• Published 20th Jun 2015
  • 8,887 Views, 333 Comments

Beyond the Skies - FrostTheWolf



It all started with obtaining a Crystalline necklace that looked like a Traptanium Crystal. Now, for one boy, he can turn into a Skylander. But he still needs to get a hold of his powers first. [Skylanders Crossover][Displaced]

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Scroll 21- A Change in Plans Part 1

Beyond the Skies- A Change in Plans Part 1


After a nice long afternoon in Manehattan and finding the perfect establishment to open up a Manehattan branch for her business, the only thing that Rarity wanted to do once she came back home in Ponyville was to relax. Unfortunately, upon arriving with Pinkie Pie at the Castle of Friendship to check up on Sweetie Belle, the situation that they found themselves in was anything but relaxing.

For one thing, Rainbow Dash had the nerve to call her choice in romantic literature ‘cheap’. Which, to her, was rather insulting and the equivalent of calling one of her dresses ‘tacky’. Then, there was Scootaloo snapping at Rainbow before she could explain what was going on, which was a bit of a first considering that Scootaloo normally idolized the pegasus. It didn’t help any either that when Rainbow tried to ask what was wrong, Scootaloo’s only response was a glare of pure rage.

Fortunately though, all the tension began to recede once Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle, now decided to speak up in her friend's place. “Perhaps it would be better if we did the explaining. It’s… kind of a long story.”

“How long? I mean, we have only been gone for a couple of hours,” Calvin himself now asked, turning to face the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He had been with Pinkie Pie most of the afternoon when in Manehattan and wanted to go back to the castle while Pinkie herself was putting some things away in her room. “What did you girls do while we were away?”

“I betcha that Scootaloo was just waiting to surprise Calvin when he came back-” Rainbow’s comments did not help any as another glare from Scootaloo caused Rainbow to stop talking.

“Alright, what the hay is causing all this racket?” Everypony now turned towards the door as they saw Applejack trotting into the castle. “Ah came here to check on my sis, and then ah hear Scoots snappin’ at Rainbow.”

“Hey, sis,” Apple Bloom waved her hand to her sister as she came on inside, “We were gonna tell all of ya about a new friend we met today.”

That had Applejack look at everypony else, including Calvin, for a short moment as the earth pony began to process what she just heard. “Ya made a new friend? Alright, shoot, what’s her name?”

“Well, her name is Faith, and she kind of wanted somepony to help her out,” Apple Bloom told her. “Of course, ah think she was trying to ask for Calvin’s help, because the three of us ended up gettin’ called to another Equestria instead.”

Upon realizing what she said, all Calvin could do was facepalm himself. “Uh oh… I think I might have an idea of who you were talking about.”

“What do ya mean, Calvin?” Applejack now asked, “Do ya know who they were with?”

“No, but I might have heard the same thing they heard. Yet, at the time, I was with Pinkie Pie, and we were…” It took a moment for Calvin to find the right words to say, but he had to try and keep it as simple as possible. “...preoccupied.”


So, let me see if I get this straight… You want Pinkie Pie to give up her Party Cannon just for a rock pouch? That doesn’t seem like a fair deal to me.

Nopony asked for your input, kid. Besides, this is between me and the lady over here-

And I’m with her, and I say that you’re full of it. You’re not answering any of our questions, and you’re looking left and right every two minutes. I would even go as far as to think that you stole this pouch-

Kid, I don’t know who you are, but I don’t like how you’re speaking to me. I’m not afraid of you, even if you do look like some kind of monkey.

“ …I got my eye on you.”

Wha-?” BOOM!! “W-what in the-!?

Are you afraid now?


“Anything you want to add to that, Pinkie?”

“Nope! I think we’re good, Calvy!” the party pony shook her head as she looked back towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders now. “So, where-?

“Nuh, uh… ah don’t think, so you two,” Applejack shook her head as she looked at Calvin. “Ah’m gonna need to know a bit more than just you using a transformation, Calvin. Ah mean, what did you even turn into-?”

“Eye Brawl,” Calvin’s original response only caused everypony in the room aside from Pinkie Pie to raise an eyebrow, prompting the Skyshifter to clarify a bit further, “Undead Skylander that’s as tall as this room and consists of a giant headless suit of armor and a flying eyeball that shoots laser beams and often acts as the giant’s head.”

That statement alone had Rarity and Applejack stare at the Skyshifter in shock, but had Rainbow staring at him in awe, which only caused the farmpony to groan as she looked back at Calvin. “Ah’m beginning to think that Rainbow’s having too much of an influence on ya.”

“Come on, AJ. It can’t entirely be that bad. I mean, at least he was able to get what Pinkie wanted, right?”

“Technically, that’s not everything that happened darling,” Rarity soon chimed in, “When I met back up with them, Pinkie Pie was trying to convince Calvin to hold onto the bag. Yet, Calvin decided not to and returned it back to the store that they originally found it at.”

“Wait, what? Why would you do that?” Rainbow then asked.

