As battles end and united armies form, the most busiest of kingdoms is the Crystal Empire. A city inhabited by the Crystal Ponies who could never forget what the Skylanders had done for them during the battle that took place in this very city. But more importantly is where the Hero of the Crystal Empire defeated the evil King Sombra and drove Malefor away. Everyday, scholars would go to the path to the Crystal Castle known as The Trail of History and learn the history of what took place from the writings engraved on the statues of the Giants, their guardians. From the Rise of the Giants to the Battle of the Crystal Empire, most Crystal Ponies flocked to the statue in the shape of a dragon striking Sombra down at the end of the path.
Among the crystal ponies were two hooded figures that moved with the crowd as they made their way passed the crowd and towards the Crystal Castle. They took a brief glance at the statue of the dragon before they left the Path of History. As the hooded duo approached the castle gate, the gate guard spotted them and said,
“Halt! You approach the gate to the castle! State your business.”
The larger figure spoke, “Princess Cadance requested us to come.” The guard recognized that voice as he apologized,
“Oh! I apologize, Savior. I didn’t recognize you. You may enter the castle. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have been expecting you.”
As the guard let the two into the castle, the two removed their hoods as it is revealed to be Spike the Dragon and his apprentice, Starlight Glimmer. Starlight looked at Spike with a curious look and chuckled,
“Savior? That seems like an odd title for you, Master.”
Spike assured his student, “I was known as the Crystal Savior after the battle. The Crystal Heart practically chose me to master its powers. That alone was a big test for me.”
Starlight understood this, “Having control of the artifact’s power is no easy task.”
Spike nodded as he and Starlight made their way to the throne room. That was also when she decided to ask about his movements before they arrived,
“Master, back on the train, I’ve noticed that you looked a little tense while on the train.”
The dragon looked at his apprentice and apologized, “I’m sorry for worrying you, but I’m also glad to see that your lessons on reading body languages from Fluttershy have made you notice.” Starlight felt proud that her lessons from her other teachers paid off as he Master explained, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen either of them.”
Starlight understood this since both Cadance and Shining Armor had a hoof in raising Spike since he was a tiny hatchling. Shining Armor was a brother for Spike since living with Twilight’s family while Cadance was always excited to care for Spike whenever she came to foalsit Twilight. She asked him,
“Do you think that even if I fractured the timeline, would that bond between Cadance and Shining Armor still be there?”
Spike sighed, “Cadance was very excited when Mom introduced her to me when I was an egg. It would be from that meeting that our bond will form even with the fractured timeline.”
Starlight knew that no matter what, Spike’s bond with the royals and the Elements of Harmony were destined, she still regrets doing what she tried to do to him and in the end, he forgave her and made her his apprentice. Spike decided to add something personal,
“Such as your friendship with Sunburst.” That was something that she would not expect in her time in his presence - the memories of her friend. She could remember him like it was yesterday, they were playing a book-stacking game until a stack of books nearly toppled over her, but it was avoided when Sunburst saved her with his telekinesis, earning his cutie mark. But after that, they lost touch with each other which made her believe that he abandoned her after he got his cutie mark before her.
Her dragon teacher could sense that she was thinking about her friend and could sense that she was troubled whenever the subject came up. But he also noticed that she almost collided with a passing unicorn, so in a swift motion with his time ability, he froze time and pulled his student out of the way as time returned to normal. In the unicorn’s point of view, Spike moved unnaturally fast as he first appeared next to Starlight and in a few seconds, both he and Starlight were out of the stallion’s way. The stallion was amazed as he spoke,
“That was astonishing! I never knew dragons could do that.”
Spike looked at the unicorn, “It more of a personal ability and it’s very useful for combat.” Spike realized,
“I suppose introductions are in order…” The unicorn stopped him as he said, “No need, I know exactly who you are, judging by how similar you look to the statue outside. You are Spike, the Hero of the Crystal Empire, the one that defeated Malefor and saved the city.”
Spike was impressed by this stallion’s knowledge, “It was only temporary since Malefor is still out there. But we’ll get him, that’s what Skylanders do.” He decided to introduce Starlight to him,
“This is my apprentice…” He was stopped when the stallion’s eyes widened in shock as he stuttered upon seeing her, “S-Starlight! My goodness, it-it’s been a long time!”
It wasn’t until both Spike and Starlight realized who this stallion was. Starlight immediately recognized who this was now, “S-Sunburst!?”
The stallion stared awkwardly at the mare as he asked, “What, uh, what have you been up to?”
She awkwardly discussed how she was doing, “Me? Oh! You know, some of this, some of that, different... stuff. Right now, as you see, I am Spike’s Apprentice.”
Sunburst looked at Starlight, then at Spike as he asked, “You’re her teacher?”
Spike nodded as Starlight spoke, “Heh... yeah... we’re here on some sort of business with the Prince and Princess. I mean, I know you're probably very busy as well.”
Sunburst nervously asked, “What do you mean?”
Starlight started to explain, “Well, I figured after magic school, you'd go on to do important wizard work, but…” The stallion interrupted her as he stated, “ Oh. No. Y-Yes! Uh, y-yes, that's me, yup.” He gave out a nervous chuckle, “Important wizard! Really busy with lots of, uh, wi-wizarding... stuff. Right. Uh, well... good to see you.”
The stallion ran passed them as Starlight stared at the fleeing stallion with sad eyes. Spike asked, “Not the type of reunion you were expecting?”
