Chapter 43: Over a Barrel
When the weekend came around, Spyro was on a train with the girls going through a large western like area filled with desert, cacti, rocky ridges and more, on their way to a town called Appaloosa, home of Applejacks cousin Braeburn, which he was looking forward to meeting other members of her family as he did see them at the Apple Family reunion, but never got to formally meet and talk to them one on one. But the reason for going to Appaloosa wasn't to visit her cousin, but to deliver a tree so that it can be planted in the towns very own Apple Orchard, which he didn't get, but went with it anyway as it meant a lot to Applejack, so he decided to help out, lifting the tree all the way to the train station and wanting to out it in the cargo area, but Applejack had reserved the caboose for the tree, making him wonder what was going through her head at the time. They were about another day or so from their destination, so Spyro and Rarity went to check on Applejack as she was checking up on her tree, but when they got there, the two of them were completely confused by what they saw and heard as Applejack was reading a bedtime story to the tree and then covering it up before noticing the two of them.
"Applejack!" Rarity exclaimed. "Were you reading a bedtime story to... an apple tree?"
"Uh, well, you know... being planted in a whole new place can be very upsetting for a tree." Applejack replied, Rarity looking mildly annoyed at the farm mare as the two of them approached. "And Bloomberg here is one of mah favorites."
"Well it's not fair Applejack!" Rarity said. "You rented a luxurious private sleeper car for a tree! Meanwhile I am crowded in the same car with all the other ponies. How am I supposed to get my beauty sleep?"
"Easy, close your eyes and lay your head down." Spyro replied, Rarity glaring at him. "Kidding, I'm kidding. Best thing you can do is drown out the noise and left yourself drift to sleep."
"Easy for you to say." Rarity said. "You sleep in a whole house full of ponies, you're probably use to it. But in all seriousness, why are we even taking a tree with us to this Appaloosa?"
"Bloomberg is a gift to my relatives in Appaloosa." Applejack replied. "He needs his rest for when we get there. Spyro, ya sure them water crystals will keep him hydrated?"
"Of course I'm sure AJ." Spyro replied. "One water crystal has the capacity to keep a pony from dying of thirst for three days before its mana runs out. If planted with a tree or any other kind of plant, that time is doubled."
"Well, the way you're talking about it, you'd think it was your baby or something."
"Who you calling a baby?" Applejack asked, rushing over to the tree. "Don't let what Rarity say get you all saddy waddy. Bloomberg is a big and strong apple tree."
Rarity was disturbed that Applejack was talking to the tree like it was a baby while Spyro just shook his head at the scene, just going with the flow as Applejack cooed at the tree like it was a foal.
"It's wittle Rarity who is all saddy waddy." Rarity replied.
"Come on Rare, just let it go." Spyro said. "Let's get something to eat as it's almost time for bed."
The two of them left the private car and went to the dinning car, getting themselves a couple of sandwiches real quick before the sun started to set, returning to the sleeping area of the train where everyone got into their bunks for the night. Rarity applied some kind of mud mask and rolled her hair into curlers while everyone else was up talking about the train ride, what they might get to see and how excited they were while Spyro was busy reading the book from Kenai's world, deciding to call it the Land of Bears, obvious, yet he didn't have any better ideas for a name. As he read, he could sense how frustrated Rarity was with all the talking going on and tried to cover her ears while Spike just poked his head out from the covers and leered at the conversing mares.
"Do you girls mind?" Spike asked. "I was up early in the morning fire roasting those snacks you're eating and I'm pooped."
"Speaking of, some of these popcorn kernels didn't pop." Rainbow Dash said.
"Ok fine." Spike said, looking annoyed. A moment later, he released a large breath of fire, making Rainbow Dash duck for cover as it hit the bag of popcorn, burning all but one kernel and scaring the cyan mare, which did pop and hit her in the face. "Good night."
Everyone watched as the baby dragon covered himself up again, hiding underneath the blanket and leaving the girls speechless while Spyro just looked up form his book, knowing that was going to happen as soon as Rainbow Dash said it and just went back to reading the book.
"Yeah, maybe we should get some sleep." Twilight said. "We got a big day tomorrow."
"I agree." Spyro said, closing the book and putting it away.
Twilight then reached over and turned the lamp off, darkening the room and letting all of them try to sleep, the girls groaning as they weren't sleepy. Spyro closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep when he heard someone get up from bed, turning to see who it was, but not having luck with it being so dark.
"Psst, Pinkie Pie, you asleep?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"No, are you?" Pinkie replied.
"If I was asleep, would I be talking to you right now?" Rainbow Dash asked, bringing a candle over.
"Oh yeah." Pinkie replied, giggling.
"Hey, you don't think we'll be carrying that heavy tree off the train to Appaloosa do you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Tree?" She asked. "You mean Bloomberg?"
"No, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said, being sarcastic.
Spyro then turned in his bunk to look at the two mares, seeing them wide awake and with a candle in front of Spikes bunk, the young dragon no longer snoring as he was probably wide awake now.
"Fluttershy isn't a tree silly." Pinkie said, giggling again.
"I should hope not." Spyro said, looking annoyed they were awake. "And the answer to your question Rainbow, no, you won't be carrying the tree because that's my job."
"Well that's a relief." She said.
"What's going on here?" Twilight asked, walking over.
"Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy is a tree." Pinkie replied.
"I do not think she's a tree!" Rainbow Dash snapped back.
"Did you say she was a tree?" Twilight asked.
"She was making a joke." Spyro said. "A bad one in fact, but she was making a joke."
"Thank you Spyro." Rainbow Dash said.
"I'd like to I be a tree." Fluttershy said, appearing above Rainbow Dash.
"Oh for Pete sake!" Spike said.
The baby dragon hoped out of his bunk and walked down the car, heading towards the private car and slamming the door behind him, making the girls flinch when he did slam it.
"Well that was kinda huffy." Twilight said.
"Well what do you expect when you wake someone up when they're trying to sleep?" Spyro asked. "Speaking of, I need my rest to. So please everyone, be quiet!"
He turned over in his bunk to where his back was against the light, trying to sleep, but then the girls started to laugh in the dark, waking him up again.
"Seems Spike isn't the only one who's huffy?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Huffy and Huffier the magic dragons." Fluttershy said, making the girls laugh again.
"Right that does it." Spyro said, getting the book out and using the light to find the spell he needed, turning to face them.
"Would you all be QUIET NOW!" Rarity shouted, making the girls scream and blow the light out, surprising Spyro.
Not wanting to dwell on it, he closed the book and laid his head down to let himself fall asleep, but as he slept, his dream revealed Appaloosa and the many apple trees there, but also in the distance was a bunch of angry buffalo looking down upon them, anger in their hearts as he watched a wave of them charge from a nearby cliff side. In the town however, he could see there were a lot of dark creatures attacking the town with the buffalo bulldozing all the buildings and the ponies, a figure in what looked to be black and red armor like material and was holding a Keyblade that looked like it was made with gears, one gear for the head, black in color with a red outline and an eye in the center, the shaft of it were two black chains connected to a copper gear and the handle was red with another gear for the guard with another eye in the hilt. The keychain for it looked like three copper gears connected with two halves of a gear arranged to make an S. The figure looked at him, but couldn't see what he looked like as his entire head was covered with some kind of helmet that completely masked him, but could feel that he was smiling at him, raising his blade up and bringing it down, which forced Spyro to wake up.
