Chapter 45: The Cutie Mark Chronicles
A week went by and Spyro was back in his garage making a few adjustments to the Dragons Crest, updating its systems to allow for better maneuvering, to improve its targeting matrix, and adding a special block to the Dragon's Crest and to The Phoenix. A moment later, Scootaloo came running into the garage so she could ask Spyro for some help to get ideas for things the crusaders could do when she saw him with a projection of his ship and of a black and white Gummi block he added inside of the ship, which he then pulled up the Phoenix and did the same, removing a block to allow for this new one before pressing a command that pulled both of them up. A moment later, a link between them popped up and started to turn green, slowly the link turned green starting at the Dragons Crest and moved it's way to the Phoenix and after a few moments, it turned completely green and the projection disappeared, which Spyro noticed Scootaloo coming up to him, smiling as she approached.
"Hey Spyro, can I ask for your help?" She asked.
"Sure Scoots, always." Spyro replied. "You got me at the right time. I finished making some adjustments to my ships. Now what can I help you with?"
"We need some fresh idea's for things we can do to get our Cutie Marks." Scootaloo replied. "Are there any kind of activities in your old world that we could try here?"
"Glad you asked Scoots." Spyro replied, pulling up a list of things. "There's lots of stuff you could try. I have a list of stuff you could go through from my old world you could try here. Just don't do anything too crazy, ok?"
"Sure thing Spyro." Scootaloo replied. "Thanks a lot."
"No problem Scoots." Spyro replied, ruffling her hair. "I'm heading into the next room to check on a new project I'm working on. I'll be right back."
He then walked over to the door into the Core of the Garage and walked over to it's console, pressing a few buttons and the machinery came to life, all the crystals moving around until a storm grey colored crystal appeared on the console, allowing for Spyro to pick it up and examine it before walking out of the core and return to the hanger bay, only to find that Scootaloo was no longer there. Thinking she found something she liked, he went back over to the console and put the crystal into a gold bracelet he had made so that it can be used, but before he could put it into the vault or test it, he noticed the thing that Scootaloo had looked up and felt his skin crawl. He found that she was looking at Zip lining, knowing the kind of trouble she and her friends like to get into, he flew out of the garage to look for them, looking for high enough places where they could try Zip lining and saw a rope tied from one end of a one tree and followed it to see the girls already zip lining, but the three of them grouped up in the middle of the line, snapping and making the girls scream as they fell.
He rushed towards where they were going to fall, he called on his Dragonic magic and slowed down time all around him, getting underneath the tree they were going to fall out of before time went back to normal, the three dare devil fillies landing on his back, covered in sticky sap and pine needles.
"You three ok?" Spyro asked.
"Other than being covered in sap, we're ok." Sweetie Belle replied.
"That's good to hear." Spyro replied, leering at Scootaloo. "Guess I wasn't being specific when I said 'Not too crazy.'"
"Heh, sorry Spyro." Scootaloo said, giving him a nervous smile. "It just looked kind of cool."
"Yeah, and dangerous if done improperly." Spyro added. "Let's get you girls cleaned up."
Spyro took the girls back to Sweet Apple Acres, where he got a few buckets of warm water for the fillies and waited for them to get clean off before addressing them for doing something dangerous like that, lecturing them about some of the other kinds of things that could have happened to them, how far worse they could have been if he hadn't found them in time.
"We're sorry Spyro." The fillies said in unison.
"I'm just glad you three aren't hurt." Spyro said. "Maybe try something that isn't as dangerous."
The fillies looked up to him apologetically, knowing he was worried sick about them, when they noticed the bracelet on the console, curious about what it is.
"What's that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"What's what?" Spyro asked, looking to the bracelet and picked it up. "Oh, you mean this? My latest pet project. I found a way to enhance a purple dragons ability to manipulate space and time, allowing them to slow down time around them for longer and even outright freeze it, maybe even reverse it. But it is a prototype, so it hasn't been tested yet."
"Hey, maybe that's something we can do!" Apple Bloom exclaimed excitedly, jumping onto his back and over his head to reach for the bracelet. "Maybe we can get a Cutie Mark in Invention testing!"
"Slow down there Apple Bloom." Spyro said, using his magic to pick her up and put her on the ground. "I said this is a prototype, so if anyone is going to test it, it's me. You fillies should find something else to try."
The fillies groaned as they were denied the opportunity to test out something Spyro had made, walking out as they spouted different ideas they could try, some of which Spyro didn't think would be safe, but then heard one of them say they could ask others how they got their Cutie Marks, each wanting to start with their siblings before debating other ponies they could ask. Smiling, Spyro was about to take the bracelet to the vault for safe keeping, but then got curious of if the bracelet did work, looking at it for a minute before putting it on, deciding to test it out. He left the garage and saw Applejack was running off somewhere, so he decided to follow her and see what she was running after. She then jumped over some bushes, but heard something crash, peeking over the bushes to see that Applejack had ended up running into the fillies. He could tell they were in some pain, so he decided to test his new bracelet, concentrating on the flow of time, everything froze in place, which Spyro then tried to reverse time and managed to successfully do so, turning the clock back by a few seconds before Applejack crashed into the girls and saw what she was running after, which were three little bunnies that had stolen some apples.
Before he could take the apples, time slowly started to move on it's own again, the rabbits hoping off just as Scootaloo was using her wings to slow herself and her friends down, stopping just before they crashed into the rabbits and into him. When time went back to normal, the fillies looked from the rabbits to Spyro, surprised he was there.
"Spyro?" Scootaloo asked. "How'd you get here so fast?"
"Get back here ya thieving varments!" Applejack shouted.
She then leapt over the bushes and saw she was about to crash into the fillies again, but Spyro quickly leapt over them and caught Applejack on his back, landing behind the wagon, surprising her.
