//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: All Alone? // Story: Blades and Crystals: An MLP and Gravity Falls Crossover // by 78_Percent_Eggs //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle turned her head. It sounded like somepony was ripping fabric down the hall of her castle. She stopped and listened for a few seconds. Silence. Twilight shrugged. She turned her attention back to the half-eaten muffin and chewed slowly. She was so drunk from Pinkie’s party, she was probably just hearing stuff. She stopped thinking about the random sound and began to ponder the more important question. How in Tartarus did flying Rarity heads end up in her kitchen? Mabel stared down the crystal hall with wonder in her eyes. Dipper could practically see the whole thing reflected in them. He too was dumbstruck at the sight of this portal, but Mabel’s freaking head looked it was about to blow up. “EEEEEEEEEEEEEE” she squealed quietly. “This is amazing! It looks like a castle. *GASP* I wonder if there are princesses in this world. Haven’t you always wanted to meet a princess Dipper?” Mabel said, spinning in a circle like a princess wearing a dress. “Uhh… not necessarily.” Dipper said in a hushed tone. “Mabel, remember to be quiet. It looks like it’s night in wherever this castle-thing is. Also, it’s too orderly to look abandoned, therefore, I can conclude someone or something probably lives inside, is sleeping, and would not like to be disturbed by two children.” “Ugh, Dipper. Why do you have to ruin everything magical and fun with your geek stuff?” Mabel replied, throwing back her head in annoyance. “Mabel, it’s not geek stuff. It’s just logic. I’m going to have one more look through the journal and see if there is anything on the subject of crystal buildings and then may- “ECHO!” Mabel shouted, followed by an "ECHO ECHO echo echo..." that rang through the crystal hall. Dipper slapped a hand over her mouth.” What did I say?” he said through his teeth. “Homkhayyy.” She mumbled through Dipper’s hand with her arms crossed. After about 2 more seconds, she resorted to licking brother’s hand, immediately getting him retract. “Ewww, Mabel! Why do you always do that?” he said, wiping his hands on his grey shorts. She gave a nonchalant shrug. Dipper gave her the evil eye then returned to his book. While Dipper was buried in the journal, Mabel seized the opportunity. Quietly, she swung herself into the dimensional rip and landed on her feet in the crystal hall. She looked around. She was breathless at the sight. Carefully she tip-toed down the hall. There were pink and yellow diamond shaped lights hanging on the ceiling. Mabel smiled in bliss. Maybe a princess did live here. She squeed softly at the thought. Then, she remembered Dipper and swung her head around and looked back at him through the rip. He was still buried in his book, frantically flipping through the pages. “Pssst. Dipper.” Mabel whispered down the hall. She saw Dipper look up, eyes bulging and mouth open in disbelief. He made frantic motions signaling for her to go back through the rip. Mabel just silently chuckled and shook her head. This time, Twilight was sure she heard someone yell “ECHO”. She waited. Nothing happened. Twilight looked up at the ceiling in frustration and let out a long “ERRRRRRRRRR” and pushed her seat back. She swayed as she stood up and ran into her kitchen door. She didn’t know how much more of this drunkenness she could take. She began to meander down the hallway towards the library to see if she could find a spell to cure this wretched feeling. “MABEL!” Dipper whispered curtly. “COME. BACK. NOW!” “Dipper, there is no point in discovering a new land and opening a portal if you can’t go in it. Think about all the possibilities! We could meet a fairy or something.” Mabel said, thinking about the prospect. “Mabel, I just think, well -” “Enough, Dipper. If you won’t go, than I will!” said Mabel pointing at her chest. She turned on her heel, and dashed down the gleaming hallway. Dipper didn’t waste a second and hopped through the rip. He quietly ran down the hallway to try and find Mabel. He looked down every hallway and memorized the way he was going so they might have a chance to get back. He couldn't find her anywhere. Upon checking a door that turned out to be a bathroom, he heard a sound coming from a couple doors over that made his blood run cold. “ERRRRRRRRRR!” Twilight sauntered down the left hall towards the library, head hanging low. All of a sudden she heard gentle hoofsteps running down the walkway to her right. She looked with wide eyes. Nothing. She crammed a hoof in her ear. Let’s just hope I find a spell to cure my current state. I’m probably just imagining all this. She walked a couple more yards when she saw something directly to her left that stopped her in her tracks. She saw a floating purple vortex that stood in the middle of the path with an occasional lightning bolt here or there. On the other side of this portal, she could see muddy brown bricks. She stared at it for