Chapter One: Return To Equestria

I am so proud of you guys! I asked for only twenty favorites on Crossing Worlds, and not only did you meet my demands, but you guys went above and beyond what I had expected and I commend you for that. So, as I promised, here is the sequel to Crossing Worlds: Crossing Realms. I do hope you all enjoy, and I would like to send special thanks to everyone that messaged me with new, creative ideas for my story. I apologize that this took a little bit longer than expected because I'm also writing other stories on Wattpad that I hope to be able to upload here once I finish them. As you may have realized, this will not follow the same story arcs as the current episodes. This has become more of an alternate universe version, with Crossing Worlds as the season four and this story as season five. That means no Mystery Box, no Equestria Games, none of the story arcs from season four of the show. So, enjoy your brand new sequel!

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"So, you're sure that this is a real spell? You're not just making it up?" You eye Twilight carefully.

"What, you think that I would lie to you?" Twilight gives you a side smile and pushes the apple closer to you. "Come on, just try it."

"Well, if you say so..." You plant your hooves firmly on the floor of the library and aim your horn at the apple, your wings flared up. Gathering as much energy as possible, you squint your eyes and push out the magic in a straight stream that begins to disfigure the red apple. After a moment, the red skin melts away to reveal a lighter shade of orange. Once the spell is completed, you look up to see an orange in the place of the apple.

"What did I tell you?" your sister gloats happily.

You give a semi-irritated snort. "Well, you can't really blame me. Turning an apple into an orange? What kind of spell is that? It has no point!"

Twilight shrugs. "Well, it's a funny prank to play on Applejack."

You giggle at the thought of Applejack coming outside to see an orange orchard where her apple trees used to be. "Ok, I'll give you that. We really should try that sometime."

"I'd love to, especially now that we finally have so much free time and don't have to worry about the end of Equestria as we know it."

"That's always a plus." You turn your head at the sound of a harsh knock on the wooden door. In the doorway stands a costumed blue mare with a moon cutie mark and a smug face with purple eyes that seem to bore into you. "Um, can I help you?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, actually. The Great and Powerful Trixie is looking for Twilight Sparkle and her sister. Trixie can tell that you must be the sister. Now bring me Twilight."

"What gave it away? The alicorn?" you grumble, turning your head back inside and away from the blue mare. "Twilight! Some magician is here to see you!"

Trixie scoffs. "Excuse me, but I am not 'some magician.' I am..." The unicorn powers up her horn smugly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Fireworks and sparklers appear and begin going off behind the mare, causing you to shield your [E/C] eyes.

"Right...I kind of got that."

Twilight suddenly appears by your side, her purple eyes squinted at the magician. "Trixie, what are you doing here?"

Wow, harsh, Twilight. I'm guessing that they must know each other from somewhere. Interesting that Twilight would have such a touchy past with her.

"You need to calm down, Princess." Her words ooze with sarcasm and annoyance. "I'm here with a message for you and The Lost Princess here."

"It's [Y/N]," you add.

Trixie turns to glare at you. "You dare to correct The Great and Powerful Trixie? Perhaps you would like to show me what you can do, like your sister here? Please! Whatever you could do, I could do better, princess or not."

You flatten your ears to your head. "I-I, um..."

"That's what I thought," Trixie snorts.

"Get to the point, Trixie," Twilight growls.

The blue mare lifts her dainty snout up. "Fine. I have a message from Zecora."

Twilight raises an eyebrow. "Zecora? "

"Yes, I'm training under her at the moment. Quit interrupting Trixie. Anyway, Zecora has told me to tell you to round up the rest of your little friendship gang and come to see her immediately."

Your sister narrows her eyes until they're practically slits. "And that's the truth?"

"Still doubting Trixie, I see. I guess old habits die hard." The mare turns around snootily. "Why don't you follow me and find out, O One of Little Faith."

Your eyes dart between Twilight and the departing Trixie, and your curiosity begins to get the better of you. "I don't know about you, Twi, but I'm following her." You trot out and match the mare's pace. When you look over your shoulder, you see a grumpy Twilight following too. You slow down a bit to walk next to your sister.

"Spike is sending letters to the girls to meet us at Zecora's," Twilight states, her purple tail still swishing in agitation.

