Crossing Over

“What in tarnation was that?!” screamed Applejack as she ran outside to see the now dimming glow of the massive explosion.

“I don’ know. Ya think we should go an’ check it out?” Apple Bloom shouted excitedly from behind her.

“Not sure if that’s a good idea little sis’.”

“Not everything fun is always a good idea,” stated Apple Bloom.

“Ya do have a point, I suppose…”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” Apple Bloom ran past her and toward the center of Ponyville.

“Hold up there, girl! Don’t need you gettin’ yourself killed now,” yelled Applejack as she sprinted after the knuckleheaded filly.

“My word, what was that?” Rarity asked, stunned by the flood of light that had just passed through her boutique.

“It was pretty,” Sweetie Belle commented, smiling up at her.

“Well, yes,” Rarity agreed as she walked over to the window, “but I think we may have bigger issues on our hooves than if the light were pretty.”

She pointed toward the sky indicating for Sweetie Belle to come look as well.

“Wow,” they both said in unison.

“every creature, please calm down,” Fluttershy said meekly to the fluster of creatures scurrying around her and around her cottage.

“Calm down. I beg of you calm down before you hurt somepony or something,” she said a bit louder, but still went unheeded.

Fluttershy sighed to herself then took in a deep breathe.

“CALM DOWN!” she yelled out loud enough for the trees themselves to still. Every single creature within at least three hundred meters stopped immediately and moved not an inch until she spoke again.

“Thank you,” she said as politely as ever, “Now, all of you please take shelter either in your homes or in the spots around my cottage I have reserved for you all. And please, if you don’t mind, be careful.”

Fluttershy was watching the animals organize themselves when Angel hopped over and tugged lightly on her long flowing pink mane in order to gain her attention.

“Oh, hey Angel. What do you need?” Fluttershy asked the small white rabbit.

Angel simply pointed toward Ponyville.

“Oh my.”

“Twilight?!” Luna asked, “How the buck could Twilight do something like this? And what the buck IS this anyway?!”

“It is a crossing between two universes, parallel universes to be precise,” Celestia said matter-of-fact-ly.

“And you know this… how?”

“Do you remember any of the legends mother used to tell us when we were young?”

“Not many,” Luna replied, still shocked by the explosion and her sisters abnormal calmness.

“There was one that spoke of the creation of the Elements of Harmony,” she began, “Long ago, even before our parents lived, there were beings that could usher forth the creation of entire universes. They were the ones that created the Elements, and were the original wielders of them. They used them as tools to forge worlds that life could thrive upon.”

“And do you think Twilight managed to channel some of their power somehow?” Luna asked, wide eyed as she imagined such power.

“I’m not sure. However, you must know, that even though ponies everywhere consider us goddesses, those original beings, or The Great Ones as mother called them, are the closest things to true gods all of existence has encountered. Though even they could not stave off death, and eventually perished, or so the legends go. No one knows how, though. Our mother had the idea that they had emplaced themselves within the Elements of Harmony to one day guide the restoration of universes or to protect them.”

“Huh,” was all Luna could muster, and then she asked, “So if what we see above us is practically a copy of our own universe, or at least Equestria, wouldn’t they have their own set of the Elements?”

“Indeed they would,” Celestia nodded, “But all instances of the Elements existence are essentially the same.”

“Was that in mother’s tales as well?”

“No, I learned that on my own during the thousand years you were gone, sister. After using the Elements to banish Nightmare Moon, I dedicated centuries to tracing back the source of their power. I was unable to find that source, but the trail led me outside of this universe and beyond. It gives me reason to believe all instances of the Elements are as such.”

“Wow. You really need to start keeping track of all this stuff you’ve learned so I can read it,” Luna laughed lightly.

“Well, I have, you’ve just been too busy reading up on modern tax laws and playing with your abacus to notice the entire room in the private library dedicated to my findings,” Celestia laughed back.

