Ah, cartoons. Truly the pinnacle of filmmaking. The pure embodiment of artistic vision, the dazzling height of creative beauty.
The black screen slowly shifts as the camera pans right, colors brightening (to a degree) to reveal a dark and dirty street with somewhat rundown and ramshackle buildings, one of several overflowing trash cans in front of a house having fallen over to spill its contents onto the sidewalk.
Where else could one find jokular wit and comedic creativity comparable to the wellspring of never before seen possibilities that a cartoon presents.
A familiar white duck in a sailor shirt enters from the right, stepping on a conveniently placed banana peel from the spilled trash, flailing comically and making surprised duck noises as he slides out of view while the camera continues onward.
But cartoons are not just merely excellent entertainment. They educate us on how to resolve conflicts…
The camera comes across Popeye and Bluto squaring off and glaring against each other for a moment before both straighten up and hold out their hands for a handshake… only for Bluto to use said handshake to pull his rival into a haymaker, the situation quickly devolving into a dust cloud of violence and flailing fists as the camera moves on through the wall of the building at the end of the street and into a smoke-filled bar room.
…they demonstrate virtue…
The view moves along a table of toons playing poker, each of them in turn pulling aces from somewhere on their body or clothes to add them to their hand.
…morality…
The short ginger toon with the massive cowboy hat and equally impressive red moustache sitting at the end of the table stares at the rows of aces in front of each player, face gradually turning an angry red until he jumps onto the table with both revolvers drawn and scoops up the pot to make off with the money.
…and a healthy lifestyle.
The camera moves past the bar, where a blueish-gray man in a purple suit downs a rapid series of shots while several toons on the other bar stools fill the air with cigar smoke.
They can charm the audience with characters of impossible beauty and grace…
The camera moves on through the back wall of the bar back onto the street, where a dressed up Bugs Bunny in a wig, dress and heels is charming a blushing Elmer Fudd before beckoning him towards the open door into the building behind them, a short bespectacled sailorman with a flower bouquet enters from the right only to stop as he notices the scene.
…and enchant them with romances that evoke empathy with the character to the point of tears.
Bugs pushes Elmer ahead of him, one hand behind his back and holding a giant mallet, the door closing behind him but the window next to it showing a silhouette play of cartoon mallet violence. The sailor’s flowers droop along with himself and he turns around just in time to miss the start of the violence.
Yes, nothing else inspires optimism and lifts the spirits like a cartoon!
The sailor tucks the flowers away inside his shirt and instead pulls out an oversized cartoon revolver, lifting it up to the side of his head just as the camera moves past and out of view, the street fading away to sketched outlines and then a blank, white void.
And past all of this, there is always the next masterpiece just waiting around the corner, ready to be drawn into the spotlight for the adulation of the audiences. The next Da Vinci of the animated picture is somewhere out there. Why, it could even be you!
The top half of a large pencil appears in view, jerking in surprise and looking around before writing [Me?] into the void.
Yes, you! The stage is yours and the possibilities are endless! Simply put your pen to paper, and let the inspiration flow!
…
I said, let the inspiration flow!
…
………
…well? Aren’t you going to draw something?
The pencil starts drawing a straight line, before jerking back and hastily erasing it out again with the rubber on the back.
I see. I suppose the inspiration is less of a flow and more of a trickle?
The pencil sheepishly draws a cube.
Yes, yes, artist’s block is an affliction that has brought low cartoonists much bigger and more accomplished than you.
The pencil droops slightly.
But not to worry! For in the age of the interconnected web, inspiration is cheap when you know where to borrow it from! No need to think up an original world of your own when you can just take your first steps in someone else’s! All possible through the magic of fanfiction!
The pencil perks up again.
Indeed. And of course to guide you through those first steps, who better than a handsome incorporeal narrator who is an expert professional in matters of toon education?
The pencil pauses, looking around before pointing towards the fourth wall.
Of course I mean me! Ahem, what I meant to say is, I am quite happy to offer my help in giving you a crash course, and help you navigate the ins and outs of your first fanfiction. So just sit back and follow along, as you and I discover
How To Do A Cartoon Crossover
All we need is a willing assistant to take care of the visual representation. I’m a disembodied voice with a doctorate in narration, you can hardly expect me to do all the legwork, now can you. But don’t worry, I know just the toon for the job.
