Beyond the Skies

by FrostTheWolf

Scroll 21- A Change in Plans Part 3

When Calvin and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were told that Master Eon wanted to show them a book that was seen as one of the biggest secrets at the academy, all of them had the same assumption that Eon would take them to the secret location where the book was being held. Instead, all four of them found themselves sitting in one of the library’s numerous recreational rooms. These rooms were mostly used by students who were part of study groups for certain classes on campus, but for them, it didn’t quite exactly feel like that at all.

“Aw man, why do we have to wait?! This is more boring than having to wait in the Wonderbolt Academy lobby for Rainbow Dash to finish with practice!” Scootaloo complained as she was rocking the chair that she was sitting on back and forth. 

“Come on, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle now took the turn to speak up, “He’s getting one of the most safe guarded items in the academy. He’s probably taking the same amount of precaution that Twilight would if they have to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“Sweetie Belle, the Elements are a bunch of magical artifacts. This thing’s… a book,” Scootaloo deadpanned, “Besides, all we know is that it’s important, but we don’t know what makes it important.”

“If we’re patient, we’ll find that out, Scootaloo. Come on. We’ve made it this far. This is no time to give up just because you’re bored,” Apple Bloom remarked.

“Well, what do you suggest we do in order to not be bored then, Apple Bloom?” the former pegasus now asked her friend as she waited for an answer. Yet, Calvin wasn’t quite exactly comfortable when all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were now starting to look at him.

“Uh, why are you girls staring at me like that?”

“Well, you have turned into those Skylanders before,” Apple Bloom now pointed out as both of her friends nodded, “Is there anything that we should know ahead of time before Eon comes back?”

“I’m not sure if I can really help you out, girls,” he shrugged his shoulders in response as he took a seat in one of the empty chairs in the room, “Ever since finding out about the Skylands, I’m beginning to learn that everything that I thought I knew when I first arrived in Equestria is not the same as everything that I’m learning now.”

“Hmm… now that you mention it,” Sweetie Belle scratched her chin, before she asked a new question, “How do you know so much about the Skylanders anyways? Are you like a fancolt of them or something?”

“Not quite,” he shook his head, “You see, back where I’m from, Skylanders are heroes in a series of games, and last I remember, they had a few comics, too. Yet, there are a lot of things that I’m still trying to understand, since some of the Skylanders that they have mentioned, like the senseis, I’ve not seen before. I also don’t remember there being any ‘Book of Skylanders’ until Eon mentioned it just now.”

“That sounds so cool! It would be like meeting Daring Do!” Scootaloo beamed, which only prompted Calvin to raise an eyebrow before looking back towards Sweetie Belle, as she had something to say, too.

“Or if we found out that the characters in The Adventures of Shadow Spades series were real!” Of course, that only just got a strange stare from both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom as Sweetie Belle’s excitement began to lower a little. “What? I was bored one time when Rarity was too busy working, so I decided to read one of her books.”

“Was it one of those cheap romance novels?” Scootaloo asked.

“No, it’s more of a mystery series. Like a ‘if somepony committed a crime, Shadow Spades needs to find out who did it before they strike again’ kind of thing,” she did her best to clarify for her friends, “Still, you have to admit, the idea that something you think is only in a board game or book could be real does seem cool, right?”

“Um… don’t ya girls remember what Faith told us before?” Apple Bloom pointed out to her, “Then, it would mean that if those heroes, like Daring Do and such, were real, then their enemies would be real, too.” The thought of that had Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stop talking, and subsequently drop the subject, leaving Calvin to be rather puzzled as he looked back at the trio.

Unfortunately, before he could ask them about what exactly Apple Bloom meant, that was when Master Eon had returned, book in hand as he walked into the room. “Sorry for keeping all of you waiting,” the Portal Master apologized as he closed the door behind him.

Scootaloo herself, let out a sigh of relief. Master Eon walking through the door was a sign that she and her friends didn’t have to wait in boredom any longer. In fact, all three of them were quick to rush Eon and try to get a closer look at the book he was holding, asking him questions about what was inside and asking if he can open it. Though, Master Eon himself just asked for their patience as he set the book down on the table, before looking outside and holding his hand up to the window for a moment. Magic began to swell from his hand, before surging forth throughout the rest of the Portal Master’s body as it began to glow. Then, he lightly stomped the ground with his foot as a light gold shockwave was set off around the room as it glowed, too.

