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// Scroll 13- A big learning curve 
// Story: Beyond the Skies 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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Beyond the Skies- A big learning curve




Somewhere in Skylands

        For the servant of Kaos named Glumshanks, he was really not liking the current position that he was in at this present moment. Over his years of service with the Dark Portal Master, he had been evilized, had the top and bottom halves of his body swapped out with one another, have gotten himself fired by Kaos and almost pulled into a dimensional vortex from Kaos’ Sky eater while he was ‘unemployed’. Not to mention being a test subject for the Dark Portal Master in order to understand mind magic. However, right now he was just being the messenger and needed to deliver something important to the one he called Lord Kaos.

        However, it was something that he wasn’t sure that Kaos would exactly be a fan of, the more that he thought about it. But it would be better for him to bite the bullet and inform him, rather than withhold the information he had. He approached the door to the room that Lord Kaos had for himself onboard his ship, and slowly, he waited for a response. 

        After a while, he got one. But it wasn’t anything that he expected previously. “Ehh!? Who in their right mind has the nerve to disturb me while I’m crafting villainous plans to take over Skylands!?!” The response, based on the fact that it was loud enough to cause some of the paintings of family members to tilt because of how it shook the hallway, had intimidated Glumshanks at first, but soon, he swallowed any fear he had in his throat as he looked back at the door and began to speak.

        “S-sir,” he cleared up his voice, slowly opening the door as he looked inside. “It’s me. A-are you busy right now-”

        The Dark Portal Master at first deeply sighed to himself, sounding a little bit frustrated before then addressing his butler as he spoke up. “Of course I am busy, you fool!! I’m trying to piece some things together for the plan that Sombra and I are working on! What do you want!?”

        “W-well… one of our scouts had picked up some information that you would want to know about, s-sir…” Glumshanks told him, stuttering a bit as he tapped his two index fingers together for a moment. Of course, he was waiting for a response of some kind… like Kaos asking what kind of information did their scouts find or something a little more composed.

        Yet, the response he got in return was the exact opposite. “Well, get on with it! Don’t leave me in suspense!!”

        “S-sorry, sir,” Glumshanks apologized before speaking once again. “We’ve received some reports that some of the senseis across Skylands are beginning to notice the rift between the Skylands and Equestria below… but the subject of senseis brings up another concern.” Kaos’ servant took a couple seconds in order to process what he was saying before then fully speaking up. “The boy that you encountered some time back… the one who was able to take on the forms of Skylanders…”

        “Pfft, him!? He’s more of a fluke than that old fool Eon was. Besides, if he’s so intimidating like how you say he is, what kind of secret weapon would he have to stand to the might of KAOSOMBRA!!!”

        That… had Glumshanks confused for a moment as he raised an eyebrow for a moment, unaware that Sombra was beginning to form right behind him. “Uh… Kaosombra, sir?”

        “Your master thought it would humorous to combine parts of our name together in order to show our joint partnership,” Sombra spoke up, startling the butler at first. “Of course, he’s ignoring the fact that such an act is not seen as funny and can also be taken much differently back in Equestrian Culture…” He then noticed how Glumshanks wasn’t as… composed as he was a few moments ago and then proceeded to ask a different question. “Are you alright? You seem… distracted.”

        “I… don’t really do so well when someone comes up from behind me out of nowhere,” Glumshanks told him in response. “It’s… something I’ve been trying to work on, but haven’t really been successful at it.”

        “I see…” the dark king replied. “So, what was it that you were trying to tell Kaos? I thought that I would want to hear about it as well, to see if this poses some kind of threat to our… plans.”

        “Well…” Glumshanks began, repeating what he said just a few moments ago. “I was telling Lord Kaos that the rift between realms has been catching the attention of some of the… Sensei Skylanders that are across the skylands. They’re those who are masters in battle and their own techniques, who go around Skylands to find individuals who are potential heroes to train to fight against evil… more specifically us.”

        “Hmm…” Sombra said to himself, processing the information before speaking two words that allowed for Glumshanks to continue speaking. “Go on…”

        “There’s also the fact that they also teach Imaginators… Skylanders made by a Portal Master through the power of a Creation Crystal, an Elemental Crystal powered by imaginite that-”

        “-Creates Imaginators that will keep on trying to stop us like they did before... Blah blah blah BLAH BLAH!!!” Kaos abruptly interrupted Glumshanks as he hopped onto his chair and slammed both of his hands on the table that he and Sombra were at. “Can you get to the point and tell us what this has to do with that little twerp that was with those two ponies already?!!”