Starlight sighed, “What’s the point? After he finished Magic School, he knew everything about magic and became an important wizard.” She sadly stated, “It’s like he doesn’t need me anymore.”
Spike shook his head, “First, don’t say that he doesn’t need you. Second, I noticed a feeling of nervousness in his voice. He was also stuttering when you mentioned him doing important wizard work.”
Starlight asked her teacher, “What are you getting at, Master Spike?” Spike explained about a simple trick that he learned from Applejack, the ability to tell if one is telling the truth. He told his apprentice about Sunburst’s behavior which made him draw up a conclusion after using Applejack’s technique,
“He’s lying.”
Starlight was shocked to hear her teacher accuse her old friend of lying and asked, “Are you sure, Master?”
Spike nodded, “His tone and behavior is obvious that even Applejack would figure it out.”
Starlight wanted to go after Sunburst, have him explain himself, ask him why did he lie to her. But Spike held a wing in front of her, “Leave him, we’ll worry about him later. I imagine we’ll be seeing him again soon.”
Starlight, although wanting to go after Sunburst, knew that they still had to see the Prince and Princess. The two continued towards the throne room of the castle.
Upon reaching the throne room, they were greeted by none other than Prince Shining Armor, who looked a little stressed and even had some of the royal guards whimpering from an outburst he had before Spike and Starlight arrived. But he managed to keep his mood up in order to greet his little brother,
“Hey Spike, it’s good to see you again.” Spike greeted with a wing salute, “It’s great to see you, Shining.”
The unicorn shook his head, “I should be the one saluting you since you made this all possible after saving the empire.”
Spike stated, “You were the Captain of the Guard before you became a Prince.” Shining Armor couldn’t actually argue with that, but Spike is a dragon that his subjects recognize as a hero since it was Spike that defeated both Malefor and Sombra with the power of the Crystal Heart. He and Cadance heard about Spike’s journey to gather an army to fight in the coming war, hearing news of his involvements from the Dragon Lands to Griffonstone. There’s no doubt in the stallion’s mind that Malefor will strike back and he won’t be alone. But he also want Spike to know why he called him here until he noticed Starlight,
“I heard from Twilight that you’ve taken in an apprentice. I take it this is she?”
Spike nodded as he introduced her, “I did. This is Starlight Glimmer, my apprentice.”
Starlight spoke, “Master Spike told me many things about you and your wife.”
The stallion gave a curious look to his dragon brother, “Master Spike?”
The dragon shrugged, “It’s a formality, she has also undergone many lessons from Twilight and the others such as her Magic Lessons from Twilight.”
The mare looked at the dragon, “It involved me learning about how to focus my abilities on a single object before being taught different forms of Combat Magic.”
Shining Armor was curious about the many teachers of his dragon brother’s apprentice, “If Twiley and her friends teach you? What does Spike teach you?”
Starlight chuckled a bit at the stallion’s nickname for Twilight as she stated, “Master Spike teaches me the basics of an element that a Purple Dragon can perform. I’ve just started learning about the Element of Earth.”
The prince asked the dragon, “Is it possible?” Spike was confident in his apprentice, “After witnessing what she could do. I know right then and there, that she is like Twilight in someway - full of potential and always eager to learn.”
Shining Armor was impressed with how far his brother progressed. First he was an assistant, Purple Dragon, Skylander, Prince, Crystal Savior, a Symbol of Hope and now a Teacher. But he couldn’t delay them any longer as he decided to explain why they were called here,
“In any case, We called you here for two reasons. The first reason is to inform you that several battalions have pledged their allegiance to fight for your cause.”
Spike realized, “So the Crystal Empire is providing its soldiers for this war?!” Shining Armor smiled, “It’s pretty much a ‘Thank You’ for saving us, Spike.”
Spike felt a sense of accomplishment after hearing this. But he held it off for now as he asked, “And the second reason?”
The stallion gestured the two to follow him, “Cadance and I have somepony that you really must meet.”
So Spike and Starlight followed Shining Armor through the doors and into the throne room where they see that Princess Cadance was waiting for them. The pink alicorn was standing near a cradle when she turned to them and said with excitement,
“Spike, I’m glad you’re here. Aunt Celestia filled me in on your accomplishments all over Equestria. Uniting the Dragons, Griffins and Ponies would make an excellent army against Malefor.”
Spike approached the Crystal Princess as she pulled him into a hug like she used to do when he was little. During the hug, Spike asked, “I think you called us here to meet my new cousin?”
Cadance’s eyes widened as she released him and said, “That was the second reason…” She gestured for Spike to follow her to the cradle. When Spike looked at the foal in the cradle, he was in awe to see that the foal was an alicorn. He said,
“She’s...an alicorn.”
Cadance nodded, “She is.” The baby’s eyes opened as she gazed upon Spike with a curious and amazed look. Starlight noticed this and said,
“It looks like she’s curious about you, Master.”
Spike understood what his apprentice said as he stated, “This is the very first time she laid eyes on a dragon.”
Starlight asked Cadance, “How can the baby be born an alicorn?” Cadance already knew that she was Spike’s apprentice as she stated, “I don’t know and the only known records of a natural-born alicorn were with the alicorns on old...and Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna.”
Spike was aware that in ancient times, there were natural born alicorns until they died off supposedly, the same existed in Skylands until they discovered them in Kaos’ old lair and freed them. That was basically five years ago, but an alicorn foal in Equestria is something else,
“There could be a chance that her abilities would develop much faster and could be highly unstable.”
