Crossing Over

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 1: Learning of Love

The pain.

This pain was like nothing I had ever experienced, spreading like wildfire though me. Seeing these memories of heartbreak and loss cut like a knife. I had felt the pain of this heartbreak while living through these memories, but this was far worse as the memories I'd been trying to repress for over half a year were forcefully brought deeper into focus than they had ever been before, not only for one person, but two.

The memory spell that Twilight had cast was much more than either of us had bargained for. Not only did she see all my memories, I saw all of hers, compounding my heartbroken pain with hers. The memories of the ones we had loved weren't the only memories we saw, however, despite being the ones driven into focus. I could see her entire life from birth to the moment I arrived on her doorstep, and I assumed she could see the same. I could also see the adventure she'd mentioned earlier; the one with Sonic and the Doctor. I saw how Sonic had beaten Rainbow Dash in a race, how Eggman had turned good, and how Sonic had defeated Discord with the power of Harmonic Chaos.

The sudden influx of memories and emotions should have cuased our consciousnesses to burn themselves out from the overload of information, but, oddly enough, my consciousness (and Twilight's, I assumed) expanded its capacity in order to make more than enough room for all the memories. In fact, both our consciousnesses expanded so much that, through the link created by Twilight's spell, our consciousnesses combined into one. Not only were our memories up for display now, so were our personalities, our essences, our very beings. Everything that made us us was up for both of us to see with no restrictions.

And boy did it suck.

Looking at myself, all I could see were my faults. I had good qualities, like my sense of humor (even if it was a tad on the dirty side), my imagination, my kindness, my love for all things Green Bay Packers-- but all that was overshadowed by my glaring faults, standing out as if they'd been highlighted with a bright yellow marker. My stubbornness, my inability to stop asking sensitive questions, my quick temper, and my capacity for cruelty; the cruelty that's deep inside every human's heart. These faults were cast in an even harsher light when compared to the almost saintlike soul beside me.

Twilights essence was an entirely different beast than mine. She was kinder, more trusting, more likable, not to mention smarter. Yes, she had faults of her own; naivety, quick temper, a tendency to overreact to small things. However, they weren't nearly as prevelent as mine, nor as bad. She also didn't have that capacity for cruelty that I and nearly every human has. That surprised me. She didn't have the ability to be cruel... at least, not in the same way.

More surprising, and something that  really interested me, was the amount of things we had in common. Both of us have quick tempers, we're both smart (her moreso than me) and most surprisingly, and we had both fallen in love with people who hadn't returned our love. I never suspected we had so much in common, especially not that last part.

While all this personality stuff was going on in the background of our expanded consciousnesses, the memories of our heartbreak were still the main things in focus.

As soon as the last of these memories ended, the newly renewed pain and heartbreak finally reached the boiling point, snapping the connection of consciousnesses that had been forged between me and Twilight. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the spell ended.

There was a loud bang and I immediately felt myself flying backwards through the air and crashing into a wall. I slowly slid down the wall onto the floor. Pain flared instantly in my back annd wings, exasperated by the large amount of books that suddenly fell down onto me.

"Ow," I groaned.

Strangely, I felt the pile of books on top of me being pushed away. My eyes snapped open and I saw a pair of pink hooves help me up.

"Upsy daisies," said Pinkie Pie, smiling at me.

I looked around. On the floor in the center of the room were a bunch of black scorch marks. That must've been where Twilight and I had been standing. Looking past that,near the opposite wall, I saw Twilight being helped up off the floor by the rest of the Mane 6 sans Pinkie Pie who was standing beside me.

"Thank you," I muttered to Pinkie Pie.

Her smile widened. "No problem."

"I do have a question, though," I whispered, glancing at the others. "Why are you helping me? Why not help Twilight? She's your friend, not me."

"Well, nopony was coming to help you, so I decided to do it all by my Pinkie-self," she replied. Then she looked from side to side and lowered her voice. "Actually, I did it because we need to talk. My Pinkie Sense is telling me that you're supposed to help me with something; something between me and Dashie."

