Chapter 36: The Sleeping Darkness Part 2: A Chaotic Surprise
Back in the core room, Twilight was keeping an eye on the monitors, making sure the crystals remain active while also getting help from AIVA on how to work the computer while Fluttershy and Rarity looked at some of the crystals he had, marveling at all the work he did in the room, but Rainbow Dash was pacing around as Applejack kept an eye of the three royal ponies, deep in a meditative trance, to make sure nothing happened. After a while, Twilight looked away from the screen to get some air when a dark glow came from Princess Luna, eveyrone looking and gasping as something was happening to her, but a moment later, the dark glow disappeared, replaced by a blue shield that surrounded her, banishing the darkness.
"Good thing she has the Prince's Light protecting her." Twilight said.
"But what about Princess Celestia?" Rarity asked. "She doesn't have it."
"She's strong, she can handle herself." Twilight replied, looking to Spyro and finding purple mist coming off him. "That can't be good."
The girls all looked at the mist coming off of Spyro's, looking into it to figure out what was going on until the mist turned into the same mirror like portals that showed the girls what they wanted, a family with Spyro, having children and having a happy life together, living a life of true happiness and loving bliss. The girls were captivated by the life they could have, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy reaching for the barrier to reach out for the miniature portals, but Applejack threw her lasso at them, wrangling all three together before she and Rainbow Dash pulled them away, the three wrangled girls yelping in surprise.
"Now hold on there ladies." Applejack said, she and Rainbow Dash helping them out of the lasso. "Ah think this is nothing more than a trick."
"I agree with AJ." Rainbow Dash said. "Must be what he warned us about tempting us."
"She's right girls, ya'll heard what he said." Applejack said. "If yer tempted, leave the room, clear yer heads, and come back."
"But, who will run the computer?" Twilight asked.
"Don't ya worry about that, we got this." Applejack replied. "Ya'll just relax a bit, we'll handle this."
The three of them looked at each other and then left the room, going out into the main hanger bay while Applejack went over to the computer to figure out how to make it work while Rainbow Dash just crossed her forelegs, bored out of her mind, but looked back to the mist, seeing the one of her still showing a future she could have with him, her heart beating as she thought about it, a blush appearing on her face, but she shook her head and flew outside to clear her own head.
Back with the sisters, they were walking on the platform path that was made thanks to Spyro's light and dark sides of the Force, the silence between them was making everything eerie, even Luna was getting creeped out. A moment later, a streak of blue light flew past them, making the mares rear in fright as the Force sensitives looked back to see them panic, watching as a green streak of light flew past as well, spooking the two brothers as they watched it fly by.
"What was that?" Celestia asked.
"Chaos energy." Light replied, surprising the sisters. "That means we are getting close."
"Closer?" Luna asked. "Closer to what?"
"To the second platform." Dark replied. "And the second corridor. Be ready."
The sisters followed the two force users, contemplating what they meant by being ready until they arrived at the second platform. It was Spyro again in his human form, but in his Chaos form with the temple of Angel Island behind him and the seven emerald surrounding him, channeling their power through him to grant him this form. The sisters were impressed by the stain glass platform, amazed by how it looked, but a second later, the felt a sudden breeze surround them, looking up to see the same temple that was in the glass, the same temple with seven pillars, each one with a Chaos emerald and the Master Emerald at the top of the temples stairs.
"Wow." Luna said. "This is amazing."
"This is the temple of Angel Island." Light said. "This was the resting place of the seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald before they fused with Spyro. They each use a different power, providing different abilities based on the controllers thoughts and emotions. And each emerald is said to represent something different based on its color."
"But the meaning to us is not clear." Dark added. "But I do know what each one represents." They then stopped in front of the temples steps, looking at each of the emeralds as they went, looking to the white emerald first. "Each emerald uses different emotions, feelings, and thoughts to grant them power. The white emerald represents wishes, representing the innocence, purity, and goodness in all living creatures. If you make a wish when you see a shooting star or blow out a birthday candle, its rumored to grant it if it feels like and will punish those who uses the wish for a darker purpose." They then looked to the red emerald, watching as a bolt of red energy shot out from it. "The red one represents power. Its power comes from love, passion, and strength, granting its user the power to tear buildings and entire worlds apart, considered the most dangerous out of the seven."
"Then you have the yellow emerald, representing light." Light added, continuing to the yellow emerald. "It's power comes from happiness, prosperity, and energy, no amount of darkness can extinguish its light as it grants full visibility, no matter how dark it gets." He then turned to the green emerald, a wave of warmth and comfort washing over them. "The green emerald is the purest out of the seven as it represents nature. Growth, healing, and protection, the power to heal even the most gravest of injuries and illnesses. Rumored to even cure cancer, if in the early stages." He then turned to the cyan emerald. "The cyan emerald is a tricky one as it represents the spirit and soul of all living creatures. Truth, tranquility, and devotion grants it its power, granting its user inspiration and drive to do something as well as allowing the user to see if someone is truthful or not."