        The butler right now… swallowed whatever nervousness was lurking inside his throat at this present moment before he could speak. “Well… it’s been reported that he has a Creation Crystal sir…” That… caught Kaos’ attention almost immediately. Just as much as the next sentence did. “I-it’s unknown as to why he has it, but… it’s rather concerning, wouldn’t you think?” Yet, Kaos being Kaos, decided to completely ignore any possible problems that might come from it.

        “So what? He has a Creation Crystal. What’s next? He’s going to have an Imaginator fight by his side while he takes on my minions as a Skylander. Without that necklace of his, how would he defend himself?” Kaos pointed out.

        “Uh… sir?” Glumshanks then replied back. “Should we be concerned at all that maybe he could… I don’t know… turn into an Imaginator?”

        “Pfft,” Kaos rolled his eyes. “If he were to accomplish such a feat, that kid would barely even know how to fight.”

        “Your butler brings up a valid point,” Sombra then interjected, much to Kaos’ and Glumshanks’ surprise. “It may be true that he might not know how to fight. But given the notion that he has been able to turn into other Skylanders and learn how to use those forms rather quickly, it could mean that he is a rather fast learner.”

        “Okay, then what would you propose we do, eh?!” Kaos challenged the dark king as Sombra chuckled a bit. “What’s so funny?”

        “I believe that you are focusing too much on the child, when you should be focusing on something else,” Sombra then told him. “A common phrase amongst tacticians is ‘know thy enemy’... If we were to learn more about the Skylanders the child can turn into… then perhaps we could find a way to counter those transformations… Would you know of anything that acts like a book of records on these heroes?”

        Glumshanks seemed nervous at that… but then looked to Kaos and spoke up. “Well… there is one possibility… but it’s within Skylander Academy… and Lord Kaos has tried to steal it before and-” That only led to the butler getting smacked upside the head as Kaos glared at him in response.

        “I TOLD you we weren’t going to be discussing that!” Kaos snapped.

        “Discussing what?” Sombra then asked, raising an eyebrow at him before looking back at Kaos, causing the Dark Portal Master to groan in response before giving in to telling Sombra what he was talking about.

        “There was this book in that stupid academy that keeps track of all the Skylanders and just by touching it, it affects all the skylanders it records,” he grumbled in response. “However, only a few of those sky-losers know where it is! It’s like trying to find a needle in a huge haystack.”

        “I don’t require the book… but the information inside…” Sombra replied, looking back at Kaos. “I can remember anything I read from a book, like the one you say, and then copy it word for word.”

        Hearing that… really caught his attention. But it also made him curious about one thing in particular. “And how exactly do you think you’re going to get in there? You can’t just waltz on in there and just expect to be guided there.”

        “True… but there is one thing that I believe they will soon come to learn at the end of this,” Sombra replied as he looked back at the Dark Portal Master before wandering off. “Seeing is deceiving.”



Meanwhile…

        It was only a short amount of time after Twilight and Calvin returned from the M.A.P., but by the time they were back, there weren’t as many ponies in the castle as there were before. Rainbow Dash was still there, along with Scootaloo and Spike, but mostly everypony else had already left. “Hey, where did everypony go?”

        “Well, the Princesses had to return to Canterlot, Fluttershy needed to help her animals after Henry got a stomach ache, Applejack went back to Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie raced back to Sugarcube Corner and Rarity went back to her place,” Rainbow replied. “I stayed behind because I don’t really have… a lot going on right now, and today’s my day off.”

        “Don’t you have the wonderbolts practice later today-?” Scootaloo asked. Only for Rainbow to be acting nervously as she looked back at the filly.

        “Day… off…” she repeated, causing Calvin to look back at Twilight for a moment before he spoke up.

        “Uh… Are you trying to hide from something?” he asked… only to get a response from Rainbow that obviously made it look like she was trying to hide something from them.

        “… Nooooo…?”

        “You don’t really sound confident on that…” Twilight then added.

        “Come on, who do you take me for? Come on…” Rainbow replied back, even though it was obvious that at this point that she was really sweating bullets. “I mean, who would I want to hide from anyways? I go TO danger, not run or hide from it.”

        “Well, good,” Twilight replied, before using her magic to summon her personal schedule as she examined it for a moment. “Oh, right, I almost forgot I was meeting Fleetfoot and Spitfire later today-” That led to Rainbow bolting her way across the room, before they all heard a door being slammed, causing Spike to sigh for a moment before looking back at them.

        “Seriously, what is it with everypony wanting to hide in my room? Is there no place in this castle where I can get some peace and a little bit of privacy?” he asked, “Is that really too much to ask for?”

        “Apparently, it is,” Calvin deadpanned, before pulling out the Creation Crystal for a moment, along with a few of the Imaginite Crystals that he had with him. “And just when I was going to ask for her… input on something.”

