In a pleasant grassy meadow on the edge of a floating island, itself at the very fringe of the mysterious airborne archipelago, a historic meeting was taking place. A purple drake and a flame-feathered hybrid faced a pair of unicorn mares, the smaller, enthusiastic one keen to play the role of Equestrian ambassador to the Cloudbreaks, while the larger, butterfly-winged mare listened with cautious optimism. Behind the ponies, at the edge of the island, floated the scarred bulk of the EAS Harmony, the storied airship that had carried the Equestrians through the storm wall. Fully half the crew, including her acting captain, hung over the rail or hovered just over the deck, staring at the encounter and straining to hear the conversation.
"Hey there, uh, unicorns!" the purple dragon had begun, his tone casual and his expression friendly. "It's ok, don't be scared! We aren't going to hurt you. Quite the opposite, in fact!"
"Oh! Well, great!" Summer Scribe bowed respectfully. "We don't want to hurt you, either. Would you like to do introductions?" She didn't even have to do any negotimancy this time?!
'Holy crap. Finally some creatures that don't think they're sheep, goats, deer or whatever! These creatures got it right! About darn time.' Azure thought. "The opposite, you say?" Were they thinking of an alliance? This was almost too good to be true...
"Introductions?" The dragon cocked his head. "Oh right, you've been cut off from Skylands for a really long time, haven't you? Can't blame you for not hearing about us." He chuckled. "I'm Spyro! Legendary purple dragon, leader of the Skylanders, greatest hero of the realm, six-time vanquisher of Kaos et-cetera et-cetera. Pleased to meet you at last!" the dragon said cheerfully, still grinning. "And, my friend here is Sunburn, mythical phoenix-dragon-monster-roasting-teleporter-supreme! Isn't that right Sunburn?" he added, elbowing his companion.
"That's me." the griffon-like creature said casually. "Roasting monsters and toasting bad guys, satisfaction guaranteed." He winked at Azure Feather, still hovering just behind Summer.
The Skylanders... the legendary heroes depicted on the shrines they'd found, and spoken of in the documents Blue Type had translated. This was their leader?! Azure was most definitely impressed; she nodded encouragingly to Summer, before turning to Sunburn. "Roasting and toasting... sounds like a good time when you're on a battlefield."
She chuckled, hoping she could share a little warrior's camaraderie with the strange draco-griff. "Name's Azure Feather, this is Summer Scribe. You're half-right with 'We've been cut off from the Skylands for a while'... I'll let my friend explain the rest and introduce herself." So much for letting Summer do the talking; she just couldn't resist.
'Cut off?' Summer thought. 'Well, I guess that's one way to say: we never poked our heads into the death tornado before because it was a stupid idea, and maybe we should have listened'. "Yeah, we crash landed here pretty recently... it's been three weeks ago, I think?"
Then her eyes began to widen with realisation. "You're a Skylander? Wait wait, leader of the Skylanders?" Oh Celestia this was big. "Oh gosh! Umm, it's an honour, Spyro! And a warm welcome (ha-ha) to you too, Sunburn!" She bowed again, lower this time! "As for us - we are ponies, from Equestria - what we call the land beyond the Storm Barrier - here on a mission of exploration and scientific discovery. But it's, uhh, been side-tracked a bit by our crashed airship, drow attacks and other misadventures. Still keeping at it, but we're looking for all the help and friends we can get in this world!"
She flashed what she hoped was a winning smile. "And yes, I'm Summer Scribe... in effect, I'm the lead diplomat and archaeologist after some, uhh, loss of personnel on the way here. So! What did you come here to discuss?"
"Equestria, huh? Sure, I'd love to be friends, Summer Scribe! Cynder told me all about you guys, but she may have left out a few details..." Spyro smiled apologetically. "Cynder's very... dedicated, but she can be a bit, uh... intense? It sounded like might have, kinda... made a bad impression?" the dragon suggested, cocking his head.
Glancing back at the Harmony, Azure noticed roughly half the crew hanging on the deck rail, anxious to see how first contact with these formidable-looking dragons would go. Their opinion wasn't her primary concern right now. Here was the leader of the Skylanders, and right next to him was probably one of the biggest reasons sensible creatures did not mess with them. To the eye of a royal guard, Sunburn had an unmistakable air of a creature who'd seen a great deal of combat, and was ready for more at any moment.
That alone was impressive enough, but... he was a rather striking creature as well, with his lean form, intense eyes, a wingspan to rival a hippogriff and plumage that seemed to glow with inner light. But... Sypro was speaking of the other dragon, the one that invaded the ship. "I couldn't tell you myself," she said simply, "I was off on another mission at the time." No sense in saying more than that.
"Hmmm... made a bad impression is the half of it!" Summer agreed. Finally she knew the mean dragon's name: "Cynder straight up snuck aboard the ship and tried to kidnap Nutmeg with no explanation or negotiation. That's not how you should do things!" It turned out attempted kidnapping was a pretty easy thing to stand your ground on. "That's my grievance with her though, not with you, so... nothing to worry about."
The various creatures watching from the ship looked at each other nervously as this sore point came up. They were all hoping that Summer wouldn't screw this up badly enough that they'd end up defending against a double dragon attack after all.
They needn't have worried, as the purple dragon just chuckled. "Oh I'm not worried, Summer... do you mind if I call you Summer? Or do you prefer Miss Scribe?" He smiled again, before holding a claw to his chest, staring off into the distance and saying gravely "...I mean, as the group's leader, I'm responsible for everything the Skylanders do, and that means you should be mad at me for anything Cynder screwed up." Then he made eye contact and gave Summer a big toothy grin. "But I'm sure we can work things out! Misunderstandings happen, right?"
