After their meeting with the Dragon Council, Jake and all his guests stuck around so the Rainbooms, Turtles, and Hex Squad could get to know the Isles more and train with Jake in new surroundings.
In the training hall, the group were hard at work training in their specific fields. Jake was flying around working on aerial maneuvers with Haley and Gramps. The turtles, April, Casey, Karai, Shini, and Keno were sparing against each other while making sure Raph or Casey didn't take it so serious they had to starts playing rough. Even Eda and the Hex Squad were working with their fields of magic in combos and tactics against their enemies.
“It's nice the council decided to let us stay a bit longer and train.” Sunset told everyone, as she sparred with Trixie.
“Shame Walks couldn't stick around, though.” Gus voiced disappointment.
“When you work with the EPF, it's a big job.” Karai noted.
“I'm really enjoying this training hall,” Leo admitted while maneuvering with his swords, “A lot of open space to practice.”
“And to use our magic.” Rainbow added, as she practiced with her super speed.
Mikey maneuvered with his chucks before backing up into something. He looked up and saw a statue of the Huntsman, “Whoa, who's this dude?
“That, Mikey, is the Huntsman.” Rose answered, as she stood at the turtle's side while looking up at the statue of her former master.
“That's the guy you used to work for?” King asked.
“Oh, that outfit,” Rarity gasped, “Definitely the look of a hunting slayer.”
“Remind me why you'd have a statue of your enemy in this place?” Raph asked Lao Shi.
“To serve as a reminder why it is important for us to train,” the old man explained, “The same goes with all the other major threats to our community.” he motioned to several other statues of major threats to the magical underworld.
“Whoa, these guys have to be some real nasty dudes to be given a statue.” Casey gasped.
“The worse of the worse, agoo-goo!” Fu Dog confirmed.
“So if this is all your major enemies, where the supposed baddest of them all?” Luz inquired.
“There.” Lao Shi motioned to the statue of the Dark Dragon.
“That's the Dark Dragon?” Fluttershy shivered.
“That's him alright.” Jake nodded.
“He'd definitely fit right in if he lived in Equestria.” April said.
“Yes, he was a formidable enemy to all of us.” Came a new voice as they saw entering was a young Korean woman.
“Who're you?” Twilight asked.
“I am Sun Park, the Korean Dragon. I'm delighted to meet the legendary Rainbooms, Ninja Turtles, and our guests of the Boiling Isles.”
“Well, nice to meet ya, Sun!” Pinkie shook her hands.
“Mrs. Parks was our Home Economics teacher.” Spud explained.
“But she's also my Dragon master.” Haley added.
“So you learn under her like Jake learns under your grandpa?” Spike asked.
“That's right, though both she and grandpa have different methods when it comes to dragon training.” the girl answered.
“Such as?” Donnie wondered.
“Well, Mrs. Parks trained me in a softer approach while giving lessons on trust and peace.”
Jake continued, “Meanwhile Gramps would have me clean a giants teeth and to trust no one.”
“Jeez, talk about polar opposites.” Mikey noted.
“Still both Haley and I learn to be better dragons regardless of how we were trained differently.” Jake assured.
“Everyone does have their own methods and styles of training, and they all work out in their own ways.” Leo admitted.
As Sun talked with he group, Mikey wandered away a bit before noticing another statue which got him concerned, “Uh, dudes! You might wanna see this!”
His friends all rushed over, “What is it, Mikey?” Twilight asked.
“Look who's also part of the council's hall of infamy.” the party turtle motioned up.
They saw placed before them was a statue of Kavaxas, “No way!” Rainbow gasped.
“Kavaxas is part of the top rogues here too?” Raph asked in disbelief.
“How is it possible since he hasn't been on earth since Tiger Claw first summoned him and then his minions?” Karai wondered.
“Well, many had tried before summoning him which in return always ended in tragedy since they didn't have the seal of the ancients to bind him.” Donnie recalled.
“Sounds like Kavaxas did plenty of things to get himself on the Council's radar.” Luz said.
“Given what we witnessed him do, it's obvious.” Sunset replied, before looking over at another statue making her eyes widen, “No way!
