Chapter 101: Heart of the Bear Part 1: A Friendly Reunion
Ten Years ago
In the fields near a frozen lake, there was a boy playing with his friend and having a friendly go about, fighting with sticks as they ran around and pretend fought, which the boy knocked the girl down and the two were laughing like it was nothing. The girl then got up and shouted she'd race him to the waterfalls and frozen lake.
"Race you to Hokani Falls!" The girl shouted.
She then took off followed closely by the boy running towards Hokani falls and when they got there, they started to pole vaults over the ice, laughing and having an over all good time until the ice cracked under the little girls pole, breaking apart and causing her to fall into the freezing water underneath, screaming and getting the boys attention as she struggled to get back above the surface of the water, but started to sink.
"Nita!" The boy shouted.
He ran over to the edge of the sheet of ice and looked over, watching as she started to sink deeper and deeper into the water, fear and horror in her eyes and face as she sunk, so the boy dove in without regard for his own safety and swam to her, reaching out and grabbing his friends wrist and pulling her to the surface, both coughing as they tried to get air in their lungs. The boy then pulled her to the shore and helped her to someplace in the cliffs above the water and behind the falls, a fire going to keep them warm as they tried not to catch their death of cold.. The boy could hear his friend sneeze as a cold was setting in, seeing how scared she was and smiled, moving over and sitting next to her before giving her his amulet.
"Here." The boy said, handing it over to her. "That way, when we grow up, we'll always be together."
"ThanK you Kenai." Nita said, taking a stick and reaching up to draw something. Kenai watched as she etched something into the stone, wondering what she was drawing until he saw two humans holding hands, smiling as he knew what she drew. "There. We'll always be best friends."
Kenai smiled at Nita, happy to now they would always be friends no matter where they were, looking up to see the drawing before looking back to her. A second later, the northern lights appeared and got both of them to look out to the edge, walking over to the cliffs edge and watching the lights dance in the air, mesmerized by the show. Above them was a small light that was floating down from the sky and towards the two kids, both not paying attention to the light as it floated down and behind them, flying around the both of them before it flew into the amulet, surrounding it in a purple aura before fading, a wave of light going over the amulet as the symbol of a dragons head with a triangle behind it and the three pony heads appeared on the amulet.
"Nita, time to go!" A mans voice called out, getting their attention.
"Good bye Kenai." Nita said.
Instead of hugging her friend, she punched him in the shoulder, the two of them laughing as she ran down the pathway to the person who was obviously his dad, getting into the kayak as Kenai watched them leave, Nita waving to him as he waved back, disappointed that their play date had to end before making his way back home, extinguishing the fire on his way out.
Present Day
In the forest, under a fallen tree, Kenai was having a dream about his childhood friend, talking in his sleep until Koda jumped on him and woke him up, startling him awake.
"So, who's Nita?" Koda asked.
"Huh, what?" Kenai asked, picking Koda up and putting him on the ground.
"You were talking in your sleep." Koda replied. "You were going 'Nita, Nita!' But, who's Nita?"
"Oh, uh... she's a... girl I use to know." Kenai replied.
"Whatever happened to her?" Koda asked.
"I don't know." Kenai replied. "I guess she grew up."
Kenai then got up and walked away from his brother, Koda watching him walk away and seeing how unhappy he was as he walked after him to see if there was anything he could do to cheer him up. On the other side of the valley, in a village near a lake, there was a village getting ready for a wedding, which some of the local kids were shouting that the groom had arrived, prompting a grown up Nita to look out her tent and see a whole group of people outside, recognizing them from her fiancés village and seeing her fiancé, her heart beating against her chest.
"Wow, he must have brought his whole village." Nita said.
"Well this marriage is extremely important you know." One of her friends said.
"That's why we're here to help." Another said. "Help you get ready!"
"Oh, no, no, no, that's alright." Nita said, rushing over and cleaning her face. "I can get myself ready."
A moment later, her friend picked up the bowl and dumped the water over her, freaking her out as she froze, her face showing fear as she seemed to remember herself nearly drowning.
"There you go." Her friend said. "Use all the water and we'll air dry your hair."
"Air dry?" Her friend asked. "Certainly not. We'll towel dry it."
When she did that, her hair was poofy and puffy, which her friends then combed her hair, each trying to style it their own way only to make it look ridiculous, which Nita knew it did and wanted to say something, but couldn't as her friends started to argue about getting her food, undoing the hair to style it herself.
"Girls, really, I'm alright." Nita said, restyling her hair. "I'll feel better when I'm dressed."
"Dressed!?" Her friends exclaimed, Nita instantly regretting it.
"We'll have one for you in no time." One of them said.
"Oh no, that's ok." Nita said. I already have one picked out."
"Oh don't be silly." Her first friend said. "There you go, Reign deer hide, slimming yet elegant."
