Chapter 20: An Old Wound Returns
The next morning, Spyro was woken up bright and early as usual and went down where the Apple Family was already having breakfast. Applejack looked up to see him come down and waited for him to come and sit with them as they ate, but a moment later, they heard a knock at the door, making everyone wonder who could be at the front door at six in the morning. Apple Bloom walked over to the door and opened it, finding a very excited Fluttershy standing at the front door, barely able to control her excitement.
"Applejack, Spyro! Fluttershy is here!" Apple Bloom called out.
"This early?" Spyro asked, getting up from the table. "Thought I told her to be here by eight."
"Well, when ya told her you'd take her to see some lions, Ah think she couldn't wait." Applejack said, nudging him. "Ya'll are sure to take care of her, ya hear?"
"Yes AJ, I know." Spyro said, walking up to the excited pegasus. "Fluttershy, you're two hours early. I haven't gotten the ship ready yet."
"Sorry, but I couldn't wait." She said. "I could barely contain my excitement for when we left. Oh, I want to go now!"
"Easy there my little butterfly." Spyro said, patting her head. "It's going to take me a bit of time to get the ship ready, so relax and get something to eat. The ship will be ready by eight."
Nodding her head, she was allowed into the house and joined everyone for breakfast, telling them about how excited she was to be heading out to see some lions, which Applejack had already told everyone and knew how excited she was. After breakfast, Fluttershy helped to clean the dishes while Spyro went to the garage to get the ship ready for the journey as he needed to run a diagnostic on it to make sure nothing was damaged or nothing was out of place. Outside, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were walking up to the orchard when they saw Fluttershy come out of the house, knowing she might be there early because of how excited she was.
"Man, she's even more impatient than I thought she'd be." Rainbow Dash said. "Didn't think she'd be at Sweet Apple Acres first thing in the morning."
"Yeah, she is really, really, really excited to go and see some new animals!" Pinkie said, hoping up and down. "Bet she's gonna try and sneak some back here."
"Let's hope not." Twilight said. "I think Spyro would have a serious fit if she did do that."
They entered the farm and saw Fluttershy talking with Applejack, talking about all the things she was going to do when she arrived while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went over to talk to them while Twilight looked over to the garage and saw Spyro running some tests. Wanting to see if she could help him, she went over to lend a hoof, but Spyro put something down and walked away, letting her check to see what it was and found he had only one thing left and that was to check the leak in some place on the third deck of the ship. She knew that it was a bad idea, but she decided to help him out and she went in, walking through the ship, remembering where everything was after the tour and found the room the leak was in, finding it in the very center of the room.
Before she could do anything, she heard him walking through the hall and knew she wasn't supposed to be on his ship without letting him know, so she hid behind the first thing she could and peaked out, watching as he came through the door and turned on the lights. He was carrying small welding torch and and some Gummi blocks, replacing the leaking blocks in the room and leaving, heading out to finish the repairs, but Twilight was already moving to get out of the ship before she was caught, but as she was leaving, she heard someone else come down the hall, panicking, she jumped to the closest room and hid there. The door closed just as Fluttershy walked past and headed towards the cockpit, humming happily as she went along.
"I knew this was a bad idea." Twilight said, walking to the door, but when she approached, she found it was locked, eyes wide in panic. "Oh, not good. So not good."
Outside of the ship, Spyro was replacing the last of the damaged Gummi blocks when Pinkie and Rainbow Dash walked up to him as he was putting everything away.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Spyro asked.
"Nothing much." Rainbow Dash replied. "Just came to see you two off. Be sure to bring back some souvenir's."
"We'll try." Spyro replied, locking the tools up.
"Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?" Pinkie asked. "She came with us not too long ago and now she's missing."
"I haven't seen or heard her." Spyro replied. "Maybe she went back to the library."
"Spyro, you ready?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm ready to go."
"In a second, I'm putting the last of the tools away now." Spyro replied, satisfying the eager pegasus. "She's way too eager to be heading out."
"That's what happens when you mention lions to her." Rainbow Dash said. "Well, see you guys when you get back."
Spyro nodded his head and returned to the ship, walking towards the cockpit and there, sitting in her seat eagerly waiting to leave was Fluttershy, acting like a little kid excited to go to their favorite amusement park. A moment later, the screens in front of him came online as they engines roared to life, Fluttershy excited to get moving while Twilight had finally managed to get out of the room she was locked in and ran for the boarding ramp, hoping to get off before they left, but watched as it closed on her and feeling them take off, zooming out of the planet's atmosphere. As soon as they were out of the planets range, Spyro turned back into a human, surprising Fluttershy for a moment, but calming down and focused on her big adventure.
"Prepare for warp speed Fluttershy." Spyro said. "Your first time going through is usually a doozy."
"Sir, we have an unauthorized passenger in the boarding area." AIVA announced, spooking Fluttershy.
"What was that?" Fluttershy asked, looking around.
"That's AIVA." Spyro replied. "She's the ships A.I. unit that informs me of anything wrong with the ship." He then set a timer for two minutes and got up from the seat, eating the engines charge. "It'll be a couple of minutes before the engines are fully charged and ready to launch. I'm going to check the boarding ramp to see who's on board."
Spyro left to see who was on board, leaving Fluttershy alone in the passenger seat, eagerly awaiting for the ship to take off to the world they were visiting. At the boarding ramp, Twilight was freaking out as she knew she wasn't supposed to be on the ship without permission, knowing was in big trouble if Spyro found her, so she tried to find a place to hide until they returned to Equestria, looking around the ship to find a place to hide until then. She was about to walk back into the hall when she caught sight of Spyro heading towards her, panicked, she looked around quickly and found a nearby container and jumped in, closing enough to look closed, but open just enough to have some air.