"Wow, nice catch Spyro." Sweetie Belle said.
"You can say that again." Applejack said, getting off his back. "How'd ya know Ah was going to jump into them fillies?"
"Guess you could say I 'saw' what happened." Spyro said, looking down at his new bracelet, which the fillies got excited.
"You tested it!?" Apple Bloom asked. "It worked!?"
"You bet it did." Spyro replied.
Applejack looked between the fillies and Spyro, trying to understand what was going on until she noticed the new bracelet Spyro was wearing and got curious.
"Spyro, what's with the new bracelet?" Applejack asked. "Where'd ya get it?"
"Oh, I made it." Spyro replied. "It's a new project I was working on to improve the purple dragons ability to slow down and freeze time."
"Wait, what!?" Applejack asked in surprise. "Ya'll can do that?"
"Yeah, found out about it a while ago." He replied, bringing the bracelet up to show her. "This amplifies that ability, allowing the purple dragon's time manipulation to now reverse time by a few seconds."
"Ya sure messing with time is a good idea?" Applejack asked, backing away from it.
"Don't worry AJ." He replied. "It only reverses it by a few seconds, not a few years. And it's perfectly stable. As long as nothing hits the crystal or any kind of damage appears on it, nothing is going to happen." But a moment later, a crack did appear on the crystal, releasing a faint light, causing the crystal to start humming and the bracelet to vibrate, getting his attention and panicking. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"
A second later, Spyro was enveloped in a grey light and vanished before everyone's eyes, falling through some kind of colorful tunnel as he yelled out, terrified as he fell through the tunnel to who knows where until another light at the end of the tunnel appeared and falling towards it, only to suddenly appear over Sweet Apple Acres and land in some hay, making it fly everywhere as he spat out a few pieces getting out. When he was out of the hay stack, he looked around, finding everything to be about the same, but the barn itself looked brighter and more red than he remembered it and the Gummi Garage wasn't here either. Deciding to look around until he saw Granny and a younger looking Big Mac at the front gates of the farm and in front of them was a younger looking Applejack, looking t be about Apple Blooms age if not younger, but without her hat and without her trio of apples on her flank.
"Ya sure ya want to do this Applejack?" Granny Smith asked. "Ya'll might not like the city of Manehatten."
"Don't worry Granny Smith, Ah'll be alright." Applejack replied, taking a stick with what looked like a small bag at the end and a picture. "Ah wanna try and be a sophisticated city pony like Aunt and Uncle Orange! Ah'm not so sure Ah like working on the farm anyway." Hearing that, Spyro fell onto his side comically, not believing he actually heard Applejack say that to her own family, he could feel how hurt Granny Smith felt as Applejack turned around and left the farm. "Ah might come back and visit ya'll someday. Tell Apple Bloom her big sister is gonna be a city pony now."
With that, she started on her journey to the city while Spyro flew over and landed right in front of the filly, hoping she might stop if she sees him and try and talk some sense into her, but the filly just kept walking like she didn't even see him, which confused him as he was standing right in front of her and if anyone saw him for the first time, they'd be shocked, but she wasn't. A moment later, she walked right through him like he was thin air, completely taking him off guard as he watched the little filly keep walking into town, so he leapt in front of her and waited for her to pass by, trying to reach out and touch her, but his hoof passed through her like he it wasn't even solid.
"What's going on?" Spyro asked, watching the filly and then following her. He soon stepped on a branch and it snapped, making the little filly turn to look at him after he made noise, but saw nothing and kept walking. "So I can't interact with ponies, but I can with objects around them. Good to know."
He then went back after the little filly and before he knew it, the crystal glowed again and sent him through another rift, plunging him through another corridor of lights and colors until he reappeared in the middle of a street, finding himself in the center of a city, but he then heard someone coming from behind him and looked back to find a taxi running straight at him, which he dodged and got to the sidewalk, taking a couple of breaths before looking around. The city was large and the side walks filled with rich looking ponies walking about. He kept looking around and found Applejack walking across the sidewalk and went into a nearby apartment building, so he followed the filly into that apartment and up to where she was heading to, the filly knocking on the door and it opened to reveal a yellow stallion with green hair and an orange for a cutie mark while and a cream colored mare with brown hair and orange slices for a cutie mark.
"Aunt and Uncle Orange!" Applejack said excitedly.
"Why, if it isn't little Applejack." Aunt Orange said.
"Thank ya'll for letting me stay with ya." Applejack said.
Spyro literally had to duck underneath the door frame as he walked in, watching quietly as her Aunt Orange did Applejacks mane up to be like hers and went to a social gathering where everyone was rich and looked fancy, which Spyro disapproved of as he didn't much like most rich people as sometimes they were nothing more than snobs and stuck up pricks. The rich ponies then started to ask the filly questions about her stay in the city, which she did respond about how she was enjoying her stay, but then talked about her time in the country side, dropping her southern accent and about how the nights there were extremely quiet until the next dawn when the rooster crowed. A moment later, one of the rich ponies asked what a rooster was, which Spyro facepalmed, not believing these ponies have never even heard of a rooster before, wishing to track this guy down and either take him to a library or even drag him through the dirt and show him what a rooster was and make him listen as the bird crowed.
"Looks like someone dropped out of school." Spyro said, pressing his hoof against the temple of his head. "I'm surprised he even managed to become a rich pony. Either that or he inherited his daddies fortune."