He jolted up in the bed, waking up in a cold sweat again as he looked around, finding that all the girls were still peacefully sleeping while he was sweating like he had eaten a Carolina Reaper pepper, getting up to clean himself up of the sweat when the train suddenly shook, knocking Rainbow Dash off her bunk and waking everyone up. They all ran to the closet window and looked out, finding there to be a stampede of buffaloes outside, running next to the train.
"Wow, a buffalo stampede." She said, everyone amazed by how they look.
"I just love their accessories." Rarity said, starring at the massive herd of buffalo.
"They're getting awfully close to the train." Twilight said.
"Yeah, too close." Spyro said.
As he said it, the buffalo he saw through the window slammed into the side of the train, causing everyone to bounce around and crash into each other until the crashing stopped, everyone on the ground groaning but Pinkie hoped around and went back to the window, looking out.
"Oh, now they're doing tricks!" She said, everyone getting up and looking out. Outside, there are a few buffalo who jumped onto each other's backs, making a tower in which a smaller, younger looking buffalo hoped up onto the others. "Oh, do a back flip!" However, the young buffalo didn't do a flip as Pinkie thought she would, but instead jumped onto the roof of the train, landing with a loud clang, making them look to the roof. "Or just jump onto the roof."
Spyro listened to the clanging the buffalo's hooves were making, following the way they sounded and the direction they were headed until he figured out where she was going, and what she was up to.
"She's heading for the caboose!" Spyro exclaimed. "Rainbow, stop the small one, I'll take care of the herd."
The two of them flew out of the train, Rainbow Dash went out of the smaller buffalo while he flew ahead to the front of the train, finding the buffalo were trying to stop the train by running into the ponies pulling it, which he didn't understand why, but just dropped it, As one buffalo was about to slam into them, Spyro flew down and knocked him in the head, making him tumble to the ground and take a few others with him,
"Full steam ahead boys!" Spyro shouted. "I'll slow them down!" He got higher into the air and turned around, finding the herd was catching up, but he just smiled and conjured two minion twisters in his hooves, bring them together and releasing the twirling force of wind. "Cyclone Twister!"
A small column of wind and clouds shot out of his hoof and slammed into the dirt, blowing some of the buffalo's away while the rest stopped as the twister was going, creating a barrier that stopped the buffalo for a few moments before letting the train pass and going around the twister, but he was glad to at least slow them down for a moment before turning his attention to the roof, watching as Rainbow Dash tried to stop the young calf, but the little buffalo leapt over Rainbow Dash, leaving both of them in shocked awe as she landed back on the roof and continued to the caboose. Not wanting her to continue forward, he flew down to the car before the Caboose and landed, spreading his wings out to stop her, but she was ready to leap again when he leapt up as she did, tackling her to the roof before she could continue.
"Not this time kid." Spyro said, the buffalo kicking him off and getting up.
"Don't get in the way hybrid, I have no problem with you." She exclaimed. "Just get out of the way and we can go our separate ways."
"I don't think so." He replied. "I know what you're after, but you are not getting it."
"You don't understand, we don't want to do this." She said, surprising him.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Got you now!" Rainbow Dash shouted, making the two of them look.
The buffalo dodged out of the way, making the cyan Pegasus miss her, but slam into the railway sign, both of them flinching from the impact, but then focused on each other, Spyro still blocking the way, which seemed t annoy the buffalo calf.
"Listen, we don't want to do this, but the Appaloosians, they started it." She said.
"What do you mean they started it?" Spyro asked.
Before he could get an answer, the herd of buffalo had caught up and hit the cars again, throwing Spyro off his balance but ended up standing up as another sign came out of nowhere and hit him in the head, knocking him out and when he came to, he found himself in the car he was standing on before, shaking his head to regain his bearings and saw the calf had disconnected the cars, looking to see he was ok and trying to get up, but collapsed back to the floor.
"I'm so sorry." She said, whistling to let them know she had finished disconnecting the cars.
The herd disengaged and came to the caboose, pushing it down the tracks just as the girls came in and saw Spyro on the ground, worried for him.
"Spyro." Twilight said, helping his up. "Are you ok?"
"I think so." He replied. "But it feels like someone hit me with a grand piano."
"Those buffalo took Bloomberg!" Applejack shouted.
But in the window, they caught sight of Spike in the same car as the apple tree, horrifying the group.
"And Spike!" Twilight said.
"Spike." Spyro said, trying to take off, but collapsed again, everyone rushing to help him up.
"Hold on there sugarcube." Applejack said. "Ya'll aren't alright."
"I'll be ok AJ." Spyro said. "I just need to rest a moment and then I'll get them back."
As he said it, he fell down on the floor, everyone helping him back up and getting him to the nearby bench where he could sit and rest.
"Ya'll took a nasty hit to the head." Applejack said. "You are not going anywhere. We're getting you to a doctor in Appaloosa, then we'll find them garments that took Bloomberg and Spike."
After a couple more hours of being on the train, they arrived at their destination, the train stopping at the station and letting everyone get off, which Twilight and Fluttershy were by Spyro's side to make sure he didn't fall again when a yellow stallion wearing a one gallon hat and vest came up to them, looking very happy to see them.
"Well howdy there everypony!" He said. "And welcome to APPALOOSA!"
"Braeburn, listen, we-" Applejack said, but was interrupted by her cousin.
"Cousin Applejack, where are yer manners?" Braeburn asked. "You have yet to introduce me to your compadre's. Shame on you."
"Braeburn, listen, something terrible has happened." Applejack said, looking back to Spyro, who was looking better, but still wobbly.
"Terrible is right." He replied. "Your train is a full seven inures late. That means seven minutes less for you and your friends to enjoy the delights, pleasures and wonders of APPALOOSA!"
Before Applejack could say anything, Braeburn pushed them off the train station and showed them around the place, starting with showing them horse drawn carriages, ponies who draw the horse drawn carriages, their saloon, the sheriff's office and jail house, the places where they do their dancing, why he would show them was beyond Spyro's understanding, before taking them to the town orchards, which has hundreds of trees that were planted. Braeburn was talking about the orchard and how their first harvest was any day now while Applejack tried to get his attention from all his talking, but Spyro's full attention was on the orchard, not amazed by the number of trees they have, but by what he was hearing. He could hear some kind of songs from long ago, almost like it was Native American, but was more Equestrian and then saw something moving in the trees, thinking it was a Heartless, but instead saw a buffalo running through the trees, followed by another and another until it was a whole stampede running through them, the song growing louder and louder like it was trying to tell him something.
"BRAEBURN!" Applejack shouted, snapping him out of his trance.
"Uh, yes cuz?" He asked, looking satisfied with himself.
"Ya'll have a very nice town and all, but we have a HUGE problem!" Applejack exclaimed. "Some of our friends are missing."
"A stampede of buffalo." Fluttershy started off.
"They took Spike." Rarity added.
"Rainbow Dash went after them." Twilight said.
"And Pinkie Pie is missing too." Fluttershy said.
"Wait, Pinkie ain't here!?" Spyro exclaimed, surprised by what she said.
"And we had a tree for your orchard." Applejack added, ignoring Spyro's question. "But they took that too."
Braeburn looked like he was in complete shock, one eye's iris and pupil bigger than the other before he took a deep breath.
"Did you say buffalo?" He asked, sighing before going to the edge of the cliff, looking out to the orchard. "Them buffalo, they want all us settler ponies to take all these trees you see here off this land. They sure as hay don't want any new ones in."
"But, why?" Fluttershy asked.
"Beats me." Braeburn replied. "But we put in a lot of hard work here. So we can feed our town, our family, even our foals. And now they say these here trees need to go. It ain't fair."
Everyone was silent when they heard Braeburn tell them the struggles their town was facing, looking at everyone to, hoping someone had an idea of what to do when Twilight had an idea.