        “Input on what?” Spike asked, before looking at the gems. “Are those gems? You look like you’re trying to tempt me with sweets.”

        The Skyshifter shook his head in response as he walked over to the table at the center of the castle and began to set everything down, before looking back at Spike and Scootaloo as he then began to explain everything to them. “Well… one of the things that I happened to get when we went to Skylanders Academy on the opposite side of the rift is this Creation Crystal… along with some imaginite from the M.A.P. Creation Crystals are crystals filled with mind magic from imaginite that allow for Portal Masters to create their own Skylanders, called Imaginators…”

        “Uh… I’m a little bit lost. Could you explain it to where you don’t sound like Twilight?” Spike asked, which got Scootaloo to giggle to herself as Calvin then sighed. Thinking to himself for a little bit before a good comparison dawned on him… especially since he had seen Spike with his comic books several times around the castle.

        “Okay… Imagine it like this… You are into superheroes, right?” Calvin asked, which soon caught the dragon’s attention.

        “Of course! I really like the Power Ponies and the adventures they have! Especially with their sidekick, Humdrum!” That last part of the sentence was what Calvin was wanting to hear, as he looked back at both him and Scootaloo.

        “Well… think of it like this… the Skylanders that I have turned into are the heroes… but this Creation Crystal I have would allow for me to make a sidekick to fight alongside them.” Calvin replied, trying to phrase it in a way that Spike would understand. “What I’m wanting to ask you guys though is whether you can help me come up with ideas for creating that sidekick.” It was only a few seconds after that that Spike was so excited to the point that he just bolted out of the room and down the hall.

        From where Calvin, Scootaloo and Twilight were, all three of them could hear the sound of busting through a door, Rainbow being startled by Spike’s sudden appearance and see the baby dragon go to his room and back several times. Each time though, he got different pieces of art supplies, including paper, pencils, crayons, erasers and markers.

        At that point, Twilight was giggling to herself upon seeing everything that had just happened so far. “I think you definitely got his attention now…”

        “It just depends on how you get their attention, I think…” Calvin told her, before looking to Spike now and asking him a different question. “What’s with all the art supplies though?”

        “What else?” Spike then asked him. “We should take the chance to come up with some ideas on what this sidekick should look like before you try creating it!” That… actually surprised him a little bit as he looked back at the both of them.

        “Alright. Let’s see what we can come up with then,” he replied, taking a seat nearby. “Can you pass me some paper and colored pencils?”

        “Sure thing! Here you go!” Spike added, passing Calvin the supplies he requested. It was time to get creative… and also see what kind of ideas for Imaginators they could come up with.



Half an hour later

        In the half hour that it took for Rainbow Dash to finally decide to stop hiding inside Spike’s closet and come back out, she was surprised to find the massive mess of art that was scattered throughout the center of the castle. She had remembered Spike going in to gather some supplies earlier, but she honestly did not think that it would lead to something like this.

        Not only were he and Calvin trying to draw some weird characters on pieces of paper, but Scootaloo was also doing it too… and she even invited the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to come do this as well… which begged the question… what the hay were they exactly doing?

        Fortunately, she found a certain alicorn nearby that was watching them and decided to ask that question to her. “Hey, Twi… not to try and ruin their fun or anything, but what the heck are they doing?”

        “Oh! Hey, Rainbow,” Twilight greeted her, looking back at the pegasus before returning her attention to Spike and the others. “Since one of the items that Calvin got while in the Skylands is a crystal that allows Calvin to create his own Skylander, Spike thought it would be a good idea for them to try and come up with ideas on what is should look like.”

        “Oh, cool,” Rainbow said, looking back at them for a moment and seeing them hard at work. “How’s that coming along?”

        “Well, it started off well…” the alicorn then told her. “The one common thing is that since it’s a fire crystal, it’s a fire element Skylander… the only difference being what kind of class should it be.”

        “Class? How does any of this relate to school?” Rainbow then asked, which in turn caused the alicorn to facepalm for a minute. “What? Was it something I said?”

        “It’s not that kind of class…” the alicorn began to explain. “From what Calvin knows, the kind of Skylander he could make depends on the kind of battle class he chooses, since different ones have different weapons and abilities. So, given this, they’re trying to see what they could come up with, so Calvin could think of different ideas.”

        “Is there a way to get the explanation in non-egghead speak?” the pegasus then asked, to which… the alicorn then pointed towards the piece that Scootaloo was working on.

        “Scootaloo was doing her design as a fire based ninja… saying that she wanted to make it look as awesome as you. Though, ninjas are a Skylander class that can only use Shurikens,” she first said, before pointing in Sweetie Belle’s direction. “Unlike Sweetie Belle, who thinks Calvin should have his Skylander be a knight, one that can wield a sword.”