The pencil nods up and down before quickly drawing a black cartoon duck from the top down into the void.
“Hmm, what’s this?”
The duck inspects itself before turning around, hands on their hips as the camera pans out to show the title of the story still floating in the void above the scene.
“A cartoon croththover, huh? Why, don’t mind if I do.” The duck turns back around, posing with a hand on its chest and a sheaf of papers in his other hand. “I have lotth of referenththes. I was in Spaththe Jam, Spaththe Jam 2, I’ve been Robin Hood, Duck Dodgers in the twenty-fourth and a halfth century...” A stage hook moves in from the side, slowly hooking around his neck. “Do in-univerthe croththoverth count? Ah, I’ll jutht put them on the litht, nobody’th gonna check-”
The hook yanks him off screen, leaving it empty once again.
Let’s try that again, shall we? Perhaps someone with less of a lisp, this time. I think the readers would appreciate that.
The pencil moves in again, drawing a different character from the bottom up this time, pausing for a second before drawing in the signature slim green hat on top of Goofy’s head.
Now there is a protagonist of few words but much wisdom. Standing tall and proud and ready to advance human knowledge by venturing forth into worlds unclaimed by his corporate overlords.
Goofy perks up and straightens, posing a little before faltering slightly at the last part.
Ah, don’t worry. I’m reasonably confident that we probably won’t be sued for this. Much. But nevermind the technical details, we have an instructional video to get to and we’re already over a thousand words into the script! Now where are those title cards…?
Goofy looks around, then up, blinking before jumping with a “Waugh!” and running around, diving back right before a title card crashes down in front of him to fill the screen.
Step One: Picking Your Crossover Franchise
Now that we have our protagonist, it is time to choose where the crossover should lead him.
Goofy looks around again before pulling a piece of white chalk from behind his back, somehow using it to fill in tar black between a couple of white stripes on the ground.
No, not a crosswalk. A crossover!”
“Ohhh…” Goofy nods before pausing and tilting his head. “...huh?”
A crossover, in its most common form, is when a character from one series ends up in the world of another series. The camera pans over to a sketch of Goofy in a green and yellow outfit holding a round shield, surrounded by various worlds from Disney movies. To take a rather popular example, a show that is particularly popular for crossovers with all kinds of other franchises is My Little Pony. Another world pops up, showing a white castle town at the side of a mountain. Of course, to properly cross with any franchise you first need to be aware of its history. A few lessons should…
The camera pans back to Goofy sitting at a school desk with his feet on the desk, chair balancing on two legs, head hanging back and snoring while wearing a pair of glasses with fake eyes drawn on them.
Ahem!
He jerks awake and flails, falling backwards off his chair with the glasses flying offscreen, blushing as he gets back to his feet.
Very well, I’ll try to keep this short. The camera pans sideways a little to show two ponies in gen 1 style sitting next to Goofy, with “Gen 1” spelled out in the air above them. The My Little Pony cartoons were first established in the 80s to sell toys to children. It didn’t properly gain widespread popularity as a cartoon until its fourth generation-
“Fourth?!” Goofy yelps again before running off, returning a second later with a table and some chairs, setting them up and placing the ponies on the chairs. He runs off again to return wearing a suit and carrying a tablecloth, candles, glasses, a bottle of wine and plates of hay, setting the table and lighting the candles before pulling out a violin and beginning to play a romantic sonnet.
Generations, The camera zooms in on Goofy, who stops playing with a record scratch to look at the camera. …in this case, of course refers to the various incarnations of the cartoon, and not to literal generations of ponies in the series.
Goofy blinks, the camera zooming out again to show the dinner setup gone and the two ponies from before sitting on the floor again with the “Gen 1” letters above them… then zooming out a little more to show two smaller ponies right next to them with “Gen 2” floating over their heads.
“A-hyuk.” He blushes and reaches past them, pulling a curtain in front of them with a chuckle before tip-toeing away.
Step Two: Entering The Franchise
The view opens on Goofy once again standing alone in the void.
Now that we have established where to enter, there still remain the questions of when and how to do so. As I said before, the franchise really picked up in popularity in Generation 4, which is consequently the most common series to cross with other franchises.