You flash her a look. "Seriously, what's up with you and Trixie?"

Twilight grits her teeth uncomfortably and doesn't meet your gaze, instead continuing to stare forward. "Let's just say that we have a very...significant past. I-I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on, now. She couldn't be all that bad if she's Zecora's student. I bet she's just insecure."

"You say that now."

You stifle a giggle to spare your sister's feelings and instead stop to see that the Everfree Forest is surrounding you and Zecora's hut is looming in the distance.

"Come with me," Trixie orders, knocking on Zecora's wooden door. The accessorized zebra immediately opens the door, a concerned expression on her face.

"Ah, Trixie, I see that you have found [Y/N] and Twilight. Do come in, although I'm sorry to say that this visit may not be much of a delight." She steps to the side, allowing the three of you to step inside. The first time that you had seen Zecora's home, you hadn't had a second to spare and had rushed out. Now, you look around the hut to see African-looking decorations hanging around the room. Colorful masks seem to watch your every move while spooky potions sit on dusty shelves near a large black cauldron. She reminds you of something between a witch doctor and a seer. Zecora sits the four of you down at a table. You take a sip of tea from the tribal teacup sitting in front of you.

"What did you need to talk to us about, Zecora?" Twilight questions, not touching her tea.

As soon as Zecora opens her mouth to speak, a loud knock sounds from the door. "Excuse me, my little pony." She walks over and opens the door to the other five girls, Applejack in the front.

The farmpony steps forward. "We got the message, Twilight." She holds up a long scroll in her mouth.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy asks.

Zecora doesn't acknowledge her. "Please make yourself comfortable. What I'm about to tell you is nothing short of unmentionable." The mares silently take a seat for themselves. "I have recently had a vision sent to me. A band of seven stallions is what I have foreseen. They are the spirits opposite to you girls: The Alignment of Corruption. They represent the Elements of Destruction; Betrayal, Impatience, Hatred, Rebellion, Disbelief, Isolation, and Cruelty are their customs." You flatten your ears to your head as a shiver runs through your body. I thought Reptantis would be the end... Dear Luna, it's beginning again. You look around to see the girls with equally scared and concerned eyes.

"How do you know that this wasn't just a dream?" Twilight questions.

"Dreams are of Luna and the night. Visions will grab onto you and play through your mind repeatedly without any sort of invite." The zebra's eyes wander off into the distance. "These are burdens that I have been saddled with. You must trust me because I swear that this is not a myth."

Rainbow Dash snorts in exasperation. "If we could crush that bug last year, then we can take care of a couple of stallions. We've all come too far to get defeated."

You slam your hoof on the table. "We will not be defeated. We could never forget everything that we've gone through. Our trials have made us stronger and taught us lessons that shield us from danger. I love all of you, and we will always be friends. We can't afford to forget that at a time like this." Twilight nods in agreement and Rainbow bites her lip, regretting her word choice. You turn to Zecora with a concerned but assertive face. "Zecora, what do you suggest that we do?"

She closes her blue irises. "Before anything else, you must contact the princesses, but it is not my place to what you should do after. All that I can do is wish you good luck and ask that you remember your faith, magic, kindness, loyalty, generosity, honesty, and laughter." Keeping her eyes shut, she tips her head at you.

Trixie silently rushes up behind you and the girls. "The Great and Powerful Trixie shall see you out now." She begins to half-heartedly herd everypony out.

"Trixie," Zecora's stern voice stops the blue mare in her tracks. "Humble."

Trixie grinds her teeth. "Trixie will see you out now."

"More," Zecora commands, her eyes still closed.

Trixie growls quietly, winning a snicker from Twilight. "I will see you out now, if you please," she says through gritted teeth. When Zecora merely smiles slightly, the mare opens the door for you all to leave, an irritated and humiliated look still engraved onto her light blue face, winning a snicker from Twilight.

"All right, here's the plan," Twilight announces once you've all regrouped outside of the hut. "We'll go back to the library, Spike will send a warning to the princesses, and then we'll wait for instructions."