It was evidenced when the foal sneezed which nearly blew the dragon away if he didn’t use his wings as a cover. He saw the foal clapping her hooves as she giggled, he smiled at her amusement and he asked Cadance,
“What’s her name?”
The crystal princess stated, “Her name is Flurry Heart.” She cooed at the newborn and said, “This is your dragon-cousin, Spike.”
Flurry Heart noticed one of Spike’s wings near her and grabbed the wing in her mouth. For Spike, seeing this flashed him back to when he was a hatchling when he would grip Celestia’s mane in his mouth. Starlight asked Cadance,
“I think congratulations are in order for your new daughter?”
Cadance nodded as she added, “There’s also The Crystalling Ceremony.”
Spike caught this as he snapped out of it, “The Crystalling?”
The alicorn stated, “It’s a ceremony that celebrates the birth of a new foal in the Empire. It requires the baby to add her power to the Crystal Heart to make it stronger to protect us from the Frozen North.”
Spike realized, “So besides choosing who could bear its power, it also serves as barrier generator?”
The alicorn nodded as she said, “We wanted to send the invitation, but everypony is busy preparing for war with Malefor, so your business here was also a Crystalling Invitation.”
Starlight was shocked as well, “That was very clever of you to do that.”
Shining Armor decided to cut in, “It was the best that we could do…” Spike looked at his brother, “And you didn’t invite Twilight and the others?”
“Don’t sweat it, Spike. We came here as soon as we got the call.” said a familiar robotic voice as Spike saw a familiar giant enter the throne room.
“Bouncer!?” The giant chuckled, “Eyes playing with ya?” The other giants came into the room as Spike and Starlight were in shock to see them here.
The dragon shook his head, “I’m definitely not dreaming. What are you guys doing here?”
Tree-Rex spoke, “This is our home, Spike. We got the invitation and Celestia gave us leave to come here.”
Swarm added, “We also brought a few extras with us as well.” The wasp motioned to Crusher as the stone giant approached as he knelt down as Spike saw, sitting on the giant’s shoulders were his friends as they disembarked the massive giant. Twilight spoke,
“We couldn’t miss this, Spike. We’re family and we look after one another.”
Starlight couldn’t believe it as well, “How did you know?”
Rainbow Dash spoke, “Well, we knew that the Crystalling was happening before you guys set off.”
Applejack stated, “An’ we knew they would invite Spike here on ‘business’ so they sen’ the invitation to the giants.”
Twilight finished, “And when the giants showed up at our doors, we took it as a signal to come with them for the Crystalling.”
Rarity stated, “And we are happy to see that Twilight is now an Aunt. As for you, you now have a second cousin.”
As the group mingled about the upcoming Crystalling, they failed to notice something metallic looking through a window. The spy looked throughout the room while camouflaged as it spotted Shining Armor as it scanned him and left saying,
“Shining Armor Data, has been copied!”
At the Crystal Tower, several royal guards patrol the tower as they guard the most important artifact of the Empire - The Crystal Heart. As the guards patrolled the tower, one of them noticed a familiar stallion approaching as the guard spoke,
“Your highness, what brings you up to the tower?”
The stallion spoke, “I just needed to check on the Crystal Heart for the upcoming Crystalling.”
The guard was shocked, “So there is a Crystalling...I never thought I’d see the day.”
The stallion nodded as the guard led him up the stairs as he passed by many other guards as they made their way to the top of the tower. That’s where they gazed upon the Crystal Heart itself, the guard stated,
“This chamber is also where the Hero made his stand against Sombra and Malefor.”
The stallion chuckled, “Yes...and speaking of Malefor…” The stallion chuckled again, but this time it was an evil chuckle as he suddenly turned on the guards using some unusual fighting styles as each royal guard was knocked to the ground unconscious. The last remaining guard that he incapacitated looked at the stallion with a shocked expression,
“Your highness! What is the meaning of this? What are you doing?”
The ‘stallion’ stated, “Paving the way for a new future. The Crystal Empire will now know what fear looks like.”
At that instant, the stallion turned silver as his form changed from pony to dragon, a familiar dragon, but he saw that this was different. As it turned solid again, he saw that it looked a lot like the dragon, but it was metal and robotic and was designed as a deadly weapon. As it turned its red eyes on him,
“And that dragon, my loathsome template will know a challenge when he sees it.”
The robot dragon’s wings opened up to reveal a pair of missiles, the robot aimed them at the Crystal Heart. As the robot stated,
“HE WILL FEEL THIS!”
The robot fired at the artifact as the impact of the missiles caused the Crystal Heart to shatter as dark clouds began to form. The robot looked at the fragments of the heart and began to laugh,
“Hehahaha! Hehahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Spike felt a jolt of pain in his chest as gasped and collapsed to the ground. Starlight noticed this and yelled, “Master Spike!”
Everypony came to his aid as he got back up, he looked around and sensed several voices crying out in terror. He noticed Cadance putting her hoof to her head,
“I...I feel faint.” Spike stated, “I feel it too.” He was looking around as his senses went crazy until it came straight to him as he stated,
“The Crystal Heart has been shattered!”
Everypony and the giants were shocked, “WHAT!?”
Spike stated, “Someone or something shattered the Crystal Heart!”
Applejack asked, “I'm guessin' that's gonna make it harder to do the Crystalling?”
Spike looked at the Farm Mare, “It’s going to be worse than the Crystalling. Without the Crystal Heart, The whole Empire is going to be buried by a mountain of ice and snow!”
