Chapter 39 Spirit of the Bear Part 2: The Journey
The next morning, light was coming into his room through the open window, hitting his eyes as he stirred away, barely opening them before using his hand to make some shade for his eyes, turning over to get some more sleep as he wanted to rest more. However, a minute later, he heard someone yell out, making him roll around in bed and getting caught in his blanket before falling off his bed, hitting the ground hard with a loud thump before trying to get up.
"Oh. Oh that hurt." He said, hissing to himself as he landed on his shoulder.
He got up free from the tangled up blanket, rubbing his shoulder as he got up and went over to the mirror, combing his hair when Rainbow Dash came rushing in, smacking into the wall, which made him turn around in surprise. He found her on the ground, rubbing her head as she got up, but when she saw Spyro, her face turned bright red as, even though he was wearing pajama pants, his top half was exposed and she saw his abs, her mind going through and trying to process what she was seeing.
"Rainbow, don't you ever knock?" Spyro asked, clearly annoyed by the mare's sudden entrance.
The mare was just starring at him, not responding to a word that he just said, which made him worry as being speechless was not something Rainbow Dash is very well known for. He walked over to see if she was ok, which she didn't move a muscle as he approached, kneeling down to let their eyes meet and waving his hand in front of her eyes, the cyan mare left in a trance as she starred off into space like she was seeing something he didn't. He then snapped his fingers next to her ear, which got her to snap out of her trance and looked around, wondering where she was until she saw Spyro, yelping and flying backwards into the wall, sliding down behind the dresser like Tom after being hit too hard into one. Shaking his head, he walked over tot he dresser and pulled it back, helping the cyan Pegasus out from behind and set her down.
"You ok Rainbow, nothing broken?" Spyro asked.
"N-n-no, nothing broken." She replied, trying her best not to look and blush, but failing miserably. "Just wanted to let you know Kenai is awake."
"Oh, so that's who was screaming." Spyro responded, walking over and putting his shirt on. "I'll be out in a minute. You can go ahead and begin scouting for the mountain peak."
"Sure thing." She replied, quickly running out of the room and taking a few breaths to calm down, groaning at herself. "Why? Why'd I have to freeze like that? Why'd he have to be so hot!?"
A couple of minutes later, Rainbow Dash walked out of the cottage, Fluttershy already outside where Tanana was trying to calm Kenai down while Pinkie was bouncing around the forest having fun. Rainbow Dash walked up next to Fluttershy to see what was going on, getting a laugh out of the panicking bear as she was about to head out.
"Good morning Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said.
"Morning Flutters." She replied. "Guess the dancing bear is having a tough time adjusting."
"Well, he isn't exactly happy." Fluttershy said, looking over and seeing Rainbow Dash blushing. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, of course I am." She replied, trying to be confident, but was instead embarrassed. "Just, accidentally flew into his room as he was getting ready." Fluttershy's face immediately turned red when Rainbow Dash said that, the cyan mare immediately waving her forelegs. "Don't get the wrong idea! His top half was naked, not the bottom."
"Oh." Fluttershy replied, calming down, but her blush was still there. "Anyway, shouldn't you be leaving to find the mountain?"
"Yeah, I better get going." She said, her wings spreading out, but then heard something behind them.
"Wait up Rainbow." Spyro said, the cottage disappearing in a flash of light, surprising them. "You forgot the transmitter."
"Oh thanks." She replied, Spyro putting it on her leg. "So, how does it work?"
"Simple, just press the green button and it will guide you back to us." Spyro replied. "Once you find the mountain, it will lock onto my bracers signal and guide you back to us. Now get going, time is not exactly on our side."
Rainbow Dash saluted and took off into the air and heading in a random direction, following the rapids to see if she could get lucky. As she took off, Tanana looked over to see Spyro up and awake, smiling as her new friends were finally ready.
"Ah, Spyro, come, come." She said, motioning them over. "Kenai, these are some new friends who are going to help you." The bear looked over to SPyro, seeing the two ponies following behind them and wondered what they were. "Kenai, I'd like you to meet Spyro, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. They're the ones who pulled you out of the river."
"Oh really?" Kenai asked, surprising Spyro and Pinkie Pie. "Guess I owe you guys one."
"Ah, don't mention it bud." Spyro replied, surprising him and Tanana. "Glad to see you can still talk like a human even though you're a bear."