"That girl is all about the mission," Sunburn added smoothly, looking at Azure. "Spend long enough fighting bad guys, and you can kinda forget how to be friendly, you know what I'm saying?"
Summer Scribe perked at Spyro's response: "Mmmm, Summer works! Oh, uhh, I can try to be mad at you, I guess." She scrunched up her muzzle, but... totally failed! "Yeah, no harm, no foul, right? And it'll be a load off of my chest to not worry about Kirinnappings in the future."
Meanwhile Azure Feather looked stunned as Sunburn's words penetrated right to her core. How long had he been around, for her to be an open book to this strange avian? After looking lost in thought for several seconds, the winged unicorn finally replied: "Certainly one way to see it. Friendship's such a big thing back home, too." Princess Twilight herself was probably the biggest proof of that.
"Right, yeah don't worry, Cynder won't bother you again." the purple dragon said, shooting his companion an unreadable look. "So... drow attacks huh? They're not too tough individually, except for the goliaths and they're rare, but... they never come alone... and some of 'em are packing pretty serious magic as well. Caused a lot of trouble over the years, I can tell you."
"Sneaky little creeps." Sunburn nodded. "If you see one, you can bet two more are skulking about, waiting to ambush you."
Summer wasn't personally responsible, but... she couldn't help but take it as a point of pride: "We took one of their airships!" She was actually puffing out her chest at that.
Azure nodded. "Yup... I was leading that mission, actually. Nuisances, annoyances, and not just to us, either... and if you're saying they wield dangerous magic, we haven't been seeing the same calibre of drow. But I'll believe you without question there." Then looked to her companion and smiled. "We did take their ship as a prize. Might not have made it out if we hadn't." Then she was back to sizing up the Skylanders; Spyro tried to hide it, but she was sure he was well beyond veteran status too. Likely either of them could give her old Lieutenant the fight of his life, she thought.
"Heh, you sure did!" Spyro said, giving the copter parked nearby a long look and acting like he's just noticed it. "Nice paint job. Though if I were you, I'd be careful flying that thing around; a lot of people are gonna assume you're drow, no matter what colour it is."
"Those little ones are cannon fodder: one good hit and they drop out of the sky. Or just blow up." Sunburn said dismissively. "They save the magic, and their serious troops, for the big ships."
Summer Scribe pouted at that. "Great, so we're not even worth taking seriously yet." Or... maybe they just hadn't found them yet. That was simultaneously relieving and terrifying? More terrifying, given that they didn't seem to have any way to de-escalate the hostilities. "So, what do we do? How do we keep from being wiped out exactly?"
"So you're saying, it was the right call to run like crazy the moment we noticed that flying man-o-war coming after us." Azure concluded with a nod. "We don't have close to the firepower needed to deal with any of the larger threats. Not to mention we're not... in the best of states here, ourselves." Her smile faded as she looked back at the battered and scorched EAS Harmony. Her thoughts went to the medic's situation: ugh. Not something she was proud of, that one.
"Your ship took some hits, that's clear." Sunburn said. "Fought them off though. I bet that big weapon on the bow can do some damage."
"Hey now!" Spyro glared at Sunburn. "What my... friend, means to say, is that we totally take you seriously! And we'd totally like to help! It's just..." The purple dragon put a claw behind his neck, like a much larger, scalier version of Summer Scribes's signature gesture. "...we're kinda spread really thin out here, and I'm hoping we can make this more of a mutual assistance sort of thing."
Summer Scribe smirked: the familiar line coming back to roost. It was like looking in a mirror! "Well, sure: what kinds of things can we do for the Skylanders? Surely you've got everything covered already?"
"I wish!" Spyro replied with another chuckle.
"So we're both short of capable crew?" Azure remarked, nodding. "If we can get back on our hooves, we may be able to help, but what do you need?" she asked, curiosity rising. Morale would definitely soar if they could get some fighters like this on their side!
"So look... the Skylanders, we keep the peace, take down monsters, lock up super-villains... at least we used to." Spyro explained. "It all kinda... got away from us lately, 'cause there's just so much chaos out there... that's the C-kind not the K-kind, which is something at least, but... yeah, what was I saying?" he smiled cluelessly.
"The mission?" Sunburn grunted.
"...riiiight, so look, the top priority for the Skylanders has always been to defend the Core of Light." Spyro enthused, before deadpanning "Which... you've probably never heard of, right?"
"...Nope!" Summer Scribe had that forced smile signifying total, dwarfing ignorance on her face. "...What is it?"
"The Core of Light?" Azure echoed, even more curious now. "Sounds like a big deal, more than anything we've heard about in these islands so far. If your primary mission is to defend it, it's gotta be pretty important to say the least. Care to explain?" she said, looking eager for his answer.
"Sure thing! So the core, it's pure awesome, that's what it is! Or was, I suppose." The dragon sighed, looking down. "Yeah, so basically it's a giant, magical machine, designed by the ancients and combining alllll the power of alllll the elements inside. The core has the power to dispel the darkness, all across Skylands. That means keeping out, uh... extradimensional entites? Dark gods? Eldrich magics that threaten to destroy our very way of life?!"
"Shoots a nice big beam of glowing doom as well, if any giant creature of darkness gets too close." Sunburn winked at Azure again. "After we upgraded it to the original specs."