"Maybe Spyro could talk to them." Twilight said. "He's easy going and can listen to why they want the trees gone."
"Ah, that'd be great." Braeburn said.
She turned to ask if Spyro could do it, but when everyone looked at him, he was looking back at the orchard, looking as though he was starring off into space and his eyes glassed over like he was in a trance. Twilight walked over to him, calling his name a few times and even poked him in the face to get a reaction, but it didn't work, which concerned her as she never saw this happen before, but what surprised her the most was his eyes turned from purple to blue, spooking everyone there as the eyes changed. Twilight then shook Spyro hard, rattling him a bit and snapping him out of his trance, shaking his head before reaching up to it.
"Spyro, are you ok?" Twilight asked. "You were starring off to space like you were in a trance."
"I... I don't know." He responded, rubbing his head. "I... I saw something. In the fields."
"What?" Braeburn asked. "What did ya see?"
"Buffalo... running through the trees." Spyro replied, surprising everyone. "And... a song. Native, ancient, traditional."
"Huh?" Applejack asked. "Spyro, ya'll ain't makin' much sense. Ya sure yer brain in that noggin' of yours ain't all messed up from hitting that sign?"
"No, I think I'm ok." Spyro replied. "Just... never mind."
"Braeburn, does yer town have a doctor?" Applejack asked. "Spyro here took a nasty hit to the noggin' and is probably seeing things."
"AJ, I'm fine, really." Spyro said, walking away from the group. "I'm going to find our friends. And hopefully get to the bottom of this."
Before Applejack could object, Spyro took off into the sky and flew in the opposite direction of the trains path, heading back to where the train was attacked to hopefully track down those buffalo and hoping to find his friends close to the tracks or see them walking along them back to town, but found no sign of them. He then found the sign that she flew into when trying to catch the calf, gliding down and landing next to it to find a set of hoof prints, dozens of sets of them, but only two were pony, one set looked like all four of them were together, as if hopping, so he knew they were Pinkie's while the other set was probably Rainbow Dash's, so he followed them until he found a circle of buffalo hooves around what looked to be pony hooves, his heart crawling into his stomach as he assumed the worst, thinking they have been captured or worst. He saw the buffalo tracks went further into the dessert and followed them until it started to grow dark, flying around to spot anything on the ground that could come close to being the buffalo's camp until he spotted a fire in the distance, flying to it until he saw some tepees, dozens of buffalo, and his friends heart a fire, looking to be ok.
He melded himself into the shadows and moved past the buffalo, being careful not to be seen as, even though it was dark out, there was enough light coming from the moon to make himself visible if someone looked close enough. When he was within range of his friends, he saw that Rainbow Dash was looking behind some tepees to make sure the coast was clear, wanting to make a run for it, but Pinkie Pie was eating some kind of food from the bowls the buffalo came by with, taking a whiff and wondering how she could eat them.
"Leave?" Pinkie asked. "Before we finish eating? Are you loco in the coco?"
"Let's just say I have as much trust for buffalo as much as they have for ponies." Rainbow Dash answered, still looking around.
A moment later, the small buffalo who was on the train disconnecting the car with the tree from the train, carrying over a bowl full of gemstones and putting it on the ground in front of Spike.
"Can I have more of that mushy stuff, whatever it is?" Pinkie asked the buffalo.
"Certainly." She replied. "And Mr. Spike likes gemstones, correct?"
"Mmm, turquoise." Spike said, taking the bowl and devouring the whole thing. "Girls, this is Little Strongheart. And these are my friends; Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash looked back, still not happy with being there and went back to keeping an eye out, but Rainbow Dash then looked back and the two of them immediately recognized each other, the Pegasus clearly angry to see her while Little Strongheart looked shocked.
"You!" Rainbow Dash said, clearly angry.
"You!?" Little Strongheart exclaimed.
"That's it, we are out of here!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily, yanking Pinkie's tail and dragging her away.
"Wait." Little Strongheart said, jumping in front of the ponies. "Please, accept my apologies for what had happened on the train. No one was supposed to get hurt."
"Yeah, right. Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.
She tried to walk away, but Little Strongheart blocked her again, Spyro could sense she was in need of help and could tell in her eyes she was in a panic.
"Please, hear me out." She said. "We only wanted the tree. The settler ponies have taken over the land and have planted their orchard all over it. And because of their thoughtlessness, we can no longer run in our traditional stampeding grounds."
When Spyro heard the area the orchard was planted upon was the traditional stampeding grounds the buffalo run through, it made what he saw make sense. The shadows of the buffalo's running through the orchard, the song calling out to him, and the buffalo not liking ponies all that much, it was because the settlers had planted their apple trees on the land they stampede on. A moment later, a large buffalo wearing what looked like a tribal head dress that indicated he was the chief of the tribe, who Spyro overheard Spike say to the girls is known as Chief Thunderhooves, everyone coming together around the fire to listen to him talk. He started off with saying how the stampeding grounds have been stampeded on by his father, his grandfather, and ancestors before him, talking about how much of a sacred tradition it was for the buffalo every year to stampede across the land, but because of the Appaloosians, they couldn't do it this year, showing his disdain for them by almost popping a blood vessel, which Little Strongheart had to calm him down.
"The settlers planted apple trees all over the land without our permission." She said.
"Well, that's not very nice, right Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie said, but Rianbow Dash just crossed her forelegs.
"The ponies are refusing to move their trees." Little Strongheart continued. "Because of them, we are stuck here! It is not fair!"
"See Rainbow Dash, they had a good reason to-" Spike began to say, but stopped.
Rainbow Dash took off int the air and landed with a loud thud, making everyone gasp as they saw how furious she was, looking like she was ready for a fight.
"I'll say they had a good reason!" Rainbow Dash said, the buffalo happy she was on their side. "Come on everyone, we got some apple picking Appaloosians to talk to."
"I am glad to hear that." A male voice said, everyone turning to the new comer. The new pony who was walking up was a red earth pony with a black mane and tail, a black tint around his chest and on his hooves and his mark looking like a heart with two cross swords behind it walked up and a pair of blue eyes, smiling at the cyan Pegasus. "We could use all the friends we can get."
"And who's this?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"This is Valor." Spike replied. "Valor Heart. He's a friend of the tribe and who sympathizes with them. He's been trying to convince the Appaloosians to at least move the trees to another location for weeks, no dice."
"Well, maybe Spyro can help." Pinkie suggested. "He's always easy enough to talk to, even listening to everything and everypony's worries and concerns. Maybe he can figure out a reasonable compromise to where everyone could get along."
"That's a good idea." Rainbow Dash said. Spyro knew it was his cue and came out of the shadows, wanting to go over and join the group, but decided to have a little fun. He decided to try something he was working on and melded himself with the earth, traveling underneath and got to a position in front of his friends and in the center of the group, deciding to get their hearts racing. "The only problem is we don't know where he is. He's probably worried about us and is looking for us right now. He could be anywhere."
A second later, the ground in front of them erupted into a small explosion, making everyone scream and yelp in fright, back in away as they felt their hearts racing as Spyro jumped out of it like Freddy Krueger at the pool party, landing on all fours and giving the biggest grin he could.
"Excuse me, is this the route to Miami?" Spyro jokingly asked. "Because I think I made a wrong turn at Albuquerque?"
A moment later, he got punched upside the head by Rainbow Dash, who looked furious at him for scaring her like that like he did when he was a dragon.
"Spyro, what the hay is wrong with you!?" Rainbow Dash furiously asked. "You nearly gave everyone here a heart attack!"
