Crossing Over

Part 1: Into Equestria - Chapter 3: Memories

Getting back to the library took a lot longer than getting to the park. Maybe it was because I was focusing on getting back unlike the last time where I was distracted by all the lingering questions. Doing this, though, allowed me to finally notice all the ponies who I was walking past. I saw Rose tending her garden with the help of Carrot Top. I also saw Berry Punch, though she didn't seem to be drunk like the fanon usually suggested. No sign of Derpy Hooves either, my favorite of the background ponies. That was disappointing.

As I approached the library, I listened for any sign that told me that Twilight had gotten back with the others. I could hear voices on the other side of the door, girl voices. That meant that they had gotten back already. Instead of knocking like last time (or, more accurately, bumping into the door), I just opened the door and walked right in.

For a split second, no one noticed. Twilight was standing in front of the others in the center of the room, apparently telling them something. Pinkie Pie was clinging to Rainbow Dash, who had an annoyed look on her face and was trying to push Pinkie Pie away. Next to them was Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy, all looking at Twilight. Spike was standing beside Rarity, gazing at her, lovestruck.

The next second, however, after they had noticed the door had opened, their eyes moved to focus on me. Twilight turned around to see what her friends were looking at. Seeing me, she smiled.

"Hello Jordan," the purple unicorn said, "I was just about to tell my friends about you. Well, as much as I know, anyway."

I kicked the door closed with one of my hind legs and walked over to where Twilight was. I saw that the others were watching me warily, all except Pinkie Pie whose gaze was more curious and happy than wary.

I glanced at Twilight and returned the smile. "Then it looks like I got back just in time."

Twilight nodded. Glancing at her friends, she said," Guys, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is--"

"I know who they are," I replied, cutting her off. Pointing my hoof at each one, I listed their names off. "Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Applejack, and Fluttershy."

As I listed their names, their expressions changed from wary/curious to shocked. Even Twilight was surprised, despite the fact that I had previously displayed more knowledge than I should've had earlier.

Applejack stepped forward a bit. "If'n I may ask you a question; how do you know our names? I don't reckon we've ever met ya before."

"You guys haven't met me before, but I've certainly met you guys," I said mysteriously. Okay, I was playing it up a bit. After all, I never get to make cryptic statements like that. It was fun knowing a whole lot more than everyone else. "Well, in a certain way at least."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight, sounding a tad suspicious.

"It's complic--" I began, stopping myself when I saw a pink blur launch herself at me in my peripheral vision. I nimbly jumped backwards into the air, helped along by my wings which, up until this point, I hadn't felt at all. Now, upon jumping backwards, feeling rushed into my wings and they flapped themselves almost of their own accord. Oddly enough, they felt like an extra set of arms, except without the fingers and hands.

With the help of my wings, I landed much farther back then I had intended to. I looked back to where I had been just a moment earlier. Pinkie Pie was laying on the ground at the exact spot where I had been standing, staring at me disappointedly. The others looked positively astonished, Rainbow Dash especially.

"You... you dodged it!" she exclaimed incredulously. "No one ever dodges Pinkie's 'Welcome Hug'!"

I smiled as I walked back to the group and helped Pinkie up. "Yeah, I was kind of expecting it."

"Really?" Pinkie asked in her peppy voice, not at all affected by her failed 'Welcome Hug'. "How?"

Well, it was time to finally tell my story. I took a deep breath, and started, "Well, as Twilight already told you, I'm from another universe..."

From the looks on their faces, she hadn't told them.

"You're from another universe!?" exclaimed Pinkie and Dash simultaneously, confirming my thoughts.

"Are you from the Doctor's universe or Sonic's?" Fluttershy questioned quietly, repeating Twilight's question from earlier.

I found it funny how they didn't question the fact that I was from another universe, instead choosing to question me about which one I was from. As it was, I looked at Twilight and raised an eyebrow. "If you didn't tell them I was from another universe, what did you tell them to make them come here?" I asked.

She glanced at the floor, smiling sheepishly. "Oh, you know, that there was I girl I wanted them to meet."

"We thought she had gotten herself a marefriend or something," Rarity interjected. Sighing, she added, "Sadly, that isn't the case." Apparently realizing what she had said, the white unicorn continued on to say, "I'm glad to be proven wrong, of course."

Why on Earth would she tell them that instead of the more interesting tidbit about me being otherworldly? "Why on Earth would you tell them that instead of me being from another universe? Doesn't that tidbit of info seem just a bit more important?"