"So you need additional hooves, additional fighters to boost your numbers and help you better defend it against the bigger threats?" Azure ventured a guess, hopeful it'd be this easy... but then they were struggling against just the drow. Even if they could hold it off, what if something the Skylanders considered a serious threat followed them back to the Harmony's hiding place?
Spyro smiled at Azure's enthusiasm but shook his head. "No, no, I can't ask you to do that, and besides our best defence is keeping the core hidden. If the trolls or the mabu... or even the giants, or... well anyone really, found out where it is... let's just say everyone's looking for an advantage these days."
For her part, Summer Scribe simultaneously loved and was piqued by the concept something called 'pure awesome'. Hyperbolizing to the extreme! "Wait, the Skylands are under attack by extradimensional forces?" She gawked: maybe 'pure awesome' was a lowball, if anything. Sounded like they were in way way over their heads, if that's the kind of threat this place had to deal with. True, Equestria has its own god-tier problems, but... "So you built a giant laser to blow them up? Wow!" But also, geez!
Summer's concise summary elicited a brief laugh from Spyro. "Yeah... I guess we did! Three times actually, after Kaos broke the first two. But... look, we had a lot more resources back then. Dozens of Skylanders, including a whole crew of tech elementals." He sighed. "The Skylanders are a much smaller group these days, and we don't have any techies left. Which means... we've got no way to fix the Core of Light this time. So Skylands is wide open, and I'll bet that's behind all this chaos and conflict we're seeing everywhere."
Azure was blinking, considering the implications of Summer's words. "Wait... maybe it's a problem with the Core itself? That other dragon, Cynder, wanted to kidnap Nutmeg, our chief Engineer... and those ponies can make some pretty crazy devices... maybe all this is linked?" she suggested, looking from Summer back to the Skylanders.
"You got it." Sunburn nodded to Azure. "Top priority is to fix the core, guess Cynder thought she saw a way to do that, nothing else mattered."
Summer Scribe perked again, smiling at Azure's astute guess. "Well, I mean, this sounds like a really big deal! Should we get Nutmeg out here?" It would've been nice if Cynder had told us all that before, huh?
"Perhaps if we explained the situation... they might agree." Azure considered. "We tend to be a helpful kind, and the Core does sound interesting, but kidnapping attempts, well... obviously they'd make anypony wary. I suppose I'm not telling you anything you don't know already." She turned to Summer. "What's the plan: coax Nutmeg out here, or perhaps the faster option would be to invite these two onto the Harmony?"
Summer Scribe nod-nodded. "Yeah, sure! Wanna check out our airship, Spyro?" She waved a hoof, tying to co-opt the local parlance: "It's, uhh, not quite as presently 'awesome' as you might be hoping for, on account of it having crash landed. But long term we hope to fix that!"
"I'll go get the shuttle?" Sunburn asked, looking at Spyro and half-spreading his wings.
Azure blinked for a moment, as she silently repeated the words. "Get the shuttle... your ship?" She shared a glance with Summer; what in Luna's stars had they just gotten themselves into?
"Yeah, go for it." Spyro responded. He watched Sunburn leap into the air and flap off towards the forest, before turning back to Summer. "Sure Summer, I'd love to see your ship! And you can see ours! Might have a little present for... uh... so is 'Nutmeg' your tech elemental?"
Summer Scribe nodded again, "Nutmeg Inferno. She's pretty good with tech, but I don't think any of us knew she was a tech elemental." Though she had been having suspicions... "Regardless, she's the best kirin for the job: if any of us can help, it's her. Anyway, right this way; just up the gangway!"
"She's our Chief Engineer; can't confirm if she's a tech elemental, but if not she's the closest thing we have to one..." Azure said, before nodding to Summer. "You stay with the dragons, I'll go find Nutmeg." The winged unicorn was soon airborne, heading to the rear of the ship and the upper entrance to the engine room... hopefully the kirin would still be in there.
Spyro followed behind as Summer trotted up the gangplank. "And you've got... northern griffons, nice! Hey there griffs! And... not-unicorn... ponies?" The purple dragon waved a claw cheerfully; he was a head taller than the biggest crewmembers present.
"What makes a gryphon northern, exactly?" Summer idly asks, before correcting: "Earth ponies." Spyro didn't seem to hear Summer's question, entranced by the crowd of colourful, chattering ponies.
Set Sail had the crew gathered in a loose semicircle at the top of the gangplank, but not blocking the way. These were very definitely not baby dragons, Set Sail thought. She gulped and stepped forward, saying up to the friendly looking purple one, "Hello, uh, Spyro and... oh your friend isn't coming? Never mind... welcome to the EAS Harmony. If you don't attack or foalnap anypony, we're happy to have you here. Celestia knows we could use a few friends around this place."
"Hmm, yeah, where did Azure get to... Wait, isn't Nutmeg locked up in the engine room?" Summer mused. In all the excitement she'd forgotten! "Might be, ah, hard to reach her right now, eheh..."
"You know it's right over there," Set Sail said a bit mystified at Summer's reasoning, gesturing with a wing at the stern, "We should go tell them it's safe. You can just knock."
"Hey, thanks, definitely not here to attack anyone!" Spyro gave Set Sail another of his charismatic grins. "The... Harmony, huh? Impressive ship you have here." With that he looked away, staring intently at the indicated door.
Indeed Azure Feather had found the iron hatch to the engine room closed tight, no sign of anypony or kirin outside of the belly of that behemoth of an engine. She rapped a hoof on the metal, shouting "Nutmeg? Are you in there?"