Applejacks only saving grace was that the waiters came around with whole trays of food for everyone, which Applejacks looked happy to see, but became disappointed when they lifted the lids and showed it was nothing more than a single baby carrot with some kind of flower that went with it, barely enough to even feed a small mouse. Back at the building apartment building, Applejack was watching the window as the sun rose, crowing like a rooster as the dawn came, feeling home sick. He wanted to go over and talk to her, but then heard a loud bang, Applejack looking out the window and Spyro rushing over to and saw a rainbow shooting across the sky and go to Ponyville, an obvious sign to tell Applejack that her destiny lies back at home. The young filly felt something telling her exactly what Spyro thought and she ran out of the room to leave Manehatten, which he followed suit, but ran into another corridor, falling through it until he found himself back in Sweet Apple Acres again, wondering how he was being transported between locations but dropped it when he saw Applejack running down the dirt road, her family at the entrance and happily waiting for her and hugging them.
"Seems your destiny did lie here AJ." Spyro said. "Glad you figured it out."
A moment later, a flash of light appeared on her flank and her Cutie Mark, the trio of apples, appeared as she realized she was meant to be with her family and she was meant to be on the farm. Spyro was pleased that Applejack had returned to her family, but a second later, he heard something open underneath him, looking to find another corridor of colors and lights underneath him and fell through it, yelling as he tumbled through the corridor and through another light, landing right in front of Applejack and scarring her, seeing it was Spyro, she calmed down and watched as Spyro got up.
"Spyro, ya'll are gonna give somepony a heart attack if ya keep doing that." Applejack said, taking a few deep breaths.
"Sorry AJ." Spyro replied. "I promise you, that wasn't on purpose."
"So, what the hay happened?" Applejack asked. "When that thing cracked, ya'll just disappeared in a flash of light."
"Don't know." Spyro replied, looking down at the crystal. "But you were right. Mess with time was a bad idea. I'll stick with the Stopaga spell and slowing it down with, not reversing it."
A moment later, the two of them heard another crack, looking down and saw there was a second crack just above the first crack, right in the middle of the crystal and before they knew it, he was surrounded by the same light and vanished right in front of Applejack, confusing her and looking around to see where he went, only to find the rabbits that took her apples and started to chase after them to get those apples back. As for Spyro, he fell through the same tunnel of light and colors, yelling as he tumbled through the tunnel until a light appeared at the end of it, going through the exit and falling right into a bunch of clouds, grateful for the soft landing as he sat up, looking around t find he was in the middle of what looked like a summer camp for Pegasi, seeing a bunch of Pegasus colts fly around, race, and go through obstacles. A second later, he spotted something going down a slope and fly into a flag, tearing it off the flagpole and tumbled to the ground. Once she managed to get herself untangled, Spyro's heart felt like it was going to explode as he saw it was Fluttershy, much younger and a bit on the lanky side, but he recognized her pink hair and her timid demeanor anywhere.
"Oh, my heart." Spyro said, falling over comically. "I think I just found the cutest thing in this entire world."
A moment later, Spyro heard some laughter coming from above, looking up, he saw a couple of familiar colts flying above laughing at Fluttershy and landing right in front of her; Dumbbell, and Hoops.
"Nice one, Klutzershy!" Dumbbell said. "They ought to keep you grounded for sure."
"Yeah, for sure!" Hoops said. "My baby brother can fly better than you can!"
"Ok, now these two are officially on my list." Spyro said, getting up. "Bullying Fluttershy as an adult, that's no-no. But as a filly, that's a line one should never cross without getting your rears handed to you."
All of a sudden, a shadow flew over them and a cyan blur flew past the two bullies, revealing it to be a younger version of Rainbow Dash, but with messier hair than she had as an adult and looked adorable as a filly, which he was going to mess with her once he got back.
"You leave her alone!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Ooooh, what are you going to do Rainbow Crash?" Hoops asked
"Keep talking and find out." Rainbow Dash replied, looking ticked off.
Spyro smiled at the young filly for her courage and her loyalty to her friend and then the bullies challenged her to a race, which he did not want to miss out on this, so he found the closest cloud he could and flew up to it, taking a seat to watch the race. A moment later, the foals reached the starting line, which Fluttershy was holding a checkered flag to start the race, raising it up to let the racers know to get ready and then brought it down, letting the racers know to go, which they bolted out of their starting position, flying past Fluttershy, but she fell off the cloud she was on and was falling to the ground, Spyro instinctively diving to her to save her. As he reached her, he tried to grab her so he can fly her back to the city, but he passed through her, facepalming as he remembered he can't touch them or grab them and can only interact with objects, so all he could do was watch as the yellow Pegasus filly fall to the ground, wishing he could do something, but a moment later, a whole cloud of butterflies appeared below her, catching her before she could hit the ground.
Spyro couldn't believe that a flock of butterflies had saved his friend and was carrying her through the forest, the Pegasus gazing in amazement at the forests and fields of grass and flowers. A while later, music started to play out of no where, indicating that a song was about to be sung.
[Fluttershy]
'What is this place? Filled with so many wonders.'
'Casting its spell, that I am now wonder. Squirrels in the trees, cute little bunnies. Birds flying free, and bees with their honey. Honeeeeeeeeeeey!'
While she was singing, the young filly was flying without any kind of fear or hesitation whatsoever, enjoying the scenery before landing on the ground and all the animals within the woods came out as she sung, squirrels, bunnies, butterflies, bees, any and all animals coming to Fluttershy as she sung.
'Ohh, what a magical place! And I owe it all to the Pegasus race! If I knew the ground had so much up it sleeve, I'd have come sooner and never leave! Yes, I. Love. Everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!'