But just as soon as it started, the glow around the room began to fade. With it though, the Skyshifter himself had a new question for the Portal Master “Um… Master Eon? What was that just now?”

“Just taking some precautions,” he explained, setting the book down on a table as he turned towards Calvin and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, “I used some of my magic so that anyone looking from outside can’t see us in here. This book is an academy secret, and I do wish to keep it that way.”

In Calvin’s mind, that made sense. But now, he had a new question, something that was more related to the subject. “So, Master Eon, what exactly makes this book special? I mean, you said that it was enchanted and the contents would help us, but what exactly makes it special?”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were also a bit curious about that as well, considering the amount of caution that the Portal Master was using. Though, it took Eon a moment to compose his thoughts, before actually speaking on the manner. “This book is known as the Book of Skylanders,” he said as he began to open the book. Calvin and everyone else could see hand drawings of different Skylanders on every page as well as information underneath each of them. “Within these pages contains all Skylanders that we have. This book documents everything, from the catchphrases they say to the element they represent and even goes as far as to explain more about that particular Skylander.”

“Alright, I’m following you so far,” Scootaloo then asked, “But what is the risk with-?”

“Whoever has control of the book also controls the Skylanders actions and their state of being, and if anything were to happen to the book, they would be affected by it, too,” Eon finished the rest of his sentence, which answered Scootaloo’s question before she could finish it.

“So… if someone cast a particular spell on the book, all the Skylanders would be affected by the same spell?” All Eon did was nod his head, which made Sweetie Belle gulp as she looked back at her friends nervously, “You know what that reminds me of girls?”

“Want it, need it?” Apple Bloom’s question was only met by a nod as all three girls shivered at the thought of that, much to the confusion of both Calvin and Eon.

“Uh girls? What exactly do you mean by that?” Calvin asked.

“It happened a long time ago,” Sweetie Belle was the next person to speak. “Twilight was having a… nervous breakdown because she did not have anything to write about in her weekly letter to Princess Celestia when it came to solving friendship problems, so… in her mind, the best way to solve this was to make a friendship problem herself.”

Now, the Skyshifter blinked, surprised to hear that from Sweetie. In the time that he had seen and been with Twilight, there was never really a moment where Twilight was like that. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It wasn’t,” Scootaloo told her, “It got bad to the point that Celestia herself got involved.”

“Ah think the reason why Sweetie Belle mentioned it was because of the spell Twilight used to make that problem. We call it ‘want it, need it’ because it was a spell that was placed on a doll and anypony who saw it felt like they had to have it. And it affected everypony who saw it.”

“Well, I can understand some of the similarities that you might see between that spell and the book,” Master Eon now spoke up, “But let me assure you, the reason why it affects the Skylanders in this way is for a different reason. For example, if a Skylander is really hurt and near the brink of defeat, the book can be used to recall them back and pull them out of danger. Another reason can be to have other Skylanders be summoned to provide backup in case one Skylander out in the field finds themselves outnumbered.”

In Calvin’s mind, those reasons made sense. Even if one skylander was powerful against a few small foes, it would be hard for them to try and take on an entire army without some help, especially if the army itself was one that consisted of the various forces that Kaos had at his command. 

“Can we take a look at the pages, Master Eon?” his question was followed by a nod from Eon as the Skyshifter walked up to the desk and began to take a look at the Skylanders that were inside. As the Skyshifter and the Cutie Mark Crusaders began to look through the pages, Calvin began to notice that the sections in the book were organized by element and that each section had the Skylanders sorted alphabetically. Air was the first element, followed by dark, earth, fire, life, light, magic, tech, undead and water. 

