Death of Harmony - The Crossing
Main Characters: Lots
Cameos: Many
Original Start Date: July 16, 2013
Warning: This chapter relies heavily on knowledge of Rebirth of Harmony. Check it out. It is a fun read.
A swirling dark portal sits in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Twilight Sparkle stand ready to defend Equestria from whatever may emerge. Prince Shining Armor and the Royal Guard ready their weapons and magic against the threat. James Sparkle sits behind his wife’s throne, playing a hoofheld game.
‘Is it doing anything yet?’ the lone earth pony asks.
‘James, this is serious!’ his wife hisses. ‘We have no idea what it could be.’
‘Interdimensional something-or-other,’ the physicist replies. ‘That is unless my sonic is acting up again.’
‘Mr Sparkle, we called you here for a reason,’ Celestia reprimands. ‘Why don’t you make yourself useful?’
‘I’ve done all I can with the data I scanned.’
‘Then scan again.’
James sighs and points his sonic at the portal. He looks at the fresh data. ‘If I were my sister-in-law, I would duck about now.’
Cadance looks back. ‘What?’
A metal cylinder shoots out of the portal and nails Cadance in the head. Shining drops his guard and rushes to his wife’s side. The portal flashes and collapses on itself while everypony is distracted helping Cadance.
‘What is this?’ Luna wonders, examining the cylinder. She lifts it with her magic, but almost drops it when she sees an image printed on the side.
‘What is it, sister?’ Celestia asks.
Luna levitates the cylinder. ‘This marking. It is the same one as on the necklace Rei gave me years ago.’
‘Didn’t you say her sister crossed over a few months back?’ Twilight says.
‘Indeed she did, Twilight Sparkle. Do you think this is connected?’
‘Nope!’ James replies.
The royals turn their attention to the scientist.
‘What makes you say that, Mr Sparkle?’
James takes the cylinder from Luna’s magic. He pulls a cord out from its side. ‘Because it is not plugged in.’
Everypony groans as the earth pony looks for the nearest outlet.
After some technical wrangling, James has the cylinder set up and plugged in. He points his sonic at it and activates the device. The royals gather around the holographic display that appears. An older Luna reading a book appears on the display. She glances up and gasps.
`It is on!` the older Luna calls. `And tell the kids to come!`
Celestia and her sister whisper together.
‘Could this be what she was worried about?’ Celestia asks.
‘I’m more concerned about the other me,’ Luna confides.
‘If you are going to keep secrets,’ James interrupts, ‘can I at least call my daughter so she can see her mother?’
`Maybe soon, Mr Wanderer,` Queen Luna replies. `Now, we have much more urgent business to attend to.`
‘Actually, it is Mr Sparkle.’ James puts a foreleg around Twilight. ‘I haven’t gone by Mr Wanderer for five hundred years.’
`That’s about seventeen times longer than the last time I used that name,` King James moans, joining his wife.
‘Fifty over three,’ James corrects. ‘It is more accurate that way.’
`More like five hundred over twenty-seven.`
‘Well, that’s a completely different fraction alltogether.’
‘And whose idea was it to put the two of them together?’ Celestia huffs.
`It was a risk we had to take,` Queen Luna groans. She smiles. `It is good to see you again, sister. It has been near forever.`
‘I take it this is not a social call.’
`I wish it were. These are dire times for us.`
‘Does it have something to do with your daughter’s visit recently? She seemed concerned about something but was unwilling to tell us.’
Queen Luna nods. `She and Helios stumbled upon what could be the key to our salvation. The spell they used to trap her between our worlds is what we used to send this link to us. We did not want to risk sending an emissary... yet.`
Princess Luna frowns. ‘What sort of dangers are you facing if you are reaching out to another world for assistance?’
Queen Luna looks at her husband. He takes a deep breath. `The universe is ending. Stars have been going out. The Doctor has done his best to aid everypony he could, but Equestria seems to be at the center of the collapse. In a matter of time, we will be all that is left before nothingness.`
‘Discord did it, didn’t we?’ James guesses.
`Correct. When he and I regenerated, that fractured the universe. He tapped into untold powers and spread cracks across the universe when he eliminated the Daleks.`
‘Question! What if you threw me into the cracks?’ Discord asks, having magically appeared. ‘I mean, it worked for The Doctor.’
`We have considered that option. Even if we could convince him out of his exile to assist us, it would not be enough. The universe is collapsing no matter what.`
‘Well, I tried.’ Discord disappears again.
Celestia scowls. ‘That other spell we found during Alba’s visit. You intend to use it.’