All that did was have Calvin fold his arms as he looked at the pegasus now. “I think the reason why is a bit obvious, Rainbow. It was never ours to begin with, and it never belonged to that stallion in the first place. When we returned the pouch, we learned that the stallion that we met had stolen the pouch a little while after Pinkie Pie originally saw it in the store window. Fortunately, when we told him that Pinkie wanted to get it for her sister but it was out of her price range, the store owner was able to give us a discount so Pinkie could be able to afford it,” As he explained, he watched as Pinkie Pie happily bounced in place as she nodded her head in response to what the Skyshifter was saying. “I just think that if you were to get something for a friend or family member, you should do it the right way.”

That just had Rainbow look back to Applejack now as she narrowed her eyes. “Too much of an influence, huh?” The only response that the farmpony gave was a roll of the eyes as both mares looked at each other.

“More to the point,” Rarity now chimed in as she looked back towards Sweetie Belle and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, “You were mentioning somepony named Faith? Who’s in another Equestria?”

All three of the girls nodded in response to what Rarity now said as her sister began to speak up. “Yeah, she was a girl who… kind of seems to be around the same age as Calvin, but much different. She was pretty nice, too. Showed us around her home, told us a bit about her family, and… after a little while, she was trying to figure why we came here instead of Calvin.”

Hearing that caught the Skyshifter’s attention as he looked back towards Sweetie Belle now. “Really? What did you figure out?”

“Well, it’s… more of a guess really,” Scootaloo replied back now as she looked towards her friends for a brief moment before she continued speaking. “Personally, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, because it seems… what was the word Twilight would use, girls? I remember it starts with ‘Theo’.”

“Theoretical?” they heard Rarity now ask in an effort to help.

“Yeah, that,” Scootaloo nodded her head, “Besides, it came from that other draconequus that was there.”

“Wait a darn minute,” Applejack now spoke up, caught off guard the moment that she heard that this ‘theory’ came from another draconequus. “Are ya talking about Discord? He’s the one who got ya into this situation in the first place-!”

“No, sis, it was somepony else,” they now heard Apple Bloom speak up and interject, “She wasn’t like Discord at all. If anything, she was… kind of nicer. Ah know it sounds weird, but ah think what she told us might actually explain some of the things that we’re having trouble trying ta figure out.”

“We should at least hear them out, AJ,” Calvin now spoke up as he looked at the farm pony. “If this is a draconequus that’s different from Discord, then what she told them might give us a clue as to why they were brought over there instead of me. Besides, we don’t really have a lot that we can go off of right now.”

Applejack grit her teeth at that. Taking advice from a draconequus, especially after the kind of mess that Discord had made before, was not something that she honestly thought that she would find herself doing. Yet, it seemed like there wasn’t a lot of options otherwise. Groaning a bit, she readjusted her hat and let out a small breath. “Fine… go ahead.”

“Where should we start, sis?” Apple Bloom asked.

“You mentioned that this draconequus was a she, right girls?” the question from Rarity soon had all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders nodding their heads, which led to the unicorn’s follow up question. “What was her name?”

“Her name is Eris,” Sweetie Belle simply replied, “We asked her if she could do the same thing that Discord did to show how his magic works, and when she did, we told her about how Calvin could do his transformations. Then, she began to tell us her theory.”

“What did she say?” Calvin asked, now sounding a bit intrigued by this.

“When we explained to her about how Discord over here changed us to make us like you, she thought that it went a bit further than just turning human,” Scootaloo continued as she held up a pair of fingers, “Primarily, in two particular ways.”

On that note, Sweetie Belle took it upon herself to pick up where Scootaloo left off as she began to go a little further into detail. “Eris told us that she thinks that because of what Discord did, we might have ended up getting the same kind of powers that he does, which is why those bar things that Discord did before had ours look similar to the one Calvin had,” she took a moment to catch her breath and recompose, shortly before Sweetie Belle continued right where she left off. “She also said that he might have ‘connected’ all four of us to the same token.”

Hearing that last part really caught Calvin’s attention, especially when he realized what that could possibly mean. “So, you’re saying that if someone wanted to summon me… it’s all the more likely that they might accidentally summon you girls instead?” The only response to the question was a nod of the head from the girls as he let out a sigh. “That could definitely be a problem.”

“Come on now. Are we really just gonna believe everything that another draconequus told them? Heck, who knows if she’s lying to them? Right, AJ?” Rainbow’s reply was followed by the pegasus looking back at the earth pony, expecting her to agree with what she was saying. However, all she got from the earth pony was silence as Rainbow looked back towards her friend. “AJ? You’re not actually believing any of this now, are you?”

A part of Applejack wanted to say that she didn’t believe it. But after hearing Apple Bloom and her friends explain everything to them, the earth pony knew that she couldn’t. “Sorry, Rainbow, but the girls are telling the truth. Even if it's just ah theory, ah think there’s enough in what the girls said to make me believe that this ‘Eris’ isn’t lying.”

Of course, even though hearing that alone had the three girls sigh in relief, Applejack wasn’t exactly finished either. “Of course, that doesn’t mean we should just sit around on something like this.”

“What are you suggesting, Applejack?” the Skyshifter now asked as he now stood beside Apple Bloom and the rest of her friends.

