//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Two Worlds // Story: Blades and Crystals: An MLP and Gravity Falls Crossover // by 78_Percent_Eggs //------------------------------// It was a warm summer day, and the sun’s rays were falling between the leaves in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Two twins stepped out of the Mystery Shack and sat on the porch. “So, Dipper, what do you want to do today?” The first twin asked. She wore a pink sweater with a pizza on it and had gleaming braces. “I don’t know, Mabel. Maybe we could… ” The second twin started, pulling out a worn leather book. He wore an orange t-shirt with a blue vest, and had unkempt hair. “Nope!” Mabel exclaimed, cutting him off. “You didn’t even hear what I was about to say.” Dipper said, slightly annoyed. “I didn’t need too!” she smiled. “It was probably about your dumb journal.” “Hey, this isn’t dumb. It’s a gold mine of scien...” Dipper started. “Pfffffft. Who cares? I don’t.” “You’re not even making any sense anymore. Do we want to go find something from here or not? There are so many cool monsters!” he said flipping through the pages. “What I’m trying to say is all of our adventures are us looking for things in that book. Maybe if we didn’t use the book for once, we could go on our own adventure! Maybe discover something that even the author of the journals hadn’t found yet!” Mabel shouted, clutching her rosy cheeks. “Well… the author seems to have explored everything, Mabel. I’m not sure we’ll even find anything undocumented. How about we try to find a hippocorn? They live right-” Mabel flicked Dipper’s hat off his head and giggled as she hopped off the porch. “First one to find something incredibly amazing that no one has even seen before wins!” she shrieked as she dashed between the trees in the heavy forest. “Wait! Mabel! Stop!” Dipper shouted as he put his white and blue hat with a pine tree onto his head. He frantically tried to chase after her and, knowing about all of the monsters that could be lurking in the forest, Mabel could be in some serious trouble. Twilight Sparkle was in her castle using the magic flowing from her horn to wrap a present for Pinkie Pie. It was, after all, her birthday. Today in Ponyville, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and all the cheery residents went around doing their daily tasks such as buying food from the market, playing with their fillies, and talking with their neighbors. Twilight smiled as she saw all of the happy ponies through her window frolicking in the afternoon. She shook her head. She better get to finding the decorations. She did promise to bring them, after all. Where were they? she thought as she stomped into a different room. “Mabel! Stop running so fast! Slow down!” a tired Dipper panted as he tried to keep up with a frantically running Mabel. “C’mon! Try to catch up with me, chicken!” “I AM NOT A CHICKEN!” Dipper said with a push of energy in his running. “Twilight, where did you put those balloons again?” Spike called from the room over. “Somewhere in the library, I think. Ohhh I can’t remember! This is a disaster! I’ve been so caught up in my studies that I’ve been forgetting where everything is! Why couldn’t Fluttershy be the one who held all the party supplies?” Twilight panicked, pupils different sizes. “Calm down they’re in here somewhere. Sheesh. Someone’s a little moody.” Twilight teleported right in front of the baby dragon. “SPIKE I AM FREAKING OUT PINKIE’S PARTY IS IN AN HOUR AND WE STILL HAVEN’T EVEN FOUND THE SUPPLIES! Oh my gosh I think I know where they are!” With a flash of purple light, she was gone. Spike blinked a couple times. He grumbled something about paranoia and went to see if he could find Starlight Glimmer. Maybe she could have a civilized conversation with him. The twins were staring at a temple. A big one at that. It had faded brown stone and carvings of swirls all over the walls. Dipper frantically flipped through journal 3 to try and find something on this subject. Alas, there was nothing. “How did you even get us into a mess this bad?” Dipper yelled as he slammed the book shut. Without a lack of answers, Dipper felt very upset. Surely the author must know something about this. Even if he did, no information was found on the structure. Dipper sighed and sat down. “Well maybe we could explore, I mean, it’s about noon.” Dipper said glancing up at the sun. “YES!! Guess it was a good thing that I accidentally found that button, huh?” “I guess.” Dipper said with some amusement on his face. To find this temple, Mabel had tripped on a large rock and gone flying. By the time Dipper caught up, Mabel was already getting her revenge by kicking it over and over again and screaming at it. Dipper could only watch from the sidelines of this intense battle knowing there was nothing he could do. She had kicked it so many times, eventually causing a large square portion of the rock to fall off, revealing a single bright red button. I think you, the reader, can guess what they did after that. “If you hadn’t found it, we would have been lost, which I guess we still are, but now at least I can fill in some of the empty pages in the journal with something new.” said Dipper as he bent down to examine the “rock”. “Hey Mabel, check it out. The whole thing is fake. Who put it here? Why?”, said