Spyro walked in and looked around to ramp, finding nothing there at first, but looked around just to be safe, sensing that there was someone in there room with him, summoning his Keyblade as he looked around. He did a once over in the room, but found nothing and no one and dismissed his Keyblade, looking around again for whoever had stowed away.
"Sir, thirty seconds until warp." AIVA said.
"Thanks AIVA." Spyro replied. "And run a bio scan of the ramp area. I want to know where our stow away is hiding." He was walking out the door when he looked over to where Twilight was hiding, noticing the closed container. "Odd. I don't remember putting the lid back onto that box."
He walked over to the container and was about to pull the lid off when he saw dark indigo hair with a purple and pink strip just pop out of the opening, knowing who it belonged to, he stood up and started tapping his foot, letting the lavender mare know she's been caught, so she peeked out of the crack in the lid and saw a very unhappy human. She gave a nervous smile, but before he could yell at her, the alarm went off, letting them know they were about to warp, so without hesitating, Spyro ripped the lid off and grabbed Twilight, throwing her over his shoulder as he ran for the cockpit.
"Ten seconds to warp sir." AIVA replied.
"I know!" Spyro shouted, entering the cockpit and placing Twilight in the empty seat, strapping her in as he hopped into his seat as the ship launched into warp space.
"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "What are you doing on the ship?"
"That's what I want to know." Spyro said, turning his seat to look at her. "Why are you on my ship in the first place?"
"Just wanted to help get your ship fixed." Twilight replied, seeing the disappointed look on Spyro's face. "I know I should have asked if I could help, but you left and I just wanted to help."
"Twilight..." Spyro said, covering his eyes with his hand as he shook his head. "I would expect Pinkie to stow away on my ship, but you? What possessed you to sneak onto my ship?"
"I... I just..." Twilight stammered, trying to find the right words to say.
"It's ok Twilight." Fluttershy said. "I don't mind the extra company. Besides, I'm sure she's just as excited to see another world like I am."
Looking over to Fluttershy, he could see how happy she was and how excited she was, ready to explore and seemingly please to have another of her friends along for the journey. Deciding not to ruin the mood, Spyro turned his chair around to watch and wait for the ship to exit warp space, leaving everyone in silence for a little while. Twilight unbuckled herself and slowly approached the disappointed human, her head hanging low as she still suspected he was mad at her for sneaking onboard his ship, sitting next to his seat as he looked at the screens and panels on his chair.
"I am sorry Spyro." Twilight said. "I am so sorry. I knew it was wrong, but..."
"Eh, don't worry about it." Spyro said, smiling at the scared mare. "Hakuna Matata."
"Huh?" Twilight said, confused. "Hakuna Matata?"
"Yeah. It means no worries." Spyro replied. "It's all in the past now. And I can't remain mad at you guys. You're just too cute."
He reached down and started to scratch Twilight's ear, the same way as he scratched Applejacks, finding the sensation weird, but surprisingly enjoyable as she brought her head up, wanting more scratches from him. A moment later, the panels started going off, informing everyone that they have arrived at the Pride Lands as they came out of warp space and saw a world with a massive rock and an elephant skull below the rock.
"Wow." Twilight said, walking up and jumping up to position her forelegs onto the console of the ship to get a better look.
"Ladies, welcome to the Pride Lands." Spyro said, putting the ship on auto pilot. "The ship needs to remain in orbit of the world as this world doesn't have a hanger bay. Oh, and you might want to know, the worlds will change your appearance so you can blend in with the other inhabitants, so if you look different, please try to not freak out."
As he said it, he stood up and walked over to the center of the room, calling his Keyblade, and a bright light filled the room, blinding the two girls as they tried to cover their eyes to not get blinded. On the surface, Sora was waiting for Spyro to arrive at Pride Rock, with his friends Goofy and Donald, Sora disguised as a lion cub, dark tan coat with his brown spiky hair, Donald as a native bird with his staff and his hat, and Goofy as a land tortoise with his shield on his back. They watched the sky, waiting to see their friends arrive when they saw a bright white light appear in the middle of an open field, the trio excited and ran to where the light appeared, moving as swiftly as possible.
As the light faded, Sora and his friends arrived and saw three lions in the middle of where the dome of light use to be, one of the lions was dark purple in color with a black and white mane and was holding a Keyblade in his mouth, obvious who it was. One of the lionesses was a light yellow with Aquamarine eyes and with a hint of pink on her forehead while the other female lion was lavender in color with purple eyes like his friends, and a hint of dark indigo running down her back with purple and pink over her forehead.
"And we're here." Spyro said, dismissing his Keyblade.
"Wow, it's beautiful." Fluttershy said, looking to her friends and seeing two lions. "LIONS!"
"Where?" Twilight asked, but both she and Spyro were tackled by the over excited lioness, being given a bear hug.
"Fluttershy..." Spyro said, struggling to say anything. "It's... US!"
Fluttershy looked down at the two lions and saw that it was her friends, giving a nervous smile, getting off of them to allow them to get up, but Twilight was in stunned silence when she saw her friends look like the massive lions. As she got up, Sora's and his friends approached, surprised to see the three of them as they were only expecting two.
"Spyro!" Sora shouted, getting their attention.
"A cub!" Fluttershy shouted, trying to hug Sora, but Spyro grabbed her tail and pulled her back, putting his paw on her back.
