red coming almost instantly, the strain from his first attempt reduced to a dull itch.
Raising his fist into the air, John allowed some satisfaction to go into him. The ringing crack that echoed across the frozen terrain signaled that the portal was sealed, and he was about to signal the others to transfer when a ear splitting roar shattered the quiet of the land.
Floating to the ground on massive, jet black wings was a dragon.
Spines lined its body, sleek scales coating it. Small, red beady eyes stared at him from small, sunken in sockets. It roared again, and suddenly dark clouds loomed behind it. It stopped flapping its wings, and it fell to the ground with an ear splitting smash.
It began growling as John got to his feet, The dragon dwarfed him in size. He was only twice the size of its head, an din all probability it could devour him in one bite. Smoke rose from its nostrils, the growling growing in intensity.
John was scared. He had taken on a manticore, but this was completely different. It was bigger and more threatning, with cold and hungry eyes glaring at him from the sunken in sockets. Maybe if he tried to-
"Fus ro DAH!!"
A ring of azure energy slammed into the dragon from the side, causing it to recoil in pain. It's attention diverted from John, and he did not waste this opportunity to escape. He ran to the portal and placed his hand on it, instantly washing away the cold winds and freezing snow around him.
Looking further along the purple stream, John could see specks of white, pink, orange, blue, yellow, and a slightly lighter shade of purple that signify his friends escape. A smile spread across his face, and the fear that previously resided in him faded into nothingness.
John finally popped out of the gateway between dimensions, and glanced around to make certain that everypony had made it through. Not disappointed, the smile remained on his face, only growing wider by the minute.
Turning to seal the portal, John felt happy. His group had conquered two rifts already, and although they didn't do perfectly on either, they got the job done, and that was good enough for him. They just needed this luck to keep up, and they would be fine.
When the portal shattered into shimmering chunks, John couldn't help but sense the feeling of wonderment rise within him once again. Even during the day, the twinkling specks of light were something new to him, and his smile grew even wider, as impossible as that may seem.
Pulling his eyes from the light show in the sky, John placed his palm on his eyelid. Barely disturbed by the following crutch, he swiftly found the next portal, and pointed with a finger once his hand fell away from his face. Leading a fast paced march, John could hear the clank of everypony's packs as they fell in behind him.
Now he wished that he knew what exactly it was that saved them. The mysterious halo of blue looked like another form of magic, meaning the pony's world wasn't unique in that sense. But what had used the magic? Another dragon? Some other creature? John didn't feel that it was worth it to go back in the portal even if he could, so he lay the questions to rest.
Rainbow Dash was thinking to herself as well. Now that all the action was over, the same thing that had been nagging at her presented itself once again, and it irritated her to no end. She could hardly focus on the ground in front of her, and barely manged to stop herself from tripping on twisted roots.
Get your head out of the clouds, Dash! Look at yourself, beating yourself up over... her... Despite her best efforts, Rainbow Dash could not get the thoughts out of her head. It angered her, to be unable to keep control of her own head.
Her eyes wandered across the landscape, bored with the repetitive scenery. Nothing but trees, trees, some dirt, and more trees. She could tell it would be a long walk.
* * * * *
John pushed branches and leaves aside. he could see the edge of the forest up ahead, and the thought of escaping the insect infested swamp cheered him up. Quickening his pace, John rushed forward while everypony else tried to match his new pace.
Breaking the treeline, John looked around at the land around him. Sprawling hills gently sloped in calm mounds, with bright green grass and a few trees scattered about. Although some of its essence could still be seen and felt, the swamp was now behind them.
He turned to face his friends, and spread his arms. "I think getting out of the swamp deserves celebration, don't you?" Before another word could be said, Pinkie was smiling ear to ear and hopping in place.
"I haven't had a party in soooooo long, I'll have to make this the best party ever!" With that, she pulled a canon from nowhere and fried it, spreading a blanket cross the ground, complete with plate of cupcakes.
While John tried to figure out where the canon had come from, everypony else trotted over the the blanket with excitement. Time spent with friends and food would do them good after all the time spent in the swamp. After failing to come up with anything resembling a good answer, John joined them.
In the few moments he hadn't been right next to her, Pinkie had also set up a punch bowl and nachos with cheese dip. Deciding that it would be best not to question anything that had to do with Pinkie for the rest of his life, John happily dug into the food.
It was a massive improvement over the scavenged meat he was used to, and it almost brought tears to his eyes, it was so good. After a few seconds, he noticed the odd looks he was getting, so he gave a smile.
"It just tastes so good..." Nothing more needed to be said, and everypony grinned at him and got food of their own. John felt wonderful, better than he had in a long time. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and he didn't even know what the weight was. All he knew was that he felt great.
A party could do him even more good, right?
* * * * *
A/N: It is finally here. After a month of procrastinating, I got off my lazy butt and wrote some more on this story. I hope the end result means that I can get more chapters done at a much faster pace, since a once a month schedule isn't that good.
please, give me feedback, and don't forget to leave a rating after your done reading this chapter. Have a good day everypony!
Might make Redux Version Eventually
The title says it all. At some point in the future, I will make a newer version of this that will be much improved. Hopefully that one will make it onto EqD.