Dipper beginning to pace with a smile. “This could not have been built by ancient people, yet this could not have built now. I mean, do we even have the technology to make entire temples emerge from the ground with the push of a button? The temple is so ancient yet the technology so advanced! Haha! This is amazing. I have to write this down in the journal. What do you think Mabel?” Dipper said already jotting down every detail he could think of in the book. “Sweet! So let’s go inside!” Mabel said, already standing under the archway and obviously not paying attention. “Ok.” agreed Dipper. He was pretty frightened to go such a dark cave. It could be haunted like the convenience store, he thought to himself, but quickly cleared his mind of the thought. He sucked up his courage and marched bravely inside after his impatiently waiting sister. He was sweating and his heart was hammering but he told himself that he needed to do this, for science and the mystery of this town, he thought. He tried not to let Mabel see how nervous he was. She followed behind, with eyes darting in every direction, trying to absorb as much of grand entrance as she could. A loud bang came from down the hall. “Is she really that worried?” Starlight asked curiously while brushing her mane for the party. “Yeah, she’s kind of freaking out.” Spike stated as a yell shook the room. “Thanks for coming in here to talk to talk to me, Spike. It’s nice to know that whenever I feel nervous, I can talk to you.” Starlight said, beaming. “Well, what are you nervous about?” Spike asked curiously. “It’s not really that big of a deal, but I’m nervous that during the party, a ton of other ponies will be invited, so I guess I just hope Twilight hasn’t spread my story around too far.” “Relax, Starlight. Twilight’s a good friend and you know she wouldn’t tell everypony that tale.” Spike said in a reassuring tone. Starlight felt a lot better with Spike there. She knew he was right. Twilight wouldn’t tell everypony in Ponyville about how Starlight Glimmer turned an entire village into brainwashed communists then almost destroyed Equestria with a time spell. Starlight shuddered. She didn’t want to think about that right now. As they say, the past is in the past. As long as you learn from your mistakes, you can still go forward and lead a new life. At that moment, a “WHERE ARE CAKE!?!” came from the other room. Starlight giggled. “Well Spike, thanks for talking with me. I feel a lot better now. I better see if I can go help Twilight before she has a double heart attack. Later!” “Later Starlight!”, Spike waved. Starlight shut the two large doors and began to walk down the long, curved hallway to where what sounded like the noise of a dying cat was being emitted. “So Dipper, is this cool, or what?” Mabel said as she bounced around. “Umm, yeah, t-totally.” Dipper stuttered. Around them, several tunnels shot off in different directions, all with cobwebs and vines covering them. Mabel had darted into the first one she saw, Dipper following after her. After a few minutes of walking, Dipper realized that they were in some giant maze. “Ugh, Mabel! You got us lost in a maze of some sort. Let’s retrace our steps and see if we can… Whoa Mabel check this out.” They both stopped walking. The walls of the tunnel showed intricate drawings of a small blade on a pedestal and people bowing to it. Not just people were bowing, too. There were also unicorns, robots and a selection of other things that he couldn’t identify. Above the blade, there was a jagged line with stars all over it. Below it, a gem or crystal of some sort. I wonder what this is all about Dipper thought, running a hand over the carvings. He looked over his shoulder to where Mabel was standing a moment before. She was not there. He frantically looked right and left for Mabel. She was nowhere in sight. “MABEL!” he called. No answer. “Thanks again, Starlight. I was so panicked, I forgot the simplest of tracking spells.” Twilight said sheepishly. “No problem. That’s what friends are for.” Starlight said with a smile. The two mares were on there way to Sugarcube Corner, where the party for Pinkie Pie was being hosted. Pinkie currently was out of town and in Manehattan for the day with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, so they had to hurry and get the party up and running before she came back. The two mares galloped down Ponyville’s main part of town, holding all the party decorations in their magic. Spike was trailing behind them as they trotted. Once they reached Sugarcube Corner, Mrs. Cake was standing at the counter, waiting for their arrival. “Hello, dearies. Did you bring the decorations?” “We did indeed!” Twilight said, showing her the streamers, balloons, and confetti. “Great! I’m going to go help on Mr. Cake on Pinkie’s birthday cake. Meanwhile, you girls can go ahead and get started decorating. Tata!” Mrs. Cake announced cheerfully. “I can’t wait! This is going to be the best party yet!” Twilight yelled. “Now time to organize!! Squee!!” Dipper ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He has been running through twists and turns for over 10 minutes, in search of his missing sister. Finally, he couldn’t go any farther. He sat against the wall and put his head in between his hands. I knew we shouldn’t go in. She could have been