"Do I need to get a leash for you?" Spyro asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Spyro!" Sora shouted, stopping just in front of the trio as Fluttershy got up. "It's good to see you again."
"You too old friend." Spyro replied. "Allow me to introduce my friends from Equestria, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. Girls, this is Sora, Donald, and Goofy."
As he talked, everyone started walking in the direction of Pride Rock as the two friends exchanged stories of their adventures so far, the battles, what they have learned, even how much fun they have been having. However, when the girls decided to get involved with the conversation, they were talking about some of the embarrassing things that happened to him and about what had happened with his little tangent when he got out of his new Drive form.
"She really did that!?" Sora asked.
"Yes she did." Twilight replied. "So, now Spyro here is in charge of a herd of seven mares and you should have seen how mad he was. He was banging his head on the support beam of AJ's house. And the best part was when he said somepony shoot him in the mouth, Pinkie came out of nowhere and shot him with her party cannon."
Everyone but Spyro was laughing at the thought of him going on a tangent and then getting shot in the face by his friends cannon, but Spyro himself was mumbling, something about opening his big mouth as Donald flew over and landed on his back.
"And that's why you should always think before you say anything." Donald said. "Of course, you and Sora don't use your heads much at all."
"Hey!" Sora and Spyro said in unison, making everyone laugh.
"So, where are we going?" Twilight asked.
"To Pride Rock." Sora replied. "We're meeting up with Simba to go over who will patrol where."
"W-who's Simba?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh he's the king of the Pride Lands." Spyro replied. "And you're going to like him. He helped Sora in the past and is a great king."
He tried to think of other nice things to say about their friend, but as he was about to continue, they had reached their destination, a massive rock that basically reaches the sky with a massive platform that extended outward. The girls were amazed by how large the rock was, but as they were walking up, Spyro had to stay close to Fluttershy because when they walked up, they saw Simba's pride of lions relaxing around the rock, cleaning the cubs, even eating some of the prey that they got. Spyro had to guide Fluttershy up the rock to keep her from going over and pestering the lionesses and the cubs as he didn't want her to be banished from the Pride Lands on day one of arriving as it was her dream of meeting a lion. They walked up the slope of Pride Rock and went straight to the kings chambers where Simba and Napa were sitting side by side, watching as Sora, Spyro, and all their friends walked in, pleased to see both of them.
"Spyro, Sora, Donald, Goofy!" Simba said, running up and hugging them until he saw the two new lionesses. "And who are these two?"
"These are my friends, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy." Spyro said, walking up to them. "They came with me, though one of them I invited, the other sort of followed me."
"Well, welcome to the Pride Lands all the same." Nala said, walking up next to Simba. "I'm glad you guys came. We need your help to make sure there aren't anymore Heartless in the Pride Lands."
"That's what we're here for." Sora said. "Now, where do we begin searching?"
"Well, the Savanah has already been cleared, so it should be ok." Simba said. "The main places we haven't searched yet is the Elephant Graveyard and the Oasis that Timon, Pumba, and I lived throughout most of my life."
"Alright, we'll start at the Oasis." Spyro said. "Sora, think you, Goofy, and Donald can handle the graveyard?"
"No fair, why do you get to go there?" Sora exclaimed, clearly annoyed.
Before Spyro could answer, he heard something run behind him and looked, but found that Fluttershy was gone, pressing his paw to the temple of his head as he knew where she was going. He turned to Twilight and motioned for her to find their friend, leaving the room to find her before she started doing something that will get them into trouble.
"Where's she going?" Nala asked.
"To find Fluttershy." Spyro replied. "I do apologize. This is her first time seeing lions outside of where she lives."
"Oh, really?" Nana asked. "Are there no lions where they are from?"
"Uh, you can say that." Spyro replied. "You should have seen her when she saw myself and Twilight."
Simba and Nala looked at each other, wondering why his friend hasn't seen another lion until now, but just shrugged, thinking that she was living in isolation for a bit too long. As they exited, everyone saw that Fluttershy and Twilight were having a conversation with one of the other lionesses, Fluttershy listening intently to what she was saying as Twilight tried to get her to move, again showing how strong she really was.
"Your friend seems to have taken a liking to Serabi." Nala said. "She could tell you stories about the pride for weeks without end."
"She is my mother after all." Simba said, walking over to the group. "She had been around longer than most of the other lionesses. She knows a thing or two."
"Well, I better get with my friends and start heading out." Spyro said, walking down to the girls.
As he walked up to the two ponies turned lions, he could hear Simba's mother telling stories about his father, Mufasa, and about the long history of the Pride Lands before and after Sora's arrival and the arrival of Spyro. Even telling them about the massive Heartless that allowed for Scar's ghost to come back to the lands to terrorize everyone and everything until it was vanquished by his friends. They looked over to his direction, which made Serabi look over at what they saw, seeing Spyro coming over.
"Well, the young prince graces us." Serabi said. "These girls with you?"
"They are." Spyro replied, sitting next to them. "They came along to see other lions. They come from a distant land and haven't seen other lions before now."
"I could guess that." She replied. "And I can guess that the three of you are here about those creatures."
"We are." Spyro replied. "We're here to make sure there aren't anymore hiding in the area."
"And you aren't going alone." Simba said, walking up to them. "If we're going to the Oasis, we better get going. Timon and Pumbaa went there yesterday and I'm worried about them."
"What about Nala?" Spyro asked. "Will your Pride be ok?"