“Ah change in plans,” the Element of Honesty told them straightforward as she looked at all four of them. “We had originally agreed to wait before we all go up to see that Eon fella you were talking about. However, with what just happened, ah think we need to see him sooner rather than later.”

“How soon, dear?” Rarity then asked.

“By soon, ah mean tomorrow soon.”

“Ah, phooey,” they all heard Pinkie Pie let out a groan as the party pony looked back at all of them. “Sorry, girls, but I can’t come along. I promised the cakes that I would babysit the twins tomorrow.”

“That’s okay, Pinkie. We can still have everypony else come instead,” Calvin told her, shortly before looking back at Applejack. “When were you wanting to head over?”

“First thing tomorrow morning, once everypony’s up,” Applejack told them affirmatively, “The sooner that we get on top of this, the better.”

Of course, that led to Rainbow looking back at her friend as she soon realized something. “Uh… not to sound like a downer or anything, but wouldn’t this be going against what Twilight originally wanted for us to do?”

“Ah’ll talk to her about it tonight,” the earth pony was quick to respond back to the pegasus. “Given the situation, ah think she’ll be fine with it. Besides, she doesn’t have to go with us.”

Now, Rainbow was beginning to feel a bit nervous as everypony else began to look back at her. “W-what do you mean by that?”

“Oh, I get it now,” She heard Calvin speak up, adding on to what Applejack was saying, “Out of all six of you, Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow have all been to the Skylands before, meaning that you are already familiar with the academy and everyone there.”

“With Pinkie looking over the twins and Twilight possibly being busy with teaching Starlight,” Rarity herself now spoke, much to the pegasus’ dismay as she came across a conclusion that Rainbow found herself extremely uncomfortable with. “It just means that it’ll fall on you to show us around, darling.”

“D-don’t I get a say in this?” the pegasus asked, only to look back at everypony else. Realizing that the longer she tried to be defiant and resist, the more that she was just practically preventing the inevitable. “Aww... horseapples.”


“You want to do what?” Twilight asked as she looked back at her friend Applejack. Both ponies were sitting at their specific seats at the Cutie Map as the earth pony was trying to explain everything that they had just heard from the girls this afternoon.

“Twilight, ah know ya really wanted to come with us,” Applejack told the alicorn, “But ah think after everything ah told ya that we need to address this now rather than later. We can’t just sit around while it's likely that some other being could just end up calling on mah sister and her friends when they meant to call for Calvin instead.”

“I know, but… I had this all planned out and everything. I had just rearranged everything that I was going to do for the whole month to accommodate for this, only to hear that-”

“Twi, yer overthinking this,” the earth pony stopped the alicorn before she could continue, “You can just as easily go there another time for a different reason. Besides, Rainbow’s gonna be with us, and she’s been there before.”

“What about Pinkie Pie? Is she coming?”

Applejack shook her head as she looked back at Twilight, letting out a small breath in response. “Pinkie Pie is babysitting the Cake Twins, and Fluttershy said she needed to take Angel in for a checkup at the Vet.”

“Well, we could still-”

“Starlight also happened to mention that you had planned out a friendship lesson tomorrow morning for her, around the same time that we were gonna head over,” the earth pony interjected. “Besides, after ya admitted yerself that what happened in the Crystal Empire was not an ideal friendship lesson ya had in mind, the last thing ya want to do is disappoint her, right?”

“Y-you can’t be serious…” the alicorn blinked as she stared at her friend.

“Ah am, sugarcube. Because all of us, including Calvin, agreed that this needs to be done now,” Applejack confirmed with her. “Ah don’t want to sit around and wait if going now can help my sister and her friends. The others agree with me, too.”

Twilight herself, was not entirely thrilled with the prospect of her friends going without her. Especially since, in her mind, something important could potentially happen while she was not there. Though, after a little bit, the only thing that she could really do was let out a sigh. “I may not be entirely on board with this… but if you say that it’s important, then do what you have to.”

“Thanks, Twi,” Applejack smiled as she looked back at the Alicorn, “Ah knew you’d come around eventually.”

That comment alone just made Twilight twitch in her seat as she stared at the earth pony while she was getting off of her seat. “W-what do you mean ‘eventually’!?! Am I that predictable!?”

“Ah think ya just answered yer own question there.”


Next Morning…

By the time the sun began to rise again, Calvin was still sleeping in bed, trying to hide himself from the rays of light that pierced through his curtains as he tossed and turned a bit. Yet, it was also around this time that somepony in particular decided to visit him as she was trotting over to his bedside. “Come on now. Rise and shine, kiddo.”

“Mhmmm… F-five more minutes, m-mom,” the Skyshifter mumbled, the feeling of a hoof nudging him having one of his eyes slowly open. It took a little bit in order to realize that the figure in front of him was not who he thought it was. But when Calvin did, he immediately reacted, moving his legs outward as the bedsheet that was covering him was now covering the earth pony that was trying to wake him up, drifting over her like it was a self made ghost costume for Nightmare Night.

“Was that really necessary, Sugarcube?”