"I... I'm not sure why I said it," Twilight replied, frowning. "It just felt like the right thing to say."

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Ahem! You still haven't answered our question here, Jordan."

"Tell us, tell us!" Pinkie insisted, bouncing up and down. "The Doctor's universe or Sonic's?"

"Neither," I answered.

That stopped them short.

"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"But you have to be from one of their's," said Pinkie Pie, her bouncing ceasing. "Their's are the only other universes!"

"Apparently not," I retorted, smiling just a bit. This was kind of fun.

"Hold on, I think I remember something!" Twilight exclaimed, turning to face her friends. "Remember the Gate room that the Princess showed us? There was another Gate there; it was just blocked off."

"Oh yeah!" the others chorused.

"She must be from that middle gate! Except... how'd the gate get open?" Twilight asked, now looking at me. "It doesn't make sense."

Now there was some sort of 'Gate Room'? Things where just getting weirder and weirder. Before I'd come here, I thought I had known all there was to know about the MLP universe. How wrong I'd been! Oh, why couldn't I have come to the normal pony universe like everyone else? Instead, I get sent to a pony world where Lyra hates humans and alternate universes are normal.

"Don't ask me," I replied. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Well, you do seem to know a lot about us and our universe," Twilight pointed out. "More than you should, considering you're from another universe."

"Yeah," agreed Rainbow Dash, eyeing me suspiciously. "Why is that exactly?"

Damn, they had me there. Explaining this was going to be hard. So hard, in fact, that I wasn't going to do it... at least, not very in depth. "Well, in my universe, Equestria and all the ponies in it are part of the TV show 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'," I said, knowing full well that they wouldn't have the slightest idea of what I was talking about. It was the only thing I could thing of to say. But hey, at least I wasn't lying. "I've watched every episode so far, and I've read plenty of fanfiction to boot."

Just as I had anticipated, they were all confused as hell.

"What in tarnation is a 'tee-vee show'?" asked Applejack, scratching her head.

"And what the hay is 'fanfiction'?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

Strangely enough, it was at this moment that I realized Spike was no longer with us. I wondered idly where he would've gone.

Rarity frowned at me. "Please, darling, could you stop using these ambiguous statements and just say what you mean? It's starting to get a little frustrating."

"Tell me about it," said Twilight, glancing at Rarity. "She's been doing that ever since I met her this morning. Neither Sonic nor Tails were this vague."

No more being ambiguous? Gotcha. "I'm sorry, but my universe is hard to explain... well, at least for me it is. I'm not very good at explaining things."

"Could you try, at least?" asked Twilight shortly. I could easily tell she was getting annoyed by these vague statements. Apparently not know everything gets on her nerves. Good to know.

"Yeah! Your universe sounds fun!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

"What do you mean Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the party pony as if she'd gone completely crazy. "She hasn't really said anything about her universe yet."

Pinkie giggled and hugged Dash tight. "I know."

Dash groaned, trying to push her away. "Pinkie, could you stop!? You've been clinging to me nonstop since Bon-Bon's funeral. It's extremely annoying!" When Pinkie continued to hold on, the cyan pegasus stopped fighting and resigned herself to the pink pony's embrace.

I stared at them for a couple moments, thinking of reasons why she'd be so clingy. And it had been happening since Bon-Bon's funeral? What exactly did that have to do with this behavior?

"Um, anyway," I said, getting the conversation back on track, "I don't think I'll be able to get the general gist of my universe across to you guys without butchering it. As I said, I'm not very good at explaining things."

"If only there was some way we could find out about your universe without you explaining it," whispered Fluttershy, looking at the ground disappointedly.

At this remark, Twilight's face lit up. "Actually, there might be a way to do just that!"

"Really?" me and the other ponies said simultaneously.

Twilight nodded as she used her unicorn magic to grab a large, red book off one of the many shelves and bring it down in front of her. After flipping through the book, which was titled simply as 'The Mind', she found whatever page she had been looking for.

"Yes, here it is!" the purple unicorn said excitedly, reading the page. Once she was finished, she closed the book, put it back on the shelf, and smiled at me. "The 'Memories' spell. It'll let me see inside your memories. From there, I can see what your universe is like and explain it to everyone."

I was a little wary of this plan, since it involved magic being used directly on me. However, if it got the gist of my universe across to these ponies without me giving a long, terrible explanation, then it was worth the risk. That thought in mind, I said the absolute worst possible thing anyone could ever say in my situation.

"Alright. What could possibly go wrong?"