Spyro wanted to clap for her, having loved the song, and during it, her fear had dispersed, no longer afraid of anything despite nearly falling to her death. A moment later, a Sonic Rainboom shot out, which scared all the animals and caused them to run away, even scarring Fluttershy, but Spyro was amazed that he got to see another Sonic Rainboom, now believing that Rainbow Dash had done it when she was a filly, smiling as he knew it must have been one of the proudest moments of her life. he then looked back over to Fluttershy and saw that she was whispering to the animals and getting them to calm down, coming out of hiding and gathering around Fluttershy. A minute later, her trio of butterflies appeared on her flank as she looked around at all the animals, but she watched the remains of the Sonic Rainbooms go outward as it disappeared. After a moment, Spyro could hear the rift open underneath his hooves and looked down, falling through the tunnel again, but not screaming this time, just allowed the tunnel to take him where it wanted him to go.
At Fluttershy's cottage, she was busy with handling some of her friends when something shot out of the water, spooking her and some of the animals around her, but saw it was Spyro who shot out of the water, coughing and shaking the water off himself before straightening himself up.
"I knew I needed a bath, but I didn't need to be shot out of a river." Spyro said, heating himself up to evaporate the water.
"Spyro?" Fluttershy asked, getting his attention. "What were you doing in the moat?"
"Not my idea to appear there." Spyro replied, walking up to her.
She was curious about how he needed up in the small stream around her cottage, but then saw something gleam in the light, looking down and seeing the bracelet he has and the cracked crystal.
"Oh, it's lovely." She said, looking down the bracelet. "Is it new?"
"Yeah, it is." Spyro replied, lifting it up. "It was meant to amplify my ability to slow down and stop time, even allowing me to reverse it, but it seems to be unstable after testing it. I need to get it to the Gummi Garage and-" It then cracked again, this time the crack was on the top left hand side and it scared him. "Seriously?"
"What's wrong?" She asked, hearing the humming from the crystal. "And what's making that humming noise?"
"Not again." Spyro said, getting her attention. "I'll explain later. Right now I got to-"
He didn't finish as the light enveloped him again and he disappeared in front of her, shocking her as she tried to process what was going on. With Spyro, he was falling through the tunnel again, but this time had more control and was soaring through it, balancing his movement as he reached the end of the tunnel, the same bright light and flew through, this time gliding down to what looked like the school in Ponyville where the stage was set up. He flew down and landed in front of the stage, finding that the foals on stage were wearing some kind of costumes, some looked like food while others looked like plants, but there were a couple of fillies he could recognize. One of them was Cherrilee, who was on stage dressed up as a flower and the other was Rarity, who looked like she was backstage with an elderly pony, who he looked to be the teacher before Cherrilee took over.
"Rarity, the costumes look really nice." The teacher said.
"Nice?" A young Rarity asked. "I want to make the spectacular! And the performance is tomorrow! I need to make them perfect!"
"Wow, even as a child, you strove for perfection." Spyro said to himself. "Though you can't hear me, they look great Rare."
She then ran off the stage and was heading home to work on the costumes, following the filly all the way home to the Carousel Boutique, which it didn't seem to belong to her at the time, which he knew must have been owned by her parents at the time. He opened the door and walked through the main room before going to her room, which the filly was working on the costumes a bit and smiled, still amazed that the filly was still working on them no matter what. A moment later, the fillies horn started to glow and pulled her out of her room, her hooves dragging on the ground as her magic subconsciously took her away.
"Ah, what's going on!?" She shouted "Somepony, help! My magic is kidnapping me!"
Spyro ran after her to make sure nothing bad happened to her, but had to stifle his own laughter as her magic was comically dragging her to who knew where, her hooves dragging on the ground as she looked both bored and annoyed. After a little while, she came to a nearby mountain range where her magic took her to a gigantic rock at the edge of the cliff, slamming into it and looking up at the behemoth.
"A rock!?" The filly shouted. "That is my destiny! What is wrong with you, you stupid horn! You dragged me all the way out here, away from my costumes, for a rock!?" She then glared daggers at the rock as she was shouting, hating the massive stone, looking more angry than annoyed. "Dumb rock!"
Spyro just smiled and chuckled a bit, knowing her magic had brought her all the way to the mountain edge for what was inside the rock, not the exterior of it. He walked over tot he filly and stood just behind her, standing before the rock as he got ready to punch it for her when an explosion happened, making him fumble and trip while he was punching it as the Sonic Rainboom happened again, smacking the rock as it cracked up the middle of it, splitting in half as it revealed all the gemstones in it, the filly dazzled by how they looked. Spyro managed to get up and watch as Rarity was looking over all the beautiful gemstones right in front of her, seeing the gears turning in that head of hers as ideas for how she could improve the costumes came flooding in. He was about to follow her, but a rift opened up in front of him, walking through it as it took him to the next night, where the school play was taking place and sure enough, there were shining gemstones in the costumes that Rarity had found, everyone dazzled by how they looked and wondering who it was that made them.
At that moment, Spyro saw the same flash of light appeared on Rarity's flank and her trio of diamond appeared, finding her talent in fashion designing, feeling pleased she was happy. A second later, a new rift opened up, but not underneath him, but to his right, seeing that he needed to go somewhere else and walked through, but unbeknownst to him, Rarity was looking out in the audience and was happy that they loved her costumes, but when one of the lights reflected off the gemstone and outward, the light shined on Spyro's tail, revealing him for a moment and was surprised, wondering what she had just seen. Back in the present, Rarity was working on one of her dresses, thanks to the fillies for helping her, she felt something was off and turned around, finding the rift Spyro was walking through in the middle of her room and out of it, Spyro walked in, shocked and confused, she approached Spyro as the rift closed behind him, hoping to get an answer.
"Spyro darling, what are you doing here?" She asked. "And, what was that... thing?"
"I'm not sure on both of those questions." Spyro replied, raising the bracelet for her to get a look. "I made this to amplify one of my powers, but now I'm going through time, observing you girls get your Cutie Marks."
"Seriously?" She asked, suddenly remembering something and looking at him. "Spyro, were you there at the school play when I was only eight years old?"
