Chapter Thirteen: Never Loose Faith
All right guys, this is it. Get ready for the your (hopefully) amazing ending to Crossing World. No matter what, I promise to TRY to make a second season. Just saying. But without further ado, let us all celebrate and enjoy chapter thirteen.
A sharp pain in your back jolts you awake. You tense up in angst and pain, not daring to attempt to move your body one inch. However, you manage to open your eyes and look around. The room is dark, and it takes a moment for your [E/C] eyes to adjust. As soon as your surroundings become visible, you see shadows of your five pony friends all tied to chairs. Your senses suddenly snap into defense mode and, ignoring the gut-wrenching pain, you try to flap your wings, only to find them tied too.
"Twilight," you croak, finally finding your hoarse voice. "Fluttershy? Applejack? Somepony...!" Tears fall from your eyes as terror overwhelms you. You begin to recount the memories of Discord's mental breakdown, the explosion, and those red wings hovering above you.
"I'm here," a voice finally answers. Twilight slowly lifts her purple head to look at you. "Are you ok, [Y/N]?"
"I think I might've done something to my back," you whisper strenuously. "What about you and the others? Wait, where's Spike and Discord?"
"I'm here," a familiar rainbow mare says. Before, it hadn't really registered in your mind that Rainbow Dash was with you, but now you realize that the pegasus had been captured before you.
"Ok, if you're here, say 'aye,'" you command, raising your voice as much as you can. "Fluttershy."
"I'm here..." You look over to one of the room's corners to see Fluttershy crying softly to herself. Your heart breaks for her, since you understand her fears for herself and her friends.
You look around for the remaining ponies. "Rarity? Applejack?"
"Present and accounted for," a voice with a posh accent says quietly.
"I'm ok, I guess," Applejacks grunts, struggling to look over at you.
"Pinkie Pie?" you call. Your ears perk as no reply is heard. "Pinkie? Are you there? Please answer!" Still no answer.
"Perhaps she escaped," Rarity suggests.
"I hope so, for her sake," Twilight murmurs darkly.
"Wh-where's Discord?" Fluttershy asks nervously, as if she just realized that he was missing.
"I haven't seen Discord or Spike..." You grimace, pondering the situation at hand.
"What is it that he was sayin' right before the...explosion?" Applejack questions. "He looked mighty scared...I think he knew what was gonna happen."
"He said that the identity of the Red Hornets' leader was obvious..." Twilight echoes.
You sit in the rigid chair, your mind hard at work as you try to figure everything out. Red wings...obvious...what if...no, it couldn't be, could it?
"You ok, sugarcube?" AJ asks you.
You open your jaws hesitantly. "I...I think I know who the leader of the Red Hornets is..."
"Indeed you do," a raspy voice cackles. The mere sound is enough to cause a shiver to run through your body. You keep your head facing down against the metallic voice. Suddenly, her dark hoof appears under your chin, tilting your head up forcefully to face her. "It's rude to not look somepony in the eye when they're speaking to you." You slowly raise your eyes to look at Reptantis. "That's better," she purrs, dropping her hoof roughly.
"What do you want?" Applejack growls.
"And where's Spike?" Twilight yells.
"And Discord?" Fluttershy adds protectively.
Reptantis chuckles. "Applejack, I thought you were the smart, reasonable one. You of all ponies should know why I'm here and you're all captured." She turns to Twilight and Fluttershy. "As for your...ugh...friends, they're safe don't worry." A smile spreads across her face. "Of course, safety is only temporary. Imagine the things that I could do to them! Oh, idea! Imagine the poor, defenseless draconequus and dragon, killed mercilessly in front of their friends, who are helpless to stop it from happening."
"I'll kill her!" Rainbow yells, aggressively trying to flap her wings and escape.
"And how will you do that?" Reptantis smiles smugly.
"We can use the Elements, now that we know that you're the leader of the Red Hornets!" Twilight threatens.
The dark red alicorn gasps. "Me? Leader of the Red Hornets? I have no idea where you would come up with such a preposterous idea, Ms. Sparkle." Her face turns into a sneer. "Stupid ponies. You had all of the evidence in front of you and you were too blind to see it."
Anger bubbles deep inside of you. This beast has tried to murder me as a baby, threatened my friends, and captured all of us! She is evil! "We're not afraid of you!" you growl, looking up at her with fury replacing fear. "We can just utilize the Elements of Harmony, just like everypony has done before!"