"Well can you blame me for wanting to make an entrance?" Spyro asked, looking over to see Little Strongheart taking a few breaths after the jump scare. "Hey, I know you. You're the little buffalo that saved me from falling off the train."
"Wait, you remember?" She asked in surprise. "But, you were unconscious, how could you know I saved you?"
"I put two and two together." Spyro replied.
"Glad you're here Spyro." Pinkie said excitedly. "Nice entrance by the way. Anyway, before you start fighting, you should know that-"
"Relax Pinkie, I heard everything." Spyro replied, surprising them. "I was here the whole time."
"Then why didn't you just join us like the rest did?" Spike asked. "Would have been much nicer than scaring everyone."
"Like I said, I like to make an entrance sometimes." Spyro answered. "Not everyday you pop up from the ground like Freddy Krueger at a pool party."
"Freddy who?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Later Rainbow Dash." Spyro replied. "I'll show you who I'm referring to on Halloween."
The mare was completely confused at this point, but then remembered he was from another world, so every holiday he refers to is like something they have, but a different name. They then heard someone laughing, watching as Valor Heart got up and was laughing, dusting himself off as he approached.
"That... that was good." He said still laughing. "Not gonna lie, I like scaring my friends every now and then. Names Valor Heart."
"I know." Spyro replied, taking his hoof and shaking it. "Names Spyro. I'm a friend of the ponies and the baby dragon here."
"So you'll help us?" Valor Heart asked. "You heard everything right? So you'll help?"
"Of course I can help." Spyro replied. "I already have a couple of ideas on how to resolve this peacefully."
"Then it is settled." Valor Heart said. "We rest tonight. Tomorrow myself and Little Strongheart will head to Appaloosa and make our case." he then walked to a nearby tepee and about to enter when he turned to face Spyro. "Would you like to join me my prince? There's enough room fore two."
"Nah I'm good." Spyro replied. "I like to sleep outside. Under the stars is more my style."
"Suit yourself." He said, walking into the tepee.
Everyone then went to the tepees to sleep for the night, but before Little Strongheart could find a place to sleep for the night, Spyro used his forelegs to stop her, making her yelp a bit, which got the girls attention as well as Spikes.
"How well do you know Valor Heart?" Spyro asked, turning to face the young buffalo.
"We've known him for a few weeks." She replied. "He's been pleading our case to the Appaloosians. Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't trust him." Spyro replied.
"What? Why?" Spike asked. "He seems like a nice guy. Doesn't look bad to me."
"Yes, but how did he know I was a prince?" Spyro asked, leaving them speechless, but Little Strongheart was more shocked than anyone else when she heard him say he's a prince. "I didn't exactly introduce myself by my royal title when we first met."
"Holy moly he's right!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Spyro didn't;t say he was a prince, but Valor Heart knew he is one. He must be psychic!"
"Or someone I fought before." Spyro suggested. "Not to mention when I reached out with the Force, to see the kind of guy he was, I felt nothing, his mind was blocking me. And I couldn't see his heart to see if it was light or dark."
"What are you getting at?" Little Strongheart asked. "And what is this about you being a prince?"
"We'll fill you in tomorrow." Spyro replied. "For now, we should sleep."
"Good idea." Rainbow Dash replied. "If he is evil, we better be ready."
The ponies and dragon left to find a place to sleep for the night while Spyro found a place nearby and set up a hammock, laying in it and pulling out a blanket from his bag, closing his eyes to sleep the night away. In the morning, they left with Little Strongheart and Valor Heart to Appaloosa to tell the settlers what they had heard from the buffalo and to come to a compromise that can benefit both parties, but when they got there, they saw that their friends were with Braeburn and were getting ready to come looking for them.
"You two stay hidden until we give the ok." Spyro said, turning to Little Strongheart and Valor Heart. "We'll talk to our friends first before things get hairy."
"No problem Mr. Spyro sir." Little Strongheart said.
"And you son;t need to call me sir or Mr." Spyro said. "Just call me Spyro."
Spyro, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Spike walked ahead and approached their friends to talk to them, but the group of ponies had already left to find them, but stopped when Twilights Group ran into them before they even got started on their search for them, but looked very happy they were ok.
"Hi guys." Pinkie said.
"Pinkie!" Fluttershy exclaimed, pouncing Pinkie Pie, which surprised them. "We're so glad you're all ok."
A moment later, every one of their friends came up and said how glad they were to see them and how pleased they were they were safe and sound.
"How did you guys escape the buffalo?" Twilight asked.
"We didn't." Spyro replied. "They came with us." Spyro turned his head and looked to the large rock behind them. "You two can come out now." A moment later, Little Strongheart and Valor Heart came out from behind the rocks, making the others gasp that the buffalo had followed them. "Before you guys start yelling, they came here to talk, not to fight."
"Yeah, we promised them they could talk to the Appaloosians." Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh yeah?" Applejack asked. "Talk about what?"
"Well, we brought our new friends Little Strongheart and Valor Heart here to talk to the Appaloosians about why they need to move the trees off the buffalo's land." Rainbow Dash said, pushing the two of them to Braeburn.
"Really?" Braeburn asked, smiling. "Well, that information might be-"
"Oh that's rich, because my cousin Braeburn here would like to tell them why they should let the apple trees stay!" Applejack retorted back.
"That would be a useful-" Little Strongheart started to say, but got interrupted.
"The land is theirs!" Rainbow Dash said, looking annoyed.
The two ponies then started arguing the cases of each side, not giving them a chance to hear each other out, which Spyro face smacked himself, not believing that they were arguing with each other when the buffalo just wanted to talk. A moment later, he felt something dangerous close by, looking around to see what it was, but found nothing, sensing that the darkness he felt was very close to the group and looked to everyone, Rainbow Dash and Applejack still arguing why each side, both buffalo and settlers, needed the land in the first place when his eyes looked to Valor Heart, who was actually smiling at the ponies arguing, now knowing something was wrong with this guy. Not wanting to let this argument go on any further, he walked up and separated the two arguing mares, both looking equally angry with the other as they still argued.
"Enough!" Spyro shouted, getting their attention. "Both sides have equally good reasons to wanting to use the land."
"I agree with him." Twilight said. "There has to be a way for both sides to benefit."
"Hey, I got an idea!" Pinkie shouted, jumping over everyone before falling into the ground.
"Uh, no offense Pinkie, but I already have a couple of ideas to benefit both sides." Spyro said, looking at the party pony. "And I think that-"
"Oh don't you worry your royal little head Spyro!" Pinkie Pie said. "Just leave it to Auntie Pinkie Pie!"
"I'm a year older than you!" Spyro shouted at the pink pony as she took off into town. "This is not going to end well."
Back in Appaloosa, Appaloosians and buffalo alike were all gathered in the apple orchard, Sheriff Silver Star and Chief Thunderhooves were sitting next to each other as they are the authoritative figures of each others people and they needed to get along if they hope to come to a reasonable compromise. In front of them was a stage with an old western piano on it and sitting in front of is was Spike, who was wearing some kind of hat and started to play the piano, the curtains drawing back to show a clam on the stage, but once it opened, inside of the clam was Pinkie Pie, but she was wearing some kind of old western dancer dress, purple and back in color with purple feathers on her back and one in her mane and black, thin stockings . Everyone was watching the pink mare as she got ready to sing and possibly dance, but Spyro was caught completely off guard, captivated by how good Pinkie Pie looked in the dress and couldn't;t take his eyes off her, a deep blush appearing on his face, but no one paid attention to him as Pinkie started to sing.
[Pinkie Pie]
'We may be divided,
but of you all, I beg.