"No caribou!" Her other friend said. "Oh, and feathers with lots of beads!"
They then tried to get her dressed, throwing dresses over her and beads before they started to fight over the beads, one thinking it was ridiculous while the other wanted to add more beads, tugging on them to get them away from the other, Nita growing annoyed.
"Hey!" She shouted, getting their attention. "I do feel kind of hungry right now."
Excited to hear that, they then ran out to find her something to eat, giving Nita a chance to get the dresses and beads off before walking over to a basket, pulling out a dress her mother wore, putting it on and looking herself in the mirror and admiring how she looked.
"You look as beautiful in that dress as your mother did on our wedding day." Nita's father said, walking into the tent.
"Thanks daddy." She said. "I wanted to wear something of hers today."
"That means more to me than anything else in this world." Her father said, smiling. "Your mother would be so proud."
She smiled at her father, a tear forming in her eye as she wiped it away, trying her best not to cry.
"I wish she was here." Nita said.
"She is." Her father said, putting his hand on his heart. "In here. Once you love someone, they stay in your heart... forever." The two of them hugged, enjoying the moment of being father and daughter one last time before the drums sounded, letting them know the wedding ceremony was about to begin. "Are you ready to meet Atka?"
Nita nodded and wrapped her arm around her fathers, walking out of the tent together as the music played and dancers danced, each wearing either skulls from animals and horns, amazed by the ceremony underway, but as she walked out, they failed to notice that amulet her friend Kenai gave her started to glow, a light purple hue as if trying to let someone know something is about to happen. As the ceremony was underway, people from both villages were watching as the bride was being escorted down the middle b her father, some admiring her, others congratulating her as she walked down the aisle, but as she looked around, she saw someone in the crowd wearing a black coat with the hood up, watching her as if she did something to him. Before she could ask who he was, she saw her friends, one with tea and the other with a massive salmon, smiling at them to be nice, but looked back to where the mystery man was, finding that he wasn't there anymore and feeling a shiver run down her spine.
They then reached the alter that was made for the ceremony, Atka, which was a strong man with dark hair and who looked happy to see Nita, just as anxious as her for his big day. Up on the cliff side, a corridor opened up and from it, Maleficent walked out, overlooking the canyon below as she looked in disdain for the world he once visited before.
"Ugh, this world again." Maleficent said. "If this world houses his heart, I will tear it apart to find it. Now... what have we here?"
She looked down at the canyon and saw the wedding, watching as the bride and father get to the center of the alter, turning to face the people as the music ended, his arms raised in the air as he looked to the sky.
"Great Spirits!" He announced. "We come to you today to bond this man and this woman as one! We pray that this pleases you!"
He then moved away from the alter and Atka smiled, holding up his hand for his bride, which she smiled and reached out to take it, but thunder started to crackle, clouds coming from across the sky, everyone horrified by what was going on as a bolt of lightning shot down and hit the nearby cliff, dropping a massive rock and cracking the ground, the crack growing bigger sand longer until it reached the alter, crackingk the earth between her and Atka and her father, the people whispering what was going on and what this meant, intriguing the witch.
"My, isn't this an interesting development." Maleficent said with a dar smile. "Seems the Spirits aren't happy about this wedding. Guess it's not meant to be." She then waved her staff and from the darkness, several Rapid Thrusts appeared from the darkness. "Go, find the Heart Piece and bring it to me intact. Destroy any who get in your way!"
Without waiting, the Rapid Thrusts flew in random directions to locate the Heart Piece, not realizing the piece was inside of the village as it was glowing a bright purple before the light faded. On The Harmony, everyone was occupying themselves with whatever they could do, Rainbow Dash and Applejack having a little contest in the simulator room to keep them busy while Rarity was on her sketch pad drawing up new clothing designs for her shop when she got back, though most of them reminded her too much of Spyro as she flipped through to try and get her head back in the game. Fluttershy was with Zecora keeping the fillies busy playing some of the board games they found in the storage area while Twilight was reading the tome that was hidden in the chest Spyro had left for them, trying to learn everything she could from the tome to see what his actual plan was before losing his heart. In the kitchen, Pinkie was messing with the food synthesizer and looking at every kind of dessert there was while Shining Armor and Cadence were at the table nearby having some breakfast as they made there way to their destination.
"OH, look at this!" Pinkie said excitedly. "Jogan fruitcake! I wonder what that is? Is it some kind of sweet tasting cake or is it a sour and bitter kind of cake!? Oh, I gotta try it!"
"Well she seems happy." Shining Amor said, eating his Hay burger while looking to his sister, worried about her. "Cadence, you think it was a good idea to let her go on this journey? I mean, she has that Keyblade and can protect herself, but I just can;t help but worry for her."
"I Know Shining." Cadence said, reaching over and taking his hoof. "But denying her the chance to go would hurt her more than not going. If there's a chance to bring him back, it's worth a shot."