Reptantis merely glances at you, uninterested. "Oh, look. Somepony found their voice. And...actually..." She puts her hoof to her chin as if deep in thought. "You seem to be missing your Element of Laughter. I thought it looked a little gloomy. Also, where are your Elements anyway? I haven't seen any Golden Crowns around here in ages..." She slams her hoof down, alarming everypony. "Now, where are the Elements and the Crown?"
"We don't know, you sort of wrecked Ponyville!" you snap.
"Oh, so they are in Ponyville?" Reptantis smiles, satisfied.
You furrow your brow defiantly, though not sure what to say back. Oops. Ugh, stupid, stupid, stupid! How the hay did she trick me? If we want to win, we'll need to out-trick the trickster... You calm down and clear your mind, careful to keep your wits about you.
"Ruffian! You can't do this!" Rarity huffs furiously.
"Yes, she can," you reply coolly. "It's obvious that we've been beaten, so things will be much easier if we just give her what she wants." For a moment, the room goes silent, and you can practically feel the shocked eyes of your friends boring into your head.
Reptantis laughs evilly. "See? Even your precious Princess can see that you've all been defeated. You know what? If you hand over the Elements of Harmony and the Golden Crown, I won't kill you girls or those other two." Her ear twitches slightly as she finishes the end of her sentence. She's lying.
"[Y/N], what are you doing?" Twilight gasps.
You dismiss your sister. "I'm sorry, but I've made my choice and you can't change my mind." You merely close your eyes and lift your snout slightly, showing that you're done talking about the subject.
"You can't be serious!" Rainbow Dash shouts.
"Good girl," Reptantis purrs. "When you help me, only good things will come." She lowers her head swiftly and aims her horn at you and your friends. You flinch, sure that she will vaporize you. Instead, as red fog seeps out of her horn and begins to surround you, your back pain melts away, along with any other scratches and bruises that you had acquired in the explosion. The ropes fall off of your body and you stand up, completely healed. The smoke begins to fade and you see your friends healed, but still tied. Reptantis walks up to Twilight, feigning kindness and sincerity. "Twilight, you realize that this is only the tip of the iceberg. I can do far more. I could even teach you and [Y/N] some of my tricks. All you have to do is show me where the Elements are. Think about it. All of you could be princesses in my kingdom."
"We don't care! We'll never help you!" Twilight persists. She then turns to you, her eyes tearing up. "Please, sister. Don't do this."
You look at her expressionlessly. "I told you, my choice is made. You can all join me and everything will be ok." You look at your sister with a meaningful face that only she can decipher. Suddenly, it's as if a switch in Twilight's mind flips and a lock clicks.
"You know what? [Y/N] is right." As Twilight says this, the ropes fall off of her and she walks over to stand next to you.
"But, Twilight-" Fluttershy protests.
"No, Fluttershy." Twilight lifts her snout up. "Girls, we have to join together if we want to get out of this, and this is the only way." She looks down at all of your friends the same way that you had looked at her. After a moment, they realize that it's an act and join in.
"Well, Twilight and [Y/N] are our Princesses..." Applejack pretends to ponder.
"We need to be loyal to the Princesses, don't we?" Rainbow Dash points out
Rarity tilts her head as if thoroughly contemplating the idea. "I suppose that we do."
"Ok, we'll join you," Fluttershy announces.
"Excellent!" Reptantis smiles as the ropes release all of your friends. You and your friends all exchange a similar evil smile, but for different reasons than the red reptilian pony. She turns to you, confident that she has won. "Now, show me where the Elements are."
"Right this way," you smile, leading everypony out of the dark room and into a hallway with a door leading outside at the end of the hall. You step out of the doors and into the storm. Griffons, still guarding Ponyville from their clouds, watch your every move with hawk-like sight. As you look around the remains of your town, you see that everypony has hidden themselves away inside their houses. As you make your way to Twilight's tree, you don't even notice that your smile had faded into an anxious frown, your ears flat against your head as you look at the griffons' razor sharp beaks.
"The tree?" Reptantis questions you warily.
You gulp, praying that nothing goes wrong. "Yeah, you know, so that we could watch them closely, heh, you know?"
For a moment, the alicorn's slits bore into your eyes, but they quickly break contact as she looks up to the clouds. "I need two of you, front and center!" she yells commandingly. Two large griffons quickly drop down in front of her, a male and female. Reptantis smiles slightly, satisfied with them. "You two will do. Just make sure that these girls don't try anything that they might regret. Oh, and you have my permission to use deadly force."
"Yes, my Queen," they say simultaneously, doing a swift bow.
