Chapter 21: Look Before You Sleep
After their conversation with Sora, everyone returned to Pride Rock where Nala and the other lionesses were waiting for them to return, happy to see they were safe and sound. But both of the Keybearers both had their minds elsewhere where when they came back as they arrived at the massive rock, both were still in stunned silence that an old friend from the past had returned, but couldn't believe that she nearly killed Spyro and was willing to use the power of darkness like Riku did before he was rescued by Sora. When the Keybearers and their friends returned to their ships, Sora flew back to the Mystery Tower to report what they have found while Spyro charged up the engines to head back to Equestria, but when they returned to the ship, the girls were talking about all the animals they saw and some of the fun they had, after they finished the patrolling and returned to Pride Rock.
Spyro didn't pay much attention to the conversation as he finished setting the coordinates for Equestria and began charging the engines when Fluttershy walked up, but saw the depressed look on his face.
"Um, excuse me Spyro, but are you ok?" Fluttershy asked. "You look sad."
"Oh, uh, yeah, I guess so." Spyro replied. "Just... got a lot on my mind, that's all."
"Does it have to do with that lioness?" Twilight asked, noting the sadness n his voice.
"Sorry girls, I'm not in the mood to talk about it." Spyro replied, swiping the screen to his right.
The girls could sense he was i a bad mood and knew he needed some friends like they needed him, but knew better than to press for information, so they sat back into their seats and the ship started its warp back home. As the ship flew through warp speed, Spyro got up and walked out of the cockpit, heading somewhere into the ship, leaving them alone.
"Is it just me, or does he seem depressed after meeting that lioness?" Twilight asked.
"W-well, he does seem to know her." Fluttershy replied. "And he wanted to keep us from following him, so she must be strong."
"Yes, but if she is that powerful, and he knew her, and he even had the same Keyblade that Timon described, then that means they must have been friends." Twilight said, turning her gaze to Fluttershy. "So why would she fight her own friend and try to kill him?"
As she asked, Spyro walked back in and sat down, taking the controls again as they got out of warp speed, seeing their home in sight as they went through the worlds atmosphere and handed in the hanger, everyone getting up to leave the vessel. At the mouth of the hanger, the rest of their friends were waiting for them, eagerly waiting to greet them back after their trip.
"Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "How was your trip?"
"Oh, it was lovely." Fluttershy said, walking up to them. "We got to see a bunch of different animals after looking for those Heartless. We even got to meet the king of the Pride Lands."
"Wow, really!?" Pinkie asked. "What's he like!? What's he like!?"
"Um, girls, where's Spyro?" Applejack asked, turning to see Twilight approach, but Spyro wasn't there.
Twilight then told them what happened in the Pride Lands, how he prevented them from following him, how he fought a lioness who Spyro knew, how he was defeated, and about how she and Fluttershy fused with him to defeat the evil lion. She even told them about her suspicions that they were friends at one point, but now wanted to kill him after hearing how she just threw him off a cliff to drown. While she talked, everyone's color paled as she describe the entire thing, each of them feeling the pain he could after seeing an old friend tried to kill him, but Rainbow Dash knew better than anyone else what it was like to loose a friend, so she went into the ship to see if he was there, finding him still sitting in the cockpit looking at the ground.
"Hey dragon boy, you in here?" Rainbow Dash asked, walking up to him. "Yo, what are you doing mopping in here than being with your friends out there?"
He didn't answer as he just kept his eyes on the floor, not listening to what she said, which freaked her out a lot because he was usually the kind of guy who you'd have fun with on a daily bases and not get bored, but now he was mopping around in his ship and not paying attention to her. Before she could try and get his attention again, he got up from his seat and walked out, heading straight for his room, passing the girls, but not saying a word as he passed them, which made them worry.
"Ok, that's not like him." Rainbow Dash said, flying to them. "He's usually made of tougher stuff than that. Whoever this May is, she must have been somepony important to him."
"Maybe a party will help his mood!" Pinkie Pie said, pulling out an invitation. "I got an invitation to invite everypony to come and help lift his spirits!"