`Yes,` Queen Luna states. `We request that you allow us to evacuate as many of our citizens as we can to your world.`
Celestia closes her eyes as she thinks.
‘Please, sister,’ both Luna’s implore.
The older princess looks up. ‘Equestria will take as many refugees as we can. I will speak with the rest of The League of Harmony and ask them to take in refugees from other lands as well.’
Queen Luna bows. `Thank you. The whole New Lunar Republic has been preparing in hopes you said “yes”. I will inform the other leaders of this wonderful news.`
‘The Crystal Empire will do our part to help,’ Cadance states. She turns to her husband. ‘Shining, return to the Empire and begin preparations for their arrival.’
Shining salutes and gallops away.
‘Excuse me,’ Princess Luna speaks up. ‘Can we get another of these communication devices? It would make it easier to coordinate the plans.’
`We will have one sent to you right away,` King James replies.
‘Damn,’ James swears. ‘The requested target already left. No chance at nursing him back to consciousness...’
`Then convincing him that he was never married to some pink bimbo and was always in love with you,’ King James finishes.
The two stallions moan in disappointment.
‘JAMES!’ Twilight and Queen Luna snap.
‘Nothing!’ They reply.
Queen Luna facehoofs. `Twenty-seven years...`
Twilight facehoofs. ‘Five hundred years...’
‘Mr Sparkle,’ Celestia interrupts. ‘I would like to contact the other governments as soon as possible. If you could please link this device to the communications system.’
The stallion groans and gets out his sonic. ‘When did I become palace tech support?’
‘When is our anniversary?’ Twilight snickers.
James grumbles and gets to work.
Celestia stands before a display with other world leaders. Queen Luna is part of the display. The other leaders are deep in thought.
`I’ll take in any changeling that is willing to submit to my authority,` Chrysalis states calmly. `You are sending me more changelings, right?`
Queen Luna rolls her eyes. `Yes, Chrysalis. From what my sister has told me, your style of rule is similar enough to the Chrysalis of our world. The few of her hive that wish to flee are willing to do anything to survive.`
`Just what we need,` Artemis groans. `More changelings.`
`Like you don’t do your part to “cull the herd” as you call it,` Chrysalis hisses.
‘If we can get back on topic,’ Celestia grumbles.
`I’ll leave the details of any new sea ponies you send us to my darling little angel,` Lord Gugu coos. `We must do our part to help.`
`I doubt there is anyone here who won’t take as many refugees as we can,` King Uther states.
Artemis taps a hoof on her desk. `You said there was a limited number of refugees, correct?`
Queen Luna shakes her head. `We wish to save as many citizens as we can. Each member of the Republic has selected key individuals they want to send. We wanted to speak with all of you to see how many more we can truly save.`
`Deerope will take only those selected by our counterparts. No more. We have our own problems to face.`
`That is disappointing,` Queen Luna sighs. `I will inform all my allies of your decisions. Once both worlds are prepared for the influx, we will start sending refugees.`
`We will be waiting,` Osiris replies.
`I hope we can save a lot,` Amaterasu adds.
The League members sign off. Chrysalis gives Celestia a wink before disconnecting. Celestia is about to yell but holds back when she notices Queen Luna laughing at her.
‘Your counterpart has offered to coordinate the relief efforts,’ Celestia states. ‘She felt having a familiar face greeting the new arrivals would help put them at ease.’
`Agreed. I’ll inform Helios that she will be working with him. He and Alba have been working tirelessly to find a solution to our misfortune.`
‘Helios and Alba...’ Celestia looks at Queen Luna. ‘Are they..?’
The queen nods. `We offered all our Elements of Harmony a chance to be saved. It is just going to be hard telling...` She shakes her head. `Helios and Alba will be saved. They will be excited to see their sister again.`
‘As will she.’ Celestia laughs. ‘If Mr Sparkle wasn’t too busy to call her right now, I am sure Rei would literally be bouncing off the walls after he tells her.’
Queen Luna smiles. `I hope I have a moment to speak with her.`
‘There will be plenty of time. Now, I should turn this device over to my sister so she and your son can make arrangements.’
`Until we see each other again, sister.`
Celestia smiles and bows. ‘Dear sister.’
Alba gallops down the castle halls. ‘Hurry up! Aren’t you excited to meet them?’
Helios groans, ‘I would if it were under different circumstances.’
‘Come on, Helios. We are finally meeting Twilight Sparkle. This is amazing!’
‘Yeah. And it only took the universe coming to the end for it to happen.’