The engines seemed to be active, with the hiss of steam, the whine of turbines and a weird continuous hum coming from somewhere behind the door. Over all that the unicorn heard Nutmeg's voice call out faintly, "What!? Are they gone yet?"
"They? If you mean the dragons, they're friendly and one of them would like to see you! We may have allies!" Azure replied in an excited voice. It took a lot for the ex-guard to lose her cool, but the prospect of teaming up with such potent allies was enough for her to be buzzing.
"Hold on, don't open the door!" Nutmeg called back, "I have to wind down the turbines!"
"You got it! I'll just wait here, whenever you're ready!" Azure replied. This could really be the break every creature needed, she thought. Perhaps even the Skylanders.
The humming noise progressively slowed, then quieted, before the great door creaked open just enough for the little red-ruffed kirin to poke her head out. Her eyes immediately went wide at the sight of the big purple dragon standing in the middle of the crowd of crewponies: "...hi?"
Azure nodded with a smile, before stepping aside to let Nutmeg take the stage. This was no longer her talk, but she'd be ready to answer any questions should the conversation return to tactical matters.
"Oh, thanks!" Summer had been saying, "Though I can't take any credit for it, obviously." The ship had a long history, after all! Nopony seemed to be paying attention though, so... she just stood by Spyro and watched Nutmeg emerge. "Hey, say hi to our new friend, Spyro!"
The kirin had disappeared back inside, but could be heard shouting, "C'mon gimme a hoof here!" Two other ponies joined her in pushing the big door fully open, whereupon the three of them spilled out onto the deck. In the middle, Nutmeg blushed beneath her dark fur, saying, "Yeah, uh, heh heh... the last one of you dragons kind of... zapped my whole crew with some kind of weird breath weapon, so I... guess it was kinda silly to think you'd do that too."
"Hi there Nutmeg!" Spyro gave his usual cheerful greeting. "Yeah, look... no, that's not silly at all. Kinda sensible in fact!" He sighed. "So I've come here to say... I'm soooo sorry about that whole 'kidnapping' thing. Like I was telling your friends, Cynder just gets carried away sometimes, like everything is do-or-die, my-way-or-the-highway, no-room-for-compromise... you know what I mean? Not the dragon you'd pick, if you knew it was gonna be a... first meeting, not a fight with some raiders." As he spoke a rushing, roaring noise came from somewhere towards the far end of the island, along with a faint whine, slowly growing louder.
"We haven't seen much but raiders, I'm afraid," Set Sail said regretfully, "It's been a long three weeks."
The roaring sound got Azure's full attention. "This must be... their ride." she mused to herself. She couldn't help but envision some grand airship making even that drow battlewagon look tame by comparison; she was soon flapping over to the railing, trying to get her first look at the approaching 'shuttle'. Summer Scribe trotted over as well; after a moment of instinctual worry, she realised what was happening and looked on with interest.
"Oh, that must be the shuttle." Spyro said casually, before adding: "No need for alarm, it's not like they're gonna do a strafing run!"
Soon enough, a gleaming red shape popped up over the rim of the island; perhaps a little smaller than the Second Chance, it has an egg-shaped central body flanked by short, rounded wings reminiscent of a manta ray's. Its hull was formed of smooth, glossy, dark red metal adorned with shining golden detailing. Three pods recessed into the wings and tail held the engines, which began to pivot upwards as the craft smoothly swooped down over the meadow and slowed to a hover.
The flying machine hung in the air for a moment with its bulbous front facing the Harmony, as if it was a strange metal creature sizing up a rival. Then it unfolded struts from its underside and settled to the ground, the sound of the engines and the intense wind they had produced slowly dying away. Sheep ran in every direction, bleating their objections to this latest noisy visitor.
Nutmeg Inferno wasn't the only one of the three, now five engineers crowding through the doorway out of the engine room, staring open-mouthed at that miracle of aeronautical science. Summer Scribe was gawking as well, her jaw hanging open. It looked so fancy, like it was a precision made piece of art! "Woooaaah, This is your ship?!"
Azure Feather's reaction was more restrained: she knew the Skylander's transport would be a piece of work. "Solid. The Princesses would love a look at this one." she stated, smiling and nodding towards the ship.
"Oh, that old thing, yeah it's good for these little scouting trips." Spyro said dismissively. "Got it as a free gift for completing an alien's survey questions, if you can believe that!" He grinned at Summer and cocked his head, as if daring her to take his word for it.
With a faint hiss, the entire upper front section of the red ship's hull rose up and slid backwards, revealing the crew cabin within. Two winged creatures sat within: at the rear was the firey feathered form of Sunburn, while the pilot was an unfamiliar blue-and-white creature. Both leapt out of the cockpit and glided down to the ground, heading to the rear of the craft where they extracted a sizable crate from an unseen compartment.
The two then headed for Spyro, giving the ponies a good look at the newcomer. To all appearances she seemed like a cross between an alicorn and a dragon; she had the long spiralled horn, elegant feathered wings, expressive furry ears and rear hooves of an alicorn, but the clawed forelegs, spiked tail, plated belly and sharp snout of a dragon. Her body seemed to be covered in equal amounts scales, feathers and fur, in various shades of light blue.
"How does it... but it's... that's just magic right? How... what..." Nutmeg doesn't seem to notice the unidracornapus as she and the other engineers continued to gaze at that ship's smooth crimson exterior, trying to divine what was within.
"Magic?" Spyro frowned. "No, it's all Tech. You know fusing elements together is pretty tough..."