The camera moves slightly to show a door with a large 4 on it a few steps away from him. Goofy walks over, humming a cheerful tune as he opens the door to poke his head in, the sound of a propeller motor slowly rising in volume as it gets closer.
Sadly the Gen 4 setting is currently…
There’s a loud and sharp bang and Goofy is blown backwards, his hat flying off. It’s followed by a more drawn out succession of crashing sounds, white fog drifting out of the door for a moment before a single wheel rolls out, trailing some more fog as it rolls a couple feet and falls over, wobbling back and forth obnoxiously for a long moment before coming to rest.
“App… Applicant Number One emerges, singed but triumphant!"
…occupied.
The door slams shut again and pops out of existence.
So instead we will be jumping into the Gen 5 setting of the franchise! It may not be as well-known and popular and it may only have a single movie to its name so far-
The camera pans to show a poster for My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale.
ONLY A SINGLE MOVIE TO ITS NAME SO FAR!
The camera slowly pans back.
…but that simply means that you’re at the forefront of a new division of crossovers. New frontiers! Untread grounds! A pile of fabric drops down on Goofy, decking him out in a scout/explorer’s outfit complete with a flag with the Disney logo. Historians decades from now will probably have better things to do but geeks in basements all over the world will know you as one of the first characters to enter this bold new world!
Goofy salutes proudly, holding the pose with his chest pushed out.
But first, you need to actually get there. There are many ways to facilitate a crossover, but for brevity’s sake we will be covering only a few of the more famous, or infamous ones. One of the most obvious options, of course, is to have the series in question be part of the same shared world in the first place.
A white rabbit in baggy red overalls and a polka-dot bowtie walks past, giving a wave to the audience.
But I’m afraid that option is also already taken.
A small cartoon chipmunk in a jacket and fedora and a CGI chipmunk in a hawaiian shirt hurry after the rabbit.
Another possibility that had some popularity in regards to My Little Pony crossovers in particular is the Displaced genre.
The camera pans to the side to show a red unicorn with a blue mane and tail standing at a shady vendor’s stall.
…we do not talk about the Displaced genre.
The unicorn slowly puts the keyblade they’d picked up back where it was before awkwardly shuffling backwards offscreen.
An option that has gained some popularity and notoriety both especially in recent years is the so-called Isekai genre.
The camera pans back to Goofy who is still patiently waiting, the shadow under his feet slowly growing a bit bigger.
This is when a character experiences some life-changing event that leaves them stranded, often alone, in a completely different world.
A whistling sound is starting to get louder as the shadow begins to grow faster, making Goofy slowly look up.
Of course when I say “life-changing event”, more often than not the event in question is actually “life-ending”.
“Whoa-haugh!” Goofy jumps and starts to move his feet, running in place as the shadow grows darker before taking a running leap just in time to dodge a large safe crashing into the floor where he’d been.
This is in some cases propagated by a deity or other omnipotent being, which of course can make the event quite tenacious if necessary.
Goofy keeps running, the camera slowly zooming out to show him staying just ahead of a falling flowerpot, piano, car, boat, truck and eventually a whole freighter dropping with a loud honk.
But for a crossover that is a little more meta and takes itself a little less seriously, the most direct and expedient way is of course a basic scene change.
He keeps running, right across a clean border separating the blank void from a detailed forest background, slowly coming to a stop in a clearing and looking around in confusion. He takes a relieved breath and wipes some sweat from his brow with his hat…
KLÄNK!
Right before another piano lands on top of him with a discordant sound.
Step Three: Meeting the Locals
The scene changes to Goofy slowly wandering a large, spacious castle room, looking around.
After having arrived at our destination in a safe and relaxed manner, it is time for our protagonist to have their first meeting with the alien species who have made this world their home. This particular world has three of them, so far. First, an energetic and determined yet equally graceful people for whom the sky itself is the limit…
Goofy’s walk leads him to end up in front of a large throne, a small, fluffy white dog with wings sitting on it.
He takes off his hat for a deep, sweeping bow before taking one of the dog’s paws to plant a light kiss on it. "Enchanté, mademoiselle.”
“Ahem.”