“What is it, Sunset?” Fugitoid asked.
“That!” she motioned to another statue of a ram wearing a bell.
“Do you know what that is, Sunset?” Amity asked.
“Grogar!” Sunset and even Leo gasped.
“Who's Grogar?” Mikey asked, as Leo and Sunset face faulted.
“Didn’t you pay attention to Princess Twilight’s story on Gusty the Great?” Leo asked rhetorically.
“Hey, there's only so much I can keep track of!” Mikey argued.
“So how do you know about this thang?” Trix asked the two.
Sunset began, “Well, for one thing, this is Grogar. And he was pretty much one of Equestria's first villains.”
“He's from Equestria?” Edric asked.
Leo nodded, and explained what he learned, “Long before Equestria was ever founded it was merely a collection of farms, until he declared himself emperor of all he saw. He ruled over the land for moons, until he was defeated by a pony named Gusty the Great who robbed him of his most powerful possession. His Bewitching Bell.” he motioned to the bell on the statue.
Sunset continued, “Gusty banished Grogar and since then his name has become infamously legendary. Though why his statue is here confuses me.”
“You don't think he actually came to our world during his time?” Mikey suggested.
“Sounds logical.” Donnie admitted.
“And he must've made an enemy out of the dragon council if they made a statue of him here.” Jake suspected.
“I should mention this to Twilight to keep track of.” Sunset told the others.
“Come, why don't Lao Shi and I show you all around some more?” Sun offered.
“We'd appreciate that.” Luz replied, as they followed the two older dragons around.
They showed them all around the isles pointing out what each area is for, before entering another meeting room. Mikey and Pinkie looked and saw in the room was a giant world map that had glowing marks on certain places in the world.
“Hey, what's that?” Mikey asked the two older dragons.
“This map is what we use to keep track of all magical and supernatural individuals in the world.” Sun explained.
“Hey look, girls, there's Canterlot!” Pinkie pointed out Canterlot on the map.
“Guess that makes sense, with all the Equestrian Magic about.” Applejack noted.
Lao Shi nodded, “Indeed. It should come as no surprise that your city is on the Dragon Council's radar.”
“After all, that kind of magic doesn't get by without our knowledge.” Sun added.
“So what are all these spots in New York?” Casey asked while pointing to some spots on the New York section of the map.
Sun answered, “Well, here a clan of gargoyles reside on the Empire State Building, a Greek demigod camp nestled on Long Island, an Egyptian's magician home in Brooklyn, and three middle school children who battle evil ghosts near Time Square. And that's only to name a few.”
“Amazing!” Donnie exclaimed, “And to think, with all the things we faced in New York, we would’ve noticed magical creatures in our city.”
“Magical creatures are extremely good at hiding and letting you see them when they want you to see them, yo.” Jake added.
“And I thought ninjas were masters of invisibility.” Leo said impressed.
Pinkie spoke up to the Rainbooms, “You know if it wasn't for the events at the Fall Formal, our school probably wouldn't even be on this map.” the girls couldn't help but see the logic in Pinkie's claim.
"So this, Fall Formal you're talking about, what is that?" asked Amity.
"It's sort of a dance," said Luz, "It's where you have to wear a formal attire during the Fall season."
"My, you certainly know your dress code, Luz." said Rarity.
"Heh, I get that a lot." said Luz.
"So what exactly happened?" asked Amity.
"The girls told us about it when we first met them, but not the full version until much later on." said April.
"See, it's like this." said Sunset, " Long before I met everyone here. I was a unicorn in Equestria. Celestia she asked me to make friends. I wanted to. But...I ended up being scared to make one and just left. I ended up lying to Celestia that I couldn't make friends and I kept lying to her ever since. When she found out, and after she showed me the mirror, I later ran away through there and to another world. And during my, ahem, bullying days. Once the portal to Equestria opened, I was able to steal Princess Twilight's crown. But when I came back, I found out the crown was gone."
"How did that happen?" asked Gus.
"It was my fault," said Fluttershy, "I was busy handing out fliers for the animal shelter I work at, but no one took it. When I saw the crown, I thought it belonged to the school, so I gave it to Principal Celestia."
