Beyond the Skies

by FrostTheWolf

Scroll 22- Lava Puppies, Ponies and Pirates, Oh my!

On the night that they came back from Skylander Academy, Applejack had offered for Calvin and the Crusaders to stay over at Sweet Apple Acres for the night, since they were going to have another early start the next morning. The idea was confusing to Rainbow, who thought that they could just as easily have a sleepover at the academy if they really wanted to be prepared, but both Applejack and Rarity had a problem with that for their own reasons. For Applejack, she thought that it wouldn’t make sense to come to Equestria, only to go back there a few minutes later. While for Rarity, she thought that the idea of just saying ‘Hey, don’t mind me, I’m gonna stay at your place for the night’ without actually asking if it was okay or not was just plain rude.

As for their stay at Sweet Apple Acres, things were mostly going well. Again, mostly. Even though both Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were informed about what happened to Apple Bloom and her friends when they decided to go crusading with Calvin that one time, it did not exactly mean that they were entirely comfortable with it. Even more so when they heard about Applejack’s encounter with Tree Rex at the academy, a story that was enough to have Granny Smith almost faint in her rocking chair.

Fortunately, the rest of the evening did not have any hiccups like the academy visit and was actually rather calm. The meal that was served for dinner was actually rather tasty, and afterwards, everybody got the chance to have a slice of apple pie for dessert. For sleeping arrangements, Applejack had a couple of sleeping bags that she had as leftover camping supplies that Calvin, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo used. Even though Apple Bloom wanted to join them and not feel like she was left out, the only sleeping bags that could actually fit Calvin and her friends were the same ones that her sister, Rarity and Rainbow had to use during their last camping trip.

Of course, getting sleep that night was not that hard to do. Yet, waking up in the morning was much harder, because instead of having Applejack wake them up, what woke them up was a rooster that was just above the open window to Apple Bloom’s room, the call of the rooster startling everyone in the room as they took a few moments to try and adjust to getting so rudely awakened, which was the equivalent of being woken up by the sound of cannon fire.

Of course, it didn’t really seem like Applejack had a problem with it at all. In fact, when she went to go check to see if they were awake, the earth pony seemed rather confused as to why everybody looked like they had just been woken up by Pinkie Pie, much to everyone’s dismay. Breakfast this morning was alright, but nothing compared to Pinkie’s pancake extravaganza the day before, especially since most of it was apple flavored.

After finishing with breakfast and getting themselves ready, the first stop that Calvin and the girls had to go to was the Carousel Boutique. Rarity was going to talk to Twilight about the possibility of enchanting their clothes so that it could keep them cool while at the Munitions Forge, so checking to see if she made any progress was a high priority.

Though, it wasn’t a good sign that when they arrived, they found a ‘CLOSED’ sign in the window and the door was locked. At first, they thought that Rarity just simply did not want any visitors. But after Sweetie Belle got out her key and opened the door, she found that the entire boutique was empty. No sign of Rarity, no sign of anything that she was working on, nothing, which was weird for several reasons.

Mainly, it was because if Rarity was working on something and had to put it off. She would not have it put away somewhere neatly and out of sight. Sweetie Belle knew for sure that time and time again, whenever her sister was working on a dress or a pair of clothes, she would always leave it on the mannequin instead of folding it and putting in a closet. So, where could she have placed it?

After a few moments, they did happen to find something. “Hey, Sweetie Belle? I think I found a note that Rarity left over here on the table.”

Sweetie Belle herself turned to where her friend Scootaloo was standing, who was holding a note that was about the size of an index card in her hand as she gave it to the former unicorn for her to read. “‘Dear Sweetie Belle. If you find this, then I am right now having Spike help me collect some crystals to replenish the stock I have at the Boutique. By the way, I had a talk with Twilight about the enchantment spell that you and your friends would need, and she told me that she could do it for you, provided that she is done with her meeting with Celestia and Luna this morning. Good luck on your adventure. I’ll see you when we get back. Your sister, Rarity’.”

“Alright. To the castle it is,” Calvin replied, just before looking around for a moment. “Hey, have you girls seen Apple Bloom-?”

FWOOSH!!

The moment that the question was asked, everypony turned around to find that a pair of closet doors had opened up and all the clothes that were inside had spilled out like an avalanche. At first, they thought that something that one of the other crusaders touched earlier had somehow gave way. That is, until they saw Apple Bloom’s head rise up from underneath everything as she looked back at everyone else.

“C-can ya help me out? A-ah feel like ah’m being squished.”

The first thing that Sweetie Belle did was facepalm herself, letting out a deep sigh. “Well, great… this is a headache I didn’t want this morning.”

“Ah, come on, it can’t be that bad, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied back, “We’ll just put everything back in and-”

That had Sweetie immediately shake her head. “She’s going to know that something’s wrong. When Rarity puts things away, she always puts it away in a specific… way. If one thing isn’t right, then she would immediately tell that something’s wrong.”

“Well, we’ll just try our best. That’s the only thing that we can really do at this point,” Calvin now spoke up as he stretched out a hand to help Apple Bloom get out of the pile of clothes. “Besides, Twilight might be seeing the princesses now, so by the time we’re done here, she might be done with them.”

It wasn’t the most ideal way to spend time, but the Skyshifter did make a point. Twilight was currently busy with the princesses, so if they took some time to fix this, then they could probably catch Twilight at a time where she wasn’t so busy. So the five of them, Applejack included, took the time to try and make it seem less like ‘the WORST POSSIBLE THING’ and make it be something that was a little bit more manageable. Though, it took a little bit more time than they hoped for, considering that they had to fold some of the clothes with their hands. For some of them, they just had to end up stacking everything on top of one another, since they had no idea how to fold it in the first place.

About a half hour or so after originally getting started, they were finished… yet for good measure, they took one of the ribbons that Rarity had lying around to tie the closet door handles together. “Yeah, that should hold it together,” Calvin commented as he finished tying the double knot with the ribbon, shortly before all of them quickly left the boutique and locked the door behind them on their way out, going straight towards Twilight’s castle and not turning back.

Of course, as much as they thought that going to Twilight’s castle would be better than sticking around at the boutique, they ended up arriving a little too late. For when they arrived, the entire map room in the castle was completely empty. Not even the princesses were there either, much to their surprise.

“Okay, this is just weird,” the Skyshifter commented, before looking back to Sweetie Belle, “Your sister did say that they were going to be here, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo then spoke up, “It’s not like they’re meeting at some other crystalline castle that we don’t know about.”

“Where could they possibly be though?” Sweetie Belle then asked as she looked around the room, “Unless they had some kind of sudden change in plans, then I would not see a reason for them to be anywhere but here.”

It was shortly after Sweetie Belle said that statement that Calvin began to hear something, the sound of hooves walking across the crystalline floor. Not just that, but the sound of the metallic shoes that a princess would wear was also making contact with the floor, too. It started off small, but soon grew louder as he slowly began to look to the hallway entrance right behind Sweetie Belle and her friends. “Uh, girls?”

“What is it, Calvin?”

“Two Princesses… right behind you,” he pointed towards the entrance, just as they saw Celestia and Luna turn around the corner and face towards them. The two princesses found themselves staring at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Calvin and Applejack. All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders found themselves at a loss for words as they just stared at Celestia, who was just as equally surprised.

“Oh my me…” the princess of the sun said to herself.

“Sister, who are these three?” Luna herself asked, which got quite a surprising shock from everyone in the room.

“Wait… Twilight didn’t tell you about what happened?” Applejack now asked, who was personally surprised by what was going on.

“She told me, yes. However, it’s only now that I’ve actually seen it with my own eyes,” Celestia now spoke, before turning to Luna. “Though, I don’t believe my sister has been informed of anything, if her reaction just now is anything to go by.”

“Celestia, are you saying that you happen to know who they are?” Now, normally, Celestia would go into an explanation that would help bring somepony up to speed. Instead though, Celestia began to channel some of her magic as she summoned three scrolls, ones that looked exactly like the letters that Twilight herself would send to Celestia. As she gave them to Luna, the night princess began to examine the contents of each one inside. Though, with each scroll she finished, the more that her expression began to change from calm and relaxed to… well, the downright opposite.

“Princess, are you okay-?”

Without any warning, Luna breathed in, breathed out, and… “DISCORD!!! THOU DEMANDS YOU SHOW THYSELF IMMEDIATELY!!!!!”

Luna’s declaration was enough to cause Calvin and the crusaders to cover their ears and for the whole castle to shake. Her speech was so fierce that it knocked Applejack’s stetson hat off of her head and had the picture frames and chandelier end up crooked.

Celestia herself though… was not amused by how her sister chose to process this newfound information. “Luna, how many times have I told you not to use the Royal Canterlot Voice indoors?”

“Also, Discord’s kind of… recovering,” Calvin replied, “Isn’t that what you just read?”

“Luna has a tendency to heavily focus on certain details rather than others,” her sister admitted before looking back at the night princess, “Sister, this was an incident that Discord himself had no control over. It was an accident… though, admittedly, one of the Skylanders that Calvin has as an ally unintentionally made the whole situation a lot worse.”