        “So, wait… each of them have different kinds of character roles?” That… had Twilight fall forward as she had her face hit the floor before looking back at Rainbow… with a more irritated look than before. “What?”

        “Just… Nevermind…” she sighed, trying to keep her composure together. “Also… how do you know of ‘character roles’?”

        “I was told by Cadence that your brother still does those tabletop role playing games with some of the members of the Royal Guard,” the pegasus told her, smiling a bit, “Regardless, I’m glad to see that Scootaloo is having fun.”

        “She definitely is… Though, I do recall her inviting some of the other ponies in her class, but they haven’t exactly shown up yet,” the alicorn recalled, looking around a bit. “Oh well. Guess I don’t need to worry about it then.” That… surprised Rainbow. She didn’t recall many of the ponies from Scootaloo’s class that would come over during any time that Twilight was doing ‘Twilight Time’, but the two ponies she did remember mentioning were earth ponies. One who wore a crown on her head like a princess while the other one was named after some kind of kitchen utensil.

        “So, besides the ninja and the knight, what else are they coming up with?”

        That just caused Twilight to raise an eyebrow for a moment as she looked back at her friend. “Can’t you just ask Scootaloo and them yourself? Why are you asking the questions to me?” The alicorn felt that there was another reason behind her friend was acting like this… especially with the way that Rainbow had been acting ever since they got back and how she proceeded to lock herself up in Spike’s room when she mentioned Spitfire and Fleetfoot. “Is something else on your mind, Rainbow? You haven’t been acting like yourself for a while.”

        “Really, Twi? How am I not acting like myself?” The Pegasus asked her.

        “You were hesitant in saying you had the day off, ran into Spike’s room when I mentioned Spitfire and Fleetfoot coming by later and you’re trying to ask me questions that you should be asking Calvin, Scootaloo and the others,” Twilight named all three reasons rather quickly, catching Rainbow’s attention. “In fact, you’ve been acting odd ever since we got back. Can you at least be truthful and tell me what’s on your mind?”

        After hearing all of that, Rainbow personally sighed in defeat. Twilight saw through her act… and the least she could do right now is tell her. “Twilight, I’m just… nervous… I mean, a stunt that I did and one of my signature moves when flying tore open a rift in the sky. How is everypony else going to see me knowing that I did that?”

        “Rainbow, you didn’t know that it was going to happen. What happened was an accident, and I’m sure everypony will understand.”

        “Pfft, have you seen Spitfire?” her friend asked. “She may act all nice and everything in front of you or Celestia, but when it comes to the Wonderbolts, she’s tough as nails. You were there when she kicked Lightning Dust out of Wonderbolt Academy because of how she endangered you guys… And with me being one of the newest members, I’m worried that Spitfire would kick me out because of-”

        “Because of what?” Both ponies turned around upon hearing that, surprised to see Spitfire and Fleetfoot standing at the entranceway to the Castle. Rainbow originally wanted to dash off, but she wasn’t able to get far when Twilight caught her in her levitation spell and set her back down right next to her and in front of the Wonderbolt Captain.

        “Oh… Hey… C-captain, I… didn’t expect to s-see you here…” Rainbow replied nervously, which just caused the Wonderbolt captain to raise one of her eyebrows a bit as she stared at her.

        “Okay… Did you and that friend of yours that takes care of animals end up switching bodies or something?” she asked, which caused Twilight to giggle in response as she looked back at Rainbow and Spitfire. “Because you’re acting really different than when you were last at practice, rookie.”

        “It’s… a lot more complicated than that.” Twilight sighed as she looked back at Spitfire and Fleetfoot. “But nevertheless, thank you for coming on such short notice.”

        “Thank you for taking the time to answer to my message,” she replied back as they slowly began to walk through the hall to the table in the center of the room. “Everypony in Cloudsdale was going nuts earlier in the day after… well, something tore a huge hole in the sky. Celestia’s already tried contacting us and also the mayor in Cloudsdale to assure us that there’s nothing to worry about, but it makes me wonder what would actually cause such a thing to happen… You don’t happen to know anything about it, do you?”

        At that point, Rainbow was beginning to sweat bullets as she looked back at Spitfire, and Twilight just gave the pegasus a deadpan expression. “Uh… I don’t recall anything like that happening around here. Why do you ask?” the pegasus replied, trying to dodge the question as she was trying to find a way out of this mess.