"I guess." Shining Armor said, putting his forehead to hers.
"Attention everyone!" May said over the intercom. "We're reaching The North American Ice Age now. Hope you're ready because this is where our journey begins."
Everyone got up from their seats, some taking their food with them as they walked up the steps to the cockpit, where May was flipping a few switches on the console as the ship came out of Warp Space, flying out of a corridor of colorful lights and seeing a world covered in forests with a mountain peak and northern lights shining above them, two bears on the bottom of the world walking along the forest. Everyone gazed in amazement at the world, taken away by how it looked, but Rainbow Dash flew up and her eyes were wide with surprise, her jaw dropping when she saw it.
"I don't believe it." Rainbow Dash said, recognizing the world. "The Land of Bears!?"
"YIPEE!" Pinkie screamed, bouncing around the cockpit. "WE GET TO SEE KENAI AND KODA! WOOOOO!"
"Wait, you've been here before?" Shining Armor asked.
"Oh yes, we have." Fluttershy replied. "This world is where our friends Kenai and Koda live on. We met them when we were rescuing Sora after he got stranded on it."
"Well, you three were here before, so you have the most experience." May said, turning to look at them. "What can we expect from it?"
"Well, it's mostly a forest world." Fluttershy said. "Not a lot of humans and a whole lot of animals."
"Yeah, not to mention the lights!" Pinkie exclaimed. "According to Koda and Kenai, the northern lights are the spirits who bring change to that world like magic!"
"Well, we did see some of their power in Equestria." Twilight said walking up. "Which it still amazes me how they can do it. Oh, how I'd like to study them."
"Me too Twilight." May said, turning to see the world. "Spyro's heart is quite special really. He has a love for nature, so it makes sense a piece of his heart would be here."
As she said that, the book stared to glow, getting everyone's attention as Twilight took it out of her saddle bag and opened it to read what was on it, words forming underneath her chapter as the North American Ice Age appeared.
"What's it saying?" Shining Armor asked.
"It reads: Two hearts united by a bond, made at the peak of frozen falls and pond." Twilight read. "Sever the bond in a burning flame and make things the way they were, but never the same. But the heart will always find the one you love, only then will you find what you seek above."
"What does that mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Sounds like a riddle." May said. "Maybe what we need to do to get the Heart Piece."
"Well, whatever it is, we know a piece of Spyro's heart is down there." Rarity said. "Let's get down there and find it."
"Hold on Rarity." Twilight said. "We don't even know where to start looking or even who or what the piece is hiding in."
"Maybe the book will tell us." Applejack said. "Maybe once we're all on the surface of that world, it'll tell us."
"Hopefully." Twilight said. "Right, let's get down there and start looking."
"Uh, maybe I should stay here on the ship." May said, looking uncomfortable.
Twilight could see she looked unhappy and upset, so she got up and walked over to her as they approached the world.
"Is something bothering you?" Twilight asked.
"It's nothing." May replied, looking at the world. "It's just... after being rescued from my darkness, I'm reminded of what I did to Spyro and to all of you. How I nearly killed you all, kidnapping Scootaloo, terrorizing the ponies of Equestria... I'm starting to wonder if rescuing me was a mistake."
Everyone there could see how much she was hurting, hearing that saving her was a mistake was enough to make some of them worry.
"Don't say that." Fluttershy said. "You are Spyro's friend and he knew there was light inside your heart."
"Yeah, he didn't give up on you!" Rainbow Dash said, flying over. "He didn't give up on us either when we were down or did something dumb, he was always there for us, so we'll be there for you."
"If anything is bothering you May darling, you can talk to us." Rarity said. "Fluttershy and I were corrupted by Marluxia and he did everything to save us and was there for us even after everything we did, so the least we can do is be there for you."
"Thank you everyone." May said, smiling at them. "Thank you all."
"No problem sugarcube." Applejack said. "Now then let's get down there and find that heart!"
Not waiting another moment, May entered the world's atmosphere, the ship flying just above the world's surface as she got up and turned to everyone.
"Alright everyone, listen up." May said. "This world doesn't have a lot of humans, so we can all go down and look for the heart. The more eyes we have looking for it, the better. But I need everyone to keep a very close eye on the fillies to make sure they don't wonder off. Hopefully, we can find Spyro's heart quickly."
A moment later, May called her new Keyblade, appearing in her hand, which to Shining Armor on high alert as he got up and in front of Cadence, but she just lifted the Keyblade up and a light appeared above the blade, expanding around everyone until they appeared inside the forest, tall trees surrounding them as birds flew around and all the animals were frolicking around, everyone who hadn't visited the world before amazed by it.
"Wow." Apple Bloom said. "This place is amazin'."
"You said it Apple Bloom." Scootaloo said. "So, where do we start looking?"
"I don't now." May said. "But what I do know is that we need to start looking."
