The Balance of Magic: A Frozen/Tangled Adventure

Prologue

Author's Note: Those of you who have read any of my past works are already familiar with the obsessive over-ambition with which I approach all my crossovers. Well, with the release of Frozen 2 (which I have now watched seven times), the Muse has struck again, and once more I must tempt the gods with my hubris. While this story centers on Elsa and Rapunzel from Frozen and Tangled respectively, and the inspiration for the story comes largely from those two franchises (things introduced in Frozen 2 and Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure in particular), this story will also tie together the worlds of a large number of Disney animated properties, including (hopefully) most of the Disney Princesses.

(I had to hold this story off a bit because the Tangled tv show wasn't finished yet, and I couldn't be sure exactly how this story would start on the Tangled side of things until that was finished.)

I am approaching the worldbuilding of this combined universe with the idea that this is a fantasized version of earth, not an exact replica of our own world. The map of this world does not match our own completely but has many parallels. The same is true of the timeline. Partially to prevent confusion and partially to allow a bit of chronological flexibility, instead of using our standard measure of time (BC/AD), I will be using Before and After Frozen (BF/AF) to describe the time periods involved in this story.

Many Millennia Before Frozen

The land that will eventually become the Kingdom of Corona

It was a quiet, peaceful night. The sun had only recently set over the vast expanse of forest, the wind coming in from the gentle sea was calm and cool, a welcome respite for the forest creatures from the heat of the day. Humans had yet to arrive in this gentle place, yet to come and shape the land to their desires. Nothing much of note had yet happened on this simple peninsula. That was about to change forever.

Far, far away, beyond the stars, beyond the borders of the physical universe, an ancient cosmic force was suddenly and violently torn asunder. From this division erupted an explosion of power, rocketing the two broken halves through the walls between worlds and across the universe, flying towards a little world on the edge of the cosmos. A little world called earth.

A streak of brilliant golden energy lit up the night sky above the forested peninsula, the streak crashing into the earth with an explosion of sound and light, shaking the forest to its roots. But when the creatures of the forest recovered enough from their fright to investigate the source of the explosion, they found no damage had been done. Instead, the plants in area where the light had landed were growing better than ever before, and at the center of this growth stood a single brilliant golden flower.

Animals have always had a sense that humans lacked, or at least one that humans have always been good at ignoring. They could sense the power of the flower and knew instinctually that it was not a part of the natural order, beautiful as it was. So, they basked in its glow, but none came close. None tried to eat the flower as they might have others. They kept a respectful distance, and as time passed, many of the forest creatures forgot about the lights in the sky and the beautiful alien flower that had come from them. Those that did remember continued to respect it, knowing better than to touch it or attempt to claim it for themselves.

Like I said, this particular instinct is one that humans have always been very good at ignoring.

. . . . .

The land that will eventually become the Dark Kingdom

Many miles away, another streak of light split the heavens, this one bright blue and crackling with wild, chaotic energy. When it struck, the explosion swept through the forest like a fiery scythe, cleaving through trees and incinerating lesser flora, leaving a deep, jagged crater surrounded only by destruction. At the center of this crater sat a simple blue opal, glowing faintly in the night, surrounded by a small ring of strange black rocks.

. . . . .

The Enchanted Forest

Far to the north, a shudder went through the Enchanted Forest. Humans would not settle there for millennia, but the forest's true inhabitants were far older than even humanity itself. Air, fire, earth, and water all felt the surge of power as the two drops of alien magic fell to the earth. The spirits shivered, none knowing what this new power meant. Never before had new magic been introduced to the world. The magic that was had been the same since the world first formed, only changing shape and form. Not even the spirits of the world itself knew what this new power meant. They only knew that it would change everything.

. . . . .

Beyond the Boundaries of the World

Across the many dimensions of the universe, eyes turned towards the little planet the humans called earth. From its dark, twisted dimension the demonic shape-shifter Zhan Tiri looked hungrily towards the broken halves of celestial power that had dropped to the planet's surface, yearning to claim their power for itself. However, others looked beyond the Sundrop and the Moonstone, looking instead to the opportunity they had created. Their explosive entrance into the mortal realm had weakened and cracked the boundaries of the worlds. It was just a crack, but a crack was more than enough for beings of their stature.

Magic is a tricky thing, the balance always shifting. And with the sudden introduction of the recently divided alien magics, that balance was irrevocably altered. This was an opportunity for far more than just the demonic sorcerer. Earth was a ripe world, filled with untapped power. Many beings pressed against the boundaries of the dimensions, and before long, a few began to break through.

. . . . .

The base of Mount Olympus, Greece

Thunder split the skies, storm clouds gathering in anger. The walls between the worlds shuddered, sending ripples of energy into the mortal realm as a great force pushed against the crack, like the weight of a mountain. The earth shook, and the primitive humans huddled at the base of the mountain that had always sheltered them held one another and cried, believing they were witnessing the end of the world. As far as their lives were concerned, they weren't too far from the truth.

The sky split with a SNAP as an immense stone foot broke through the invisible barrier, crashing to the ground and crushing the doomed human village. Then came the granite fingers of a massive stone hand, pulling at the edges of the tear in the universe, opening it wider to allow the rest of its form to make the journey. A second mountain now stood at the base of Olympus, a walking mountain with not one, but two monstrous heads, like a sick parody of the Earth Giants in the far north. But it was not alone.

From the breach stepped four more titanic beings. A giant skeletal figure, formed entirely of shards of razor-sharp ice, breathing out blinding blizzards. A gargantuan mass of roiling magma, spewing out its own destructive innards across the earth. A living tornado, a whirlwind of gale forces tearing apart and consuming all in its path. And finally, a humongous fleshy beast, its single beady eye starting out hungrily across a land ripe for destruction. The Titans had arrived.

As the great beasts began their rampage, the spirits of the land struck back against the invaders. Fires burst to life, the waters raged, the earth opened up, and the storm that had gathered unleashed its fury upon them, striking them with bolts of lightning. But the fires were killed by the furious blizzards of the ice Titan, the waters evaporated before the heat of the magma Titan's volcanic eruptions, the wind Titan sucked in the storm, consuming it and all its power, while the cyclops and mountain Titans shattered the earth beneath them, filling the crevasses with broken stone and the corpses of the dead.

Before the wrath of the Titans, the native spirits of this world had no defense. And this was just the beginning.

. . . . .

Across the world, beings from other dimensions and beyond the stars found their way through the broken veil to earth. Some arrived speedily, others took millennia to break through. Some laid low for generations before making their move, others sought to claim a piece of this new world when first stepping foot upon it. They all hungered for the same thing, but they had vastly different methods of achieving their desires. Some carved paths of devastation, others began campaigns of conquest, while a rare few aided and protected the victims of the others. But no matter their actions or motives, all disrupted the balance.

For a long while, the native magical spirits that called earth home fought back against the invasions, protecting their world from the foreign powers. But as time passed, a new balance was found. Many of the worst of the creatures were either sent back to their dimensions or subdued in other ways, while others claimed a place for themselves in the world and held it. The weak who remained became known as monsters, while the greatest became known as gods. Eventually the walls between the worlds repaired themselves, and those cast back into their realms found it impossible to break through to earth the ways they had before.

For a time, the earth had comparative peace. But magic is a tricky thing, the balance always shifting. It was only a matter of time before that balance was broken once more.