Equestria. A land of harmony, magic, and beauty beyond compare.
But it wasn't always that way; no, once upon a time it had been a nightmare relam; lorded over by monsters, wendigos, dragons and all other assortment of evil creatures, all under the command of their creator and father, Grogar the goat. They did as they pleased, destroying and taking whatever struck their fancy.
Until a small pony named Gusty, stole Grogar's bell, the source of his powers. She then used the bell to reshape Equestria, giving herself and her people magic to make their lives better and push back against the monsters that caused them so much trouble….and unintentionally cutting the ponies off from the world and making them reliant on said magic.
So much so, that eventually twin princesses Celestia and Luna, who rose up the sky and controlled dreams, respectively, decided to, after some, for lack of a better term. family drama, decided to step down and let their people grow without them,
This is were the Mane 6 came along; six ponies, all radically different in tastes, temperance and even species (two unicorn, two Pegasi and two 'earth' ponies), who came together as friends to not only defend their homeland, but guide it towards change, while learning vlaueable lessons along the way.
They were the bookish magical prodigy Twilight Sparkle, the humble and brave Applejack, the generous fashionista Rarity, the kindhearted and meek animal lover Fluttershy, the competitive yet loyal to the core Rainbow Dash and the cheerful maniacal Pinkie Pie.
And of course, Twilight's pet/assistant/surrogate baby brother, the dragon Spike.
Just recently, the Mane 6 had overcome the reality warping arch-enemy of their Princess, the trickster Discord himself. After weeks of chaos, the land was finally back to normal….
However, there was going to be a change coming very soon. New visitors from a distant realm were soon coming...and it would all begin on a starry night.
-MLP-
Luna, the Princess of the Night and the younger Royal Sister who governed Equestria was gazing at the night sky. After seeing to her royal duties of securing everyone's dreams, she had decided to take some time to herself for the time being.
As she looked up at the stars, her eyes widened when they started shifting beyond her control. The stars began bunching together into eight different groups, each one taking a distinctive shape.
"What otherworldly magic is this?"
Taking a closer look at the shapes the stars made, Luna could make them out; a swirl of air, a three-pronged leaf, a fireball, a teardrop, a mountain, a skull, a gear, and most peculiar of all; an eight-pointed star that closely resembled the Cutie Mark of her sister's faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
"I need to tell Tia this."
Rushing to her sister's bedroom, Luna moved and gently nudged Celestia awake. The Princess of the Sun moaned as she turned over to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
"Luna, what has gotten into you?"
"I do apologize for disturbing your slumber, sister. But while I was out stargazing, a peculiar phenomenon graced the skies."
Celestia, her interest piqued, made her way out of bed and stood up. Even in just a nightgown, she looked majestic and regal.
"Lead the way."
Luna nodded and brought Celestia to the scaffolding where she had seen the stars move of their own accord. The strange constellations were still visible in the night sky.
"What could this even mean?"
Luna shook her head. "I do not know. I can assure you that I had nothing to do with the star's strange behavior."
Celestia zeroed in on the constellation that resembled Twilight's Cutie Mark. The eight-pointed star seemed to give off a small lilac glow. It wasn't just that either, the other symbols were glowing different colors as well; grey for the skull, orange for the gear, green for the leaf, white for the swirl, blue for the teardrop, red for the fireball, and brown for the mountain.
Suddenly, eight beams shot out from the symbols towards Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Sweet Apple Acres, Everfree Forest, and Canterlot itself. Once the beams were in close enough vicinity, they separated into four smaller beams.
The eight-pronged star fired a purple beam towards Ponyville.
The gear fired a yellow beam toward Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres.
The skull fired a grey beam toward Ponyville.
The teardrop fired a blue beam toward the streams near Fluttershy's cottage.
The leaf fired a green beam towards the Everfree Forest.
The swirl fired a white beam toward Cloudsdale.
The mountain fired a brown beam toward the area between Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy's cottage.
Lastly, the fireball launched a red beam toward the mountain Canterlot was on. It separated into four before slamming into the cliffside, startling Celestia and Luna from the close proximity of the impact.
The eight symbols, after the beams subsided, gathered in a circle and spun around. Celestia and Luna watched with great unease as the spinning became faster and faster before a singular beam shot out...right toward them!
Moving to protect her sister, Celestia's horn flared a brilliant solar yellow as she held her hands out to form a magical barrier, only for it not to be necessary as the beam seemed to curve and shoot straight into the castle...right into the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the Royal Archives.
"What in the name of Faust was that?!" Luna asked.
Deciding to investigate, the Royal Sisters moved to the Starswirl the Bearded wing to investigate the source of the crash, only for their eyes to widen at who they saw.
It was a male figure clad in crystalline armor with a glowing core in the center of the chest plate that seemed to be shifting through eight different colors, the eight colors that had been seen on the constellations earlier. He had gauntlets with pristine clawed fingers, smooth curved pauldrons, a sturdy belt with a star-studded cloth that had eight coins pinned on it, each with one of the same symbols that the constellations took, knee-high boots, and a helmet and mask that concealed his features save for his brilliant amber eyes.