To remember we're all hoofed,
at the end of each leg.
No matter what the issue,
Come from wherever you please.
All this fighting gets you nothing,
but hoof and mouth disease!
Arguing's not the way,
Hey come out and play!
It's a shiny new day,
So, what do you say?
You gotta share,
you gotta care,
it's the right thing to do!
You gotta share,
you gotta care,
it's the right thing to do!
Both our diets, I should mention,
are completely vegetarian!
We all earth hay and oats,
why be at each others throats?"
You gotta share,
you gotta care,
it's the right thing to do!
And there'll always be a way
Throoooooooooough!'
When the singing had ended, Pinkie was standing on the hooves of a couple of ponies who helped her in the show, which after the singing ended, the entire audience was completely silent, but Spike who seemed to like the song and thought it worked, but Twilight and Spyro face hired themselves, knowing this probably only made things worse, which it did. Spyro looked over tot he buffalo and saw that they looked displeased with the show, but the two who were displeased the most was Sheriff Silver Star and Chief Thunderhooves, who looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement, which surprised him as he didn't expect the two of them to be agreeing on something.
"It appears Sheriff Silver Star and I have reached an agreement." Chief Thunderhooves said.
"We certainly have." Sheriff Silver Star said, everyone holding their breaths for the best possible outcome.
"That was the worst performance we have ever seen." Thunderhooves said, Pinkie looking unhappy with the answer.
"Absolutely." Sheriff Silver Star said.
"The time for action is upon us!" Chief Thunderhooves said. "The stampede will begin at high noon tomorrow. And if the orchard is still there, we'll flatten it and the whole town!"
Everyone gasped at the ultimatum, the Sheriff not backing down as Little Strongheart tried to talk him out of it, but the two weren't giving an inch.
"And we Appaloosians say you best bring your best!" Sherif Silver Star replied. "Because we'll be ready and waiting!"
Both sides took their leave, leaving Spyro with his friends, along with Braeburn and Valor Heart, who looked like he was about to leave, but Spyro ran up to him, hoping to get his help.
"Valor, wait." Spyro said, getting his attention. "You need to talk the chief out of the attack. Many ponies and buffalo will get hurt if they go through with this."
"I'm sorry my friend, but when the chief makes up his mind, it's impossible to change it." He replied. "Best you can do is either move the orchard, or evacuate the town before they attack."
Valor Heart then turned and left, running after the buffalo herd, but Spyro saw something that sent shivers down his spine, which was that Valor smiled to himself, even more red flags shooting up in his mind as he watched his supposed friend league with the buffalo. The group then went in separate directions, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dahs, and Spike going to the buffalo to try and convince them to not attack while Spyro and everyone else ran to Appaloosa to see if they can get the sheriff to listen to them, but when they got there, it was a mess with ponies running around, setting up barricades, making pies, and even knocking down apples from the trees. With the threat of an attack coming, everyone was preparing for battle and ignored Spyro and his friends as they tried to find at least one reasonable pony who would listen, even going to Braeburn to see if they can talk to him, but they were all busy and ignoring them, preparing for a fight. When everything was done and ready, the flag for Appaloosa went up on the flagpole and everyone cheered, throwing their hats in the air and cheering, Spyro and his friends worrying for the worst.
"This is bad." Spyro said. "With all this anger, hate, and fear, it's a prime spot for the Heartless to come and attack."
"What do we do then?" Applejack asked. "No pony will listen to us."
"That's because they don't want to listen." Braeburn said, walking up to them. "Ah know you did your best, but we're at war now. We must defend our home."
"There has to be something we can do." Spyro said. "Valor Heart tried very hard to talk to you guys and-"
"Wait, Valor Heart?" Braeburn asked. "You mean that red pony who left with the buffalo?"
"Yeah, that's Valor Heart." Spyro replied. "He said he came here multiple times to try and convince you guys to at least move them."
"But, we never saw him until today." Braeburn replied, shocking him. "Sheriff, did a pony named Valor Heart come and try to talk to ya about moving the trees?"
"Ah don;t remember anypony named Valor Heart!" He replied. "If yer talking about that red pony with them buffalo, Ah haven't;t seen him before in my life!"
With what Braeburn and Sheriff Silver Star said, now he knew Valor heart was up to no good, telling his friends he was going to go and try to talk to the buffalo one more time before the fight could even start, flying until night when he saw the buffalo and didn't like what he was seeing. The buffalo were getting ready for war, head butting each other, sharpening their horns, and applying traditional war paint, getting ready for war. He landed next to his friends, who were just as worried as he was, watching as all the buffalo, but Little Strongheart, were getting ready for a war.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Spike asked Little Strongheart.
"Unless the settlers remove the trees from our stampeding grounds, there is nothing I can do." Little Strongheart said, running back to her kin and came back with a bowl of turquoise for Spike.
"I know you don't want to do this." Rainbow Dash said to the chief.
"But they took our lands." He responded. "What would you have us do, Rainbow Dash?"
"Well for one thing, call off the attack." Spyro replied, walking up just as Valor Heart came up. "This doesn't need to end in violence. I might have an idea that will-"
"It's already too late." Valor Heart said, interrupting him. "The settlers have refused to move the trees time and time again. The time for talk is over."
"Agreed." Chief Thunderhooves said, applying war paint to himself. "The time for talk is over. By noon tomorrow, they will either move their trees, or be flattened."
Both Valor Heart and the chief walked away from them, watching as they went to make plans for the attack, Spyro's final hope of ending this without violence had failed. Rainbow Dash wanted to comfort him, but he just turned around and flew away, heading back to Appaloosa and landing on the edge of the orchard, pacing back and forth as he tried to figure out how he could prevent this war from happening, but every idea he had involved him either creative a barrier or a chasm, which would stop the buffalo, but would not solve the issues now as they would probably want to take their revenge on other ponies, putting lives at risk. He lied down on the ground, feeling defeated as he kept thinking on what he could do, even meditating to see through the Force if there was a way for him to get both sides to sit down and talk, but the vision was the same as it was the other night, destruction, darkness, and the strange human with the Keyblade. He then looked to the sky, thinking of a way to stop the fight, but knew it was hopeless, even the Force didn't tell him what he could do.
He closed his eyes again, giving up as he waited for the inevitable fight to begin tomorrow, but then heard something next to him, opening his eyes to see what it was, but saw it was a blue spirit orb like the one from the Land of Bears, jolting his head up as he was surprised to see one in Appaloosa. He then heard the same song he had heard from that world play in the air, the orb flying up as dozens more flew into the sky from the orchard, flying into the sky just as the northern lights appeared out of them, startling Spyro as the spirits from Kenai's world danced around, singing their song, but also saw from the trees the shadows he saw earlier yesterday running about through the orchard, singing with them as Sitka flew down from the sky, taking on his form as a human and smiling at him.
"Sitka?" Spyro asked, the spirit nodding his head. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
He didn't answer as just looked to the sky, the two of them watching as the spirits danced and sung, wondering what was going on and what he could even do at this point until he saw something in the lights. A blue glow in the lights as he starred at it, his own eyes turning blue again as he was being shown what he could do and how he could achieve it. The next day, the Appaloosians were ready for a fight, their carts filled with apples and pies, the buffalo arriving just before the bell tower could ring at noon. Rainbow Dash and everyone else had just gotten to town and were trying to figure out what they could do to stop the fight, but were too late as the clock struck noon and the bells went off, everyone prepared for the worst as the final bell rung. The girls held their breath, even Braeburn was nervous as the bell struck noon, letting them know it was time as they waited for the buffalo to charge, but the chief started to have second thoughts about it, Little Strongheart putting her own hoof on his nose, pleased he was changing his mind.
