Righting wrongs.

by Sylif Daring Doo


Tired and exhausted.

______*The Crystal Empire's Capital, Dark Spyro's POV*______

A few minutes after I ate with Tempest and talked to the Princess, I place my clawed hands on the door to leave the castle and push it open, the door gives me little resistance for its size and I walk forward into the cold air of the Crystal Empire.

I take in my surroundings with my overworked eyes, the people of the city are still hard at work trying to fix things up so that they can return to a normal life, I look to my left and see that Tempest is looking around as well, I blink and look forward before taking a few steps in that direction and heading further into the city, I hear Tempest following behind me but say nothing to her.

As I walk I happen to spot Twilight's friends Rainbow Dash and Applejack checking something out, I raise an eyebrow but make no effort to converse with them as I continue walking, I know for a fact that I have no destination in mind but I need a distraction. "So Dark Spyro." I hear Tempest say behind me, her tone was level but I have a feeling that will change soon.

As we turn a random corner the griffon speaks again. "Would I be right to assume that whatever you saw when you were asleep is the reason you're walking around right now?" Tempest asks, her voice holds concern and worry and I swear I hear a hint of pity in there.

"Yes and no." I reply instantly, I turn to look at the griffon as I stop walking, the strained look on my face causes Tempest to recoil a little. "While it is true that I don't want to experience that vision again, I also noticed a few upsides to being awake!" I say with an amount of energy that catches me off guard, but I don't linger on it and continue talking without paying any attention to the concerned griffon. "My mind is clearer than it has ever been, a lot of things that I didn't use to see are clear as day!" I say with a grin that I am certain isn't maniacal. "So long as I stay awake I am certain that I'll be able to find a way home in no time! what's a few days to years of unbearable agony when I can figure out things that no one else can!?" I state energetically before resuming my walk.

As I walk I hear Tempest's claws walking on the road behind me, some part of me is trying to tell me something but I can't for the life of me understand it, so I decide to ignore it and keep walking, not paying any attention to where I'm going and simply enjoying a walk.

I breathe and take in the cold air of the Crystal Empire and I inwardly smile, I feel my expression change to a thoughtful frown as I contemplate why I suddenly feel at ease. 'Let me see, intense burning in muscles? check, eyes stinging in absolute pain? check, wings unresponsive at worst? check, migraine that I can't get rid of and feels like molten metal? check, magic depleted and constantly on the verge of collapse? check, sense of dread? nope.....oh.' I shrug and brush off my thoughts, for some reason I feel like I need the sense of dread but I can't figure out why, so I put that on the back shelf and go about my walk in silence.

As I walk in silence, I let my thoughts drift aimlessly again and fail to notice the lack of a certain griffon, I keep on walking for what feels like an hour before I stumble across the house that I had Cosmo hide in while Sombra was in power. "Huh, that's a bit weird." I mutter before moving on.

I look up at towards the sun and the first thing I notice is just how much time has actually passed, I turn to face the castle and start walking towards it in the hopes of finding something to do, as I walk I idly greet and reply to the few citizens who speak to me, saying hello or wishing them a good evening as it was now close to night.

As I make my way back to the castle I swear I spot a dark figure dart across the roof of a building, I stop and stare for a moment and see nothing before shrugging and continuing my walk.

"Weird." I say to myself.

______*Three days later, The Crystal Capital, 3:09 AM.*______

Sunset Shimmer could not sleep, not that she didn't want to sleep but she found herself incapable for some reason, she didn't know why but it was beginning to bother her greatly.

She was laying on the bed in the same room she had shared with Dark Spyro, Cosmo and Tempest their first night here, they were here once more but with the exception of Cosmo who was with her family working on moving to Equestria, they would be back either tommorow or in a few days to work on a few final details they needed to handle in the Crystal Empire before finalizing the move.

The sleeping arrangement for the three of them was incredibly awkward on the first day, Dark Spyro didn't really care either way because he said he was staying awake anyway even though he was currently under the covers, Tempest's face grew even redder at the idea of getting in bed with him but the dragon in question didn't seem to notice.

Sunset herself was unsure of how she felt about it, but she did come up with a compromise once the possibility of them all taking the floor came up, that was after Dark Spyro said he would take the floor while the mare and griffon took the bed, Tempest then stated that she would take the floor, saying that Dark Spyro needed to get some actual sleep and the bed would help with that, Sunset tried to say she would take the floor since the other two needed it more than her, and then Dark Spyro stated that they should all take the floor, to which Sunset finally came up with her idea.

And it worked, it alleviated both Tempest and Sunset's concerns and now Dark Spyro seemed to finally be able to sleep, the arrangement that was agreed upon was that Dark Spyro would take the main blanket on the left side of the bed, Tempest took a small spare blanket from the closet and laid on top of the main blanket with the spare covering her on the right side of the bed, Sunset herself laid on the far end of the bed under another small spare blanket and a spare pillow.