"Yeah, but let's not forget the last two." Dark said, turning to the blue emerald. "The blue one is the trickiest one of all as it represents the cosmos. Depth, speed, wisdom, and integrity power its abilities, granting its user the full capacity to turn thoughts into power, able to see visions and to even travel between worlds and dimensions." He then turned to the purple emerald, shaking as he did. "And the purple one is the most unpredictable as it represents Emotion. It's sort of a loose cannon as its power runs off of creativity, mysteries, compassion, and feelings themselves. It can alter ones emotions and turn sad moments to joyous ones and vice versa. It also can erase memories, alter them, and make fake ones. The most unpredictable emerald out of the seven."
The sisters looked at each of the pedestals, amazed by each of the architecture and the sophistication of how everything was built, but then saw ancient hieroglyphs, pictures and texts that if their scholars could see would have a field day trying to decipher everything. When they reached the top, the sisters gazed upon the Master emerald, the largest gem they have ever seen up close, radiating pure power while also sensing emotions in it like it was sentient. Around the massive gem was a stone circle with seven different pedestals like the ones the emeralds were on, except they had sections on top of each pedestal missing, small enough to be used in a kind of puzzle.
"Seems like we need to solve this." Luna said. "Obviously it's a puzzle."
"And the pieces are around the Master Emerald." Dark said, pointing to the circular stone table around the massive gem.
The four of them walked over to the massive table, finding there to be hundreds of small square shaped stone tablets and each one had a different symbol, different emblem, or a picture that had a different representation. Luna picked one up, seeing the symbol was in the shape of cross swords, but put it down as she knew better than to just mess with things before she got a better understanding of what she was up against.
"So we are to put pieces of stone into the open sections." Celestia said. "But which ones? And how many?"
"Well, if I were to guess, each pedestal has a different amount of holes." Dark said. "Maybe we check those first and see how many we need. There's also a good chance we'll get a clue as to what the puzzle is about."
"He's got a point." Light said. "And we should check those hieroglyphs as well. Might be some clues there."
"I can do that." Luna announced. "I got an A in Archeology, I can decipher just about anything."
"Alright, it's settled then." Light said. "Luna, check the ancient hieroglyphs for a clue as to what the puzzle is about. The rest of us will see what the pedestals have for us."
Luna flew out of the Master Emeralds chamber and to the side of the temple, looking at each image and then to the hieroglyphs to try and decipher them, but to her surprise, it was in a language she wasn't familiar with and the images she was seeing didn't make it easier as it showed an alien species had come to another planet after theirs was destroyed, the emeralds finding their way there and after some time, after the alien species was lost, a clan called the Echidna's tried to take the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald to use as weapons, but in the end they were eradicated due to their desire for violence and need for power. The more Luna looked at the different pictures and symbols, the more she seemed to understand, b it just barely, but when she came to a section of the temples images and glyphs, finding that they had been scorched and vandalized, making her curious as to why this section was destroyed.
Back at the Master Emeralds chamber, Celestia, Light, and Dark were examining the pedestals for a clue as to what the puzzle was about, but the glyphs on them were in a language she was not familiar with. Light and Dark were also examining different pedestals to see what they could get, but were just as stumped, Dark standing up and stretching while Light kept examining his.
"It's no use." Dark said. "The pedestal is a bust. All I found from it was the texts and glyphs, finding there are four holes on the top of the blue stone slab."
"I'm having the same problem here." Celestia said. "But this red one only has three holes, not four."
"And this green one also has three slots." Light said. "But this one has some more glyphs. They seem to be preserved by the moss and the power in it. But, I cannot read it, but by how often they seem to repeat, my guess is it's a warning of some kind."
"Well, whatever the warning is, we can't read it." Dark said. "Not unless your sister has studied the Mobian language or is a quick learner."
"Mobian?" Celestia asked.
"They're inhabitants of Earth." Dark replied. "Well, of another Earth that is. There are multiple versions of Earth in different dimensions. My brother and I are from one in a galaxy far, far away. The Emeralds are from a dimension where an evil scientist is fighting a blue hedgehog and his friends, fighting to use the emeralds power, the hedgehog for good, the scientist for evil. And the purple dragon is from a world where there are no humans, only animal people and dragons. Spyro however got his power from the dimension with the Keyblade, gaining his title when he accepted his power and his responsibility as prince, renouncing his old name and taking on a new one."
"A new one?" Celestia asked, wondering what he meant. "So, he wasn't always known as Spyro?"
"No, he had another name." Light replied, getting up. "But when he took on his new name, he renounced his old one. His old life was erased and repurposed to allow him to live a new life. Though he still has his old friends from his old home, his past life is no more. He doesn't even remember his old name, just this new one. He still remembers his old life, but knows he can never go back to, but still looks back on it, remembering the good times, and fighting to make sure those memories stay strong."