That confused the heck out of me. "What? Why you and--"

"Pinkie!" shouted Rainbow Dash, flying over between us in an instant. "Stop fraternizing with the enemy!"

"What!?" Pinkie and I exclaimed simultaneously.

The next second I was slammed and pinned to the wall  by Applejack, the pain flaring up in my back again.

"She hurt Twilight, Pinkie," explained Applejack, glaring at me. "I was a might suspicious of her when she first came in, and now my suspicions have been confirmed." I looked past Applejack and saw Rarity and Fluttershy walking closer with Twilight, both of whom were nodding.

Instead of fighting back or trying to defend myself like I normally would, I sighed and resigned myself to whatever happened. They wouldn't believe me no matter what I said. The only person they'd believe would be Twilight, but, after seeing who I was and all of my memories, she wouldn't defend me. Not only that, but I'd done the nearly impossible: I got almost eh entirety of the Mane 6 (plus Spike and Lyra) to hate me. Aren't I just great at first impressions?

Of course, it's at these types of moments when the impossible just might happen.

"It wasn't his fault, girls," said Twilight, rubbing her horn. "Let him go."

Everyone stared at her. Apparently, I hadn't been the only one who thought she wouldn't defend me. Applejack, in fact, was so shocked that she relaxed her hold on me and let me drop to the ground.

"But, Twi--" started Applejack.

"Did you say 'he'?" Rarity asked, glancing from me to Twilight. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, she is a 'she'."

Twilight walked over and helped me up, causing Applejack to take a few steps back. As she was doing so, she looked at me with a glint of emotion in her eye, though it wasn't any emotion I expected to see. It wasn't embarassment , anger, or caution. No, it was understanding. That should've made me feel better. It didn't.

After helping me up, she turned towards the others. "What just happened was not his fault. Yes, I was hurt, but, in case you didn't notice, so was he. Why would that happen if he was trying only to hurt me? You tell me all the time not to overreact to small stuff, yet here you go doing just that."

The way she said all that had me feeling like I had to apologize, and I was the one she was defending. Damn. If only I could talk that way.

Twilight continued to glare at the rest of the Mane 6 until each one apologized. As soon as Pinkie was about to apologize, though, Twilight stopped her.

"Not you, Pinkie. You're the only one who went to help him."

The pink pony stopped with her mouth halfway open, looked at Twilight, then at me, and finally closed her mouth and smiled. the she winked at me conspiratorally. I stared back, confused.

"Twilight, darling, why do you calling her a 'him'? She's a girl," Rarity said.

The purple unicorn smiled mischieviously and looked at me. "Why don't you ask 'her'?"

Immediately, everyone's eyes were on me, making me uncomfortable. Especially Twilight's. That understanding and sympathy in her eyes was getting on my nerves. I didn't need her sympathy. I didn't need anyone's.

As it was, I glared at Twilight and said, "Yeah, thanks." Shaking my head, I turned to the others. "In my universe, I'm actually a guy. For some reason, when I entered this universe, I became a girl. Don't ask me how because, well, I don't know."

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, they all looked shocked and just a tad skeptical.

"You're serious?" asked Rainbow Dash, her jaw hanging open.

I nodded and glanced at Twilight. She was looking at her friends faces and looked as if she was about to bust out laughing.

"I... but... you... huh?" floundered Rarity, seemingly unable to comprehend the idea of a magical sex change.

"That doesn't make a lick of sense," Applejack stated, frowning.

"How's that possible?" Fluttershy questioned quietly.

I shrugged (which was kind of hard to do as a pony) and said, "I don't know how it's possible. Maybe... maybe it's because, well, whenever I imagined myself as a pony, I imagined myself as a girl. In any case, it doesn't truly matter; I'm a girl at the moment and I don't think that's about to change any time soon, so the faster we all get over it, the better we'll all be."