The arrangement was awkward at first but Sunset could not deny that it was comfortable, the only problem was that she couldn't sleep, it wasn't over a guilty conscience for one thing, as she had gone back to the human world two days ago and settled things, she told Principle Celestia that she wasn't going to be attending anymore and that she was going home, which was true, she confronted the five friends she split up and revealed what she did, and while she did get a bruise or two and yelled at, she felt a weight lifted off her shoulders, and while the students at Canterlot High were skeptical of her, she at least tried to apologize.

When she finally left the human world, she brought back her personal journal and left the rest, she spent the night at Canterlot Castle and talked to Princess Celestia most of the night, the following morning Celestia improved the enchantment on her book to also include one that Twilight carried, so now Sunset can send messages to Twilight if she wants, so long as she makes sure to include her name, the same for sending messages to Celestia, after the enchantment on the book was changed, Sunset returned to the Crystal Empire.

And now here she was, wide awake on a comfortable bed with a sleeping griffon and a dragon who was probably wide awake, unable to sleep for reasons she couldn't understand, she sighed and laid her head on the bed, she closed her eyes to try and sleep again.

This of course proved to be a fruitless endeavor because she lay still with her eyes closed for about ten minutes, she opened her eyes and inwardly groaned in frustration, she pushed the covers off and sat up, she looked over at Dark Spyro and Tempest and she had to hold back a laugh at the sight as she learned something new.

Apparently Tempest is a cuddler, as she was now right next to Dark Spyro on his side of the bed, she had her arms wrapped around him and had her beak resting on his neck, Sunset mentally thanked her sudden insomnia for helping her eyes to adjust so she could see this, she smiled and felt a little sad that she didn't have a camera, she shook her head and teleported off the bed, now standing at the foot of the bed the unicorn walked to the door, intending to do some reading in the library.

"Sunset?" Dark Spyro's voice spoke up.

The unicorn stopped and looked over her shoulder and saw the dragons red eyes staring at her, they seemed to glow in the dark, Sunset walked over to Dark Spyro and whispered. "Yeah?" She asked quietly as to not disturb Tempest.

The dragon sighed and his expression changed to a sad one. "I need to tell you something......it's something I haven't told anyone and I want you to promise not to tell anybody." He said, his voice was quiet but guilt was clear in his voice.

"I swear, I won't tell anybody." Sunset promised before motioning for the dragon to continue, curious as to what is on his mind.

Dark Spyro sighed and was silent for a few moments before speaking in a hushed tone. "I'm not who I said I am." He began with a guilt filled voice. "I lied to everyone so they wouldn't think any less of me." He went quiet for a moment and then continued. "I'm not Spyro's brother........I'm his evil half." He stated hesitantly, he then refused to look Sunset in the eye.

Sunset blinked and took a moment to process this information, it took a minute before she was capable of speaking without it coming out as gibberish. "Can you explain that?" She asked quietly, being rational instead of emotional right now while maintaining a bit of curiosity.

Dark Spyro was caught off guard of course, but he complied with the request. "An evil wizard named Strykore was freed from his prison and at the same time, Spyro was captured and later taken to him, Strykore drained Spyro of all of his good nature and in that moment I was born." He stated, Sunset did not fail to notice how he avoided the topic of Spyro's capture.

"I joined Strykore, swearing allegiance to him, after capturing a warrior named King Pen, I went undercover at the Skylanders Academy, my mission was to find the location of the Core of Light and I managed to throw off all suspicion whenever it came up." Dark Spyro explained, though his voice was filled with regret. "I'll just skip ahead and say that I started to care about the Skylanders and eventually I betrayed Strykore, but he intensified my evil nature and I was literally driven mad, I attacked my best friend to keep her from telling the others and I almost killed her." He took a shaky breath, the memory being a very painful one.

Sunset was stunned but kept silent as the dragon told his tale. "I managed to come to my senses before I could do so, which led to the map to the Core of Light being unlocked.....but that's not very relevant right now." He paused to breathe. "I was captured and taken back to the Academy, I remember being able to see what was going on, but I felt my madness taking over and I basically couldn't control myself, they gave me a potion that cured me of the darkness and Spyro was reborn." His expression became a mix of confusion and regret. "Somehow I gained my own body and I attacked the original Spyro, I lost to him and almost died in the fight." He concluded before looking away.

Sunset was silent for a few minutes and so was Dark Spyro, she could see the pain in his eyes from what he did and she eventually sighed. "What will you do if they show up? the Skylanders?" She asked out of curiosity.

"I'm going to accept their judgement, whatever it may be." Dark Spyro stated instantly.

Sunset took a deep breath and spoke quietly. "Then I'll support your decision." She said. "We might not have known each other long but you helped me to realize my mistakes so I could correct them, I owe you this much at least." She said before walking to the door to leave the room.

As Sunset reached the door and opened it, she heard Dark Spyro speak. "Sunset.......thank you." He said quietly, to which the unicorn nodded before leaving the room and closing the door.