"Now how could that be possible?" Spyro asked. "That would make me ten and I'd be in my old home world. When I travel, I'm just an observer and can only interact with objects that have no significant value or destroy things if I want to. No one can see me."
"Oh, really?" She asked, feeling nervous, looking at his tail and did remember seeing it there ten years ago.
Before she could ask him anything else, they heard something crack, looking at the bracelet and saw a fourth crack, but this one was in the top right of the crystal, humming and the bracelet vibrating as he needed to go again. He smiled at the fashion pony, confusing her, but before he could say anything, he was enveloped in the same grey light and reappeared in the tunnel of light, gliding through it as he went to the next place on this crystals list.
"Now I know how Spider-Man feels when he's traveling through the Spider-verse." Spyro said to himself, finding this to be familiar.
A second later, he appeared in the skies above Canterlot, looking down and seeing a lot of nobles and rich ponies gathering in the street early in the morning, but it wasn't just in the street ponies were at, but in the park and what looked like a theme park for everyone to come and enjoy. H looked around and recognized some of the decorations as those usually used for the Summer Sun Celebration, now knowing when he was and who he was observing this time and right on cue, he saw in the crowd some ponies were moving, some even grunting in annoyance.
"Excuse me, pardon me." A filly said.
"Twilight?" Spyro asked. He then flew to the stage were some of the royal guards were standing at, landing right in the center of the stage and looking out to the crowd, fining the lavender unicorn filly and felt his heart burst again, seeing how cute she was as a filly and wanting to go down there and hug her. "And there goes my heart again. Why do foals have to be so darn cute!?"
A moment later, the horns sounded, announcing the princesses arrival, so he turned around and saw her walking up to the edge of the stage, everyone getting to see her as her horn started to glow, the princess floating in the air as she raised her forelegs, metaphorically raising the sun, as it rose behind her beyond the horizon. The crowd was astonished by the spectacle, but when Spyro looked down at Twilight, he could see the stars sparkle in her eyes as she looked at the princess. A new rift opened up next to Spyro, so he walked through it and found himself in the library and at the table was the lavender filly reading some of the books there, obviously trying to learn all the magic she could, and then practicing those spells, smiling at how dedicated she was to her studies, even when she was so very young finding it adorable.
"Twilight!" A mares voice said, getting both his and Twilights attention. At the entrance of the library, Spyro could see a unicorn couple, which the mothers seems to look similar to Twilight, so he figured that they must be her parents back in Canterlot. The mare had a gray coat with a purple mane that has white highlights and her Cutie mark is a trio of purple stars. Her father has a blue coat, a dark blue mane, and a crescent moon shaped Cutie mark with another one in it. "We have a surprise for you."
"A surprise!?" Twilight asked excitedly, running up to her parents.
"Honey, we know you have been studying very hard to learn about magic." Her father said. "And you are advancing very quickly."
"That is why we think you are special enough to enter Princess Celestia's School for Magically Gifted Unicorns." Her mother said, which her father then pulled out an enrollment application, which had a big red check mark on it to show she has been approved.
"Really!?" She asked excitedly. "Yay! This is the best day ever!" A moment later, a new rift opened up for Spyro and he walked through, going from the library to the very school her parents had admitted her to. They were in a classroom with a black board and everything, the filly in front of the room with her parents on the side lines, smiling and giving her their support while there were four ponies in the aisles in front of her, which he took to be those who gauge the ponies power and determine if they can enter or not. "This is the most stressful day ever."
"Now Ms. Sparkle." The yellow unicorn said. "For your entrance exam, you will be hatching a dragon egg with your magic. And only your magic."
A moment later, another unicorn walked in with a cart and a purple dragon egg, which Spyro guessed it was Spike's egg as Spike is always with Twilight, but he never thought she got him from passing an entrance exam. He could see how visibly stressed out the filly was as she tried to use her magic to hatch the egg, trying to spark her horn to life, but her nerves got in the way, a few sparks coming off her horn, but she couldn't get her magic going.
"Well Ms. Sparkle?" The yellow unicorn asked.
"Leave her be!" Spyro shouted, wanting the judge to hear him shout, but knew it was in vain. "She's nervous enough without you pushing her!"
A moment later, she tried again to hatch the egg, but she still struggled as her magic was not wanting to cooperate. After about a few more tries, she soon gave up, apologizing to the judges for wasting their time, which they wrote negative reviews and annoyed Spyro as they made her very nervous. He wanted to rip the boards out of their grasp and break them, but a moment later, the Sonic Rainboom happened again, which spooked Twilight out and allowed her magic to jump start, shooting a beam of magic at the egg and instantly hatching it, which surprised the judges and they started writing positive reviews. However, her magic soon went out of control as her eyes turned white and she was surrounded by a hot pink magical aura, her magic growing out of control as it turned her parents into house plants and put the judges into a magical bubble, causing them to float.
"AHH, HELP!" She screamed. "I can't control it!"
Her magic soon shot out bolts of lightning that then hit the dragon, and caused it to grow into a fully grown dragon, surprising Spyro and the judges as they witnessed the spectacle.
"Now that's a growth spurt." Spyro said to himself.
"Is somepony there!?" She asked, hearing Spyro and surprising him. "Help! I... I can't control my magic!"
He was surprised that Twilight had actually heard him as he was still an observer, seeing the past, but then a bolt of lightning shot at him, so he instinctively raised his hoof and deflected the bolt of magic, the filly looking in his direction as she saw a silhouette of the hybrid, reaching out to him for help, but more lightning shot out, which he deflected with ease.
"I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, curling into a ball. "I... I..."
"It's alright, you're ok." Spyro said, walking up as more lightning shot out. "I'm right here. You're ok."
