//------------------------------// // The Search for Trail Blazer // Story: Skylanders X MLP // by Skylander545 //------------------------------// After the end of the Traptanium Wars, the worlds were once again at peace, but how long will this peace last? The ever increasing fear of a strike by Malefor has concerned Princess Celestia and she fears that her lands would soon become a battleground. She remembers Spike’s vision of a final confrontation with Malefor himself at the Tree of Harmony. She soon realized that if the Grublin Hordes come to Equestria, the Equestrian Army alone is not enough to stand up to the monsters of Malefor’s forces. That’s when she remembered a set of scrolls that she kept in her private collection. She knows for certain that she would need those scrolls for giving them an army to stem the tide of evil. She requested Spike to speak with her one day as the Purple Dragon approached, “Is there something you ask of me?” Celestia looked at Spike and said, “I’m worried about Sunset’s warning of Malefor’s plan of attacking Equestria.” Spike knew about this as he remembered, “I’m worried about it as well. The Skylanders were able to deal with a majority of the Grublins in the EQG Universe and Capybara Island, but Malefor intends to unleash the true bulk of the horde. There would be thousands of Grublins of all varieties, it would be too much for them to handle.” Celestia smiled, “That’s why I’m sending you on a special mission, Spike.” Spike asked, “What kind of mission?” The Sun Goddess revealed a saddlebag with the scrolls, “A Call for Help Mission. These scrolls contain ancient treaties that Equestria signed with the Griffins and the Dragons over millennia ago. You will be representing both Equestria and the Skylanders as you present yourself to the rulers.” Spike looked at the scrolls, “You want me to go to these lands and request help against Malefor’s forces?” The Princess nodded, “We have no choice, Spike. Malefor is too powerful for Equestria to handle alone. If we have the Griffins and Dragons of our planet at our side, they can give us an edge against Malefor’s army.” Spike had the saddlebag containing the treaties strapped to his back as he nodded, “I have to keep in mind that they won’t be willing to offer help to ponies. They don’t know how much of a threat that Malefor poses to our world.” Celestia soon stated, “You will find a way, you always do, Spike.” Before Spike set off, the Alicorn stopped him, “Just a word of advice, journey to the Dragon Lands first. The dragons helped me figure out what you were when you were still an egg.” Spike nodded until a guard opened the doors and ran at a frantic speed like he was freaking out, the guard stopped as he said in a panting voice, “We…have an emergency!” Spike was concerned, “Report.” The guard replied, “The Skylander…Trail Blazer…missing…taken from home…in the dead of night!” Celestia frowned at this report, “Trail Blazer has been pony-napped? I don’t believe that somepony would get their hooves on a Skylander like Trail Blazer…but somehow they did.” She turned to Spike, “You will have to find out the identity of Trail Blazer’s abductors.” Spike nodded, “I guess my mission is put on hold.” Celestia nodded as she turned to the Portal of Power, “Locate Trail Blazer.” The Portal powered up as a map of Equestria appeared as a red blip appeared somewhere near the border. Celestia looked at the map and realized, “Strange, Trail Blazer’s essence is coming from somewhere near the border.” Spike noticed this and decided, “I’ll check it out. Hopefully he would be there.” Celestia decided to tell him as she set the destination, “Once you find Trail Blazer, it is best that he goes with you on your quest.” Spike nodded, “I could use his help.” The Purple Dragon stepped onto the active portal and vanished in a flash of light. Celestia said, “Equis is counting on you for its survival.” At the location where the Fire Skylander’s essence was picked up, Spike appeared in a flash of light as he shook off the transition of using the portal. As he took a look at his surroundings, he was on a hillside overlooking a strange looking village. He looked at the design and said, “Strange, the village looks like an equal sign. It’s like whoever designed that village said, ‘I’m out of ideas so let’s make a village that looks like an equal sign.’ But on the up side, this is where Trail Blazer’s essence was picked up.” He spread his wings out and jumped from the hill as he glided down towards the village. He landed close to the village as he decided to enter on foot. As he approached the village, he took a deep breath, “One of the villagers must know of Trail Blazer’s whereabouts, although this village seems isolated from civilization, the portal did pick up Trail Blazer’s trace.” The Purple Dragon soon entered the bizarre village, it got even more bizarre with the locals of the village. Spike noticed that every pony in the village has the cutie mark of an equal sign. Although he noticed that they paused in the very sight of him when he entered, the stares of the villagers caused Spike to stop in his tracks as he asked, “Why are you staring at me like that?” Soon enough, a voice spoke, “This is the first time that a dragon has entered