“Y-you scared me, Applejack!” Calvin spoke, still a bit startled from seeing the earth pony in his room. “W-what time is it, anyway?”

“Six o’clock at the crack of dawn.”

“S-six?!” Calvin blinked, looking at the alarm clock on the table by the window to see the time, “Applejack, I don’t usually get up until seven-thirty! This is a bit too early, don’t you think?”

“Nah, this is usually when ah get up. Seven-thirty sounds more like Apple Bloom on the weekends,” the farm pony told him, taking the sheet and throwing it back at him. “Now, come on and get yourself ready. Once everypony’s had breakfast, we’re going!”

That was the only thing Calvin needed to hear before he slowly rose up, took a moment to get himself dressed and slowly proceeded to go downstairs. The first thing that he could see was that Rainbow looked to be trying to give Scootaloo some form of advice… while Scootaloo was trying her best to ignore it. Sweetie Belle was insisting to Rarity that she did not need to bring several bags of luggage with her for a trip that was only going to last for a few hours, and Apple Bloom looked to be waiting patiently at the table for breakfast, though glancing over towards Scootaloo and Rainbow a couple of times while she tapped her fingers against the table.

Speaking of breakfast, one particularly pink pony was already working hard on that, working with that of the castle’s resident dragon to prepare a perfect morning meal as the Skyshifter reached the bottom of the stairs and let out a yawn before slowly walking over and taking a seat that was to the right of where Apple Bloom was sitting.

“Morning, Calvin.”

“Morning,” he mumbled, trying to prevent himself from having his head hit the table.

“Didn’t get enough sleep?” Apple Bloom then asked.

“Nope. Your sister was my alarm clock this morning,” the Skyshifter told her, rubbing his eyes so that he could at least try to feel awake.

“Ah know how that feels,” she chuckled in response to Calvin’s comments, “Can’t even count the number of times that Applejack woke Mac and the rest of us up early to prepare for harvest season.”

“Did you wake up and accidentally cover AJ in a bedsheet, too?” All Apple Bloom did was nod. But before she could say anything else, several plates of pancakes, all with different variations and toppings, were spread out along the table as both of them turned to see Pinkie Pie pushing a cart that had enough pancakes for a stack to be as tall as one of the chairs at the Cutie Map.

“Breakfast is ready, everypony!!”

That just had the Skyshifter look back at her with a puzzled look on his face. “I thought you said yesterday that you weren’t coming with us, Pinkie.”

“Oh, I’m still not going to make it. But that’s not until later, silly,” Pinkie Pie giggled as Applejack joined everypony else at the table. “So, I can still help everypony make sure that they have a filling breakfast before your big adventure!”

That… almost had Calvin’s face fall into his pancakes as he looked back at Pinkie. “Big adventure? We’re just going to see Eon, Pinkie.” By that time, a glass of water was placed at his table as he began to drink from it.

“Oh, you never know, silly Calvy… and be careful of falling books,” the party pony chuckled as she continued to hand out pancakes to everypony else, which just made the Skyshifter even more confused as he looked back at Apple Bloom.

“Any idea what she means by that?”

Apple Bloom just only shrugged at that, before taking the knife and fork she was given and began cutting into her pancakes, prompting him to do the same a few moments later as he began to eat the meal Pinkie prepared for them. Each plate was decorated in a particular fashion, depending on who’s it was. For Applejack and Apple Bloom, their pancakes had cut up apple pieces sprinkled over them with caramel syrup, Rarity and Sweetie Belle had their plates covered in what looked like a mountain of different colored sprinkles, and lastly, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had the designs of their pancakes somehow match the look of the flight suits used by the Wonderbolts, complete with cupcake toppings in the shapes of lightning bolts.

As for his, Calvin just thought that his was a normal stack of pancakes with syrup and butter. But, as he began to cut it into pieces, he noticed that Pinkie Pie had actually mixed chocolate chips into the pancake batter. It was something that he did not expect, but was still quite tasty and what he needed in order to help wake himself up right now, especially with what was planned on the agenda for today.

After all of them had finished breakfast and left their dishes in the sink, it was time to head on over. As everypony… and everyone was getting ready by the gate, Pinkie Pie herself was at the top of the stairs that led towards the basement door, holding a hoofkerchief in her hoof in an attempt to wipe away some of the tears that were falling down her face. “I’m sorry I can’t join you, everypony! I really wanted to be able to make some new friends again!!”

Calvin himself just smiled as he looked back towards the party pony. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure that next time, you can make as many friends as you want.” As he said that, he thought that he heard Pinkie Pie say something else, but his attention was more focused on the door in front of him as he began to push it open, allowing for everyone that was with him to come through to the other side.


Meanwhile…

In the M.A.P. this morning, there were already a couple of Skylanders that were either just starting with their morning patrols or were taking a break as they were sitting by the entrance that would allow for them to return to Skylander Academy. Of course, as they were resting their bones, the topic of conversation among a few of the Skylanders that were there involved something that all of the Skylanders at the academy happened to receive from Buzz. For some, they thought that this was important after what happened last week.