They all slowly nodded, seemingly relieved to get off such an odd topic. Rarity seemed to have a little more trouble with this as she took a couple extra seconds to nod her head. Twilight was still looking at me funny, which worried me a little. If she thought we were now going to talk about my memories of... her, the girl I had loved, the she could go straight to hell. That topic was off limits, especially in front of other people.

"So, anyway," I began before anyone could say anything, "wasn't the whole reason we did this memory spell to find out about my universe and for you to tell them about it, Twilight? You know, non-personal things. Things that don't involve affairs of the heart."

Once again, Rarity's interest was piqued. "Affairs of the heart?"

"Yeah, I guess," replied Twilight, biting her lower lip and ignoring Rarity completely. I could tell straightaway that she had been just about to bring up the exact topic I didn't want her to bring up. Lucky for me that I'd spoken up when I did.

The purple unicron swithchedher gaze to the others. "Well, his universe is--"

"PINKIE PIE, CUT IT OUT!" shouted Rainbow Dash so loudly and so suddenly that everyone jumped.

Dash was now hovering high in theair, and Pinkie was laying on the ground where Dashhadbeen looking shocked. She looked as if she'd been trying to hug Dash again.

The cyan pegasus glared down at the pink pony. "Seriously! Ever since  Bon-Bon's funeral you've been clinging to me almost nonstope. I'm sick and tired of it! I need my pesonal space!" She looked at the rest of us. "Sorry guys, we're going to have to finish this conversation later. I need to go."

With that, Rainbow Dash flew out the library's window, leaving stunned silence in her wake. Pinkie Pie looked as if she were about to cry, tears rimming her big blue eyes. Not only that, there was pain behind her eyes; a pain I knew only too well. The pain of heartbreak. But... why? Then, suddenly, the realization hit me like... like... like something really, really big.

Pinkie Pie was in love with Rainbow Dash.

Now Pinkie's comments and actions from earlier made a tiny bit more sense. No wonder she was so obsessed with the pegasus; no wonder she was so crushed by Rainbow Dash's outburst. The pink pony was in love. The only question I had left was this: what had been so damn significant about Bon-Bon's funeral? Pinkie's clingyness sort of made sense now, but what did the funeral have to do with it?

Seeing Pinkie in that pain reminded me of the pain I'd experienced just a few minutes earlier, and it tore me up inside. That pain was something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, let alone this innocent little party pony. No, I wouldn't let her experience that pain. I had to help her get Rainbow Dash to fall for her, I just had to.

The silence that had filled the room after Rainbow Dash's sudden departure was suddenly broken by Applejack. "Yeah, uh, sorry Twi, but... ah've gotta go. Ah've gotta, uh, help Granny Smith plan tomorrow's Apple Family Reunion. So, um, see ya later." She tipped her hat to me ash she walked past us and out the door.

The others followed suit, saying their goodbyes and leaving, all with a lousy excuse. And I didn't blame them. I didn't even want to be her right now. Of course, I had to. For Pinkie Pie's sake.

Once everyone was gone, that left me, Twilight, and a very downtrodden Pinkie Pie. The pink pony began walking towards the door, muttering something about the Cake family needing her help. The only problem was, I had something to tell her. She couldn't leave just yet.

"Hold on a second, Pinkie Pie. I have something to tell you," I said, causing her to stop and turn back to me. "In private," I added, glancing at Twilight.

The purple unicorn looked at me curiously. "Uh... yeah, sure. I'll be upstairs in the bedroom if you need me."

Bedroom? Why the bedroom? Why not the kitchen or the outside of the library? I looked out the window and saw that it was nighttime. Nighttime!? Since when!? It had been daylight just a few minutes ago... right? how long had we been underthat memory spell? time sure flies when you're having... fun? No, more like an unexpectedly bad day. This pony universe wasn't as good as I thought it'd be, not by a long shot.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" came Pinkie's voice, snapping me out of my reverie.