“Well, we kinda found out a bit more after the fact,” Applejack added on, “We learned that, somehow, mah sis and her friends are ‘connected’ to Calvin and that they might be able to do the same things that he could do. Yet, we were going to need Twilight’s help with something.”

“Do you know where she might be by any chance?” Calvin then asked them. Though, they got a much different response from Celestia than any of them were expecting to hear.

“She’s in the dragon lands with Rarity and Spike,” the solar princess told them, “The dragon lord called upon all dragons there, so Twilight and Rarity went with Spike to make sure that-”

“Well, that’s just great! How the hay are we gonna go to the forge now!?” Scootaloo abruptly interrupted the princess. “Twilight was supposed to help enchant our clothes so we could go to that volcano place and-”

“You’re all doing what!?” Luna reacted, eyes widening in horror as the image of three fillies trekking alongside a volcano was projected into her mind.

“It’s not like that,” Sweetie Belle soon spoke up with a reassuring tone, “Master Eon said that in order to get the kind of crystal that Calvin uses, we need to go to the caves that are by a certain volcano in Skylands. Applejack and Rainbow are going to be helping us.”

“And Rares was supposed to be helpin’ us out by finding out from Twilight about an enchantment that could keep the girls and Calvin cool and not overheat from the conditions,” Applejack soon added on after Sweetie was finished with her statement. The fact that not only Rarity was gone, but Twilight as well was a huge setback for them, especially since they were both trying to find out more in order to help them in the first place.

“Huh…? What’s this?” they now heard Apple Bloom say as she went under the Cutie Map for a moment, pulling out what looked like a piece of parchment. “‘Dear Calvin, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen emergency, we need to… delay the trip to the Munitions Forge?’-”

“OH, COME ON!!!” Sweetie Belle complained, “We’ve already had enough setbacks!! We can’t put something like this off!! It’s too important!”

“Well, what do you suggest we do then, Sweetie? Without that spell, we’re literally toast,” Scootaloo told her, looking back at her as she tried to come up with a reasonable response to what she was saying. When she couldn’t come up with anything, that just had the whole room drift in silence.

That was, until Celestia asked something. “Apple Bloom, was the name of this spell you need written in the note you’re holding?”

At first, the former earth pony blinked, before re-reading the letter and finding the sentence she was looking for. “Y-yeah, something called… C-c-cooli...o…?”

“Can I see that?” Calvin asked, which prompted Apple Bloom to nod her head and hand the note over to him so he could read it out loud, “Cooliosis.”

“The heck does that mean?” Sweetie Belle now asked, before looking over to both of the princesses and repeating the question to them now, “Do you know what it means?”

“Actually, I do,” the princess of the sun replied back to the confused girl, “It’s a spell that’s used to keep ponies cool for up to twenty four hours upon when its originally cast. It’s most notably used when some ponies have to work in sweltering mines that are deep underground.”

“I thought you only use that spell on the servants who tend to Philomena,” Luna then added on.

“You can use a spell for two things, sister,” Celestia responded back to her sister, shortly before looking back to the group, “But yes… because of what my sister just said, I happen to know the spell that you might need.”

“Sister, can I have a word with you for a moment?” the lunar princess asked her as the two of them trotted off to the side to talk among themselves. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were rather puzzled by this as well as Calvin and Applejack, wondering what exactly they were talking about. But before they could find it in themselves to ask them about anything, both Celestia and Luna had turned back around.

“Apologies for that, but Luna wanted to talk to me for a moment,” Celestia replied, before looking back at the group in front of them, “As for the spell, I’m more than willing to cast it on you five-”

“Don’t forget Rainbow Dash. She’s part of this too!”

“-You six then,” Celestia corrected herself after hearing Scootaloo’s additional comment. “However, I have one condition that you must follow,” hearing that had everyone, including Applejack and Calvin, raise an eyebrow as they looked back at the princess, “That condition is that my sister will accompany you until you reach the Skylands and set off for your destination. If you don’t accept the condition, then I will not cast the spell. Do I make myself clear?”

Calvin only had one response for that. “Yes, princess.”

“Thank you for answering my summons, Rubble Rouser,” Master Eon told the Swap Force Skylander as the rock golem approached the Portal Master, “I have a task for you that I need your help with. Should I assume that Hugo has attempted to bring you up to speed in some capacity?”

“I think so, though it was only just that I was working with that boy that was on the list and some of his friends,” Rubble replied back, “He didn’t entirely explain what I would be doing though.”

“Well then, allow for me to fill in the blanks for you,” the Portal Master explained, “You are going to be going with Calvin and five of his friends from Equestria. They are looking for a series of special crystals that can be found in the caves of the Munitions Forge. Knowing your experience when it comes to digging and mining, we thought that you could be able to lend them a hand as well as any extra mining equipment that you might happen to have.”

“Hmm,” the golem said to him as he looked back at Eon, “Seems reasonable. Though, could you tell me more about these crystals? I would like to know more about what exactly we’re searching for before we start digging anywhere.”

“The crystals you’re looking for are similar to the one that Calvin has on the pendant around his neck. It’s called Elementanium, and it allows for him to take on transformations into the forms of other Skylanders,” Eon explained further, “Three of his friends also have the same abilities, but lack the crystals needed to use them, so this is a mission to get those crystals.”

“Ah, I see what you mean,” Rubble nodded his head. “I was going to ask if you had some kind of example, but I’m thinking I’ll see that example once I meet him?”

The Portal Master just nodded his head in response. “Indeed. Make sure to inform Hugo that I fully briefed you on the mission, so he can have Flynn prepare his ship in advance.”

Meanwhile…

“Well, I’ll be,” Princess Luna said to herself as she first stepped hoof out of the basement door in the Castle of Friendship and onto the floating isles inside the Mysterious Ancient Place. By this time, Rainbow had already joined up with them, so that Celestia could cast the Cooliosis spell on all of them as well as be brought up to speed that Luna was going to come with them, at least until they set off for the Munitions Forge that is. She was also carrying a bag with her. Not like a saddle bag, but the kind of bag that you would see someone carry if they were going to the gym. “This is much different than what I was anticipating.”

“Believe it or not, that’s what ah said when ah first came here the other day,” Applejack replied back to the princess, “Seeing a picture of it or being told about it is not the same as seeing the real thing.”

“At least you taking all of this in much differently than when Rarity saw it the other day,” Rainbow Dash said as she used her wings to push herself off the ground and idly fly in the air. “So, what’s the plan? Are we just going to wait around like last time or just go over to the academy?”

“Last time, all waiting did was have Rarity start galloping off in a mad dash after Flashwing,” Calvin reminded the pegasus, “Plus, I don’t think they would know that we are actually ready until we arrive at the academy.”

“Besides, Eon’s probably had to make some preparations as well, Rainbow,” Applejack herself added on to the conversation.

“Then, we should not delay this any further,” Luna herself decreed, while looking at everyone else, “Since you seem to know the lay of the land… er… islands here, I’ll let you take the lead.”

“Alright, perfect! Let’s lead the way girls!!” Sweetie Belle declared as the Cutie Mark Crusaders went on ahead with Applejack and Rainbow following them. Luna and Calvin followed shortly after them, letting the other five guide them towards where the entrance to the academy was in the M.A.P. 

Though, as they followed everyone else, Luna decided to ask Calvin a question while they were walking. “So, Calvin, about these Skylanders that we are going to see… who are we likely to be meeting?”

“That… is honestly a bit of a hard question to answer, Princess,” the Skyshifter honestly told her, shrugging his shoulders, “It is likely that some of the ones that the girls and I saw yesterday are probably in class or on a mission today. Though, there are a couple that I can possibly think of.”

“And who would those be?”

“Well, first there’s Spyro, a Magic Skylander that is a purple dragon, yellow horns, walks on four legs. He’s a lot different than that of Spike, but also rather nice… if you overlook his rather impulsive and cocky side,” Calvin first started explaining, “Some of the others we met include Stealth Elf, who… has a habit of appearing at times when you least expect it, Spitfire, who you might remember because of that one time we crashed into Discord, and Splat, a faun who is rather artistic and creative. We might also meet Master Eon, who’s kind of like the Skylanders’ version of your sister.”

Luna was equally surprised by each one of those, however, there was one particular one that she wanted to know more about. She remembered the name that was written in the scrolls that Celestia had shown her, yet outside of that, knew nothing about them. “I see… could you tell me more about one in particular that I read in the reports that Celestia showed me earlier. I believe the name was Hoot Loop?”

When Calvin heard the princess ask that, part of him got nervous. He wasn’t sure why Luna would ask about him, especially after all the mistakes he happened to cause, but all he did was let out a breath as he looked back at the princess. “Hoot Loop’s… a bit of a mischievous one. If I remember correctly, he used to be a circus performer before Eon had him join the Skylanders. He’s also known for… well… proclaiming how skilled he is at his abilities.”