"Are you kidding, Twilight?" you huff. "The longer we wait, the more time those stallions have to plan their attack. We need to send the princesses a warning and then search for a location spell. There must be something that we can go off of, something that can lead us to the Alignment of Corruption."

"No, [Y/N]! We don't have permission, and even if we did, a drastic switch to the offense like that would be too dangerous. I mean, for pony's sake, we don't even know what they want from us! Besides, a search spell would only work if we owned something that belonged to the ones that we are searching for." The purple mare stomps her hoof in conclusion.

A figurative lightbulb goes off over your head. "Well, if their Elements are opposite to ours, then it would also work vise versa!"

"Huh?" Pinkie Pie says, tilting her head.

"Don't you see? We could use a temporary reversal spell on one of our Elements, which would temporarily turn the Element into the opposite of itself, which would be the equivalent of the Elements of Destruction! Then we could perform a searching spell on the reversed Element to find the stallions!"

Twilight rolls her eyes. "That's ludicrous! Everypony knows that ponies can't perform a spell like that. The only creature that can turn things into the opposite of their true selves is..." Her face turns pale as she trails off.

"Discord!" the other five mares yell simultaneously.

"No, no, no!" We are not letting that draconequus Discord our Elements." Twilight leans towards you with her snout in the air angrily.

"Not even one?" you plead jokingly, annoying your sister even more.

"I gave you my answer, and that is..."

---

"Yes!" Discord proclaims, throwing his paw and claw into the air dramatically. "Of course I will Discord somepony for you ladies. Now...who are we getting? Ooh, I knew I should've invested in that video camera."

You shake your head up at the draconequus. "Not who, what." You place your Element of Faith, your Golden Crown, in front of him. "We need you to Discord an Element of Harmony."

Discord's expression suddenly changes. "I...I see. And you're serious about this?" You nod with the other seven girls. "Ok, but is it even possible to do that to an object?" For the first time in the time that you've known him, Discord's expression is an uneasy and unsure one.

"Well, we don't know, but it would mean a lot if you would try," Fluttershy suggests sweetly.

"If you're sure..." Discord reaches down with his eagle claw to the Golden Crown's smooth surface and gently taps it with his magic. For a moment, a thin layer of purple runs over the surface of the Crown and moves down below it like dry ice. Everything is very still.

Twilight shakes her head. "Sorry, [Y/N], but I told you that this wouldn't work. Now let's go home and see if the princesses have answered b-" A crackling sound interrupts your sister. Slowly, the Crown begins to turn a shade of grayish purple that begins at the bottom and begins to crawl up and engulf the Crown's sides until the last sliver of gold on the top is covered up.

"He did it." You stare at your Crown in awe, ignoring a small twinge of hurt deep inside of you.

"I-I did it." Discord stands up proudly and suddenly explodes into celebration. "Aw, yeah! Who did it? I did! I am the master of reversal, no matter what you are!" He teleports to the other side of you with a suit and monocle. You look down to see a pink sparkly dress on you and other various dresses on your friends. The draconequus hands you a cue card which you hold in your hoof skeptically. "Read it," he whispers.

You roll your eyes. "Tonight we have with us...Discord C. Faust?"

"Uh huh, keep going."

"Amazing ex-villain and knower of all things. He is here for a nomination in the category...Best All-Time Amazing Control Powers?" You raise an eyebrow and the draconequus merely smirks at you. "Discord, tell us about you and your journey to the top."

Discord creates a microphone in your hoof which he promptly takes and begins dramatically talking into. "Thank you, Princess. It is...such a huge honor to be here tonight. I just want to thank everypony that helped me get here..." He snaps his fingers and eye drops appear in his paw, which he proceeds to apply to his eyes to create fake tears. "And I just don't if I would still be standing her without you. I'm referring to myself, by the way. I never could've gotten here without me. True story."

"Save it for the acceptance speech," you snicker, and Discord make the outfits and microphone disappear with a casual snap of his claw fingers.

He pouts as he observes all of your friends staring at him in playful irritation. "Well, you have to let me have some fun sometimes," he laughs, exiting Fluttershy's living room.

"All right, now could you try the searching spell, Twilight?" you question your sister while studying the menacing-looking Discorded Crown.

"[Y/N], I still don't think that this is safe. I don't want to permanently damage the Golden Crown, or worse, you."