The doors opened again as a scout approached them, “Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor!” He was panting as he was trying to collect himself as Shining Armor said, “What’s going on?”
The scout explained, “The guards have uncovered evidence from the tower that someone that looks like him…” He pointed to Spike, “posed as you, fought off the guards at the top of the tower and destroyed the Heart.”
Spike asked, “What do you mean, ‘Someone that looks like me?” The scout spoke, “The guard knew that it wasn’t really you, but it looked like you. It was different, it was metal and spoke with a robotic tone.”
Shining Armor was concerned, because the last thing he would want is for the Crystal Ponies to accuse Spike of treason which was unlike him. The prince asked, “Anything else?”
The scout had a fearful look in his eyes as he said, “We’ve spotted a horde of Grublins approaching the Empire! It was like they were lying in wait for the moment the Crystal Heart was destroyed!”
Spike was concerned and asked the scout, “Did you see any sign of a portal?”
The scout shook his head, “No Savior, there was no portal.” Spike didn’t want to admit it, but something didn’t seem right. The Crystal Heart has been destroyed by a faker, the Grublins are now moving towards the city and there’s no evidence of an activated portal. Spike knew that there’s going to be a battle as he turned to the giants,
“Tree Rex, I need you and the giants to set up a defensive perimeter around the city.”
Tree Rex nodded as he motioned the others to follow as Shining Armor and the scout went with them. Cadance went to inform the rest of the city that the Crystal Heart is shattered and the Grublins have returned. She called for everypony to evacuate to the train station before the Horde arrive. There’s no doubt in anyponys mind that a battle is going to start and even with the artifact shattered and the city about to be reduced to a frozen wasteland - The Crystal Empire Must Be Protected!
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it, “You gotta be kidding me! Malefor’s on the move again?!”
Twilight looked at the infant and that at the others, “It looks like it. But it also looks like they planned to attack on the day of the Royal Crystalling.”
Rarity asked, “You don’t think?”
Spike turned to the others as he said, “It was an inside job!”
Starlight looked at her teacher and remembered, “That scout said that the culprit shape shifted as Shining Armor.”
Fluttershy was frightened upon the shape shifting saboteur, “You don't think the changelings are…”
Twilight stepped in, “No, the scout said that the culprit was a robot that looked like Spike.”
Pinkie Pie realized, “Would it try to frame Spike for the Heart’s destruction or challenge him to a fight while the empire falls apart?” They all looked at her since she was the most random pony among them, but she did have a point with the culprit’s plans of challenging Spike. But the Crystal Empire would still be a frozen wasteland even if Spike wins. It wasn’t until Starlight asked,
“Could there be a way to restore the Crystal Heart?”
Spike looked at his apprentice, “There could be someway to restore it...maybe if I use my bond with it to sense the energy within the shards, then restoring it could be possible.”
At that instant, Spike closed his eyes as he spread his wings out as the power in his core began to seek out the shards of the Crystal Heart. His spines and horns began to glow as the ponies stood back as Twilight realized,
“He’s communicating with the shards! Restoring the Heart is possible!”
“But it needs a certain spell in order for the Heart to be fixed.” Said Cadance as she returned to the throne room.
Twilight asked, “What kind of spell?”
Cadance stated, “It’s called the Spell of Relic Reconstruction. It could restore the Crystal Heart.”
Spike soon ended his meditation as he overheard Cadance talk about the spell, “It won’t work.”
Cadance was shocked and asked, “What do you mean?”
Spike explained. “The shards - they spoke to me...they said that no other spell could fix the heart.”
Twilight was desperate, “There has to be someway to restore it!”
Starlight asked, “What about Sunburst? That stallion that we ran into?”
Cadence recognized that name, “Oh? He was in the castle library searching for a book on Ancient Magic and Dragons.”
Starlight was curious, “Why was he looking for a book on that?” The princess shook her head, “He never told anypony about it.”
Spike asked, “Do you know where we could find him?”
Cadence stated, “He has a house just off the Trail of History passed the square.”
Spike gestured to Starlight to follow him as he spoke to the others, “In the meantime, I need all of you to help with the evacuation. Send word to Mom and Aunt Luna for every Magic and Fire Skylander in Equestria to hold back the Frozen North, and a squad of Life, Undead, Tech, Water, Earth, Air, Light and Dark Skylanders to assist Shining Armor and the Giants against the Grublins. You need to buy us some time to find Sunburst and restore the heart.”
They all nodded as the two ran down the hallway towards the entrance, shedding their cloaks in the process. As they ran down the halls, Starlight asked, “Are you still sure about Sunburst lying to us?”
Spike stated, “You suggested that we find him, but if he can help us restore the heart, we should take that leap and have you two make up for lost times.”
Starlight was still shocked by all of this, not only is Malefor’s army attacking, the Crystal Empire is on the verge of annihilation without the Crystal Heart. And she suggested going to the one unicorn that she knows who could know how to fix it. Although her ex-nemesis now teacher told her that he was lying to them during their encounter, she wanted to know what her friend has been up to and hopefully tell her the truth.
Her teacher knew exactly what conflicted her as Spike stated, “You're going to have your chance to speak with him in due time. But we need to find him first - Everyone is depending on us!”