Calvin allowed for the Crusaders to take as much time as they needed to look through each section, but also took the chance to look more into some of the Skylanders that he was mostly unfamiliar with. Mainly, this consisted of the senseis, thirty Skylanders that were the teachers of the imaginators among ten different battle classes. This was something he remembered being discussed before, but besides seeing Ember, King Pen and hearing about the one sensei named Ambush from Tessa, he did not know who the other ones were, so this was the best opportunity for him to bring himself up to speed.

Though, it was when the four of them were looking over the Earth Skylanders and looking at the page that had the information on Flashwing that he began to remember something. Back home, her biography was that she arrived in the Skylands after the earth dragon named Bash made a wish on a shooting star. This also reminded him of something else, too. Something that Discord said during his scrying spell mess up last week.

Orbiting wishing stars housing ancient wish granters.

Now, normally, many would think that would be Discord just being Discord. Yet, when looking back on it, the Skyshifter began to think it was something different, that there was more to this. He didn’t have much else to go on, but it should be something that he needed to talk to Eon about anyways.

After what felt like an hour or so, and with Scootaloo looking at the undead section in the book with great reluctance, the four of them were finished with looking everything over and soon looked back towards the Portal Master that was waiting patiently for them to finish. “Thank you for letting us look at this, Master Eon. There are so many heroes in here! I can’t decide what’s the first one I’ll choose!”

“Many of them look so cool!”

“Ah can’t wait for when we get those crystals now! Thank you!”

“This definitely is going to help us out when we get the Elementanium Crystals,” Calvin himself now remarked as he looked back towards Master Eon now, shortly before telling the Portal Master something, “Though, Master Eon… while we were looking at the book, I thought of something that might be important.”

“Oh?” Eon now asked, a bit surprised by what the Skyshifter just said, “What might that be?”

“Well, it kind of had to do with something Discord said before his breakdown last week. He was scrying on Skylands, and he was seeing several things that I was familiar with. But… there was one thing that I had not heard about before,” he told the Portal Master, “Which is a bit concerning, since he also said was being scryed on at the same time by villains, possibly Kaos.”

“Come on, Calvin. It’s Discord. Didn’t we already talk about this-?”

“Not the part about how he was being scryed on while doing this,” Eon pointed out to Scootaloo as he looked back to Calvin, “It means that what happened last week might have been more problematic than we realized.”

“There was another thing, too,” the Skyshifter pointed out to him, “One of the things that he said during his rambling was ‘Orbiting wishing stars housing ancient wish granters’. At first, that didn’t really mean anything. But when I looked back at Flashwing, I remembered what her background was from back home.”

“Her… background?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“You know… like the ‘origin story’ for comic book heroes,” he explained, “Flashwing herself arrived in the Skylands when another earth Skylander named Bash made a wish on a shooting star. And, she had no memories of before that time or where she came from. Not only that, but upon arriving, she unintentionally granted Bash’s wish, in an odd way. Now… even though that might not be a lot to go on, it could be possible that her origins might be linked to those wishing stars Discord mentioned. After all, if they weren’t in Skylands, he wouldn’t have seen them.”

That had caught Master Eon by surprise, so much so that he didn’t even realize the possible connection that Calvin had made. “That… was something I didn’t even consider,” he admitted, “Flashwing herself knows nothing of where she came from, and we treated it as a case of amnesia. Not to mention that Bash himself said that on that night, he was just stargazing. But how exactly do you know of such circumstances?”

“It’s… a bit complicated,” he told him, scratching the back of his head, “Besides, there might be Skylanders that arrived in the same way that even I don’t know about.”

That comment just had Master Eon look back at the Cutie Mark Crusaders this time. “Has Calvin told you any of these ‘complicated details’?” All three of them nodded their heads in response, which led to the Portal Master letting out a deep sigh as he looked back at everyone now. “Girls, I would like for you to inform me of those details,” then, Eon looked towards Calvin. “And while they’re doing so, I would like for you to make a list of the Skylanders in the book that you don’t know about. I might have a new mission for Buzz.”

The moment that he said that, a piece of the ceiling opened up like a door to the attic, followed by what appeared to be a firefighters pole that stretched down to the ground, and Buzz slid down and landed on the floor, the pole transforming into his cane shortly after touching down, “Mission accepted, Master Eon!”