"No Pinkie, he don't need that." Applejack said, walking to the farm house. "He needs some alone time."
"Or a distraction." Spyro replied, coming back out of the house. "Just needed to freshen up after being knocked around like that."
Everyone approached him, making sure if he was ok, but when they saw him smile, even after being beaten up and seeing a former friend, he just made a one eighty and went back to being happy and chipper. Everyone walked into town to enjoy some dinner together when they saw some Pegasi moving a bunch of rain clouds over head, making everyone wonder what was going on.
"Oh shoot, forgot about that." Rainbow Dash said. "There going to be a major storm scheduled for tonight."
"Really?" Spyro asked. "Why?"
"The Pegasi accidentally skipped a scheduled drizzle last week sugarcube." Applejack replied. "Now we need a doozy of a downpour to make up for it. Everypony in the village is in the town square pruning the loose branches off the trees. We could use an extra set of hooves to help out."
"Well, count me in." Spyro said, walking towards the town square.
Applejack and Rarity joined in to help prune the trees while everyone else went to do their own thing. Rainbow Dash went to help set some of the clouds in specific places to across the town while Fluttershy went home to take care of her animals, making sure they are safe and sound. Pinkie went back to Sugarcube corner to help the Cakes make sure everything is locked down and air tight for the storm and Twilight went back to the library to make sure everything is in order. At the town square, everyone was busy breaking off some of the loose branches and cleaning them up, Spyro taking care of some of the bigger branches while everyone else was busying themselves removing the smaller ones. As Spyro ditched the large branch he was carrying, he heard some bickering a distance away and went to check it out, only to see Applejack and Rarity fighting over the branches as Rarity was restoring the branches and making some bush ornaments out of the leaves while Applejack was pulling them down.
"Rarity, we need to remove the broken branches, not fix them." Applejack said. "Don't ya'll care about nothing else but prettifying?"
"Well someone has to." Rarity replied. "You are making an awful mess of the Town Square."
"Well the storm will make a bigger mess if we don't." Spyro said, walking up to the two of them. "You heard what AJ said Rarity. The Pegasi need to make up for missing a drizzle last week, so we need a down pour to make up for it."
"Still, it would have been a glorious day if not for the rain this evening." Rarity said.
Just as she said that, it started to pour, a bad time for it to start raining as they hadn't finished cleaning up.
"OH, my hair!" Rarity shouted. "It'll be ruined!"
"Gosh darn it Rarity!" Applejack said, annoyed at the mare. "Ya'll should have finished pruning the trees rather than beautifying them!"
"Somepony, help me!" She exclaimed. "The rain will ruin my mane!"
Both Applejack and Spyro looked around to see where she could hunker down at when Spyro located a table nearby, pointing to it.
"There, that table should work." Spyro said. "Hunker there while AJ and I finish up here."
Rarity immediately ran for the table, leaving himself and Applejack to finish up the last few trees, sensing Applejack's frustration as she pulled down some of the larger branches as Spyro sliced a few with his Keyblade. But a second later, they heard Rarity complain again and both went to see what was wrong until they saw a large puddle of mud under the table, making her freak out.
"Ugh, Rarity, it's just mud." Applejack said. "It's not going to hurt you."
"But unlike you two, I prefer not to get dirty." Rarity replied.
"There's just no pleasing you is there!?" Applejack asked, getting frustrated with her friend.
"Girls, enough." Spyro said, extending his wing to provide some shelter. "Here Rarity, hunker under my wing. I'll get you home."
Without another Word, Rarity dove for the shelter his wing provided, scrunching herself just enough to just fit under the make shift shelter.
"There's no pleasing her Spyro." Applejack repeated. "Everything needs to be just so for her."
"And how would getting dirty serve any useful purpose?" Rarity asked.
The two of them kept on bickering, the argument getting more and more heated as it went on until they got into each others faces, glaring at each other as Rarity hopped out of the shelter his wing provided to make a statement about how being dirty served no purpose.
"Spyro! Applejack! Rarity!" Twilight shouted, the trio looking over to the Golden Oak Library, seeing Twilight usher them into the large tree. "Hurry guys! Come in here, quick!"