"And my guess the reason for that is because the crown goes to whoever was voted the most for that said person, right?" asked Jake.
"That's right," said Sunset, "Twilight, er, Princess Twilight, followed me to get it back. Her friends wanted to come, but Celestia told her no."
"Why not?" asked Haley.
"Because we were there at the school," said Rarity, "If her friends came with her, then everyone would get confused to which is which, which Sunset would use to her advantage."
"What was the difference between Princess Twilight and your Twilight?" asked Willow while looking at their Twilight.
"Here's a picture." said Pinkie as she brought a picture.
Then they saw two different Twilights, with King saying, "How can anyone not tell the difference? One is pretty and the other is a nerd."
"Hey!!" said Twilight, feeling offended while Spike growled at him.
"King!!" scolded Luz, "That wasn't very nice."
"I'm just saying, if there was another you, I wouldn't be so easily fooled, even if you did wear a different disguise."
"Uh, didn't you one time get fooled when...?" said Eda before being cut off.
"I don't wanna talk about it!!" said King.
"Anyway," said Applejack, "When we first met Princess Twilight, we thought she was a bit weird. Considering the way she moved, the way she acted, and the fact that she knew our names."
"From the sound of it, seeing that she was in a human body the first time, she must've had a hard time controlling it." said Rose.
"Don't forget the fact that by going to a different dimension, they don't follow the same rules." said Fu Dog.
"When I cornered Twilight, I boasted that it was my crown, even when it didn't have my Cutie Mark on it," said Sunset, "I even asked her what would happen if you bring Equestrian magic to the world. And when she didn't answer, I boasted that she wasn't that bright."
"Didn't her Spike make a retort?" asked Mikey.
"A what?" said a confused Casey.
"You know, like a counter," said Mikey, "It would be something like, 'if you're so smart what would you think would happen?' Then again, we don't know a lot of stuff either, considering it's uh...what would always say, Donnie, in what again?"
"In theory," said Donnie, "But he does have a point, I mean not a lot of folks knows what would happen, because in one world you have magic, but in another, there isn't any, only technology."
"And after I took the crown, I put it on and wanted to harness its power," said Sunset, "But instead of turning me into an Alicorn, I ended up slowly turning into a demon monster. It felt...terrifying. I was never so scared in my life. After Twilight and the others freed me, I realized what I did was horrible. And if I had just listened to Celestia, I wouldn't have turned out like that."
"Wait, why did the crown turn you into a monster?" asked a confused Eda.
"Can I throw in my two cents?" asked Fu Dog.
"What is it, Fu Dog?" asked Rarity as the others looked curious.
"See, Harmony is not something to be messed with," said Fu Dog, "It's also a living entity. But in psychology terms, harmony refers to a positive state of inner peace, calmness, and balance, as well as the feeling of being tuned with the world. In the social sciences, it is used to describe a pattern of relationships within a social group and between individuals and their social context. And from what you told us, each of Princess Twilight's friends possess a certain trait. Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness and Laughter. And it was because of that, this allowed her to learn the true meaning. And when they came together, both she and them created the Element of Magic, because she allowed friendship in her heart."
Fu looked at Sunset, "And from what I had to guess, when you put on the crown, Harmony itself had sensed something was off with you. Then it looked through your memories and, in your heart, you didn't possess any of those traits, therefore because of it, you didn't know the meaning of friendship or harmony. Causing you to gain the darker version stored in it to teach you a lesson of sorts. And when you nearly destroyed them, the crown had sensed those traits in them, granting them the power of harmony. And when they purged the darkness away, they also took what was in your heart away, which caused you to realize your actions. Though harmony sometimes destroys the darkness, it spared you because it sensed you weren't beyond saving."
"Hmm, that is true," said Fugitoid, "The Elements of Harmony purged the darkness from Princess Luna and saved Stygian."
"After that whole ordeal," said Sunset as she continued, "Instead of going back home, I stayed behind to make up for my mistakes. But...nobody gave me a chance, only they did." she motioned to the Rainbooms sans Twilight.
"So uh, after that, what happened?" said Willow, wanting to know more.