‘Don’t be like that. We found a way to save as many ponies as we can. We’re even going to survive. We should be happy for that chance.’ She giggles excitedly. ‘Plus, we get to work with the most important ponies in their universe while saving everypony.’
Helios sighs. ‘You’re right. I just wish there was some other way. Someway to save everypony. I mean, The Doctor was able to recreate the universe with the Pandorica. Why not something like that with Discord?’
‘That won’t work. Or more accurately, that didn’t work.’ Alba looks at her brother. ‘Discord came to me when we were first preparing for the end. He and The Doctor were going to enter the cracks and try to stop them that way. Look how well that turned out. I think this universe was doomed from the start.’
‘Alba!’ Helios gapes.
Alba stops and turns to her brother. ‘Come on. You haven’t thought that? It seems pretty obvious. This universe was created to help fix the other one so that it wouldn’t end up as bad as ours.’
‘How would one universe fix another one? That’s just crazy.’
‘What is so crazy about it? Maybe their universe just wanted to correct the mistakes of ours and now that everything is fixed there, we are no longer needed. At least we’re given a chance. That is why some ponies are refusing to go. Maybe they exist there already and have some switch in them keeping them here.’
‘Alba, listen to yourself. You are easily the smartest pony on the planet. But you are equating some weird occurrences to something being wrong with the universe as a whole.’
‘Trixie got divorced and has been spending more time with Razzly and her father. Lucas and Derpy broke up, and he’s dating that changeling. You have to be concerned about that one. It affects Krile directly.’
‘Alba, those are just coincidences. Yes, those are weird things to have happen, but they happen. Next, you’ll say Shaun spending more time actually ruling is a bad thing.’
‘Helios! This world is wrong. Stars have been going out for centuries. Mom just won’t admit it.’ She shakes her head. ‘I had Technis steal the travel logs from The Doctor’s TARDIS. Discord being put at the right place at the right time for this world to happen... There was no right place and right time. Discord wasn’t a fixed point.’
`Oh! I get it now,` a new voice says.
`I think so too,` another adds.
The young royals look. A display with Twilight and James Sparkle is beside them. Alba squeals when she sees Twilight.
Helios gawks. ‘Are you two..?’
`Good afternoon. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle.`
`I’m James. Technically, we’re your father.`
‘OHMYGOSH!OHMYGOSH!OHMYGOSH! YOU ARE SO COOL!’ Alba fangirls.
`I’m just a pony, you know,` Twilight replies.
James winces. `I guess the volume is genetic. You and Rei must get it from your mom.`
‘What did you two just understand?’ Helios asks. ‘It was about us, wasn’t it?’
`Alba helped with the final details,` James replies. `She’s as sharp as her sister. She’ll get it too.`
‘So, what? Her idiotic theory is correct?’
`Signs point to “yes”.`
Helios moans loudly. ‘Great. Something else she is not going to shut up about.’
Alba smiles. ‘As good as it feels to be right, I don’t have all the pieces you do.’
`It is something we have been wondering about for a long time,` Twilight explains. `We wanted to know when the exact split in the timelines began.`
‘It was when Discord killed Celestia.’
`It was our wedding,` James corrects. `That was the first point in your timeline when corrections began.`
‘That makes even less sense,’ Helios complains. ‘If Alba’s theory is true, then these corrections were happening long before Twilight was born.’
`Technically, yes, but mostly no. For those past corrections, you needed Discord. He didn’t happen until our wedding. Well, your dad’s wedding. The dates are the first big clue.`
‘What?’
`When is our anniversary, dear?` Twilight asks.
`June eighteenth, whereas Discord’s birthday isn’t November fourteenth, but Ponyville Founder’s Day, the same Day as your Ponyville Memorial Day.`
‘That’s a pretty big difference...’ Alba notes.
`It was all revenge for Bassen Rift, wasn’t it?` Twilight says.
`They failed to get The Doctor, River and me at the conference. The Doctor weaseled his way out of the Pandorica. The wedding was supposed to be low-hanging fruit for them, but The Doctor put a stop to that. Hell, The Master was able to use their sense of revenge to get them to help him out.`
‘But Naiad was the one who called them. Why did they..?’
`Don’t you ever notice how much Rei talks?` Twilight counters. `While the princesses were getting all they could about your world from her, James and I were asking more direct questions. Questions about us. Didn’t you ever wonder why the Daleks targeted only Ponyville? They were targeting us. They were going after James.`
James nods. `And they created Discord who caused the collapse that you are seeing now. Discord needed to be created, that is why your Doctor knew he must fail and had to take Discord back to our mutual past. That was the first correction. The second correction was James Sparkle.`
‘Both you and dad have the same name.’ Alba facehoofs. ‘Why didn’t I see it earlier?’