He looks up to see a light pink mare with purple wings and a crown on her head standing next to the throne, tapping her hoof and giving him an unimpressed look. A second later a considerable number of spears appear from all sides offscreen to point at him.
The pegasi.
“Ohhhh…” He chuckles and lets go of the dog’s paw, giving it a pat on the head before nervously tugging at his collar.
~~~~~
The scene changes to a surprisingly luxurious dungeon just as Goofy is tossed inside, the door slamming shut behind him. He gets up and looks around, absentmindedly taking one of the cooled cucumber slices from the bowl next to the massage chair to munch on it.
Having made a good first impression on the local authorities, it is time to see the rest of what this world has to offer. To get there, a good crossover knows to utilize canon details and implications straight from the source material.
“Hoh? You mean this?” Goofy moves over to the large poster advertising Princess Pipp’s Wingstagram account, pointing at it only for it to fall off the wall and reveal a tunnel with “Queen Haven Was Here” carved into the wall.
He crouches down to step through, coming out on the other side of the wall in a dimly lit teahouse, a stocky grey unicorn wiping a teacup behind the counter and several of the patrons turning their heads to give him an apathetic look before turning back to their own lack of conversations.
Here we meet the unicorns, who are said to be wise and curious, scholars and researchers living in harmony with the energies of the land around them.
He ambles over to the bar, cranking up one of the stools to twice the height before sitting down on it.
“Haven’t seen someone like you around before.” The bartender puts away the teacup to turn his attention towards Goofy, pulling out a rubik's cube instead. “Fancy playing a game or three?”
~~~~~
The scene cuts to outside the teahouse, the door opening for a disgruntled Goofy wearing nothing but his hat and an empty barrel, glaring at the camera.
Admittedly, my information may have been slightly out of date on that one. Goofy shoots the camera another glare and keeps walking grumpily, the background transitioning from a crystal-filled forest to a street alternating between cobblestones and steel plates. But chin up, that’s already two out of three factions you’ve met. All that’s left is to meet the last third of the batch. And that should be any moment now…
Goofy stops right next to one of the square steel plates and fully turns to the camera, crossing his arms.
If you would take one more step to the left?
He blinks and shuffles a little to the right.
No no no, I meant my left, that’s your right.
He shuffles back to the left.
Exactly. One more step, if you please.
Goofy shuffles another step to the right, standing right on top of the large red X drawn on top of the steel plate for a fraction of a second before a steel box with a flashing red light on top slams shut around him, leaving an indent of his nose at the front of it.
“Yeeow!”
There we go.
Step Four: Finding Your Place
The scene opens on Goofy standing on an empty stage.
Now that our protagonist has seen all corners of this world that are known to us, they can make a more informed decision about themselves and what their role in this new world will be. For example, the My Little Pony franchise like some other cartoons has a particular penchant for music, so perhaps-
Goofy perks up and holds up a hand, running off stage before loudly walking back into view wearing an entire one-man-band ensemble with a large drum on his back, a cymbal on top, a tuba around both and a harmonica in front of him.
PERHAPS SOMETHING ELSE?! SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE QUALITY AND LESS QUANTITY?!
He walks off stage again.
Thank you.
A smoke machine stutters to life offscreen, rolling out a blanket of fog across the stage followed by a laser show starting up through the smoke. Goofy jumps out again in full Powerline cosplay, playing some very energetic chords on an electric guitar and jumping around for a few seconds before his feet get tangled in the guitar’s cable and tumbles offscreen to an escalating series of crashes.
Perhaps something a little less modern would be more appropriate? Do you have anything more traditional?
Goofy walks back on stage in full Alpine yodeler garb and holding an accordion. He stops in the middle of the stage, stretching the accordion out and taking a deep breath…
Right before being pulled offscreen by a stage hook around his neck, followed by the sound of an accordion very enthusiastically being disassembled.
On second thought, I’m sure ponies aren’t all that interested in music after all.
Goofy limps back on stage, looking a little bruised and disheveled.
Well! That was… a valiant first attempt. Let’s never do that ever again. Luckily for you, I have found just the job for an experienced enabler of educational entertainment. And for that I will leave you in the capable hooves of my compatriot, if you don’t mind. I took on a bit of a side gig in return, you see, but it shouldn’t take too long.