"He's not going to do it!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly, everyone relaxing.
A moment later, Pinkie Pie came out of no where and started to sing the same song in the middle of the battle field, everyone freaking out as she sang as it only angered Chief Thunderhooves and he gave the order to charge, all the buffalo charging at Appaloosa and Pinkie froze to the ground in fear. Before the buffalo could reach the town, a massive twister landed on the ground and threw all the buffalo backwards, but left Pinkie and Valor Heart untouched, the massive twister disappearing and leaving Spyro in between them and the town.
"Spyro, you're here!" Pinkie said excitedly.
"Pinkie, go back to the town." Spyro said, surprising the mare. "Leave this to me."
The pink mare looked between him and Valor Heart, wondering what was going on, but knew he probably had a plan and did as he said, turning around and running to the town to be safe while Spyro stood in front of Valor Heart, his eyes opened to see what Valor truly was and called his Keyblade, the pony not surprised to see it.
"And here I thought we were friends." Valor Heart said. "You heard the buffalo's story, you know they only want their land back. And you side with the Appaloosians."
"I am on the buffaloes side." Spyro replied. "I'm just not on yours, Valor Heart, if that really is your name."
"Valor, what's he talking about?" Little Strongheart asked. "What does he mean by, 'not on your side?'"
"I don't know what he's talking about." He replied, backing away.
"I think you do." Spyro replied. "I had a bad feeling about you the moment we met. Too many red flags, too many warning signs, and no explination whatsoever." He approached the pony, his Keyblade raised to him, but the stallion didn't even flinch, not phased by the massive key he was holding. "Tell me, Valor Heart, how did you know I was a prince when in actuality I didn't introduce myself as one?"
Everyone looked at the two ponies, waiting for Valor Heart to explain, but all he did was just smile at Spyro, knowing his cover was blown and a dark light appeared next to him, swinging a weapon at Spyro, but he just jumped back, dodging the attack and smiled to himself, seeing that Valor Heart had a Keyblade of his own, but the blade itself was the same weapon he saw a couple nights ago in his vision while still on the train. He then started to laugh as a cloud of darkness enveloped him, as his entire appearance changed, the cloud disappearing as his coat was now the opposite of what it was previously, a black coat with sections of red lines going across his body, but he didn't look like an earth pony anymore, but instead looked like an alicorn with yellow eyes and his mark wasn't a heart anymore, but was a symbol he never saw before with his own Keyblade in front of it.
"Bravo young prince, bravo." Valor said. "You saw through my little facade, you blew my cover, but what did it get you really?" A moment later, a wave of unknown creatures appeared from out of nowhere, startling everyone as they looked on at them in horror. "I suppose you deserve the right to know the name of the one who shall destroy you. My name, my real name, is Vanitas."
"Vanitas?" Spyro asked. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"
"Does it matter?" Vanitas asked. "You won't be around much longer."
A moment later, the unknown creatures charged at him, surrounding him as they tried to slash at him, but Spyro just dodged the attacks, taking a few of them down in a single swing before releasing a wave of fire that burned many more, but more of them kept coming, they were only small creatures, but they were numerous as they kept up their assault. As they swarmed him, Vanitas tried to walk into the town with a whole horde of the creatures right behind him, the Appaloosians using their pies and apples to at least try and hurt them, but the attacks just passed through them, not dealing a lot of damage while Vanitas just grabbed one of the apples with his magic, surrounding it in a blood red aura, and crushed it. Before he could approach the town further, Little Strongheart leapt over the group of enemies, landing in front of him and turning to face her new enemy, anger in her eyes as she felt betrayed by him.
"You were our friend!" She exclaimed. "You said you were on our side, but now you have all these monsters, were you ever with us?"
"Of course not." He replied. "I just needed to stoke the flames of anger and hatred. The perfect fuel for my Unversed as they thrive in places where negative emotions are high. The bitterness between the buffalo and the settlers was the perfect appetizer for them and once this town is nothing more than ash, I can harvest the negative emotions from all these ponies and the buffalo, anger, fear, despair, sadness, all will be used as food for the Unversed and we shall take this world in the name of the Organization!"
"Organization XIII!?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You're with them!?"
"So you've heard of it." Vanitas said, surprised she has heard of it. "Then it saves me the trouble of explaining to you who we are. But not my mission."
"What mission?" Little Strongheart asked.
"I was sent here to eliminate those that are known as the Elements of Harmony." Vanitas replied. "I was planning on using this town as a staging ground for my Unversed to harvest the negative energy the buffalo and settlers were giving off, allow them to grow stronger until we had the strength we needed to find and eliminate you." He then raised his Keyblade to point at Rainbow Dash. "But since you are all already here, you saved me the trouble of having to hunt you down. With you out of the way, we can then invade this world and use it to summon Kingdom Hearts."
"Geez, it's the same old thing, summon Kingdom Hearts, take over this, destroy that." Spyro said, striking down another Unversed. "You guys really need to get some new material because I'm going to change the channel on this show." He then looked down at his Keyblade, finding a green circle on the handle and what looked like a carousel on it, smiling to himself as another wave of Unversed came running at him. "And this is where the show takes a turn. Give me Strength! Attraction activate! Magic Carousel!"
He lifted his Keyblade into the air as the ground erupted in light, the light around the area darkening as a carousel rose form the ground, Spyro grabbing onto the metal pole and sitting on the horse, letting the ride spin around as he bobbed up and down, but the ride then got faster as rings of light spread out form the attraction, exploding outward in a wave of light as the attraction got faster and faster, releasing more light as it affected the Unversed, damaging them as they shrieked in pain as the ride kept spinning, choirs of musical notes shooting out with the light as it reached the climax of the ride, releasing a wave of power and light as it hit all the Unversed, destroying them and hurting Vanitas without harming any of the buffalo or the ponies. Spyro got back on the ground, approaching a ticked off Vanitas while he raised his blade to him, preparing for a fight.
"Seems your plan has failed Vanitas." Spyro said. "Without your Unversed, you have nothing between you and me."
"My plan to create the Unversed might have failed, but I am not out of this yet." Vanitas replied. "I still have my mission, and it didn't say how many of the Elements of Harmony I need to destroy, now did it?"
He then backflipped over Little Strongheart, turned himself around and landed facing Rainbow Dash, leaping forward with his Keyblade ready as he swung horizontally to hit the cyan Pegasus, time slowing down around her as the dark alicorn lunged for her, trying to get out of the way, but Vanitas was too close and she didn't have enough time to get away. Before the organization member could deal a killing blow, Spyro had appeared in front of him, surprising the both of them, but then saw he didn't have his bracers on, granting him the extra speed he needed. When he blocked the attack, Rainbow Dash half expected Spyro's eyes to be red and yellow as Vanitas had attempted to do her harm, but when she looked at his eyes, they weren't the eyes of a Sith, but they were as blue as a sapphire, pushing him back as he skidded across the ground, looking up to see him standing there without an issue.
"Forget it." Spyro said. "There's no way I'm letting you hurt my friends!"
"Friends?" He asked, chuckling as he stood straight. "You really buy into this sort of thing don't you? What's the point of friendship anyway? You meet new people sure, but what's the point of it? You hang out, you have fun and have laughs, but in the end, it's all pointless. As time goes by, you will hang out less, you loose touch with those you call friends and in the end, you will forget all about them and they're forget about you. You will be all alone, your friends dust in the sands of time, no one to love you or for you to love." As he said it, a storm of Keyblades shot out of the ground, gathering into a massive swarm of blades above him. "Your blood is immortal, which means you will outlive them by thousands if not tens of thousands of years. If you care about them, end your friendship and forget about them. Save yourself the heart ache of watching them die when they get old and having to bury them. It's not worth it, prince."