You scoff. "Now you're just being overprotective. I will be perfectly fine. This isn't even about me. This is about keeping Equestria and our friendship safe. Please." Twilight merely rocks back and forth on her hooves, trying to decide. You sigh impatiently. "All right, would you feel better if I performed this spell?"

"You don't even know how to," Twilight dismisses you.

A sly grin spreads across your [B/C] face. "Says who? I live in a library. Magic is interesting and important, so I sometimes look through spell books in case anything were to ever come in handy."

"If you really insist..." Twilight says in defeat, earning a victorious smile from you. Beads of sweat collect on your forehead as you aim your horn at The Crown. You strain to do the spell as well as you can by memory.

"Come on..." you grunt. The Discorded Crown begins to glow brightly and hum as though electricity was coursing through it. Then it starts spinning. Along with the entire room. The girls begin screaming and frantically gripping at the floor. Meanwhile, you could swear that your head is about to explode. You are now visibly straining to finish the spell with every ounce of your strength. It's obvious that these stallions have some sort of magical shield up to keep us out. Time to smash that force field. Harsh energy continues seeping out of your horn, every little bit coming closer to breaking through and discovering the enemy's whereabouts. Your eyes suddenly turn green and purple fog begins to flow out like condensed dark matter.

"Gah! Flying pony feathers!" Discord abruptly rolls into the room, cursing and violently thrashing around the spinning room. "What the hay is going on?!" He quickly reaches out to latch onto a loose floorboard. Then, as quickly as it began, the magic shield shatters and The Discorded Crown (still in place, I might add) flashes a bright white and then all goes dark. You open your [E/C] eyes to find all of your friends in a terrified pile, still clutching the floor. You are still next to The Crown, but laying in a battered pile in front of it, your head on the floor and hindquarters in the air.

"Dear Celestia..." Your words come out as a pitiful groan and it is then that you feel the immense pain coursing through your pained form. "Roll call!" you yell with more strength.

"Here!" Twilight answers.

"We're ok!" Rarity and Pinkie say at the same time.

"Biscuits and gravy!" Applejack curses, but it tells you that she's safe.

"Right here," Fluttershy and Rainbow moan, rubbing their temples.

"Wish that I wasn't here!" A petrified Discord looks up with shocked red pupils and sits up, realizing that he is on top of the mare pile. "Oh, my apologies, ladies." He stands up shakily with his mismatched legs and the others follow.

"[Y/N]!" Twilight cries, running unsteadily to your slumped form.

"I'm fine, really," you insist, though your [E/C] eyes are spinning all around your head. "Just dizzy." As Twilight helps you up, you feel that same twinge again, just the same as before. That's not from the spell... Suddenly, a trail of bright light begins to travel from The Discorded Crown that snakes across Fluttershy's cottage and leads out the door. For a moment, everypony just stares at it, unsure.

Discord speaks up first. "I propose that you girls follow that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be hiding in the basement." Without another word, the draconequus snaps his fingers and teleports away.

"I don't have a basement..." Fluttershy says, perplexed. Rainbow shrugs in response.

You nod at the girls. "Discord is right. We should get going." You pick up The Discorded Crown with your magic, plop it on your head, and begin trotting forward through the light path. The girls follow without hesitation.

"You know," Pinkie turns to Fluttershy while continuing to trail behind you, "Something just like this happened to me once. So, I was eating cake at Sugarcube Corner..." Everypony quietly groans to themself as Pinkie launches into a long and nonsensical story. You, however, keep your eyes glued on the light trail, trotting briskly to keep pace. The path begins to curve off into the Everfree Forest. Who would've guessed that the magical and evil anomaly is coming from the Everfree Forest. You chuckle at your own sarcasm.

"I think we're getting close!" you announce, your head close to the ground like a hound dog sniffing out a rabbit. You ignore the tension from the girls as the large trees begin to close in around you. However, a thick tangle of brambles forces you to stop. The light path passes through it, unfazed. You cock your head, analyzing the situation. If I leave The Discorded Crown's trail, I could risk it fading. There doesn't seem to be an opening anyway. Although...I could fly over this easily... You flash a guilty glance at Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. But my friends would have to stay behind...unless...hmm... "I think that I have an idea!" You turn your attention to the flight-ready ponies.