You exchange glances with all the girls. The plan (which was hardly even a plan as much as a hope before) was now completely unraveled. Everypony knew not to cross griffons, especially not griffons as strong and devoted as the two in front of you. Pushing by you, Reptantis walks in the tree, the griffons following.
"New plan," you whisper, barely audible. "Grab your Element as quick as you can and put it on."
"Mortals! Come in, now." Reptantis' scratchy voice makes you jump, but you quickly make your way inside, your friends following you. As you look up, your breath catches in your throat. The dark red alicorn stands over the glass case that houses the Elements of Harmony as well as your Golden Crown. She licks her lips confidently, as if she were ready to devour the artifacts that could easily stop her in her tracks.
"You should probably let us handle the Elements," you insist, stepping in front of her protectively. "You wouldn't want to be burned by them or anything." You plaster on a forced smile with a squee.
"Shut up, I don't need your concern. I only need your Crown..." She swats you aside as if you were a filly, sending you tumbling head over heels. Sitting up swiftly, you grit your teeth at the mare in frustration, humiliation, and apprehension. You lose your breath as Reptantis slowly removes the glass protection over the Elements, an evil smile plastered on her face. If she gets her hooves on those, Equestria is doomed. No, no, no! Pushing all elaborate planning and common sense aside, you dodge in between the two griffons.
"[Y/N], wait!" You ignore Twilight's warning. Instead, you leap at Reptantis' turned back. As soon as you're close enough to reach out and grab her if you wanted to, the dark red alicorn turns around, her yellow slits now a burning red. The air is knocked out of you as she grabs you by the throat with her magic. Your heartbeat increasing, you writhe around in midair, flapping your wings frantically in an attempt to loosen her grip on your windpipe.
"Bad decision," the reptilian creature snarls, tightening her choking hold on your throat. In the distance you can hear your friends yelling as they try to push past the griffons. All you can see, however, is Reptantis' smug face as she proceeds to squeeze the life out of you. Suddenly, a high-pitched voice rings through your ears.
"Hey, you big meanie! Put my friend down!" Before you can react, Reptantis' hold on you disappears completely and you drop to the floor in a colorful heap, gasping for air. You raise your [E/C] eyes to see Pinkie Pie and Spike standing behind you and in front of the griffons. While the griffons are distracted, your other five friends hit the griffons on the back of the head with heavy information books, causing them to fall to the floor, unconscious. Pinkie smiles confidently. "I used my Pinkie Sense to avoid the explosion and save these two," she announces.
"What?" Reptantis looks around the room as you suddenly gain the upper hand. She quickly turns around towards the case and reaches for the Elements, only to see that Discord is holding them and your Golden Crown is sitting lopsided on his head.
"Too late," he remarks. He then looks at you, grabs the Crown off his head, and tosses it on your head. As soon as the Golden Crown is safely resting on your head, you turn to Reptantis, power coursing through your veins. Discord swiftly tosses the Elements of Harmony to all of your friends who put their Elements on without hesitation.
"Stay back!" Reptantis growls, stepping back fearfully. Her slits dart back and forth as she tries to formulate a plan.
"Give it up." You lead all of your friends in approaching her, Spike and Discord standing off to the side but ready to help. Reptantis' eyes eventually come to rest on Spike and she quickly leaps forward and grabs by the scales.
"Don't come any closer! I'm not afraid to hurt him!" she barks menacingly.
"Spikey-wikey!" Rarity cries. You halt, frozen in your steps. The red alicorn smiles, comfortable now that she has the advantage.
Reptantis turns to glare at you, Spike still tightly in her grasp. "Now to deal with you!" You yell out in fear as the too-familiar red fog begins to surround you. Suddenly, your vision goes black.
You open your eyes to see a small, one-window room. You gasp and look around the apartment, your breathing beginning to speed up. You look down and can't believe your eyes. You have your hands back, as well as your human body.
"Twilight?!" you scream frantically. "Spike?! Fluttershy! Where is everypony?"
"What the-" You whip your head around to see your human mother standing in the doorway. "[Y/N]! Oh my God, I can't believe it!" She runs over and wraps you in a large hug, tears streaming down her face. "W-we thought that you had been kidnapped, or-or killed, but you're safe!"
You jerk out of the hug, shaking your head in confusion. "Where is everypony? Where's my sister?"
Your mother looks at you confusedly. "What? Ponies? Your sister? [Y/N], what are you talking about? You don't have a sister, sweetie."