Not needing to be told twice, the three of them ran straight to the library, running in to avoid being drenched any further. When they got in, Twilight brought over some towels, but Spyro just heated his body up again, making the water evaporate from his coat i an instant while Rarity and Applejack dried themselves off.
"Thanks for the shelter Twilight." Spyro said, looking out the window and seeing it pouring with heavy winds. "Just like some of the storms back home."
"Yes Twilight, thank you for your hospitality." Rarity said, putting the towel into a laundry hamper.
"But is being inside a tree a good idea?" Applejack asked. "Seems more like a hazard than anything else."
"It would be if not for a magical lightning rod protecting your home." Twilight said with a smile, heading for the books. "I hope the storm won't be a problem for you guys to get home."
"With the lightning going on outside, I feel safer in here than out there." Spyro replied.
"Well you three are more than welcome to sleep here for the night." Twilight said. "Spike is at canterlot on royal business, so I'm alone for the night." That's when her eyes lit up, a thought coming to her mind as she pulled out a book. "Since you guys are going to be sleeping here for the night, we can have a Slumber Party! I always wanted one of those!"
Before anyone could say anything, she ran over to the shelves to find something while the three of them looked at each other nervously, Spyro sensing that Rarity and Applejack didn't want to be stuck in the same place with each other all night.
"Um, Twilight darling, I just remembered I have another engagement and can't stay all night." Rarity said.
"Come on Rarity, a slumber party isn't that bad." Spyro said. "They're a lot of fun."
"Yes, but they're for fillies Spyro." Applejack said. "Plus, you're a guy, so it'd be awkward with some of the stuff us mares would do."
Before anyone else could say anything, Twilight brought over a book that was filled with information about slumber parties and the activities that goes with them. As he read through it, he saw that some of the activities were for mares only, but he just shook his head, taking the book from her and putting it back.
"Twilight, we don't need a book to tell us what we can do in a sleep over." Spyro said, seeing the disappointed face Twilight had. "When I young, I'd go to my friend's houses for a sleep over all the time. I know everything about them." He then walked over to Twilight and wrapped his wing around her. "Trust me, I am going to make your first sleep over the best it can be."
Twilight could feel her heart racing against her chest, but leaned into him, pressing her body against his as she allowed herself to be vulnerable around her. A second later, she walked away from them and went to the kitchen to get some things, but Spyro turned his attention to the quarreling mares as they were about to be at each others throats again, but he just walked up and cleared his throat, getting their attention.
"Listen you two, this is her first sleep over and I want her to have a good time." Spyro said.
"But it's for fillies." Applejack said. "And I ain't staying a night with her!"
"That goes double for me." Rarity replied, turning her head away from Applejack.
"And you two are acting like it a couple of fillies right now." Spyro replied. "Listen, just play along and stop fighting each other, ok?"
As he asked, the two mares looked at each other and leered at one another, both of them still mad at the other. Spyro just rolled his eyes and walked away, clearly this was not going to end any time soon, so he walked to the table just as Twilight brought out a tray of snacks for them to enjoy.
"i didn't know what kind of snack foods to bring out, so I got a bit of everything." Twilight said, setting the tray down to reveal chips, sweets, marshmallows, about everything you'd find in a normal sleep over.
"This is just right Twilight." Spyro responded. "One of the first things we can do is make s'mores."
Applejack got busy toasting the marshmallows needed for the s'mores while Spyro and Rarity were showing Twilight how to make them. But unfortunately, as they were done making them, Rarity wanted marvel at what she made, but Applejack just ate in, being messy about how she chewed the snack, which seemed to annoy Rarity. Spyro shook his head, disappointed with how his friend was acting, but they then moved on to a game of Truth or Dare, which Spyro never played before, so he was excited to be giving it a go.
"So, who'll start us off?" Spyro asked. But as soon as he asked, Rarity and Applejack started giving each other ridiculous dares and arguing with each other, face smacking himself as they fought. "Girls, that's not how it works. Everyone takes a turn to ask each other if they'd like to say something truthful or complete a dare. And no, you can't choose the same pony two times in a row."
