//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: Crazy Planning 
// Story: A Dragon's Wake 
// by Cold Spike 
//------------------------------//

It had been surprisingly quick to get Trixie back to Twilight's library unnoticed and unprovoked. A simple illusion spell shielded her from everypony else and soon she was sitting indoors, sipping tea comfortably. Spyro sat at her side. Meanwhile, Spike and Twilight sat on the other couch.

"You want to put on a show?" Spike asked Spyro with a raised scale. It was during that moment that Spyro realized that dragons did not actually have eyebrows.

"Yep!"

"With her?" He pointed to Trixie, his tone sounding unsure.

"Who else?" Spyro asked back seriously.

Spike looked up to Twilight who gave him a firm nod and a wink. "And you want me and Claws to be assistants?"

"Yes, a good show needs more than just two working on it. I do require your assistance." Trixie said after placing her teacup down.

Spike wasn't sure how to feel. On the one claw, Twilight wanted to help Trixie and he did love Twilight. On the other claw, Trixie had changed Rarity's mane without asking. He had conflicted feelings for sure and Spyro asking for help did not change much. He didn't hate the drake, but he was very weird for sure. He tapped his fingers on the side of the couch over and over, lost in thought.

"Spike." Twilight snapped him from his thoughts. "What do you think?"

He looked into Trixie's eyes, watching her smile slightly. "I think you should apologize to Rarity!" he snapped.

"To whom?" She raised a brow, knowing full well she probably deserved an apology but not who Rarity was. Trixie was looking at Twilight for help, who had her eyes closed.

"Rarity would be one of my friends. You changed her mane color without asking and she ran off I believe. Ring any bells?"

She had wronged many ponies, but it wasn't difficult to remember. After all, Twilight's friends had defended her when Trixie was showboating. "Alright, I can apologize to your friends. Then will you help? Spike?"

He had his arms crossed, but he nodded. "I guess."

Twilight considered this and then nodded. "Alright, I can go gather them and get this out of the way. You all stay here. I should be back pretty quickly." She trotted out through the door and slammed it shut.

"Now what?" Spyro asked.

"We plan for m… our show. Spyro, I believe you had some ideas?"

His mind went crazy thinking about the possibilities. Video game, movie and comic book characters buzzed past his consciousness while he desperately tried to organize his thoughts. Finally, he began to scratch the back of his neck nervously. "Well… how many things from my head can you illusion on stage?"

She coughed. "Maybe a few. For it to be a clear and believable illusion, you need to be thinking about it and focusing."

"Hmm…" He tapped his claws a few times on the couch. "Can you do more than a few if you had more than one dragon or pony?"

"No, that would require another one gifted with magic to help me on stage," she said dismissively.

"What about Twilight?" Spike suggested.

"Humph, she would need to learn my spells for it to work."

"She's a quick study."

She pouted even deeper. "Not just anypony can do the magic that I can!"

Spyro stuck out his claw and recounted the runes in his head and then her hat vanished. Trixie looked up and then back to the strange dragon who was smiling.

"Uh huh, it looks so hard," Spike replied sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and made her hat visible again. "Fine, she can help out too. But the point of the show is to have the town accept me."

Spike stood up from the couch and walked over to a cup of gems and popped one in his mouth. "I think you’re gonna need more than a show to earn the town’s trust."

"And why is that?" she asked harshly.

"You're going to need the town’s trust to even put on a show, specifically the mayor's. She runs the town and gives out the permits," he pointed out after popping another gem.

"Blasted permits…" she muttered under her breath. "Are they difficult to acquire?"

He laughed. "For you, probably, yes."

"Great." She slumped back into her sofa and sighed.

Spyro remained silent for a few minutes, listening to Spike munch on gems over and over. "I have an idea, but it's kind of stupid."

Spike swallowed his last gem and looked at him. Trixie did the same. "Well, what?"

Spyro smiled slyly and began to speak.





Trixie and Spyro stood on top of a balcony, overlooking Ponyville. Her illusion spell held up fine. Behind them they could see the mayor working diligently. "This is either insane or stupid."

"I said it was stupid."

"Well, I'm desperate. We need to hurry before Twilight gets back with her friends. You ready?"

Her horn glowed brightly and Spyro's form shifted. He became taller, darker and was dressed very oddly. "Well, at least you look somewhat intimidating."

Without warning, he jumped through the window while opening it quickly. The mayor jerked back and gasped. "Who are you?!"

"Silence Earth- Equestrian! My name is Darth Vader!" He paused and watched her eyes widen in fear. "I am an extraterritorial from the planet Vulcan!"





They were walking back in silence. Trixie held another spell over the both of them. Spyro was whistling quietly to himself while Trixie was simply content to remain shocked. Right before they re-entered the library, she had to speak. "Spyro, how in Luna's name did that work?!"

