A Crossover

by Dudofall

An Answer is Given

"I'll try," the plucky prototype posits, and not a moment too soon, because 'the creature in the distance' is no longer an accurate description. I can smell its fetid breath, and it can't be more than thirty feet away. The prototype begins to glow, and I hastily lift him into the air. His spinning interacts poorly with my telekinesis, so I'm only gripping him on a very small area. As he builds up for the jump, the monster's crashing footfalls break into a faster gait. It reaches the room in moments. I witness its full glory, it stands at least eight feet tall and cannot stand up straight in this room. It has a vaguely humanoid shape, but above its head there is a circle of potato eyes, held in a similar manner to that flageye creature. It raises a fist to crush us, I hear a splash, and then there is nothing but darkness.

***

Twilight was dumped unceremoniously on the ground, and her head ached from the spell. If she'd been an ordinary unicorn, she likely would've also aged a few years as well, but thankfully this was not the case. Without pausing any more, she cast the tracking spell. "You'll have to try harder than that to get away from me!" she taunted the cavernous walls.

***

There is something alive on my head! I can feel it wriggling around! "What's on my head?!"

The prototype chuckles. He seems to have given up on "playing dead". "That little creature from before really likes you! He has a really squirrely demeanor!"

I know this will be futile. "Please stop with the puns."

"I'd be nuts to stop!" This is worthy of a groan, so I give one.

"Hey, acorn you tell I'm trying to get back at you?"

I sigh even more heavily and put my face in my hooves. "Why didn't I nix the pun program?"

He laughs even more. "You weren't the only one elming the project!"

"We're in the middle of an alien jungle, and you've still found it in you to crack jokes. This is unbelievable."

"Wait did you just-" He's cut off, thankfully. Unthankfully, it's by the roar of a fearsome bird creature with lots of legs. It dives out of a tree, adjusting its bearing mostly without using its auburn wings.

I yell over the din. "Get us out of here!" The flageye clings to my back now as I run from the beast, carrying the prototype along behind me.

His reply is most troubling. "It's no good! I need more time to recharge!"

"Flag flag," the flageye cries.

"You're right," I tell it. The prototype yells with annoyance.

Then he stops. "He's pointing to the left! Go that way!"

"Very well," I pant. Were I not a pony, I doubt I could've continued to run at this pace for very long. The bird creature roars again behind us. It sounds closer.

"Please go faster," the prototype pleads. Easy for him to say, he's not the one pushing the very limits of his body just to keep moving. I muse momentarily. Just a few short hours ago, I could barely stand and found the sensation of sitting peculiar. Now I'm used to my body to a much greater degree. "Why are you slowing down?" the prototype snaps me out of my thoughts. I can almost feel the monster's breath on the back of my neck. "He's pointing straight now!" Together we hurry up a hill, past thick groves of sturdy blue trunks. Here the forest is more difficult for the bird to fly through, and I can only assume it's going above, as opposed to crashing through the vegetation as it did before. Ahead, I spot the mouth of a cave.

I try to raise an eyebrow, but cannot maintain it while also running and breathing heavily. "Does the flageye have some kind of cave-sensing power?" I ask.

"How am I supposed to know that? He's just as alien to me as he is to you." A surprisingly good point.

"I hope you're logging what you find out about him."

"Nod. Other me only got rid of the bad parts of his programming when he made me. The scientific stuff is all still there." This is comforting, at least there are some things that were executed properly when the first Monitor was being produced. "I should be ready to jump again in half an hour, why don't you just do some cool down laps until then?" Despite my distrust towards him, I must concede that he has a point. Even I know the importance of a cool down lap or two.

***

Twilight's shield was still holding up as the cave dwelling monster bashed it with gigantic fists. Just about holding up. Not including the cracks. A thought occurred to her, and she dived to the side as she dropped her shield. From the ground, she cast a powerful spell. Magic wrapped all the way around her opponent's frame, and a dazzling flash latter, a breezie-sized version of it ran around in tiny circles, having a temper tantrum. The princess gave an ironic salute, cast the tracking spell, and took a moment to steel herself for more travel.

***

The princess of the night grimaced. "That spell is not unheard of, but I'm not sure if I can bring all six of you with me. Even Celestia would balk at that, were she here and not already dallying in some other demesne. If given time to rest, I could bring three of you at once, then three more of you in a second trip."

"Please Princess Luna," Rarity implored, "we don't want Twilight to be all alone out there!" Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all affirmed her statement.

Luna sighed. "Very well. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, step forward." They did so. "You will be a part of the first trip."

"Yeah!" they chorused.

"I will return for Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and the pony whose name I've failed to catch-" Dawn tried to introduce herself, but was talked over. "-in about twenty minutes. Until then, be well." Without another word, Luna pulled three ponies towards herself and cast the spell. There was a klaxon-like blare, and they were gone.

Dawn seethed. "Zut alors! She didn't even let me tell her my name!"

***

Mary tapped a pencil against her lips. She didn't actually use the pencil for anything other than that, preferring to write reports and the like using her computer's dictation software or keyboard. "So what you're saying is we need more security cameras."