Tanana and Kenai looked at each other, completely surprised that he understood him, which made Spyro wonder what was going on. He looked back to ask what was going on, finding Pinkie had the same confused look as they did, but was starring at Kenai as she also seemed to understand what he just said.
"Um, Fluttershy, am I missing something here?" Spyro asked.
"Well, you seem to understand Kenai, although Tanana doesn't understand him." She responded.
"Wait what?" Spyro asked, looking back at the elder and the bear. "Tanana, you can't understand him?"
"Of course not." She replied. "To me, he's speaking like a bear."
Spyro looked at Kenai, not believing that he can understand what he is saying and looking back at Fluttershy, who nodded her head, letting him know that what Tanana was saying was true. He then motioned for the girls to follow him so they could talk in private, kneeling down so they can whisper, keeping what they were saying to themselves.
"Ok, this makes everything much easier for us." Spyro whispered. "No we know there isn't a language barrier between us, we can speak with him freely. But that doesn't mean you're off the mission yet Fluttershy." He looked back to the two locals and then returned his attention back to the mares. "We still need your help with some of the animals Flutters."
"No worries." She replied. "I'm actually glad to be here. Hope we get to meet some new creatures."
"Well, if you're lucky, given the look of this world and the possible time period, there's a good chance you might get to see a mammoth." Spyro said.
"What's a mammoth?" Fluttershy asked.
Spyro put his hand over his eyes, remembering that they never saw a mammoth before and knew she was going to loose her ind when she got to see one. After speaking with them, Spyro got off his knee, grateful for doing so as it was getting sore, and walked back over to Tanana and Kenai.
"Alright, we're ready." Spyro said. "Now, we need to reach the mountain peak where the lights touch the earth, right?"
"Exactly." She replied, redrawing the mountain. "Once you reach the peak of the mountain, you can then talk to Sitka's spirit. He'll help you to to make up for what you've done wrong."
"But, I didn't do anything wrong." Kenai said, looking to Tanana, but she was gone, spooking even Spyro as he was also there. "Tanana!? Tanana!?"
"Where'd she go?" Spyro asked, everyone looking around. "Pinkie, did you teach her how to break the fourth wall?"
"Nope." Pinkie replied. "And, what's breaking the fourth wall?"
"Forget it." He replied. "Alright, we better wait for now until Rainbow Dash comes back."
"Who's Rainbow Dash?" Kenai asked.
"The fourth member of our team." Spyro replied. "Sent her ahead to see if she can find the mountain Tanana was talking about."
"But, I didn't do anything wrong." Kenai said, sitting sat the edge of three river.
"Keep telling yourself that Kenai." Spyro responded. "You'll soon see what you did do wrong."
A second later, they heard some arguing coming from the tree, Kenai and Spyro went over to check it out and found a couple of chipmunks arguing. Before they could ask anything, the little guys git spooked and ran away, one of them spitting out a couple of acorns before running, fleeing in the opposite direction, which they then heard some geese go by and argue as well, Kenai trying to call out to them for directions to the mountain but was too far away, loosing hope until they heard some laughter. They looked where it was coming from and found a couple male moose's who were laughing, but a moment later saw that both Kenai and Spyro saw them and panicked, running into each other and their antlers got locked.
"Hey, you two!" Kenai shouted, the moose's ducking below the tree to avoid being seen, which failed tragically.
"Oh boy, this is going to be a long day." Spyro said, walking with Kenai to the two spooked moose's. "Hey, you two need some help?"
"They saw us, what do we do?" One of them asked.
"Pretend we aren't here." The other replied.
"Uh, we aren't here!" the first one shouted.
Both Spyro and Kenai looked at each other, the two of them not believing a word they said, so Kenai decided to poke his head under the log to talk to them while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came up behind them. But when they came up, the two moose's panicked and pulled out of the log, frightened by Kenai as he was a bear and thought they were going to eat them.
"Please, don't eat us!" The dark red one said.
"Yeah, we don't taste very good." The other added.
"Yeah, you know what, eat hoof for brains here." The dark red one said.
"Oh nice one pinecone breath!" The orange one replied.
They then started exchanging insults, going at each other, which annoyed Spyro as he was waiting for them to stop long enough for them to talk, but when one said big nose, the other got very upset, taking it as his cue, he motioned for Fluttershy to do her magic, the yellow Pegasus flying to them, which surprised Kenai to see a flying pony.