`You are also right about the counterpart theory,’ James adds. `There was no Rei in our universe to make me happy. That is also why Alba had a hard time crossing last time. There is no you here, but your alicorn form kept you from crossing completely. You’re going to have to have that treated to get through immigration...`
‘Wait? What about Apple?’ Helios asks. ‘Is there an Apple Pie already?’
`Technically...` James hems. `I mean, we saw him next to Applejack. Except for one huge physical difference, they were pretty much the same.`
Twilight nods in agreement. `Oh, yes. It was very big. Quite remarkable.`
‘I do NOT want to hear that about my brother!’ Helios shouts.
`What are you on about?` James is confused.
`Yeah. We’re talking about his cutie mark,` Twilight answers. `I mean, his apples are green.`
‘Oh. Right.’
‘Were you thinking about his penis?’ Alba says.
‘I was not thinking about his... And why does my little sister know such language! I’m telling mom!’
The others laugh at the embarrassed prince.
‘What other corrections do you know about?’ Alba asks. ‘I’m just curious.’
`Well, you mentioned Lucas and Mimi,` Twilight replies. `They’re married here.`
`We know a lot of our friends are in both worlds. When I had a trip to our future, Lyra’s son was head of intelligence.`
‘About the only intelligence in that family...’ Twilight and Helios grumble.
`Oh! You mentioned Stormy and Trixie,` James points out. `Excuse me. I mean, The Great and Powerful Countess Trixie Lunamoon of the Crystal Empire.`
Twilight shudders at the mention of the title. `And you also mentioned their daughter Razzly. That is another correction.`
Alba pales. ‘Razzly?’
`Oh, such a sweet young filly,` James says. `You’ll have to meet her when you’re in Ponyville catching up with Starlight. I am sure he will be excited to see you again.`
‘R-r-right. Starlight.’ Alba turns to her brother. ‘Um, I think we quizzed them enough. You should get to the other link and coordinate with Princess Luna. We have to discuss the technical details of the crossing.’
Helios groans and rolls his eyes. ‘Right. If those stories of this Nightmare Moon pony are true, then I’d hate to get on this version of mom’s bad side too.’
The prince sighs and trots away. Alba turns to Twilight and James and smiles.
‘Before we start on the scheduled discussion, I wanted to bring up that our head librarian wants to try to transfer as our books, records and data to your stores.’
Twilight sparkles. `A whole new world of books for me to read.`
James groans. `You’re talking to the pony who read every book in The Library. Twice.` He sighs and shakes his head. `We can start transferring any digital data you have right away.`
‘Excellent!’ Alba cheers. She looks behind her. ‘Oh! Sunset Shimmer! Perfect timing. We were just talking about your proposal.’
Twilight snaps out of her daze. `Sunset Shimmer?!`
A light blue pegasus with a pink mane trots up. Sunset bows. ‘It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can preserve my library together.’
`R-r-right,` Twilight stammers. `Nice to meet you too, Sunset Shimmer.`
The four ponies begin discussing details of the file transfers and the crossing.
The four princesses and James meet to share their preparation news.
‘Thanks to Alba’s visit, her knowledge of our castle allows them to make pretty precise targeting with their crossing spells,’ Luna reports. ‘Prince Helios was very specific for potential crossing points for their final portal.’
‘What has he proposed?’ Celestia asks.
‘We agreed that the main ballroom would be the ideal spot. It is large enough to accommodate hundreds of ponies along with the portal and any stations we might need. Plus, it has easy access to the courtyard, exits and other facilities that might be needed.’
‘That sounds good. I hope it works out.’
‘Alba’s knowledge is helping us as well,’ Twilight adds. ‘Queen Luna and Alba are going to use their magic to transfer as many books they can from Sunset Shimmer’s library.’
Celestia gasps, ‘Sunset...’
Twilight shakes her head. ‘She is not the same pony. She is a pegasus, and their royal librarian.’
‘That is both relieving and disappointing...’
‘We’re sorry for monopolizing the other link, but Sunset has a lot of data to transfer,’ James says. ‘I hate using my title, but I did have to order the guards to get me more hard drives to store it all.’
‘It is going to be quite the task going through it all, but I am sure Sunset will be willing to help me,’ Twilight agrees.
‘Twilight and Sunset, librarians at large. Quite the combo,’ her husband jokes.
The others laugh.
Celestia calms herself. ‘As for Cadance and I, we have been making arrangements with cities across Equestria for housing for the new arrivals.’