“So, he’s a boaster then?” the question from Luna led to Calvin nodding his head as the Princess of the Night looked back at him. “Could you turn into him for a moment? I believe a visual reference could help me understand more about him.”

Calvin, instead of questioning Luna, just did what she asked. Holding onto his necklace and saying ‘Lets ruffle some feathers!’ as he turned into the Swap Force Skylander for a moment, all before changing himself back. “Yeah, that’s what Hoot Loop’s like… do you want for me to turn into the other Skylanders I was telling you about or-?”

“No, I do not believe that would be necessary,” the princess insisted, “You have already helped me quite enough, so thank you.”

Now, Calvin was getting rather confused. Why would she only ask for him to explain about Hoot Loop specifically and not ask about any of the others? Was there a reason why she was so fixated on him in particular? It was likely that Luna had her reasons, but what exactly were they? More importantly, what would happen if-?

“Hey, Calvin, you coming?”

Rainbow’s question snapped the Skyshifter out of his thought process as he realized that his friends had already made it to the entrance, and he was just standing there. “Oh, y-yeah! Sorry, was just thinking on something. Wait for me!”

Once he caught up with the group, they all stepped through the portal that connected the M.A.P. to the entrance of the academy, where a few familiar faces, and a couple of new ones, were waiting for them. Master Eon was waiting in the courtyard with Hugo and Tessa alongside that of Rubble Rouser, the Earth Swap Force Skylander.

Oh, and Flynn was there, too. Though, he seemed to be more focused on brushing off a few crumbs on his jacket rather than what was directly in front of him, which was why when he looked up, he found himself falling backwards on the ground as if he had seen them for the first time… even though Calvin clearly remembered seeing him yesterday.

“Welcome back, Calvin,” Master Eon greeted the Skyshifter as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack and Rainbow, “Glad to see that you are all here,” Though, it was at this point while he was speaking that the Portal Master happened to notice a new face among the mostly familiar group as he looked towards the alicorn standing next to Calvin. “And it seems you have someone new with you as well. I am Master Eon, and welcome to Skylander Academy.”

“Hun… this one reminds me of Starswirl the Bearded,” Luna muttered to herself, with only Calvin picking up on that as the Princess of the Night began to formulate her response now. “A pleasure to meet you. I am Princess Luna, diarch of the night and the sister of Princess Celestia. I was making sure that Calvin and his comrades reach their destination safely after being informed of their current… situation.”

“I see,” Eon himself commented, scratching his chin with a free hand before thinking of something else to say as well. “Well… just don’t do too much damage when you see him. He’s still one of the protectors of Skylands, despite all that has happened.”

All Calvin and the others did was turn to Luna, who smiled in response as she looked back at the Portal Master. “Not to worry. I am well taught in a variety of ways to get my point across.” Shortly afterwards, they watched as Luna began to walk around the courtyard of the academy, most of them puzzled by what had just happened.

“Do any of you know what the hay she was talking about?” Scootaloo then asked.

“Nope. Not at all.”

“I honestly have no idea what just happened.”

“Can’t say that ah do, Scootaloo.”

“Okay, so it’s not just me then. Good to know,” Scootaloo spoke up again after hearing Apple Bloom, Rainbow and Applejack say that.

“Maybe?” both Sweetie Belle and Calvin said at the same time, before looking back at each other awkwardly.

“In any case,” Tessa now took it upon herself to speak up and interrupt the rather awkward conversation that was taking place, “Master Eon has already had the chance to talk to Rubble Rouser, so he’s going to be coming with you guys. As for transportation, Flynn will help us get to-”

“Hang on a minute,” Applejack spoke up, “Ya want Flynn… the guy who accidentally gave Calvin a caffeine rush the other day… to fly us over there? Is that even safe, sugarcube?”

“Trust me on this one Applejack,” the fox commented, “Despite all his faults… and there are a lot of them, one thing that he is rather extremely skilled at is piloting airships. He also happens to know how to navigate the Skylands, which in itself, is an accomplishment considering how big the Skylands is.”

The earth pony was hesitant when she heard that, but who could blame her? Flynn’s first impressions with them yesterday did not quite go down so well, not to mention that Tessa and Mags agreed with her when she said that Flynn sounded like the kind of person who would constantly give them a headache. Were they just expecting for her to forget his quirks and just trust him like that on the spot? On something that was just as important as this?

“Applejack, Tessa makes a good point,” the earth pony heard Calvin tell her as she turned her head in his direction. “It would be rather difficult to try and navigate through the Skylands ourselves on a ship we don’t even know how to use. Seeing that Flynn knows his way around here and is an airship pilot, I say the sooner we let him take us over there the better.”

Once again, she was hesitant. Even with Calvin vouching for him, it still did not change how she felt about him or his antics. But, he did make a point. It would be easier to navigate through the Skylands with a guide, though why did it have to Flynn of all people? In her mind, letting Flynn fly them over was like the equivalent of letting Derpy Hooves operate the Friendship Express, a bad idea from the start that should not even be considered.

Yet, even though that was what she was thinking, reason soon got the better of her as she looked back at Calvin and let out a sigh. “Ah guess.”

“Alright. Well, I guess that’s all settled… Let me go bring the ship around side and make sure that everything’s all set,” Flynn himself said as he was seen walking away with Hugo, “Have I ever told you how much I miss the dread-yacht?”

“You tell me that every day, Flynn. Please let it go already,” the mabu scholar groaned, leaving Calvin and the others with Eon, Rubble Rouser and Tessa. As they left, things got rather quiet.

Though, the silence was soon broken when everyone heard Scootaloo ask a question. “So… anything else we should know that’s important? Aside from the fact that we got a ship and a Skylander is helping us out?”

“Well, Rubble’s got the equipment you need for going into the caves,” Tessa added.

“Yeah, but it was a bit tricky, since there’s a lot of harnesses for most species, but not many for… well-” the golem admitted.

“Geez, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow cut him off, putting the bag she was carrying down on the ground before grabbing hold of the zipper with a wing and opening it up, “I came prepared. One of our friends has a family that farms rocks, so she had a few spare harnesses that we could borrow.”

“Oh, good,” Rubble let out a sigh of relief, “I was worried that the ones I did have would be too big for you.”

“Alright. Skylander guide, check. Ship, check. Enchantment on clothes so we don’t melt, check. Equipment, check,” Calvin said out loud as he counted off each one of those things using his fingers, “That seems like everything… Is there anything that I might be forgetting at all?”

“Well, originally, Cali was going to come along with you guys, since someone’s needed to keep an eye on Flynn,” Tessa let out a breath as she said that, “Unfortunately, she’s busy filling in the role of substitute teacher for Buzz’s class today, so I’ll be coming with you guys instead.”

“Well, the more the merrier, ah guess,” the farm pony commented.

“Hey!! Wait just a moment!” for a moment, everything stopped. They were all caught off guard by the voice that just spoke up. It was new to Applejack and the girls, but to Rainbow and Calvin, it was a voice that they were rather familiar with, a voice that belonged to a volcanic dog that hopped out from behind the wall Tessa was standing in front of. “Aren’t you forgetting somebody?!”

“What in tarnations-?!”

“Is that… a lava dog?” Apple Bloom asked, shortly after hearing her sister’s reaction. Yet, the reaction from both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were rather different from hers.

“So cute!”

“So cool!!”

“Hey!” the dog reacted to the compliments, not really liking how they were reacting to him, “I’m not cute or cool!! I’m Hot Dog!”

That had Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders stare at the dog in confusion, not really understanding what he was trying to tell the four of them, which had Rainbow facehoof herself and had Calvin let out a sigh as he looked back at them. “Girls, Hot Dog is his actual name. Rainbow and I have met him before when we first came here.”

The pegasus herself just let out a sigh as she looked back at the others, adding on to what the Skyshifter just mentioned. “Yeah… I know, it’s a bad pun.”

“Hot Dog’s coming with us because we think that he could help us with tracking what we’re looking for, while Rubble is planning the safest route for us to travel once we get there,” Tessa now took a moment to explain to the group, “With his nose, we can sniff out those crystals we’re looking for in no time! Ka-blam!!”

That just had Applejack look at the fox with a raised eyebrow, shortly before looking over to Master Eon. “Is this normal for her?”

“Only when she’s excited.”

“Well, that’s a relief-”

Of course, Applejack’s comment was soon interrupted by Rubble Rouser himself also adding something. “She’s always excited.”

“Ah, hay-”

“Come on, guys! Flynn’s going to come around with his ship, and then, we’re off for adventure! He should be here any minute now,” Tessa’s words were met with optimism at first, but then it led to silence and the sound of birds chirping. “Any minute now… Come on… What’s taking the two of them so long?”

“Flynn, what are you doing? We can park anywhere we want!!”

“Now, Hugo, if this is anything like with my last ship, I have to make sure there’s enough room to load on cargo.”

“What cargo do you even carry in here?”

“Have you seen the amount of enchiladas I keep below deck?”

“Wouldn’t they expire before you could eat them? …Where did you get that one?”