"Owwww... wish I could have picked where I wanted to land..."
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Celestia demanded in a firm tone. "If you seek harm toward us, we will not hesitate to retaliate."
The figure yelped and scrambled to his feet before bowing his head to the Royal Sisters.
"I-I mean no disrespect! If I had my way, I would have landed somewhere far less...cumbersome."
"Might you at least be willing to give us your name?" Luna asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry, that was rude of me." The figure said as his helmet and mask seemed to retract into themselves until they could see his face.
When they saw what he looked like, Celestia and Luna gasped in shock. The one in front of them was of a species neither had seen in a very long time, long thought to have died out in Equestria a millennium ago.
"He's..." Luna began.
Celestia nodded. "...A human."
"My name is Benjamin Eon Terra...and I'm a Portal Master."
-MLP-
Meanwhile, in the humble town of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the personal student of Princess Celestia and the bearer of the Element of Magic, was sleeping in her bedroom at the Golden Oaks Library, having a strange dream..
Twilight's Dream
It started with a castle, grand as Celestial's, piercing the heavens.
Throughout it, portals opened and closed, from which came many amazing and fantastic creatures; some walked on two legs, some were made of elements and some were…well Twilight would've had questions for them if she were awake.
Twilight found herself focusing on one dragon; an orange one who walked to a room where a single egg was placed on a satin pillow.
Suddenly, the castle shook and explosions could be heard. The sounds of a battle could be made out as another dragon, this one yellow, raced towards the one the princess had been following.
"SAVE THEM! THE DARK ARMIES HAVE COME!"
The other dragon, after a moment of hesitation, grabbed the egg and burned up a door, from which he then flew out, just in time to see a spinster figure advance on the other dragon…before coming to a meadow not too far away from where the Twilight family lived.
Spying a river, he put the egg in the water and watched it float away
"May the ancestors loom after you!...May they look after us all.."
The last the dragon was seen, someone advanced behind him.
Meanwhile, the egg floated down the river, spared from hunger predators and many other dangers before it eventually rolled it's way into a familiar place….
Back to reality!
Before she could delve more into this strange dream, a thump of magical energy awoke her. Moaning as she crawled out of bed, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes before seeing that Spike's bed was empty.
"Spike?"
Concerned, Twilight made her way downstairs to see what had become of her little brother/surrogate son/number one assistant. What she saw astonished her to no end.
Spike looked like he had gone through a growth spurt, now being the same height as her and much more lean with a bit of muscle definition to him as well. When he noticed Twilight's eyes on him, Spike yelped and backed away.
"T-Twilight!"
"Spike, what in Celestia's name happened to you?!"
"I-I don't know! I was feeling really weird so I figured I must have been thirsty so I went to get a drink of water and then BOOM! This weird explosion of magic hit me out of nowhere and when I came to, I was looking like this!"
"Normally, I'd be worried you're going through a greed growth like what happened on your birthday...but this is different," Twilight noted as she inspected Spike. "You don't feel greedy or anything, do you?"
Spike shook his head. "Nope! Perfectly normal! Although...I did find some strangers in our house."
It was then Twilight noticed two dragons lying prone on the floor just a distance from Spike. Unlike Spike, their bodies were quadruped. The first one was male and had purple scales similar to Spike but in a deeper color with yellow horns and underbelly. The second appeared to be female and had black scales with silver horns and a red underbelly.
"These don't look like any dragons I've seen before..." Twilight noted as Spike nodded.
"Yeah, I know. And I saw more than a few during the Dragon Migration."
-MLP-
While Twilight and Spike wondered what to do with Spike's new growth spurt as well as their surprise house guests, the Carousel Boutique was having a similar situation happen.
Rarity, Element of Generosity, one of the most fashionable Equines in Ponyville, and the apple of Spike's eye, was sleeping contently in her bed when she was roused from her dreams by her little sister, Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie Belle, darling, do you know what time it is?" Rarity groaned as she pulled off the sleep mask over her eyes.
"Sorry, Rarity. But there are scary creatures downstairs!"
Rarity sigged. She could chalk this up to her little sister just seeing something she thought was a monster and letting her imagination get the better of her, but just to be safe, she got out of bed and followed her downstairs.
"I can assure you, Sweetie Belle, there are no monsters or whatever downstairs. If I check, will you please go back to bed so I may return to my-"
"SLICE AND DICE!"
"FEAR THE DARK!"
Rarity let out a squawk of alarm and immediately got on guard as her horn glowed a brilliant diamond-blue. Now she realized for sure that Sweetie Belle wasn't just imagining things and if they had intruders in their house...well, Rarity would show she wasn't just some dainty damsel in distress.
"Hex, This isn't where the two Skylanders of Harmony are. They are in this town, but not in this building."
"Hopefully some of our comrades have found better luck."