eaten, she could have- All of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice. “Dipper?” Dipper immediately sat up and tried to find out where the noise was coming from. He saw Mabel at the end of the hall. “MABEL!” he cried,“Where did you go? I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I’ve been running around for a long time. Where DID YOU GO!?!” Dipper yelled the last part. He was half grateful that she was back but half furious for her leaving him. “Well, while you were looking at the drawings on the wall, I saw a firefly and I went to follow it. It lead me to this super spooky cave thingy and I really think you should come check it out.” Mabel said, a hint of apology in her voice. “Um.. okay fine. But don’t EVER LEAVE AGAIN! Do you even know how much I was panicking? I thought you died or something!” Dipper yelled, almost half annoyed. “You’re right, Dipper. Sorry.” Mabel said, foot scraping the ground. “It’s okay, we’ve come this far anyway. Besides, when I meet the author, He’d probably appreciate some additions to his journal. Show me the way to this room you found.” A wide smile grew on Mabel’s face. Twilight Sparkle walked home drunkenly, stumbling as she took each step. Once Pinkie had come and everyone yelled, “surprise”, the rest was a blur in Twilight’s mind. Everything had gotten out of hand right when Applejack came in with a keg of cider and DJ Pon-3 arrived with her best party dubstep mix. The only thing she remembered was loud music and Berry Punch and Carrot Top dancing on the tables with lampshades on their heads. She had decided to excuse herself from the party early. Even now, she was able to hear the music still thumping at Sugarcube Corner. Twilight took a glance at the old clock tower. 12:00 AM. She was glad she snuck out when she did. “What do you think it means, Dipper?” Mabel asked curiously. “I-I don’t know.” Dipper responded, still in awe. They were in the center of the ancient maze, a grand room with a tall ceiling held up by pillars with carvings on them. At the end of the room, a small staircase with about 3 steps lead to a pedestal with some sort of a blade, enclosed in dusty glass. Curious about this artifact, Dipper walked up the stairs and removed the glass. After a couple coughs, the dust cleared and he saw the relic clearly. It had a polished white handle and was about 15 inches long, with a diamond and an onyx encrusted into the opposite sides of it. The blade itself was curved into the shape of a fang with beautiful spiral carvings on it. The whole thing wasn’t actually that big, but it was so well carved and shaped it didn’t look like any human made it. They wouldn’t be capable of something this magical. This might be the thing from the carvings!, Dipper thought. “Hey Mabel, come check this out.” Mabel, who had been busy watching a frog, waddled over. “What is it?” “Look.” Dipper said, pointing to the blade in its stand. “Oooooo It’s pretty. Let me see-” “NO!” Dipper yelled, slapping her hand away from it.“It could be booby trapped. I’ve read all about some ancient artifacts around here and apparently, 97.6% of the time, they are booby trapped.” he said, reading out of journal 3. “Well, what about the other 2.4%, huh? It could be one of those.” “It probably ISn’t.” Dipper said angrily. “It MIGHT!” Mabel yelled as she sprang forward. “STOP!” Dipper screamed as he grabbed Mabel’s arm instinctively. A huge flash of white light came from the pedestal. The blade began to glow blue. Mabel tried to pull her hand away from it but her hand was stuck there like it was covered in Gorilla Glue. The twins slowly felt themselves rising off the ground. Mabel had her left arm attached to the blade and her right arm attached to Dipper’s left arm. They were like a chain. She couldn’t let go of Dipper either, but it’s not like she wanted to anyway. Suddenly, they both felt all the energy and strength drain from them. Dipper felt it it all coming out of his left hand. It felt like his left arm was a straw, and someone was sucking all of his energy out of it. Mabel felt Dipper’s power flow into her but it just passed through her, and took her energy along with it. As the blade did this, more and more of its carvings started to glow blue, as if the inside was hollow and it was slowly filling up with something. Once the blade drained the twins of this mysterious fluid, the light vanished, the twins toppled to the floor, and all was silent. 5 minutes later, Dipper sat up and regained consciousness and looked around. Everything looked the same as it did before. The dirty mud bricks, the blade in the stand, and a rat here and there. Only one thing was different. Part of the blade was glowing. Some of the engravings on the sharp part of the blade were glowing neon blue. Dipper wondered why only about ⅛ of the dagger was pulsing with light. Maybe it takes our energy. Dipper pondered. I did feel like I was having the life sucked out of me. Is that the stuff it sucked out of us? What is is exactly? I mean if it was our energy, we would still be unconscious, probably hardly able to move.Why does it need it? How did it do that? If it’s partially “full” does that mean we don’t have enough of what it n- “BOO!” Someone popped out of nowhere and grabbed Dipper’s shoulders. Mortified, Dipper wheeled around at the speed of light, screaming at