Outside the Crystal Empire, the horde was charging straight for the city as The Crystal Army stood their ground with a Giant in each battalion. Shining Armor stood at the head of the army as he shouted,
“Mares and Stallions, Attack with Magic!” The Unicorns from the Canterlot Army led by the Skylander, Trail Blazer attacked with various magic attacks from magic bolts to fire attacks. The magic wave hit several grublins in the horde, but the survivors were still charging. Shining Armor looked up to the skies,
“Strike from above!” The Pegasi and the Air Skylanders attacked the horde as they picked a grublin up and dropped it to the ground while attacking with a whirlwind. Another several dozen were destroyed during the air strike as the horde still charged forth. The Captain now looked at the army and yelled,
“For The Crystal Empire!!” He charged towards the horde as everyone charged as well, ponies, Skylanders and everything else in between. They will defend the Crystal Empire with their lives and buy time for Spike and Starlight to restore the Crystal Heart and a small group of Skylanders to assist in the evacuation.
The battle that was going on outside the city got the duo’s attention as a stone from a catapult struck a nearby tower. The two looked at the damage that was done before moving on. Spike looked at his student,
“We have to find Sunburst, there’s no doubt that the battle would get his attention!”
Starlight nodded as they ran through the city while making their way through the crowd that was making their way to the train station. Some of the Crystal Ponies stepped to the side when they noticed them, some of the foals spoke,
“Is that him?” “The Crystal Savior?” “He’s here! We’re going to be okay!”
Spike looked at the foals and said, “We’ll find a way to win. But for now, I need you all to get to the train station quickly.”
The foals nodded as they ran towards the crowd where their parents will most likely be. After passing the crowds, they managed to point out their destination which was a house just passed the square.
Starlight guessed, “That’s got to be Sunburst’s house!”
Spike nodded as he said, “Alright, let’s go.” They noticed a couple of snowflakes falling as they made their way to the house. All they had to do was hope that their friends are doing all they can to keep the Frozen North at bay. If the horde doesn’t destroy the city, the mountain of ice and snow definitely will. As the duo reached the door, Spike allowed Starlight to knock on the door and almost instantly, Sunburst answered the door.
The stallion was surprised to see them again as he said, “Oh, Spike...Starlight. This is a… pleasant surprise.”
Starlight sighed, “I wish it was under pleasant circumstances. But we need your help.”
Sunburst was now shocked as he asked, “M...my help?”
Starlight was strained by her friends question, “Sunburst! Haven’t you looked outside or at least felt the danger around you?!”
Curious at her question, the stallion looked at the city and noticed something, “Snow? That's... not right. The Crystal Heart—”
Spike cut in, “Is gone! A sleeper agent destroyed it and now we have a horde of grublins trying to destroy the city!”
Sunburst asked, “Really?” The dragon only nodded as the stallion was now frantic, “A- A BATTLE!? HERE. NOW?!”
Starlight calmed him down, “Master Spike spoke with the shards, they can still be restored to their full strength, but there’s no other spell that could restore it. I figured that you may know a way to restore it.”
Sunburst stuttered, “Me?”
Starlight reminded him, “Of course! You're an important wizard in the Crystal Empire! It just makes sense!”
Sunburst remembered as he said, “Right... right... right right right. You know, I'd like to help, I-I really would. I-I just have so much, um, important wizard work to do around here.”
While Starlight was curious about his ‘wizard work’ in a time of crisis, Spike gave him a look that practically said, ‘I’m not buying it.’ Sunburst was sweating when he saw the dragon’s suspicious look. Starlight asked,
“How could you be busy in a time like this?!”
Sunburst sighed as he admitted, “Look, Starlight, I want to help. I do. But I can't. I wish I could.”
Starlight asked although knowing what he might say, “What do you mean?!”
He confessed, “Fixing an ancient relic? I-I can't even come close to doing something like that!”
Starlight couldn’t believe it as she stated, “But I thought you were an important wizard!”
Sunburst knew that the jig was up, so he stated, “Well, you were wrong, okay?! I'm not an important wizard! I'm not even a wizard at all!”
Spike knew all too well as he said, “So you lied to her instead of explaining yourself when we first met.”
Sunburst knew that there was no point in hiding his lie, especially in front of his old friend and the Purple Dragon. He confessed,
“I know it's hard for you to understand, but not all of us end up achieving greatness.”
Starlight asked, furious at her friend’s deception, “What? Why wouldn't I understand that?”
The stallion pointed his hoof to Spike as he said, “Really? You're the protégé of the Purple Dragon! I don't think he picks just anypony for that, I didn’t even know that he took in a protégé!”
Spike stated to the stallion, “She’s more of an apprentice than a protege and I had a reason to accept her as my apprentice.” Sunburst shrugged him off,
“Whatever. I'm sorry I'm not the big important wizard you were expecting.”
Starlight argued with Sunburst about everything that had happened and that she was surprised that he was not even a wizard and gestured to all of his books. The stallion admitted,
“Yeah, well, reading about magic is one thing, but you don't know what it was like at magic school! To know so much and not be able to do any of it!”
Starlight decided to recount what happened before her Apprenticeship, “Well, you don't know what it was like to be left behind! And then getting so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village and then get defeated by Spike and the Skylanders, so you travel through time to get back at the dragon that beat you, but he beats you again and becomes impressed by your abilities and takes you in as his apprentice, but you're so terrified ponies will find out what you did that you can't make any friends!”
Spike knew that she was furious enough to recount their battles, both in Equal Town and in the past. She let out a sigh as she let her old friend take in what she said as he processed all the information until he asked,
“Did you really travel through time?”