"Why can't I control my magic?" She asked in fear. "Why...?"
"Because you're nervous." Spyro replied. "You're allowing yourself to be afraid, doubting yourself and your abilities. When you doubt yourself, grow nervous, your magic will not respond. Calm your mind and let go." The filly looked back at Spyro, still seeing the silhouette of him and somehow felt calm as he approached, feeling her fears leave as he approached her. "Close your eyes, and take some deep breaths. Inhale, count to four, exhale, count to four, then repeat."
She did as he asked, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, holding it for four seconds, then exhaling and counting to four again, repeating the process until she felt calmer and not as scared anymore. A second later, she felt someone s hoof on her shoulder and opened her eyes, looking back to see if it was the mystery pony, but actually saw it was Princess Celestia, the glowing eyes fading as she felt her hooves set back onto the ground, the magic aura disappearing as her parents turned back to normal, the judges fell onto the ground, much to Spyro's pleasure, and Spike was no longer a full grown dragon but a baby dragon again, which he found the little guy to be adorable.
"Twilight Sparkle." The princess said, the filly's head lowering and her ears folding into her head as she awaited for the scolding. "You my little pony have a very special gift. I have never before, in my life, seen a unicorn like you with such raw magical capabilities." The filly was surprised, her jaw dropping as the princess spoke. "But you're going to learn to tame these abilities you have through focused study." The fillies eyes widened as her pupils shrunk as the princess kept talking. "That is why I would like to make you, Twilight Sparkle, my own personal protégé here in this school."
The fillies pupils had shrunk to pin needles and she looked back to her parents, who were nodding their heads, telling her to take the opportunity.
"YES!" She shouted, jumping into the air and cheering, but as she did, Spyro noticed she had her Cutie mark.
"One other thing." The princess said, ceasing the fillies excitement.
She fell down onto the ground comically, thinking there was going to be another test, but the princess pointed out the pink star surrounded by smaller white stars on her flank, the filly looking over and her eyes widened and she gave the biggest smile.
"My Cutie Mark!" She shouted excitedly, jumping up and down on the ground in excitement. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" She then stopped hopping around and looked around the room, trying to find the pony she was talking to earlier, but couldn't see him. "Hey, where did he go?"
"Who you talking about sweetie?" Her mother asked.
"There was another pony in the room a minute ago." She replied, confusing everyone. "He told me to take some deep breaths and it would help me calm down."
Everyone looked at each other, wondering what she meant, but Spyro just smiled at the filly, happy that she managed to be accepted at the Princesses star pupil when she was a filly. A moment later, he heard a rift open up behind him, looking back and seeing it waiting for him, so he walked towards it and through the colorful corridor, gliding through until he reached where Twilight was, the mare was hopping around like she did as a filly, saying yes all the time until she noticed she had a whole crowd looking at her strangely, the mare suddenly feeling nervous until she saw Spyro approach her.
"Hey Twilight." Spyro said.
"Oh Spyro, hello." She said, inching away from everyone. "Sorry you saw me like that. I was explaining to the crusaders how I got my Cutie Mark."
"Oh, and where are they now?" Spyro asked.
"I don't know." She replied. "I was talking to them a little while ago before you arrived. Scootaloo said something about finding Rainbow Dash."
"Ah, that explains it." Spyro said. "She wants to hear how Rainbow Dash got her Cutie mark, but is instead hearing everyone else's."
A second later, they walked back to the library, Spyro explaining how his bracelet was meant to amplify his ability to manipulate time to allow him to slow it down and freeze it for longer periods and how it was malfunctioning, cracking every time he was sent back to the past. They got to the basement where he and Twilight did some tests to get it off, unlocking the clamps only for them to lock again, burning it off, even smashing it, nothing worked.
"Geez, what's this thing made out of?" She asked Spyro. "It's impossible to break."
"Well it's not made of Beskar if that's what you mean." Spyro replied.
"Beskar?" Twilight asked. "What's that?"
"It's a near indestructible steel use by Mandelorians for their armor." Spyro replied. "Beskar is one of the rarest metals for anyone to have. You get any, you make it into armor."
"Really?" Twilight asked, fascinated by what he was saying. A moment later, the two of them heard something crack, looking down to see that there was a fifth crack, right on the right hand corner of the crystal. "Why'd it crack like that?"
"That means I'm heading back to the past." Spyro replied. A minute later, he started to glow grey, which freaked her out as she backed away.
"What's happening!?" She asked, then rushing up to him. "Are you going back to the past!? I need to document this! I need to run some tests, get some data! I need to..."
"Twilight relax." Spyro said gently. "You're going to get yourself into a frenzy."
"But I need to know more." She said, her breathing starting to become erratic.
"Twilight, calm down." Spyro said, walking up and putting his hoof under her head, moving it to let their eyes meet. "Remember, count to four, inhale, count to four, exhale."
She did as he asked, doing the breathing exercise she learned as a filly, but then in the middle of exhaling, she then realized something, looking up to Spyro to ask how he knew that, but he was already gone, vanished into thin air. Spyro was flying through the tunnel again and was fast approaching the next place and was preparing to enter, bringing in his wings as she shot out of the tunnel and expanded them again, gliding through the air until he reached what looked like a farm, but the scenery was dreary and bland, barely any color at all. When he landed, he walked on the dirt road for a few seconds before he caught sight of a couple of fillies, one was light gray with a dark gray mane and a second one who looked to be dull purple with a light gray mane.
"There's only one pony I know I haven't seen yet." Spyro said to himself. "And if she lives here, in this...this... horrible place, I am so going to give her the biggest hug ever."