Vanitas took off into the sky, flying towards the circling orb of keys and landed on one, riding a torrent of old Keyblades around and then towards Spyro, everyone gasping as Spyro just stood there while everyone shouted for him to get out of the way, but he just smiled to himself, looking up at Vanitas with no fear and no regrets, making the dark Keyblade wielder wonder what he was up to when a dome appeared around Rainbow Dash and around twilight Sparkle, catching Vanitas off guard as he pulled up, looking down to watch as the dome spun around where the ponies once were, SPyro smiling up at him as he took pleasure in his surprise.
"You're right about a few things Vanitas." Spyro replied. "Friendship is about meeting new people, having fun, and making great memories with them. But you are wrong about one thing, as long as I hold the memory of my friends in my heart, no matter where we are or what happens to us, they shall always be with me." He then looked down and placed his hoof against his heart as a light shined in it. "In my heart, they shall always be with me in my heart, even when their time has come, I shall always have them with me, no matter the time or the day, I shall always remember them and they shall remember me, forever."
The dome then surrounded him, shattering to release the purple ethereal dragon, the massive beam of light shooting into the air as as a cyan Pegasus and a lavender Unicorn circled around it, following the dragon into the air until the three collided. In the light, Spyro's jacket took on the same colors it did back in Cloudsdale when he fought the Phantom, cyan on the left side with the bolts of lightning while lavender on the right with the stars all over it and royal purple in the middle. His mane grew to the length of Twilights while also taking on the color of the rainbow, touch and unkept at the head, but smooth all along the main with a stripe of pink. A moment later, the Ultima weapon appeared along with the Keyblades he gets from Twilight and Rainbow Dash, catching Vanitas off guard, but when Spyro had suddenly appeared in front of him, he lost balance and fell off the Keyblade he was surfing on, but the blades then flew after him, letting him get back on and fly back up, hoping to run into him with all the torrent of blades.
But Spyro anticipated he'd strike first and conjured a lavender colored barrier to block the attack, the blades just bouncing off harmlessly while he deflected other blades with his own before zooming through the blades, deflecting and dodging as he charged at Vanitas, knocking him off the blade he was riding and pushing him to the ground, a cloud of dust obstructing everyone's vision until the two of them flew out of the cloud and locked their blades together, Spyro calling four ethereal stars around them. Vanitas could tell it wasn't good, so he broke the lock and leapt back as a torrent of electricity flew out and hit the spot he was on, grateful to have escaped that, but Spyro wasn't done yet and appeared behind him, kicking him in the back and sent him flying back to the ground. Vanitas got up shakily and shook his head, feeling something was coming in quickly, he blocked another attack from Spyro, but got struck by another blade and by another, not able to keep up with the attacks.
Meanwhile, everyone on the ground was watching the fight, watching them exchange attacks and blows, hacking and slashing at each other, Spyro dodging Vanitas's attacks and dark magic while unleashing his own magic that seemed to be overwhelming him, forcing him to call the Keyblades again and ride on one, Spyro following close behind.
"Wow." Braeburn said. "Ah don't know what's going on, but yer friend is giving that Vanitas feller a run for his bits."
"Ya'll don't know the half of it." Applejack replied. "That's a Fusion Drive. He can fuse with his friends to unlock even more power. Depending on who's fused with him, that's the kind of power he gets."
"Well, let's hope your friend can win this." Braeburn said, looking at the buffalo in fear. "Because we might need him to help us with them buffalo if they charge again."
Back at the fight, Vanitas and Spyro were running into each other, striking and slashing at one another as they flew high in the air, Vanitas loosing strength as fight was dragging on, making him rethink his strategy when the two reached above the cloud line, starring each other down as they waited for the other to make the first move. After a moment, Vanitas conjured a massive black sphere and sent it towards Spyro, but he deflected the orb into the air, letting it explode there while he connected the three Keyblades into a triangular shaped star and threw it at him, magic coming off it as it became covered in flames. Vanitas deflected the attack, smiling underneath his helmet as his opponent left himself vulnerable, but Spyro conjured a star a few feet above him and flew up to it, flying through, but three copies shot out, one red, another yellow, the third blue as they flew above Vanitas, the triangular throwing star separating to allow each copy a Keyblade, the red one grabbing the Ultima Weapon, the blue one grabbing the rainbow Keyblade, and the yellow grabbing the runic Keyblade. Vanitas didn't count on this and waited for them to make their next move, but as they charged down at him, the spread out and surrounded him, making him look at each one separately to see who would attack first.
But instead of attacking, the three copies started flying around him, making three colored rings appear and blending in to make it impossible for him to see where they would attack from. The first one to attack was red and he came in behind and slashed him back, returning to the rings to keep circling while yellow came out from his right and struck him there, flying past and back into the rings, while the blue one appeared from the front and slashed him through the gut, flying back to the ring like the rest. This went on for a little bit before he was socked in the gut, being sent backwards, where two ethereal stars appeared and chains shot out, locking his legs in place in mid air, unable to defend himself as the three colored copies shot into the, flying up a ways before all three tucked their wings in and dove down at him, their blades glowing with the color form each copy and each one passed through them one by one, the red one reaching him first as his blade passed through first, leaving behind a glowing wound that made him yell out in pain, followed by the yellow, the two wounds making an X, but when the blue struck, it created a six point star, the chains releasing him as he yelled again before exploding in all three of the colors, the copies fusing back together.
Still in the air, Vanitas was still standing, literally on a cloud as tendrils of dark magic were escaping him and cracks started to form all across his body, a dark purple light shining out as he started to crumble from all the damage he took, breathing heavily as he looked at Spyro, anger and hate in his eyes as he tried to remain standing.
"Now you see Vanitas." Spyro said, his, Twilights, and Rainbow Dash's voices united as he spoke. "This is the power of our bond. Having friends means you have others who you can depend on as they depend on you. So long as our friendship burns bright, when we stand together, having each other's backs, nothing will stop us."
Vanitas wanted to lash out, but hissed in pain as his body started to deteriorate at a rapid rate, looking back up at his opponent as a corridor opened underneath him, taking him away form the fight before anything else could happen. Spyro stayed in the air for a bit, but could feel the drive was about to end, so he retracted his wings and allowed gravity to pull him back to the ground, feeling them separate as they fell, but at the last moment, Spyro flipped and extended his wings, breaking their fall and gliding down to the ground, running for a bit until he started to glow cyan, lavender, and royal purple, the three separating as they ran, stopping just in front of their friends as they returned to normal, everyone but their friends who saw their fusion before left stunned and in awe.
"That... was... AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We totally smoked him!"
"Ya'll were amazing!" Applejack shouted, their friends running up. "Ya went and gave that Vanitas feller a licking he soon won't forget."
"It's not a big deal." Spyro replied. "Just another day at the office."
"Um, Mr. Spyro sir?" Braeburn said, getting his attention. "If it's not too much trouble, could you do that again, please? We might need it for-"
"No." Spyro replied, shocking him. "This war is over."
He then walked to the buffalo, all of the watching him as he approached, a few backing away out of fear, but Little Strongheart walked up to him, not afraid of him and met with him in the middle.
"So, Valor Heart, er, Vanitas, was a bad pony the entire time?" She asked.