"Oh don't worry about them." Simba responded. "They can defend themselves. Besides, I think you might need some back up and I know the Oasis better than anyone else, so I'm coming."
Before he could say anything, Simba walked away, leaving the four of them silent at how assertive he was in wanting to come along, so without saying a word, the trio followed behind Simba, walking through the Savanah to a gorge, which both Simba and Spyro recognize.
"Maybe we should go around." Spyro said. "If we sprint, we could-"
"This is the shortest way to the Oasis." Simba replied, jumping down into closest side cliff.
"What was that about?" Twilight asked.
"This is the last place he wishes not to be." Spyro said, following his friend and followed by the girls. "This gorge is where Simba's father, Mufasa, was murdered."
When he said the place Mufasa was killed in was the gorge they were walking through, a chill immediately went up their spins, creeping them out as they walked through the place.
"It was a horrible thing really." Spyro said. "When I was here with Sora, I heard the whole story from Serabi about how Mufasa was trampled by a stampeding herd of Wildebeasts that ran through here. And Simba, he witnessed his death." The girls eyes went to Simba as they walked, seeing how quickly he walked through the gorge to get out as fast as possible. "But what no one knew was that Scar, Simba's uncle, was there too. He tricked Simba into waiting in the gorge while the Hyena's spooked the herd and sent them through it. As Simba was running for his life, Scar got Mufasa to get him to run through the gorge to save him."
They then walked to the final resting place of Mufasa, finding nothing as scavengers got to the body, but the only thing that seemed to remain was a single lion skull that hasn't been taken. Spyro could sense Simba's pain as he remembered his father plummeting to the ground, trampled by the stampeding herd as he just watched, scared and depressed.
"I'm guessing this is the place?" Twilight asked.
"That's right." Spyro replied. "This is where his body was before scavengers got to it. Scar had thrown his brother off the cliff, sending him plummeting to his death, making Simba believe that it was his fault, tricking him to run away from the Pride Lands and make the pride believe they were both dead." They then continued walking until they came to a stone pathway that allowed them to traverse above the field of cactuses below them, allowing a straight path to the Oasis. "Simba would have died in the dessert plains if not for Timon and Pumbaa, his best friends who helped him and treated him like a son. The Oasis is basically a second home for him and didn't come home until he learned what Scar was doing to the Pride Lands, destroying the Circle of Life."
"The Circle of Life?" Fluttershy asked, looking down and shaking.
"It's the delicate balance of this land." Spyro replied, jumping over a large gap. "Think of it like the food web. Plants absorb nutrients from the earth, plants are eaten by herbivores, herbivores are eaten by the predators, and when a predator died, they are then absorbed by the earth and become the nutrients for the plants." He then looked to Simba, sensing that he was worried and could relate, but turned his focus back to his friends. "Scar disrupted the Circle of Life, over hunting and destroying everything. he wouldn't have returned if not for his friends and his father."
"His father?" Twilight asked. "What do you mean? His father died."
"That's something you'll need to ask Simba about." Spyro replied. "But, once Simba returned, he had Sora and his friends help to get his home back from Scar. But as he was beaten the first time, he became a Heartless, making the battle a challenge, but we prevailed and now the Pride Lands flourish once more."
After talking about the worst thing to happen to the Pride Lands, they reached the Oasis, a lot of trees and brush all across the cliff sides and waterfalls releasing fresh water and eve a few other animal species hanging around. The group walked through the jungle to see what they could find, letting the girls look at the scenery and even enjoy a quick swim to cool off while Simba and Spyro just looked for their friends.
"So how long have you been friends with them?" Simba asked.
"Almost a month now." Spyro replied, looking behind a bush. "When I first met them, it was interesting."
"Intresting?" Simba asked, sensing there was something more to what he was saying. "How so?"
"Well, let's just say our first meeting was one giant circus act." Spyro replied, turning to face Simba. "There are four others I met as well. The first five I managed to make friends with when we first met. While Twilight, she kinda threw me around like a rag doll."
Simba started to laugh when he said that, regretting even saying it as he just laughed. When he could breathe again, Simba sat down and motioned for him to sit down as well, sitting the exact opposite of where Simba was.
"So, how long have you been a pride?" Simba asked, making Spyro collapse to the ground, wondering how he knew. "Trust me, I've seen how you were looking and protecting them. Plus, I kinda guessed when you sat with them when talking to Serabi and how you chose the Oasis as it's a safe place."
Spyro looked to the girls as they were having a blast playing in the water, smiling that his friends were having a good time, and turned to face Simba again.
"About three weeks now." Spyro replied. "Wasn't my idea, but I think I'm getting use to it now. I actually enjoy having them around."
"You are one lucky guy." Simba said, looking to the two friends as they shook the water off. "You said you met four others right? They also part of your pride?"
"Yes they are." Spyro answered. "And one other. A princess who was banished by her sister after she tried to bring harm to her people. But, I managed to cleanse the darkness out of her heart and they made up, being a family again."
As they talked, the girls walked up to see if they found Simba's friends, but heard something snap and looked to see a bush was shaking and rustling. Twilight walked to the bush and pulled back the leaves to see a Meerkat and a warthog hiding in the bushes, but as Twilight peeked over, they both screamed, which made both the girls scream, getting their attention as Fluttershy jumped into the trees to get off the ground while Twilgith backed away, but fell into the water again, making a massive splash.
"Girls, what happened!?" Spyro exclaimed, running to his friends.
"T-t-t-there's something in the bushes." Fluttershy said, hanging onto the tree
As she said it, the meerkat rode on top of the warthog as it ran away, both screaming as they got as far as they could.