"Well, then Rarity, Truth or Dare?" Applejack asked.
"I'll take truth." Rarity replied.
"When you were fused with Spyro when fighting that giant heartless all them weeks ago, did you enjoy getting your hooves dirty, even if they weren't yours?" Applejack asked.
"Absolutely not!" She replied, but Applejack raised an eyebrow, not believing her. But with Applejack being the Element of Honesty, Rarity eventually cracked, giving in as she gave a truthful answer. "...W-well... yes I did. I just felt so invigorated and alive when we fought that thing, even when we fought corrupted Fluttershy and I got dirty during the fight, I enjoyed it."
Applejack was satisfied with her answer, smiling as Rarity answered.
"Now, then, Applejack, truth or dare?" Rarity asked.
"Ah'll do a dare." Applejack replied.
"I dare you to play dress up and wear a pretty dress and your mane neat and tidy." Rarity said.
Applejack didn't look too keen on the dare, but did it anyway, leaving the room for a moment and returned looking like a princess with a pointy hat all in blue, Rarity looking satisfied. Spyro just shook his head, not believing what was going on, but before they could get their turn, the two of them started going at each other again, disregarding the rules of the game. Spyro got up and walked over, breaking the girls up before things could get any more chaotic and separating them.
"Maybe Truth and Dare is too dramatic." Spyro said, looking between the two angry mares. "Maybe we should tell a scary story or two to end the night."
"Oh, good idea! I'll get the lanterns." Twilight said, leaving the room, allowing Spyro to turn to the bickering mares.
"What is with you two!?" Spyro exclaimed, a serious and bitter tone in his voice. "I know you are at odds right now, but you're ruining this slumber party right now!"
"Well she started it." Applejack said.
"Did not!" Rarity exclaimed, the two of them going back and forth as they argued.
"Listen, I care not who started it, but I'm ending it." Spyro said. "Please, just play along for a little while longer and please, no more bickering."
A minute later, Twilight came back with a lantern and set it down on the ground, everyone sitting around it as Twilight turned the lights off and the lantern on to try and give it an eerie feeling in the room.
"So, who should tell a story?" Rarity asked, leering at Applejack, who seemed to leer back.
"Maybe Spyro should." Twilight suggested, sensing the tension between them. "He must have heard tones of stories from when he traveled the worlds."
"Well, there is this one story I'd like to tell." Spyro said, dimming the lanterns light to make it darker. "It's an ancient legend of a stone chest, buried deep in the middle of the sea's of the Caribbean seas, on an ancient island where the dead are rumored to haunt the shores of that forsaken coast, known by sailors as, Isle de Muertos."
"W-what does that mean?" Applejack asked, shivers going down her spine.
"Translated, it means, Isle of the Dead." Spyro responded, a bolt of lightning shooting as and the thunder roared, making all three of the girls huddle together. "It is an ancient legend of the stone chest that holds the golden coins of Cortès, a conquistador who invaded the new lands, fueled by the promise of treasures beyond his imagination. He slaughtered many innocent people to collect as much treasure as he could, letting his greed fuel his slaughter until he gave an ultimatum, give him all their gold and he will end the slaughter. To appease him and end the needless bloodshed, the natives collected a stone chest and filled it with 882 gold coins, delivering it to the greedy conquistador, but due to his greed, the heathen gods placed a curse upon the gold, who so ever removes even a single coin shall be cursed for life."
As he spoke, he could sense their nervousness and fear and decided to turn up the scare factor, with the Force he made images of the conquistadors and everything else in the story come to life through the light, making the images move and dance as he talked, which made the girls shiver a bit.
"Later on, they soon realized they were cursed the moment they took the coins and spent them, giving them away on simple pleasures like food, drink, and the company of a fine mare." Spyro said, an image of ponies having fun. "But more they indulged themselves, they began to feel the effects of the curse. Food turned to ash whenever they ate, drink could no longer satiate their thirst, and they could no longer feel the warmth of the mares they were with. And in the light of the moon, they then saw what they were, hallowed men, skeletons of their former selves, damned for their greed." He then shifted it to when the conquistadors moved the chest to an island where they began putting the coins back into the chest. "There was only one way to lift the curse. The coins must be returned to the cursed chest, and the blood must be repaid to satiate the heathen gods."