Of course, even though Calvin might have been familiar with the kind of unexpected entrances that the Head of Secret Ninja Commandos was known for, the same could not be said for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Wha-!? How did he do that?!”

“What were you even doing up there?!”

“Well, information gathering is part of my job as head of security, youngsters,” he pointed out to them, “When I saw the subtle flash of light from outside, I felt that it was my job to look into it. After all, in my experience, the unusual is always the starting point of trouble,” he them looked towards Calvin writing his list for a second, before turning around to face Eon, “And it looks like I was right. What’s my mission, Master Eon?”

Master Eon soon let out a small breath, shortly before speaking to Buzz. “From a reliable source, it has come to my attention that there exists a group of ancient wishing stars across Skylands… and that Flashwing’s amnesia may not be what we think,” taking a moment, he looked over to where Calvin was, something Buzz noticed as he too glanced over to the Skyshifter, “Calvin is making a list of Skylanders that his reliable info does not cover. Once he’s finished, I want for you to look into the listed Skylanders that may have ‘no memories from before they met’ and have arrived around the time that wishes were made on wishing stars from individuals around that time,” that had Buzz nod his head as he recalled everything that he was told, before the Portal Master added one more thing, “And while you’re at it, inform Hugo to come to my office later. I have a mission for him as well, one you may need to assist him with later.”

A few moments after he originally started, Calvin looked back up as he moved around Buzz and handed the list he made towards the Portal Master, only for Eon to motion his hand towards Buzz as the head of security was given the list instead.

“Alright, time to get to work. See you around, kiddos!” the moment he said that, he disappeared within a blink of an eye. The hatch like cover was already closed back up, and Buzz himself was nowhere to be found, which had all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders caught off guard by his sudden disappearance...

...especially Scootaloo. “Okay, why isn’t HE a Skylander?!”

That had Calvin let out a small sigh as he looked back at his friends. “Maybe we should head back and check on Rainbow and the others. I wonder what they’ve been up to while waiting on us.”

“So, after everything that we have seen so far and a rather intimidating experience with a talking tree, what do you two think of everything so far?” Rainbow asked her friends as they waited in the academy courtyard for Calvin and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to come back.

“Well, at first, ah wasn’t sure what to expect,” Applejack herself replied back as she was sitting on a bench in the courtyard. “But after trotting around a bit, meeting some of the folks here and seeing everything for myself, ah’m beginning to take a liking to this place.”

“This place is such a wonderful inspiration, darling,” Rarity herself now commented, “Not just with all the places, but everypony we’ve been meeting. It’s much different from what we’re used to.”

Rainbow couldn’t agree more. The Skylands and the academy itself were much different from what the three of them were used to. But it was different in a good way. Heck, some of the friends that Tessa knew seemed pretty nice… aside from whoever that Flynn guy was. It was going to take some time for her to trust him after what he gave Calvin earlier today.

Speaking of which, that was when Rainbow decided to ask her friends a question. “So, out of curiosity, who did you like meeting the most while we were here?”

“Well, I think the answer speaks for itself darling,” Rarity was the first to answer as she looked back at the pegasus, “Meeting Flashwing was just simply divine. The majestic scales and the crystals on her wings! Makes me want to go gem gathering tomorrow.”

That prompted Applejack to speak next as she looked back to her, “Ah kinda liked meeting Tessa.”

“Really?” Rainbow asked, a bit surprised by the choice, “Why’s that?”

“Well, Tessa kinda reminds me of Bloom in a way. Free spirited, doesn’t give up, works alongside her friends,” Applejack explained, before looking back at Rainbow as she smirked. “Does that ring any bells, Dash?”

It did ring a few bells, in fact. “Yeah, it does. What you said reminds me a lot of Scootaloo. Heck, maybe even Sweetie Belle too.”

“Well, she does demonstrate some similar qualities, I must admit,” Rarity replied back, before adding on something else afterwards, “Though, she also seems quite capable of handling things herself, too.”

“That is true,” the pegasus admitted, “I mean, to be part of the staff at the academy, you gotta have something that makes you stand out, right?”