"Timon! Pumbaa!" Simba shouted, running after them.
Spyro looked up and saw that Fluttershy was not coming down anytime soon while Twilight pulled herself out of the water, shaking it off, but looking very annoyed.
"Who the heck were they?" Twilight asked. "And why were they hiding from us?"
"That was Timon and Pumba." Spyro replied. "They are Simba's friends, but they are a bit skittish around predators, even though everyone knows they are friends with the king."
"So, they ran away from us and scared me and Fluttershy because they think we were going to eat them?" Twilight asked. "Eh, gross. We're ponies, we don't eat meat."
"We know that, but they don't." Spyro replied. "And to keep the world order, we can't tell them that or else there will be chaos."
"Then how are we able to go to worlds without damaging this order?" Twilight asked.
"Because I told you guys there are other worlds, so that means its ok for you guys to travel between them in the need arises." Spyro responded, looking up to the upside down lioness. "Now how are we going to get Fluttershy down?"
After convincing Fluttershy to retract her claws, Spyro used the Force to gently lower Fluttershy down to the ground on her paws and went further into the jungle until they reached what looked like a large pool of water and nearby was Simba, who was looking in all directions to find his friends.
"I'm guessing you lost them?" Spyro asked, the trio approaching him.
"Afraid so." Simba said. "They were going too fast for me to keep up."
"W-well, maybe they're hiding in the bushes again." Fluttershy said, looking to the bushels of leaves.
"No, I can sense them." Spyro said, looking to the nearby pool of water. "I think they're in the water."
"How can you tell?" Twilight asked, it then remembered what he can do. "Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot about that."
Spyro approached the water and looked in, finding the two of them hiding in there as he said they were, breathing through some hollowed out reeds they got so they can stay hidden. But when Timon looked up, he freaked out, but then saw the familiar black and white mane and the dark purple coat, popping his head out and spitting out the reed.
"Spyro!" Timon shouted, Pumbaa's head popping out of the water.
"Your majesty!" Pumbaa said, getting both of them out, but looked over and saw the same lionesses. "AHHH! THEY"RE GOING TO EAT US!"
"Hold on Pumbaa, it's ok." Spyro said. "They're my friends. That's Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle."
"Wait, they're your friends?" Timon asked, hoping off Pumbaa and walking up to the girls. "Wow, didn't think I'd see another purple lion here, let alone one with pink on their fur. But, any friend of Spyro's is a friend of mine."
"Glad to hear it." Fluttershy said, lowering her head to look at Timon. "I never thought I'd get to see an animal like you."
"Like me?" Timon asked. "What part of the Pride Lands did you come from that you don't know what a Meerkat looks like?"
"Best not to ask." Spyro replied. "She's more from the jungles up north as is Twilight."
After everyone had a chance to calm down, the lions laid down on their stomachs while they listened to what Timon and Pumba had to say while they were in the Oasis. They talked about a strange lioness with a blue coat and yellow eyes, which they knew meant trouble so they kept their distance. But the twist was she was attacked by the Heartless, indicating she wasn't a friend of the Organization or of Maleficent.
"And that's it!" Timon said. "That's everything. Down to the last detail."
"Spyro, does this blue lioness sound familiar?" Simba asked.
"Afraid not." Spyro replied. "I'm not familiar with a blue lion. Timon, did she have any other characteristics? Any at all? How did she fight the Heartless?"
"Well, there was something strange about her." Timon said. "She had one of those Keyblade's you guys use, but it looked cracked and broken."
"What did it look like?" Spyro asked.
"Well, it was blue like her, but it was in the shape of a geyser of water, swirling at the tip with what looked like a black claw for the handle and a broken thing hanging on something made of metal." Timon replied.
When Timon described the blade, that's when Spyro's blood froze, the color in his face drain and shaking uncontrollably. Everyone saw the strange behavior, wondering who it was until Spyro lifted his paw above the ground, a flash of light with a seashell and water that went with it as the exact blade Timon described, but it wasn't broken and cracked, the handle was two crab claws with a seashell keychain at the end.
"Like this one?" Spyro asked, shocking everyone.
"Yes, just like that." Timon replied. "But it only had one claw, and the entire thing was cracked."
"So you do know who it is?" Twilight asked, seeing the fear in her friend's eyes.
Spyro didn't respond as he dismissed the blade and got up, turning away from everyone as they watched him still shaking.
"Where did she go Timon?" Spyro asked, trying his best not to let his voice crack.
"She went down to the river near the waterfalls on the south side of the Oasis." Timon replied.
Spyro walked away, leaving the group behind, but Twilight and Fluttershy got up to follow, but rocky pillars shot up, blocking their path so they couldn't follow him.
"This is a personal matter girls." Spyro said, looking back to them. "I need to handle this myself."
He then walked towards the river, determined to handle this himself as he didn't wish to involve his friends in his own personal drama. At the river, Spyro looked out to the waterfall, finding a massive river that the waterfall feeds and looked out to the shore, hoping to see if he can locate the lioness, but had no such luck as all he saw was plants and flora until he spotted movement. A moment later, the blue lioness appeared out from behind the local flora with yellow eyes and a red stripe on the top of her fur, recognizing the stripe and his heart melted from joy.
"MAY!" Spyro shouted, making the lioness stop and look at him.
The lioness, now know as May, looked at him and walked towards the cliff side as he ran to where the waterfall was, hoping to meet up with the new arrival. As he got to the waterfall, May came out from behind the tree line, approaching the edge of the small river as they faced opposite sides of one another.