You continue to shake your head, everything beginning to overwhelm you. "No, this isn't happening! This can't be happening..." Clutching your head madly, you run out of your room, down the apartment stairs, and out of the building, ignoring any traffic as you cross the street and sprint towards the statue in front of Equestria High School. After what seems like forever, you slam into the statue and fall down on the ground. You quickly recover and begin insanely banging on the section of the statue where the portal would be, only to hit hard concrete. However, whenever you inflict a blow on the statue, you see a slight red shimmer glass over the surface of the portal. Your fists bleeding and tears streaming down your face, you slump down in a pitiful pile.
"[Y/N] are you insane?" Your mother's angry voice rings in your human ears, but you can't even lift your eyes to look at her. "You can't just run outside and into traffic! You never...even..." Her voice trails off as she sees your distress.
"It's gone," you say, your voice cracking. "Everypony is gone." Suddenly, something clangs onto the ground in front of your lowered head. You look up in shock to see your Golden Crown sitting in front of you. Slowly, you reach to pick it up, fearful that the Crown is merely a cruel mirage. You give a small gasp as your fingers grip the cool gold plating. "It can't be..." Turning the artifact over and around in your hands, you feel every familiar swirl, every gem-encrusted tip and lining.
"What is..." your human mother steps forward to gaze at the mesmerizing magical Crown.
"My Crown," you murmur, your spirits rising. "My Golden Crown!" Smiling, you place it on your head and imagine Equestria and your friends. You remember all of the lessons that you learned, the adventures you had, you ponies you met. "And...my friends." You feel the spark of the Elements ignite inside if you, a spark that causes your ears to ring and your heart to stop. You close your eyes, and when you open them, your cutie mark reflects in your eyes and a white flash zaps across your vision.
You open your [E/C] eyes, your regular feelings restored. As soon as your blurred vision clears, you look down to see that you're back in pony form. You open your wings ecstatically, bending and twirling around in pure happiness. You don't even notice your mother standing next to you.
"What's going on?!" Her shocked voice makes you jump. You look over at her to see a pastel red unicorn with dark brown hair and large red-brown eyes staring back at you.
"Mom?" you choke out in surprise.
She looks behind you fearfully and pushes you down with her. "Look out!" You stumble to the ground as a griffon jumps over your head, shrieking. Your Crown falls to the ground and you quickly scramble towards it, reaching out to grab its glimmering gold surface.
"What is it? What have you found?" As the voice sounds, you quickly snatch up your Golden Crown and sit up to come face to face with Reptantis. Her yellow slits flicker in shock, but she then replaces it with fury. "What? How the hay did you get back?" The alicorn shakes her dark red head. "It doesn't matter. I can just kill you now." She points her horn at you and the red fog begins to leak out. You place your Crown on your head, but for once, you are lost. Oh, where is everypony? I need them...wait. My friends! You step back defensively, close your eyes, and concentrate, feeling magic emanating from your horn. When you open your eyes, all eight of your friends are sitting in a surprised pile in front of you.
"No time for any questions!" you order as the mist moves menacingly closer to you. "Get your Elements ready, girls!" The six ponies, all wearing their Elements, jump onto their hooves and stand by your side. Discord and Spike step back next to your mother, ready to assist if need be.
Reptantis grips her teeth and steps up right in front of your face. "Listen, I've had just about enough of you. You've degraded everything that I stand for, but what do you even stand for? Harmony? Harmony is for the weak." Her fog quickly rushes forward, pushing the other six girls away and sending them stumbling in the dirt. A red magical force field appears above you, cutting your friends off from fog wraps around your midsection and throat, lifting you up to stare nose-to-nose with Reptantis. "I am not an insect. You are the bug that needs to be..." The fog squeezes the air out of you. "...squashed. Now I can finally do what I should done many years ago!" As the fog continues to suffocate you, you find yourself looking downing at the ground in defeat. It's over. My friends are helpless now, just like me. I'll have to die slowly in front of my mother and friends. One last small tear escapes your eyes. As it contacts the ground, a lightbulb snaps inside of you and you begin to recall the many other times that your friends have been there for you and helped you. They've never let me down...and I can never lose faith that they will be there for me.
You raise your eyes to meet Reptantis' slits. "No," you croak exhaustedly. Suddenly, the surroundings around you begin to shatter like broken glass. You drop, the force field breaks into a million tiny pieces, and Reptantis is blasted away, screaming hysterically. Your ignore the pain in your muscles and stand up, disheveled. You begin to stagger and lean to the side, but you suddenly are steadied by Twilight. She smiles at you lovingly and pridefully, giving you a small nuzzle.