Twilight nodded. "Okay. This may feel a little weird though." With that, she closed her eyes and her horn began to glow a brilliant violet. Her eyes still closed, she slowly walked up to me. Once she reached me, Twilight leaned forward ever so slightly and touched her glowing horn to my forehead. As soon as the first memory entered our minds, I realized just how bad this idea actually was.

I looked out the window of the car I was riding in as it passed over a bridge. The water of the river that the bridge reside over sparkled in the afternoon sun. The windows were all close because the autumn air outside was a tad chilly. A thought suddenly popped into my head and I had a strange compulsion to share it.

Turning my gaze to stare out the windshield, I said, "You know, there's this girl in my acting class who me and my friend follow around a lot and hug constantly. The funny thing is, she doesn't really mind too much. SHe acts annoyed, but I don't really think she's truly annoyed by it."

The driver, my dad's girlfriend, glanced at me in surprise. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yep."

We were successfully over the bridge now and silence stteled between us. I started to wonder why I had brought that up when my dad's girlfriend asked a completely out of the blue question.

"So... are there any girls in your school that you like?"

Now, being a fifteen year old in high school, I was used to being asked this question. Usually, I said no, but that usually ended up in more unwanted questions and (sometimes) being called gay. Determined not to have these things happen again, I answered, "Yes."

"Is it that girl you hug a lot?" she asked, sounding just a tiny bit hopeful.

My next answer was quick and to the point. "No."

"Oh, okay."

However, as we pulled into our house's driveway, I had a strange feeling that my answer had been wrong. Maybe I *did** like this girl I followed around and hugged a lot. For the first time since first grade 9 years previously, I had a legitimate crush on a girl.*

Twilight yawned as she magicked open the doors to Princess Celestia's grand throne room. After nearly five years of study with the Princess of the Sun, she was used to getting up early. Today, though, Celestia had wanted her up extra early. Apparently, she had a surprise for Twilight.

Walking up to the throne in which Celestia sat, Twilight noticed that there was somepony standing in front of it, facing Celestia. Getting closer, her suspicions were confirmed. The mysterious pony was male unicorn with a dark indigo body and a white man with a streak of the same dark indigo that covered his body. Twilight's first impression of this unicorn was that he was very handsome... at least, to her. She didn't get out much, so her definition of handsome might be entirely different from everyone else's.

Upon reaching a point a couple feet to the left of the handsome unicorn, Twilight tore her gaze away from him and onto Celestia. The Princess was smiling down at her.

"Good morning Twilight. I thank you for obliging me in waking up this early," said the alabaster alicorn, a hint of sympathy in her voice.

Twilight shook her head. "It was no trouble at all, Princess. As you said, you had a surprise for me." She glanced at the unicorn beside her who, to her surprise, was also glancing at her curiously.

"Yes," Celestia replied, nodding. "Twilight, this is Moonlight Shadow. He's going to be training with you, as he has shown almost as much magical potential as you."

Twilight eyed Moonlight Shadow skeptically, not believing that for one second, but shook the unicorns hoof anyway. Just from the hoofshake, Twilight could tell he was very strong physically.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Twilight Sparkle," said Moonlight Shadow as he shook her hoof. "Princess Celestia has told me a lot about you."

"She has, has she?" Twilight retorted, glaring just a bit at the Princess. Was she really trying to giver her a friend *now*? Hadn't she realized that Twilight didn't need any friends?

As if reading Twilight's mind, Celestia said, "Yes, I have. Twilight, I've told you a thousand times, you need friends; friends you own age. In four years, you'll be sixteen; a fully grown adult. You can't rely on me, your brother, or your books for the rest of your life. Not only does Moonlight Shadow have great magical potential, he's the perfect candidate for being your friend."

At this remark, Twilight rolled her eyes and glanced at Moonlight Shadow. He seemed surprised, and a little embarrassed, as evidenced by the red on his cheeks.

"With that out of the way," Celestia began, starting to walk towards them. "Let us begin today's lesson by reviewing one of the basics: levitation magic."

"No."

That word, spoken by the girl of my dreams, shattered my heart into a million tiny pieces, despite her sympathetic expression. I had heard the term 'heartbreak' before, but I'd never thought it accurately described the feeling. I had thought it was an over exaggeration, a hyperbole. But no. At that moment, I realized just how accurate the term was. My chest felt like a black hole, sucking in every good feeling I'd ever had. And boy, did it hurt like a bitch.