"May, is that you?" Spyro asked, feeling his tears about to roll out.
"You were expecting someone else?" She replied coldly, no emotion in her eyes or her words.
"May, you're alive! I can't believe it!" He said, feeling his heart leap with joy.
"Believe it, your majesty." May said. "Remember, I'm a survivor. I do whatever it takes to survive."
"But... but that Destroyer... the flames... the dark pit... how?" Spyro asked.
"Like you care at all." May replied, turning her back. "I survived through the Destroyer's destruction, I can survive anything."
"But, where have you been for the last year and a half?" He asked. "I looked for you everywhere at Radiant Garden. I had given up hope of finding you."
"How revoltingly sweet of you." May said, turning to face him, but her Keyblade in her mouth. "Like I need it."
Calling his own blade, Spyro deflected a rush attack from his friend as he stayed on the defensive, blocking and deflecting incoming attacks while dodging dark spells she sent at him, avoiding the blasts of dark fire and black ice. The fight shifted to be in the water as their blades locked while in the middle of the shallow river, pushing against each other to get the upper hand, but May just jumped back and used the water to surround him in a sphere of water, freezing it as she jumped up and sliced it in half, shattering the orb as Spyro was sent flying into the jungle. As he tried to get up, an arm of water grabbed him and pulled him back, slamming into the ground multiple times before being flung into the direction of another waterfall opposite of the massive river where he went through it, smacking into the side of the cliff behind it.
As he was slipping off the cliff, May shot through the waterfall and almost finished him off, but Spyro managed to call his blade and block the attack, throwing her off as he pushed hard against the wall, tackling her, but she just smacked him in the head, putting him in a daze before breaking free and throwing him all the way to the edge of the cliff, just hanging over the massive river. He tried to get up, but the damage he took was too much for him as he fell back down when he tried to get up, giving May a Pugh time to walk over and press her paw against Spyro's back, pinning him to the ground as he grimaced in pain.
"Seems you've lost your touch." May said. "I thought those who follow the Jedi way aren't supposed to have attachments?"
"I... I won't hurt you May." Spyro said. "You're... my friend."
May picked him up by the throat, holding him above the waters surface as the waterfall went on, eyes locking as he pleaded with her to come back to him, but there was nothing behind those eyes of hers as she just stared at him with anger in her eyes.
"That friendship ended over a year ago." May replied, releasing him as he fell off the cliff and into the water, hitting the water hard.
As he sank below the surface of the water, sinking deeper and deeper as he lot consciousness, watching at the light faded from the surface of the water, loosing himself to the water. He couldn't move as the fight had taken everything out of him after each individual blow, still feeling all the pain that came from the attacks as he tried to heal himself, but couldn't focus on his power, his mind going blank.
"May... Why?" Spyro thought to himself. "What happened to you? What will happen now? What... What about the girls?"
As he thought about the girls, he could see an image of each of them, slowly passing by him, followed by all the friends he had made, each of them slowly going by him until it came to the girls again, but they were grouped up together, smiling at him, but then fading away as his senses went blank. A moment later, he could feel something in his heart giving him strength as he opened his eyes again, seeing the light from the sun again, but this time instead of his friends smiling, he saw them screaming and fearful as if they were being attacked and behind them was May, attacking them as the Heartless followed behind her, attacking everyone in her path. He then felt a burst of energy in him as he fully opened his eyes and a dome of light appeared around him, growing bigger and bigger until it shattered, the shattering glass sound echoed through the water, sounding loud enough to be heard even from Pride Rock.
Back with Fluttershy and Twilight, they were trying to break through the stone pillars to help their friend, but the pillars were too strong, even when they all ran at it at once, it wouldn't budge as the stone seemed to be stronger than regular rock.
"Forget it, the rocks too strong." Simba said. "Even though they are thin, they aren't budging."
"Of course they won't budge Simba, they're made from solid rock!" Timon exclaimed. "He doesn't want us to get involved and I think we should respect that."
"But he might need help." Twilight said. "He might be injured. He might need some help with some spells. He might-"
She stopped talking when she felt a sudden stab to her heart, feeling something go through her chest, but not receiving a single injury, clutching her chest as she felt something was wrong. Fluttershy could also feel this pain as her color drained from her face, feeling that something happened to Spyro as she sat down, the pain in her heart getting worse. They both knew something bad had happened to Spyro as they could feel it deep in their hearts, wanting to bust the pillars down even more to help their friend.
"We got to get to him now!" Twilight shouted. "Something happened to him!"
Both she and Fluttershy rammed the pillars again, still feeling their hearts ache as it got worse, feeling like he was loosing himself to something until they gave up, sinking to the ground, bruised and exhausted. Fluttershy was on the verge of tears when she saw a light shine from Twilight's chest, seeing the Prince's Light emanate from it as she checked hers, finding it too was glowing.
"He's calling to us." Fluttershy said, getting Twilights attention and seeing the glowing symbol. "He's asking us to lend him our strength."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, standing up. "How do we help him?"
As she asked the question, Fluttershy was surrounded by a dome of light, making Twilight back up as a second later, she was also surrounded by the same dome, both of the lionesses protected in a glowing yellow dome as Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa watched in surprise.
"Hey, what's with the light show!?" Timon exclaimed, hoping back onto Pumbaa.
"I don't know!" Simba replied, equally as confused. "I never seen this before!"