There’s the sound of disembodied footsteps moving away before a door slams. Goofy only has a moment to look around in confusion before the lights on the stage turn on and the camera view changes, now showing a targeting frame and a little REC in the upper left corner.
“Welcome, fillies and gentlecolts, to Canterlogic’s first fully digital product showcase!”
The camera moves to show a light pink earth pony with glasses and a curly hairdo standing at the far side of the stage, as far away from Goofy as possible.
“Your provider of every kind of technological security you need. Now, I'm aware that our company has been involved in some... well-meaning misconceptions, in the past. And that's why I'm proud to announce our new Advisor on Ponytical Correctness, Sunny Starscout! Say hello to the customers, Sunny."
She reaches behind the stage curtain to pull out a younger, light orange earth pony mare with a braided pink mane. "Phyllis, I'm not sure–"
Phyllis steps in front of her, cutting her off. "Nopony is sure right now, that's why they'll all listen to you, dear. You just focus on the PC side of things and I'll handle the PR side of things."
Sunny stretches to look over Phyllis’ shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "PR?"
"Profits & Revenue, dear." Phyllis waves off looking around. “Now where is…? Ah yes. Now, I’m sure many of our loyal customers are feeling confused and uncertain after the recent… revelations regarding our civilized and not at all ponicidal winged and horned neighbors. After all, being afraid of our fellow ponies to the North and East was part of our lifestyle. But there’s no need to not worry, because I am here today to reassure you that there are plenty of non-pony beasts to be terrified of.”
“I really don’t think-”
“I have acquired the assistance of one such beast to provide a showcase of Canterlogic’s newest line of products.” The camera pans back to Goofy. “As you can see, it is decidedly not a pony. Sunny, is this a pony?”
“Well, no, but-”
“My new advisor has confirmed that this is objectively not a pony, and as such there are no moral quandaries on testing our new range of high-quality defense technology on it!”
“That’s not what I-!”
“First!” Part of the stage floor next to Goofy slides open and a baby stroller is raised up through it, the platform it’s on settling flush with the rest of the stage. “As we all know, unknown monsters and not our entirely non-cannibalistic pegasus neighbors like to eat our foals.” Goofy looks down at the stroller, smiling and cooing at it and leaning in for a closer look. “So to protect your progeny from the dangers out there, Canterlogic presents the Beartrap Baby Buggy 3000! Guaranteed to prevent any unauthorized access to your pride and joy.”
Interlocking steel plates suddenly move in from the sides of the stroller to shut it closed, clamping down on Goofy’s nose.
“Yeeeooowch!”
He jumps and starts flailing and jumping around, lifting up the stroller that’s still firmly attached to his nose and taking it along as the unexpected weight makes him stumble backwards to one side of the screen.
“Canterlogic is not liable for injuries sustained by unauthorized coworkers, friends and family. Canterlogic is not liable for Beartrap Baby Buggy 3000 mistakenly preventing authorized access including but not limited to parents and legal guardians. Canterlogic is not liable for faulty unlocking mechanisms trapping your pride and joy inside an impenetrable steel shell. If your foal is trapped inside an impenetrable steel shell Canterlogic will unlock your Beartrap Baby Buggy 3000 at the nearest affiliated store for a nominal monumental fee.”
The stage opens up again, this one raising out a gyroscopic contraption with a large wooden bowl at the end, just in time for Goofy to trip into it and start being swung around faster and faster until he’s just a spinning blur.
“Introducing next, the Canterlogic Centrifucatapult!"
“Whoooaaaoh! Whoooaaaoh! Whoooaaaoh!”
"Upgrading the well-tested old catapult design with the power of a centrifuge. Just take your problems and push them somewhere far away.”
"Yaaaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey!"
Phyllis winces at the following series of crashes, muttering, “Should’ve done that one outside…” She winces at another crash, followed by a loud sproing sound. “Ahem, well, presenting the Canterlogic Springloaded… wait, that one wasn’t on the list…” Another crash and a jet of fire fires into view for a second. “That one wasn’t even out of the testing phase…” Followed by a small explosion that knocks the camera over and sends several smoking bits of wood and metal flying onto the stage. “That one was out of the testing phase, because it was scrapped.”