Celestia could understand where he was coming from as, even though she lived for a thousand years, she too had to make some of the hardest decisions in her life time, some of which she regretted, but knew it was for the greater good, but wished she had done things differently. But she could not understand what it was like for him to give up his old name and his old life to acquire this new one, one in which he fights all the time to keep darkness from devouring worlds and from devouring the inhabitants of those worlds. She looked out past the pillars, looking to the dark sky and wondering what his life would have been like if he hadn't accepted his new life and juts lived his life without the fighting and without the adventures, smiling as she too thought about a life without being royalty and without all the responsibilities that comes with it.
She then looked down, seeing her sister examine the side of the temple to understand what she could and then looked back to the sky, looking across the blank void and then her eyes wondered to the emeralds, looking over the white, red, and yellow emeralds before turning back to the red pedestal to see what she could find, but then a though came to her. She looked at the pedestal, then to the red emerald and back again, a sudden realization coming to her when she walked up, examining the top of the stone table top and found another hole in the center of the circular base, now realizing what the puzzle was about.
"Light, Dark, come here!" Celestia said. "I figured out what the puzzle is about." The two brothers ran to her, wondering what she found out, seeing her smiling. "The pedestals are the same color as the emeralds. I think there is a connection."
"I think you might be right princess." Light said. "Must be something about the Chaos Emeralds history or something about them."
"Then let's get a better look at them." Dark said, reaching out with the Force and pulling the red emerald to him.
"Dark don't!" Light shouted.
It was already too late as he grabbed the emerald, but ended up getting burnt as flames rocketed across his arm, making him yell out in pain as Light used the Force to extinguish the flames, the emerald flying back to the pedestal, but beams of red light shot out and landed on the ground, getting Luna's attention as red crystals and stones shot out from the ground and merged together, creating a massive giant with its arms larger than a regular giants with a massive ruby red club and a wild look in its eyes.
"Oh Karabast." Dark said.
"Nice work brother." Light said, igniting his Lightsaber. "Now we got a twenty foot tall giant to deal with."
"Hey, how was I supposed to know that would happen?" Dark asked, igniting his saber.
Luna flew away from the wall just as the giant swung its club to his her, landing next to her sister and igniting her saber as well.
"Where did this thing come from?" Luna asked.
"Ask Dark." Light said spitefully. "He took the emerald from its pedestal and now we got an angry giant to deal with. Good thing he didn't try to take the blue or purple one. Otherwise we'd be in big trouble."
"Hey, get off my back monk boy!" Dark said, leaping out to the ground and blocking the attack.
"Luna, what did you discover?" Celestia asked.
"Not much." Luna answered. "Only that a clan tried to use the emeralds as a weapon but ended up being destroyed for trying to use them for a dark deed."
"Is there a way to call it off?" Celestia asked, watching Dark dodge and fight.
"No, I didn't find anything." Luna replied. "The last section was scorched. I don't know much else after that."
They then heard the massive giant smash his club to the ground, looking back to the battle to see that Dark was ok, but got knocked off his feet and knocked to the ground. The giant reached down to smash him, but a purple lightsaber went across it's hand, making it howl in surprise as Light leapt off the temples stairs and in front of Dark, grabbing his lightsaber and joining his brother for the fight.
"I'll see if I can help keep it busy." Celestia said, drawing her spear. "You stay here and figure out how to open the corridor and how to beat that thing."
"Sister, I don't know if I can." Luna replied.
"Luna, you bested Nightmare Moon back in the Cave." Celestia said. "You resisted temptation with the aid of a friend. You can do this."
Before Luna could say anything, Celestia flew off to help the brothers, leaving Luna alone with the Master Emerald and the pedestals while her sister and their new friends engaged the massive giant to see what they could to destroy it. Luna didn't have a lot of time to think about their situation, so she went to the pedestals and then to the stone table to look at each of the stone squares, looking at each of the symbols and images on them, some had hearts, some had weapons, brains, hands, about every symbol and image she could see. She couldn't make sense of it, but knew they were needed as probably a way to stop the rampaging giant and took the first one she could reach for, which had a fist on it and looked it over to find a clue. She found nothing about it that was special and put it down, trying to figure out why there were these images and symbols on stone slabs, getting distracted by the battle going on outside and wanting to help, but knew she had to figure out the puzzle.
"What does it mean?" She asked. "What's the connection? What's the connection!?"
She then looked between the colored pedestals and the emeralds, figuring out that the pedestals go with her emeralds and drew a connection, but couldn't figure out how the stone slabs were connected to everything and what their significance was in this case. She then reached for a slab that had a heart shaped symbol on it, and then to other hearts as most seemed to be about something else, some with swords going through them, some burning, and others that had more hearts behind it, but darker.
"What's different about this one?" Luna asked herself.
"The red one represents power. Its power comes from love, passion, and strength." Dark words repeated, echoing in her head.
"Of course!" Luna exclaimed. "Love, passion, and strength. Three characteristics that gives the red emerald its power."