Cautiously moving closer and making sure not to be seen, Rarity and Sweetie Belle saw who the two intruders were. The first appeared to be a tall skeleton clad in knight armor while the other was a beautiful woman with light blue skin, hollow white eyes, and clad in black robes with a horned black crown.
"Just what in Equestria are they?"
However, the two strangers appeared to have an exceptional sense of hearing as they turned their attention toward Rarity and Sweetie Belle, the former getting in front of her little sister protectively, ready to fight if she had to.
"Are you the owner of this house?" The skeleton knight asked. "If so, we sincerely apologize for our...sudden entrance."
"Forgive our intrusion but we are Skylanders and we are looking for the two bearers of Harmony." The woman said.
"Well, I'll have you know that you are looking at Rarity Belle, Element of Generosity." Rarity harrumphed. "And if you have any unsavory plans for me and my friends, then I will not hesitate to get unladylike with you!"
"Apologies, Madame Rarity but you are not the Harmony bearer we seek." The skeleton knight clarified. "We are looking for a purple-skinned Equine and a young dragon, both native to this realm."
Rarity gasped before her eyes narrowed again. If these two wanted Twilight and Spike, she was not going to just let them have their way without a fight.
"We aren't after them for any nefarious purposes, woman." The woman scoffed. "My name is Hex and this is my cohort, Chop Chop. We are Skylanders of the Undead Element."
"Um...what are Skylanders?" Sweetie Belle awkwardly asked from behind Rarity.
"Heroes who are chosen to protect the realm of Skylands, formerly known as the Kingdom of Avalar." Chop Chop explained. "And there is a matter of grave importance that needs the attention of the two Harmony bearers."
-MLP-
Over in Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash, bearer of the Element of Loyalty and self-titled 'Fastest Flyer in Equestria', was snoring away in bed, having her usual dream of joining the Wonderbolts and becoming the most legendary flyer in the whole kingdom.
Suddenly, a bright flash of light startled her awake, making her snort as she blinked her eyes open lazily. Looking around for the source of the disturbance, she was about to give up and go back to sleep before the corner of her vision caught something unusual.
"Is that a Griffin Egg?"
Getting out of bed to check on the egg, it suddenly began shaking before hatching into a tiny baby griffin, but it was much different from the griffins that Rainbow knew. It was quadrupedal and had black feathers, letting out a cute high-pitched caw before suddenly being sealed back in the egg it hatched from.
"Uh...what just happened?"
"Whirlwind, where's Peaky?"
Hearing a concerned maternal voice, Rainbow looked outside to see something strange; another quadrupedal griffin who looked to be an adult version of the baby she just saw with a headpiece and bracers and a bizarre creature Rainbow never thought she'd see; a cyan-scaled dragon with feathered pegasus-like wings and the horn of a unicorn.
"She couldn't have gotten far, Sonic Boom. I'm sure we'll find her." The strange dragon hybrid assured before noticing Rainbow staring and getting on guard. "Heads up, I believe one of the locals has spotted us."
"Uh, hey..." Rainbow awkwardly waved before exiting her house with the egg in hand. "I heard you were looking for a 'Peaky'? Do you mean this?"
The griffin, named Sonic Boom, smiled thankfully as she took the egg, which hatched back into the baby again.
"Yes, that's Peaky. Thank you..."
Rainbow puffed her chest proudly. "No problem. Just call me Rainbow Dash, Fastest Flier in Equestria!"
"Well, you're certainly got boastful but then again, a few of our closest friends are too." The dragon hybrid chuckled. "My name is Whirlwind, this is Sonic Boom. We were sent here by our Master Eon in search of two very important individuals. Would you be so kind as to help us find the ones known as Twilight Sparkle and Spike?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in shock. These two wanted to know where her friends were. As the Element of Loyalty, her first instinct was to make a move to protect them but she could also see the sincerity in these two newcomers' eyes that they meant no real harm.
"Alright, I'll show you where they are. But don't try anything funny, ya hear me?"
Knightmare Lord A/N:
This story idea has been on my mind for a while now since I happen to fancy myself a Brony. However, I felt comfortable working on it with my good friend Mrotrax as well since he's always got my back on these things.
Now, the My Little Pony characters will be Anthro because I do plan on some shipping that I think would look weird if it was Human x Pony. If you want a visual aid on what Anthropomorphiciation is like, check out the My Little Pony fanart by Traupa and ss2sonic on DeviantArt. As a substitute, you can also use Shepard0821's fanart for reference.
Also, in regards to the Skylanders side of things, it'll be a composite of all three versions of Spyro; Classic, Legends Trilogy, and Skylanders. And yes, there will be Crash Bandicoot at a later date, as well as a few other surprise crossovers.
Now I turn the mic over to Mrotrax. Anything you'd like to say about this story and what you look forward to trying going forward?
Mortrax A/N:
A very interesting idea that I eagerly await to see more of. Admittedly, I am more familiar with Spyro himself than the Skylanders, and even that knowledge requires a review, so this'll mostly be KML's brainchild.
All the same, I hope you enjoy what you read.