There’s another crash, followed by a yelp and the sound of something large rolling slowly, gradually speeding up. A moment later Goofy runs past, one foot stuck in a bucket and chased by a very large paddle wheel.
“What the…? Sprout promised me he would get rid of that thing!”
Sunny walks into view next to Phyllis, both watching Goofy running the other way in the background, still chased by the wheel. “Shouldn’t we, you know… help him?”
“Yes yes, you do that. I have to talk to my son about responsibility. Again.” Phyllis huffs and trots off without waiting for an answer. “Sprout? Sprout! Come here, young colt, right now!”
~~~~~
The camera holds on a shot of a badge from the Maritime Bay Sheriff’s Office.
Sounds like a lot of-
“Sprooouuut!”
Ahem, sounds like a lot of-
“Sprout!”
Sounds like a-
“Sprout! Sprooouuut!”
“Mom! We’re trying to shoot a training video here!”
The camera zooms out to show a young red earth pony stallion in his full deputy uniform with several medals, some of them made from aluminum foil, as well as a bemused light amber earth pony stallion with white markings and a sheriff’s star pinned to his chest.
“Sprout!” The camera moves to show Phyllis standing in the open doorway. “Didn’t I ask you to clean up the remains of that giant war machine?”
“I did!”
“And what did you do with it?”
The red pony takes a step back, glancing around. “I put it… away. Why do you ask?”
There’s a loud crash and some dust and drywall flying into view before Goofy runs past again, the paddle wheel right behind him.
Phyllis raises an eyebrow, gesturing in the direction where another crash and even more bits of drywall are coming from.
Sprout huffs, looking away. “T-that could be anypony’s giant paddle wheel of doom. I mean, we had like a dozen of those Splatterpults, didn’t we?”
Phyllis crosses her arms. “We only had two, actually. Both of which you built into your war machine.”
“Really? That seems… less than the usual amount of excessive.”
In the background, Sunny sneaks in and heads towards Hitch, both of them watching Goofy run past once more at the back of the room.
“Yes, well, the ammunition for them was… difficult to source.”
“Is this another one of these ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older’ things?”
“It’s one of those ‘I’d tell you if you were younger because then you might at least find it funny’ things.”
“Oh. …ewww.”
“Indeed. Now about that Splatterpult wheel?”
“Why are we still talking about that?”
There’s a beat of silence before the wheel rolls past once more right in front of them, this time chased by Goofy.
“Oh, right. Uhm…” Sprout looks around frantically before looking up. “Magic Ceiling Voice, do something!”
If you feel that a joke has been going on for too long, a good way to resolve it can be another running gag or reference.
“Another running gag?” Sunny steps up to the two, trailed by Hitch. “We don’t have any running gags involving the Splatterpults, much less a giant… runaway… Oh no!” She jumps and turns in the direction the wheel had gone, only to be preempted by a huge crash followed by a series of consecutive smaller crashes, throwing up dust and tossing a few stray small bits of masonry their way.
Step Five: Bonding over the Repairs to your new Friend’s Home that was Accidentally and Inevitably Destroyed in Relation to your Arrival
Having inevitably become involved in the destruction of property, most likely belonging to one or more of your newfound friends, it is now time to bond with them over the rebuilding efforts. The first step of which is to make sure that they don’t somewhat rightfully blame you for their misfortune.
Goofy looks down at where Sunny is glaring at him, then back up at the thoroughly wrecked ruins of the lighthouse, then back down again, letting out a nervous chuckle.
Luckily for the both of you, there are most likely more friends with the necessary skills and/or contacts to help out.
“Hey everypony and everyweirdlankydogmonster.” A lilac unicorn with a wavy blue mane happily skips into view, pulling a large cart behind her. “A weird voice in my ceiling told me to get lots and lots of Bridlewood lumber, but just lumber is boring so I also brought a bunch of crystals.” She pulls the tarp off the cart to reveal a very tall and very shiny stack of wood.
“Oh good, I was wondering if I should worry about the random voice from the ceiling.” A light pink pegasus with a purple mane and fluffy wings trots up to the group as well. She’s followed a moment later by a white pegasus with a two-tone mane and multicolored wings slowly dragging a massive block of granite behind her.
“Little help here, Pipp?”