Without a moments hesitation, she looked over the other stone slabs to find what she needed, finding a lot of stone slabs, but didn't know which ones would work, but took as many as she could. She took the ones she had and placed the one with the heart on it into one of the slots on the red pedestal, the symbol glowing red as she did and smiled, happy that it was right. She then took out a slab with a bunch of flowers on it, putting it into the next slot, but it didn't glow, but she heard something spawn behind her, turning to find smaller versions of the giant. Igniting her lightsaber, she took down the red mini giants and took the tablet out, tossing it aside so she could figure out which one it was. Celestia was providing air support for Dark and Light, hitting the giant with magical beams, which only caused mild irritation but it kept attacking the two brothers, but then looked over to Luna, seeing her with multiple stone tablets, realizing what she figured out, she flew over to see if she could help.
"Sister!" She shouted out, getting Luna's attention. "Did you figure it out!?"
"I did!" Luna replied. "It's the thoughts, emotions, and characteristics the emeralds get their power from. That's the answer."
"That's great." Celestia said.
"Yeah, but there is a problem." Luna added. "If I mismatch the symbols with the pedestals, smaller versions of the giant will attack. I tried putting in a bouquet of flowers for passion, but it didn't work."
"Well, you are on the right track." Celestia said, looking back to the giant and flying off. "Roses and rubies are symbols of passion! use one of those!"
Luna, having heard what her sister said, looked through the stone tablets she had, but didn't have a rose or a ruby, dropping them and looking back to the table to find it, finding the rose and grabbing it, but then looked over and saw a lot of animals, thinking about the third thing for the red emerald; strength. She rushed over and looked around, remembering animals with great strength being Rhino's, Elephants, even Hippos, reaching for those, but then saw a lions head, remembering that some leaders use lions as symbols of strength, grabbing it and rushing back to the pedestal, putting the rose into the slot and it started to glow red, making it the right one. She then rushed over to the third slot, putting the one for lion into it and the lions head glowed red, all three slots glowing and the princess smiling that it worked, but a moment later, a red orb appeared in the middle of the pedestal and a red beam of light shot out, hitting the red emerald and pulling it to the pedestal, the gem's point sliding into the hole as the pedestal started to glow.
At the battle, the giant had just pinned Dark down, raising it's club to destroy him ad Light leapt forward to block the attack, but the giant just froze, Celestia stopping in mid air and watching as the giant looked to the temple, letting go of their companion and walked to the temple, stopping just short of the steps and turning around to face them, it's club at its side, but guarding the stairs.
"What gives?" Dark asked, Light helping him up. "It was going to crush me, but now it's chill with us?"
"It's Luna, she did it." Celestia said. "She figured out how to solve the puzzle."
"She did?" Light asked. "Then let's get up there."
The three of them ran to the giant, which they were cautious when they approached, but it just looked down at them and back to the route in front of it, not paying attention to them as they ran up the stairs. When they got up they're, they saw that the red pedestal was glowing and the red emerald was on the pedestal itself, looking around to find Luna looking at the other stone slates to find more symbols.
"Luna!" Celestia said, the group running up to her. "You did it. You calmed the giant."
"Well, it wasn't easy." Luna replied. "But now that I know what we need, we need to look at the slates and find the images and symbols for the rest."
"So we match the symbols with the emerald, the emerald will come to the pedestals?" Dark asked.
"Exactly." Luna replied. "We match the symbols, we calm the emerald."
"Well, that's good to know." Dark Spyro said, the four of them looking to the sky as he levitated down. "Now that I know what I need to do, be kind enough to step aside. Or else, I'll-"
He didn't finish his sentence as the giant had back handed him away from the temple and into the nearby cliff, the four of them grimacing at how painful that might have been. But Dark Spyro just got back up, using his wings to fly around the temple and float above the temple, angry and sore.
"You dare to attack me!?" Dark Spyro shouted. "I am the true master of the Chaos Emeralds! You will obey me!"
The giant didn't listen as he raised its club and shards of red crystals shot out, scratching the side of his shoulder and he flew around, blasting the giant with beams of purple magic to hurt it, only for the spells to not even leave a scratch on it.
"Glad he's on our side now." Dark said. "But if the red emerald summons a giant, then-"
"A shield of light." Luna finished. "The yellow emerald represents light, so maybe it can create a shield."
"Maybe." Light said. "What do we need for the yellow emerald?"
"Three stone slates." Luna replied. "We need ones that have the image of energy, happiness, and prosperity."
The four of them split up, looking over the stone slates to find the needed symbols for the yellow emerald, but didn't have any idea what to use or what to look for. Luna did however find something with the animals, a slate with a pig on it, remembering its meaning and grabbing it, but Dark was running to the pedestal with one of his own.
"Got it!" Dark shouted a. "The dollar sign. It represents money, and money represents prosperity."
"No wait!" Luna shouted, too late as Dark put the slate in the slot.