“What’s ‘expire’ mean? …Would you like one?”

“…That explains… so much…”

“It can’t be that hard to bring an airship around the side of the academy. Heck, he’s done it several times before-” Tessa impatiently spoke. Before she could say anything else though, everyone soon saw a massive airship trying to align itself with the side of the academy while also not trying to hit the tower where the academy shop was.

“Sorry for the wait! I was having trouble trying to make sure I had the ship lined up perfectly,” Flynn called out from the helm of the airship as a large ramp was let down a few moments later. “All aboard the S.S. BOOM!! Next stop, Munitions Forge!”

“Does he pair ‘boom’ up with everything?” Scootaloo then asked as Hot Dog began to walk up the ramp alongside the crusaders, with Applejack, Rainbow, Rubble, Tessa and Calvin following not far behind, all while Hugo was getting off and meeting back up with Master Eon.

“More than you might think,” the lava pup told them as they got on the deck of the ship. Once everybody was settled in and everything they needed was brought on board, Flynn began to navigate the ship towards their destination while everybody else moved below deck to work out a plan. Rubble Rouser was looking at a series of sketches and maps of the Munitions Forge to try and figure out a route for them to take, Applejack and Rainbow were talking with Tessa and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were watching the different islands that passed by the windows of the ship.

As for Calvin, what he was doing was a bit different. He was sitting with Hot Dog, and he was asked to help the Fire Skylander with recognizing the scent of the Elementanium Crystals that they were looking for. They even went as far as taking a couple of crystals that Rubble gave them to try and see if he could determine which one was the right one as well as hiding his pendant to see that he could find it. At first, it seemed tricky. But after a while, Hot Dog was beginning to get the hang of it to the point that he could be able to find it with little difficulty.

“Hey, Calvin,” he soon heard Sweetie Belle as she approached him, “How’s everything going?”

“Pretty well, why-?”

Before he could finish his sentence, the ship made a sudden stop… and unfortunately for the passengers, they did not have enough time to brace themselves. In a matter of seconds, Rubble was trying to grab the papers he was looking at before they scattered everywhere, Applejack found herself being thrown back into the side of the ship with Tessa and Rainbow. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were thrown out of their seats and onto the floor, yet when Scootaloo looked up, she saw the one thing that she did not want to be reminded of.

It was the same circumstances where she fell on top of Calvin and accidentally kissed him in the process. The only difference was that Sweetie Belle was in her place. That and Rainbow’s reaction. “Hey, is everything alright? Do you two need help?”

“Oh, COME ON!!” Scootaloo spoke up. Why was it that her idol did not act like that when she was in Sweetie’s position?!

“Ah think we’re fine,” Applejack answered Rainbow’s first question as she adjusted her hat. “Does anypony have any idea what just happened?”

“Well, it’s usually either we made it to our destination… or there’s some kind of complication,” Tessa explained to the earth pony, before letting out a small sigh as she got back up on her feet, “With Flynn though, all of that’s just up in the air.”

Unfortunately, as everyone was just getting back up, the ship began to shake again as Calvin looked back at Tessa. The sound of cracking and wind slamming against the side of the ship were beginning to become louder as they looked at each other. “And apparently, so are we!”

“Come on now, it’s nothing to be worried about,” Hot Dog barked as he got up on the table in the center of the room, “We experience turbulence by airship all the time. Besides, if the ship is damaged, it can easily be fixed.” Just as he finished speaking, one of the windows that was nearby the Crusaders was hit by a stone that was being blown around in the wind outside, leaving a massive crack on the glass as the Crusaders began to back away from it. “L-let’s just be careful, alright?”

After what felt like several hours, Flynn was finally able to pull into the ship port that was not far from the Munitions Forge as everyone else was beginning to come back up to the deck. They were glad that they did not have to worry about the ship breaking apart while they were still in the air. Yet, for Flynn, he didn’t entirely seemed phased about the conditions that he had to fly his ship through… or how it would affect his passengers. “Well, that was a little bit bumpy.”

“A little!?” Calvin and Apple Bloom reacted in unison while Tessa just groaned and let out a deep breath, facepalming herself.

“But hey, look on the bright side. We’re still here, and it doesn’t seem like anything weird’s going on either,” the captain replied back, before letting down the ramp so that everyone could get off the ship and back on solid ground. Yet, the only one who actually stayed on board was Tessa.

“What do ya mean by weird?” Applejack asked as her friend was getting the harness bag off the ship.

“Well, usually whenever we visit someplace, some sort of chaos is happening whether it’s Kaos or some other villain,” the captain explained as he readjusted the goggles that he had on his head. “So, it’s nice that we have some peace for once-”

Just as he was turning around, a loud boom could be heard in the distance as a cannonball flew by Flynn’s head, knocking off the goggles that he just placed around his forehead as the cannonball crashed through a tree that was nearby Calvin and the others that were with him, not to mention that it completely changed Flynn’s tune. “…Oh, there we go. That’s more like the usual… Everyone, hit the deck!!”

Immediately, Flynn pulled the ship away from the island as Calvin and his group began to run farther inland. Hearing the sounds of cannon’s firing, they could now see what looked like a fleet of airships, armed with cannons and aiming directly towards Flynn’s ship and the town. Not to mention that each of these ships had a black pirate flag with two swords, a skull… and what looked like a metallic bear attached to the bottom of the skull.

“Didn’t ah say that ah had a feeling that Flynn causes a lot of trouble unknowingly?!” the farm pony yelled as they were moving farther down the pathway, avoiding the cannon fire in the process.

“But sis, doesn’t that usually happen when you’re with Twilight and the girls?” Apple Bloom then asked her sister, something that even made Rainbow stop flying for a moment in order to add on to the conversation.

“You know… she’s got a point.”

“Is this really important right now!?”

Another couple of cannon balls flying over their heads immediately answered that question as they continued to hurry towards a town that was in the distance. Several of the citizens that were in the town began to run in fear and panic as they hid in their homes, but one of them was trying to direct the townsfolk to find shelter, even though it looked as if they were also freaking out, which was kind of ironic since he looked to be the same size and species as that of Ka-Boom. Red skin, muscular build and was anywhere between six to seven feet tall. The only difference behind that his dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and looked to be wearing some of the same clothing that the Fire Skylander would have as they tried to stay calm.

Of course, that was until he looked at Calvin’s group and assumed the worst case scenario. “Ah!!! L-look, i-if you’re going to rob me, just please take my gold and-!!”

“Woah there, big guy,” Rainbow soon spoke up, flying over to where she was just idly floating above him. “Why the hay do you think we’re going to rob you? We only just got here.”

“W-wait… are you saying that you aren’t pirates?”

“Do we look like a bunch of pirates to you?” Scootaloo added on, which made the fire titan flinch a bit as he looked back at the group.

“I don’t know! This isn’t one of the town’s emergency preparedness drills! I’m freaking out right now!!” the titan told them, ducking at the sound of another cannon being fired in the distance.

Of course, hearing that had Calvin look back at both Rubble Rouser and Hot Dog before deciding to speak up this time. “Maybe we can help out. I’m Calvin, and this is Rubble Rouser, Hot Dog, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle. We just came from Skylander Academy to see if we can do some digging at the mountain, only to find… well… this.”

At first, the fire titan was still shivering in place. But upon hearing Calvin speak, his tone began to change as he looked back at them. “W-wait… Y-you’re from the academy? O-oh man… You c-can help us!”

Calvin nodded, before looking back at the fire titan and asking two new questions. “We can help… but first, who are those guys? And second, what’s your name?”

“I-i’m Bang-” he told them, just as they heard another cannonball crash into the ground some distance away, “T-these pirates are Captain Ironbeard’s crew. H-he wanted to use the forge we have in town to create an unstoppable pirate army, but he was forced to retreat. We always thought that he would be around, but didn’t actually think he would try again, since Ka-Boom’s not here anymore.”

“Wouldn’t you guys have like… something in place to defend yourselves in case they came back?” Hot Dog asked.

“H-hey! Munitions Forge might be known for making machines, but it’s still a merchant town. We make machines and equipment to help people, not create an army bent on total domination!” the titan rasped, looking side to side all around him before looking back to the group. “Look, you g-guys have to help me out here. M-my boss is the mayor of the town, but their cannons have destroyed the fastest way to get over there. If you can help us stop these guys, I-i’m sure my boss will help you out.”

“Aren’t you going to help us, too?” Apple Bloom then asked.

“I’m… kind of…  allergic to getting hit by cannonballs. Plus, someone has to help make sure the townspeople find shelter,” Bang told them, “The best way to get over there is through the market. We were having our monthly traders exchange when these guys attacked, so if you see an alleyway that has a bunch of smashed goods and broken antiques, then you’re headed in the right direction.”

“Well, that’s one way to put it,” Calvin thought to himself as he looked at everyone else. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Well, considering that out of all of us, only Hot Dog, you and I can fight right now,” Rubble Rouser began to speak up. “We should split into two groups. One Skylander to each group.”