"B-b-b-blood that must be r-r-repaid?" Rarity asked, the three girls watching as one of the shadow figures took a knife and cut his own hand, drenching the coins in blood.
"Whoever took the coins must repay the debt of taking them, by coating the coins they have touched in their own blood to lift the curse." Spyro said, the scene shifting again. "Once collected, Cortes made sure the chest could never be found so that no one else falls victim to the cursed treasure. But a few hundred years later, a ship of pirates found the treasure and their own greed bested them, taking all the coins for themselves and falling victim to the curse of Cortes." The images then shifted to the pirates attacking settlements, ships, caravans, even civilian transports, the girls watching as the pirates attacked and killed many people. "They gave away the gold for the same thing that Cortes and his men did, but they themselves couldn't get all the gold. One member of the crew hid the gold piece where only he knew, forever cursing his fellow crew members to eternal damnation as he was casted into the water, strapped to a cannon as he sunk below the surface of the water, the crushing depths pressing against him, sentencing him to eternal agony."
He could sense that their fear was at a critical point as he was coming to an end to his story, making the light turn red as he finished, making the girls teeth chatter as they saw the images of skeletal ponies attacking ships, other ponies, and even dragging them into the water. He figured it was getting to be too much, so he decided to wrap it up.
"W-w-w-where is the gold piece?" Applejack asked, fearing what the answer was.
Smiling, he decided to pull a fast one and with his magic, created a duplicate gold piece with a gold chain and held it up for the three of them to see, their eyes wide with horror as their color drained and their hearts stopped beating as they felt them crawl up their throats, looking at the fake gold piece.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you got it!?" Twilight said, barely able to get the words out as her mind was racing with fear.
"This was given to me back when I was at the Caribbean." Spyro answered. "My friend Will Turner told me to make sure it never fell back into the hands of pirates, prolonging their suffering. But rumor is, the pirates are able to traverse worlds to get what they desired most, their cursed piece of gold. They will never rest, never stop, until they are finally free of their curse, and taking vengeance against those who have prolonged their suffering."
When another bolt of lightning cracked across the window, creating a momentary flash, Spyro had conjured an illusion of a cursed pirate with glowing green eyes standing next to him, mouth open and a sword above his head and ruined pirate clothes as they were torn and burnt. When the girls say the skeleton, all three of them screamed and ran in different directions, trying to get away from skeleton as it loomed over Spyro, panic overtaking rational thinking as they ran for whatever exit they could. When the lights came back on, they heard Spyro laughing, on the ground rolling around in laughter, making the girls look at the skeleton agin to see it was just an illusion, all three of them glaring daggers at him.
"Spyro, that's not funny!" Twilight shouted. "We really thought that was a cursed pirate!"
"Darn tootin' that wasn't funny!" Applejack said, walking up to the laughing prince. "Ya darn near gave us a heart attack!"
"I-I'm so sorry!" Spyro said, laughing as he got up. "But the set up, the storm outside, the cracking thunder, it was too tempting to not do so."
"Well, at least it's only a legend and not real, right?" Rarity asked, the girls looking to Spyro as he just smiled, not answering her question. "Right?"
"Oh the legend is very much real." Spyro replied. "Heck, even I got to see them first hand."
"Please tell us you're joking." Twilight said, her heart racing.
"Oh, I ain't messing with you Twi." Spyro said, lifting the gold piece so they can see it, but it then turned to dust, making them feel relieved that it was fake. "There were some pirates that did find the treasure, but my friends, Will Turner, and Captain Jack Sparrow defeated them and lifted the curse, taking the chest and sinking it into the depths of the ocean so it can never be found again."
As the girls were calming down, they all decided to call it a night, Twilight getting the spare bed out for the girls to sleep with her, but Spyro pulled out a hammock, tying it to two points in the library and settling in for the night. In Twilights room, Twilight fell asleep while Rarity and Applejack were still up, still arguing.