Almost immediately, three archers made of light appeared on the cliff side on the opposite edge, drawing their bow strings back and releasing arrows made of pure light at them. Dark ignited his saber again and deflected two of them back to the archers, fading into light while the third was accidentally hit with a rogue crystal. Luna took the slate out and tossed it away, the group leering at him.
"What?" Dark asked. "It's a symbol of prosperity."
"Not exactly." Luna replied. "It's a symbol for money, yes. But it's also a symbol for greed." She showed him the slate they needed, putting it in the slot and it glowed yellow, indicating it was correct. "The pig is the proper symbol for prosperity and good luck."
"Oh." Dark replied, scratching the back of his head.
"Here, happiness." Light said, rushing over with a smiley face.
"You sure?" Luna asked. "It can't be that simple."
A moment later, Dark Spyro had hit the giant in the chin, making it walk a few steps back in a daze, spooking everyone.
"We don't have much options right now." Light said, putting the symbol in and watching it glow yellow.
"Glad to be wrong." Luna said. "Now we need energy."
"Got it." Celestia said, running over with a slate that had a lightning bolt on it.
She put the slate into the final slot, watching it start to glow as the second emerald came to the pedestal, sliding into the slot, but instead of a shield, it was a whole battalion of archers shooting arrows made of light at Dark Spyro, who was forced to dodge them and the giant, being hit by an arrow and then by the club, being sent over the edge as he screamed.
"Not exactly what I expected, but it'll do." Luna said, watching the edge as Dark Spyro flew back up.
"Seems I underestimated the emeralds." Dark Spyro said. "I thought it would be a shield, not a bunch of ranged attackers. Still, the emeralds will be mine. And you, my dear princesses, will be long gone."
He opened his arms and voids opened up, Heartless appearing from the voids and charging towards the temple. The giant charged forward, smashing multiple Heartless at once, but many more ran past him and to the temple, just top be shot by the archers as they approached, but a few still managed to get past, Light and Dark igniting their blades and handling the Heartless that get past.
"We'll handle the Heartless, you figure out the rest of the puzzle." Dark said.
"Alright, but be careful." Celestia said, the two sisters watching as they ran to fight before turning back to each other. "Sister, we need to move quickly. What's next?"
"The green emerald." Luna replied. "I'll handle the green emerald, you move to the cyan one, Spirit. For it, you will need Tranquility, Devotion, and Truth."
The sisters went to the table to find what they need, for Celestia, she needed symbols for tranquility, devotion, and truth. Luna needed the symbols for growth, healing, and protection, trying figure out which symbol is the correct one for each. Luna did manage to find a lotus flower, which is a universal symbol for growth and a heart with a plus mark in the middle of it, representing healing, but protection is proving to be the trickiest one as there were many different symbols for protection. While Luna looked over each one, Celestia had gotten the cyan emerald onto it's pedestal, the yin-tang symbol for tranquility, a sacred heart for devotion, and an open book for truth, feeling a wave of power wash over the entire field, the giant feeling stronger and the archers arrows now having explosive tips to take down multiple enemies at a time, moving onto the next one.
"Sister, I go the cyan one finished." Celestia said. "What are the ones for the blue one?"
"You'll need four of them this time." Luna replied. "You need integrity, speed, depth, and wisdom. Mean while, I'm having trouble finding the right symbol for protection as there are too many that seem right."
"You'll figure it out." Celestia said. "You figured out the key piece of the puzzle, I'm sure you'll figure this out as well."
With that Celestia ran back to the table to look for the symbols she needed for the blue emerald, Luna looked back to the different symbols for protection, not knowing which one was the right one, but decided to guess and took the one that looked like a hand, running to the pedestal and putting the three of them into the slots, watching as the first two glowed while holding her breath on the third, thinking she got it wrong, but the hand glowed green like the other two, taking a deep breath of relief as nature itself came to life, defending the walls and steps of the temple and throwing away those that got too close.
"I got it sister!" Luna shouted. "Moving to the purple emerald!"
She got to the purple emeralds and remembered what gives it its power; feelings, creativity, compassion and mysteries. She went to the table and looked around for what she needed, finding a lightbulb, which was an obvious symbol for creativity, and finding another heart, taking it to see if it will represent feelings. She kept looking when she saw her sister had set in the needed symbols for the blue emerald to come to the pedestal, the stone lighting up as a cloud appeared above the temple, bolts of lightning shooting down onto the Heartless, further weakening their numbers and moving to the final emerald, but looking out to see that Dark and Light were running out of steam, forgetting the emerald and leaving Luna alone to finish up. Luna saw her sister go to help their companions and focused on finding the remaining symbols, looking over to a spider and remembered they represent mysteries and construction, taking it and finding another heart, taking it as it not only represented love and feelings, but also compassion.