"What is it, then?" Rainbow Dash presses.

"Do you think that, between the four of us, we could carry Rarity, AJ, and Pinkie to the other side of the thorn patch?" You perk your ears in anticipation.

"Well...if we carried them one-by-one, I'm sure we could," Twilight hypothesizes.

"Good." You nod coolly. So, the four flyers (including you) begin transporting the grounded ponies over the brambles one at a time until everypony is out of breath on the other side.

"You girls could stand to lose some weight," Rainbow teases, shaking off her light blue coat. Applejack sticks her tongue out at the rainbow mare as she lightly sets down her flightless friend.

You look down again to see the wispy trail still in its place and breathe a small sigh of relief. "Come on, then!" you say over your shoulder. "I think we're almost there." Sure enough, you soon stumble upon a large cavern that is only barely visible from ground level until it begins to spiral downwards without leaving a trace. The trees on either side are willow trees, each bent to opposing sides to shield the top of the cave.

"Call me presumptuous, but I believe that this is it," Rarity comments.

"Mm hmm." You lean down and slowly stick your head into the dark cave. Despite its small entrance, the tunnel expands on all sides as you go deeper. Although you squint your eyes through the dark, you can't seem to make out a dead end, or any end for that matter. It seems to just continue on forever. Having seen enough, you pull your head out and turn back to the girls. "Well, I know that if I was an evil stallion gang, this would be my number one hideout location. I think we should search through it." You jump and let out a small squeak of surprise as your Crown begins to fizzle on your head, sending another jolt of pain through your chest. Why does this keep happening? Ever since my Element was Discorded, I feel...different. You shake your head stubbornly. No, it doesn't matter. We're almost here and once we find the stallions, we can alert the princesses and use the other Elements to return my Crown to its true self. It'll be fine...

Twilight moans. "Please, [Y/N], let's just go home. This is an awful idea and you know it."

You nudge your sister with your [B/C] head."Hey, it'll be ok. Come on." You semi-gracefully step down into the cave, ducking your head so slow that you feel like you're crawling. As the ground levels out, you feel your hoof step into something squishy and look down to see the rocky ground covered with brown sludge. "Yech." You shake your hooves off, fully aware that your actions are in vain.

"Woah! Look at all of this mud! Rarity's gonna have a fit." You shriek and jump so high you hit your head on the roof at the loud voice. Glaring over your shoulder, you see a grinning Pinkie Pie suddenly right next to you.

"I will never understand how you manage to do that," you remark, your heart still pounding.

"It's easy, really. I'll show you sometime. I bet the readers would love that." The mare smiles giddily.

You raise an eyebrow at her. "What are you talking...you know what? Just never mind." You shake your head in confusion, a strand of your [H/C] mane falling into your vision.

"Is it safe, [Y/N]?" Your ears perk up as you hear Twilight's voice, still above ground. "Not that I'm scared or anything."

You scoff at your sister, a smirk crawling across your face. "Funny, I would've expected that kind of tough talk from somepony more like Rainbow Dash than you."

You can practically feel the other alicorn's eyes rolling in annoyance. "Is it safe or not?"

"Besides being a little dark and moist, it seems fine." You crawl forward until the ceiling is high enough for you to stand and then proceed to illuminate the damp cave with your horn's natural glow.

"Hooray for vision!" Pinkie cheers from next to you.

You slowly walk forward, ears alert to any sign of danger. "Ok, guys, you can come on down. But not all at once."

"What did she say?" Fluttershy asks.

"I think she said to come down all at once," Rainbow confirms.

You whip your head around. "No, no, no!" But it's too late. You see all five girls come tumbling down the tight hole and right into a mud pile. They look up dazily from their tangled dirty pile.

"Ugh! So. Much. Mud!" Rarity squeals, covered from horn to hoof in the nasty stuff.

"And so returns the old rivalry between Rarity and mud," Pinkie nods from your right side while the mares stand up, shake themselves off, and make their way over to you.

"Centuries?" Rainbow questions.

"Yep." Pinkie Pie shrugs the rainbow mare off with a satisfied grin as per the usual.