"It's ok you two." She said, the two of them stopping and starring at Fluttershy, trying to figure out what she was as she separated them. "No one's going to eat you. Not even the bear."
"Oh, thank goodness." The red one said, the two of them standing up. "That's a relief."
"You said it." The orange one replied. "I'm Tug. this is my brother Rutt."
"How's it going bear?" Rutt asked.
"No, I'm not a bear." Kenai replied, Spyro pressing his fingers against the top of his nose, knowing this is not going to work.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Rutt said. "Hmm, Mr. Bear?"
"No, I'm not a bear" Kenai repeated.
Spyro just decided to sit down and wait for this to play out, knowing they were going to be there for a long time. While he waited for Kenai to try and explain he wasn't a bear but a man, but the two brothers just laughed and started making jokes thinking he was crazy. Pinkie sat down with him while Fluttershy flew around looking at all the different animals she could find, captivated by how they looked and how they spoke. As time went on, the goose moose were still making fun of Kenai, which he finally had enough and got up, looking over to Kenai.
"Kenai, forget it." Spyro said, the three of them looking to him. "These two aren't going to help us. We better find someone else while we wait for Rainbow Dash."
"Agreed." Kenai said, the two moose speechless.
"Wait, hold on, you can understand us?" Tug asked.
"That's not possible." Rutt added. "A human understanding is woodland creatures? That's completely impossible."
"Who say anything's impossible?" Spyro asked, he and Kenai walking down a path.
"Oh, I wouldn't go that way if I were you." Tug said.
"Really, why?" Spyro asked.
A moment later he got his answer when Kenai got caught in a trap that pulled him, bouncing him off a rock, a tree and repeating the process, the moose watching with blank expressions while Spyro just cringed at the whole thing. When he was done bouncing, Kenai was dangling int he tree snare.
"Yikes." He said. "You got yourself caught in a snare."
"Thanks for the heads up captain obvious." Kenai snapped. "Can you get me down."
"Maybe, but you're pretty high up." Spyro replied. "I better get Fluttershy to help out." As he turned to get his friend, both she and Pinkie Pie were no where to be seen, groaning as he knew he needed to keep an eyes on them. "Well, they're lost. I'll be right back."
He then walked towards where he last saw them, the moose already gone, but Pinkie and Fluttershy were nowhere to be seen. He then saw a set of hoof prints, walking over to have a better look at them and knew they were too small to be the moose, so they had to be a ponies, following the trail until he reached a split in the river, which was a half mile downstream and the tracks went into the water. Leaping over, he found the tracks again and followed them to a clearing where Pinkie Pie was rolling around in some grass and flowers, giggling and having a good time, smelling a few of the roses each time.
"Pinkie, what are you doing here?" Spyro asked, walking out from the bushes to see a lot of caribou.
"Hunter!" One shouted, the whole heard stampeding the opposite direction, which Pinkie followed, screaming.
"Pinkie Pie!" Spyro shouted, the mare looking back.
"Oh, hi Spyro." She responded, running backwards as her legs moved very fast, turning around to face him. "Whatcha doing?"
"Me? I should be asking you what you were doing." Spyro said. "You really worried me when I couldn't find you back at the river."
"Oh, I just met those really nice moose thingies." She replied. "The little ones were so much fun to play with!"
"They're called Caribou." Spyro said. "And right now, having you wonder off is the last thing I need. What would happen if a human saw you and tried to capture you? I'd never be able to find you."
"I'm sorry/" She replied, looking down, which Spyro couldn't stay mad at her, bringing her in for a hug.
"I can't stay mad at ya party animal." Spyro said, Pinkie returning the hug before they separated. "But right now, we need to find Fluttershy. Have you seen her?"
"Nope." She replied. "Last I saw, she was near the river trying to talk to some fish."
They then went to the river again, finding a bunch of salmon swimming away from the waterfall and followed them, thinking they would eventually find their missing Pegasus. After spending half of the day trying to find her, Spyro and Pinkie returned to where they had set camp, but they then saw Fluttershy again, on the other side of the river, lying down in a patch of grass with a bunch of bunnies all around her. Clearly annoyed, he walked across the water and approached the happy mare, the bunnies catching wind of his scent and ran for the bushes, the mare wondering why they ran until she saw Spyro.
"Oh, hey Spyro." She said, flying to him. "I was just talking with some of the bunnies. They were very nice."