“Hey, Tia?” Luna asked as Celestia began to walk forward.

“Yes?”

“If that is indeed another universe, with its own set of the Elements of Harmony, am I correct in assuming it has its own versions of us and everyone else?”

“That is correct,” Celestia replied, then laughed as she took off, “Now; we mustn’t keep ourselves waiting any longer.”

‘Where the buck am I now?’ Pinkie thought to herself as she floated through an ethereal space, ‘Hmm… I could possibly be dead. That was a very large explosion. Perhaps I should have simply cut off Twilight’s horn before I killed her instead of teasing with that Dispel-Ring. Granted, that damnable object was supposed to have been indestructible! It was after all made by the Sun goddess herself.'

Pinkie reviewed the last few hours in her mind, trying to figure out why Twilight had, well, exploded, after dying. All the time she simply floated through space, stars twinkling in the distance. Where they twinkling? She thought about that as well. The stars seemed to be watching her, blinking.

The stars grew dim after a few minutes, then dimmer, and finally vanished altogether. Pinkie could not feel anything touching her skin, not even air, and she assumed this must be death. Then she hit something.

Pinkie looked around to see what it was, but couldn’t see anything. She reached out and felt for whatever she had hit, and found a cold object covered in fur. She ran her hooves slowly over the object.

“Holy shit!” she screamed as she felt a face on it.

The thing opened its eyes, and space was suddenly ablaze with violet light. The things eyes, Twilight’s eyes, shone like miniature suns in space. Pinkie could see the Twilight floating before her was the same she had mangled and killed.

“Pinkamina Diane Pie,” Twilight spoke, but the voice she spoke with was not of any world. It shook the very fabric of space and time around them. Pinkie watched as entire galaxies were born, lived and died along with the voice. The voice breached frequencies impossible in any medium, sending ripples of light out along cracks of magic powerful enough to destroy entire worlds. The voice penetrated the deepest regions of Pinkie’s mind and echoed in melodies so utterly beautiful and horrid any normal mortal would have gone insane just from hearing one note.

It was a god’s voice.

“I,” it began to speak again, “am the lead co-creator of the Elements of Harmony. In your language, the word for me is Magic, and I am among the beings who created your universe and untold others.”

It paused, and Pinkie knew it was waiting on her reply.

“Why am I here?” she asked.

“Well, you see, when you killed poor Twilight here, you left an artifact on her that another one of my faithful creations, Princess Celestia, had made long ago. When a pony dies, he or she’s soul disembarks through the main source of output for them. For Earth ponies it is their hooves. For Pegasuses it is their wings, and for Unicorns it is their horn. Twilight Sparkle is powerful, but her soul was unable to break through such a strong barrier as the Dispel-Ring you placed on her horn.”

It paused again, so Pinkie said, “You still haven’t answered what I asked.”

“Indeed I have not, young one,” it spoke, “Souls are, in their most basic form, pure harmonious magic, and are given basic rights once freed. However, since Twilight’s soul could not be freed, she instinctively called out to another form of power that could free her. Her Element, the one of Magic. Me.”

It seemed to take a breath, then continued, “I am tied by oath to the Elements I created, specifically Magic, so I came immediately. The result, was, well, let’s say that I’d never had to directly intervene in such a young universe before. The resulting explosion I managed to contain, but it had unintended consequences. Consequences I need you to resolve for me.”

“ME!?” Pinkie yelled incredulously, “Why would I ever help you!”

“You were the closest to the event.”

“You do know I’m the one that killed her in the first place, right? I thought we’d gone over that.”

“I am well aware of all your doings, past and future.”

This entire time, Twilight’s body had been still as stone, but now it smiled.

“Goodbye, Ms. Pie.”

“What?! NO!” Pinkie yelled, but she could already feel static gathering around her, and she was suddenly rocketed in seemingly every direction through space and even through time. Things blurred and she could see or think no more.