"What? Oh, yes, right. Um..." I started, watching Twilight go up the stairs. Once she was done, I turned my gaze back to Pinkie (who was trying her best to smile at me) and continued, "I want to help you with your problem."

"My... problem?" asked the pink mare, her voiice quivering just a tiny bit.

I nodded. "With Rainbow Dash."

Her eyes widend and she let out the fakest laugh I'd ever heard. "Rainbow Dash? I don't have a prolem with Dashie."

I smiled sympathetically. "You don't need to lie to me Pinkie. I know you're in love with Rainbow Dash; I can see the pain behind your eyes from when she rebuked you a couple minutes ago."

"I don't know what you're--"

"Pinkie,  please," I said, cutting her off. "You can trust me. Your secret is safe with me." Even though, of course, she had absolutely no reason to trust me whatsoever.

Pinkie closed her eyes and sighed. "You're right. I'm in love with Dashie." She turned and looked out the window that Dash had left through. "I just don't know how to get her to love me. At Bon-Bon's funeral, I saw how sad Lyra was and I saw how terrible it was to lose someone you love." The pink pony looked me me straight in the eyes. I could see tears forming along the rims of her eyes. "I can't lose Dashie! Without her, the party inside me would end and I'd be a shell of my former Pinkie-self!"

Well, that answered my question. She'd been so clingy to Rainbow Dash because she didn't want to lose her. Despite never feeling that exactly the same way, it was at least something I could understand.

"Don't worry, I understand," I assured her. "An hey, tell you what. I'll help you get her to fall for you."

Pinkie Pie's jaw fell open. "Really!?"

"Yep," I said, nodding, "I'll do everything I can to help you two get together. How's that sound?"

The next instant, pink filled my vision as Pinkie wrapped me in a tight embrace.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, letting me go. Her gigantic smile threatened to split her face in half. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, you are such a nice friend!"

Friends? With Pinkie Pie? Sweet! Granted, she didn't have the strictest standards for what she considered friends, but still-- I was friends with Pinkie Pie, my favorite pony!

Despite the happiness I was feeling inside, I just shrugged and repeated her words from earlier, "No problem."

Looking at Pinkie, with that huge smile on her face, I couldn't help but smile back. This felt good. Of course, I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to get Dash and Pinkie together, but, at the moment, I didn't care. This girl needed help, and I was just the one to give it to her.

The party pony turned and bounced towards the door. "Thanks again, Jordan!" she called as she bounced out the door. "I had a feeling you'd help me and Dashie."

Yeah, I remembered she'd said that earlier. But, if she did indeed have that feeling, then why did she act so surprised when I-- nevermind. this was Pinkie Pie I was talking about. Boggling people's minds was the norm for her.

At any rate, I was left standing alone in the middle of the library in Ponyville. at that thought, I sat down, sighted, and rubbed my eyes. today had been a rought day. Being trasported to the MLP universe should've been a good thing, but it had actually been a bad thing. After being taken off guard by Lyra's hatred of humans, I had been forced to relive my most painful memories. The only bright spot, in all honesty, was my promise to Pinkie Pie, but, even then, I didn't even know how I was going to keep that promise.

Well, as that old saying goes: there's always tomorrow... at least, I think that's how that old saying goes.

I heard hoofstep coming down the stairs. "Jordan?"

I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at where the voice had come from. I saw Twilight standing halfway down the stairs, looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I set up a guest bed upstairs for you," she replied, gesturing up the stairs. "It's late and, if you're tired..."

As soon as she said it, I realized just how tired I actually was. Where had the day gone?

I rubbed my eyes and got up. "I'm coming," I said, walking towards the stairs.

Once we got up to the bedroom, I walked straight past Spike sleeping in his little basket, and jumped into the bed Twilight had made for me. It was probably the single most comfortable bed I'd ever been in.

"Thanks," I mumbled into the pillow, my eyes refusing to open.

Twilight laughed as I heard her get into her own bed. "You're welcome."