"Make sure you keep your muddy hooves of my side of the bed." Rarity said, looking away from Applejack.
"Mah hooves ain't covered in mud Rarity." Applejack said.
"That's what you say, but there might be some."
"You're right, see?" Applejack said, raising her hoof to freak Rarity out.
It worked and they then started fighting over the covers, Rarity pulling them over herself as Applejack did the same, which Rarity then shoved her off to fix the covers and show the farm mare how to get into bed, her way, but Applejack wasn't;t having it as she just jumped up and bounced her off the bed, taking the covers for herself. They then started arguing over who will get the blanket, Spyro hearing the argument from downstairs, getting frustrated, he got up from the hammock to give them a piece of his mind, walking in to yell, but it was Twilight who beat him to it.
"ENOUGH!" Twilight shouted. "The number one thing I wanted to do during this slumber party was have fun, and thanks to you two, it's a total disaster!"
"I agree with Twilight." Spyro said, walking in. "All I wanted to do was help Twilight have the best Slumber Party she could ever have, but your bickering has caused nothing but trouble."
"Well I tried my darnest to get along and have fun!" Applejack exclaimed
"No, it was I who was trying my absolute best."
"Well, thanks to you two, you ruined Twilight's first slumber party." Spyro said, making both the mares look away from their friend.
"Yeah, thanks to you two, my very first slumber party is a disaster." She said, frustrated and angry. "Is there anything else that can go wrong!?"
Just as she asked it, a bolt of lightning hit a nearby tree, snapping the top of it, making it teeter over a nearby house.
"Ya see, that's why we needed to take down the branches so that doesn't happen." Applejack said to Rarity.
"Don't worry, I got it." Spyro said, opening the window to fly out to get the toppling tree top, but Applejack threw her lasso and got the top of the tree.
"Nah, Ah got this sugarcube." Applejack said.
"AJ, wait-" Rarity said.
"There's no time to wait!" Applejack said, pulling the tree top towards them.
Spyro watched at what Applejack was doing, noticing what Rarity was trying to warn her about, and jumped in front, pushing her out of the away, making her spit the lasso out as the tree top burst through the window, hitting Spyro with full force and sending him off the edge of the bedroom back into the library where he landed on the wooden statues on his back, hearing something crack as he landed. The girls looked over to make sure he was ok and saw him get up, cracking his back and making them flinch.
"Spyro, you ok!?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, just breaking my back here." Spyro replied, hissing as he spoke.
"See, I tried to tell you that if you pulled it, it could come toppling into the room." Rarity said.
"Well, why didn't ya try harder?" Applejack asked.
As Spyro was getting back up the stairs, his back killing him from the crash, he saw Rarity was cleaning everything up while Applejack was busy trying to get rid of the branch and Twilight was looking through her book of slumber party stuff to find something.
"Rarity for ponies sake, will ya stop cleaning up the big stuff and help me get rid of this thing?" Applejack asked. But Rarity just ignored Applejack and continued to clean up the smaller messed while Applejack tried to fight with the massive branch. "Look, Rarity, I'm sorry." As she said that, Rarity's head shot up and looked over to Applejack, who looked genuinely remorseful. "If I'd have listened to your attention to detail and allowed Spyro to handle the branch, then this whole mess could have been avoided if I'd just listened. But cleaning up the small stuff won't mean anything if we don't;t take care of the major problem in the room."
"AJ's right." Spyro said, slowly walking in. "First, let's get rid of the massive branch, then we can worry about the small stuff."
Rarity looked down at the floor and saw the rain and muck coming in through the window and from the tree, recoiling at the sight, but then looked to the pleading Applejack, deciding to put aside her own dilemma's and help Applejack to get rid of the branch.
"Let's do it!" Rarity said.