“Ah guess so,” Applejack soon added on shortly afterwards, “Ah mean, just from who we met today, ah would think that the students here are in good hooves because of them. Same can be said for Calvin and the girls, too.”

That had Rainbow and Rarity look back to Applejack, a puzzled look on both of their faces as Rainbow soon asked a question. “The girls?”

“Well, yeah. This place kinda seems like the only one where they can really learn how to use their newfound abilities properly. After all, Calvin is kinda too young to be seen as a teacher, especially when he’s still learning.”

“Fair point, AJ,” Rainbow acknowledged what her friend told her before bringing up another point, “But even with Calvin helping them, we would be insane to let them go alone into a flipping volcano of all places.”

“Well, darling, what would you suggest doing to help them then?” Rarity then asked the pegasus, “I mean, even though they have to go, we should at least help them get ready.”

“Ah think there’s more to it than just getting ready, sugarcube,” the earth pony herself now spoke up, “Ya might have planned something for yourself tomorrow, but Rainbow and ah can make sure to keep an eye on them. No way in Tartarus am ah letting Bloom near a volcano by herself.”

At first, Rainbow felt as if she did not have a say in things after just getting randomly pulled into the circumstance by the farm pony, but Applejack had a point. There was no way she or AJ would let a trio of fillies and a kid who was around their age near a giant mountain of magma. That was the equivalent of letting them explore the Fortress of Talacon by themselves without anypony watching them.

The only question that came to her mind now though was how were they going to help. Aside from being beside them and showing their support, what else could they possibly do?

For a moment, things were silent. Though, that was until Rarity herself thought of something on the spot, gasping for a moment. “I-DE-A!! How about I use some of my magic to enchant their capes?”

“Uh, how would that help, Sugarcube?” Applejack then asked.

“Well, clothes are my specialty, and I remember Twilight talking once about special enchantments that could be cast on clothing, like one spell that could keep somepony warm during a blizzard or keep somepony cool in sweltering heat,” the unicorn explained to the earth pony, “Given where they are going, I would think the latter of the two might help them considerably.”

“That… might actually work,” the farm pony admitted before looking over at Rainbow Dash now, “What about you, Rainbow? You seem like you’ve been thinking about this for a while. Any ideas?”

“Well, aside from when we had that dragon that was too close to Ponyville a few years back, the only ideas that I could think about climbing would be from some of the Daring Do books that Twilight let me borrow,” Rainbow told them. At first, it looked like Rarity and Applejack were a bit… surprised to see Rainbow of all ponies rely on knowledge from books, but the pegasus had a good reason for it, “The seventh book was focused on when Daring had to trek inside a ‘volcano of destiny’, and in that story, she and a few others characters wore climbing gear, since some of them did not have wings like she did.”

“That… definitely sounds important. But where can we find equipment like that?” Applejack then asked.

“We could ask Pinkie,” Rarity then added, “Her family lives on a rock farm. I would think they would have a lot of that equipment on hoof, considering their occupation.” That was definitely another good option, considering the circumstances. Not to mention that the unicorn had just seen Maud most recently when she was with her and Pinkie in Manehattan.

Though, before any of them could think further on the matter, that was when they heard some familiar voices come back outside. When all three of them turned around, they happened to find the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Calvin talking amongst themselves, with Master Eon following behind them. The four of them seemed to be all focused on their conversation, but immediately set it aside when Master Eon spoke up. “There you are. We didn’t keep you waiting around too long now, did we?”

“Nope, not at all,” Rarity was the first to speak as she looked back towards the Portal Master, “In fact, we were just discussing about what we could do to help Sweetie and her friends prepare for their trip.”

“Uh oh…” Sweetie Belle herself now mumbled, a little worried that Rarity might have went overboard with figuring out the details again. Calvin thought of it a bit differently, though. In fact, he was actually kind of curious.

“What were you girls thinking about?”

“Well, I was thinking that I could talk to Twilight about enchanting the girls’ capes and your clothes so that you remain cool and not overheat in the volcano,” the unicorn explained, “And Rainbow was mentioning that we might need some climbing gear if you’re going to be descending into caves to find what you’re looking for.”