our town.” That voice came from a unicorn mare, pink coat, purple mane and tail with a sort of teal streak, purple eyes. The mare said in a welcoming tone, “Welcome! I’m so pleased to have you here! My name is Starlight Glimmer and I am the leader of our Town.” Spike knew that his instincts tell him that this Starlight character is nowhere near subtle, but he decided to play along, “My name is Spike, I came here because a friend of mine who was last seen around here.” Starlight was shocked when she noticed the Emerald Fire Amulet that Spike was wearing, “The Purple Dragon himself has entered our Town!” He noticed that the crowd was chatting among themselves when Starlight mentioned who he was until she spoke, “We are honored to have you here, Spike. Please enjoy our little corner of Equestria. We are all quite fond of it. No doubt you will be as well.” The crowd dispersed as the ponies returned to their duties. Spike looked around the village and asked around for any whereabouts of Trail Blazer. There were no answers to his questions about Trail Blazer’s whereabouts until he felt his amulet blinking as it flashed on and off as it was sensing something. At his curiosity, Spike closed his eyes as his powers linked with the amulet and soon enough, his eyesight changed. While most ponies of this village were normal due to his new vision, Spike spotted Starlight Glimmer and according to his eyesight, she had a yellow aura telling him that she knows vital information…like Trail Blazer’s whereabouts. After his sight returned to normal, Spike approaches Starlight as she noticed the Purple Dragon, “Ah Spike, what do you think of our town?” Spike replied, “It’s nice to say the least, although it’s the fact that everypony’s cutie mark is an equal sign.” Starlight stated, “These ponies have given up their cutie marks to be equal with each other to earn True Friendship.” Spike shook his head and facewinged, “That is a strange philosophy about a village that looks like an equal sign when viewed from above.” Starlight was amused, “I’m surprised you realized it.” Spike decided to ask, “Have you seen a Skylander pass through here? He’s a Red Unicorn Stallion, wears Furnace Armor, Flaming Mane and Tail, Fiery Temper and not from Equestria?” There was a look in the mare’s eyes when Spike asked that question and because Spike saw this, he knew for a fact that she’s hiding something beyond her equality philosophy. The mare spoke, “Follow me.” So Spike followed Starlight out of the village as the dragon said, “You should know what is at stake here, Starlight. The Skylanders have recently ended the Traptanium War and I need to see my companions up to full strength if an incursion arises.” Starlight replied, “Yes, I’m well aware of those Skylanders. This friend of yours, what makes you think that he was in my village?” Spike replied as remembered, “The Equestria Portal of Power sensed his elemental essence somewhere around here…so I came here to investigate the area and find him.” The mare was acting more strange as they came closer to their destination which Spike noticed as his amulet began flashing even faster now. He mentally said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” The duo arrived at the destination outside of the village as a vault appeared in the clearing…along with a cage holding a weakened Trail Blazer as he spotted Spike and yelled, “Spike, IT’S A TRAP!” After hearing the stallion’s warning, Spike used his Time-Slow power as he slowed down time and evaded a surprise magic bolt from Starlight Glimmer as it struck the cage, freeing Trail Blazer. As time returned to normal, Starlight saw the destroyed cage with Trail Blazer freed and Spike in battle position. Starlight facehooved, “Ugh! Starlight, you clumsy foal!” Spike looked at the unicorn with angry eyes, “I knew you were hiding something!” Starlight looked at the angry dragon, “And it worked quite well!” Spike spoke for a fact, “You abducted Trail Blazer from his home! And for what?!” Starlight grinned evilly, “To lure the most powerful dragon in existence here to my town and the fact that your mother is Princess Celestia!” Spike asked, “Why would you lure me to your cult!?” Starlight smiled, “To convert you to my way of thinking. Don’t you see? When the rest of Equestria learns that one of its proudest protectors, let alone Celestia’s son gave up his duty to join us, they’ll finally understand what we’re trying to accomplish!” Spike sneered, “Not Interested!” Starlight chuckled, “I knew for a fact that you wouldn’t come quietly. You are too comfortable with your life to see what I see.” Spike answered, “What I see is that you are crazy over Cutie Mark Equality when something like that doesn’t exist.” Starlight scoffed, “In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie! My followers freed themselves from their cutie marks and chose equality as their special talent! Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail…” She didn’t finish when she was blasted by a magic blast as a lavender alicorn emerged in a flash of light as Spike recognized, “Ali?!” Ali Twi smiled, “Princess Celestia sent me to give you some help!” Spike reached into his saddlebag and brought out a flaming churro. He flew over to Trail Blazer and fed it to him, thus regaining his strength as he jumped towards Spike’s side. The Fire Unicorn was grateful until he noticed Starlight getting up. He noticed that she was holding a wooden staff as he yelled, “Get close to me, now!” Spike and Ali Twi got close as he teleported away from Starlight, much to the unicorn’s anger. They reappeared at the entrance to the village much to the duo’s shock. Spike asked, “Why are we back here?” Trail Blazer replied, “To see this insanity burn to the ground!” Ali Twi thought, “You can’t destroy this village!” Trail Blazer chuckled, “It was an expression, Ali.” He soon remembered, “Although I am grateful that you came for me, I also know that Starlight’s Equality Cutie Mark is a fake.” Spike asked, “A fake Cutie Mark?” The Fire Unicorn nodded, “It’s only make-up to hide her true Cutie Mark.” Ali Twi asked, “What about that staff?” Trail Blazer described, “She calls it the ‘Staff of Sameness’ she uses it to steal a pony’s Cutie Mark and replace it with an Equality Cutie Mark. But I wasn’t fooled by the illusion; her staff is a sham as well. Starlight uses her own magic to create the illusion of the staff’s power and that vault you saw holds the Cutie Marks that she stole from these ponies.” Spike looked down at the ground before bringing his eyes up to Trail Blazer, “So you’re not leaving until we defeat Starlight?” The Fire Unicorn nodded, “And return the stolen Cutie Marks to their rightful owners. I also want to make her pay for abducting me from my home!” Ali Twi finished, “Just to lure Spike in.” Later that day, Starlight returned to the village, angry over the trio escaping her grasp, “Those Skylanders think they can come into my village and disrupt my life! But that dragon is what I’m really after, that infernal dragon that refuses to come to my way of thinking!” She soon remembered that assailant, “But that alicorn…I know of her, Twilight Sparkle’s ‘twin sister’ as she is called. I could’ve used my power on her!” Starlight slammed her hooves in frustration as she entered her house and applied make-up on her fake Cutie Mark, unaware that she was being watched by a certain fire unicorn. Once she was done, the fire unicorn vanished before he could be spotted as the equality-crazed mare went outside as her followers greeted her. She soon calmed down as she remembered her own philosophy, “The only way to be truly happy is if we’re all equal!” “Except for you!” spoke a familiar voice as Starlight and her followers saw the trio of heroes at the entrance of the village. Trail Blazer spoke those words as he locked eyes with a tone of payback. Spike spoke, “We’re not done yet!” Starlight grinned, “So, the Purple Dragon and the bait returns to our town!” Ali Twi spoke as her wings flared, “You’ve gone too far with your lies, Starlight! It’s time to end this!” Starlight felt insulted by the Alicorn's statement as she yelled, “QUIET!” She fired a magic blast at Ali Twi, but Spike pushed her out of the way. Trail Blazer looked at the crazed mare and said, “No one, whether it be pony or any other creature, NO ONE HARMS MY FRIENDS!” Spike jumped alongside Trail Blazer as the dragon said, “It’s time to settle this, Starlight!” Starlight smiled, “Oh, I’m planning on it!” Trail Blazer backed off as Spike went into battle position and waited patiently for the first strike. Starlight fired a magic blast at Spike which he easily avoided. But after that first blast, Starlight used her levitation magic and several rocks in the village as she flung them at Spike. The dragon blasted through the rocks, reducing them to rubble with his Earth Shot breath. Spike finally struck back by using Electric breath on Starlight which caused her to jitter for a bit until using her magic to flash several lights to through the dragon into disarray as she fired another magic blast at him. But the blast didn’t hit him, thanks to Spike’s ability to slow down time, he dodged the blast and charged at Starlight and performed a tail strike on her. The attack caused her distracting lights to fail as time returned to normal as Spike taunted, “So close yet so far!” He jumped back to his team as he spoke, “Trail Blazer, your turn to battle!” Trail Blazer took Spike’s place on the battlefield as he said, “Time for the Mane Event!” Starlight saw the fire unicorn launch a fireball at her, but she deflected it with a magical barrier that she put up. But she was soon bulldozed by Trail Blazer’s stampede attack as the unicorn staggered as the Skylander returned to his original position. Starlight sneered, “Nice moves, but let’s see how you handle this!” She fired multiple magic blasts as Trail Blazer shouted, “Ali!” Ali Twi stood at his side as she said, “On my mark!” The Unicorn and Alicorn fired several magic and fire blasts which served as a counter for Starlight’s attack ending with the two firing a merged blast of fire and magic at Starlight, she used her barrier to deflect it, but her barrier suffered a crack in the process. Trail Blazer motioned for Spike to jump back into the battle as the Fire Unicorn stepped back while the Dragon jumped in. Spike and Starlight stared at each other in an urge to battle as she said, “I must admit, Spike. You really are powerful as everypony says you