A second later, the domes shattered and from them was the yellow pegasus that is Fluttershy, extending her wings and releasing a neigh that cracked the pillars behind her. From the other dome, a lavender colored light in the shape of a unicorn rose up and released a neigh as well, completely shattering the pillars as they took off towards the river, running into the air as they ran while Simba and his friends watched in disbelief at what they had just witnessed, they shook off their surprise and ran after them, heading for the river to see what was going on. At the mouth of the river, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were walking along the river's side, arriving at the Oasis to help their friends out.
"Gawrsh, I hope Spyro is ok." Goofy said.
"Hey, he's the strongest guy I know." Sora said nonchalantly. "And he's got Simba with him. With him by his side, I'm sure he's ok." But as they reached the waterfall where Spyro was fighting, they saw their friend being dangled over the river, being held by the throat by a blue lioness. "Oh no! He's in trouble!"
"Let's go!" Donald said, everyone running to help their friend.
As they were half way to the waterfall, they saw as the lioness let him go, watching as he plummeted into the water, hitting it with a thud as the impact caused their friend to loose consciousness. They ran to where they think he fell to and wanted to go in, Sora jumping into the water to get his friend, but ended up sinking himself, only saved by Donald as he grabbed him by the tail and dragged him back to land.
"Sora, you can;t swim in this form." Donald exclaimed. "You never figured out how to."
"But I need to save him!" Sora shouted, looking back to the water and trying to run in, but Goofy blocked him, keeping Sora from going back in.
"Sorry Sora, but Donalds right." Goofy said. "You don't know how to swim as a lion cub, so you'd only be putting your own life in danger."
Sora wanted to just burst pass his friends and jump into the water, not caring he couldn't swim until they all heard something shatter, looking to the water as they saw a large purple light in the water flying towards the very surface. On the cliff, May was watching the water, waiting for her prey to surface for air, but after a little while, she couldn't see him, believing that he has drowned after being dropped into the water. She turned around to leave, but a second later heard the same shattering sound as everyone else, turning back to the water to see a large purple light in the water, glowing brighter as it got closer. A second later, the skies about darkened and she looked up to see what was going on, but saw the two horse like figures run out of the and start circling where the light was at.
"What is this?" May asked. "What power is this?"
Sora was watching as the purple light was glowing brighter, but then looked up to see the sky darkening as the two pony figures started running circles around the purple light just as Simba appeared at the top of the farthest cliff, watching everything unfold. Another moment later, the purple light erupted from the water in the shape of a dragon, roaring out as it flew upward as the pegasus and unicorn flew down towards the dragon, only lifting up as it shot past them, circling around the dragon as they went up.
"What's happening!?" Donald exclaimed.
"You're asking me!?" Sora shouted back.
Everyone watched as the three figures kept going up until the pegasus and unicorn flew into the dragon, releasing three different lights at the same time: Yellow, Purple, and Lavender. The three lights then swirled into an orb as they merged together, showing a figure of a lion, but the shadow grew wings and a horn, the orb exploding to reveal Spyro, but this time in a different form. The color scheme of his coat was the yellow on his left side again, but this time there was a single butterfly on his shoulder as the Keyblade for from Fluttershy appeared on his left side, grabbing it with his tail. His right was lavender with Twilight's star shaped cutie mark on his shoulder, a new Keyblade appearing looking like a long blue and purple stem with a blue crescent moon and a star in between the two points of the moon as the teeth with a pink handle and a purple guard with the Element of Harmony: Magic at the bottom of the guard and a book shaped keychain with Twilights mark on the cover, the guard and blade covered in glowing runes, taking it into his mouth. The middle of his coat was a royal purple like last time, but his mane this time was different as it was pink on the left side like last time, but on the right side it was dark indigo with the pink and purple stripe in the center and the middle part of the mane was golden like last time
In the center of his forehead was a lavender unicorn horn and on his back was pegasus wings, but the color of the feathers were yellow for the outer edge of the wing, purple for the middle, and lavender for the inner part of it. Everyone was in stunned silence as they saw their friend and May's enemy in a different look, looking down with Tri-colored eyes, Aquamarine, Royal purple, and dark purple. Without waiting for someone to say something, Spyro used his aura to take both Keyblades out of his mouth and tail, raising them up in an offensive stance and flew down, making May block the incoming attack, but get knocked back, leaving behind a trail of her own prints as she tried to stop. Before she could retaliate, Spyro appeared in front of her again and went on the offensive again, striking and slashing with his Keyblades while May tried to keep up with her former friend, blocking the attacks, but it proved to be too much as she was strike multiple times before being sent into the same cliff she sent him into, dodging his attack and he came around.
"Wow." Sora said, climbing up the cliff to see what's happening. "What kind of Drive is that?"
"Sora!" Simba shouted, he Timon, and Pumbaa running up to the trio to see what was happening. "What's going on? I watched Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy get surrounded by some kind of light and then turn into some kind of equines that ran to the river."
"We're just as confused as you are." Sora answered, turning his head to watch the battle. "Must be some kind of new power he has."
Back with the fight, May was dodging every attack she could as Spyro summoned two massive stars and launched multiple pink butterflies that swarmed her, exploding on contact, sending her into some trees. A moment later, the roots of the trees coiled around her, making her try to slice her way free, but the Keyblade was knocked out of her mouth, completely engulfing her as Spyro brought both the blades together, a massive star appearing above Spyro as he jumped up, passing through it to make himself ethereal as a set of butterfly wings grew from his back, propelling him towards the lioness. He passed through the tangled mess and landed on all fours, standing up as the tangled roots caught fire, releasing the lioness into a hobbled heap, critically injured and barely able to stand as she looked at Spyro.