Spike chuckled, “Well, I guess you’re impressed.” Sunburst didn’t know how much she missed him and to go so far as to do horrible things to others only to be defeated by the Purple Dragon and then go back in time to prevent said dragon from being born and failed again. It made him realize that half of it was caused because he wasn’t there for her. It felt like an eternity passed until he decided to apologize,
“I'm sorry we lost touch. Maybe if I had reached out, you could have helped me at magic school, and I could have helped you to…” She assumed, “Not become totally evil?” She sighed, “Let's just say I know what it's like to have something you're not exactly proud of.”
Sunburst stated, “When you showed up thinking I was some big wizard... I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth.”
Spike decided to explain, “I knew you were lying the whole time. But I wanted you and Starlight to reconcile with each other, to show that each of you had a terrible experience ever since you split up. In any case, I’m impressed.” He now got serious,
“But we can’t waste anymore time, there’s a battle going on and the city’s about to be consumed by the Frozen North.”
Starlight gasped as she told Sunburst, “They’re also evacuating the city! You need to get to the train station unless you know someway to restore the Crystal Heart so the baby can have her Crystalling!”
Soon enough, the stallion’s brain hatched an idea as he realized, “Crystalling…! Of course!”
As the Skylanders were escorting the Crystal Ponies to the train station, some of the grublins got into the city and ambushed them. Until the Dark Imaginator of the Ninja Class, Shadow Strike, pushed them back with a black hole trap while Tidal Wave launched his piranhas at the fragments of the main horde. The Golden Queen and Radiant Sun used their powers on a group of grublin bowmen as an array of Light and Earth struck the abominations. King Pen shouted,
“HOLD THEM BACK!” The Magic Skylanders and Unicorns were doing all they could to hold the Frozen North back while the others were protecting the Crystal Ponies as they made their way to the train station. It was especially crucial since Flurry Heart was with them and the baby needed to be protected at all costs.
Star Strike was doing her best as she helped hold off the torrent of ice and snow. A grublin nearly took advantage of her vulnerability until Applejack kicked it with he back hooves as Terrafin, now a Supercharger, shot at the airborne monster with his rockets. The Supercharger was panting as he said, “The army isn’t going to last long, if Spike doesn’t find a solution to the Crystal Heart, we may be in trouble.”
As more grublins started to make their way towards the group, a series of lightning strikes hit the grublins as a series of magic bolts hit the monsters as they fell to the ground and dispersed into spirit crystals. The Skylanders looked up to see Spike and Starlight in the skies as the dragon and unicorn landed. They were relieved to see the two again, but they brought one more pony with them, a stallion that they assumed was Sunburst. Spike approached the group and said, “We’re going back to the castle.”
Quick Blaze asked, “What do you mean?” Sunburst spoke, “I know how to stop this!”
The Skylanders were curious to know how they could restore the heart until Spike noticed that a few of them were missing. He asked, “Where’s Twilight and Cadence?”
The Golden Queen spoke, “They’re still at the castle with most of the Magic Skylanders to hold back the North. Star Strike went with us to assist in the evacuation, she even held back some of the North.”
Sunburst was shocked by this, “That means they won’t be able to hold it back for long!”
Starlight noticed the baby among them, “We need her to come with us as well.”
Flurry Heart immediately flew towards the group and landed on Spike’s back as she giggled in excitement. Spike felt sad for her to be born in a time of crisis, but they need to get her to the Crystal Heart as soon as possible. As the trio left to the castle, Spike let out a few words of encouragement for his fellow Skylanders, “Protect the Crystal Ponies at all costs and hunt down those grublins to the last!”
The Skylanders cheered as the trio ran back to the castle with the newborn alicorn filly. As they ran back towards the castle, Spike looked at Sunburst, “I hope you’re right about this. Because one way or another - We’re going to end this battle.”
The stallion nodded, “The Crystal Heart has been around for a millenia and if I’m not mistaken - you bonded with the Crystal Heart during the first battle. Which gives you the ability to speak with the relic itself - even when it’s in pieces.”
Starlight asked, “And letting the baby have her Crystalling could restore it?”
Spike knew that not only will his new cousin have her Crystalling, but will restore the Crystal Heart and save the city. So he stated, “It’s the best chance that we got. If we fail, the Crystal Empire will be destroyed from both Grublins and the North.”
The trio knew that they had to return to the castle to let the others know their solution. Unknown to them, they were being watched by two figures, one of them being the robot while the other was a hooded unicorn. The unicorn noticed,
“The three came up with a solution for our attack.”
The robot asked, “Targets are going to use their solution for the Crystal Heart. Permission to engage?”
The mare shook her head, “Not out in the open.” The robot acknowledged this as he took off.
At the castle, Twilight, Cadance and the Magic Skylanders were doing their best to hold off the North, even the Fire Skylanders were trying to heat things up a notch. But even the combined powers of Magic and Fire only succeed in delaying it instead of stopping it. Twilight’s magic began to strain as she said,
“It’s...too much...can’t hold on...much longer.”
Her alicorn twin said as her magic began to strain, “Even with my powers...I can’t…”
Cadance spoke, “We...just need to buy...them time to find a way…”
Pop Fizz was using his new Supercharger gear in tandem with his magic core to hold off the freezing cold, “We can’t give up!”