She moved to the purple pedestal and put the symbols into the slots of the pedestal, watching as each of them started to glow purple, calling the purple emerald over and small slits of purple light opened up, sending out foot soldiers to help out in the temples defense. Moving quickly, she ran to the white emerald, remembering its power comes from purity, innocence, and goodness. So she ran back to the table to figure out which one of the symbols she needed, immediately picking up the dove as it represented purity and the image of a baby as it is the most innocent being that is in any world, looking around the table for the final symbol she needed, finding nothing that came close, but then her eyes landed onto another lotus flower, remembering that it didn't just represent growth, but also the inner peace and kindness in people hearts, the goodness that comes from deep inside. Taking the lotus flower, she ran to the white emerald and put each of them into the empty slots, watching as they started to glow and the white emerald coming to it's pedestal and setting down into the hole in the middle.
"Yes!" Luna shouted, the final emerald in place and looking out to watch the Heartless in full retreat.
"We got them on the run." Light said, the three of them walking up the stairs. "But it's not over yet."
"What do you mean?" Luna asked.
"Though the emeralds are now in the pedestals, we still need to open the corridor." Light replied. "Opening each corridor is not easy. The two of us managed it as we reached with the Force to call our corridor. The one here for the Chaos emeralds is different."
"Then, how do we open it?" Celestia asked.
"You can't." Dark Spyro replied, appearing on top of the Master Emerald. "The corridor here cannot be opened. I made sure to that as I am the one who scorched the final panel."
"You what!?" Luna shouted, feeling anger towards the dark human.
"Yes, the other panels were not of great importance to me." Dark Spyro said. "It is the final panel that is the key to opening the corridor. Now that it's scorched and illegible, you won't be able to interfere with my plan. And to make sure of that..."
He then shot out Force lightning at Luna, pinning her top a nearby stone pillar as she screamed in agony, feeling the bolts of lightning coursing through her, feeling like someone was tearing her apart and stabbing her with thousands of needles. Celestia ran to help her, but was also hit with her same lightning, pinning her to the ground just as Dark and Light ignited their lightsabers and ran to help, but Force lightning shot out from the back of his hands, forcing the two of them to block and be pushed back by the sheer force of how strong the lightning was.
"Now tell me, little pony." Dark Spyro said. "Why would Eclipse take a liking to you? He is the dragon of darkness and I made an offer to all entities of darkness within Spyro that if they joined me, they would bathe in power from Kingdom Hearts, they would have their own bodies, and would have absolute power!. Obviously, Dark refused my offer and Eclipsed voted to remain neutral, but then changed his mind." He intensified the lightning he was pumping into Luna, making her scream louder and making smoke come off of her as he took pleasure in her agony. "How did you manage to resist Nightmare Moon? How did you escape the life I offered you the first time? So many questions, so little time. Maybe just destroying you and your sister will make my life easier, cut out all the variables that will interfere!"
"Sister!" Celestia shouted, fighting through the pain as.
She conjured a shield around her, the lightning bouncing off it and allowing herself a chance to recover, using her magic to heal some of the damage done to her, getting up and drawing her weapon. A moment later, she conjured a bolt of magic and shot it at Dark Spyro, making him focus on her, but get hit in the shoulder and breaking his concentration, the Force lightning disappearing and giving Light and Dark a chance to engage Dark Spyro. Celestia lowered her shield and ran to Luna, kneeling down and trying to wake her up, but Luna was unconscious, barely breathing and she had smoke coming off her like she was a burnt piece of meat.
"Luna." She said. "Luna wake up! Wake up! Please wake up."
Luna didn't even move a muscle, her eyes were closed and her breathing was weak, making Celestia's heart break as she felt her sister was gone, picking her up and holding her in her forelegs, tears rolling down her face as she held her dying sister. She looked up to Dark Spyro, anger filling her heart as she gently set her sister down and took off, seeing nothing but red in her eyes as she took out her weapon to fight the monster that killed her sister. With Luna, she felt darkness around her, reaching out and calling to her, telling her to let go of herself, allow darkness to consume her, even whispering how powerful she can be. She felt tears roll down her own face, feeling like the end was near for her as she tried to call out, to hang on to whatever she could, wishing she could have done more to help other ponies, make up for her past sins. She started t close her eyes once again, getting ready to give up until she felt something grab her hoof, opening her eyes just enough to see who it was and found a figure made of pure white light had taken her hoof, immediately thinking it was Spyro as she smiled.
"You are worthy." It said, a white light washing over the both of them.
Outside of the temple, Celestia had engaged Dark Spyro, who was using dark flame sword to fight off the royal sister and using his Force abilities to keep Light and Dark at bay, calling Heartless to provide back up while he felt with the Princess of the Day.
"You will pay for what you did!" She shouted.
"Send me the bill." Dark Spyro replied. "That is, if you survive." He locked his blades with Princess Celestia's spear, laughing as he took joy in seeing her anger, feeding off it when he looked up and saw a glowing light in the temple, smiling form ear to ear. "And that's my cue. Sorry that I can't finish our little game, but I gotta fly."