However, there were others that weren’t entirely so enthusiastic about what was on there. Even though they agreed with a lot of the points that were made on the list, some of them were a bit confused as to why some rules were specifically written about them in the first place. One particular Skylander in question was the crystalline dragon named Flashwing. “I’m just saying, why would such a rule have to be written about someone as mesmerizing as me? What would be the harm in meeting this ‘Rarity’ pony? She sounds rather regal, if you ask me.”

The other two Skylanders that she happened to be talking to, the first being the Supercharger of the magic element named Splat and the second one being the Life Skylander named Stealth Elf, were standing in front of each other as they listened to Flashwing, before the elf decided to comment. “I know that some of the rules seem odd, but think about it. Buzz would have not put them on here unless he had a specific reason for it.”

“Of course, I would understand if someone like Ka-Boom was put on there, but what’s the harm in putting up these rules if it’s very unlikely that we could meet them?” Flashwing then asked, having a crystal come out of the ground as she poked at it with a claw. “I mean, the language in this sounds as if it’s only focused on if we go to them, not if they come to us.”

“I’m pretty sure the reason for both those things is because Buzz can’t exactly give orders to those who aren’t under his jurisdiction,” Splat now took a turn to speak as the faun decided to use her brush to cover the crystal that Flashwing was messing with in ink. “So, he’s trying to work with those that he does. More specifically, us.”

“Splat’s got a point,” the elf replied back as she folded her arms and began to lean back against a nearby stone wall, “Besides, it’s always best to be prepared. Who knows what might happen?”

At first, the faun just saw that as just a simple comment from the fellow Skylander. But as she turned her head, she happened to catch a glimpse of something, Something that the three of them weren’t exactly ready for. “Um, Elf? Remember that friend of yours that was mentioned on Buzz’s list?”

“You mean Calvin? What about it?”

“Well, it looks like he decided to stop by… and he brought some friends with him,” Splat told them, pointing towards the other side of the M.A.P. as both the elf and the dragon moved closer to her to see what she was pointing out. They could see Calvin, along with what looked like three other humans, a unicorn, an earth pony and the same cyan colored pegasus that happened to come to the academy the last couple of times that he was over.

Which only led to her letting a sigh out the moment that she realized that Flashwing was already heading towards them before she could say anything. “Well, let’s go say hello, I guess.”


“Welcome to the M.A.P. everypony,” Calvin told them, mere seconds after stepping forth through the doors and out into the world of Skylands. Upon first glance, almost everypony was caught off guard by how vast and expansive their first look at the Skylands was. Of course, Rainbow Dash herself had seen it once, but did not exactly have the time to gaze at everything around them when the Skyshifter was showing her and Pinkie Pie where the basement entrance was. “The academy’s not far, but I thought you would want to have a look at everything first.”

“What does M.A.P. stand for anyways?” Scootaloo now asked, looking to see some of the islands in the distance as she saw water falling off the edge of one of them.

“Based on what Spitfire and Spyro told me, it’s supposed to mean ‘Mysterious Ancient Place’. Mysterious for numerous reasons apparently, Ancient because it was home to the Ancients that first created the Skylands and-”

“This is… so INSPIRING!!!” Both of them now turned to see Rarity stare in wonder at everything around her, seeing the sparkles coming off of her eyes as she began to take a look at all the numerous different areas around her. “So much wonder! So much creativity!! So much everything!!”

“Rarity, we’ve only been here for two minutes,” Rainbow tried to explain to her, even though the unicorn was not hearing a word she was saying, “We’ve barely seen anything yet.”

“We haven’t!?” the unicorn now spoke up, sounding mostly shocked by what her friend told her, even though it did not do anything to try and get her to snap back to reality.

“Dash, ah don’t think that’s really gonna help any,” Applejack now decided to speak as she looked at some of the floating islands that were off in the distance, “Though, ah must admit, this was much different than ah was anticipating.”

“What were ya anticipating, sis?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Remember when that friend of Calvin’s had that photograph? Ah thought of it like that,” the farm pony responded, “Though, to see the real thing and to see everything moving with the clouds and what not, that was something ah wasn’t expecting.”

“Just wait until you meet some of the people that live here,” as he said that, that was when Calvin turned his head to the right and noticed something coming towards them in the distance. “Oh, hey, there’s some right now.”

“Hey, isn’t one of them that elf girl that helped you with your Imaginator thing?” Rainbow now asked as she tried to get a closer look from a cloud that was in the air. “Hey, it is! And there’s two others with her.”

The Skyshifter was a bit curious right around now. He knew that the elf was indeed Stealth Elf, but he was wondering who else could be with her. The first two Skylanders that would come to mind would be Spyro and Spitfire, but it didn’t quite look like that from a distance.

Before he could ask anything though, somepony else beat him to it. “Who else can you see up there?” Sweetie Belle asked as she joined up with Scootaloo.

“Well, from the looks of it… one of them looks to be that Skylander that fights with a paintbrush when you and I first came here with Twilight,” Rainbow’s statement had Calvin recognize who it was. That definitely had to be Splat. But who could the other one be? “And the other one looks like some kind of… crystalline dragon-?”