The SECRETARY sent a picture of someone nodding to the terminal. "Although not in so many words, as that would go against my D.O.N.T. advice protocol."

"I don't mind if you give advice," Mary reminded. "That protocol was Mr. Olde's idea. Let's put that aside since we can't install any new cameras right now anyway. With the cameras you have, can you at least keep a lookout for any other Monitor prototypes?"

The SECRETARY responded instantly. "Yes. I'll use a new technique I've been developing that can look through our cloaking technology in addition to the modes already in use throughout the facility."

"Good."

"It seems we have visitors." The terminal lit up with some security footage of Anne, Bill, Allen, and Armald walking down the stairs.

Mary threw up her hands. "We haven't declared a code green yet! Why are they here?!"

"Would you like me to ask them?" the SECRETARY wondered. The harried scientist nodded. There was a blissful moment of silence, and then..."They say they couldn't find Mr. Olde at his apartment."

"Fine! Let's all have a meeting about how to find Mr. Olde even though I already-" she paused to take a deep breath "-know where he is but can't tell them because they won't believe me!" The SECRETARY sent a text message to the terminal.

"Tch."

***

Ritornello lay down in a pile of needles. "Alright, let's take a break." Aria sang softer and softer and sank slowly out of the air. She opted to avoid the prickly pines.

"How is that comfortable?" she demanded.

The manticore's tail twitched to one side. "Manticores like me are venisons of the forest! We can sleep on anything."

"Denizens."

"That's what I said."

Aria grumbled a bit as she brushed needles away from her. "At least we don't have to pay for a bed."

"We will in Griffonstone! You basically have to pay for everything there! I'm surprised there isn't a breathing tax!" Ritornello rolled over in the needles.

The siren put a hoof to her chin. "Come to think of it, they used to charge magic users by the spell back in the day."

"I bet they don't do that now."

"Why not?"

The manticore leaned forward intensely. "They say the griffons have been discovering a crazy amount of new magic. It started out as a way to turn lead into gold or something, but instead they figured out how to turn gold into food! It's done some crazy stuff to their economy."

Aria's ears perked up. "Hm. Can they turn gold into anything else?"

"I dunno. I was really hungry when I read that article, so I ate my newspaper before I got to the end."

The siren rolled her eyes. "Nice going. You really pulled a Sonata!" Her traveling companion shrugged. Aria looked at her gem again, trying to note exactly how much magic she'd had to use to float this far. They had made good time through the forest, once she'd figured out the whole floating thing and Ritornello had started running in earnest. She could see part of Griffonstone's tree peeking through the trees now. It was still too distant for her liking.

"Alright, you wanna keep going now?" Ritornello asked. Aria nodded and took a deep breath. She began to sing once more, ascending slowly as she raised her volume.

Little tacos on the hillside

Little tacos full of ticky tacky

Little tacos make me happy

Little tacos all the same

There's a green shell and a pink shell

And a blue shell and a yellow shell

And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same

It was an odd song, even for Sonata, but the fourths in the melody seemed a perfect fit for the medium height she was floating at. Then she stopped singing, and thudded abruptly to the ground. "We have to go up that?!"

"Well, um, yes! You sure you remember this town?" Ritornello questioned. "It's pretty famous for being on a mountain."

"It's been a thousand years, give me a break!"

"Why do you think it's visible from the shore back there?"

"Well maybe it was on like a hill that's actually easy to climb! Why isn't there a gondola lift or something?"

"A what?"

Aria face-hooved. "I keep forgetting there's no technology here."

Ritornello brightened. "Is this something from that other world you keep talking about?"

"Yeah." The siren sensed an incoming request.

"Tell me a story about it!" the manticore cajoled, sitting on the edge of the path where it turned from dirt to stone and proving once more that her kind could rest anywhere.

Aria groaned. "Fine. One time-"

"Once upon a time!"

"Once upon a time," she sighed, "there were three beautiful maidens who wanted to go up a mountain. They had traveled to a country full of snow for a vacation. There weren't many people there, so the maidens expected to have the slopes to themselves. They got in the gondola lift and after that they went skiing, the end!"

Ritornello frowned. "That's not a good ending, and you didn't even say what a gondola lift was!"

"Fine." Aria said in monotone. "So we got into the gondola lift, which is like two buckets put together on a moving rope, and it took us high above the slopes. We could see lots of people skiing, and sure enough when we got to the top there was a huge line for rentals. So instead we got some skiis..." she paused. "We got some skiis some other way, and went down the hill more times than I could count. At the end, we were all cold, so we got some hot chocolates and warmed up by the fire for a while. The end."

"I love your stories," her audience said. "I've never heard anything like 'em!"

Aria blushed a little. _{"Thank you,"} she said quietly. Ritornello smiled. The siren cleared her throat. "Well anyway, let's go up this hill. Maybe if we're lucky we can get to the top before the end of the day."

The manticore glanced up at the noonday sun. "I guess, if we hurry. Maybe we can race!"

"You're on," Aria said.