Spyro looked down at the permit that held Trixie's name, the permit that would grant her permission to host another show, and shrugged. "I saw it in a movie once. It worked then."

She blinked. "Must have been some movie."

"Yeah, I wish I had a time traveling DeLorean."

She sighed. "You are one we-"

"Weird dragon. I get it!"

She looked at him and was surprised to find him pouting. Then she looked to the other residents after de-shielding the spell from just him. They either all looked away or stared on. He must be tired of the attention. I don't blame him. She cancelled the spell and levitated him over to her back. "If you were anything but weird then I wouldn't have found you so interesting. Now, c'mon before Twilight throws a fit."

He smiled and hugged her neck. "Okay!"

They opened the door to the library and trotted in. "Oh, Trixie, good. Spike was just telling me how you… How did you put it Spike?"

They saw Twilight and five of her friends all sitting down on the couches. They both noticed all six of them had their eyes closed and looked calm enough.

Spike was busy nervously placing his claws together over and over. "I said she was… out… trying to get a permit to put on our show."

"We did!" Spyro raised up the permit and waved it about.

"How?" Twilight asked calmly.

That's where Spyro clammed up.

"Uh…" Trixie said.

"Did you perhaps freak out the mayor and threaten to melt her brain?" Twilight asked, again calmly.

"…" She wanted to say something, but then stopped. Over on the couch, she watched Spike nervously munch on a few gems, which was funny because she knew his bowl had been emptied earlier. Traitor "Maybe, but technically he wasn’t the one who said it." She pointed to Spyro.

He gasped. "No, it was Darth Vader!"

The two began bickering, which eventually shifted to unrecognizable phrases from Spyro and screaming from Trixie before Twilight called out. "Enough!" Her tone seemed bent on rivaling the Royal Canterlot Voice.

The two clammed up instantly and looked down at the floor. Rainbow, of all ponies, flew up from her seat and stepped slowly over to the paper clutched in Spyro's claws. She looked it over and then whistled. "Well, as dumb as that plan sounded from Spike, it did work. Almost like a prank, heh." She looked back at her friends, but nopony was smiling. Then she switched back to Spyro and spoke in a stern tone. "But I am still very disappointed in you!"

He raised his claws and pointed them at her, remembering something she had said about never ticking him off back in the castle. "Get those things away from me!" Rainbow called out, while dashing behind a couch. He snickered to himself and shaped his finger and thumb into a gun and blew on it.

Twilight was not looking amused in the slightest. She sighed, though, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Trixie…"

How do ponies pinch things? Spyro thought.

"Y-yes?"

"After you apologize to my friends…"

Trixie looked at them, who all held frowns or scowls.

"…you will then tell the mayor the truth and hopefully she won't make our situation worse. Got it?"

"But we already have the permit," she pointed out. "Why rock the boat?"

Rainbow, who was flying in the air, shrugged. "You know she has a— Woah!" She was yanked out of the air by Twilight's magic and given a glare. "You should apologize to the mayor!" Spyro noted that Rainbow seemed somewhat afraid of unicorn magic in general, not just his.

"Very well." Trixie stood up and walked to the center of the room. "Last time I was in Ponyville we all had… encounters and I was… less than civil to you all."

Rarity, despite her insistence that she was in fact a lady, actually growled under her breath. Rainbow, to the shock of everypony, remained quiet.

"I am truly sorry for what I did. And…" She trailed off and looked back to Spyro who waved her to go on by pushing his claws out. "I could use more friends. Can you all forgive me?"

Fluttershy stood up and smiled. "Sure."

Applejack did the same. "Ah shoot, fine. Ah was all set to let ya have it too. But sure."

Rainbow Dash looked over to Spyro. "If I say no is he going to use those on me?"

Twilight’s glare intensified to the point where the most dark and dangerous creatures from Tartarus would whimper in fear. Rainbow wondered for a split second if that's' where Twilight came from.

"I mean... sure."

Rarity stood up and met Trixie eye to eye. "I'll trust you for now and remain neutral, perhaps even friends."

"Oh good. I—"

"But touch my mane again and they won't even find that hat of yours where you will end up," she said quietly enough for only Spyro and Trixie to hear, seething in anger.

Trixie gulped and nodded.

"Wonderful!" Rarity beamed and went to join her friends.

Pinkie Pie bounced over to Spyro and gave him a hug. "Oh, Son, you did a good deed by helping Trixie."

"Um, thanks."

Then Pinkie's face matched Twilight's in what could only be described as cute anger. "But that was awful what you did to the mayor! No cupcakes for a week! Or desert, or…" She stuck her tongue out to think. "Playing pranks!"

"Okay," he said, sounding confused on that last bit.

Twilight coughed a few times and then Pinkie gasped. "Oh, and first thing first, as soon as we figure out what day first thing is on, you are going to school!" she announced.

