//------------------------------// // Breakdowns And Shakedowns // Story: Equestria: Crossing Over // by DubleTruble96 //------------------------------// *Austin's Dream, Dreamworld* There I was, playing with my family and friends at a huge get-together in a forest park. I laughed and played with my friends, tossing a frisbee back and forth. They tossed it too high, so I ran to catch it. I tripped...I fell screaming into a chasm and caught on to a branch. I looked down into the chasm, thousands of ponies were there, all laughing, jeering and calling for me. Their eager hooves reached out to grab me and tug me into the depths of that chasm. My family and friends looked scared and worried, all calling for me to climb up and they'll pull me out. I climbed. But I was tired from running after playing frisbee. I tugged and pulled, doing my best to get back out of the chasm. The eager ponies tugging at the very tips of my shoes and jeans kept crying for me to just let go. I grunted and strained, pulling myself up one step at a time. I reached out for the fingers of my friends and family. They reached as low as they could, but I was just out of their grasp. Suddenly, the stones gave way and I plummeted into the chasm, the ponies pulled me down through the clouds. The last I heard of my family and friends were their shocked and sad faces, and their worried cries. I fell through the clouds and plummeted thousands of feet until I fell through the branches of Twilight's Library and then, right as I hit the ground- Equestria, Ponyville - Twilight's House I woke up in a cold sweat, a scream scarcely escaping my lips. My heart skipped a few beats and I was white as a sheet. Twilight felt me shoot up from the bed, so she woke up to see if I was okay. "Austin?! What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?!" I said nothing, unsure of what to think. Two nightmares in one week. This wasn't just a coincidence. I felt my mind slipping. I could only hear Twilight's voice fade into nothing. I passed out. ------------- After what felt like sleeping for eternity, I woke back up. It had only been about 45 minutes. I looked around, hoping that I woke up in my own comfy bed and this was nothing but one big nightmare. Nope. I saw Twilight's walls staring back, her starchart blanket still on the bed. I groaned. I just wanted to wake up and be far away from this place. I liked Twilight and her friends and all, but this was getting to be too much...I was mentally breaking down, and I didn't like it. Twilight did her best to cheer me up, but even her most comforting attempts proved futile. She sighed, then went to go make me some tea, in hopes that the combination of the scent of the tea leaves and drinking the tea itself would calm me down. When she returned, she saw no one waiting for her. I had run away from her. ------------- Earth, FBI HQ "What's he doing?!" "He's breaking down! He can't handle this all at once!!" "How is he supposed to be our only hope if he can't handle a few nightmares?!" "You forget he is only a teenager. He's 16 years old, and he has to drop his entire life because he needs to save the world!" "Well we need to get him back, or our world and the universe as we know it are doomed!" "We can only do what we can from Earth. He's stuck in Equestria." "Get Agent 32-PDP on his tail! I'm sure she can cheer him up!" "He's clear out of Ponyville! She'll never catch up with him now!" "You're forgetting that she's Agent 32-PDP. She can do anything she wanted to." -------------- Equestria, Unknown I ran as fast as I could. I was getting out of here if I had to kill myself to do it. I used my magic and leviated some old logs and rope. I made a make-shift raft, then got on. I used my magic to then levitate it upward towards the sky. "If the sky is how I got in, then the sky will bring me back out!" I floated higher and higher. Suddenly, I saw a pink hot air balloon being piloted by Twilight and her friends. It was right beside me. "Austin, what do you think you're doing?! Get in the balloon! You're going to get yourself killed!" Twilight screamed. I just shot her a glance, then used my free hand that wasn't using magic and used it to shove the balloon further away from me. "NO! I'm getting back home! Where I live! Where I can be with my family and friends!" Twilight used her own magic to fight mine. I felt the raft start to sink. I strained and felt it slowly rise up again, slower than what it was at before. Twilight shoved it back down. Her magic being stronger than mine, I started to get weak. I strained one last time before I felt her magic grip the raft once more. That's when my magic gave way, and Twilight still pushing down, the raft suddenly shot downwards and smashed against the ground, and I was close behind. I fell from the sky and suddenly, I hit the top of the balloon... With some careful flight work from Rainbow Dash, they managed to get the balloon down fast enough to stop my decent. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up and brought me back down into the balloons basket. When I felt my feet touch down, I immediately did what a real paranoid man would do, and I curled up in the corner and said nothing. Twilight just sighed and they brought the balloon back down to Ponyville. Twilight used her magic to levitate me into the library, then set me down in a chair. And with Applejack's new rope, they tied me to a chair, this time making sure to take away anything in my pockets. Twilight then came over and asked me, very calmly and gently, "What was your nightmare about?" I just screamed in her face in response, which not only caught her and her friends off guard, but in retrospect would've been really funny if it was a comedy movie. Twilight just stopped me screaming my slamming her hoof into my mouth. It may look funny in the cartoon, but when it actually happens, it hurts...Plus, it really didn't taste all that good. Come on, her hoof was in my mouth. It would've been hard NOT to actually taste it. When she pulled away, I spat and sputtered off to the side in distaste. Twilight didn't seem fazed by that. "Please, just tell us what you saw." I just sighed and told her and her friends everything. The fall, the agents, the leap into the chasm, the weird freaking ponies in my dream that were like crazy fangirls....Everything. They all just stared, silent. "-then I fell through Twilight's roof, and right before I slammed into the ground, I woke up." No one said anything for a long time. The silence was unnerving. Finally I broke the silence by saying "Can somepony PLEASE say something to make me feel remotely better? Because frankly, you all staring at me not saying anything, IS REALLY NOT HELPING MY PARANOIA!!" Twilight just sighed. "Okay okay...I think we should tell him..No point in keeping it secret now...." "What? Tell me what?" I looked around, nervous. Pinkie stepped forward with the most serious look on her face. "It's Discord. He's returning, and he plans on taking over not only Equestria, but your world as well. You read about him in that book Twilight gave you? Well he plans on speading chaos there too. And, surprising as it is, you may end up being our world's, and your world's, only hope of defeating him. Those agents? Those were the Earth FBI. They weren't intending to harm you. They were trying to warn you. Train you like we've been this entire time." I went whiter than Rarity's coat. "So what you're telling me, is that this super powerful demon god of chaos is coming back from his stone imprisonment to wreck havoc on Equestria AND Earth, and I may be the only one who can stop him?" Twilight rubbed her foreleg. "That's the short version, but yes." "And when were you planning on telling me this?" "We couldn't! We knew that if we told you, you may refuse!" "So you decided to NOT tell me, wait until I have a mental breakdown AND paranoia, then tell me all of this?" Twilight and her friends all looked guilty and ashamed. "So everypony knew about this. And not one of you considered my feelings? I think you all just reflected who you all really are. Thanks alot. Thanks a REAL lot." Twilight opened her mouth to say something, probably an apology, but I cut her off. "No! Don't say a word. I got it. I get the picture. Now one of you untie me!" Twilight used her magic to undo the knots, and I stood up. I stared at Twilight and her friends, all of which were silent. "So! Magic of Friendship, eh? Elements of Harmony, huuuhh?! With FRIENDS like you, who needs enemies?!?" I just walked out of the library, leaving the ponies both ashamed and a little heartbroken. I grunted and kicked a nearby tree so hard that all the apples fell out. "Freaking manipulators. I'm gonna see Princess Celestia about this." Suddenly, quite suddenly, I felt a chill and heard a laugh so unnerving I went white. I looked at Canterlot. A huge pulsewave of energy swept the land, and things went from weird to bizarre. The Mane 6 must've heard and felt it too. They ran out and looked towards Canterlot. "Oh noo!" Twilight said quietly. It was Discord. He finally returned.