And as he said it, he caught sight of the pink party pony, but she wasn't exactly in the mood for parties as she was rolling a rock to a pile of rocks, her mane not puffy or frizzy at all, it was straight and lifeless, feeling his heart shatter at seeing how depressed Pinkie looked, not a single smile or even a sign there was a time she did smile. In addition, her coat and mane colors were dull, a darker shade of pink, looking beyond miserable as she looked like she wasn't having any fun at all, moving rocks and sighing in disappointment.
"Poor Pinkie." Spyro said. "I really wish I was tangible right now so I can hug her."
A moment later, an explosion sounded out, both of them looking up and seeing the Sonic Rainboom shoot across the sky, blowing away the clouds and bringing color to the land, knocking filly off her hooves and onto the ground as the shockwave went out. Once it was done, Spyro looked around at the place and was surprised by how drastically it changed from being a dreary and colorless land into one filled with color and with life, but what he saw when he looked was that Pinkie was more colorful and her mane was fizzier and more wild like it was when he first met her, smiling at she looked more like the Pinkie Pie he knew. A while later, Pinkie Pie started to smile as she looked up at the rainbow, the smile growing bigger and bigger as she looked up at the rainbow.
"And there's the Pinkie Pie I know." Spyro said. "Happy, wild, unpredictable Pinkie Pie."
A minute later, Pinkie looked in his direction and smile, leaping up at him, but then passed right through him and falling on her face, rubbing her head.
"Ow, that hurt." Pinkie said, getting up and looked at Spyro. "Why'd I pass through you Spyro?"
"And she's already breaking the fourth wall." Spyro said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Sorry Pinkie, I'm just an observer. I can't physically interfere with ponies. Only with objects."
"Aw, that's no fun." Pinkie said. "I really, really wanted to give you a hug."
"Trust me Pinkie, I was wanting to reach out and hug you girls all day long." Spyro replied, kneeling down to eye level with her. "And after seeing this place, I really, really wanted to reach out and hug you and make you very happy."
"Aw, you're the best friend a pony could ask for." Pinkie said. "And I want to spread that happiness to everypony in the entire world!"
A moment later, the rainbow disappeared and Pinkie Pie immediately ran into the nearby silo, leaving him alone outside and wondering what she was doing in there, so he decided to walk over and see what she was up to.
"Ah, ah, ah, no peeking." Pinkie said, going back into the silo.
He didn't understand what she was doing in there, but had a good idea of what she was doing in there and waited patiently outside for her until he heard some loud banging, saws, and a drill, starting to grow concerned for what she was doing in there. A moment ;after, he then got very concerned when he heard something that sounded like a jackhammer going off in there and other various power tools being used in there, making him freak out when he heard them.
"Pinkie Pie, are you using power tools in there!?" Spyro asked. "Where in Equestria does a filly get power tools? And how are they being powered if they don't have electricity or batteries?"
"Pinkamena Diana Pie, what are you doing in there?" A woman's voice said.
Spyro snickered at hearing her full name, finding it funny, but a moment later, the filly came out and he stopped laughing, trying to act normal, but couldn't stop grinning. Her entire family came out, the two fillies came out of the house followed by who he guessed to be her parents with her father having a tannish-brown coat with a gray mane and a pickaxe with a single point on it while the mother looked to have a dull grayish coat while her mane was a grayish-green mane tied up into a bun and her cutie mark was a trio of green rocks. A moment later, they all heard what sounded like music inside of the Silo, confusing the parents for a moment, but Spyro already knew what it was and smiled as the pink filly came out.
"Mom! Dad! Limestone! Marble!" Pinkie shouted. "Come on in! I got something to show you!"
Her family got curious to what the hyper active filly wanted to show them, so they approached the door to the silo and she opened it fully, walking in to find there were several tables already set up with food and drinks, party decorations everywhere and a massive cake in the center of the room. Spyro walked in behind the family and saw everything in the room, amazed at how she managed to set all this up in a manner of a couple of hours, but also curious and horrified as he questioned whether she was born with the ability to break the fourth wall or if seeing the Sonic Rainboom did that, something he wasn't going to question for the sake of his sanity.
"Surprise!" Pinkie said. "I call it a party! You like it?"
He looked over to her family, whose mouths were quivering at the sight of all the colors and music after living in such a dull environment for years, which he grew concerned as he didn't know if they were trying to stay stoic and show no emotion or if they were going to scold the filly for throwing this party.
"They don't like it." Pinkie said, looking up to Spyro. "They don't seem to like it."
He could sense that they were surprised and smiled, knowing that it was going to happen any second now, which the party pony saw his smile and back to her family, wondering what he was seeing.
"Pinkamena, this is..." Her father said, the whole family smiling at the sight as joy and excitement flowed through them. "Amazing!"
"Really!?" Pinkie asked in pure joy. "Then let's party!"
He watched as the whole family started to party on, dancing to the music and having a great time, shaking his head at the little filly as she and her whole family partied long and hard. Wanting to get into the action, he leapt into the air and twirled around, summoning his Keyblade as he pointed it into the air, fireworks flying out of the tip of the blade and illuminating the room, her family looking up at the spectacle as they saw many miniature fireworks explode in the room, filling it with color and lights, amazing the whole family. Pinkie watched the fireworks show and smiled her biggest grin, SPyro looking down to see the happy looks on their faces as a light appeared on her flank, revealing a trio of balloons and at the same time, he heard a rift open up underneath him, looking down to see that his time to return to the present.
"See you soon Pinkie." Spyro said.
He dismissed his Keyblade and wrapped his wings around his body, falling into the tunnel, allowing himself to fall through the tunnel at a rapid rate, passing through the light at the end of the tunnel where he opened his wings up, righting himself, gliding around until he saw Pinkie Pie going into Sugarcube Corner, so he floated down and landed at the front door about to walk in when he heard another crack, this time looking down to find there was a sixth crack in the crystal.