        “Well, Cloudchaser saw something similar to your… What was it again, Sonic Rainboom?” she asked Fleetfoot, who just replied with a nod before Spitfire finished her sentence. “Yeah. She saw your Sonic Rainboom shortly before it happened, so I thought I would ask…” That… had Rainbow shiver a little as she looked back at Twilight. Her hooves shaking a little bit and trying to resist the urge to bolt out of there. But all that did was just attract more attention to herself. “Are you okay, rookie?”

        “Me? W-why wouldn’t I be?” the pegasus asked, even though it was obvious because of the sweat dripping down her face.

        “Because you’re acting like a filly that has a bad case of stage fright being asked to speak in front of a full auditorium,” Spitfire bluntly told her. Which, in Rainbow’s mind, meant that she couldn’t play it cool anymore. “Come on, Dash. Nopony on the team has seen you acting like such a nervous wreck before. Is it still because of that jerk Wind Rider? I made sure he left for good, so he shouldn’t be a problem-”

        “No… It’s not that…” Rainbow now spoke up, no longer hiding behind her act from a moment ago. “What you said earlier… what Cloudchaser saw, the rift in the sky… I-i did it…”

        For a moment, Spitfire couldn’t really understand what Rainbow was actually talking about as she looked at Twilight and the pegasus with a raised eyebrow. “You did… what exactly?”

        “All of this! Everything that’s going on is my fault!! I’m the one who caused it, and I never wanted any of this to happen!!” Rainbow abruptly shot back. Both Wonderbolts could tell that she was clearly upset as the pegasus trotted away, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. While this was going on, Twilight decided to take over and speak in order to help her friend as best as she could.

        “Earlier today, Rainbow was practicing her stunts and wanted to show our friend Calvin what a Sonic Rainboom was like. But when she went too high up in the atmosphere and performed it, the energy from it collided with that of a barrier that was put in place for a world that’s above ours,” Twilight continued on to try and explain it in simplified terms, but afterwards, she got to explaining the reason for why she was acting unlike herself earlier. “Now… as for Rainbow, she was worried that she would not only get blamed for something that accidentally occurred, but she would get kicked off the Wonderbolts because of it.”

        “Wow… That is… definitely a lot to take in…” Flitter said, looking back at Spitfire for a moment as the Wonderbolt Captain was processing everything she just heard from Twilight. Spitfire couldn’t agree more… but there was one thing that she knew for sure wasn’t exactly going to happen.

        “Really? Rainbow’s getting scared just because of that?” Spitfire asked, followed by chuckling a little as she looked back at the Alicorn. “It takes a LOT more than that just to get kicked out of the Wonderbolts.”

        Twilight was honestly surprised by hearing that. “Really? Because Rainbow was convinced that she would be kicked out, like Lightning Dust.”

        “There’s a difference between what happened with Lightning Dust, Wind Rider and just now,” the captain began to explain to her. “With Lightning, her actions put the lives of you and your friends at risk to the point that you could be physically harmed. As for Wind Rider, he accused Rainbow of something she didn’t do, and we immediately believed it at first, until your friend Rarity uncovered what was actually going on. Therefore, he was trying to harm her credibility amongst us and the Wonderbolts. However, this incident posed no real immediate threat to anypony in Cloudsdale besides just a big scare. Not to mention that both Lightning and Wind KNEW their actions would pose harm, while Rainbow had no idea at all. Besides, you can’t really blame somepony for something they knew nothing about.” That posed a sigh of relief from Twilight for a moment, relieved at that and was wanting to tell Rainbow the good news.

        Until Spitfire pointed out something. “Hey… where’s that kid you’re looking over? He was just with the fillies at the table a few seconds ago.”



        Originally, Calvin was just trying to mind his own business as he, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were coming up with designs and ideas for Imaginators. But the moment that he saw a distressed Rainbow just immediately storm off and away from that of Spitfire, Twilight and somepony else, he felt that he needed to help her out somehow. “Spike, I’m going to take a break. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Spike just nodded his head for a moment, only briefly looking up for a second before focusing back on what he was doing as Calvin began to walk away from the Cutie Map.

        Of course, looking for Rainbow was one thing. Finding her though… was something completely different. “Now… if I were Rainbow right now… where would I be?” He thought to himself, looking around as he decided to go down another hallway in the castle. He tried listening out for if he heard Rainbow anywhere… But, it turns out, the answer was much different than he expected. For one thing, he found a couple strands of her mane outside the door to Twilight’s personal study.

        The other was the huge pile of books stacked up in the middle of the room like a small fort… with Rainbow’s tail sticking out. “Rainbow? Can I talk to you?”

        “C-calvin?!” the pegasus sounded shocked at first… until she tried to play it cool for a moment. “H-how did you find me here?”