“But I am helping.” Pipp reaches behind her to pull out a smooth spiraling rock about a hoofwidth long. “I found the perfect rock to put on top of everything once we’re done.”
Zipp flops down and glares up at her for a moment before looking at the ruins of the previous lighthouse. “Are we really going to rebuild the whole thing by ourselves? I don’t think any of us have much experience with architecture.”
“He seems to know what he’s doing.” Izzy smiles and points at where Goofy is trying to hold a measuring tape against the still upright remains of a wall, only for them to collapse right on top of him. “I have a good feeling about this. It’ll work out great!”
Zipp lets out another heartfelt groan before getting back to her hooves. “Well, we’re not going to get anywhere either way by just sitting here. So let’s try to dig out the whoever-that-is and get started.”
Indeed. And what better way to lighten the drudgery of work (for the audience) than with a jaunty work montage song?
~~suity-up, booty-up, diddly-deedly-da~~
The camera pans across several shots of sawing and hammering before showing the whole group of ponies (and Goofy) staring at a large, tree-shaped crystal building.
“Ooooh, it’s shiny~!”
“It’s shiny alright. Any pegasus that visits will go blind and fly right into this thing.”
“My bedroom is eastward, if I have to wake up in this I’ll be walking into walls all day, too.”
“Alright everypony, let’s give this another try. At least we made it structurally sound. Probably.”
~~suity-up, booty-up, diddly-deedly-da~~
There’s a shot of Zipp and Hitch carrying more lumber onto the construction site, a shot of Goofy accidentally hammering his own thumb and a shot of Izzy with welding goggles taking a blowtorch to a steel bar, before it ends on another shot of the group slowly staring up at a large rollercoaster.
“Oops, my bad! That song reeaally gets stuck in your head.”
“What song, Izzy?”
“How did we not even notice that this is a rollercoaster until we were done building it?!”
“A-hyuk.”
~~suity-up, booty-up, diddly-deedly-da~~
“Aren’t you all a little young to be rebuilding your friend’s lighthouse?”
Zipp perks up from where she’s holding up a door frame in the background. “That’s what I said!”
“Ignore my sister, I can assure you that it’s all completely reasonable.”
The delivery pony shrugs, taking the clipboard and leaving Pipp with the load of stone and lumber.
Hitch joins her. “I can’t believe we ran out of construction materials.”
Izzy pokes her head over a half-finished wall behind them. “I can’t believe you didn’t let me keep the rollercoaster!”
“How did you pay for all of this with same-day delivery, anyway?”
“I may or may not have directed them to my mom’s treasury account. And when I say ‘may or may not have’ I mean ‘as long as nopony tells her she won’t find out’.”
Do-da be-de-da, da-da, da-da-da
The group stands back once more, looking up at a perfect copy of the destroyed lighthouse, the sun slowly setting over the ocean in the background.
And so we come to the end of our crossover. Our protagonist and his new friends have gone through many adventures and hardships together, or perhaps not quite so many, but either way they have formed bonds that will surely last even after they are once more worlds apart.
The camera slowly zooms out as the ponies one by one file into the lighthouse.
All that’s left is to close out the scene and leave our heroes to their well-deserved rest after a day of hard work, enjoying the result of their labor. Because while the challenge may have been difficult and the skills it demanded of them new, truly there is nothing that cannot be overcome through the power of friendship and teamwork.
The last one through the door is Goofy, grabbing the door and heartily pulling it most of the way shut before pausing and carefully closing it the last few inches. The screen turns to black from the corners for the fade-out, pausing on the last view of the lighthouse just as he shuts the door with a gentle click.
And thus we bring our story to a conclusive, satisfying, end.
There’s a soft creak as the lighthouse slowly begins to lean forward, the painted cardboard front propped up by a few wooden supports falling over and revealing a small ramshackle hut for just a second before the fade-out picks up again and the view winks out to leave a black screen.
Author's Note
Cameos/References:
Donald Duck
Popeye & Bluto
Yosemite Sam
Dan Backslide
Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd
Shorty
Daffy Duck
Kingdom Hearts
Captains Crash
Roger Rabbit
Chip & Dale (Rescue Rangers Movie)
~~River Road~~ Kingdom Hearts
Krusty Krab Training Video
Quirky Worky Song (Phineas & Ferb)