She started to say something else, but I had already drifted off to sleep.

All of a sudden, I was in my universe. The only problem was that I was still a pony; I could see my reflection in the shinny tile floor. Pulling my gaze away from my reflection, I examined the room I was in.

To my right, there were three rather large windows looking out over a parking lot. Along all the other walls were mirrors, like the ones in a famous actors dressing rooms. I instantly recognized this room. It was my school's drama classroom.

At that moment, I knew this was a dream. A feeling of dread began to spread through me. I'd had this dream before. However, the last time I'd had this dream, I hadn't been a pony; I'd been human. But, most importantly, standing in the center of the room had been--

I turned and, like I expected, saw someone standing inthe center of  the room. However, it wasn't the girl I had loved like it had been the last time. No, this time it was Twilight Sparkle. As soon as I saw her, my feeling of dread changed to fear.

Twilight looked me dead in the eyes. As soon as she did , she smiled one of the most amazing smiles I had ever seen, beating out the one I'd seen in my memories. For that one second, the fear drained out of me and I was blissfully happy. After that, though, the fear came back with a vengeance.

I woke up with a jerk. When I saw that it was still late at night and I was back in the guest bed at the Ponyville library, I breathed a sigh of relief. The dream was over. Then I immediately groaned. That the dream had happened at all was a bad sign. It meant I was probably going to fall in love with Twilight. That was not something I wanted.

I didn't want it for plenty of good, logical reasons. First off, I didn't want to experience heartbreak again. That was far too painful. Twilight probably didn't like me like that so falling in love with her would only lead to heartbreak. I mean, why would she fall for me? I wasn't special. Not like her, anyway. Secondly, she was a pony. I couldn't fall in love with a pony. Not only would that be incredibly wierd, it would probably be considered beastiality. Then again, I was (currently) also a pony... but still!

Of course, fighting it was probably futile. The last time I'd had that dream about someone, I'd fallen in love with that person. Why wouldn't the same thing happen again? It might've been an overreaction to think that way, but the facts were facts. That dream was 1-for-1 in making me fall in love with someone. Who's to say it wouldn't be 2-for-2? Having this dream again would make me fall in love and, more than likely, cause me more heartbreak. That's why I'd been so afraid in the dream. I really didn't want to experience that pain again. Too bad it was probably inevitable.

I turned my head to look out the window. All the lights were off in the library, so the only light came from the moon shining through the window. The night sky here was beautiful. Having lived in my polluted universe, I'd never truly seen a night sky so full, a moon so bright. I smiled. Maybe this universe wasn't as bad as I'd been thinking.

And then I noticed that I was under a blanket.

This confused me. I distinctly remembered jumping into this bed and falling asleep without using the blanket. How had it gotten over me? Did I unknowingly slip under it while I was sleeping?

I glanced over at Twilight's bed and was surprised to find it empty. Spike was in his basket, still asleep, but Twilight wasn't in her bed. She was probably doing some late night studying or something. I decided to go talk to her about our memories, the painful ones. Even though I hadn't wanted to talk about it earlier, we needed to talk about it somethime, and there was no time like the present when we were both completely alone.

Shaking my head of all drowsiness, I kicked off the blankets with my hind legs and crawled to the edge of the bed. Once I did, what I saw stopped me short.

Twilight was curled up, asleep, directly beside my bed. Seeing this, my heart felt like it had exploded. This was just too cute. She looked so adorable like this. That level of adorableness should've been illegal. I then glanced from Twilight to the blanket and realized that she must've been the one to put the blanket over me.

My jaw dropped. That was so... nice. No one had ever done something so nice for me before. It warmed the cockles of my broken heart. And, at that moment, I felt deep downinside of me that I was actually starting to fall for her. The wierd thing was, though, (beside the obvious) staring down at this adorable purple unicorn curled up sleeping beside my bed, I wasn't bothered by that. Not a single, tiny bit.

As I was looking down at her, a strange question enter my head: why was she still at the side of my bed?