        “Your tail’s sticking out,” he said… which was followed by him seeing Rainbow trying to hide it with one of her hooves. “Now I just saw your forehoof… Come on, Rainbow, I just want to talk to you.” It took a few seconds, but shortly after saying that, Rainbow began peaking her head out of the book pile.

        “Don’t say anything about this… to anypony.” She glared at Calvin, who just replied with a nod of the head as he sat down next to her.

        “So, what’s gotten you so stressed out?” he asked, which got Rainbow to look at him with a rather puzzled expression on her face. “I mean, you dashed off into Spike’s room earlier today, acted extremely nervous around Twilight and just now, you seemed distressed when you walked away from them earlier.”

        Rainbow herself… only had one question for Calvin. “How do you know of me acting nervous around Twilight and being distressed? You were drawing with Scootaloo and them just now.”

        “I sometimes look up so my neck doesn’t hurt,” he replied, before adding one more statement to what he had just said. “That, and you were talking rather loudly.” Of course, that just caused Rainbow to look down on herself for a moment… and left her unprepared for what Calvin did next.

        Him hugging her. “Uh… what are you doing?”

        “Um… comforting you?” Calvin nervously replied, not sure if he was doing this right.

        “Kiddo… your heart may be in the right place,” Rainbow started off, before using one of her wings to tap Calvin around the shoulders. “But your arms, shoulders and hands aren’t right now.” That had him let go for a moment before turning to face the pegasus.

        “S-sorry, I just wanted to help you out, and… um… be supportive,” he told her, before asking something that Rainbow… honestly never expected to hear from him. “That’s what friends and family do… right?”

        “Yeah… I guess…” she replied, before looking back at him and chuckling a bit. “To be fair though… my parents overdo it when it comes to being supportive.”

        “Come on, it can’t be that bad…” he said… before hearing what Rainbow said next.

        “They memorialize a ‘first time’ moment for everything. First bite, first passing grade, first everything… I didn’t tell them about me making the Wonderbolts because I knew that with how over excited they are about raising me that they would embarrass me out in public.” The pegasus sighed.

        “Wow… That’s… I honestly don’t know how to respond to that,” Calvin mentioned, looking back at her in response. “I’ve never experienced anything like that when living with my grandparents before coming here.”

        “Your grandparents?” Rainbow asked, looking rather confused by the statement. “Don’t you have parents?”

        “Yeah… but before I came here, I never knew much about my dad at all,” he told her, looking back at Rainbow as he sighed. “As for my mom, I’ve only been with her a couple of times, whenever she’s not working and trying to provide for us. My grandparents raised me in their home, since we couldn’t afford one, but even then, it was hard for us to function as a family. I never got the chance to really bond with my parents, unlike you Rainbow...”

        “Would you really call it bonding when they have a plaque in their home that has my first diaper from my fillyhood?” the pegasus then asked, causing Calvin to raise an eyebrow as he looked back at her.

        “Um… That honestly depends…” the skyshifter said, sounding a little creeped out because of the imagery of what Rainbow just said. “Was it emptied first?”

        “I… don’t know. Does that matter?”

        “No. Either way you look at it, that’s just embarrassing,” he sighed, before then asking a different question. One that Rainbow thought he would ask at one point or another, but was surprised about mentioning it now. “So, uh… why exactly did you walk off earlier? Isn’t that Spitfire pony like your boss or something?”

        That had the cyan pegasus look back at the Skyshifter with a raised eyebrow, rather surprised to hear him say that. “What makes you think that?”

        “Well, Twilight told me about the Wonderbolts since, on the day I got back from Griffonstone, you and her were both there. So, after I explained the reason for why I left so quickly, she told me as part of what happened while I was gone,” Calvin then explained. “So, since Spitfire is the captain of the team, I thought she would be your boss.”

        “Well, even though Spitfire can be bossy at times, it’s not quite as easy as you may think,” Rainbow sighed for a moment, thinking everything over. “Being on the Wonderbolts is a dream of mine, but once you make it passed the academy, you need to show that you’re not slacking off, or causing trouble that puts other ponies in harm's way. Given what happened earlier today, I’m nervous that I might’ve just ruined my chances of staying on the Wonderbolts.”

        That kind of response though… actually caused a slightly different reaction from the kid next to her than what the pegasus thought he was going to do. He… actually started to chuckle a bit. “Hey! Come on, kid! This isn’t funny!!”

        “Actually… it kind of is…” Calvin replied, before speaking up a bit. “Think of it… What happened was an accident, and nopony was hurt, right?”

        “Well… Yeah, but-” Rainbow said at first, shortly before the Skyshifter she was talking to cut her off.