She walked towards the massive branch and shut her eyes, concentrating on turning the branch into the little lawn statues she made a while ago. As she did, mud and much splashed on her as the branch popped multiple times, new statues being made each time and being set onto the ground gently. When the entire thing was nothing more than a single log that could be used for fire wood, Applejack picked it up with her muzzle and dropped it out the window, closing it to keep any more rain from coming in. A moment later, Rarity saw how filthy she was and recoiled, but AJ just giggled and put two sliced cucumber pieces in her eyes, making it look like she was in the spa, which seemed to make her feel better as they both laughed and hugged it out.
"Wow pretty." Twilight said, looking at the statues. "Where'd they come from?"
"You can thank Rarity for that." Spyro said, walking in slowly as he could still feel pain in his back.
"Oh my goodness, you're hurt!" Applejack said, everyone running to him. "What happened?"
"Just landed on the wooden horse head statue in the library." Spyro replied, trying to crack his back again, but hissed in pain as he did. "Nothing a little chaos healing can't fix. I'll just head back to my hammock and get some rest."
He turned to go back down stairs, but froze, the pain too much for him to keep walking until he felt his hooves lift off the ground, finding himself in the air and being carried to the guest bed.
"No way you're doing that darling." Rarity said, tucking him into the bed. "Your back is injured and hanging in a hammock won't help. You sleep here while AJ and I sleep downstairs."
"She's right Spyro." Twilight said. "You hit your back when that tree branch pushed you. We need to get you to a doctor tomorrow."
But as she said it, they saw a green glow emanating from his back, but disappear a second later, his back healed, but when Applejack touched his back, he winced in pain, trying to put on a brave face.
"Seems your fancy magic didn't fully heal ya completely." Applejack said. "And ya'll've been taking way too many hits when fighting and from landing straight onto the statue."
"Well, if you can heal yourself of bodily injury, maybe a relaxing day at the spa will help you!" Rarity said, making Spyro wince.
"Isn't that for mares Rarity?" Spyro asked.
"Oh don't be paranoid darling." Rarity replied. "They're also for stallions too. And I know the Lotus twins, they can take very good care of you. They are the best masseur's in all of Ponyville. My treat for all the ruckus I caused tonight."
"Ah'll also pitch in on that Rarity." Applejack said. "We both kinda ruined this slumber party and got Spyro injured. The least I can do is help pitch in with the fees."
The two friends walked out, giggling as they left, leaving Spyro alone with Twilight as she got a hot water bottle and put it under his back, hoping some warmth would help.
"It's you they should be apologizing to Twilight." Spyro said, lying down on the bottle. "You deserve the spa day."
"Well, you're the one who's been taking all the hits for us Spyro." Twilight said, remembering every time he protected them and every time he got hurt by his enemies. "If anypony deserves the spa day, you do. Now get some sleep."
Twilight walked over to her bed, turning the light off as she got into bed and fell asleep. Spyro just laid there, listening to Twilight's soft breathes as she slept, thinking she might be right and needed some time to relax after everything they went through the past month or so. He closed his eyes, letting himself drift off to sleep, the bottle actually helping with how the back pain he feels as he fell asleep. Down stairs, Rarity and Applejack were getting ready to sleep as Applejack struggled to get into the hammock, falling out of it every time she tried to get in while Rarity got the couch ready, looking over to the struggling Applejack.
"How the hay does Spyro get into this consarn thing?" Applejack asked, falling over it again as she tried climbing in.
"Maybe he used his wings to help get in." Rarity said, walking over. "Here, let me help you in."
She used her magic, surrounding Applejack in her aura and lifting her up, struggling a bit, but managed to get her in there where she can sleep, swinging a bit as she got comfortable.
"Thank's Rarity." Applejack said, watching her friend go to the couch. "Ya think them masseur's can really help him? He seemed to be in some serious pain when he walked in."
"Don't worry Applejack, I'm sure he'll be fine." Rarity replied, not sure about her own response. "Remember, he can heal himself of his injuries, but this seems more like he's sore. But if it'll put your mind at ease, you might call Nurse Red Heart and ask her to examine him before we go to the Spa, just to make sure there isn't anything wrong with him."
Applejack smiled and nodded her head, agreeing with the idea as she laid back and let the hammock swing back and forth, helping her to drift to sleep her eyes started to close, letting both mares sleep peacefully after a chaotic night.