Summer Scribe squinted at that... She had questions, but felt like she might be blundering into a trap, so she relented. "Huh. Neat!" Her attention shifted to Sunburn and their new feathery friend. Wow, fancy beyond fancy! "Hello!" she called out, "Might we get your name?"
The blue creature pranced lightly towards them, while Sunburn followed some way behind, lugging the crate. She stopped at the bottom of the gangplank, wings slightly spread, as if posing for the benefit of the various creatures assembled on the deck.
Set Sail stepped forward, well okay a few of her crewmates gave her a bit of a boost and she kind of stumbled forward. In any case she approached the beautiful princess of a dragon, saying, "...hi." Shaking her head, the pegasus adds, "Welcome to the uh... EAS Harmony a-and..." she blushed to silence then.
"Hi Spyro!" the blue creature said, in a breathy, high-pitched voice. "And greetings to you, winged unicorn!" she told Set Sail. Her smile is somewhere between Spyro's careful lip-curl and a griff's beak-gape. "No need to be shy! My name is Whirlwind." She gave a little chuckle. "We've got a little present here, to make up for Cynder being so mean to you!"
"Oh, Whirlwind!" Summer Scribe bowed low! "My name's Summer Scribe, and..." She perked, looking to Nutmeg. "A present? For her?"
Azure's attention quickly shifts from the ship itself to its new crew member. The feathered... dragon... alicorn... goodness, she had no idea whatsoever as to what she was, but Set Sail's stumble made Azure act as she quickly moved to the captain's side, before bowing to Whirlwind. She smiled a little at the mention of a present; might be something nice for Nutmeg...
"O-oh, how... nice?" Set Sail said, a little startled by yet another dragon's friendly demeanour. Cynder really must have been the exception, in these lands! "You don't have to make up for it. You two are some of the nicest creatures we've encountered, and that's thanks enough! But I'm sure we'd be grateful for anything you wanted us to have."
"You're too kind!" Whirlwind responded, with a gracious nod of her head. "Come on Sunburn, get a move on!" she called out.
The firey bird-dragon glared at her for a second before lugging the heavy crate up the gangplank. He looked around for a second, trying to work out who the lucky engineer is, before giving up and just saying to Azure "It's all yours. Let me unwrap it for you." With one nonchalant claw movement he popped the lid off the crate, revealing a mass of shining metal parts inside. To the untrained eye it looked like a random assortment of small pipes, gears, cables, lenses and oddly shaped bits of metal, all brand new.
If there's one pony in the entire crew that had no real idea how technology worked - especially Skylander technology? - Sunburn had found her on the first try. Azure blinked as she saw this... shining assortment of craftwork. Her reaction said it all: "This looks pretty darn special, and thank you! I... just have no idea what it might be..." The winged unicorn turned to Nutmeg, who would definitely know what this was... while she had absolutely no clue.
Summer Scribe was leaning in to get a closer look... but her look of interest gave way to confusion. "What is this? It's just stuff." she said, ignorantly.
The engineers, on the other hoof, were getting more excited by the second. "Is... that a dual isolating anemometer?!" Nutmeg declared, clattering up to peer into the box in shock, "How did you get these lenses so exact? These gears are... Gearshift!" she called over her shoulder, prompting the recently-healed stallion to stumble forward. "These are the perfect size for our elevator assembly!" she told him.
The dapped stallion reached in and pulled out what looks like a piece of duct, asking: "What metal is this? It's so light! Can this withstand high temperatures?"
"We can probably use this to patch up the firebox," Nutmeg declared, pulling out an assortment of metal sheets with her hooves.
Sprocket dived in then, saying, "And look at these threaded pipes! And... wow look how magnetic this little thingy is! Oh oh and a four-gimbal gyroscope! I can recalibrate the..." They all seemed pretty excited about this little present the dragons have given them.
"Sooooooo...." Spyro began, waiting for Nutmeg to pay attention. "...yeah, as I was saying, we've got the core of light and as you can see, we've got plenty of spare parts... but we don't have any tech elementals." He gave her a hopeful look. "Which means we don't have a clue how to fix it... and that leaves Skylands without its best and frankly only defence against the Darkness."
Summer Scribe gawked. Okay, Team Engineer sees the hidden value in this assortment of random parts. Fascinating! Shouldn't have even opened her mouth. She looks towards Nutmeg, to see what she'll make of the dragon's offer! Meanwhile Whirlwind had been prancing around the deck, basking in the attention from the crowd of creatures there, while Sunburn looked on, apparently unimpressed.
"Oh, it's a wonderful coincidence!" Set Sail said happily, as Spyro stared at the thoroughly distracted and rather unresponsive Nutmeg and co, "We've needed spare parts for the repair of our ship since coming here. Did you know? Your Cynder must have seen the state of our ship, when she was... here last, and this is just the bee's knees!"
Azure couldn't help but smile at the happy engineers. Give them shiny new metal parts and it was like Hearth Warming's Eve for these ponies. But then comes Spyro's critical question. The guard knew this: if Nutmeg accepted, this could be the break the entire crew of the Harmony needed. But there was still a bit of worry in her eyes as she trotted over to Sunburn. "Hey... I know this is a lot to ask, but your crew wouldn't have... a medic, would they? We've got one of our crew, our own medic, in... pretty bad shape. Wondered if you could maybe help him..."
"Medic?" Sunburn looked thoughtful. "Healers... the life elementals used to take care of it. None left now. Just the fighters, sorely missing our support. Although Whirlwind..." he looked at the blue dragon-alicorn, expression unreadable "...sorry. Don't think we can help you there."