good 5 seconds before dropping her head back to the floor. I’m really losing it. She thought as she opened the doors to the library. Dipper screeched to a halt. He saw the back of Mabel’s straight brown in the room in front of him. “Mabel!”, he whispered loudly. She turned to look at him. “Dipper, check out this room. It’s amazing!” I want to live here! Do you think Grunkle Stan will let us?” Dipper ignored the question and walked around the circular room in awe. In the center of the room lay a large crystal table that had a map of some sort spread out. Dipper had never seen or heard about such places on this map on Earth. Circling the table were six thrones of some sort. Each had a symbol on the top. These symbols were three butterflies, three balloons, three apples, three diamonds, a multi-colored lightning bolt, and a large purple 6-pointed star. On the ceiling, many tree branches were hanging low and tied to their ends were blue, pink and yellow gems. “Whoa, are these crests or something?” Dipper said, looking at the one with the purple star. He noticed that a small throne with no markings lay next to it. “I don’t know, but they sure are comfy!” Mabel said, sitting in the chair with the balloons. Upon seeing her, he shook his head and remembered the task at hand. Grab Mabel, get out. “C’mon Mabel. Let’s get out of here before we raise any alarms or something. I don’t like the feeling of this place.” Dipper said glancing back and forth. “Awww, but Dipper-” “No! Mabel, I’ve been hearing strange noises the entire time I’ve been in here. I’m telling you we are not alone. Let’s just get back to the portal thing before we get caught by whatever lives here.” Mabel looked around the throne room. She didn’t want to leave. It was so pretty with all the diamonds and tapestries. But her brother made a fair point. They didn’t know what lived in here, and she had heard a couple noises herself. She sighed. “Okay Dipper, let’s go.” She hopped out of the balloon throne. Dipper began to walk down the hallway with Mabel at his side. It was pretty dark so he pulled a flashlight out of his vest and flicked it on. “There” he said. “That should light the way.” As they walked down the hall together, Dipper was trying to remember the directions to the portal. It was after all, a big castle. “Okay, right, left, left, go straight until… … now, aaaaand we should be-” Right in front of them, they could see the rip sealing up, slowly patching itself together. “NonononononononoNO NO NO NO!” Dipper said as he dropped his flashlight and rushed towards the closing vortex. With every step he took, the portal was getting smaller and smaller and smaller until…. It was gone. “NO! This can’t be happening. Are we trapped?” He said frantically running around in the spot where the portal used to stand, waving his arms. Without a word, he took the blade out of his vest and began slashing the air, trying to open another rift. “You kept the dagger-thing?” Mabel asked curiously as she watched him attempt to cut through the air. He paused to catch his breath and he put his hands on his knees. “Yes, I did. I didn’t really know what it was for, or why it was there, but since we had just discovered it I couldn't just leave it there. I thought maybe it could bring us back home and open another rift like it did last time when you held it, b-but it’s not working. I-I don’t know what to do now.” Dipper said, sitting against the wall with his head in his arms. Mabel took a seat next to him. “Well, look on the bright side. Maybe we will get to live here in this magic fairy castle. This is like, everybody's dream.” Dipper stood up. “That’s it Mabel. We're going home. And I’m not going stop trying until we get there. I only think of how nervous Wen-” Mabel gave him a sly look. “I mean Grunkle Stan, of course. Haha I was never saying anything else.” he said putting the flashlight and blade back in his dark blue vest pulling out journal 3 with bright red cheeks. He began to flip through it like a madman. “Dipper, you know there is nothing in there about where we are in that journal. You've looked through it like a squillion times on our journey.” “I know!” He said. “It’s just helped us so many other times that it must have something. Plus, I want to read up on vortexes, portals, and that kinds of stuff to see if there is any possible way home.” Dipper pointed at a page that looked about half-way through the book. “It says here there are two types of vortexes. Teleportation and Interdimensional. The problem is, I don’t know if we’ve teleported here or if this is some kind of strange dimension. I’m guessing dimension since that map-” He was cut short of his sentence by what sounded like some magic explosion. Both the twins turned their heads in the direction then looked back at each other in fright. Dipper grabbed Mabel’s arm and pulled her down the hall. “C’mon! Before the resident of this place finds intruders in their home!” He said as they bolted around the nearest corner. Twilight opened the door of the library, feeling like a million bits. I knew there must have been a spell to cure drunkenness. She thought as she clopped down the hall with a smile on her face. Just to make sure she was no longer hallucinating, she peeked around the corner where she had seen the weird vortex. It was gone. She sighed a sigh of relief and drooped her head, letting out a big yawn. Boy it’s late. She thought. I best be of to bed. She walked down the hallway towards her bedroom with blurry eyes and a tired mind. She had just opened the door when she heard gentle hoofsteps running down the hall. Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap… She rolled her eyes and gave a slight smile. It was probably Starlight or Spike. They must have come home from the party and now were trying to scare her. “Starlight? Spike?” she called. She heard her voice echo through the castle. “I know you’re there. You can come out!” She called. No answer. Twilight began to sweat. Was this a prank, or were there really intruders in her house? She began trying to calm herself down when she heard the sound of a slamming kitchen door and hoofsteps running down the hall. Panicked, she teleported into the interior of the kitchen and a sense of dread began to creep through her veins. The first thing that she noticed was that one of her frying pans had been stolen from its spot on the counter and the pantry door was wide open. With a quick investigation, she could see that this thief also had stolen some apples, celery, a couple muffins and a hunk of bread. Twilight’s knees began to knock. Her teeth began to chatter. She knew now that there definitely was a thief in her house. What more could they want? Were they going to kidnap her? She shook the idea out of her head. I’m an alicorn princess. I can fight off whoever is in my home! “STOP THIEF!!” she yelled and listened closely. She heard a faint whisper and the sound of somepony running frantically down the hall. She gave a faint smirk. She had them now. Dipper and Mabel ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They heard footsteps running right behind them. There has to be some exit in this huge castle! He thought as he turned right. Mabel was carrying a bunch of supplies that they had stolen from the kitchen. In her left hand, a bag of food they had stolen from this place’s pantry. In her right, a frying pan for self-defense. They didn’t know how long they would have to stay here so the more prepared they were, the better. As they rounded another corner, a spark of hope ignited inside of Dipper. Before them, a huge door, the biggest one that they have seen so far. “It must be exit!” he called to Mabel. “Quick! Out the door!” They sprinted as hard they could to try and reach the door before their pursuer caught them. Just as they were about to reach the door a large flash of purple light stopped them in their tracks. “AH HA!” Twilight yelled. She lit her horn and illuminated the thieves. “I’ve caught yo-” Twilight forgot everything that she was about to say when she saw the creatures her light was shining upon. She had never seen anything like them. To her, they looked like hairless monkeys with clothes on, although one was much more colorful than the other. They both stood on two legs. The colorful one held all her stolen kitchen supplies. They reminded her of the people in human Equestria but these creatures greatly differed from them in many ways. They looked back at her, mirroring her expression. Her mouth dropped open and her mind began to race in fear. Her horn began to glow in preparation of a knockout spell. Dipper and Mabel stood staring at the creature that had teleported before them. It was a Purple Unicorn with wings. Dipper was in an absolute state of shock at the mythical being in front of them, while Mabel was in an absolute state of happiness. All my dreams have come true! They both stood staring at each other for about 10 seconds without a word or movement. Dipper blinked. The unicorn blinked. Mabel blinked. A frantic look suddenly came across the unicorn's face and her horn began to glow and sizzle like a laser beam charging up. That’s when Dipper got a clue to what was about to happen. “MABEL! GET DO-” The beam of light hit Dipper straight in the chest and he toppled onto the ground, unconscious. Where Mabel once stood in awe of the unicorn, she now stood in horror and anger. “Nobody. Messes. With. My. BROTHER!!!” Mabel yelled as she charged forward with the frying pan. The unicorn, preparing another laser to shoot looked over her shoulder and the moment she did… WHAM!!! She took a blow right on the left side of her cheek and you could hear the sound of impact from a mile away. Because of the impact, the magic shot out of her horn early and hit Mabel right on her forehead, causing her to fall unconscious as well. Twilight breathed in and out several times before putting a hoof to her face, realizing what the colorful creature had done and slumping onto the floor, instantly passing out, just like they did. All was silent in the castle of friendship.