        “Rainbow, you’re just overthinking things. Why do you have to think about something negatively when it could be the exact opposite?” he then told her, placing an arm around Rainbow’s neck as he smiled, “I originally thought that I wasn’t going to feel like I belonged here several weeks ago, but you and the girls taught me otherwise.” That was a rather valid point… and something that the pegasus honestly did not take into consideration at the time.

        “So… you’re saying that I may be overthinking this whole thing?” she asked for clarification.

        “Probably,” Calvin replied, looking back at her, “Because it’ll take a lot more than just an accident like that to kick you out of the Wonderbolts. Heck, according to Twilight, you’re one of their best flyers! They would be at a disadvantage if they let you go too early.” That was a rather valid point. The Wonderbolts do see her as a valuable teammate, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to let her go because of an accident.

        “Well, Kiddo… that’s honestly something that I did not think about,” she admitted before looking back at him with a smile on her face. “Now, looking back on everything, I just realized that this whole thing’s been rather silly.”

        “See? What did I tell ya?” Calvin told her, smiling in response. “Now, come on. Everypony’s waiting.”

        “Alright…” Rainbow replied, following him and stepping out of the room. “But after this is over, I want to come up with one of the designs for what you, Scootaloo and the others were doing. You know, to spend time with you guys.”

        “Oh? Did you have something in mind?” the Skyshifter asked, looking back at Dash with a raised eyebrow.

        “Well… to be fair, I thought you would look kind of cool as one of those guys with the pointy ears,” she told him for a moment, “Also… haven’t you been turning into a lot of those Skylander thingies that like to get up close and personal?” To demonstrate what she meant, Rainbow went as far as pretending to throw a few punches and kicks while using her wings to move around rather quickly.

        “So… you think I should make a brawler?”

        “It’s your choice. Though, I think it would be rather awesome to be like one of those martial artists who kick butt and take names-” she said, demonstrating a few more times. Until she realized that one of her punches… was bare inches away from Spitfire’s face, almost hitting her if Rainbow didn’t stop herself in time.

        “Well, it’s good to see you back in high spirits, rookie,” Spitfire chuckled in response as Rainbow immediately drew back her hoof.

        “Oh… H-hi, Spitfire… I didn’t see you there,” Rainbow admitted, scratching the back of her head with her hoof. “Sorry about… well…”

        “Dashing off?”

        “Yeah, that…” the pegasus sighed, before looking back at Spitfire. “It’s just that-”

        “Let me stop you right there, Rookie,” the Wonderbolt Captain told her in response. “Your friend Twilight brought us up to speed on everything… and honestly, I wouldn’t blame you for something like this.” It was something that served as a personal sigh of relief for Rainbow as she looked back at Spitfire. But it was also during this moment that the captain also happened to notice Calvin not far from where Rainbow was.

        “Hunh… I remember seeing you before… Yeah, you were the one that Princess Twilight was making a big fuss over…” Spitfire said as she looked at both him and Rainbow for a second. “Are you Dash’s adoptive brother?”

        “Pfft, I wish,” he replied. “Though, out of curiosity, what made you think that?”

        “Well, given how Twilight was freaking out the last time she was talking about you and about Rainbow leaving you behind, it made me think of when Flitter’s parents would get on her case for leaving Cloudchaser at the marketplace when they were kids.” That… just caused the boy to look at her with a tilted head, puzzled by what she was talking about.

        “They’re a pair of twins in the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow added onto that.

        “Oh, that makes sense now,” he added on, looking back at Spitfire now. “Nice to meet you, Spitfire.”

        “Same to you… though, there was something else that Twilight mentioned that also caught my attention,” the words from the Wonderbolt caught their attention, as both Rainbow and Calvin looked at each other for a moment before looking at Spitfire. “She told me that you three were able to see what was on the other side of the tear…”

        “Oh, right. The Skylands.”

        That comment got Spitfire to raise her eyebrow in confusion as she looked at both of them. “The… Skylands?”

        “Yeah… Think something like Cloudsdale… but the entire world is just a series of huge floating islands big enough to hold up towns and civilizations,” Rainbow told her, which made Spitfire blink a few times in order to try and process everything, because honestly, she wasn’t sure if she could believe something like that.

        Then, Calvin showed her the photograph that he remembered that Spitfire, the Fire Skylander, showed them when they originally came back a couple of hours ago. “Wow… That’s… something.”

        “Would you like to see it sometime?” Calvin offered. “I figured that I should go back to Skylander Academy soon, in order to get some training with a few of the senseis there, so it would give you a chance to see things for yourself… and also meet the locals.”

        “You had the chance to meet somepony on the other side?” Spitfire asked, surprised by this revelation.

        “More than one. Some of which... you have to see to believe,” Rainbow added, recalling her initial encounter with Funny Bone and Hot Dog. “Just trust me on that one.”