Those last two words triggered a shocked gasp from Rarity, just before the unicorn’s eyes locked on to the direction of where all three of them were coming from and took off. “I absolutely MUST MEET THEM!!”

“Dang it, Rares!” Applejack snapped, missing her chance to stop the unicorn as she tumbled face first into the ground, “After her!”

Everyone else didn’t need to be told twice as Rainbow, Calvin and the crusaders all took off after Rarity, trying their best to either slow her down or stop Rarity, even though they were unsuccessful at each attempt they made. Rainbow tried to fly past her and use her advantage in the air to intercept and capture her. However, the unicorn used a spell to move herself back a few feet before galloping over the pegasus as Rainbow crashed into the ground.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders themselves weren’t having much luck either, mostly because they were having trouble keeping up with her in the first place. Calvin, though, was trying something different as he grabbed hold of his necklace as a grey like color began to illuminate from it. “Let’s Roll!” Transforming into the undead Skylander named Roller Brawl, he now used the skates that were on his feet to speed up and get closer to Rarity. In fact, he was getting close enough to try and grab her.

Of course, one thing that he did not take into account was the pieces of broken rocks that were directly in front of him, which clipped the saw blade skates he had on as it sent him tumbling forward onto the ground, forcing him out of his transformed state. “Darn it! I almost had her!”

They could only watch as Rarity was zoning in on her target. The other two Skylanders just backed up and out of the way as the crystalline dragon turned her head to come face to face with the unicorn that was racing towards her. “You INSPIRE me!!”

Of course, that only had the crystalline wings of the dragon grow as the Skylander named Flashwing closed her eyes and emitted a bright light around its body as well as directly in the unicorn’s face. “AGH! MY INSPIRATION’S BLINDED ME!!”

“In more ways than one,” Calvin now heard Rainbow say as the pegasus floated beside him, offering a hoof for him to use to get back up on his feet as Applejack and the crusaders finally caught up with them. The farm pony was not entirely sure what just happened, with Rarity or what resulted from her mad dash just now.

“Consarn it, Rarity. Why’d ya have to go run off?”

That was honestly the only question that everyone had in that moment, including Calvin. Yet, for the two Skylanders that were nearby, the questions that they had were different than the one that they were thinking of right now. Much different.

“Should I even know what exactly just happened?”

“I… am honestly still trying to process that myself,” the Skyshifter admitted to the elf that asked the question, “One moment, we walked into the M.A.P. so we could go to the academy and see Eon. The next thing we know, Rarity takes off, and-”

“Wait, did you say Rarity?” Splat now asked, her eyes widening when Calvin nodded his head as she looked to Stealth Elf. “Oh, no… That’s not good.”

“What’s ‘not good’, sugarcube?” Applejack herself now spoke up as the faun looked back at the earth pony that wanted clarification on what was going on.

“We’ve had some rules put in place after the… mess that happened last week with the one you called Discord,” Stealth Elf now took a turn to speak as she looked back at the six of them, “One of them being that Rarity should not meet Flashwing over there under any circumstances.”

That just left all six of them confused, just before Sweetie Belle asked a question. “Um… Miss? Why exactly is my sister not allowed to meet her-?”

“Oh, my goodness! I’ve never seen a creature with such shiny and pristine fur as yours!!” They now all heard Flashwing proclaim as everyone turned to face the crystalline dragon. Despite having to defend herself earlier, both her and Rarity were quick to forgive each other as the two of them were now gossiping over both of their remarkable appearances.

“And I’ve never seen a dragon with such miraculous scales and majestic crystals for wings!! Dear, you must tell me everything!” They now heard the unicorn herself speak as she looked back at the dragon. “But my apologies, where are my manners. I’m Rarity-”

“You’re Rarity!? Why, I am honored to have the privilege to meet you in person,” the dragon herself spoke again, just before introducing herself now. “My name is Flashwing.”

“My, such a mesmerizing name you have, darling.”

“Well, I am mesmerizing, after all.”

As the two continued to talk, everyone else just stared at both of them as they talked about almost everything they could think of, shortly before Splat herself was able to break her silence. “Yeah, I think I’m beginning to see why having them meet is a bad idea,” the faun then turned back to Calvin as she thought of a different question in order to ask him this time, “So aside from the two of them gossiping, what brings you to Skylands?”


By the time that everyone got back to the academy, several of them were trying to do their best to outright ignore the continuous chatter between Rarity and Flashwing while the Cutie Mark Crusaders had to outright cover their ears. The talking between both the unicorn and the dragon was ongoing, raising in volume and most likely not ending anytime soon. It was getting to the point that even some of the staff members were beginning to take notice.

“Hey there, Calvin. Welcome ba-” Tessa tried greeting them, shortly before noticing both Rarity and Flashwing off to the side as she looked back to everyone else that was behind him. “Okay, who broke rule 13d?”

“13d?” Calvin asked in confusion.

“The rule that Flashwing and Rarity are not allowed to meet under any circumstances.” Stealth Elf reminded him.