"Yeah, nice." Spyro replied. "Flutters, I was looking for you all day, I was really worried."
"I'm sorry." She replied, looking down.
"Oh, don't worry about it." Spyro said, taking her in his arms. "We got four more days to get back. It's still enough time." She smiled and snuggled into his arms, enjoying his strong embrace as she took in every second. "Right now, Kenai is trapped in a snare. We need to get him down."
"A trap!?" She exclaimed in worry. "Oh dear. Let's go, hurry."
Spyro carried the yellow Pegasus back across the water and towards the ensnared bear, only to find that Kenai was on the ground, the tree branch snapped and him rubbing his head.
"And good riddance!" He shouted, looking over to see Spyro and his friends. "Well, it's about time you came back. Where were you?"
"Sorry Kenai." Spyro responded. "Had to find these two. They wondered off on me."
"Yeah, I bet." He replied, getting up but he smelled something behind him, looking back.
Spyro, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie looked where he was looking to see what he was looking at, finding the same human they saw on the mountain top. Kenai was excited to see him, walking up and trying to talk to him, calling him Denahi, which to the human only sounded like the bear roaring at him. A moment later, Spyro sensed something was wrong, setting Fluttershy down and walking up, but Denahi raised his hand, telling him to stop.
"Stay there." Denahi said. "This bear is mine."
"Um, Spyro." Pinkie said, getting his attention. "My knee feels pinchy."
He knew that meant meant something and looked back to Denahi, a dark aura soon appeared around his arms, Spyro seeing the black mist and realizing that Kenai was in trouble. Before Denahi could do anything, vines wrapped around his legs, catching him off guard as he was pulled to the ground and dragged across it, being pulled into the air just as three of those icy deer like Heartless appeared from the void, startling Kenai as he backed away.
"Winterhorns!" Spyro shouted, calling his Keyblade just as one lunged for Kenai, striking it down and a pink heart flying out of the defeated Heartless. "Kenai, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, run!"
He turned his attention to the two remaining Winterhorns, dodging their attacks and striking them down before running down the slope after his friends, finding them running to a glacier on the other side of the crevice. He hopped down and ran after them, Denahi close by as he cut himself down and watched him run to the massive wall of ice, seeing that the guy he was saving had a weapon in the shape of a key, realizing he's one of the two guys Maleficent wanted dead. At the wall of ice, Spyro saw Fluttershy go through a massive hole in the ice and followed just behind her, squeezing through the crevice until he was inside of the massive chunk of ice, Kenai, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie leaned against the wall of the ice cave, watching as Denahi ran over head, Spyro keeping silent as he walked on the roof.
"Is he gone?" A little boy asked, Kenai grabbing a cub and keeping him quiet as Denahi ran away just as more Winterhorns came up and followed him.
Everyone took sighed in relief, Kenai releasing the cub as the little guy took in some air and saw Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, giving them a confused look, wondering what they were, but he then smelled something nearby and looked to the entrance, seeing Spyro and his eyes widening as he tried to run.
"Hunter!" The cub shouted, wanting to run, but Kenai grabbed him.
"Hey, easy there bud, he's ok." Kenai said, the cub fighting him. "He's not going to hurt us."
"Yeah, like I'm going to believe that!" The cub shouted. "He's a monster. They hunt us. We need to run."
"Wow, easy there little guy." Spyro said. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you."
He reached out with the Force, using it to try and calm the cub down, which was working as the cub stopped struggling against Kenai, looking up to him and seeing he didn't have a spear and had his hands in the air, looking up to see a soft smile forming on his face as he reached out his hand to the cub. The frightened bear cub sniffed his hand and looked back up, Kenai setting him down as Spyro placed his hand on the cubs back, the little guy shivering at the touch, but then liked it as he scratched his back, grinning as he was being scratched.
"Oh yeah, I like that." The cub said. "Maybe he's not a bad guy after all."
"Glad to hear you say that." Spyro said, spooking the cub.
"You can hear me talk?" The cub asked in shock.
"Yes I can." He replied. "And no, I'm not going to-"
He stopped when he heard something above them again, looking up to see a set of hooves, which the cub ran back to Kenai, who held onto him as the unknown creature walked around on the ice. Spyro called his Keyblade, appearing in a flash of light, which the cub saw and was surprised to see it, but returned his gaze to the roof, the unknown creature was walking around and used her forelegs to shade her eyes like she was looking for something.