"Hey, maybe Kenai could help!" Pinkie suggested excitedly. "He might have seen the Heart Piece!"
"I doubt that." May said. "But it doesn't hurt to have more people helping out. So, where's his village?"
Before they could answer, they heard someone talking, wondering who it was and both May and Captain Armor on guard, but Pinkie seemed to recognize the voice, smiling the biggest smile as she jumped up, her legs spinning like a car's tires before running in the direction of the voice.
"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted. "Stick with the group!"
"Wait, I now that voice." Fluttershy said, listening to it. "It's Koda!"
Without waiting, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ran after Pinkie, leaving everyone else behind as they ran, but after a moment, they followed after the three ponies, running in the same direction as their friends to meet their friend. Elsewhere, Koda and Kenai were walking along the woods, Koda talking about something he did with his friend and letting his little brother talk on and on about it while he dug up the ground to get some roots, but then his nose caught a whiff of something, sniffing the air as he recognized the smell, but didn't know where he smelled it.
"What's wrong Kenai?" Koda asked. "You smell something?"
"I do." Kenai replied. "But... I know that smell. I smelled it... somewhere."
He traced the smell from the trees to the nearby bushes, putting his head into the bushes to see what it was, but found nothing, which confused him, so he pulled his head out of the bush and turned is head to talk to Koda.
"Hi Kenai!" Pinkie exclaimed, scaring Kenai and falling on his back as Pinkie landed on his stomach.
"Pinkie?" Kenai asked.
"Pinkie!" Koda shouted, tackling her as they wrestled one another for a hug. "OH, I missed you so much!"
"I did too Koda!" Pinkie replied, getting up. "And I brought more of my friends along. It's ok everypony! I found Kenai and Koda!"
They looked in the direction of where she was shouting in and saw the whole group, which all but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were keeping their distance.
"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy!" Koda exclaimed excitedly.
"Hey there furball!" Rainbow Dash said, giving the cub a nuggie. "Hey Kenai. Staying out of trouble?"
"Hah, you wish!" Kenai replied, getting up. "And who are your friends."
"Oh, sorry for not introducing you to them first." Fluttershy said. "This is Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Shining Armor, Princess Mi Amore Cadenze..."
"Just call me Cadence." Cadence said.
"We also have with us Apple Bloom, Applejack's little sister." Fluttershy continued. "Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister, Scootaloo, Spyro's adopted little sister, Zecora, and May."
"Well, it's nice to meet you all." Kenai said.
"Wow, never thought I'd meet a bear cub!" Scootaloo said.
"Never thought I'd get to see a little pony!" Koda said. "Hey, is Spyro with you guys!? Where is he!?"
As Koda asked the question, everyone's mood changed, going from happy to see their friends to being unhappy and upset, the bear brothers noticing their change of mood and knew something was wrong.
"He's... gone." Pinkie replied, confusing the brothers.
"Gone?" Koda asked. "What do you mean?"
"He sacrificed himself to save me." Cadence replied, walking forward. "Somepony called Larxene hit him with some daggers and made him loose his heart."
"What!?" Kenai asked. "Is... is he...?"
"A Heartless, no, no he's not a Heartless." Twilight replied. "His heart however was... scattered."
"Scattered?" Koda asked. "What do you mean his heart is scattered?"
"It's been separated into twelve pieces." Twilight replied, pulling out the book. "And this book will help us find the pieces. The first piece is somewhere here in this forest somewhere. It can take on the form of a person, an animal, or an object. If we find it, we can then-"
They then heard a branch snap, everyone on high alert, looking in the direction of snapping stick and looked out, finding nothing but a dark forest and fallen trees, finding nothing there until they saw a human walk through the trees carrying a spear, causing everyone to duck for cover.
"Quick, hide!" Kenai said.
Everyone rushed to any place where they could hide, the fliers hiding in the trees while those on the ground hid behind trees or in bushes, watching from their hiding places as the human was walking along the dead and rotting tree, looking around as she was looking for something, going on top of log, looking around.
"What's she looking for?" Shining Armor asked, hiding in the same bush that his sister and bride to be were in.
"I don't know." Cadence replied. "But maybe... Twilight, your bag!"
Twilight wondered what she was talking about and looked to her saddle bag, seeing that it was glowing, wondering what that meant and looked back to the human, looking at the log as she heard something before looking to the bush they were in, seeing the glow and was about to go and see what it was when Kenai appeared behind her, roaring at her and making the human freeze before he knocked her back, making her drop her spear. She then grabbed the spear and pointed it at Kenai, which he promptly destroyed. He then picked her up by her coats collar and held her up in the air and into the light, which allowed the anger bear to see who the attacker was and recognized her immediately as Nita, dropping her into the snow.
"Nita?" Kenai asked, but she then started to attack him with a stick, nailing him in the head as she swung wildly until Kenai grabbed the stick, stopping the attack. "Nita, it's me... Kenai."