“Hang on, why two groups-?” Applejack asked, which was followed by a simple question that the golem asked in return.

“Are you forgetting about Flynn?”

“… Aww... horseapples,” the farm pony cursed.

“Hey! Are you saying we can’t fight!? Let me prove you wrong, right now-”

“Rainbow, I don’t think that’s what he’s trying to say,” Calvin interjected as he looked back at the pegasus. He was going to say something… until he got an idea. “Rubble, hang on a moment. I think I might have a different idea.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Well, Rainbow Dash is the only one out of all of us that can fly and knows how to fight,” the Skyshifter pointed out to the golem as he looked back at at Rainbow, “How about you have her go find Flynn and Tessa and have Hot Dog and I distract the pirates?”

“Distract?” Bang asked, “I-i thought I said that the only way to the mayor’s office was to go through them.”

“Not exactly,” when Calvin looked back to Rubble this time, he was looking more towards the drill that he was holding in his hands. “They might have destroyed the bridge, but Rubble can use his drill to dig underneath and create a tunnel over there. The pirates won’t even notice, because he would be underground, and they can’t see him,” at that point, he turned back to look at Applejack and Bang before finishing what he was trying to say, “And since Bang knows how to get into the mayor's office, he can lead you inside to make sure he’s alright.”

“Huh… now that ah hear ya say that, ah’m all for it,” the earth pony stated.

“Definitely better! Kicking flanks and taking names!! I like it!” Rainbow smirked.

“That… honestly sounds a lot better than what I was thinking originally,” Rubble himself admitted, before grabbing his hammer and putting it on his shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

“Now we’re cooking! This is going to be so much fun!!” Hot Dog barked.

Onboard the pirate ship that was feared throughout the Skylands as the Iron Armada, the pirate known as Captain Ironbeard stood on deck by the starboard bow as he watched the pirates of his iron fleet begin their assault on the Munitions Forge. The last time that he had come here, his plans to create an unstoppable pirate armada were foiled by that blasted Ka-Boom! He forced him to retreat and destroyed what was left of his fleet that fateful day.

But he was not going to let this happen again, for now that Ka-Boom was no longer around the Munitions Forge anymore, there was no one to protect them this time, no one that could possibly stop them from obtaining his goals or have the strength to-

“Captain!!” the voice of his deckhand, Bronze Tooth, called out from off the starboard quarter of the vessel as Ironbeard turned towards him, watching as Bronze Tooth put away the telescope that he was holding, “Captain, I think we have ourselves a situation!”

“What is it? Are my crew done with taking over the forge? Are they fighting over treasures again?”

“N-no, sir, it’s none of those things,” the deckhand shook his head, before looking at his captain. “Our forces are being pushed back! I just had a look down there, and they’re getting their tusks handed to them!”

That did not settle well with the captain. If anything, it was the exact opposite of what he wanted. He had spent two years planning for this, and now, his plan was coming apart at the seams. “What!?! How-!? Who’s doing this to my crew!?!”

“Well… from what I can see… it’s some kid and a… dog, captain.”

That just had the captain blink, before yanking the telescope out of the hands of his deckhand so he could take a look for himself. Down below, several of his men were fighting a kid and a dog that was made out of molten lava, and the sight of it alone was enough to make him shove the telescope back into the chest of his deckhand.

“You scallywags are part of the most fearsome pirate fleet in the Skylands, and you’re intimidated by a child and his pet pooch!?! And you call yourselves pirates!?” he snapped, before grabbing his deckhand by the back of his coat and yelling out a new order to his entire crew. “ALL OF YOU, GET OFF YOUR BUTTS AND GET UP ON DECK!!! GET DOWN THERE AND STOP THEM NOW!!”

Before the deckhand could say anything else, the captain attached a clip to the back of his deckhand before attaching him to the anchor chain that his crew had been using to make landfall on the floating peninsula and throwing him down there. He was not going to allow some kid and a magma puppy intimidate him and make him retreat again. The Munitions Forge was going to be his, even if he had to use all of the crew members at his disposal to do it.

In the center of town, Calvin and Hot Dog were quick to encounter members of Ironbeard’s pirate gang as they were focused on pillaging and stealing what they could find while also attempting to move farther inside the town as the residents were hiding in their homes. They were originally going to try and get the two of them by surprise, but when Hot Dog sneezed and sent out a fireball that set one of the pirates clothes on fire, they immediately had to throw caution to the wind at that point and charge head on into battle.

Of course, when it came to the first few pirates, the two of them took it seriously. Though, when the rest of the crew was starting to come after them, both the Skyshifter and the fire dog were beginning to enjoy it a bit too much.

“Man, who knew that fighting against a bunch of pirates would be so much fun!?”

“I know, right?!!”

Currently, Calvin was now in the form of the undead skylander named Cynder, blasting the incoming pirates with bolts of lightning and dashing out of the way of any buccaneers that got too close. Though, it was not just pirates that he had to avoid. There was also the fact that the cannons onboard the pirate ships were now focusing their fire towards them, meaning that they also had to dodge incoming cannonballs. Unlike in the Skylanders games though, there were no targeting circles that would show where they were going to land, and they were going at full speed instead of moving at the speed they went at in the games. So, it was difficult for him to be watching out for incoming cannon fire and fight pirates at the same time.

Fortunately, he had a molten canine companion for backup. “Heads up, on your left!!”

Calvin looked up, seeing the incoming cannon fire as he rolled to the left to avoid the incoming cannon shots. He was going to prepare another breath attack, but before he could do so, his pendant changed him back into his normal form. “Oh, man. Hot Dog-!”

“I’m on it!!” Hot Dog barked as he fired off several fireballs at the nearby pirates before jumping into the air and hitting another one with a Comet Slam, turning his body into a spinning meteor to impact his foe.

While Hot Dog was getting their attention, Calvin took a moment to take cover behind a crate and grab hold of his necklace. “Time to Shine!” Within a matter of moments, he found himself on all fours again. This time as the Skylander of the Light element named Spotlight, a pristine while dragon with golden rings on her wings and tail along with the light element crest on her forehead.

After transforming, he first fired off a pair of eye beams at the two pirates that were closer to him before throwing a halo ring from his wing at a third one that was trying to throw bombs at them. The ring was meant to throw the bomber off balance so he could get a better shot at them with his next eye beam. 

“Nice shot!!” the fire dog barked with glee as he looked towards Calvin’s new transformation, “Keep it up, and we’ll send them packing with their tails in between their legs!”

“Less talking, more fighting, Hot Dog!” the Skyshifter responded, “We’re not out of this yet!”

Immediately after saying that, several more members of Ironbeard’s crew landed in front of them, armed with swords, knuckles and bombs as both Calvin and Hot Dog had to redirect their attention back to the raiders in front of them. While Hot Dog was burning any buccaneer that came too close to him with walls of flame and fireballs, Calvin was throwing out a couple of halo rings and having the light from Spotlight’s eye beams reflect off of the rings to hit some of the corsairs that were farther away from him.

However, the longer that they continued to fight, the more that Calvin began to notice something. He wasn’t sure if it was his eyes were playing tricks on him or not, but it looked like something was moving underground, swimming underneath them while they fought against more of the pirate crew. Even though he thought it was just a distraction, he could not stop thinking about it. Was something lurking in wait underneath-?

“Whew… I think we got them all-”

The moment that Hot Dog sat down to catch his breath, Calvin’s eyes widened. From under the ground, a land shark that was around Terra-fin’s size emerged from the ground, its jaws open and eager to take a bite out of the lava puppy while his back was turned. On instinct, Calvin tried to race over. He had to get to Hot Dog before this guy snatched him with his teeth! But he couldn’t get over there in time with this form. He needed to hurry. He needed to move. He needed to get Hot Dog out of there.

He needed to change!

“Fuel the flames!!”

From Hot Dog’s perspective, everything was happening so fast. At first, he thought that they had the chance to get some breathing room after defeating a majority of Ironbeard’s crew. Yet, as he was surveying his surroundings, he turned around to find himself staring at the gaping maw and several bronze colored teeth of the land shark that was about to bite him.

Though, as the jaws began to retract, he felt something grab hold of him and yanked him out of the way. He wasn’t sure who it was at first, and he couldn’t see Calvin anywhere. When he looked up though, he found himself looking at the blue flames of the burning gargoyle that he was all too familiar with: Spitfire, the Fire Skylander from the Superchargers.

As the gargoyle set him down, the first thought that came to Hot Dog’s mind was that he had come to assist him and Calvin. “Man, that was close. Thanks for the save, Spitfire.”

Of course, the comment from the lava puppy got a much different response than what he originally thought he was going to hear. “Spitfire? Hot Dog, it’s me.” For a moment, Hot Dog was a bit confused by what the Skylander was talking about. The only one who was with him the whole time was Calvin, and last he checked, he was Spotlight.

Unless… “C-calvin?” Hot Dog blinked, the Skylander nodding his head in response to the lava puppy. “H-how did you change into Spitfire? Weren’t you Spotlight a moment ago?”