"Is it a Heartless?" Fluttershy asked, both bears looking at her in confusion.
"No, the hooves are too big to be Winterhorns." Spyro replied. "And they're too small to be a Satyr or a Mechanitaur."
"Spyro!" Rainbow Dash shouted, the three of them recognizing the voice. "Fluttershy! Pinkie Pie!"
"Rainbow, down here!" Spyro shouted, the Pegasus looking at the ice and seeing a shadow, but could make out the Keyblade.
She looked around for a way to get into the cave, finding the opening into it after a little while, squeezing in as she pushed through and saw her friends and the cub hiding in the icy cave.
"Hey guys, what are you doing in here?" Rainbow Dash asked, walking up to them.
"Hiding." Pinkie replied, covering her head. "A human attacked us with a whole bunch of Heartless!"
"Come on, a few Winterhorns is not a bunch." Spyro replied.
"What are you guys talking about?" Kenai asked, letting the cub go. "And what are Heartless?"
"They're monsters." Fluttershy replied, getting their attention. "They are born from the darkness within the heart of every creature, humans and animals."
"And it seems Denahi is in control of some of them." Spyro said, sitting down on a patch of earth. "That means only one thing; Maleficent is here."
As he said the name, a cold chill went through the whole cave, Fluttershy and Pinkie shivering when they heard the name while Rainbow Dash put on a brave face, but her legs were shaking. Everyone was quiet for a long time, but it was the cub that broke the silence, running up and standing on his hind legs, supporting himself on Spyro's leg.
"Hey, is that really a Keyblade!?" The cub said excitedly, everyone, even Kenai starring at him in shock.
"Wait, you know what a Keyblade is?" Spyro asked.
Kenai then looked to the weapon Spyro was holding, looking closely as the cub was right. He got up and walked forward a couple of steps, his mouth falling to the ground as he saw the magical weapon in his friend's hand, not believing what he was seeing.
"By the spirits, it is a Keyblade." Kenai said.
"Wait, you too?" Spyro asked. "You both know about the Keyblade?"
"Sure I do." The cub replied, getting off Spyro's leg. "My mom told me all about them as a bed time story. But I never thought I'd get to actually see one."
"Me neither." Kenai said. "Those weapons are thought to only be a myth. Something only those long ago wielded."
"Well, now myth has become fact." Spyro said, dismissing the Keyblade. "Anyway, I think introductions are in order. Kenai, you already know Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, but this pony here is Rainbow Dash, fastest flier there is."
"You mean THE fastest flier in the whole world!" Rainbow Dash added, boasting as usual.
"And I'm Koda." The cub said. "Nice to meet you all."
A second later, the sun began to set, making the cave colder, so Spyro took out some sleeping bags and tossed them to the mares, everyone unrolling them to settle down for the night.
"It's getting dark out." Spyro said. "We better stay here for the night. Rainbow, did you find the mountain where the lights touch the earth?"
"Sure did." Rainbow Dash replied, pressing a blue button as a holographic projection of a map appeared. "Even figured out how to make a map with this thing."
"Nice work Rainbow Dash." Spyro said. "We'll leave first thing in the morning."
"Hey, can I come with you guys?" Koda asked. "The Salmon run is on the way to the mountain, we can go there and rest for a while. There are lots of bears there."
"No, it of the question." Kenai replied, everyone shocked by his answer.
"What, why not?" Koda asked. "You Pinkie swore."
"Yeah, well things have changed." Kenai answered, Pinkie looking visibly angry. "Besides, I don't need a cub slowing-"
You listen here mister promise Breaky McBreakerson!" Pinkie Shouted, appearing in front of Kenai and her neck stretched out to a length that not even Spyro could explain, the mare making Kenai back up as they saw flames in her eyes. "No pony, and I mean no pony dares to break a Pinkie promise! You dare to break that promise and I'll make you sorry you ever did. You understand!?" Kenai nodded his head quickly, feeling his heart pounding against his chest as he starred into the pink mares angry flaming eyes until she closed them, smiling as she did and her neck going back to normal. "Ok."
She then trotted to her sleeping bag, passing by a very shocked and fearful Spyro as his back and arms were hugging the wall, very much scared of the pink mare just as much as Kenai was, shaking from either the cold or from fear, it didn't matter to him as he got off the wall and shakily got back into his sleeping bag, looking to Rainbow Dash.