"Kenai?" Nita asked, shocked that it was her friend. "Kenai... is it really you?"
"Yeah, it really is." Kenai replied.
"Wow." Nita said, walking around her old friend. "I heard you were a bear I just didn't think you'd look so much like... well a bear."
"Yeah well, look at you." Kenai said, looking her over. "You've really changed. Hey wait a minute, how can you understand me?"
"You can thank the spirits for that." Nita replied. "They made it to where when I find you, I could talk to you."
"Whoa there, hold on." Kenai said. "You've been looking for me? Why?"
"Well... because of this." Nita replied, pulling out the amulet Kenai gave her.
When she presented the amulet to Kenai, it then started to glow a purple hue, catching both of them off guard as they wondered what was going on, but when Twilight saw it and saw the glow, she became curious and took the book out, opening the pages to find there were some words in the pages that had been filled in, wondering what was written when the next page glowed, a golden aura filling in the page as it revealed the amulet in the page, her eyes widening as a smile crept across her face.
"THAT'S IT!" Twilight shouted, literally jumping over the bush, but back down as she looked up.
"What was that?" Nita asked.
"Oh, one of my friends." Kenai replied. "You can come out everyone, it's alright, she's a friend."
As he said it, everyone came out of their hiding spots and allowed Nita to see them, the young ladies eyes wide in wonder and surprise when she saw them come out of their hiding places, nearly dropping the amulet when she saw them.
"Kenai... what..." Nita asked.
"They're my friends." Kenai said. "And they're here looking for something."
"Yes and your friend has it!" Twilight said excitedly.
"What do you mean Twilight dear?" Rarity asked.
"The amulet... it has a piece of Spyro's heart!" Twilight replied.
Everyone looked to the amulet and starred at it, even Kenai and Nita starred at the amulet as it started to glow again, the symbol appearing on the bottom of it amulet, burning into the amulet as the glow disappeared.
"WOOHOO!" Pinkie shouted, jumping high into the air and popping out of Twilight saddle bag. "We found it! We found it! We found it!"
"Wait, I don't understand." Nita said. "What are you talking about a piece of someone's heart?"
"We'll explain later." Kenai replied. "But, I'm surprised you kept it all these years."
"Yeah, well, it was a gift from my best friend, so why would I get rid of it?" Nita asked. "But the great spirits told our shaman that this amulet has bonded us as one."
"Really?" Kenai asked.
"And what does that mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It means that we are destined to be together." Nita replied. "The only way to sever the bond is to burn it."
"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted.
"It's true." Nita said. "The only way for me to get married to Edgar is if Kenai and I go to Hokani falls and burn it."
"Sever the bond in a burning flame and make things the way they were, but never the same." Twilight whispered, understanding what it meant.
"Burn it?" Kenai asked.
"It's no big deal." Nita said. "It's just a little trinket. I mean, we were just silly little kids. until it's destroyed, the spirits won't let me get married."
"Yeah, let me think about it for a moment... no." Kenai said.
"What!?" Nita asked.
"Yeah, I'm with Kenai on this." Rainbow Dash said. "He gave it to you when you were kids. It's a symbol of your friendship."
"And for ya to suggest destroying it just so you can let a bunch a spirits let you get hitched?" Applejack asked, looking disappointed. "Sorry sugarcube, but that don't sound like a good friend to me."
Kenai then walked away and everyone else followed after him, Koda coming out from his hiding place and jumping on Kenai's back as they walked away. Twilight knew they needed the amulet, but knew that the riddle suggested it needed to be burned in order to get the heart piece, so she ran after them and teleported in front of everyone as Shining Armor and Cadence ran up to her.
"No, we have to help her burn it." Twilight said.
"You can't be serious!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Burn it!? Has that space travel fried your brain or something!?"
"Perhaps prolonged travel between worlds has an unexpected side effect because that amulet is a symbol we must respect." Zecora said.
"I know, but we have to burn it." Twilight said. "The riddle said that in order to get the heart piece, we need to burn it. I'm sorry Kenai, but I have to side with Nita."
"Twiley is right." Shining Armor said. "We all heard the riddle. The only way to get that Heart Piece is to destroy that amulet."
"Besides, neither of us can get on with our lives until we burn it." Nita said.
"Yeah, I'll take my chances." Kenai said, walking away.
"Alright, fine then." Nita said. "I'll just wait for them to turn you back into a man and have you look for me."
Koda looked back at Nita, worried about what she had said and jumped off Kenai's back and landed on the ground.
"You think they'd really do that?" Koda asked.
"No, of course not." Kenai replied.
"How do you know they won't?" Nita asked.
Everyone looked back to Kenai, which Koda looked worried as if they did turn him back into a human, it would mean they wouldn't be brothers anymore, Kenai taking in a deep breath before looking back to Nita.