He broke off the lock, kicking the princess hard and leaping towards the temple, looking forward to the kind of power he'd get, landing on the top step of the temple, finding the Master Emerald was glowing and smiled, victory in his reach, but was then shot in the chest, being sent tumbling down the stairs and groaning in pain. The princess and the two Force sides ran up to stop him, but froze when they saw he was hit and sent down the stairs, looking up to see the same white figure standing at the top of the steps, looking down at the darkness with a bow in its hand.
"You are not worthy." It said, looking to the unconscious princess.
The figure of light walked over to the princess and placed its hand on her head, a green glow surrounding the princess as the figure of light disappeared. Dark Spyro managed to recover from his injury and looked back up to the temple, getting ready to get back up the steps when he saw something that shocked him and everyone else when they saw it. It was Luna, back on her hooves and looking very unhappy as a white aura surrounded her, watching as her eyes turned from blue to red, a sudden rise in power sending chills down everyone's back.
"Not good." Dark Spyro said, backing away.
"The servers are the seven chaos." Luna said, her wings spreading out as the emeralds started to glow. "Chaos is power. Power comes from the heart. The Controller is the one who unifies the chaos within the heart." As she said it, the emeralds got off the pedestals and surrounded the princess of the night, spinning around in a circle as the white aura around her turned gold, flying off the temple steps and down to Dark Spyro, who was backing away from the power he could feel coming from her. "These emeralds are not meant for war and not meant for destruction. They are meant for peace, for healing, for bringing forth happiness and hope. Those who use them for a darker purpose are not worthy of their power."
"Then why does Spyro use them?" Dark Spyro said, trying to hit the princess, but a barrier around her deflected the attack. "His heart isn't pure. It has darkness in it. So why is he worthy enough to use them?"
"Because he doesn't hold malicious intent in his heart." Luna answered, her voice mixed with another's, but it wasn't familiar. "He may have darkness in his heart, and there is a chance he may use the darkness, his heart is kind and pure. He has love, kindness, laughter, and happiness in his heart. He's also honest with others, loyal to his friends, and is always ready to lend them his time and whatever else he deems of value. The opposite of you and of Malefor. The true power of the emeralds can only be accessed when the heart is filled with light. Filled with the positive energy of the user."
"Wait, how do you know this?" Dark Spyro asked. "Spyro never said anything to you or his friends. And Light and Dark only told you a few facts about the Chaos emeralds, so how do-" He stopped talking, putting the pieces together and sneered, knowing what was going on. "Tikal."
Just as he said it, the aura glowed brighter band then separated into a ball of golden energy until Tikal appeared in the sphere, an echidna in the center of the golden sphere, landing on the ground, a disappointed look on her face as she stared at the darker human as the aura around Luna disappeared, Luna shaking her head as she regained consciousness.
"What happened?" She asked, looking around until she saw Tikal, backing up. "And who's this!?"
"Tikal, I should have known you'd still be with the emeralds." Dar Spyro said. "It's a surprise that you are even still around. I thought you'd have moved on to a better place."
"Where the emeralds go, I go." She replied, a golden aura surrounding her. "Whoever needs the power of chaos control, should they be worthy enough, I will be there to guide them. Like I am doing now."
"You serious?" Dark Spyro asked. "The only one worthy enough to use them is Spyro, and he isn't here right now. Who could possibly be worthy enough to use their power?"
Without another world, she closed her eyes and started to pray, her golden aura appearing around her and a second later, it moved onto Luna, who was surprised the aura surrounded her when the horns and violins started to play, Celestia looking around to see where the music is coming from, but everyone else backed away. Luna then felt a sudden surge of power go through her as a beam of golden light shot up into the air, radiating a massive amount of power as the pillar disappeared, revealing Luna in a golden form with her mane waving in a golden light with blue stars in her mane and tail, her eyes turning red, looking over herself as she tried to process what was happening, even her sister, Light and Dark were surprised. But Dark Spyro was horrified as he backed away, fear in him as she called a dark ice shield to defend himself.
"No, how?" He asked. "Luna was corrupted by darkness. She was Nightmare Moon, she tried to take over the world! What makes her worthy!?"
"Her heart holds no malice." Tikal replied. "When the heart holds no anger or jealousy in it, only love and compassion, then they can use the power of the Chaos Emeralds."
"It makes no difference to me." Dark Spyro said. "No matter what, the power of the emeralds will be mine. Even if I have to tear them out of this royal reject!"
He charged forward to the princess, slashing his blade down, but Luna just ignited her lightsaber and blocked it, which she then appeared behind him with her blade still on, but was confused how she appeared there until Dark Spyro fell to the ground, multiple injuries appearing on his body and was then knocked into the ground hard. Luna looked behind, not remembering what she did, but a moment later, he got back up and sent a bolt of force lightning at her, but she disappeared and reappeared in the air, flapping her wings and looking at her hooves.
"What's going on?" Luna asked. "What's happening to me?"
"The emeralds were using your thoughts and emotions to anticipate your next move." Tikal replied.