“Y-yeah, but I saw you in trouble and…” it was now Calvin’s turn to blink in realization as he looked back to Hot Dog, asking the only question that came to mind, “Did I just turn into another Skylander… while already in the form of a Skylander?”

“I think so-”

“Hey!” both of them turned at the sound of the angry land shark that was emerging from the ground as he snapped at both of them, “Are you two just gonna stand there and talk, or are you gonna fight?! My boss wants the forge for himself, and you two are the only scoundrels that are getting in his way!!” After saying that, the land shark began to bang his fists together and glare at both of them.

“Guess we’ll have to save it for later,” Calvin sighed, before preparing himself for combat again, “Sorry, but the forge doesn’t belong to you.”

“Yeah! If you want it, you have to get through us!!” Hot Dog barked back at the land shark, “Bring it on, Bronze Tooth!”

“Hey! How do you know my name!?”

That had the lava puppy blink at the land shark, before tilting its head to the side. “Wait, seriously? That’s your name? Why would you pick Bronze anyways? They only give that to those who come in third.”

“Shut UP!!” the land shark snapped again, this time picking up one of the cannonballs that was nearby with his own claws and throwing it at both of them. As the two of them dodged it, the land shark dove back into the ground again as Calvin tried to figure out where he was going… that and if it was really necessary for Hot Dog to make this guy angry.

Not long after he asked that, he heard the ground started to rumble behind them, just before Bronze Tooth rose from the ground and attempted to bite Calvin. The Skyshifter ducked his head, before smacking the land shark down with his left claw. Their opponent was quick to get back on his feet and dive back into the ground, swimming through the ground as the Skyshifter soon heard the rumbling again, this time from underneath Hot Dog.

“Hot Dog! He’s under you!! Move!!”

Hot Dog didn’t even ask why and did what he was told, rolling out of the way as Bronze Tooth rose up again. The lava puppy threw a fireball that hit the land shark in the face, angering Bronze Tooth as he dove back into the ground again.

The puppy, though, wanted to know something. “How did you know he was going to be there?”

“I’ve been seeing the ground shake at the points where he always comes up for attacks,” Calvin told him in response, “If we can hit him the moment that he comes out of the ground…”

“Then, we might beat him,” Hot Dog barked, a smile forming on his face as he looked back at the Skyshifter, “Alright, I’m liking this plan. Let me know where he’s coming up at, and I’ll leave him a special surprise!”

He wasn’t quite sure what Hot Dog meant by that, but that wasn’t entirely what Calvin was mainly focusing on. Instead, he was focusing on the ground to see if there was anything that was moving or out of place, because if it was, then he could call it out to the Fire Skylander. Though, the thought that occurred to him was that this ‘special surprise’ of his could be the Ding Dong Ditch ability that Hot Dog got from his Soul Gem in Skylanders Giants, one that left behind a surprise in the form of a burning doggy bag that exploded on contact after Hot Dog did his Comet Slam ability.

Before he could think more on it though, he heard the ground rumble in between them. “Hot Dog, in the middle!”

“Oh yeah! Here we go!!” the fire dog eagerly called out, jumping onto a couple of crates to get himself some leverage before rolling up into a Comet Slam as he hit the ground. As he got back up, what was left behind wasn’t exactly a burning bag, but what looked like a few molten brown rocks. Before the Skyshifter could even ask about it though, Bronze Tooth rose from the surface, triggering the rocks as they exploded and threw him into the side of a stone wall.

“Eugh!! What the-!? What just got in my mouth-?!” the land shark yelled, before another explosion went off, one that was strong enough to render Bronze Tooth unconscious as he fell face first into the ground. 

Moments after the fight, Calvin reverted back to his normal form, before collapsing on the ground… and covering his nose. “Please don’t tell me that’s what I think that was,” he thought to himself mentally before looking back at Hot Dog, who was wagging his tail eagerly.

“Alright… One more bad guy down for the count,” the fire dog cheerfully proclaimed, before looking to Calvin and tilting his head. “What’s the matter? Did that guy smell bad or something?”

At first, he wanted to say something… but then Calvin decided not to as he looked back at Hot Dog. “No, don’t worry about it… Maybe we should go find Rubble-?”

“And just where do you two think you’re going?!!” They heard a deep voice that was followed by a thunderous arrival as a walrus that had a metal plate under his tusks and donned a captains garb and hat stood not far from them. He was holding onto an anchor, with its chain in his other hand. “You beat my crew, defeated my deckhand and you think you can just walk away?! This is why you never send a scallywag to do a captain’s job!!”

The first thing that came to Calvin’s mind was not exactly the appearance or the walrus’ weapon of choice… but oddly enough, it was his voice. “Is it just me or does this guy sounds exactly like Metalbeard?”

Unfortunately, before he could process everything, the walrus began to twirl his anchor and swing it at both him and Hot Dog in a horizontal motion, forcing him to drop to the ground to avoid getting hit before looking back at the fire dog. “Hot Dog, go find Rubble.”

“What-?”

“It would be easier to handle this guy if there were three of us instead of two,” he told him, his tone coming off as a whisper so that the walrus could not hear them. “If he’s strong enough to be swinging that anchor like a jump rope, then we’re going to need all the help we can get. I’ll see if I can keep him busy in the meantime.”

Hot Dog could only nod, before taking off as he ran towards the center of town, which caught Ironbeard's attention as he began to spin his anchor and throw it at him. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going-!?”

“Hail to the Whale!!”

In a matter of seconds, another anchor collided with the one that was heading towards Hot Dog, catching the captain by surprise, for he wasn’t looking at just a mere child anymore, and instead was finding himself staring face to face at the Skylander Giant of the Water Element. The whale-like behemoth had two ocean colored pauldrons on its shoulders and e leather belt with a wheel of a ship as a buckle, the giant known as Thumpback.

“How about you face me instead?! Careful though, because you’re in the splash zone!”

As Hot Dog ran up the steps and away from where Calvin and the captain were fighting, he was on the lookout for Rubble and the others. The thought of Calvin having to fight Captain Ironbeard alone without anyone to help him was not something he wanted to have stuck in the back of his mind, so the sooner he found help, the sooner they could get back to him.

Yet, just as he made his way to another open courtyard, he could hear a newfound voice as he turned his head, eyes widening at what he was looking at. There was a bipedal cat with gray and white fur that was a bit shorter than Tessa and was wearing a cyan collared shirt and black slacks that you would normally see someone like Moneybags wear and pulled off a navy colored tie to wrap around one of his paws. Three to four members of Ironbeard’s crew were right in front of the building that the cat was standing at, but the part that surprised Hot Dog the most was not exactly the crew members, but the cat itself...

...Because it was not pleading in front of the pirates. If anything, it was provoking them. “You buffoons think you can just attack my town, make its citizens run in fear and expect for me to just listen to your captain’s demands!? Well, you’ve angered the wrong mayor, buddy!! Come at me if you think you got the guts!!!”

“Oh, by the elements, what does this guy think he’s doing?!” Hot Dog thought to himself, before racing over towards the pirates. As he ran, the lava puppy began to charge up the attack that he was going to launch, before releasing it the moment that the pirates actually noticed that he was coming at them. The attack Hot Dog launched turned into a super powerful swarm of burning bees as they began to fly around the pirates, who were panicking as they were trying to fend them off.

As the pirates were distracted by the bees, Hot Dog took the opportunity to jump into the air and prepared himself for another Comet Slam. Only this time, as he was charging the attack, a barrage of fireballs began to rain down on the pirates before he hit the ground, knocking them out of commission before the lava puppy smirked. “Next time, I’ll eat your shoes!”

“What the heck?” the cat asked, before looking back to the fire dog and narrowing its eyes, letting out a sigh in the process, “Just brilliant… first, Ironbeard’s pirate gang attacks, and now, a lava dog shows up! I must have done something horrible to chompies in a previous life in order to get this kind of treatment-”

“Woah, woah, easy there! I’m not with those guys! I’m a Skylander,” Hot Dog assured him, “Name’s Hot Dog. My friends and I have been fighting against those pirate guys for the last few minutes and making sure that the townspeople are safe.”

Hearing that had the cat change its tone rather quickly, before raising an eyebrow. “You’re… a Skylander?” his question was soon answered when he noticed that the tag on Hot Dog’s collar showed the crest of the fire element, and let out a big sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness! I was worried that you were someone who had a bone to pick with me.”

“Nah, I keep all my bones buried at the Academy, right underneath Eon’s statue,” the fire dog chuckled, “I don’t think I got your name though.”

“Oh, right. My name’s Dapper, I’m the mayor of Munitions Forge-”

“Hang on, mayor?” Hot Dog interjected, tilting his head “We ran into someone earlier who said that you were their boss when we first got here.”

“You met Bang-?” Before Dapper could finish and before Hot Dog could even answer, both of them turned to see a drill break through the surface of the ground that was nearby. In the Skylander’s mind, that was a good sign. However, the mayor saw it much differently. “Aw, come on!! They’re coming from the ground now?!”