The Trap Master, Wildfire used his shield to block out a portion of the freezing cold. He watched as the other Fire Skylanders started to try to erect a Fire Shield around the northern edge of the city. But they couldn’t actually cover the northern edge if they were going to risk burning the Empire to the ground. Which they didn’t want to risk, so they only made the fire shield to protect the back of the castle. It wasn’t until a larger version of the fire shield appeared before their eyes. It also had the magic users catch their breath and recover their energy. The Fire Skylanders knew that they didn’t do that without risking the city.
They didn’t have time to question it when Spike and Starlight returned to the castle with Flurry Heart on the dragon’s back and Sunburst trailing behind. Cadance saw them and said, “Spike, Starlight, We’ve been holding the North off for a while but it won’t be enough to stop it.”
Spike looked at the shield, “My fire shield won’t hold it off forever.” He gestured to the stallion, “Sunburst found a solution to our crisis and it involves the Crystalling.”
Cadance was curious about Sunburst’s solution to the Crystal Heart, she also recognized this unicorn because of his visit to the Royal Library. She spoke to the stallion,
“Starlight said you were a powerful wizard.”
Sunburst admitted, “Oh I’m no wizard.” The Magic Skylanders gasped at this until Starlight stepped in, “But he studied magic his whole life! You should see his house! And since nopony has any better ideas, what do we have to lose?!”
The Skylanders were cautious to let a unicorn who couldn’t actually do magic fix the Crystal Heart. But their backs are against the wall right now and they needed a miracle. Spike looked at Sunburst,
“So, what’s your idea?”
The stallion cleared his throat and began to speak, “The Crystal Heart's been around for millennia. Restoring a relic like this is way beyond one spell. You need to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself. Something that strengthens it and provides it with power...?”
Everyone realized what he was talking about, “The Crystalling!”
Sunburst continued, “Combining that spell with the light and love of everypony gathered for the ceremony, together with... Somnambula's Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow... and a little Fledgling's Forbearance for the parents... Heh. That should curb the little one's power fluctuations. Followed by a Fury Wave generated by the Crystal Heart due to its bond with a creature that could harness that much power.”
Spike knew what Sunburst meant, “You want me to merge with the Crystal Heart again?”
Sunburst nodded, “It chose to bond with you, you carry its power as much as the heart itself. Combining your powers, the heart’s and the little one’s would emit a powerful fury wave that could kill the remaining Grublins, both in the city and out.”
Pop Fizz asked, “Wait a minute, doesn’t the Crystalling also require someone to be appointed as the baby’s Crystallier?”
Cadance looked around the room, she had planned on having Spike or Twilight be their crystaller, but with the battle and the North, they still need to recover, even an alicorn has her limits. She spoke to Spike,
“It’s your call, Spike. Most of us are still trying to regain our strength. The fate of the Empire is in your hands, who will be Flurry Heart’s Crystaller?”
Spike looked around for a moment, he briefly looked behind to see the foal playing with his wings as they kept her on his back. He couldn’t waste time, but he had to choose the Crystaller, he can’t do it because he has to merge with the Crystal Heart. But as he turned to Sunburst, he grew more curious on how much research he did on the heart to understand that the Crystalling is the solution. He was more of a scholar than a wizard, but he knew it’s time for the scholar to make his mark.
“Sunburst, you will be the Crystaller.”
This actually surprised the unicorn, he knew all about magic, but not enough to actually do magic. But he was chosen by the Hero of the Crystal Empire to be Flurry Heart’s Crystaller in order to restore the Crystal Heart. As he knew very well that the fate of the Empire now lies in both his hooves and Spike’s claws, so he stated with determination,
“I’d be honored.”
Cadence knew that it’s now or never, so she approached the three and said, “The Crystal Heart resides at the top of the Crystal Tower, Spike knows where to go. We’ll remain here in case the fire shield gives out or if those creatures somehow make it here.”
The trio knew what she meant, there is no doubt that the grublins will make air drops into the city. So Spike, although worried that they will be fighting those things or trying to hold back the bitter cold. He looked at everyone and said,
“Do what you can down here and stay alive. That includes you, Cadance. Your daughter still needs a mother after this.”
The Princess of Love accepted as she said, “She also needs her father as well.”
The Purple Dragon knew that Shining Armor is still on the battlefield accompanied by the Giants as his Bodyguards. But they take a lot before they go down and in the months apart, Shining’s fighting skills have improved, so Spike knows that a few hundred grublins won't keep his unicorn brother down. He nodded as they ran out of the throne room and made their way to the Crystal Tower.
At the gates to the city, things are starting to go from bad to worse, the Crystal Army are holding out but they are slowly getting pushed back. The grublins are relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm them. But if it wasn't for the bombing runs made by Blast Zone and the Superchargers in the Sky Vehicles, things would have gotten even worse than before.
At the head of the charge was Shining Armor as he shot magic bolt after magic bolt at the oncoming horde, Tree Rex was on his left as he shot his photosynthesis cannon at the attackers while Bouncer was on the stallion’s right, firing shot after shot to slow the horde down from overwhelming their perimeter. Swarm took a chance of turning into a swarm of insects and caused some of the monsters to flail around due to the insect swarm. Eye-Brawl was wrestling with a Grublin Troll as Dive-Clops shot his torpedoes at the monster. Crusher was swinging his hammer at the horde, either crushing the grublins into a pulp or swinging them away as Hot Head set the horde ablaze by coating them in oil. Thumpback dropped anchor on those Hero Orcs as they managed to get close for an attack, but due to the distance between those beasts and the Water Giant, it was easy for his anchor to latch onto them and pull them in for a good pummeling.