"Remind me not to tick her off." Spyro said.
"That's not too difficult." Rainbow Dash said. "Just keep the promise you made and you won't be on the receiving end of her anger."
He looked over to the pink mare, watching as she curled up into a ball in the sleeping bag he gave her, falling asleep instantly just as everyone else fell asleep. He was about to fall asleep himself when he noticed Koda trying to lie against Kenai to keep warm, but Kenai just pushed him away, not interested in being his friend and still holding hatred in his heart towards bears. Koda was hurt by how Kenai was pushing him away, curling up to conserve body heat, but a second later found himself floating in the air, gasping as he was being pulled towards Spyro, who set him down in his sleeping bag and zipped it up.
"There, you can sleep with me for tonight." Spyro said. "And don't;t take Kenai's anger personally. He lost his brother to a bear a while ago and holds a deep hatred for other bears."
"Really?" Koda asked, looking over to him. "Maybe I can help him."
"Maybe you can." Spyro said, smiling. "But it won't be easy. Hatred like that runs deep and will take time to let go of, if he can even let it go."
"Don't worry, I know how to make someone happy." Koda said, yawning as he fell asleep.
Spyro couldn't help but smile, Koda reminding him of Scootaloo as he set his head down for the night, dreaming of Equestria and of his little sister, playing in the fields with her friends and preparing everything they needed for the school talent show, seeing what they were gong to do and smiling, feeling proud of her and her friends for doing what they needed to do for the talent show. It then shifted to the world they were on, finding that Sora was at the ship still trying to get a signal out, still trying to call his friends when he looked at Spyro, though he could see him, he somehow knew he was there, reaching out to him as he reached out as well, but was then sent into another scene, the top of the mountain where the lights and spirits were dancing again, this time it was completely different. The lights were completely red as a massive Heartless rose from the edge of the cliff side and next to it was a Golem, both starring at him as he cowered in fear, starring at the massive behemoths as the Heartless raised it's fist and sent it straight at him, before making impact, he woke up in a cold sweat, waking Koda up as he saw the sun rising through the ice.
"Hey, what's going on?" Koda asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good." Spyro replied. "Just a bad dream."
"Oh." Koda said, stretching himself out as Kenai woke up. "Don't worry. I get those every now and then."
After a little bit, the girls woke up and stretched themselves out, rolling up the sleeping bags and handing them back to Spyro as he put them back into his bag to store them for later, explaining to Koda how his bag worked as they went through the cave. As they went, Koda kept goofing off, making funny faces in the ice, which everyone but Kenai were laughing at the young cub as he was having fun, but Kenai was ignoring the cub as they were leaving the glacier, but Spyro felt something enter the cave. He felt the same darkness he felt in Denahi and knew he was following them, so he took it into his own hands and reached out his palm, a small circle of wind appearing in his hand as he imagined the attack in his mind, the miniature twister shooting out and towards the target. He walked out of the cave just as something crashed through the walls of the glacier, turning back to watch the entire cave collapse just as his friends turned back to see what was falling down and saw the cave collapsed, grateful they weren't in there.
On the other side of the glacier, Denahi was knocked unconscious for a moment after being hit by some kind of miniature twister and got up, Tug and Rutt watching as he got up and more Winterhorns appeared by his side, which caused the two moose brothers to shake in fear.
"Rutt, should we run?" Tug asked.
"Maybe, but-" Rutt replied, watching as Maleficent appeared out of a corridor of darkness, approaching Denahi.
"What's the matter my friend?" She asked. "Why are you here instead of going after the bear and the Keyblade bearer protection him?"
"A twister came out of no where and destroyed the passage!" Denahi snapped. "Whoever did that doesn't want us to follow."
"It seems the Keyblade bearer has thought ahead." She said, walking up to the glacier. "Fear not, there are other ways of getting to them. You just need to take the long way around."
As she said it, she looked up to Tug and Rutt, Denahi looking where she was and saw them two of them and glared at them, which caused the two moose brothers to start running away, Denahi running after them as Maleficent watched, smiling as he ran after them while opening a dark corridor and walking through it. Back with Spyro and his group, they were walking across fields and through some wooded areas to get to the Salmon run and to the mountain where the northern lights touch the earth, stopping every now and then to take a break and get something to eat, Koda talking about some stories he had and about they adventure so far as many of them were captivated by the story and looked at Spyro, amazed that he really did have a Keyblade. However, when they rested for the night, Spyro got out another cottage his friends came in to rest for the night, but Kenai and Koda stayed outside for the night, Koda trying to sleep with Kenai, but the human turned bear kept walking to a new spot to sleep, Spyro feeling bad for him as they went to bed.