"Fine." Kenai said, giving in. "We'll go to Hokani falls. But right after that Koda, just the two of us, we'll race to Crow Berry Ridge."
"Pinkie swear?" Koda asked, holding up his pinkie finger.
"Pinkie Swear." Kenai replied.
"Then it's settled." Nita said. "You ready to go?"
"As I'll ever be." Kenai said, walking away from them.
"Um, Hokani Falls it the other direction." Nita said.
"I knew that." Kenai said, walking in the direction Nita said, making everyone laugh.
They then walked with Nita towards Hokani Falls to burn the amulet as well as get the Heart Piece in it, but above them, they failed to notice the Rapid Thrust that was watching them, listening in on what they were talking about as more appeared from the void, all of them watching the large group walk in the direction of Hokani Falls. Back in Nita's village, the villages local Shaman was busy with organizing everything in her cave when she heard someone walk in, turning around to see a man in a black coat with his hood up standing there, watching her.
"What you want bud?" The Shaman asked.
"That girls you were talking to about the amulet." The mystery man said. "Where is she going?"
"And why should I tell you?" The Shaman asked. "You're not part of the village and you aren't showing me your face!"
"It's for a good reason." The man replied. "And the girl is in danger."
"From that bear boy?" The Shaman asked. "Bah, she's safe. They're childhood friends."
"Not him." The man replied. "She's in danger from someone else who's after the amulet."
"Now who would be after something like that?" The shaman asked, sitting down. "It's just a trinket."
"It's more than that." The man replied. "It houses a piece of a powerful warriors heart and a witch is after it."
"Hmm, well when you put it that way..." The Shaman said, taking some powder and throwing it into the fire, seeing Maleficent and her Rapid Thrusts. "Oh, she looks like a nasty one. If she is after the amulet, you might find her at Hokani falls, where I sent Nita to burn it."
"Burn it!?" The man asked in horror.
Without waiting, the man ran out of the cave and slide down the slope, a corridor opening in front of him as he slide into it, the corridor closing behind him after he slid through. Elsewhere, Kenai and his friends had stopped to help Tuk and Rugg impress a couple of moosettes with how brave they were so they could be with them, but it went wrong and he ended up getting stuck in the beaver dam, everyone laughing at him.
"I thought you were suppose to be scaring moose?" Nita said jokingly.
"Yeah Kenai, weren't you supposed to be scaring some moose and not mess around with the beavers?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Ha, ha, very funny you guys." Kenai said, trying to pull himself out. "Think you can help me out here!?"
"Do all his plans involve him getting his head stuck in everything?" Nita asked.
"Most of them." Koda replied, everyone laughing at him.
"Koda!" Kenai shouted, trying his hardest to pull himself out of the dam.
"Well they do!" Koda retorted.
"Alright, calm down Kenai." Nita said, pulling a stick out of the dam. "We'll get you out of there."
As soon as Nita looked down at the dam to get to the stuck bear, but as soon as she looked down, her eyes wondered to the water and her heart immediately sank, her hands trembling as she starred at the water, which Fluttershy noticed right away as she walked up to her.
"Nita, you ok?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm ok." Nita replied. "Let's help Kenai out."
She then climbed on top of the dam, Rainbow Dash and Cadence flying up to see if they could help while Shining Armor walked up the side of the dam to do what he could do, but Fluttershy knew Nita was nervous about something as she herself was an expert on being nervous before she met her friends. She then flew up to see what she could do to help right as Nita stabbed the stick into the dam, Kenai yelping as it hit him.
"Sure would be easier if you didn't have a fat head." Koda said, making Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Scootaloo laugh.
"Good one Koda!" Rainbow Dash said.
Nita then started to push on the stick as Kenai tried to pull himself out, Rainbow Dash helping by pushing on Nita while Cadence used her magic to pull Kenai's legs, but it then ended badly as Nita slipped on the sticks and threw her knapsack, landing in the water right as Koda fell through the dam.
"Well that didn't work." Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh no, my bag!" Nita shouted.
"Relax, you can get another one." Rainbow Dash said.
"Yes, and might I say, red doesn't suit you darling." Rarity said.
"No, the amulet, it's in my bag!" Nita shouted.
"It's floating right in front of you!" Kenai exclaimed. "Just grab it!"
Nita tried to reach for the bag, but as soon as she did, an image of her sinking into the water appeared in her mind, terrifying her as she retracted her hand.
"I...I can't." She replied. "You get it. It's right there!"
"I'm a little busy here!" Kenai retorted.
"Oh for crying out loud!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Will somepony just get the dumb bag!?"
"I'll get it." Fluttershy said.
She flew over to the bag and reached down to pick it up, using her muzzle to grab it when a pair of yellow eyes appeared in the water, freaking her out as she screamed, flying away quickly as the bag dropped back into the water. A moment later, multiple Water Cores shot out of the water, laughing at the mare as they ;launched a large glob of water at the dam, destroying it and scattering the ponies and human helping Kenai.