"Need to go back?" Pinkie asked, walking out to meet with him.
"Yeah, I believe I am." Spyro replied. "And something tells me this might be the last one."
"Well, I liked the fireworks you magically summoned." Pinkie said smiling. "It was super duper fun!"
"Well I can't let you have all the fun, can I?" Spyro asked. He then felt the bracelet vibrate again, knowing it was almost time for him to go back into space, but before that, he walked up to Pinkie and gave her a hug, surprising her as he pulled away. "Pinkie, you are so random at times. But I think that's what I like about you."
Before he could disappear in the gray light, he gave Pinkie a kiss on the lips, surprising the pink mare even further as she suddenly felt her heart race, as she suddenly flew high into the sky like a firework and exploded into a pink heart, the now love struck mare floating down with an umbrella tied around her tail as she gently touched the ground, a deep blush on her face as she looked to where Spyro was, but he was gone, disappeared into the gray light form the bracelet. As for Spyro, he was flying through the tunnel again to see what was next, returning to Cloudsdale right as the race was about to begin, seeing Fluttershy swing the flag down to let the racers know to start flying and the same thing happening to Fluttershy like before, but this time Spyro flew after the racers to observe the race. As he flew, he watched as Rainbow Dash was in the lead, going through some of the cloud rings, keeping ahead of the racers and saw at Dumbbell was catching up, but Rainbow Dash didn't seem worried as she turned sharply, staying on the track, but Dumbbell couldn't turn in time and ended up crashing into a cloud pillar, dazed from the impact, which Spyro snickered at the both the crash and the face he had.
"Serves you right for calling Fluttershy a Klutz." Spyro said.
He then got back to watching the race, watching as the young filly was enjoying the rush she was feeling, going through each hoop as she kept up the lead, even hearing her make a whinnying sound like a horse makes, which he was so going to tease her about later. However, her enjoyment of the moment was short lived as Hoops crashed into her, throwing her off track and diving to the ground to win the race. He wasn't going to let the little cheat get away with it and flew up, seeing that she had managed to get control of her movement and tried to look for Hoops and to win the race, but couldn't see him. When she did see the colt, she flew down to catch up with him, but there was a lot of clouds between her and the ground and needed to fly through them, but each time it slowed her down until she saw what looked like a trail made by a pair of wings, trying to look where they were coming from, but saw they were coming from thin air. Not understanding, she flew to the path, something telling her to follow it, and followed the path through the clouds, quick and smooth motions where she leaned up and down, left, and right all the way through the clouds and got Hoops in her sights.
Spyro had just pulled up as the filly flew towards Hoops, knocking him out of the race as she dove straight down towards the clouds, a white aura surrounding her until she pulled up and the Sonic Rainboom was made, expanding all across Equestria as she flew upwards and to the finish line, crossing it and hearing everyone cheer, including Rainbow Dash, though he couldn't hear it, he knew she was boasting about how she was the best flier ever. A second later, he saw a flash of light on her flank, seeing it was her Cutie mark and knew the moment she did the Sonic Rainboom and won the race, it was the moment she got her Cutie Mark. He then heard another rift open behind him, looking over to see the tunnel entrance and flew through it, gliding through the tunnel of color and lights until he appeared inside of Sugarcube Corners, right behind the mares as they listened to Rainbow Dash tell her story of how she got her Cutie Mark.
"And that, little fillies, is how I earned my Cutie Mark." Rainbow Dash said, the fillies in awe.
"Wait a minute." Fluttershy said. "I heard an explosion and it spooked the animals. If it hadn't happened, I'd have never discovered I could communicate with animals and would have never gotten my Cutie mark."
"I heard that boom too." Pinkie added. "Right after that, there was this amazing rainbow that helped to teach me to smile."
"And when Ah got mine, there was a rainbow that pointed me back home to Ponyville." Applejack said. "Ah bet it was your Sonic Rainboom."
"And there was an explosion I couldn't explain when I got my Cutie Mark." Rarity said.
"This is uncanny!" Twilight said. "If that explosion never happened, I'd have blown my entrance exam!"
"It seems you all had a special connection before you even met." Spyro said, walking up. "A coincidence like this is a once in a lifetime event. It means you were destined to meet and become friends."
As he said it, the mares then gathered into a group hug, which Spyro found sweet while Scootaloo was repulsed when they did, breaking up the hug and looking at Spyro. After they all had told their stories, Spyro was walking out, but Twilight followed behind him so she could talk to him.
"Spyro, hold on." Twilight said, catching up to him. "A little while ago, you told me the breathing technique a pony in the past taught me. Care to explain?"
He knew he couldn't get out of that one, so he looked down at the bracelet, finally able to take it off and held it in the air with his magic for them to see it.
"I think when your magic was out of control, it was able to reveal me, even though I was meant to be invisible." Spyro replied. "And it allowed us to communicate as well."
"So, what does it mean?" Twilight asked. "And why did the crystal keep taking you to the past?"
"Who knows?" Spyro replied. "Sometimes things happen for a reason. Maybe the crystal wanted me to see you guys get your Cutie Marks. Maybe it wanted me to see something in the past that connected you. But one thing I know is this, destiny, much like the Force, moves in mysterious ways."
As he said it, the crystal started to glow again, making Spyro loose concentration and drop the bracelet, but the crystal disconnected from the bracelet and floated in the air, the cracks repairing themselves as the crystal color changed in front of them; orange and pink on the bottom, yellow and cyan in the middle, white and lavender on the top. As it changed, the bracelet floated in the air, the crystal reconnecting to the jewelry and floating over to Spyro, the hybrid lifting his foreleg as it attached itself to his leg, leaving the two of them with some questions and wondering what had just happened and what it meant.