“Mayor, wait!!” Hot Dog barked, leaping in front of the cat before he could jump to conclusions. The drill itself retracted, before a rocky hand came out and grabbed hold of the edge, pulling itself up as both of them now saw the Earth Skylander named Rubble Rouser begin to come up and take a look around, Just before he noticed the Fire Skylander.

“Hot Dog? What are you doing here?” the golem asked, sounding a bit confused, before noticing Dapper behind him, “Who’s that?”

“Oh, him? He’s Mayor Dapper-”

“-The boss is with him?!” the two of them heard a voice from behind Rubble. Before the golem could do anything, he felt himself being lifted out of the hole and fall on the ground as the fire titan named Bang quickly scrambled out of the tunnel, not even noticing Rubble slowly trying to get up as Bang let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, man, I’m so glad to see you’re okay, boss!”

“Bang, what are you doing here? Are the citizens safe?” the cat asked, partially surprised by the titan’s arrival, but also sounding shocked since he put more emphasis on his second question.

“Yeah, they all found a place to take shelter, boss,” the fire titan told him, “I couldn’t have done it without these guys though.” As the titan said that, Hot Dog watched as Applejack soon got up out of the hole next, followed by the Cutie Mark Crusaders as each one of them took a moment to brush the dirt off of their clothes.

Of course, as Sweetie Belle lifted her head, her eyes locked onto the first thing that she saw, that being Dapper. “Oh my gosh, look girls! That cat is so cute!”

“This cat has a name,” Dapper grit his teeth, “I am Mayor Dapper, and I would prefer it if you don’t call me that.”

The next person that decided to speak up was Applejack, who noticed Hot Dog right away. “What the hay are ya doing here, Hot Dog?”

“I came here looking for you guys-” the lava puppy barked in response, before turning his head as he picked up a pair of familiar scents that were coming closer. From around the corner, Tessa raced on over with Rainbow Dash right next to her.

“There you are! We’ve been trying to find you after chasing off the pirates that were tailing us,” Tessa let out a gasp.

“Are you two alright?” Scootaloo then asked, before noticing that there was someone from their group missing. “Where’s Flynn?”

“Uh, guys…?”

“He’s… mourning right now,” Rainbow grumbled. When the pegasus noticed that mostly everyone seemed a bit confused, she let out a groan as Rainbow began to clarify a little, “Two cannonballs smashed through the back side of the ship and through the compartment where he kept his enchiladas.”

“That makes way too much sense,” Rubble added on.

“Guys…?” Hot Dog tried to get their attention, only to get ignored again as everyone else continued to speak. It had gotten to the point that even when the mayor was introducing himself to the group that his words were not heard, which made the lava puppy frustrated as smoke was coming off of him. “GUYS!!!”

Immediately, Rubble looked back at the Fire Skylander along with everybody else. “Woah… Hot Dog, what’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter?! Are you kidding me!?! By the elements, I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes, and you’re ignoring me like an old chew toy!! I came to find you because Calvin is fighting that Ironbeard guy right now and needs help!! Yet, you guys are-”

“Woah, woah, woah, back up,” Tessa now spoke up, “Calvin’s… fighting Ironbeard alone?! Is he insane?!”

“No, he’s buying me time so I can find Rubble!!” the fire dog explained, before looking towards the golem, “We need to get over there and back him up-” 

The sound of an explosion in the distance soon had everybody look towards where the noise came from, before seeing something crash in the courtyard that was close to where they were standing. As the smoke cleared, they first saw what looked like the Air Skylander named Sonic Boom… before the griffon began to shimmer and fade as it changed back to Calvin, who looked to have taken a few bruises and was trying to catch his breath.

“Where’s your friends now, huh?! I betcha that puppy that was with you ran with its tail between its legs like a coward,” the deep voice bellowed as he came closer. The group could now see a huge walrus that donned a captain’s garb and hat while wearing a metal plate under its tusks, anchor in one hand and the chain that was attached to it in the other as he approached him. “You and the mayor of this town are much braver than he is, and the mayor is an adorable house cat for all I care!”

“Why that little-!!”

“Oh no,” Sweetie Belle spoke, scared at seeing what was happening, “W-we gotta help him!”

“But how? That guy can wreck us with one hit of that anchor of his!” Scootaloo asked.

The question was first met with silence, but then Rubble Rouser turned to look at Hot Dog as he told him something. “Hot Dog, I think I got an idea.”

“An idea?” the fire dog asked.

“Remember when Sprocket uses her wrench to play ‘landmine golf’?” the golem asked, which led to Hot Dog nodding his head as the Swap Force Skylander continued to speak, “Okay, now think of that, though I am the wrench and you are the landmine.”

Out of all the things that Calvin preferably did not like when it came to combat, being backed into a corner was one of them. At first, fighting against Ironbeard as Thumpback put him on an even playing field with his opponent, but with a lack of upgrades, there was not much he could do aside from hitting Ironbeard with an anchor and belly flopping on dry land. So, when he thought that he had an advantage, he changed forms, first turning into Whirlwind to pelter him with storm clouds and ‘rainbows of doom’ before changing into Sonic Boom and attacking him with her roaring screech.

He immediately began to realize that this was a mistake, mainly because Ironbeard had a lot more experience when it came to combat than he did and because he had a lot more attacks at his disposal than just swinging around his anchor. For one thing, slamming his anchor into the ground caused shockwaves to ripple across the field and stone spikes to hit him from underneath. Pulling the anchor out of the ground had shards of rock hit Calvin in the face, dirt getting in his eyes and leaving him exposed long enough for Ironbeard to strike him. The impact from the side of his anchor soon after sent him flying backwards into another courtyard.

Feeling his transformation fade, Calvin found himself in his normal form, feeling pain from the injuries that the walrus just inflicted on him as he tried to regain his balance.

“Where’s your friends now, huh?! I betcha that puppy that was with you ran with its tail between its legs like a coward,” Ironbeard taunted, dragging his anchor behind him as the pirate smirked, “You and the mayor of this town are much braver than he is, and the mayor is an adorable house cat for all I care!”

“Come on, Hot Dog! Where are you?! I need some help here!!” the Skyshifter thought to himself, panting as his opponent got closer and panicking internally, worrying about what would happen if Hot Dog did not get back in time. But just as Ironbeard was about to raise his anchor, something unexpected happened.

“FORE!!”

The moment that the walrus turned his head, he was hit by a spinning molten ball that set off an explosive shockwave with enough force to send Ironbeard flying onto his back. The Skyshifter soon realized that the ball was actually Hot Dog as the lava puppy rushed over to him with Rubble Rouser not that far behind.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Some of these guys just can’t stop yapping,” the Fire Skylander told him as Calvin let out a sigh of relief. “You alright there, buddy?”

“Would you count getting slammed by an anchor as ‘alright’?” Calvin asked sarcastically.

“Definitely not,” Rubble himself commented on the matter, “We need to get you patched up, but neither of us have healing skills.”

“I don’t have anything that can help either,” Calvin admitted to his companions, “I don’t have any upgrades on some of my forms that have healing abilities.” He knew that several of the Skylander forms that he took on had upgrades that would heal themselves while in combat or heal their allies. Some examples include Stealth Elf, whose Soul Gem ability allowed for her to restore health over time, Whirlwind, whose Soul Gem ability can have her rainbows heal allies, and the white shaman bear named Zoo Lou, who was a life skylander that had an ability in his ‘The Wild Wolf’ upgrade tree that would have the wolf spirit he called upon dig up food if his health got really low. The problem was that none of those things could help him out in this moment, especially since Ironbeard was right now just starting to get back up.

“Hey, kid, heads up!!”

Immediately, Calvin turned around to see a bipedal cat wearing business casual clothing throw a turquoise colored orb that was the shape of a softball. Upon landing, the top and bottom halves of the orb turned in opposite directions, letting out a cool misty cloud that was the same color as the orb. At first, the Skyshifter was not sure what it was, but began to realize that somehow, his strength was returning to him. His injuries from earlier were also beginning to mend, making it look as if nothing had happened to him at all.

At first, Calvin wanted to ask what exactly just happened and who was the cat he just saw, but that wasn’t important right now. They had a captain to stop, and now, he was ready for round 2. “Alright, that’s just what I needed.”

“Wanting to come at me again? Haven’t you learned your lesson kid? You can’t stop me in those forms that you’ve been using, not even if you got your friends to back you up!!”

All the Skyshifter did was grin, before grabbing his necklace and asking a new question. “Oh, really? You want to test that theory?”

Shortly after asking, dark shadows immediately began to churn around Calvin’s body, startling the walrus as the Skyshifter got on all fours, transforming into the dragon of the dark element as “Darkness Falls!!”

At first when they saw that Calvin was back up and ready to fight, Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders thought that he was going to turn into another Skylander that they had seen him change into before. However, when they saw the transformation that he did take on, Applejack and the Crusaders were caught off guard immediately. “What in tarnations-!?”