"What in tarnation are them things!?" Applejack asked.
"Heartless!" Twilight shouted.
She and everyone else with a Keyblade called their weapons, Rainbow Dash swooping down as she cut straight through a Water Core, but it then reformed itself using the water underneath it, laughing at Rainbow Dash.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Let's try this then!" Applejack shouted, pointing her Keyblade at the nearest core. "Thunder!"
A second later, the clouds above swirled around and released a bolt of lightning, hitting it, but it then reformed itself with the water below it, releasing a glob of water at the farm mare, hitting her into a tree.
"Applejack!" Apple Bloom shouted, running to her.
"Hey, no pony does that to my friends!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She pointed her Keyblade at the water below and could feel a chill running up her spine, her limbs feeling numb as she pointed it at the core below her. "Blizzard!"
A large shard of ice formed at the tip of her blade and it went flying through the air down towards the core, but a bubble formed around it and it disappeared, teleporting out of the way as the shard hit the water, which caused it to freeze on impact and spread through the air and across the river, spreading to two other cores and causing them to freeze over, falling onto the ice underneath them as they remained trapped in ice. A second later, Rarity shot a Fire Spell at one of the frozen cores, hitting it and shattering the ice, releasing a pink heart.
"That's it!" Twilight said. "Rainbow, hit them with another Blizzard spell, freeze the river so they can't heal themselves!"
"On it!" Rainbow Dash replied, flying to the other parts of the river.
"The bag!" Nita exclaimed.
They looked over and watched as it floated down the river, Fluttershy going after it as did Nita and Koda, leaving everyone else to handle the cores. The core that was frozen managed to free itself and looked in the direction Rainbow Dash flew in, watching as she froze another part of the lake, lobbing a glob of water at her, but missing. Pinkie then brought out her skates and started skating across the ice, jumping and spinning around like a figure skater while swinging her Keyblade around the Water Cores, each of them shooting globs and missiles of water at the pink mare as she skated around, it every time they missed as she skated around. Rarity then slide across the ice and falling from time to time before finding her footing and slashing through the nearest Water Core, cutting through it and without any water to heal itself, disappeared in a cloud os smoke as a heart flew out of it. The remaining two cores sentry wave after wave of water based attacks at the ponies, only to get attacked and destroyed by Twilight's fire spell, which dealt some serious damage to the cores as they both exploded at the same time, releasing two hearts as the smoke cleared.
"Wow Twiley." Shining Armor said. "You're pretty good with that Keyblade of yours."
"Thanks Shining." Twilight said, looking in the direction the bag floated down. "Hope Fluttershy and the others got the bag."
Down the stream, Fluttershy was running with Nita, Kenai, and Koda going after the bag that was running downstream and towards a waterfall, falling down the falls as the four of them stopped right at the edge of the falls, looking over the edge as they feared they lost the amulet.
"Oh dear, oh my!" Fluttershy said.
"Guess this qualifies as one of those unexpected delays." Koda said.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash shouted, landing next to her. "Did you get the bag? Where is it?"
"It fell down the waterfall." Nita replied. "We lost it."
"No we didn't!" Kenai replied, chuckling as he said it. "There it is."
Kenai pointed to the shore where the bag had washed up, everyone breathing a sigh of relief when they saw it. However, a moment later, a raccoon popped out of a log and smiled, rushing over to the bag and digging through it.
"Hey, leave that alone!" Nita shouted, watching as it rummaged through the bag and threw stuff out of it. "That's my stuff! Stop it!"
"Yeah, you heard her!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Leave the bag alone!"
The raccoon then turned its head, the amulet in its paws and horrifying them.
"Hey, leave that alone!" Nita shouted. "It's mine!"
The raccoon looked at the amulet and then back to the five of them, putting three amulet in its mouth before running off into the nearby forest. Growling in frustration, Nita ran down the slope towards the shore, followed by Kenai, Koda and the two ponies, arriving at the bag and all the items thrown everywhere, infuriating Nita.
"It's gone." Nita said. "The amulet is gone."
"That's because there ain't a better thief than the masked bandit!" Koda replied. "Once they have something in their clutches, might as well give up any hope of finding it. The ice age will end before you get that back.'
"Well we need to get it back!" Rainbow Dash said. "It has a piece of Spyro's heart in it and we need to burn it to get it."
"Maybe I could try talking to him." Fluttershy said. "Maybe exchange it for something else."
"Thanks a lot Kenai!" Nita shouted. "This is all your fault!"
"My fault!?" Kenai retorted. "How is it my fault!?"
"If you hadn't stopped to help those moose, this could have been avoided!" Nita shouted.
"Wow, wow there, don't put the blame solely on me!" Kenai replied. "You're the one who destroyed a whole Beaver Dam and was too afraid to get the bag out of a few feet of water!"