"Our school was preparing for a musical showcase," said Fluttershy, "But because of the Fall Formal, we ended up attracting the Dazzlings' attention."
"The Sirens turned humans that are part of Karai's Foot Clan?" asked Spud.
"That's right," said Pinkie, "When they came, they sang their songs and absorbed their negativity. But we weren't affected because of our magic. And every now and then we played music, we gained pony features."
"The girls formed the band before the Dazzlings came but," said Sunset as she wanted to change the subject. "But..."
"Don't tell me they didn't want you to be in the band too?" said a concerned, Trix.
"Uh, yeah, because it's my fault." said Rainbow.
"We were able to call Princess Twilight for help," said Sunset, "But the problem was, the portal could open up once every thirty moons, but thanks to her, she was able to open a portal at any time. She came over to help. But...she was so focused on the songs, she didn't know that the girls were arguing."
"You girls argued?" said a concerned Emira.
"What were you arguing about?" asked Edric.
"See, each of the girls were arguing over the smallest things and let it get to them," said Sunset, "Rainbow kept boasting that it was her band and that she wrote songs. Fluttershy complained that she also writes songs, but Rainbow wouldn't play any of it or give her a chance. Pinkie was being, well, Pinkie. Applejack constantly complained about Rainbow and Rarity. Rarity constantly wanted to do our outfits for performances."
Sunset looked at Rarity and said, "And Rarity, no offense, but adding metallic tassels during our audition was a horrible idea."
"I beg your pardon?!" said Rarity feeling insulted.
"Uh, she does have a point," said Trixie, "For two things. One, the cowboy look is more in Applejack's department, because she looks better in it."
Applejack looked at Trixie surprised, even the others.
"Well you do," said Trixie, "You make that look twice as better than anyone else in school, and it fits your style more than anybody."
"Er...thanks." said Applejack as she was surprised by what Trixie said, and she could tell she was honest.
"And second," said Trixie as she focused back to Rarity, "Did you forget what Photo Finish and her band tried to do to you during your audition?"
Rarity winced at that, remembering that time.
"When the girls reached the finals," said Trixie, "The Dazzlings tricked me into trapping the Rainbooms in the trap door of the stage. Which in turn allowed the Dazzlings to absorb their negative energy of their magic."
"When I realized what the Dazzlings were up to, and whilst Princess Twilight was still in despair," said Sunset, "I was able to put a stop to it and told them that ever since they started the band, they let little things get to them. I didn't want to say anything because I was still new to it and still had a lot to learn. And if they don't work things out, the magic of friendship could become something else."
"Dang, girl, that sounds rough." said Trix.
"And I thought we had problems." said Jake as the rest of the AM Dragon team voiced in agreement, same with Luz and her Hexside group.
"We were able to put our differences aside and put a stop to the Dazzlings," said Applejack, "But then we saw Sunset ponying up with us too."
"Then that's a clear sign that because of your strong desire of wanting to help them, and that you understand the magic of friendship, the power of Harmony granted you that power, making you worthy of its bearer." said Fu Dog.
"We were able to destroy the source of their power and we hadn't seen them since." said Rainbow Dash.
"At least until Princess Twilight had a vision about them being involved with our enemy, the Shredder," said Mikey. Then gave a smug look at Leo and said, "And where she also saw our fearless leader in her dreams."
When they saw Leo giving a cough of nervousness and blushing whilst looking away, it gave them the confirmation, causing the guys to laugh, whilst the girls thought it was cute.
"Then came the Friendship Games," said Sunset, "When we were at CHS, Twilight was busy snooping around."
"Wait, you were snooping around?" asked a confused Luz, "Why?"
"Turns out what happened at Canterlot High got her attention," said Spike, "When those two instances happened, she was curious and went over to see what was going on."
"You do know the term, curiosity killed the cat, right?" asked Spud, causing him to be elbowed by Trix, "What, it's true."
"You know, in fairness, you could've just asked what was going on instead of sneaking around like a civilized person." said Spike to Twilight, which she glared, but sighed, knowing that was true.
"When the Friendship Games came along, Vice-Principle Luna asked me to make sure no magic would be involved. But unfortunately I had trouble figuring out and that it would be too much pressure. I tried asking Princess Twilight for help, but she had problems of her own."