"Hmm, okay!" he said cheerfully.

Trixie smiled as well but then was instantly dragged off by Twilight. "Come, let us assess the damage with the mayor."

Trixie gulped and agreed.





After three hours of constant yelling, bickering and finally arguing, the mayor slammed her office door shut as Twilight and Trixie walked away. Twilight was giving Trixie a comforting smile that wasn't helping in the slightest. "Well, look at it this way, she did say you can still perform as long as we are overseeing it."

"I have three weeks of community service at an elementary school of all places," she said bitterly. "Trixie is not happy."

"Better than being arrested. And what's so bad about school kids?"

Trixie noticed that Twilight almost always had an air of positive attitude about her, almost like Pinkie but calmer. "Two of them summoned an Ursa Minor to the town and nearly got it destroyed."

"…Good point. But it won't be so bad. This is like starting anew. And in time you can get your life back on track!"

Trixie thought it over and knew she was right. The mayor had let her off easy, but she also thought that Spyro had gotten off easy. "Fine, I guess you’re right." She huffed. Little pipsqueak can probably use magic to get him a cupcake with Twilight as his other teacher, she thought just a tad bitterly. But she did feel grateful to both of them. She decided to change the subject. "By the way, do they allow non-ponies in schools?."

"It’s allowed in most schools that are large enough. Did you… grow up in a small town?" Twilight asked slowly.

"Yes," Trixie answered quickly.

She nodded. "I see. Pinkie said, as his mother, she would try harder and would be the one to enroll him. I have my doubts though, on both of them."

"I'm sure Spyro has a tendency to get into trouble, Pinkie I can't comment."

She shook her head. "It’s more than that, Spyro might still be prone to magical outbursts. Being in a room full of excited school children might make it worse."

Trixie furrowed her brow in concentration, but Twilight continued.

"The size of the schoolhouse also raises some concerns. Last I checked, Miss Cheerilee's class might be full."

"Outbursts? I never saw him do any."

Twilight remained silent for a minute and then nodded. "Maybe I was wrong about him being susceptible to them. I have been wrong before, I suppose," Twilight mused out loud.

"Anything odd happened since… Where did he come from anyway?"

Twilight chuckled. "That's a long story. The only strange thing would be his encounter with a Manticore."

Trixie's eyes widened in shock.

"He, uh, killed it by accident. But it was going to attack him and his friends."

"H-h—"

Twilight interrupted. "He used levitation to stab it with it’s own stinger. It sounded like more of an accident to me, but there it is."

Trixie leaned up against Twilight's library upon arriving. "I… suppose with no Manticore stinger laying about he should be fine. Right?"

Twilight turned to her and honestly shrugged in reply.





"Pinkie…" Miss Cheerilee began, not exactly sure how to continue.

"Yep?" she asked back cheerfully.

"When did…" The mare paused and rubbed her temples. She was seated at her desk with Pinkie on the other side. "When did you adopt a dragon?"

"Oh… Not that long ago. Why?" Her cheerful demeanor never wavered.

"It's just a little strange is all. And you want to enroll him into my class?"

"Yep!"

"Do you know his level of academics?"

Pinkie furrowed her brow for a few moments and then broke into a grin again. "Nope!"

She sighed. "Where is Spyro then?"

Pinkie pointed just out the window and the teacher spotted him staring down a rock, oddly enough. "Very well. Would you kindly bring him inside?"

"So he can join?!" she asked probably too hopefully.

She counted her desks, noting there had always been one empty one, conveniently. "I believe so but—"

Pinkie jumped into the air and cheered and brought back her son impossibly fast before the mare could even blink twice. They stared at one another for a bit, then Spyro leaned over and blinked.

"How come you got flowers for a mark thing?"

"My cutie mark?" He nodded. "My mark signifies my want to watch my students blossom."

He made an 'oh' shape with his mouth.

"Now then, I am going to give you a series of tests to see where you will fit the best in one of my classes. Is that alright with you, Pinkie?"

"Sure. Son?"

"'kay."

"Wonderful." She paused and brought out a few papers and a pencil. "Complete them in any order, Spyro."

Ten minutes later, he was busy working on his tests while the two mares waited outside. By the time he had finished, he wasn't sure how to feel. He handed her the tests, feeling as though he had failed them, but he did not understand that placement tests did not function that way. The two waited while she silently graded them.

"Okay, I have good news and bad news."

Spyro deflated in his seat, but she kept talking.

"The good news is, most subjects he is doing alright in. The bad news would be history. Aside from a few answers relating to basic magical history, he didn't appear to know much of anything."

"I'm kind of new to this place," he pointed out.

She smiled. "Understandable. I believe you would be a perfect fit in our older class. I see no point in placing you in with the foals and much younger students."

Pinkie cheered once more, but she froze in mid-cheer when the teacher spoke up. "But you will need to work with him to bring him up to speed on his history. He will need to catch up to the other students and pass a few tests that they have already taken."