‘It should be a few days until every city has made the arrangements needed for the new residents,’ Cadance points out.
‘That is fine,’ Luna concurs. ‘They require a few more days for the final set of refugees to arrive in Canterlot so they can begin the transfers.’
‘Not to mention, it gives Pinkie more time to get their welcome party ready,’ Twilight adds.
‘A party for an entire universe. Is her body ready?’ James quips.
Everypony laughs again.
‘I do have one concern,’ Cadance worries. ‘The prince and princess are crossing, are they not? What are we doing about their titles?’
‘You have nothing to worry about with Helios,’ Luna states. ‘He is quite willing to become a normal pony. He mentioned it often...’
‘And Alba is fine with it too,’ Twilight adds. ‘When she found out that I worked my way up to becoming a princess, she was very excited to give it her all to earn the title again.’
‘I guess I’m not the only one who worships my wife,’ James says.
Twilight laughs, and they kiss.
Celestia stands. ‘Now we wait until they are ready to begin crossing. I hope everything goes well.’
‘Do not worry, sister,’ Luna replies. ‘Everything is going to be fine.’
Helios and Alba finish telling their parents about the arrangements with the other universe.
‘It seems my counterpart has everything under control,’ Luna notes.
‘As does mine,’ James agrees. ‘Both of me...’
‘I know! Isn’t Twilight Sparkle amazing!’ Alba cheers.
‘Calm down, sis,’ Helios sighs.
‘Well, it seems everything is in order,’ Luna states. ‘You two should take some time off before your conversion. The rail and airways are going to be clogged with arrivals so you will need your extra magic for teleportation.’
‘Where do you think we would want to go?’ Helios asks.
Luna shakes her head. ‘We know there are some ponies you wish to see before you can see them no more.’
‘Just don’t take too long,’ James adds. ‘You don’t want to miss Pinkie and Rainbow’s going-away party they are throwing for everypony.’
Alba looks away. ‘She’s coming too still, right?’
‘Rainbow is very excited to be seeing the other universe. She’ll be there.’
‘But Ra...’
‘Go see her. It will put your mind at ease.’
Alba nods. ‘Right. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
The princess teleports away. Helios starts charging a spell.
‘Helios,’ James interrupts. ‘Give your brother a hug for me, okay?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Helios teleports away. James sits back on his throne and wipes his tears.
Luna nuzzles his cheek. ‘Do not worry, my husband. Everything is going to be fine.’
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Can't wait to see what else you have planned. They must be pretty confident that all the countries can handle the influx of some new comers. Anyways, looking forward to the next few chapters. Until next time,
-Sphinx
5824670 I've been looking forward to sharing this arc for ages! I mean, I finished it and had it ready long before RoH ended, so I knew what that story was aiming for in a finale. And then the interaction between characters from the different worlds, killing off every Origins theory, any Prince James x King James scene... So much that I just loved in the production of this arc, and I finally get to share it. I'm so nervouscited!
5825638 Now that only makes it more interesting! Sir, I really look forward to the next chapters.
5824670 To preemptively answer another point you brought up, the total number of refugees is less than 10k. I don't remember which of the next chapters that is explicitly stated, but the influx is not too great.
5827360 I see, well that answers that.
5828302 One thing that you can then realize as being potentially horrific: cities like Canterlot or Manehattan easily have populations that dwarf the number of refugees so when you consider the stated reason why most RoH inhabitants stay behind (because they exist in MLP/SCS canon already and sorta know that), then you start realizing how many ponies exist in both worlds that are just happy to ride out the end of the RoH world. Like, say... RoH Lucas, Chrysalis, Trixie, Razzly, Luna, entire cities like Manehattan, etc. Almost every character you can name in the show or from RoH...
I'm sorry for getting into stuff covered a little more directly in the next couple chapters, but it applies to this chapter too, though it is not as open. It is just a little "whoa" when you think about who will lost compared to who will be saved.
Enjoy that in your head for at least two more weeks when you think about this story!
Are we certain the RoH universe ending wasn't caused by two TWPs meeting. not by Discord ripping a hole in reality? I mean, there is an outside chance of that, right?
Also, we need to see how King James (aka RoH TWP) reacts to being able to see Twilight again. I bet his emotions were off the charts.
5831624 No to the first question. Next chapter for the second.
Should I just pause my SCS read-through and read RoH?
Because I feel like I need more information
6213057 Reading RoH is probably a good idea. Characters and events from it might become slightly important soon...
I took a pause in SCS read all of RoH, then re-read this chapter and it's still funny.