"The Time Traveling one." said Mikey, only to be clonked at the back of his head by Raph making Mikey growl at him.
"I didn't want to partake in it," said Twilight, "But I didn't have any other choice because former Principal Cinch had blackmailed me into joining the games because if I didn't, she'd revoke my application to go to Everton."
"Wait, she blackmailed you?!" exclaimed Amity.
"Not cool, dudes." said Jake.
"Glad she didn't go to our school instead of Rotwood." said Trix.
"And being constantly treated like garbage by my former classmates didn't exactly help either." said Twilight.
"They kept on hounding her and breaking her confidence," said Spike, "They didn't even support her during the second event at the games. When Applejack helped her, one of her former classmates said, quote, Good advice from a person you're competing against, end quote. And you had no idea how many times I wished I walked up to Sourpuss and yell at her that at least Applejack was being a more supportive teammate than she was."
"But before I got inside, I made a tracking device that could help me track the so called anomalies, or Equestrian Magic in this case," said Twilight, "However, I didn't know it would take the girls' magic. I wanted to understand it, and I kept making things worse."
"And...I was really horrible to her," said Sunset in regret, "I yelled at Twilight for tampering with things she didn't understand and that she put my friends in danger as a result. I ended up making her cry and run away."
"Not cool." said Haley as the others agreed.
"And I was such an idiot," said Sunset, "I was too focused on what Twilight did to remind myself that she wasn't the same headstrong Alicorn we knew. For back then, our Twilight was overly sensitive, had no friends at her side and her talents meant to be praised only to be brushed aside by her own peers as they were too focused on their own skills. And what was worse, I acted like I did back during my bullying days. I couldn't even apologize to her for scaring her like that."
"That may be true," said Gramps. "However, just as you are fault for taking it out on one who didn't mean to, she was not in the right either. For one should not tamper with things they do not understand. In fact, after hearing about this from the council, I looked at this charm in an alternate world, where they didn't want to tell her. Then she snapped by doing this."
Gramps showed them a hologram of Twilight via charm. "I want to understand how it works," Twilight uttered. "All I wanted was to figure out what it does, how it functions, why it exists...Why can't I just do whatever I want without everyone looking down at me, forcing me to compete in these stupid games, and telling me I can never learn what I want!?" Expressing her anger as she tipped over the breaking point, she didn't notice her hands covered in a dark aura, being absorbed into the slightly opened pendant as it swirled with the stolen magic. Glaring at Sunset, she held out her spectrometer, tears streaming down her face as she was no longer going to be told what to do by anyone. "I'm unleashing this magic, and I don't care what happens as long as I have the brains to finally understand it once I do!"
When it faded, everyone was shocked by what she had said, but not as shocked as Twilight.
"I...I didn't..." said Twilight as she couldn't believe it and looked down in despair, with Sunset and the others comforting her.
"But you did think of it, but didn't want to say it," said Gramps, "Though it is admirable that you want to learn how they function, you also have to learn that there is a reason secrets like this must be kept. For if it fell into the wrong hands, anyone could use it to destroy anything around them. As what the Dragon Council had witnessed when you brought your students over to Equestria, as well as this VILE, if I am not mistaken. Harmonic energies are extremely powerful, that much is true, but such a force cannot be controlled. It is not like some car you drive where it does your bidding, it is a living thing that would only agree to allow you to cast magic, if you are willing to work with it. Hence why we train to harness our dragon powers, if we do not, then our dragon sides would take over and we would hurt those we care about."
"So that's why you kept training me." said Jake.
"And because of the magic," said Fu Dog, "Whatever you did to bring that part out, and the pendant took your magic. Without the girls' traits, the magic that was within it was raw and neutral. When she opened it, it turned her into a monster. And because she didn't understand friendship and only wanted to study magic, Harmony itself mistook it for dark intentions. And once Sunset began to wield it, it recognized her as an element bearer and helped her achieve it."
"So what happened next?" asked Hooty.
"After I was able to free Twilight," said Sunset, "Cinch wanted us to forfeit and thought we were cheating. She refused to accept that it was her fault and threatened to take it to the school board."