Azure looked hopeful for a moment as Sunburn mentioned life elementals... but that hope quickly died as he mentioned they were gone. "Both squads in the same boat. Gotcha." she stated sadly. "Worth a shot. Thanks, Sunburn. And thank you for the parts. I, uh... can't pilot an airship to save my life, heh... this is at least somewhat my fault." she admitted, thinking back to that abortive landing attempt.
Summer Scribe had overheard and quietly made a face: oh geez, they're out of healers? That was seriously inconvenient for every... creature. She squinted at Whirlwind, and looked vaguely sad: 'Guess we're back to figuring the medical situation out ourselves!' she thought.
Meanwhile Spyro was still smiling at Set Sail. "Hey, all I know is that tech elementals just love a pile of spare parts," he said, "Of course that's just an appetiser. If your friend Nutmeg can fix the core of light, then she's welcome to any parts left over! We've got quite a collection you know; been picking up anything that looks useful for some time now, hoping to find a techie to put it all together."
"Sounds like you don't have many of you left at all," Nutmeg suddenly saod, having quietly left the create to walk over to the dragon, the other engineers in tow. "What happened to you all?" she asked in unusually heartfelt sympathy.
The purple dragon looks away, staring out into the sky. "Oh, it's a long story..." he said, in a sad, quiet voice. Several seconds passed, before he summarised: "Things just kinda went crazy, you know, after the cataclysm? Too many creatures fighting over too few resources, all scared, confused, leaderless..." Then the cheerful tone returned: "But I've gotta feeling that fixing the core will be the start of turning things around!"
"So you need someone to fix some sort of incredible machine?" Nutmeg asked thoughtfully, "We're in pretty dire straits here, but I'll vouch for any one of my crew. I'm sure we could spare enough time for a few of us to come take a look at it."
Summer Scribe frowned in sympathy at that! She was hoping that they hadn't signed up to a death sentence by crash-landing in a war-torn hellhole... but if Spyro's got confidence, she does too. Perking up, she nodded: "Yeah! So, are you taking just Nutmeg to see it, or is this an anyone-can-go event?"
"I'd love for you to see it Summer, but you gotta understand, if we lose that core, that's it." Spyro said gravely "Right now the only thing protecting it is a few Skylanders... and the fact no one knows where we're hiding it. So if Nutmeg wants to bring a friend or two to help her fix it, that's ok with me, but I can't reopen the sightseeing tour until it's fixed. And... we clean up a bit. Maybe repaint the atrium, you know how it is when you haven't had guests for a while..." he joked.
Summer Scribe giggled politely at that. "Okay! I totally understand it's super important. I probably shouldn't be running off just to gawk, anyway."
"That and I don't know how many unicorns we can squeeze into the shuttle." Sunburn interjected. "Tree-Rex and Swarm both crammed in, way back when, but I think his bees were nesting in his knot holes by the time they got out."
Azure remained quiet, but as Nutmeg volunteered a few of her crew, the butterfly-winged unicorn couldn't help but think that it's not her crew that Spyro's needed help from; it was Nutmeg herself that the dragons were so interested in...
"Well, I mean it doesn't have to be me," Nutmeg said in a nervous warble, lifting a foreleg shyly, "I bet Sprocket and Gearshift could do it twice as good as I could, if they work together."
"Oh, are they tech elementals too?" Spyro asked Nutmeg casually, examining his claw.
Blinking, Nutmeg Inferno asked, "What's a tech elemental?"
Summer Scribe pondered, trying to piece together what a tech elemental is, but... why not hear it from the source? So she just looked at Spyro, interested.
By this point Whirlwind had absorbed her fill of attention and was prancing back over to Spyro. "Why, elementals are creatures connected to the elements, silly!" she answered. "Just like I'm connected to the very air we breathe and the mysterious, unrelenting powers of the storm!" She held out a foreleg and tilted her head back, striking a dramatic pose. "Tech elementals tap into the collective unconscious of all engineers and the spirits of progress and innovation! How else would they make impossible gadgets on a whim?"
Summer Scribe shot Nutmeg a grin. "I gotta say, that does describe you to a T. Starting to make sense, isn't it?"
Backing up, the kirin stated in blushing anxiety, "Oh I... I don't think I'm... anything like that I just... I mean... I never made any i-impossible gadgets on a whim. I thought you just wanted to fix your machine, not... have some special legendary engineer of progress and innovation. Kirin aren't even... I mean... we're all good engineers, but..."
Azure nodded quietly. This entire thing with the dragon attack all makes sense now... and the smile's quickly starting to fade from Azure's face. Nutmeg's hesitation prompted her to speak up. "Nutmeg, I think those in charge named you Chief Engineer for a reason. The entire crew is solid from top to bottom, but you're the Chief. You're their leader. You're the best we have."
Summer Scribe smirked, adding "I've seen you do wild things from top to bottom. The makeshift bird catching trap, the model airplane, your wrench and railgun, your work on the pyramid. You have an uncanny knack for the stuff! It's beyond just being good, you're amazing!"
With sudden intensity, Spyro stared at Nutmeg and declared "Yeah... Cynder was right about that part. You are a tech elemental." Then he grinned and looks away. "But hey, no pressure, right?! I'm just asking you to take a look, do what you can. I mean yeah, the fate of all of Skylands is hanging in the balance, but..." he sighed "...who knows, it might just be broken beyond repair." He caught Nutmeg's eye again and smiled weakly "Only one way to tell, right? If you like a challenge, I mean."