"He is a bad pony." Spyro replied. "A very bad pony." He then looked to the buffalo and then to the settlers, each ready for what happens next, but he was not going to let anything happen, ready to address everyone. "Vanitas played everyone for fools today. He was using your quarrels and your hatred for each other to make himself stronger, planning to use it to destroy this home and to harm others beyond Appaloosa. This war, this needless violence, must cease."
"But, the Appaloosians started it!" Chief Thunderhooves shouted out.
"I do admit, what they did was wrong, but does attacking them and stealing their trees make it any better?" Spyro asked, surprising them. "Does being that petty get anything done? Does it solve anything? No, it doesn't. It just makes the current situation worse." He looked between the buffalo and the settlers, sensing that their hate towards each other was deteriorating, reason finally coming to each side. "You both have equally good reasons for wanting the land. The settlers need it to have food to survive while the buffalo need it to have their traditional stampede. Instead of attacking and harming each other, talking it out and coming out a reasonable compromise is a better solution. One in which both can use the land, and benefit from it."
"But how?" Sheriff Silver Star asked. "How can we both use the land and benefit from it?"
"A path." Spyro replied, confusing everyone. "A pathway down the middle of the orchard. this way the buffalo can stampede through down their traditional route and the Appaloosians can keep their trees so they can have food." Everyone on both sides started to whisper, many saying it sounded reasonable and fair for each other. "And with the number of apple trees you have, harvesting them must take forever. So with the help of the buffalo stampede, the Appaloosians can collect all their apples, leaving those that fall on the route for the buffalo to eat so they don't go to waste as there is more than enough for both the town and the buffalo."
Eveyrone then talked to one another, which he saw the settlers nodding their heads in agreement, even Sheriff Silver Star thought it over while the buffalo also seemed to be in agreement, the chief also thinking it over before he smelled the pies, walking over to one and asking if he could try one, which the mare nearby said he could and tasted the pie, finding it delicious and ate the whole thing, looking back at Spyro.
"Spyro is right." Chief Thunderhooves said. "We both need the land, and with what he has suggested, I find it agreeable. With one addition." Everyone held their breaths, hoping it was as reasonable as what Spyro suggested and saw him smile. "With the addition of the apples that fall on the path, could we have some of these pies as well because they are delicious!"
"Is that all?" Sheriff Silver Star asked. "For a few apples and pies, I agree to this compromise." Everyone cheered as the sheriff agreed to the idea, both sides happy to use the land and to be friends in the end."We'll get started on cutting down some trees and-"
"That won't be necessary." Spyro said, confusing everyone. "I got this."
"Um, Spyro, Ah know yer super strong, but moving dozens to hundreds of apple trees on yer own seems to be much, even for you." Applejack said, walking up to him. "Maybe we should-"
"AJ, I said I got this." Spyro said, smiling and holding her chin, which made her blush. "I've got some friends who can help. Follow me to the orchard."
Spyro walked away from everyone, motioning for them to follow him to the orchard, which everyone present followed, but wondered what he was up to when they got to the edge of the orchard. At the edge, there was a bald eagle resting on a nearby cliff side, which flew down to Spyro as he lifted his forelegs to let the majestic bird land, surprising everyone there.
"A bald eagle?" Sheriff Silver Star asked. "Those aren't native in these parts, are they?"
Chief Thunderhooves shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn't know, but Spyro smiled at the large avian, nodding his head to the bird.
"They have agreed to the compromise." Spyro said, everyone wondering why he was talking to the eagle. "You may begin."
The eagle shrieked out and took off, flying to the air as they heard some kind of music playing, making everyone wonder where it was coming from, but Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash remember it, watching the sky as it turned blue. A moment later, blue orbs of magic flew down form the sky to the orchard as the spirits song started, a column of blue water falling from the sky and landed in the middle of the orchard, the water expanding out as the water touched the trees, magic glowing form the water. Twilight started taking notes at Spyro flew to the column of water, where he touched the column and the northern lights appeared once again, the spirits of the past shining out as they sung their song, the trees glowing as they sung. Everyone watched what was going on, wondering what was happening when the trees in the middle of the orchard uprooted themselves and moved along the path, creating a pathway for the buffalo while rerooting themselves along the path, everyone completely stunned by what was going on, even Twilight as she just dropped her quill and parchment, not believing what she was watching. As the song had finished, the lights above the trees disappeared, the glow around the trees fading as they planted themselves, a perfectly straight path through the orchard for the buffalo.
"Nice work Sitka." Spyro said. "Nice work."
"Was that... Sitka?" Fluttershy asked, walking up.
"Wait, who?" Applejack asked. "What did we all just watch? How did them trees move? How did they come to life? How-"
Before she could ask anymore questions and possibly giving herself an aneurism trying to figure out what she just saw, Spyro walked over and pulled her in, kissing her on the lips, which she was surprised at first, but closed her eyes, enjoying the moment as everyone watched, which Braeburn was most surprised as he didn't think his cousin had a colt friend yet, but was wrong and smiled at his cousin. A while later, the buffalo stampede started just as Spyro finished helping Applejack and Braeburn plant Bloomberg after the buffalo returned him, which they were glad to see he was still alive and healthy, watching them run by as the Appaloosians tossed pies onto their backs to take with them.
"I gotta say, you are something else Spyro." Braeburn said. "Not only did you prevent a war between ponies and buffalo alike, but it seems you swept my cousin off her hooves." As he said it, Applejack blushed again, covering her eyes with her hat as he laughed at her. "So, how long you two been together?"
"Since the Summer Sun Celebration." Spyro replied.
"A few months?" He asked. "Ah know my cousin too well, she wouldn't just fall for any kind of stallion that easily."
"Well, let's just say our feeling grew over the weeks after the celebration." Spyro said. "And things... happened?"
"Things?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Cousin Applejack, you already going to have a baby?"
"NO OF COURSE NOT!" Applejack exclaimed nervously, her face completely red. "Things involving a red pony, a bunch of flowers, and a princess's decision to make Spyro a herd leader."
This information surprised Braeburn as he looked at Spyro and then to Applejack, shaking his head and smiling at his cousin.
"Cuz, let me ask you this." He said. "Are ya happy with him, even if he is a herd leader?"
"Ah am." She replied, hugging Spyro.
"Then Ah know yer in good hooves." Braeburn said. "Besides, as a herd leader, yer practically married already and our family just got bigger."
"That is something in the future Braeburn." Applejack said, looking up at Spyro. "Let's get back with her others, my prince."
"As you wish, my little apple fritter." Spyro replied.
The couple walked away from Braeburn, smiling at the two love birds as they approached the chief and the sheriff, Little Strongheart there with the chief as they approached.
"Spyro, we'd like to thank you for helping us." Little Strongheart said. "Not only did you help us to make peace with the settlers and helped us coexist with them."
"It ain't no big deal." Spyro replied. "As a prince, it's my job to find a way for everyone to benefit."
"Wait, prince?" Braeburn asked, his eyes widening in shock. "Y-you're actually a prince!? As in, crown and royal garments, that kind of prince!?"
"Eyup." Applejack replied. "Spyro here is the Prince of Light and Darkness. Crowned by Princess Celestia herself."
Braeburn was in complete shock, starring at Spyro and Applejack with his mouth dropping to the ground and his eyes wide in surprise as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Everyone laughed at his reaction, finding it to be amusing before they returned to the train, everyone laughing and enjoying the ride back as they stayed in the sleeping car. As the sun was beginning to set, everyone got into their bunks, but Applejack decided to bunk with Spyro, the two of them sharing a bunk and wrapping his wing around her, pulling her towards him as they slept together, enjoying the moment as they returned to Ponyville.