"Yeah, you could have easily gotten the bag out of the water if you didn't chicken out!" Rainbow Dash added.
"Well if Kenai hadn't gotten his head stuck in the dam, none of this would have happened." Nita retorted.
"Hey, at least my head was stuck, what's your excuse!?" Kenai asked, tempers running high.
"Stop it!" Fluttershy shouted, surprised to hear the usually timid mare shout. "Spyro would want us to be fighting one another as it won't get us anywhere! Not to mention he wouldn't judge anyone or anything at all, but would listen to what happened and looked for a way to help! So stop fighting already!" Everyone was shocked and speechless to hear the timid mare shout at them, even Nita was surprised as, even though she only met her a little while ago, she was shocked to hear her shout like that, embarrassing the mare. "Uh, that is... if you don't mind?"
Nita just growled in frustration, walking away from the group as Kenai took a deep breath, bowing it was unfair to have shouted at her as he looked up and saw her pacing.
"What am I going to do?" Nita asked, plopping herself down on a nearby rock. "If I can't burn the amulet, I'll never marry Atka."
Kenai felt his heart shatter, feeling Laura by her words as he walked away, sitting far away from Nita as he looked very upset, looking down at the ground. Fluttershy could tell Kenai was hurt, sensing a broken heart as she walked towards Nita while Rianbow Dash hovered in the air.
"Could you go and get everypony else Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked. "Let them know where we're at so we can set up camp for the night."
"Sure, no problem." Rainbow Dash replied.
She then flew up and over the cliff, letting Fluttershy walk over to Nita and sit down next to her, the human looking at the lemon yellow mare with tear filled eyes.
"Guess you really love this Atka, don't you?" Fluttershy asked. "How long have you known him?"
"I guess." Nita replied, wiping away the tears. "He's the son of our strongest ally. They live in the nearby village and I am betrothed to him. When I saw him, I liked him at first sight."
"I know what you mean." Fluttershy said, lifting up her hoof to show a gold wing with a pink butterfly gemstone on it. "When I first met Spyro, he saved me from being hit by Rainbow Dash after she failed to do a stunt. When I first saw him, my heart fluttered and soared. I was very nervous around him and I wanted to tell him how I felt, but he went to dinner with Applejack and I was jealous."
"You were?" Nita asked.
"Yes, I was." Fluttershy replied. "And I wasn't the only one. Rarity also liked him as did Twilight. Me and Rarity were so jealous that Marluxia, a mean Nobody turned us into monsters to harm him. But he saved us from the darkness, saving our hearts."
"So... what happened then?" Nita asked.
"Well, our ruler made Spyro Herd leader." Fluttershy replied. "Making me, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack part of his herd. She mostly did it to protect us, but as time went on, our feelings bloomed as we got to know one another, went on adventures, even going on a date or two. And he was going to propose to us, ask us to make it official, but Larxene struck him down and his heart scattered."
"I'm sorry." Nita said.
"It's ok." Fluttershy said, putting her hoof down. "We'll find his heart and we'll bring him back. But... Spyro always said to follow your heart as it will always know what it wants. My heart yearned for Spyro and I have been happy ever since, even if we all share him, but what I want to ask you is... are you really happy marrying Atka or does your heart yearn for someone else?"
Nita looked at the lemon Pegasus, wondering what she meant and thinking about what she just said as she looked to Kenai, feeling something for him in her heart that she didn't think about before. A moment later, everyone else in the group had reached them, Fluttershy getting up and walking over to them as they got wood to start a fire, leaving Nita alone to ponder and think as the sun started to set and the night beginning. In Equestria, Luna was raising the moon to begin the night, but after she was done, her mood became sad, looking at the ring Spyro had made for her as it remained in it's box, a silver ring with a white diamond in the shape of the moon, lifting it out of the box and sliding it onto her horn, looking in the mirror to see how it looked and felt her heart break, putting her hoof over her chest as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Sister." Celestia said, walking in. "I won't begin to imagine how you feel. But you shouldn't be sad as Twilight, her brother, our niece, and all their friends are out looking for the pieces of his heart. They'll bring him back."
"But what if they don't?" Luna asked. "What if this was all for nothing? What if-"
Before she could continue, Celestia walked up and hugged her sister, Luna putting her head on her sister's shoulder as tears rolled down her face.
"Don't say that sister." Celestia said. "He'll be back. You'll soon be back with him. Just have faith."
The two of them stood in the room for a while, the princess of the day letting her little sister cry on her shoulder and patted her head, comforting her as she cried. In the room however, there was a dark shadow that was watching them, eyes appearing in the shadow, the left one a crimson red while the right was a sky blue, watching the two of them before the shadow closed it's eyes, disappearing as the moonlight shined into the room as the sisters left the room together, never noticing the shadow.