Unbeknownst to the dragon, Tempest's eyes were open the entire time, she had heard every word.

______*The library, two hours later.*______

Sunset Shimmer sat in a corner of the library, she was reading up on local history and creatures, the library was large and filled with tall bookshelves, the carpet was dark red and the walls were enchanted with an illusion to appear as spruce wood walls.

There were barely any lights in the library aside from a few lit candles, Sunset had entered the library and found that some of the candles were already lit up, she found it strange and when she called out she got no answer, so she found herself a quiet corner and lit up a small lamp that was nearby.

Sunset was about halfway through her book when her ears perked up to the sound of books falling over, she lowered the book and stood up, she lit her horn up and walked towards the direction of the sounds, she turned a corner and saw a small walkway between two bookshelves, there was no one there and no fallen books, she raised an eyebrow and walked deeper in the library, searching for the fallen books and possibly the source.

Sunset walked out of the small walkway and looked around, she stood in a more open area with nothing in it except a desk at either end of the library, she started towards the entrance of the library and looked in the areas between the shelves, it took until the second to last shelf near the entrance but she spotted a stack of fallen books, she sighed and walked up to them.

When she neared the books, Sunset grabbed one with her magic and found that it was an atlas. "Hmm." She set the fallen books on the shelf counter and walked back to her corner to read, as she walked Sunset could not help but wonder what knocked the books over.

Sunset thought on this up until she returned to the corner and set about reading her book, she decided to ignore what had happened and just focused on what she was doing. "It was probably nothing anyway." She muttered.

_____*Three days later, The Crystal Empire, Tempest's POV, 2:17 PM*_____

I am currently walking around the city with a happy expression on my face, I had been very excited to discover that some of my feathers were growing back and that excitement carried over to breakfast.

Though one thing that constantly plagued my thoughts was a strange smile on Princess Cadence's face, I couldn't understand what that was about and an attempt at asking yielded no results whatsoever, instead the Princess just gained a look that said she knew something but was having fun keeping a secret.

I quickly put that thought aside though as I walk around the city, at first I was going to join Dark Spyro as he greeted Granite, Silver and Cosmo but I decided against it, mostly because I didn't want to intrude and though I won't admit it to anyone, curbing the dragons more recent......antics, was draining In of itself.

Two days ago, Dark Spyro was found hanging off the highest tower upside down, apparently he had been up there for an hour and was trying to 'brainstorm' a spell to make a portal to the Skylands, this was promptly cut short as he lost his grip and Sunset had to bring him inside much to his protest, and now the dragon is banned from that tower.

Yesterday Dark Spyro figured that if he could generate enough electricity through his lightning, he might be able to revitalize himself back to full strength, he called it 'shock therapy' but thankfully I was able to convince him not to do it by saying that he was more likely to kill himself with that method.

I may not know him very well, but I do care about Dark Spyro, hearing him tell his story that night made me realize just how much he regrets his past, it took some time to get used to the idea but I was able to push past what I learned, I focus on who he is now and not who he was, the one thing I am grateful to his seemingly increasing madness for is that he didn't notice how I avoiding talking to him for the last couple days.

So as I walk through the city I allow my thoughts to fade away as I simply enjoy a quiet walk, I greet a few of the citizens and even hold a conversation for a few minutes before continuing my walk, I walk past a sweet shop before I feel my ears perk up, I stop and listen as I hear Dark Spyro talking loudly.

Curiosity fills me and I walk in the direction of my friends voice, I find an alley and enter it, quickly ending up on the other side, I look to both my left and my right and spot Dark Spyro on my right side talking to.......the air?

I raise an eyebrow and watch as he passes me, he walks to the castle and continues talking to whatever he sees in the air. "And I told you, I'm not doing that! so stop trying!" He shouts, ignoring the looks of concern and worry from the nearby ponies.

I stare for a few moments before going after him, I keep my distance but watch him closely just in case, deep down I know that he wouldn't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it, and I know that this may be betraying his trust but I have a feeling that I should do this, I don't know why but I decide to go with it and keep an eye on my friend.

I watch him the entire time he walks to the castle and his argument with whatever he sees only seems to worsen, at least until he reaches the last of the buildings leading to the castle, Dark Spyro pauses his walk and looks to his right when he gets about seven feet away from a building, his eyes widen and he gains a shocked expression before he shakes his head, thankfully I'm close enough to hear him. "Great now I'm hallucinating, that's all I need." He grumbles before walking to the door.

That statement makes me worry as I walk out and look in the direction that Dark Spyro looked in, the only thing I manage to see is Cosmo running around a corner, she seems to be talking to someone but I shrug. "Must be her family." I say before returning to my walk around the city, hoping that Dark Spyro doesn't try to do anything while he's alone.

Deep down, some part of me groans in disappointment, knowing perfectly well that in his state, the dragon is liable to do anything without any supervision, I just hope that he doesn't try to hurt himself.