frequencies only dogs could hear and slugging his attacker in the face without a second thought. “Ow, you big, dumb jerk. What was that for?” Mabel whined on her knees, clutching the side of her face. “Oh my gosh Mabel! I am so so sorry! Why did you sneak up on me like that? Are you trying to make me lose my mind for second time!” Dipper shrieked. “Sorry but I woke up after you did and I just saw you pacing back and forth. I called your name like a bajillion times and you didn’t answer so I tried to scare you and see if it would rattle that big brain of yours.” Mabel said, tapping on her forehead. “Okay, okay you’ve made a fair point. I do get lost in my thinking sometimes. Just promise me one thing.” “Anything, bro.” “Never EVER, for as long as you live, ever scare me like that again or I may end up punching you twice as hard.” Dipper threatened in a joking manner. “It’s not like you’d get very far with those noodle arms anyway.” Mabel said while trying to choke down a laugh. Dipper resisted with all his might the urge to make it three times harder. Twilight unlocked the door to her castle. It made a large creaking sound as she walked inside. It was dark and empty. She gently closed the door behind her and started to walk to the kitchen. She illuminated her pathway with light from her horn. For the next couple of hours, she would be all alone. Starlight and Spike were still at the party hamming it up. She slowly made her way to the kitchen and walked to the pantry. She needed some real food after all the punch, cupcakes, and cider she had consumed. Using magic, she pulled a muffin and an apple out of the pantry and set it on the table. She pulled a chair out, sat, and began to slowly began to pick at the muffin. “So, Dipper, what do we do now, Mabel asked, twiddling her thumbs. “I don’t really know.” Dipper said nervously. He flipped through journal 3. “Ooooo, there has to be something.” he said impatiently. “Dipper, this thing is really neat.” Mabel said happily as she held the dagger in her hands. Dipper looked up and saw her. He immediately panicked.“Mabel! Put that down!” The last thing he wanted was a repeat of what that knife did last time she held it. Mabel didn’t move. “It’s fine Dipper. It already did all of the sucky stuff. Look. I can hold it and I’m just fine. Dipper calmed himself down. She’s right. He thought. I guess it already took what it wanted from us. I hope what it took is not valuable. “It’s cool.” Mabel said, spinning it in her hands. “Maybe it is a magical sword or something. Maybe It’s the fang of a giant magic wolf! Maybe-" “Can I see it?” Dipper said. “After I’m done.” Mabel replied, sticking her tongue out. Dipper grumbled and jammed his hand in his pockets. “Hmm.” Mabel said while examining every inch of the blade. “Maybe they used this weapon to fight off creepy dudes!” she said thrusting it in the air. Mabel raised the weapon above her head. “Take this, you invisible jerk!” she shouted as the blade was coming down. As she began to do a diagonal slash with the weapon, time began to slow down. The blade was pulsing very fast and the whole thing was glowing top to bottom in bright white light. “MABEL!” Dipper cried. He was not stuck in slow-motion. Mabel was in the air, an excited look on her face and her legs out stretched. Dipper began to panic. He dashed over to Mabel and tried to pry the wretched thing from her grip. It wouldn’t budge. As the blade came down, it made a sudden and startling noise. RIIIIPPPP! It sounded like it was cutting through hard fabric. Dipper took a couple steps back and watched, half terrified and half in awe, as it started to rip through the air. It made a jagged cut in pure nothingness that kept getting bigger and bigger. Through the cut, he could see nothing except a wavy purple substance that looked like it had stars embedded into it. The blade stopped cutting the rip further and fell to the floor from Mabel’s grasp. She returned to normal speed and fell to to the ground with her hands outstretched to catch herself. All the blue that had been inside the blade was gone. “Mabel!” Dipper cried as he rushed over to her. He bent over her. “Are you OK? Do you need help getting up?” “No I-I’m fine. Ugghhh. My head hurts.” she said while holding her head in her hands. “I’m just glad to see that you are OK.” Dipper said, relieved. “Yeah… I’m just- WOAH!” Mabel suddenly said, eyes bulging. “Is that what happened when I tried to kill those invisible dudes?” “Uh… I guess so.” Dipper said, glancing back at the rip thing. Mabel got on her feet in a heartbeat. “Look what’s inside! It’s like magic purple stuff. Purple is like my favorite color!” she yelled. She paused. “What’s it doing Dipper?” asked Mabel suddenly. The substance inside was suddenly moving back and forth very fast. It slowly began to form an image. He could see a long hallway being formed, with several pillars and tapestries attached to the wall. Once the purple stuff finished forming this shape, a bright flash of white light came from the rip. Both twins took a couple steps back. When the light vanished, all the magical goo was gone, and the only thing he saw through the rip was a long, dark, curved hallway made of crystal with many green doors on both sides. Both Dipper and Mabel stared in wonder at the newly formed portal right in front of their eyes.