"Come on girls, this is a serious mission," Twilight reminds authoritively.

"Aw, lighten up, Twi," Pinkie tilts her head innocently. Twilight continues to harden her gaze to the pink pony's dismay. "Come on, please smile?" She touches her forehead to Twilight's, a coaxing smile on her face. You giggle as your sister rolls her eyes. Pinkie tries a different tactic. "Boop." She pokes Twilight's ribs teasingly and the purple alicorn giggles instinctively swats her hoof away.

"Don't. Poke. Me." This time, it's Twilight who invades Pinkie's personal bubble by sticking her snout in the earth pony's face. What Twilight doesn't notice is that she has a half-smirk on her face, which was enough for Pinkie.

"No problem!" She backs off, leaving Twilight with a self-satisfied grin on her face.

"Wow..." you quietly whisper to yourself. Pinkie Pie is completely in control of the situation but leaves Twilight with the impression that she won, but in reality, it's Pinkie who got what she came for. You tilt your head in fascination, completely mesmerized by the mare's uncanny subliminal way of playing a situation to her advantage. She's actually not too different from Discord.

"All righty then, let's keep searching." Twilight spins around, her horn now glowing in assistance to your light. The tunnel appears to go on straight for forever, but it also branches off in different areas to smaller corridors.

"I don't think an animal could've created this," Fluttershy murmurs.

"But we could have..." A raspy voice echoes through the tunnel, making it nearly impossible to discern its beginning point.

"Wh-who is that?" Fluttershy squeaks.

"Oh, I'm sure that you remember us," a deeper but still raspy voice growls.

"I know those voices..." Rarity says hesitantly.

"Yes, you probably remember us the most, mule," a third voice finishes.

"Huh? What's going on here?" You stand alert on your hooves, twisting your head around all ways in attempt to find its source.

"Another pony? I only remember six and a dragon. But there's no dragon here now..." Three slit-eyed dogs step into the light of your horn. They have dark, matted fur and sharp teeth, causing you to instinctively step out in front of your friends and rear up on your hind legs, wings flared and horn pointed at them, ready to shoot if necessary.

You suddenly hear Twilight's voice behind you. "The Diamond Dogs! [Y/N]! It's an ambush!"

The lead dog approaches you smugly. "I can see why those dark colts wanted you so badly. Although we'll definitely have some fun with this too."

You snort furiously and paw the ground aggressively. Time to talk battle. "Allying yourselves with The Alignment of Corruption was foolish and will only result in defeat."

"That's what you think, princess. But we're not as stupid as we look." The lead Diamond Dog snaps his fingers and the entrance is quickly blocked off with magic-proof bars. The girls gasp and Twilight steps up to help you fight them off, her wings also flared up and horn ready. But the stallions had been prepared, and so were the dogs.

"Release the gas!" the leader screeches, leaping out of the room as quickly as possible, closely followed by his second-in-commands. Before you can react, you hear a hissing noise as toxic pink gas is released into the room. You panick as your lungs begin to fill with it.

"Twi!" you croak, looking over to your sister. Her eyes are clouded and she wobbles around like a tree about to fall. Even scarier, you feel your own eyes begin to sink and your body pleads for you to give out and fall. To top it all off, The Discorded Crown crackles once again and sends an electric-like shock coursing through your body. For a moment, the world moves in slow motion. You're gasping for air, struggling to stay consious. Your legs double over and you begin to topple down after them. You collapse in a matter of seconds but manage to keep your [E/C] eyes open long enough to see seven blurry figures approach you. You don't need to be fully awake to realize who they are.

---

It's finally done! About time too. Real life is hard to keep up with, but I managed to get it out eventually. We're going to start off this story with a suspenseful two-parter. Everybody say, "Ooh..." Also, whoever spots the Toy Story 3 reference and comments about it first gets a free cookie! I will personally deliver it straight to your doorstep! ...Ok, no I won't. But comment anyways! I hope you guys think it was worth the wait though. I personally feel like I've matured very much in my writing since Crossing Worlds was first published so long ago. In other news, I'm beginning to become an anime nerd. Help me... Anyways, this is Bronygirl6729 saying, "I'm back, baby!"