“Did Calvin just… turn into a changeling?!”

“What is that-!?”

“Girls, calm down,” Rainbow urged them as all four of them looked back at her, “That’s a form he’s turned into before. It’s not a changeling.”

“It isn’t?” Scootaloo asked, “Then, if it’s not a changeling, then who or what the heck is it?”

“Blackout,” the equestrians now heard Tessa answer their question, “He’s a dragon Skylander of the Dark Element that’s from the Realm of Dreams.”

“Realm of Dreams?” Sweetie Belle then asked, “You mean like the one that Luna ventures through when we sleep?”

“I… don’t know anything about your princess doing that, but if I remember correctly, Master Eon said that he was once part of a dragon clan that was supposed to conjure nightmares for evildoers as a way to make them think twice before committing more evil deeds,” the fox explained to them, “Yet, when they started spreading nightmares far and wide just for fun, Blackout did not tolerate the abuse in power and fought off the creatures in those nightmares himself, one of them being in a dream that Master Eon saw firsthand.”

“Honestly, I’m still having trouble trying to understand something,” Dapper now spoke up before asking the first question that came to his mind, “How the fluff is your friend able to turn into a Skylander in the first place!?”

“Did you see the necklace that he was wearing?” Rainbow now asked, which led to the cat nodding briefly before the pegasus began to fill him in, “The crystal allows for him to change into a Skylander if he repeats one of their catchphrases.”

“That’s… when you put it like that, that’s so fascinating,” the mayor replied back, watching as the two Skylanders and the Skyshifter began to engage in combat with Ironbeard, “Is he the only one that can do that?”

“Technically, they can,” the pegasus said, pointing a hoof towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, “But they don’t have the crystals.”

“We came here because we found out that the volcano here is the only place where we can find them,” Tessa then added, “However, the moment we got here, we got caught up in Ironbeard attacking the city.”

That had the mayor pause, thinking to himself before scratching his chin as he looked back at the group. “Tell you what… If your friend can stop Ironbeard and make sure he never comes back again, we’ll do whatever we can to help you girls out.”

“Y-you mean it?”

“Absolutely. Your friends out there are putting their lives on the line to keep us and our home safe,” Dapper told him as he straightened the collar of his shirt, “The least that we can do is find a way to help return the favor.”

“Rubble, incoming!”

“I’m on it!!” the golem called out, throwing his hammer to block another anchor throw from Ironbeard as Calvin fired off two shadow orbs from the newfound horn on his head and Hot Dog began to pelt him with a flurry of fireballs. Before the battle began, Calvin had to quickly bring both Skylanders up to speed on what he saw the walrus do when he was facing him alone. From there, the three of them had to come up with a gameplan, one that involved taking something that could be used as a weakness and exploiting it.

In the short amount of time though, they were able to figure out that one of Ironbeard’s two particular weaknesses was in fact his weapon of choice. He was capable of a lot of attacks with the anchor, but did not seem to have any kind of fallback plan for if he could not use it, something that Calvin saw firsthand when he was fighting as Thumpback earlier.

The second weakness was not exactly something that he was holding onto, but instead was something he demonstrated: a lack of patience. The longer that the fight dragged on, the more that the walrus was beginning to get frustrated and let his anger get the better of him, which led to him making mistakes and creating openings that Calvin and his companions were taking advantage of. Each mistake they exploit only made him angrier by the minute.

At one point in the battle, the captain’s frustration had him make a critical mistake, one that the Skyshifter and the Skylanders were waiting for. “Grr!! WHY WON’T YOU JUST GIVE UP ALREADY?!!” the captain shouted, throwing his anchor at the ground by Hot Dog’s feet as the dog leaped backwards.

“Rubble, now!”

“You got it!!” the Swap Force Skylander replied, digging into the ground underneath him. As he dove into the soil, a boulder shot up into the air and landed on top of Ironbeard’s anchor, weighing it down considerably and making it harder for him to pull it back with his chain. When the captain couldn’t pull it, he attempted to head towards the anchor and remove the boulder by himself, only to be cut off by a wall of fire that Hot Dog placed in between him and his weapon.

“It’s all you, buddy! Show him what you got!!” the lava puppy barked, just as Calvin began to run towards the chain, starting off as Blackout, but transforming into his imaginator a few seconds later as he began to run up the chain towards Ironbeard.

“Why you-!!” Ironbeard growled, swinging his free hand in an attempt to knock him off, only for the Skyshifter to jump up and land on the walrus’ arm, just before pushing himself forward as Calvin channeled his power into the fist he clenched with his right hand.

“Chew on THIS!!”

As Calvin’s fist collided with the upper half of Ironbeard’s face, the sheer force of his punch sent the captain colliding into a wall, leaving a crater from where the walrus crashed and knocking him unconscious. As Calvin let out a breath, he felt glad that the battle was over, especially since he was able to get some much needed help from both Rubble and Hot Dog.

“Nicely done!” Hot Dog called out, just as the rest of their group joined up with them to congratulate the three of them on their victory, with Rainbow herself even going as far as to declare how ‘awesome’ they were.

Though, it was as they were congratulating them that Applejack thought of something. “So… ah know ya won and all, but are we gonna at least tie them up?”

After her question, they heard the sound of metal snapping as they turned to see Rubble Rouser breaking the chain link that connected Ironbeard’s anchor with the chain that he was holding. “I think I got an idea. Mind giving me a hand with this? It might not be traptanium, but it will be enough to make sure they’re not going anywhere before we have a couple of Trap Masters arrive to pick these guys up.”

It didn’t take long for them to get a hold of someone at the academy since the communication equipment on Flynn’s ship wasn’t damaged, but after informing Hugo of what happened, the scholar was able to get ahold of two Trap Masters to come out to Munitions Forge and pick up both Ironbeard and his deckhand. While the repairs on Flynn’s ship were underway and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were hanging out with Bang and the mayor, Applejack and Rainbow were waiting with Calvin, Rubble and Hot Dog for when the Trap Masters would arrive, wanting to make sure that Ironbeard and his deckhand did not try anything the moment that they woke up.

Fortunately, the trap masters arrived a lot sooner than he expected. Calvin was able to recognize the two of them immediately, since both of them were the two trap masters of the fire element. The first one was Wildfire, a golden bipedal lion who’s weapon of choice was a traptanium shield. The second one was actually Ka-boom, the fire titan that called the Munitions Forge his home and wielded a red hot traptanium cannon. 

Ka-boom himself was actually rather surprised about everything that had happened in his home town for a couple of reasons. First, he did not think that Ironbeard would be so bold… and also foolish, to try and go after the forge again when he blasted away his ships and sent him running last time. The other reason… was the fact that Ironbeard’s attack was not only stopped by Calvin and the two Skylanders that were with him, but the three of them were actually able to take down the pirate captain in combat. If anything, he was actually quite impressed.

Once the Trap Masters started capturing both Ironbeard and Bronze Tooth with their traptanium weapons, Calvin began to turn around and walk back over to where the Crusaders were sitting, overhearing a small portion of their conversation with the mayor.

“So, what was that small sphere you used to help Calvin out?”

“Oh, that? Well, right now, we’re calling it the ‘Medi-nade’,” the mayor answered Sweetie Belle’s question, “Trust me, coming up with a name for it was hard as heck. We tried Medi-bomb, Bio-boom, biotic grenade…”

“That last name sounds cool. Why didn’t you use that?” Scootaloo then asked.

“Apparently, someone already had that name. Some group called ‘Blizzard’ or something like that. The point is, we didn’t run with the name because we didn’t want to get hit with a copyright lawsuit,” Dapper simplified his explanation, before raising his head up and noticing Calvin come on over. “Well, hello. How’s everything going?”

“Good. Ka-boom told me to make sure and tell you he said hi and that he was going to make sure both Ironbeard and Bronze Tooth are going to get their own special cells in Cloudcracker Prison for what they tried to pull today,” the Skyshifter informed the mayor, “Other than that, I think everyone else can agree with me when I say that we need a much needed rest.”

“With the amount of butt-kicking that you were doing today, you deserve it,” Sweetie Belle complimented, patting her hand on the ground next to where she sat and offering him a place to rest.

Of course, as they were taking the chance to rest and catch their breath, Apple Bloom thought of a question that she wanted to ask as she followed suit to sit beside him. “Hey, out of curiosity, what do ya think is going on back home?”

That just made Scootaloo shrug her shoulders for a moment as she looked back at her friends, “Nothing much, I think. I mean, unless if something was raining from the sky back home, then things might seem quiet.”

Canterlot

“Your highness, we have received multiple reports from San Di-neigh-go, San Franciscolt and most of our outposts along the South Luna Ocean that require your attention on the matter.”

“What seems to be the issue, Corporal Sentry?”

“Well, according to what we’ve received, there appears to be… old expired… food raining along the coastline and… polluting the ocean? Apologies your highness, but I… can’t even make sense of what’s being written here. Do you have any ideas on what this could mean?”

“ …I can think of a few possibilities.”