The next morning, they continued on their journey when they came to a field of dandelions, Koda getting excited and ran through them, which SPyro couldn't help but join in and ran through them as well and even Pinkie joined the fun, the three of them laughing as they ran through the field of flowers, making the seeds fly everywhere while covering Kenai in them, looking like a overgrown sheep, which everyone was laughing at as he looked ridiculous. After he got the seeds off of him, they came to an edge of a cliff where a strong gust of wind was blowing and Koda couldn't help but lean off the edge, the wind holding him in the air with his arms stretched out, which Kenai then joined in and did the same thing, which he seemed to be having fun. Pinkie then joined in, the wind keeping them from falling off the edge, the pink mare giggling as the wind allowed them to stay in place, but the wind then stopped, the three of them went tumbling down the edge of the cliff, which Spyro and the two Pegasi looked over the edge, worried about them.
When they saw them land in mud, the three of them were dirty and covered in mud, but were unharmed, which he was thankful for, but Kenai ended up having a Mohawk, which Koda and Pinkie laughed at how funny it looked, but Kenai smiled mischievously, messing with heir hair using the mud to make their hair look ridiculous, the three of them laughing and running out of the mud. Kenai needed up starting to have fun and ran around in the forest with Koda close behind, his heart finally opening up to the little cub and having fun with him.
"I don't believe it." Spyro said, smiling in disbelief. "Koda did it. He's softening Kenai's heart."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, the three of them walking with the bears and Pinkie after catching up.
"Kenai's heart held contempt for the young cub." Spyro answered. "But he's now enjoying Koda's company and having fun. This means his hate for bears is starting to weaken."
As they walked, they heard something running up behind them, sounding like hooves, so he immediately thought it was Winterhorns and turned around, calling his Keyblade, but it was only Tug and Rutt, who ran past him and hid behind Kenai.
"Hey how you doing bear, man, bear-man thing?" Tug asked, then saw Koda. "Oh, I didn't know you have a little brother. He's kinda cute."
"Oh no, he's not my-" Kenai said, but was interrupted.
"Anyway, sorry for appearing so suddenly, but we have a quick favor to ask you." Rutt said, getting up. "You see, we ran into a hunter and a bunch of these deer looking things and ran for it. We were wondering if we could join you?"
"Wait, deer looking things?" Spyro asked. "Did they have antlers that look like they're made of ice?"
"Yeah, exactly." Tug replied.
"Winterhorns." Spyro said. "We don't;t have to worry about them. The passage through the glacier is collapsed. He won't follow us."
"Then what about those?" Rutt asked, everyone looking to the tracks left behind. "We found another way past the glacier and he'll probably be following those to find us."
He knew they were right and didn't;t have time to cast a spell to cover their tracks, but Kenai looked to his left and got an idea, telling everyone to follow him and nearby was a herd of mammoths, Fluttershy in absolute shock when she saw them and needed Spyro to carry her onto their backs as she was speechless and frozen. When they got on their backs, Rainbow Dash voting to stay in the air, they rode on top of the mammoths and were having a blast, Koda finding the feeling of riding on top of the mammoth weird, but soon got use to it, enjoying the ride just as much as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were. Soon, some of the other woodland creatures saw them riding on top of the mammoths, Koda inviting them to join them, which they got on top of some of the other mammoths, eveyrone enjoying the ride as they reached the river, everyone that was a small animal got onto their trunks, enjoying the view as they went.
Denahi was following the tracks from the bear, the Heartless by his side following the tracks until they came to a river, the tracks ending there and causing him to yell out in frustration. He was about to run across to the other side of the river, but then saw something that changed everything, mammoth tracks. He then realized they are riding mammoths, looking in the direction the tracks were going, he ran in that same direction, hoping to catch up with his target and to take care of the guy who was helping the bear avoid him.