The last part though had Master Eon scratch his chin as he looked back at Rarity. “Caves, you say?”

“Why, yes, actually… why do you ask?”

“Well, since you mentioned it, I do believe there’s one Skylander who could probably help with that. And it’s one that Calvin himself might remember,” the Portal Master mentioned, “There’s a Swap Force Skylander named Rubble Rouser who is rather skilled when it comes to mining, especially in caves. I’ll have to ask him and see if he could help out… and also if he has any extra mining equipment that you could use.”

“Well, we were originally thinking about having to ask Pinkie Pie’s family, but ah think this will save us a trip,” Applejack replied back, letting out a small sigh of relief in the process, “So, did ya find what ya girls were looking for?”

“Heck yeah, it did!!” Scootaloo was the first one to speak, “It just makes me so excited! I can’t wait to go find those crystals now!”

“Easy there, squirt,” Rainbow urged Scootaloo to calm down, “We still gotta get a few preparations done before we head off anywhere. Want to make sure all of you are ready before your ‘big adventure’.”

“Well, if that’s all there is to it, then let’s head back home,” Applejack replied, before turning back towards the Portal Master as Apple Bloom and her friends waved goodbye to Master Eon. There was a lot that needed to be done if they were going to be prepared for tomorrow.

Elsewhere…

Out of all the things that she expected to see her son do in the middle of the portal room, the dark Portal Master known as Kaossandra did not think that looking over lists that were spread out all around the room was one of them. They were all over the floor, the walls and some of them even dangled down from the ceiling, with Kaos solely focusing on the contents on the parchment and not even paying attention to who just entered the room.

That was, until she spoke up and made her presence known. “By the elements! I’ve only been gone for two hours, and I walk in to find it like this. What exactly are you doing, Kaos?”

“Ugh, mother!!” the dark Portal Master that was her son groaned, “What have I told you about coming in unannounced while I’m in the middle of scheming!?”

“Yes, yes, I remember, and also, I don’t care,” Kaossandra replied, before turning her head to the back wall and noticed that something was missing. “... Where exactly is Sombra?”

The moment that she asked that question, the room began to feel colder as the umbrum took form next to Kaos. “Did someone call my name, Lord Kaos?”

That left Kaossandra with so many questions. For one thing, why exactly was Sombra, of all people, addressing her son in the same manner that Glumshanks would? It was much different compared to the Sombra who released her from that wretched mirror prison of hers. “Son… would you care to explain what is going on?”

“Observe,” Kaos smirked as he looked to the umbrum now, “Sombra, do an evil laugh.”

“MWAHAHAHA!!! ALL FOES SHALL QUIVER AND TREMBLE AT THE MIGHT OF SOMBRA!! PROUD SERVANT OF LORD KAOS!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

That alone was enough to cause the room to shake, just from his voice alone. Even Kaossandra herself was rather surprised, but not just for his declaration of villainy, but also the fact that he willingly listened and obeyed her son’s commands.

Though, it was as she continued to think that Sombra’s maniacal laughter did not seem to stop. If anything, it kept on going. “Sombra, I think that’s enough,” she said. Yet, nothing happened as the umbrum continued to laugh. “Sombra, I told you to-”

“SILENCE!!!”

That shout from Kaos immediately silenced Sombra as the umbrum turned back towards the dark Portal Master. “Apologies, my lord. It appears I got carried away for a moment.”

“Pfft. Whatever,” Kaos grumbled, “My mother wishes to have a conversation with me. Leave us be.”

“Yes, my lord,” with that, the shadow pony drifted away, leaving the two dark Portal Masters alone as Kaos turned back around to face his mother.

“To further answer your question, mother, since our scrying complications some time ago, I was able to take Sombra’s puzzled state and mold him into a loyal servant that only listens to me,” he began to explain to Kaossandra as he walked over to the lists that he was studying, “In fact, since this predicament, I’ve been having him tell me more about the legends that he knows from the lands below in hopes that I can figure out how to use them for my own purposes.”