"Abso-positively!" Pinkie said. "I think I can do that," she said more seriously.

A loud thump brought them out of their thoughts. Sitting on the desk that Pinkie had chosen was a large stack of papers that looked taller than Spyro's head. "You will also need to fill these out. He starts as soon as he is able. Most likely tomorrow if he can?"

Pinkie looked unsure of herself, her smile attempting to falter. She looked to her son who shrugged.

"Sounds good to me. Hey can I do magic in class?!" he questioned excitedly.

Cheerilee raised a brow to that and turned to Pinkie. "You are going to have to explain that one."





"This is gonna be awesome… maybe!" Spyro hadn't stopped talking a mile a minute since they left. Pinkie mused that she must look like that to others and almost chuckled. She was not looking forward to filling out so many forms though.

"Spyro, please stop bouncing so much. Hurts my back, kiddo."

"Oh, sorry." He blushed and calmed down.

"Thank you. Hmm…" She hesitated before speaking her next thoughts. If she was the only pony in a class full of dragons, she knew that nervousness would rule her life. "Are you sure you're okay with a class that has no other dragons?"

"This world has no other humans. I'm okay with that," he pointed out playfully.

She smiled but actually felt a bit tired for once. "As long as you're sure. Let's get something at the bakery to celebrate!"

"Like cupcakes?" he asked hopefully.

"Nopey lopey!"

He groaned in response.





"Alright." Trixie stood up and started pacing in front of three dragons. "Spyro starts school tomorrow, but we still have some time to plan a bit until some of his free time is eaten up. Any ideas?" She looked to the three who all blinked in unison a few times. She hissed and sighed.

"Won't you be at my new school too? We can plan then also," Spyro said.

"Yes, but I very much doubt I will be doing much there other than helping grade papers or cleaning up messes. You will still have less free time. Twilight and her friends said they would help, but the show will still be focused on illusion magic which limits our choices of jobs for Twilight and her friends."

"So you want ideas from my world or something?"

She nodded. "Illusions only dazzle if they show something inspiring or unique. I would imagine things from your world fall into that category."

Spike chuckled. "You know I'm sure the town would accept you even if your show isn't amazing." Trixie stared at him and he continued. "Just saying, there are other ways to make friends rather than enemies."

Trixie didn't puff or huff this time. She simply looked away. Spyro noted that her ears were doing that depressed thing where they flopped downwards like a dog. She really wants to put on a show. He stood up and walked over to her.

"Alright, how about we use The Joker and Batman!"

The two dragons just stared on while Trixie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please for the love of Celestia…"

"You don't even know who The Joker is!" he whined.

"Knowing who Batman is would be enough," Trixie commented dryly.

"…Fine. Was just an idea."

Claws cleared his throat then. "I don't even know how to put on a show."

Spike shrugged. "I've helped with some and acted on stage. It's not too difficult. Although it might be hard to put on a show that makes no sense."

The four of them all groaned, even Spyro who really just wanted to see neat things from his world. He knew there was no point in putting on a show if it was just random characters doing random things.

Twilight just then started to walk downstairs. "How's the show going?"

"Terrible. We have no ideas or stories."

Spyro tried to speak up but Trixie waved him down.

"With the exception of showing off things from Spyro's mind that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."

Spike giggled and Spyro huffed. Twilight blinked at them and slowly nodded. "Well, perhaps you could use Trixie's magic to play out a scene from a book. No offense, Spyro, but things from your world seem better utilized at a time like Nightmare Night."

He scratched his head. "Nightmare wha?"

Pinkie Pie popped out of the couch, literally. "Oh, it's a fun night where everypony dresses in costumes and gets candy and there are pranks and games and—"

"You mean Halloween?!" he interrupted, his heart racing simply from the shock of her appearance.

She blinked a few times and shrugged. "Sure!"

"Okay…"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Hello, Pinkie. What I was saying is that many of the things you wish to show us from your world, Spyro, are far better suited for a place where scaring others would be generally accepted better. Like Nightmare Night or Hello-ween as you called it."

"Oh. When is that?"

"Not long from now. A few weeks, actually," Twilight replied. "Anyway, Trixie, have you read any of the Daring Do novels?'

"Can't say that I have. Why?"

This was followed by a noise off in the distance, outside the library. It seemed loud enough but was muffled by the walls. "Anyone else hear that?" Spike asked. They all shrugged and were about to go back to talking when the door burst open.

"Did somepony say Daring Do?!"

"Rainbow! What have I told you…" Twilight face hoofed when she realized that Rainbow had in fact used the door normally and also did not knock since it was a public library and all. "Never mind," she said plainly.

"Did somepony mention her?" Dash asked probably too seriously. All of them pointed to Twilight and she huffed and began to explain.