"You did it," she whispers.
"Wait." You move off of your sister's shoulder and run off in the direction that Reptantis was blasted, not stopping to answer everypony's shouts. You hear them follow you, but don't turn around. A gorge suddenly appears in front of you and you rapidly skid to a stop. Your ears perk as you hear grunting from the cliffside. You peek your head down to see the red reptilian pony struggling to hold onto a ledge. Her right wing dangles limply, obviously broken. As you look at the river running through the gorge, that same dizzy feeling overcomes you again.
"It's too high," Twilight says, now beside you. "Leave her." You look at your sister defiantly, open your wings, and jump off of the ledge, causing everypony to scream. You reach out and grab the side of the cliff, flapping your wings to balance yourself. You begin climbing down face-first, your hooves gripping the slanted ledges. As soon as you're close enough to reach the dangling alicorn, you reach your hoof out earnestly.
"Grab my hoof!" you yell over the roar of the rushing river far below.
Reptantis gives you a look of pure and utter hatred. "Never. I'll never get help from the likes of you!" Your [E/C] eyes widen as Reptantis pulls her hoof back and begins to fall to the river below.
"No!" you gasp, reaching out farther as if you could just snatch her out of the air. But by then, it's too late. You look away as she hits the water hard. Your heart pounding, you fly up to your friends who were watching you on top of the cliff. You look at the ground sadly. "I tried."
Discord sighs sadly. "Oh, Repta. You brought this on yourself."
Twilight smiles and wraps you in a large, comforting hug. "I love you, sis." You smile back, your eyes tearing up. The other girls join in on the hug, eventually followed by Discord and Spike. After a few moments, everypony steps back and your mom steps in front of you.
She smiles proudly and puts a tender hoof on your shoulder. "You belong here."
"You could too," you offer.
Your mother shakes her head. "No, I belong in the real world. But I can be happy now that I know that you're safe and happy here."
You smile. "Did I mention that I'm a princess?" She laughs and hugs you. You move over to stand by Twilight. "This is my sister."
Twilight shakes your mother's hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's great to finally meet you."
You point at everypony else. "These are all of my other friends: Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, and Discord."
"It's great to meet all of you," your mom says.
"Congratulations, my little ponies." You look up to see Princess Celestia flying above you. She lands softly on the ground, Princess Luna at her side. "You've fulfilled your destiny and saved Equestria." She turns her head to look at you. "Faith is a magic within itself. As long as you never lose faith in your friends, you can defeat any obstacles in your way." She turns to your mother. "As for you, we can send you back to the human world tonight."
Your mother looks up at Celestia uncertainly "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
Celestia laughs. "Forgive me. My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna. We are the main rulers of Equestria. We have a mirror that can transport you back to where you came from."
She nods solemnly. "Oh, yes. I'll come with you." Your mom turns to you, tears in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much, and I just want you to know that I'll always love you." She embraces you tightly.
You hug her back, your eyes watering. "I love you too." After too short of a time, you pull away and your mother climbs into the Princesses' chariot. The guards begins to run and pull her away and you wave until her unicorn figure is gone.
"What now?" Pinkie Pie speaks up first.
"Well..." You look up to the sky as the screeching of griffons fill the air as the Red Hornets take to flight. "Now that the griffons are gone, I'd say that cleaning up Ponyville might be a good idea." You look over to the broken town as the first ray of sunlight returns from behind the now-fading clouds.
"I'm up for a challenge," Rainbow Dash agrees, a smile fluttering back to her face.
"Me too," Twilight agrees.
A daring smile works its way onto your face. "Then what are we waiting for?" You walk off towards Ponyville, your home. Your friends all follow you, backing you up on each of your sides. My friends. My home. My life. It all makes sense now. Now I can finally be somewhere that I really belong. This is my destiny. And I'm not going to miss a second of it. Still grinning, you begin to run, the wind blowing through your [H/C] mane. You hear the hoofbeats of the other six girls, as well as Discord and Spike. You stop on the top of a small hill overlooking Ponyville and turn around to look at everypony. "Hey, did you know you're all my very best friends?"
Twilight smiles. "And you're our best friend too."
Aw, so many feels! I'm so happy about my first Fanfiction. This really has turned out so much better than I ever could've imagined. This story has grown so much over the chapters, as have I. I would like to thank all of my readers for bearing with me for thirteen chapters and I hope that your story can continue. Well, this is Bronygirl6729 signing off of Crossing Worlds for now. Have even more amazing adventures in Equestria!