Placing a hoof on Nutmeg's back, Sprocket said, "Don't sell yourself short, chief! I know I've had nothing but an incredible time working with you. Maybe you are one of those legendary engineers. They're just ponies too, after all." Her back pat turned a bit awkward, as she winced and added, "Err... in a matter of speaking."
"Maybe these creatures just don't know a widget from a gizmo," Gearshift postulated, with a friendly nuzzle on the other side of Nutmeg's bountiful ruff, "We could all be tech whosa-whats-its, and it's just normal for us. Plus you know I'm not gonna let you do it on your own. Let's just go with it for now. See what happens."
Sighing, Nutmeg acquiesced on both counts, saying, "Yeah, you're right." She lifted her branch-horned head and looked up at the big purple dragon, saying "Okay, if you think I'm some sort of special... tech whats-it, like... that windy thing that Azure can do, then me and Gearshift can both try to use our... super magical engineering powers to fix your stuff. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, right?"
"Yeah, I'm not asking for miracle! Well... actually I am asking for a miracle. But just a small one!" Spyro winked at Nutmeg. "Yeah, no, it's ok. Just do your best, that's all anyone can ask for. Anyone who isn't a jerk, I mean." He smiled again.
Summer Scribe gave a gentle nervous 'ahaha' at the polite request for a miracle. 'I guess that's Nutmeg's problem to figure out', she thought!
"Well, you wanna get our stuff?" Nutmeg asked Gearshift, "You were always better at thinking of what we might need to take along."
Saluting, he answered, "Right away, chief!" and trotted off in the direction of their tool cabinet, workbench and such in the engine room.
"Wow, that's great!" Spyro said, grinning broadly. "Pack whatever you need into the shuttle, if it gets too full we'll just fly behind."
Azure nodded softly, before trotting over to Nutmeg. "You be safe, alright? You and everyone else." The smile on her face was gone; it seemed to be back to the mission with her. Yet the blue unicorn mare paused, waiting for anything the Chief Engineer wanted to say.
Summer Scribe nodded in agreement with Azure, cheering and pumping a hoof! "Yeah! Good luck, Nutmeg!"
"Awesome!" Nutmeg declared in a rare burst of confidence, doing a little hop on the way to the dragon's ship, "Let's get fixing!"
"H-hold on a sec!" Set Sail declared.
Summer Scribe perked up, and turned to the captain. "What's up?"
Looking from Nutmeg to the dragons, the dark brown pegasus stated, "You can't just... leave us without our chief engineer without a... I—I mean the gift is appreciated, but how do we know she's going to be safe? I mean yes Gearshift is with her, but... what if you just disappear, and we never see you again!"
Azure took pause at Set Sail's intervention, looking to Spyro and waiting for his response from.
The dragon's leader stared at Set Sail with an unreadable expression for a second, before the easy smile returned. "Hey, no, I completely understand! Sure, I'd be nervous, if some strange dragon came in like she was about to kidnap someone, just a few days back!"
"Look... how about, one of us stays here with you? As a... guest! You can take whatever, uh, 'precautions' you feel are necessary, to make sure they stay until your friend is back. Not that you need to, 'cause we'll have her back before you know it, but you know... anything that makes you feel better is fine with me!" He gave Set Sail another of his cheerful grins.
Summer Scribe wasn't quite clear on the logistics of a friend swap. Buuuut... it would mean they had a Skylander on their side... which was to say a native dragon she could bombard with questions... so she looked enthusiastic! "What do you say, Set Sail? Seems like fair trade!"
Eyes widening in surprised realisation, Set Sail said, "Oh! Well. That would be fine! Not as a... a prisoner or anything. As a guest, yeah! And just you know... w-we really could use a little bit of help with our defence, and a creature who knows these lands well... I mean not that we'd impose or anything. S-so you're going to stay with us then?" She gazed hopefully up at the big nice friendly purple dragon.
Azure's smile seemed to return at Spyro's suggestion. "You ask me, that's not a bad idea. The Skylanders get what they want, and we may all need by the sounds of it, and the Harmony's crew get something we sorely need right now: somepony... somedragon who knows this place like the back of their hoof and can fight with us as well..."
"Hey, I'm flattered and if that's what it takes... then I'm game, buuuuut... that would leave my team in a tight spot without a leader, you know?" Spyro said sincerely to Set Sail. "Sure you wouldn't prefer Sunburn or Whirlwind to help instead? Whirly seems quite popular with your crew!" He gestured at the pair; the alicorn-like Whirlwind was surrounded by a group of eager pegasi, trying to explain what 'connected to the mysterious, unrelenting power of the storm' meant, while the griffony Sunburn had wandered off to the railing and appeared to be scanning the treeline for any possible threats.
Face falling, Set Sail blushed, stammering, "O-o-oh I didn't know you were the... I mean of course you would be heh... heh... uhm..." she looked frantically among her crew members for thoughts, Summer and Azure among them.
Summer Scribe chuckled at that! "Yeah, you have important business for sure, Spyro. I think we can take Whirlwind: what do you say, Azure?"
Azure's response was a smile and a shrug. Hey, some time talking with a true Skylander fighter - Sunburn - would be a welcome change, but Whirlwind seems more of the knowledgeable type, if she's to judge... if the Pegasi would stop acting like she's some superstar singer for a moment... sigh. "I'll go with the Captain's decision in the end."