“Oh,” the Skyshifter replied, shortly before pointing to the cyan pegasus that was floating above him, “In that case, it’s Rainbow’s fault.”

“Wha-? Hey! What did I do!?”

“Didn’t you point out where they were and also mention seeing a crystalline dragon?”

“Well, obviously, I did not expect for her to take off like that! I was just trying to tell you what I was seeing,” the pegasus grumbled as she lowered herself down on the ground next to where Applejack was standing, “Besides, we did not know about this rule until after we met up with Stealth Elf and Splash.”

“Splat,” the faun corrected, which just resulted in the pegasus grumbling a bit as the Magic Skylander looked back towards Tessa, “Though, Calvin didn’t come here to break any rules he was not aware of. He wanted to see if he could talk to Master Eon.”

“Yeah, there’s something important with him that we wanted to ask him about,” the Skyshifter took a turn to speak now, “Is he available right now?”

“I’m not sure,” Tessa replied, looking over her shoulder at the academy building behind her as the fox looked back to him, “But I can go check. Just give me a moment, and I’ll be back in a flash.” With that, she began to take off towards the school, leaving Rainbow, Calvin and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to sit down on a patch of open grass as they looked out towards the vast expanse of sky that they could see from where they were sitting.

Of course, Applejack took it another step further when she decided to have herself rest against what looked to be a wooden log that was rolled on its side, which seemed fine at first. However, when Calvin took a closer look at what she was resting up against, he was not sure if what she was doing was a rather good idea. “Applejack… I’m not sure if you should sit over there.”

Applejack herself, just looked up and turned to the log behind her, not quite understanding what Calvin was talking about as she looked back at it. “What do ya mean? This old thing looks sturdy enough,” Of course, it didn’t exactly help any when, much to Calvin’s horror, she kicked the log with her back legs. “See? Sturdy enough-”

“Are you crazy?! Why did you do that to him!?”

“What do ya mean? Ah just-” In that moment, one particular phrase caught the farm pony’s attention as she felt the wooden log shift behind her… and slowly rise up from the ground. “Wait… Him?”

“Who the bark just kicked me!?” the Skylander Giant that Calvin knew as Tree Rex bellowed as he turned around, looming over Applejack and everyone else nearby. The farm pony herself just stared with wide eyes as the giant living tree looked at each and every one of them before it looked directly at her.

Just the gaze alone was enough to make Applejack fall on the ground, shaking in place as Tree Rex stared at her with a menacing glare. “A-ah’m sorry! Ah didn’t realize you weren’t a-”

“I was trying to mind my own business and take a nap without anyone disturbing me, and then, I get kicked!” Tree Rex spoke up, before looking off to the side and letting out a sigh. “I should really put a sign that says ‘Giant Sleeping, Do Not Disturb’ up whenever I take a rest now…”

Calvin himself felt like he should say something in that moment, something to help clear up the confusion. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash beat him to it… and all she did was make things worse. “Hey, big guy! It’s not like she knew you were sitting there! So, leave my friend alone, alright?”

From Tree Rex’s shoulder, they could now see a woodpecker sitting there, just before Tree Rex nudged his head towards the pegasus. Before Rainbow could understand what the Giant was doing, she soon found herself being chased by the woodpecker as the pegasus desperately tried to get away from it.

As for the Giant itself, while the woodpecker was chasing Rainbow, that was when he redirected its attention to the earth pony. “If you like hitting things so much,” he declared, raising his right arm into the air, “Let’s see how you like it!”

In a matter of seconds, Applejack closed her eyes and turned her head, not wanting to see what was to come next. Yet, the outcome that she anticipated… wasn’t entirely what happened.

Full Scream Ahead!

When Applejack opened her eyes, she watched as Tree Rex’s was knocked a bit off balance as a black griffon with silver braces around its claws stood in between her and the giant, knocking him back with a sonic scream.

“What’s the big idea in trying to harm someone over an accident!?” the griffon snapped at the Giant, which only had Applejack back up farther in an effort to get away from the two of them. But it was as the earth pony had returned to where Splat and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were did she hear the faun say something.

“So, the rumors are true.”

“W-what?” Applejack asked, “Rumors? About what?”

The faun turned back to the earth pony, “About your friend transforming into Skylanders. Spitfire told me he could do it, but I have not seen it before until now.”

“Oh, how marvelous!!” Both of them now heard Flashwing exclaim from right behind them, startling the two as the dragon began to speak. “His power is just as wonderful as his instincts!! Only the might of the ferocious winds can stop the rampant brute force of nature!”

“Uhh…” Sweetie Belle, who happened to be with the other crusaders while this was happening, had a new question now. “Can somepony translate that? What exactly is she talking about?”

“She means elemental weaknesses,” they now heard Stealth Elf speak as she appeared on top of a stone wall that was behind Splat, looking at the confrontation. “Each skylander here is represented by an element, and the elements were once in sync. But, when Dark and Light elements were unsealed, everything became in flux, and the balance was destabilized further when Mind Magic was brought out of dormancy. They only began to stabilize recently, but with new… qualities.”