I thought back to the moment I realized just how much I liked this girl, nearly a week ago , and what had happened since then. I had been building myself up to this moment all week, even rehearsing what I'd say the night beforehand. I knew hiding back this secret from the one you love wasn't a good thing, which is why I had decided to tell her so soon. In the movies, every time someone had told the one they liked all about their feelings, it had worked out. I should've known it wouldn't work for me.

Now, standing in a hallway in my high school, I tried to think of witty retort, a clever-- *something** to say against this 'no'. "B-but I..." I stammered.*

"I'm flattered, I really am," she said, smiling a sad smile. "I've never had a boyfriend, actually."

"Really?" I asked, baffled. This beautiful girl, this perfect girl *had** to have had someone ask her out. Well, apparently not.*

She nodded.

"Could you... could you give me a chance, at least? You could, I don't know, learn to love me... maybe?"

"No," she answered again, shaking her head.

"Why not?"

She smiled at me in what seemed like embarrassment. "I like someone else."

That was *not** the answer I was expecting. "Um... who?"*

The girl I loved raised an eyebrow. "I think you know who it is."

I thought about it for a moment before the obvious answer hit me like a sack of bricks. "Oh."

She nodded again.

My friend, the one who followed her around with me. Of course. Of *fucking** course. She had liked the guy next to me the entire time. Why? Why!? WHY!? This just kept getting worse, and I had a feeling that the worst was yet to come.*

The love of my life glanced at the digital clock on the wall. The red numbers showed that the time was 3:30 PM.

She looked back at me apologetically. "Sorry, but I've... I've got to go." She began walking away. "See you tomorrow," she added before turning around completely.

After a few moments, I began walking in the opposite direction, towards the exit of the school. As I did, tears started to flow and I told myself how stupid I was for thinking anyone could like me that way. Obviously that was impossible.

However, as soon as I got outside, I looked up at the sky in defiance. This wasn't the end. I was *not** going to give up that easily. I vowed to make that girl's heart mine, no matter the cost.*

Twilight was as excited, and nervous, as she had ever been, as she and Moonlight Shadow walked out of the Princess's throne room after a particularly challenging lesson. Twilight glanced a the handsome unicorn to her left and the butterflies in her stomach fluttered as usual. She mentally told herself to clam down; the thing she wanted to ask wasn't *that** big in the grand scheme of things. However, despite her own reassurance, she continued to be nervous.*

It had been nearly two years since Princess Celestia had introduced her to Moonlight Shadow in order for her to make friends. Despite her original resentment she'd felt towards him, they became the best of friends. They spent so much time together that unfamiliar ponies would think them brother and sister. Over the past two years, Twilight had even started to develop a crush on Shadow. He was everything she thought about. She thought about him even more than her studies, which probably explained why she wasn't doing so well lately. Celestia had chastised her for not studying hard enough. Twilight didn't really care; she had *him*.

"Well, that was fun," said Shadow, smiling at her sideways as they walked through the castle's grand halls.

Twilight smiled back at him. "Definitely," she agreed, letting her voice drip with sarcasm.

At that, Moonlight Shadow started laughing. Hearing his laugh, Twilight couldn't help but join in. Their combined laughter echoed in the large chambers.

"So, how are you today?" asked Shadow.

"Same as ever,' Twilight lied, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering again.

"Bored?"

Twilight nodded.

Shadow got that mischievous gleam in his eye that Twilight loved. "Well, you *are** a pretty boring pony."*

"Shut up!" Twilight exclaimed, shoving him good-naturedly.

Shadow chuckled. "I'm just kidding."

"Yeah, I know."

Finally, they were outside. They both stopped and looked up at the bright blue sky. The butterflies in Twilight's stomach were fluttering so much that it was starting to become unbearable. She couldn't hold it in any longer; she needed to ask him!

"Um..." Twilight began, her cheeks reddening, "do... do you want to, uh, I don't know, have dinner with me?"

Shadow looked extremely confused. "What do you mean? We have dinner together all the time."

Twilight's butterflies were nearly suffocating her at this point. "No, I mean... romantically."

"Oh," said Moonlight Shadow, his eyes widening. He looked at the ground for a couple moments, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he looked back at Twilight, a broad smile playing on his lips. "Okay!"

That simple answer threw Twilight for a loop. "R-really?"

"Yep," replied Shadow, nodding. "I've always kind of had a crush on you, I just never worked up the courage to ask you out. Where do you want to eat?"

"Um... you pick."

"Hmmmmmm..." Shadow mused, thinking for a moment. "How about... Pony Joe's?"