"So much power." She said, her corrupted Keyblade disappearing in a flash of dark light as she got up. "It's impossible. I know your moves. I know your strengths and weaknesses. What is this power? WHAT IS IT!?"
"You don't know." Spyro said, his voice unified with Twilights and Fluttershy's as he turned to face her, Tri-colored eyes meeting yellow eyes. "That's the power of the herd. And the power of Friendship."
As he raised both his Keyblades, May opened a corridor to darkness and ran in, closing it behind her. Spyro then dismissed his Keyblades, not believing his friend would fall to darkness. A moment later, he turned around and saw his friends running up to him, his eyes turning to Royal Purple as they approached.
"That was awesome!" Sora shouted. "What kind of Drive is this? I've never seen you use it before."
"Forget that, Twilight and Fluttershy are missing!" Simba exclaimed. "They appeared as some kind of ethereal equines and ran here. We need to find them and-"
"Simba relax." Spyro said. "They're safe."
Everyone was confused to why he would say that, but his eyes then turned to dark purple and he immediately looked at himself, spinning around and looking shocked.
"What is this!?" Twilight shouted, freaking everyone out. "This feels SO weird! Is this what it felt like to share his body Fluttershy?"
"Yes, it is." Fluttershy answered, Spyro's eyes turning Aquamarine. "This is what it's like to fuse with him."
"Ok, I think my brain cells just got fried!" Sora exclaimed, holding his head.
"You don't even use them half the time Sora!" Donald said, earning an angry glare from his friend.
"But, uh, what kind of form is this?" Goofy asked. "And how does it work?"
"That's what I'd like to know." Twilight said.
Everyone sat together near the shallow river, explaining how his new drives worked and the kinds of powers and abilities he would have access to while also keeping certain details to himself, since Simba already knows there are other worlds thanks to Sora, but Timon and Pumbaa didn't know and it had to remain that way. He also explained some of the draw backs of the new Drives, how they can each speak through him, see and hear everything he sees and hears, even take control of his body when the eye color shifts to whoever was currently in charge.
"So, it's basically three hearts and three beings in a single form." Sora said.
"Pretty much." Spyro replied. "It's actually more like a fusion if you think about it."
"That's a lot to process there pal." Timon said, munching on some bugs. "But, if you're fused together, then does that mean you guys feel what the other feels?"
"Possibly." Spyro replied.
As he answered, he glowed the three colors of his coat and everyone separated, everyone back to being separate beings.
"Oh thank goodness." Twilight said. "That was the weirdest feeling ever."
"I actually don't mind it." Fluttershy said. "Makes me feel braver."
As everyone was talking with one another, Spyro got up and walked over to Sora, motioning to follow him to a secluded spot away from everyone else. They found a spot near the edge of the cliff Spyro was thrown from, making sure they were far enough away from their friends so they could speak in private.
"Sora, you saw her right?" Spyro asked. "You saw the lioness who threw me from the cliff, right?"
"I did." He replied. "Who was that? How was she able to over power you?"
"Sora... it was May." Spyro said.
As soon as he spoke her name, the air around them went stale as silence between them grew eerie and deafening. Sora looked out to the water, trying to process what his friend said as he took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.
"You sure it was her?" Sora asked, his voice a bit shaky.
"There was no mistaking her Keyblade." Spyro replied, looking out to the water. "Though it's corrupted, it was hers."
"How did she survive?" Sora asked.
"I don't know, but she's angry." Spyro responded. "Master Yen Sid needs to be informed. And I need to double down on my training. She managed to over power me and nearly killed me. If my friends hadn't lent me their power, I'd surely be lost."
"I just can't believe she's alive." Sora said. "Riku is going to loose his mind when he learns this."
"Then we keep quiet about it." Spyro replied. "It took him forever to accept she was gone."
"But what will we do?" Sora asked, looking back to their friends. "If she's fighting us, we're no match for her."
"As I said, I need to double down on my training." Spyro replied. "As do you. We need to be ready when she comes back. We need to be ready for a fight like none other."
In another world, in a floating palace above a volcano, a dark corridor opened up in the throne room and out of it was a human version of May with aqua blue hair, a battle gown with dark blue armor, and her yellow reptilian eyes glowing. She approached a cracking statue as a purple mist came out of it, taking on the form of a dragon as she knelt to him.
"My lord, Spyro was in the Pride Lands." May said, struggling to get the words out. "He... He interfered with the search."
"So you didn't find it?" The mist asked.
"It wasn't there." May replied, standing up while holding her right shoulder, clearly injured. "I searched the entire Oasis. The key wasn't there. I checked all of the Pride Lands, nothing was there."
"And the prince?" The mist asked, sounding amused.
"I defeated him with little effort." She replied. "But he has a new power. A new Drive form that I couldn't keep up with. The power coming from it, the dark power you granted me couldn't touch him. It was like he was a completely different being."
"Interesting." The mist said, returning to the statue. "Whatever this power is, I know not, but everything has a weakness. Though our prize was not there, we must keep looking." The mist reached out to her, surrounding her in some magic that healed her a bit, but the majority of her wounds were still visible, unable to be healed with magic. "Rest now, my child. Rest and let yourself heal. When you are fully healed, you shall have your revenge."
May bowed to the statue and went out the side door, a giant creature made of rock and plants approached, hissing and mumbling a dialect that couldn't;t be understood, except by the mist.
"It seems the prince has some new surprises." The statue said. "We will need to keep an eye on him. And once I am free, his power, the power of the Prince of Light and Darkness, will be mine!"