“You mean the weakness thing?” Apple Bloom now asked.

“Exactly,” the elf responded, “You see, Tree Rex is a Skylander Giant of the Life Element. Life Skylanders are strong against Water and Tech elements, but weak against Undead and Air. What Calvin transformed into was the Air Skylander named Sonic Boom, and Air Skylanders are strong against Life and Earth elements, but weak against Fire and Magic.”

“D-do you think it’s possible that he knew about that though, darling?” Rarity herself now asked from behind Applejack, something that the farm pony herself did not notice until now.

“It’s unlikely,” Splat now spoke up, “Flashwing mentioned earlier about his instincts. If he was going off of those, he would not even think about element types and instead focus on protecting his friend.”

“So, it’s a mere coincidence then?”

“Most likely,” Stealth Elf added, “Given how elemental weaknesses is still relatively new, I don’t think even King Pen’s talked to him about it.”

“King… Pin?” Scootaloo herself said with a puzzled look on her face. “Is that some kind of comic book villain?”

“No, King Pen,” the faun corrected her, “You know, since he’s a talking Penguin?” All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders just stared at Splat when she said that, causing her to let out a small sigh, “Right… I forgot that this is your first time here. Sorry about that.”

Before anyone else could comment further on the matter, they all turned back to see Tree Rex standing there by where Calvin was. But unlike earlier, the Giant was acting differently. “Listen, I didn’t mean to come off like that. I was just angry-”

“Angry to where you think hitting others is okay? You could’ve crushed her,” he said, his words echoing in Sonic Boom’s voice.

“I was holding back. I wasn’t intending to actually hit her, Boom,” Tree Rex replied back.

“Boom?” the griffon blinked for a second, before shaking its head and holding up a talon. “Oh, right… hold on a second,” letting out a small breath, the griffon began to glow as Calvin began to change back to his human form, “There, that’s better. Not sure if I’ll ever get used to that.”

“Huh-?!” Tree Rex himself asked as he looked back at the Skyshifter, “What-?! How-!? Why-!?! I have so many questions!!”

“Yeah, I don’t believe the two of us had the chance to meet until now,” he replied back to the Giant, who was still trying to process everything that he had just witnessed, “My name’s-”

“Calvin!” the sound of a familiar voice had the Skyshifter turn his head back towards the academy to see Tessa coming back to where they were, with Cali right next to her. Turning back towards Tree Rex, he motioned towards the fox as he let out a small sigh.

“Yeah. That.”

“Calvin, what’s going on out here?” Tessa then asked as both her and Cali noticed the Giant that was nearby, “We heard someone shouting and came out as soon as we could.”

“You two know this child?” Tree Rex then asked, before adding an additional question, “Also, how the bark is he able to transform like that?”

“Transform?” Cali asked, before looking back at the Skyshifter now. “Wait… did you-?”

“Only because Applejack disturbed him from his nap, and I thought he was going to crush her,” Calvin quickly retorted as the woodpecker that was originally chasing Rainbow Dash had returned to Tree Rex, with some hairs from Rainbow’s tail in its beak. “Only afterwards did I hear from him that he was bluffing.”

“Calvin has the ability to turn into other Skylanders by saying their catchphrase for a short amount of time, Tree Rex,” Tessa now took the chance to fill the Giant in, “He’s one of King Pen’s students here at the academy.”

“That… explains a few things,” the Ent grumbled before turning to the human. “Though, did you have to turn into an Air Skylander of all things? That’s one of the elements I’m weak against.”

That had a puzzled look form on Calvin’s face as he looked back at the Giant, “Weak against? What are you talking about?”

Both Tessa and Cali blinked for a moment, before looking back to the Skyshifter. “Calvin, has King Pen taught you anything regarding different elements strengths and weaknesses?”

The question was followed by Calvin shaking his head from side to side. “No, we’ve mostly been focusing on having me learn different techniques with my Imaginator. Why, is… that important?”

“Quite actually,” Cali now took a turn to speak, “We’ll fill you in on the way. Master Eon’s ready to see you now.”

“Alright. I’ll go let everyone else know,” Calvin said as he looked to Tree Rex one more time. “Nice to meet you, Tree Rex!” The giant could only grumble as he got up and moved farther to the side of the academy, before lying back down again and having the woodpecker keep watch.

Though, that was also when Cali had a new question for Tessa this time. “Everyone else? How many people did he bring with him?”

Tessa only had one reply for her friend in that moment. “More than you might think.”


End Part 1

Author's Note:

For this chapter, given its size and the amount of stuff that will be covered in this, I have to split this one into multiple parts. If you're curious as to where on the season six timeline this follows, it takes place after 'The Gift of the Maud Pie' and occurs in the days afterwards. So this would be replacing 'On your marks'.

One of the things that is talked about in this chapter and will be referenced as well is Elemental Strengths and Weaknesses, a mechanic that's introduced in the Mobile Game called Skylanders: Ring of Heroes. Here's a simple cheat sheet.

New Skylanders-

That's all for part one. Hope you enjoy the shenanigans so far, because there will be more that comes up in part 2
-Frost

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