        “Oh, really? Name one thing that I need to see to believe?”

        “Two talking dogs. One made out of Lava and the other one being a skeleton with a sense of humor,” Calvin then said before Rainbow looked at him like he just spoiled a surprise. “What? She asked, so I thought it would be rude not to tell her.” All that did was have the pegasus chuckle a little bit… even though what he said really caught Spitfire off guard.

        “Well… that’ll be something for sure…” the wonderbolt captain said, shortly before getting an idea as they walked back towards the main hall of the castle, where Twilight was waiting on them along with Scootaloo and the others... Who were rather… eager to show some of the new creations they were thinking about while Calvin was talking to Rainbow.

        Though, Calvin had an idea of what he wanted to go with. All he needed to do now was make sure to piece it together on paper, before he tried creating it.



Sometime later…

        “So, Calvin, any final thoughts on what your Imaginator’s going to be?” Spike asked after noticing that the boy was just finishing up on something he was working on. For the last half hour, the Skyshifter had been looking at the drawings that Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders made, along with the suggestion from Rainbow Dash as he was beginning to finalize his thought process. But even when he was done, he then surprised everyone with what he had in store.

        “Well… since I liked all of your guys’ ideas so much, I decided to have my Imaginator be a little… different than what you might think,” he said. Which, to everypony’s surprise, had them be rather curious by what he meant, as they all wanted to know what he was talking about. “I decided that in order to make the Imaginator I wanted to do, I’d take on different pieces from all of your ideas and combine them together.”

        “What the hay do you mean by that?” Scootaloo asked, confused.

        “Well, I decided that for the Imaginator itself, it’ll wear the same martial arts tunic that you suggested for the ninja idea, have the same ‘heroic’ voice from Sweetie Belle’s knight, the color scheme would be leather brown like the idea Apple Bloom had for her character, be around even size height similar to that of Spike’s sentinel design, and after a conversation I had with Rainbow earlier, there were two things that she suggested that stuck with me,” he said before catching his breath.

        “And those are?” Sweetie Belle asked.

        “Well, first, to quote what she said, she thought I would look rather cool as a drow elf, similar to that of some of the other Skylanders, like Stealth Elf and Flameslinger,” he told them, while also transforming at will in order to give them a visual reference. “Secondly, she noted that from other times that I tended to transform to get up close and personal, like a Brawler. Though, there’s one final thing I would like to include with the idea I had, but I might need your help on it.”

        “What’s that, Calvin?” all of them asked, almost simultaneously.

        “Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle… do you still have your Cutie Mark Crusader cape?” he then asked, just as he showed them what he had in mind. “I thought it would be cool that on the back side of the martial arts gi that I would put the symbol of the Cutie Mark Crusaders on it. I’m having a lot of fun with you guys, and even though I can’t get a Cutie Mark myself, maybe I can show that I’m part of the team like this?” That… got all three of the present crusaders in the room instantly excited, almost to the point that they almost tackled Calvin because of how excited they were. “So, is that a yes?”

        “Heck yeah it is!” Scootaloo cheered.

        Though… Spike almost happened to kill the mood with the single question that was on his mind. “What are you going to name it though?”

        That… was a good question… and it took a little bit for Calvin to think of an answer for it. But after a few seconds, he thought of one. “Kai Chi.” For a moment, they looked at him a bit confused, before he began to explain. “Back where I’m from, there’s a kind of martial arts called Tai Chi and also, the word Kai is another way of saying Fire in another language.”

        “Ah guess that makes sense,” Apple Bloom then said, before looking back at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle for a moment. “Hey girls, can ah talk to ya for a second?” For a moment, Calvin was a bit confused at why she wanted to talk to them on their own… but after a while, they actually surprised him with something that he didn’t expect.

        Especially when they gave him a sash with the logo of the Cutie Mark Crusaders on it. “What’s this for, girls?”

        “Well… Ah thought that it seemed just right to have you be an honorary crusader for the Cutie Mark Crusaders! What do you think?”

        Calvin’s eyes widened at that, looking back at the sash before turning to them. “Girls, that’s… that’s the most kindest thing anyone’s done for me. Thank you so much!” After a bit, he soon tied the sash around his neck as the logo for the crusaders was now along the back of his shirt. “You girls are the best!”

        “Anything for a friend, Calvin!” Sweetie Belle smiled, before turning to Spike as she then asked for him to get a camera, so they could get a group photo together. Then, a nearby Twilight decided that maybe it was best for her to take the picture, so Spike could be in the picture.

        “Alright, on the count of three, everypony smile,” the Alicorn told them as she levitated the camera towards them. “One… Two… Three!”




End Scroll 13