Twilight giggled. "Yeah, okay. Nice to know you have great romantic instincts. 7 o'clock?"

Shadow smiled and nodded. Then his eyes widened and he facehoofed. "I'm stupid! I think I forgot something in the throne room!" He turned and ran back into the castle. "See you at Pony Joe's!" he called over his shoulder.

Twilight shook her head, smiling, and began to walk back home. She needed to get ready for her date. After a few seconds, she laughed. What had she been so nervous for?

Twilight barged into the throne room, seething with rage.

"MOONLIGHT SHADOW!" the purple unicorn yelled, her eyes darting around the throne room, looking for any trace of the lying dirtbag. Unfortunately, there was no sigh on him. This only other pony in the room was Princess Celestia who had a very surprised look on her face.

"What's wrong, my little pony?" asked Celestia, getting up off of her throne.

"That lying, two-faced... *bastard*, Moonlight Shadow!" replied Twilight fiercely, still looking around the room.

Celestia walked up to the purple unicorn. "What about him?" she questioned, concern etched into her face.

"He stood me up!" Twilight shouted, now glaring at the Princess. "I asked him out on a date and he NEVER SHOWED UP!" The anger inside Twilight was reaching critical levels; she'd never been this angry in her life.

Something flashed in Celestia's eyes. "Oh, did he not tell you? He transferred the magic shool in Manehattan. He said that it was to hard here and that the ponies here are too boring." The alabster alicorn shook her head. "Maybe he wasn't as gifted as I thought."

Twilight's burning rage was instantly extinguished, only to be replaced with something much worse: pain. Yes, she was angry with the guy, but that didn't mean she wanted him to leave. All she wanted was legitimate apology. But that couldn't happen now.

Not only that, but he'd left h=because he said it was too hard and that everypony was too boring? That didn't sound like Shadow... but, then again, maybe Twilight had never really known him in the first place. Maybe he was one of those guys she'd read about; the ones who put on an act just to get ladies.

Very slowly, a numbness began spreading thoughout her body. Twilight looked up at the Princess, her eyes wide. "You're joking... right?"

The Princess's face turned sad. "I'm afraid not."

Suddenly, the realization of what had happened hit her full force. She would never hear his laugh again, she would never see that mischievous glint in his eyes again, and she would never lay her eyes on that handsome unicorn ever again. She had loved him, and now he was gone forever.

Possibly sensing the pain and sadness Twilight was feeling, Celestia said, "I know how hard this must be for you; you two were the best of friends. I think we can skip today's lesson."

Tears were now streaming down Twilight's face. After a few moments, Twilight hung her head and turned around. As she did so, the purple unicorn thought she saw a glimpse of satisfaction in the Princess's eyes. However, she ignored it, thinking it was some weird hallucination brought on by her emotional state of being.

Twilight walked out of the throne room, tears still streaming down her face. She vowed never to fall in love ever again; the pain of another lost love like this one would be too much for the purple unicorn to bear.

"You know, it seems like almost every time you turn a corner in this school, you run into somebody," said my love after nearly running into another student... after turning a corner.

"You said it sister," I agreed, smiling.

The past month had been one of the most emotionally turbulent of my life. First, the love of my life says no to me. Then, she starts going out with my friend. During that period, I was a heartbroken loser. However, yesterday, she told me she had broken up with my friend. At these words, I was filled with a joy previously thought impossible.

Of course, I was also shocked. I had thought they would be together forever. Apparently not. Immediately after saying they'd broken up, though, the girl I loved to bits said she still wasn't interested in being my girlfriend. Too bad for her; I wasn't giving up just yet.

"I still think the middle school's worse, though," continued my love as we walked through the locker lined hallway to the lunchroom.

I thought about it for a moment. "Nah, I think it's worse here. Much worse."

Silence reigned between us as we began weaving through the crowd gathering in the lunchroom. I probably bumped into ten people lining up for Asian Nation, emphasizing what we were talking about. Once through, we continued walking towards the hallway that lead to the band room, the band which my love was a part of.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," I started, "they should implement a traffic system. You know, like the ones on the roads... with traffic lights and all that jazz. I'm telling you, there'll be less collisions."

My love laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like a *very** good idea," she said sarcastically.*

We had finally reached the band hallway. I stopped myself as she kept walking. My class right was lunch, not band. However, just as I was about to turn around and head back to the lunch room, the love of my life turned and smiled at me. It wasn't just any smile though. It was the most amazing smile I'd ever seen; a smile that instantly etched itself permanently into my memory.

END OF PART 1