are.” Spike asked, “Is that a compliment?” Starlight nodded, “But are you powerful enough to handle this!” She fired a magic blast at Spike as the dragon countered with his Electric Breath. But during this moment that their powers were locked in a duel, Spike’s strength was failing due to the battle which his friends noticed. Spike’s amulet flashed as he heard Ali Twi speak, “Spike, keep your power locked with hers for a few minutes!” The dragon kept his strength up for as long as he could. He had to keep Starlight’s magic from overwhelming him so his friends could give him a means to regain his strength and win this fight. He soon noticed that the center of the dueling powers was moving towards him because of his weakened strength. It was almost on top of him until he heard Ali Twi shout, “Spike, Catch!” She used her magic to toss a purple crystal towards Spike as the Purple Dragon used his Time Power to break the connection as he got out of the way of the magic attack and caught the crystal in his mouth. The crystal soon broke down into particles as they travelled directly into Spike as he felt his strength returning. He also felt his elemental abilities merging into one powerful attack. As time returned to normal, Spike looked at his opponent as she spoke, “So, you want another one?” Starlight powered up another magic blast attack as Spike’s eyes started to glow as he opened his mouth as a white light started to glow from his throat. As Starlight launched her attack, Spike fired his special attack which looked like a combination of all four elemental breaths at once as they collided with Starlight’s attack as the powers dueled for a second time. But this time, Spike’s attack was getting the upper hand. Starlight was trying to keep her magic focused to try and push this attack back, “I knew he was powerful…but not THIS POWERFUL!!” The attack struck Starlight as the unicorn flew through the air and crashed at the side of her house as a bucket of water was dumped onto her. As Starlight got back up, she noticed that her followers were gasping followed by Spike smiling in a ‘you’re exposed’ way. She looked at her flank and realized that the make-up had washed away, revealing her true Cutie Mark. Her followers were shocked by this revelation until Spike got their attention, “I know that it’s shocking to know that her Equality Cutie Mark was a fake. But from what I’ve learned, it doesn’t take equal cutie marks to earn True Friendship; it is on the inside that counts. All of you are special in your own way, but no pony is the better as they believe.” One of the followers spoke, “But you’re not a pony.” Spike nodded, “It is true that I’m a dragon, but I was raised by ponies. I know what they endure and all the hardships that they face. No matter the type of pony, no matter the cutie mark, no matter the abilities that you possess, you are all equal this whole time! You just didn’t know it until now.” The followers soon started to agree with what the dragon is saying which didn’t vote well for Starlight as she actually tried to pounce the dragon with his tail turned, only to receive a face full of dirt when the dragon stepped to the side as she fell to the ground. He turned to his downed adversary, “I’m sorry I had to do this, Starlight. But I couldn’t let you get away with abducting Trail Blazer.” Starlight shook the dirt off and scoffed at the dragon, “Spare me your sentimental nonsense, Spike! I gave these ponies real friendships they never could have had otherwise!” The Purple Dragon had an irritated look, “You will return the cutie marks that you stole to these ponies.” Starlight shook her head as she attempted to leave, but was stopped by her former followers before using her spell to return the cutie marks to their rightful owners. When she was done, she looked angrily at Spike as she stated, “Don’t think you have won this day, Spike! But I will be back and when I do, you will be through! You hear me!” She ran out of the village as she shouted, “THROUGH!!!” The ponies of the village were now wondering as one of them asked, “Where do we go now?” Spike remembered his mission as he replied, “Equestria needs all the help it can get to stand a chance against Malefor.” One villager spoke, “But we can’t fight.” Spike shook his head, “I didn’t say anything about fighting on the frontlines. We need agents, planners, messengers, builders and everything that we can get so we can win this upcoming fight.” The villagers thought about this until they agreed to help them. Ali Twi approached Spike, “Nice work, Spike. Not only did you give Starlight a drubbing, these villagers will help us in preparing for this war.” Spike nodded as he said, “Ali, you need to report this to Master Eon. Trail Blazer and I are going to continue on to the Dragon Lands.” Ali Twi reluctantly nodded as she said, “I’ll see to it that he gets your progress.” Soon enough, Ali Twi and the villagers vanished in a beam of light, leaving Spike and Trail Blazer alone in the village. Spike turned to Trail Blazer, “Are you ready to go to the Dragon Lands?” Trail Blazer nodded, “I’m ready to get some distance between myself and this place.” After that response, the duo left the village and crossed the border into the Dragon Lands.