As the night was coming, everyone was settling down on the mammoths, Spyro taking out a blanket to keep himself warm as Fluttershy snuggled up to him while Pinkie circled around somewhere on another mammoth like a dog does to make itself comfortable for the night. Rainbow Dash flew down onto another mammoth and set down, getting ready to fall asleep like everyone else when they heard Koda talking, the little guy talking a bit about some of the things that happened when he traveled with his mom, even about some of the stories his mother told him about the Keyblade, which the mammoths rolled their eyes at the over excited bear cub, even Spyro smiled at the cub and was about to go to sleep, but then the northern lights came back and lit the sky up, everyone who was about to sleep looking up at the show of lights.
"Wow, the light rainbow!" Koda said in excitement. "That's where the spirits are."
"You know about the great spirits?" Kenai asked.
"Yeah, my grandparents are up there." Koda replied. "My mom says the spirits make all the magical changes in the world. Like the snow turned to grassy the leaves change color, the moon changes shape, how tadpoles turn to frogs-"
"Yeah, I get it." Kenai said, turning away from Koda. "Maybe for once they could leave things alone."
"What do you mean?" Koda asked.
"My brother is a spirit." Kenai replied, sadness coming from his heart. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here."
"You had a brother?" Koda asked, looking up to the northern lights before looking back to Kenai. "What happened to him?"
"He was killed by a b-" Kenai began saying, but stopped himself and thought carefully about what he was going to say next. "By a monster."
Koda could tell Kenai was upset and didn't want to talk about it and looked up to Spyro, hoping he might have an idea for what to do, but Spyro just motioned for Koda to keep going and to comfort him, the young cub walking up onto Kenai's back and looking down at the unhappy bear, Kenai looking up to Koda.
"What was your brother's name?" Koda asked.
"Sitka." Kenai replied, letting Koda look back up to the sky with a smile.
"Thank's Sitka." Koda said to the lights. "Without you, I'd never have met Kenai." Kenai looked to the sky as well, thinking about his brother as he felt his heart drop until Koda got off his back and got back onto the tusk and snuggled up to Kenai. "I always wanted a brother."
Kenai looked down and Koda and then back into the sky, thinking about what Koda said as the lights kept dancing, smiling as he looked up and went to sleep. But Spyro and his friends were still awake, Fluttershy and Spyro sitting up just as Pinkie and Rainbow Dash came over to speak with them.
"It's sad that Kenai lost his brother." Fluttershy said. "He must really miss him."
"Yeah, but why say a monster killed his brother?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Why not say it was a-"
Spyro covered her mouth, looking back to the two bears to make sure they were both asleep and sensed Koda was out like a light before removing his hand.
"He doesn't want to say it was a bear to not hurt Koda's feelings." Spyro replied. "Plus, it would be awkward if he learned Kenai is a human."
"But that's not the reason for why you want to keep it secret, is it?" Pinkie asked.
"No, it's not." Spyro answered, looking down at the bears. "And during the journey, Koda said he lost his mom as a monster was hunting her. I'll give you three guesses who the hunter was."
The girls were confused for a moment, but then looked down at Kenai and Koda, wondering what he meant, but then a lightbulb turned on in Fluttershy's mind, her heart breaking for the little cub.
"Oh no." Fluttershy said, a tear rolling down her eye. "You don't mean-"
"I'm afraid so." Spyro replied, confusing Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. "The bear Kenai killed... was Koda's mom." As soon as he said it, the air between them became stall, Pinkie's mane started to deflate and Rainbow Dash looked down at her hooves, not wanting to admit it, but she felt sorry for both Koda and Kenai. "This stays between us. Koda likes Kenai and I don't want his entire world to shatter if he learns the truth."
"But he needs to know eventually." Fluttershy replied. "When Kenai turns back to a human, Koda will be heartbroken."
"I know." Spyro replied, lying down reaching his hands behind his head, looking to the sky. "But it's something Kenai needs to tell him, not us. And Kenai doesn't even know what he did, but he will learn eventually. And when he does, everything might change. For better or for worse."
As he payed there, the girls looked towards the two bears, feeling sorry for Koda and sorry for Kenai as the bond they were forming might end up shattering when the truth comes out, and looked back at each other. Fluttershy shuffled over to Spyro and lied down nest to him, getting settled for the night while Pinkie remained where she was sitting, laying down where she sat and closed her eyes while Rainbow Dash wanted to lay down as well, she looked over to Spyro, thinking about what he had just said and then to Kenai, though she wasn't;t the sentimental type, she felt bad for them. She eventually laid down and closed her eyes to get some sleep, letting herself drift to dream land while they were still on the mammoths.