That not only surprised Kaossandra, but also intrigued her, especially since he was able to find a better purpose for Sombra than just using him as a set of curtains. Though, there was something else that she wanted to learn more about, and that was these ‘legends’ he was referring to. From previous attempts at taking over Skylands, including the most recent one with ‘doomlanders’, Kaos always seemed to base his plans for conquest on legends. “What sort of legends has Sombra told you about?”

“Well, there were a lot of legends down there, but the ones that I was looking for in particular involved legends with magical items,” Kaos told his mother, while also grabbing two lists. One he yanked from off the ceiling, and another he picked up off the floor. “With that in mind, two of them stood out to me the most. The first was about a pegasus named Flash Magnus, a cadet in the Cloudsdale Royal Legion and how he was able to fend off several dragons using Netitus, a shield in which, according to the legend, is completely fireproof, even to that of the largest of dragons. If I can find a way to replicate that, then I can equip it on my soldiers! Give that purple dragon menace a run for his gold!”

While the thoughts of a shield like that did intrigue Kaossandra, she wanted to know more about the other legend that her son was referring to. “And what of the other legend?”

“Ah, yes, that’s right. The legend of Rockhoof,” the dark Portal Master began to speak, throwing the scroll of the legend of Flash Magnus behind him as he focused his attention on the second one, “Rockhoof’s legend is a little more… complex. Apparently, he was once a scrawny earth pony who wanted to become part of an elite group of guards called ‘The Mighty Helm’. However, he didn’t even have enough strength to pull an axe out of a tree stump. He was ridiculed and given a shovel before being told that he would be better off sticking to field work-”

“Um… how exactly is this a legend?”

“I’m GETTING there, mother!” Kaos snapped, before going back to what he was reading, “Anyways, one day, a volcano near the mountain erupts and threatens his town. BUT the legend describes that Rockhoof was able to dig a trench to divert the lava, and somehow, through determination and sheer force of will, he was able to transform into a much stronger stallion, finish the trench, save his village, yadi yadi yada we all get the picture.”

Around now was when he got to his main point and the reason why he brought up this story in the first place. “Though, upon reading it again, I began to realize that he only turned into this miraculous hero after getting the shovel. Coincidence? I think NOT!!!” he shouted, “Something in that shovel must’ve allowed for him to gain such a boost in physical strength in such a short amount of time outside of what the legend says… and I intend to find out what it is. If that strength can be applied to my troops… then those pesky Skylanders can be easily defeated in just a few hits! Nothing can stop me from taking over Skylands this time!”

For a moment, Kaossandra seemed a bit impressed by the things that her son happened to find out about the world below. But soon, another question that she had in mind that she wanted to ask him came to mind. “Oh, really? Did you also happen to find anything in addition to this during your scrying session? I do believe that was the original reason why you chose to do that in the first place.”

That had the pride he had earlier sink rapidly. Her son’s silence was the only answer she needed to hear before she asked another question. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“Hey! I was busy taking advantage of Sombra’s unexpected moment of weakness and exploiting it for my own gain! If you were in my position, you would do the same thing!”

“Touche,” the dark Portal Master nodded her head, “If you’re busy here, then I will take a look at what you were scrying. Besides, I’ve been curious about this ‘world below’...”

“Ugh, fine!” Kaos rolled his eyes, “Just leave me alone. I have more important things to attend to.”

“Oh, really?” his mother asked him, “You mean more important than the intruders in your own fortress?”

That had the dark Portal Master blink for a moment as he looked back at the other dark Portal Master in the room. At first, he thought that she was messing with him, but then she snapped her fingers, conjuring magic as a reflection began to take form over the surface of the Portal of Power. The reflection itself was a sight that Kaos did not like at all.

It was a reflection of two Skylanders, hiding within the very rafters of his own stronghold and spying on their plans. As he looked up, he realized that they weren’t just anywhere in the castle… but directly above him.

Naturally, he only had one reaction to this. “SOOOOOOOMMMMBBBRRRAAAA!!!!”

Immediately, the shadow pony emerged in the room. But before he could ask what was going on, his master ordered a new command, pointing to the rafters above them. “We have trespassers!!! CAPTURE THEM!!!”