Shining Armor was panting as he saw that some of the horde’s numbers were falling due to assassinations, the stallion knew that it was Cynder using her stealth shadow technique. The black dragon’s powers were a great benefit for this battle, but they needed a bit of breathing room as Shining Armor yelled,
“Skylanders, fall back to the perimeter!”
The Skylanders that were fighting the horde heard this and went back to the perimeter. As soon as they were there, Shining turned to Ninjini, “Ninjini, we need a barrier to keep them away from our line.”
The genie spoke, “I’m on it!” The Giant sheathed her swords as she focused her powers on creating the barrier around the perimeter. But it wasn't until the scout yelled,
“ARMORED TROLL APPROACHING!”
Shining Armor and the Skylanders saw what the scout meant, they saw a large Grublin Troll wearing a heavy set of armor with a set of blades on the shoulders for ramming. The beast roared as it challenged them to a fight as Shining Armor said,
“That's big…”
Tree Rex, the Giants, Cynder and the rest of the defending Skylanders stood at his side as the Black Dragoness said,
“But we fought bigger foes than him.”
The Armored Troll charged at them as they dodged it. Shining Armor shot a magic bolt after he dodged, the bolt struck the beast as it turned towards him and brought its right foreleg up and attempted to crush him until Tree Rex whacked it with his cannon as Bouncer used his Rocket Fists to knock a piece of the armor off of the beast. The Troll’s eyes turned bright red as it roared, Tree Rex noticed,
“Now he’s angry!”
The Troll stood up on its hind legs and used its forelegs to punch the tree giant and whack the robot giant to the sides as it leapt over to Crusher and Eye-Brawl as its sudden agility caught them by surprise. The impact of the armored troll sent both Earth and Undead Giant tumbling to the ground. The Armored Troll looked at its downed opponents as it ignored the others attacking it as it brought its fists up in an effort to finish them off. It wasn’t until it felt something slash at a vulnerable point in its armor, followed by another slash attack at its shoulder, exposed after Bouncer knocked its shoulder piece off. The beast looked around for the assailant, giving the giants enough time to retaliate by hitting it in the face.
The punch sent it flying to the ground as Eye-Brawl noticed, “I don’t know what happened, but something had it distracted.”
Shining Armor asked, “It was close to finishing you, what could’ve stopped it?”
Suddenly, a voice spoke, “That was me!” They looked towards the direction of the voice and saw something that they never thought they would see.
They saw a female hippogriff with a light magenta coat and a cornflower blue mane and tail. She also looks quite young in any case. Shining Armor recognized this type as he asked,
“You’re a hippogriff?”
The hippogriff nodded as she said, “I’m Silverstream and I know you guys are in the middle of a battle, but have you seen a Purple Dragon around here?”
Cynder approached, “There’s only two Purple Dragons and that’s Spyro and Spike.”
Silverstream asked, “Where is Spike?” Shining Armor suspiciously asked, “Why are you looking for him?”
Silverstream was about to speak until a roar caught her attention, the Armored Troll managed to get up as it stared at Silverstream. The beast’s eyes glared with anger as it spoke in a garbled language that none could make out until one word came from the beast’s mouth,
“Hippogriff!”
The troll charged directly at Silverstream as Swarm used his wrist stingers to block its path while the hippogriff flew towards the troll and slashed at its shoulder with her claws.
At the top of the Crystal Tower, Spike, Starlight and Sunburst reached the chamber where the Crystal Heart stood. As they approached the pedestal, they saw the Crystal Heart in pieces which was the very reason why the barrier fell. Spike also noticed scorch marks near the pedestal and remembered from the investigation that the saboteur is a robot. He knew what those scorch marks were the result of,
“Missiles.”
Starlight knew for certain, “The saboteur did this in order to signal the horde.”
Sunburst couldn’t believe it, “All of this destruction, caused by shattering the Crystal Heart.”
Spike looked at Sunburst, “Now we’re going to fix the Crystal Heart and win this battle.”
“Oh I’m counting on it.” Said a new voice that none of them recognize. The three turned around and saw a dark purple unicorn mare wearing pieces of armor. She had a dark rose colored mane, opal eyes and a broken horn as she glared at Spike. She stated,
“The Purple Dragon of Equestria, Hero of the Crystal Empire and Crowned Prince of Equestria. We meet at last.”
Spike raised an eyebrow, “You heard of me?” The mare stated, “How could I not forget about the dragon that defeated my Master on this very tower years ago.”
Spike remembered the first battle since he harnessed the power of the Crystal Heart and kill King Sombra. But Malefor escaped before it could consume him, so he knew for certain who this mare was,
“You’re a servant to Malefor!”
The mare chuckled, “I am Tempest Shadow, Malefor’s Lieutenant and the one who signaled the horde to attack this city.”
Spike asked, “But...when the Crystal Heart shattered…”
Tempest stated, “It was all part of the plan. Malefor wanted revenge on the Crystal Empire and he sent us to plot his revenge.”
Spike asked, “Us?” Tempest looked to her side and said, “Time for you to meet my colleague!”
At that moment, something dropped down near Tempest as the trio stood on edge. The object stood up on all fours as its wings flared open. It had the shape of a dragon and judging from the investigation, it looked exactly like Spike, except its color was more darker, it was more robotic and its eyes were dark with a red iris.
The duplicate stared at the trio and spoke, “And so, we meet at last, Spike. My loathsome enemy!”
The trio didn’t know what they were seeing, but they knew for certain. These two weren’t going to let them perform the Crystalling without a fight.