"Yeah, I don't want the blue one," the gryphon Grenelda called out unappreciatively, "We already got a windy pony. Plus she looks super fruity." A pause before the hen was looking around at her horrified pony crewmates, asking, "...what!?"
Summer Scribe blink blinked! "Eeexcuse me?"
Even Azure turned around at Grenelda's sudden and unhelpful opinion... "Hey, hold on a second... not cool, you know?" She definitely looked uncomfortable at that remark: they couldn't afford to anger their new allies!
"I'm just saying she looks like a blueberry!" Grenelda protested, her tone indignant.
"What?!" shrieked Whirlwind, spreading her wings. "How dare you! Don't you know who I am?!" Mist began to coalesce out of the air over the deck as tiny sparks started to flicker around the draco-corn's pinions, while her horn lit up with a colourful, pulsating glow.
"Wait wait wait!" Summer Scribe said in exasperation, jumping between Whirlwind and Grenelda! "I think there's just a misunderstanding here! No one needs to blow anyone up today!"
For her part Grenelda tried to hide behind Summer Scribe, looking up at the angry dragonicorniuni and stammering, "Y-y-yeah! What she said!" Considering she was a lot larger than Summer, the tactic was not very effective.
Oh, for the love of Celestia... Azure's eyes went wide at Whirlwind's anger, and that spell looked like something she didn't want to get hit by, but seeing the gryphon cower... there was a very large part of her that just wanted to tell Summer to get out of the way... but she has to do her job, protect her crew. So instead she ran over to stand by Summer...
"Whirly, no!" Spyro began, but Sunburn was faster. In a flash of heat and light he disappeared, reappearing almost instantly in another burst of flame, right in front of Whirlwind. "Stand down!" he shouted, in his gravelly voice. "Remember why we're here! You wanna be like Cynder?!"
Whirlwind screeched and glared at him, then at the group of creatures surrounding Grenelda, before turning and taking wing, flying back to the Skylander's ship without another word.
Azure had been staring down the dracocorn, just about to warn her off before Sunburn interfered... and the dragon left in a huff. "...Damn it! Seriously, Grenelda, you have to know better and not insult a dragon... a Skylander!... especially one we're trying to have as an ally!!" she protested, her voice full of frustration.
A shaking Summer Scribe let out a sigh of relief. "That was close." she said sheepishly, giving a nod of thanks to Azure before suddenly notices there's a small fire flickering on her nose fur. Eep! She patted it out before anyone could notice, only slightly singed.
"And now we've angered a valuable ally and maybe even their entire squad. Damn it all." Azure didn't even return Summer's glance, instead glaring at Grenelda before heading to the railing.
"Heh, well, that could've gone better." Spyro walked over to the phoenix-dragon. "Thanks Sunburn. Looks like you've earned yourself a vacation in ponyville." Looking around, he noticed the smouldering deck "...assuming it doesn't burn down, uh... sorry do you guys need help with that?" Fortunately several crew members were already dumping buckets of water onto the deck, putting the fire out with a practiced and somewhat resigned ease.
After a few seconds of staring out towards the horizon, Azure turns to Spyro. "I apologise for Grenelda's remarks. We're still new to these lands, relatively, anyway, and not every creature here knows of the Skylanders' existence... before today, anyway. I just hope... Whirlwind isn't too angry with us after that one..." There's still some residual frustration with the griffoness, that much was as clear as the sun being warm.
"Great... he can... burst out of flames, anywhere..." Set Sail muttered to empty air, kind of standing stiffly in place after Sunburn teleported, "No more kirin fire, now just fire fire. Just great. No problem..."
Grenelda was busy talking with Gustus in low tones and pointedly avoiding looking in the direction of any of the dragons, acting as if nothing at all happened out of the ordinary. This was how gryphons apologised.
"Don't worry about it, Azure." Sunburn said. "Whirly can get a bit full of herself, 'specially after meeting her fans. She'll calm down. Myself, I prefer honesty to flattery."
"Then I hope you won't mind a Twilight Guard wanting to know some tricks of the trade for fighting here in the Skylands." Azure chuckled. "I know a star in battle when i see one."
"Happy to have you, Sunburn!" Summer Scribe bowed low, still feeling a little sheepish. "Just... Be careful what you set on fire! S'made of wood, you see."
Down in the meadow, Nutmeg Inferno hadn't paid much attention to posturing griffons and unidragons. She tutted over Gearshift's overly pessimistic decision to bring everything but the kitchen sink again, despite her vote of confidence earlier. Between the two of them, they loaded up with some heavy saddlebags, most of the weight on the heftier earth pony, full of hammers, screwdrivers, screws, gears, various and sundry.
As they climbed aboard, the fiery yet calm Sunburn stood stoically by while Nutmeg's crew, and most of the ship's crew stood around the dragon's ship, waving farewell as Nutmeg and Gearshift turned and waved back. At last the tools were packed into the cargo compartment and every other free space in the shuttle. With a sullen Whirlwind piloting and Spyro occupying one of the passenger seats, the kirin mare and pony stallion were left to huddle together in the sole remaining (albeit giant-sized) seat.
The canopy closed, sealing them in, but an immersive projection of the surrounding meadow flickered into life, almost as if it was transparent. The turbines spooled up and thrust the little ship into the air, Whirlwind again piloting it quickly and smoothly away from Blissful Pastures. As the craft continued to accelerate up into the transonic regime, a being possessed of supernatural hearing might just be able to make out two screams, one of joyous excitement and one of pure terror, over the roar of the afterburners kicking in.