"But, how do I control it?" Luna asked, teleporting to the temple. "What do I do? How does Spyro use it?"
"You cannot control the power of the Chaos Emeralds." Tikal replied. "The more you try to control, the more you will struggle. Let that power flow through you and let your thoughts empower you."
Luna didn't understand what she meant, teleporting again to the nearby cliff side, trying not to puke, but took a deep breath and calmed down, feeling all the power in her flow through her body, feeling the emeralds strength go through her, understanding how to use their power. When Dark Spyro got back up, Luna appeared in front of him, the two slashing and attacking each other, exchanging blows and even casting spells at each other until Luna leapt into the air and multiple spheres of energy appeared behind her, unleashing a barrage of energy at Dark Spyro, who was forced to hide behind his black ice shield to protect himself. When the blasts stopped, he looked over his shield to see what was going on, but ended up getting punched in the face, flying through he air and over the edge again, this time he flew up to get back into the fight, but ended up being blasted with a massive energy beam, screaming in agony as the energy sent him into the void, exploding into a massive flash of light.
Dark Spyro fell to the ground, burnt and severely injured as she shook his head, his dark energy healing him as he looked up to feel something hot and painful pierce his chest, looking down to see Luna had stabbed him with her lightsaber.
"It's over." She said, pulling the blade out. "You lost."
"On the contrary, the fight is far from over." Dark Spyro said, turning into shadows and flying into the void, the four of them watching. "I got to see what else his little princess has. And now I know."
A maniacal laugh sounded out from the darkness, the four of them looking around to see if they could find him, but found nothing as it was nothing but dark void and the temple. Not wanting to deal with it any further, Luna flew down to the rest of the group and landed in front of them, walking to her sister and their companions as they approached her.
"This is something I did not see coming." Dark said. "I mean, I only know our host having the ability to use Chaos Control, but you? This is unexpected."
"It is something that not even I knew would happen." Light added. "Tikal, can you explain why Princess Luna can use the Chaos Emeralds power."
"It is the will of the emeralds." Tikal replied. "She solved the puzzle, but more than that, she sought redemption for her past. Those who can use the emeralds power are extremely rare, but those whose hearts seek redemption and wish to help those who are in need besides themselves, they will be granted the power to use Chaos Control."
"Wait, so you're saying that I was able to use this power wasn't because-" Luna was asking, but got interrupted.
"It is because you wished to do more to repent for your sins." Tikal replied. "To live and help others, that is why they chose you. To save you and to fight by your side if the need arose. And as such, they chose you to be their guardian until Dark Spyro is defeated."
As she said it, the seven emeralds appeared in front of the whole group, flying to the sky as a large white portal opened up, revealing another platform like the one they were on and the mirror turning into a vortex, sucking the five of them through it and closing behind them. Back outside of Spyro's heart, Applejack was keeping an eye on the monitor, trying to make sense of what she was seeing, but even with AIVA's help, she couldn't make any sense out of it until Twilight and the rest of the girls walked in, looking over and seeing Pinkie had finally joined the group, looking around at all the massive crystals.
"Ooooh, pretty." Pinkie said. "This is what powers the Gummi Garage?"
"Apparently." Rainbow Dash said, looking over to the royal ponies. "Any change?"
"None yet Rainbow Dash." Applejack replied. "And the crystals are still functioning, so everything it-"
A moment later, a bright gold light flooded the room, making the girls cover their eyes to not go blind, but when they could see, they saw that Luna was in her Super form, everyone's jaws dropping to the ground, Pinkie's literally dropping to the ground, and watching as a dark aura appeared around Spyro, but this time it was more violent as red Force Lightning shot out of him, hitting the first barrier hard and causing the alarms to go off. A second later, one of the barrier crystals shattered, sending a shock wave through the building at the inner barrier fell and the lightning hit the second barrier, trying to destroy it, but the computer had a bar on it that loaded up quickly, the crystals sending a controlled blast into the barrier, the dark aura retreating and the second one was about to fall, turning red from the damage, but then turned back to a golden yellow.
"What just happened?" Fluttershy asked, shaking behind her friends.
"Seems the princesses did something that Spyro's dark half didn't like." Twilight said, running to the computer. "The first Sunlight Crystal is destroyed. We were lucky AIVA activated some kind of defenses because if she didn't, we'd be in some serious trouble."
"Like, what kind of trouble?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Let's just say you don't want to know." Twilight replied, turning back to the computer and doing what she can to boost the shields power. "I don't know how Spyro handles this thing, but however he does it, we need to make sure the shields stay on. Otherwise... no pony is safe."
While everyone was busy watching the computer, Fluttershy found a place to be alone, pulling out the blue box the strange human gave her and pulled the ribbon off, opening the box to find a brooch int he shape of a butterfly made with blue sapphires and pure silver. She stared at it for a bit, captivated by how beautiful it was until she saw something in the box, a small note she took out and opened it to read what it was while everyone was worrying about what to do.