"But she didn't exactly have any proof," said Spike, "And because of it, she was fired and Cadence took over. We didn't see her until after that mess with Juniper during a class trip to New York."
"Yikes, you guys have been through a lot," said Jake, "So what happened next?"
"After that the Triceraton Invasion occurred, where we escaped and time traveled to undo what happened. When we succeeded, we went back to our semi-normal lives, and took a trip to Camp Everfree to get a break from the craziness we had to endure," said Pinkie, "And we didn't know the Turtles and our other friends were on the roof of our bus."
"I was busy testing the Kraang's portal tech so we could use it to escape, or go to different worlds, or to visit Princess Twilight," said Donnie, "But then Mikey and Casey jumped through and we went after them. And seeing we had no way back, we had to stay at the camp to keep an eye on things."
"Though it didn't help that the camp was closed to being foreclosed and sold to Filthy Rich." said Shinigami.
"Wait, they were going to shut down the camp?" asked Haley, "Why would Filthy do that?"
"It turned out that Gloriosa, one of the owners of the camp, was getting behind on payments and nearly ran out of funds, so she had to borrow money from Filthy Rich," said Sunset, remembering what she read in Gloriosa's mind, "And when she couldn't pay, he wanted to buy the land and tear it down so he could build a spa there."
"Which is completely ridiculous," said Raph, "Why the heck would anyone be stupid enough to build a spa all the way out of town? That's like trying to build a water park in the middle of the Sahara Desert."
"But during our stay there, Twilight still had some leftover magic," said Sunset, "But she kept being afraid that Midnight Sparkle was inside of her and overtime, the girls and I gained new abilities at the same time. But during that time, other magical disasters were happening."
"And miss genius over here kept overreacting, thinking that she was responsible." said Raph, causing her Leo to bump his elbow against him.
"Raph!!" scolded Leo.
"Well, it's true," said Raph, "It's not our fault she constantly overreacts over everything. I mean seriously, she always over-thinks and overreacts over every single detail just like Princess Twilight does. I mean just because she's smart, doesn’t mean she has all the answers. Sunset didn't hold all the answers to magic related things either, cause she at least reaches out to people. And at least her friends were concerned for her and wanted to help her out, it's not our fault she kept pushing them away. Especially when you gave her those pep talks." Leo sighed knowing even with the pep talks he gave Twilight about not overly worrying, she still found ways to add more stress to herself over the matter.
Whilst Twilight looked down in guilt whilst also realizing how silly she was for thinking that, Sunset said, "But then we found out Gloriosa was behind it. Before the geodes became ours, she used them to become insane with power and take over the camp."
"But thankfully, Master Splinter and the Mutanimals, along with the Dazzlings, came along and we tried to help them stop Gloriosa," said Leo. "Afterward, Twilight became a full-time ninja."
"But during that time, we each went on our own spirit quests," said Pinkie Pie, "Sunset fought against her darkness, Rainbow fought against Kraang Subprime, Applejack fought against Rocksteady, Rarity fought against Lord Dregg, Fluttershy fought against Bebop and I fought against Armaggon."
"And it was quite messy and...icky." said Rarity in disdain, which caused the others to roll their eyes at this.
"After that, we helped them save Camp Everfree and made sure Filthy Rich never bought it." said Sunset.
"It was...also before Splinter died." said Leo in sadness, with the others feeling that way too.
“I'm terribly sorry to hear that.” Sun sympathized with them.
“And since Camp Everfree, we've all been dealing with other magical shenanigans or joining the turtles in other dimensions and places.” Applejack explained.
“Wild!” Luz gasped.
“It's a living.” Rainbow answered nonchalant.
“And now that council's decided to start looking into dealing with more than magical threats to the world, we'll be doing ten times more good not just for the magical community but for the regular community as well.” Jake added.
“It's as you said, times are changing, and while tradition is important, we too must grow and change with it.” Lao Shi reminded.
Jake smiled, as he looked all around at his pals, the Turtles, the Rainbooms, and all their friends smiling and nodding in agreement. Things were definitely going to be different once they beat Chang and her two partners.