Chapter 15: Some days start bad… (Unedited)
Prior Note: Having had this chapter finished for a while, and having not heard back from Edragon as of late, I decided to put this up unedited. If you see any mistakes please let me know.
Chapter 15: Some days start bad… (Unedited)
Morning.
It was a word that meant many different things to many different ponies, and as such their enthusiasm for it varied accordingly. For Applejack and Big Macintosh, for example, morning served as a starting point for yet another day of labour-intensive farm work around Sweet Apple Acres, which would bring about the plentiful harvests that fed most of Ponyville, as well as bring in the bits that kept them fed during the winter months; as such, it was understandable that the siblings ‘hit the deck early and running’ nearly each and every morning.
For individuals like Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, morning wasn’t a too big a deal; given the speed and ease at which she could manage the entirety of the weather over Ponyville, her renowned cloud-clearing time of ‘ten seconds flat!’ serving as a case in point, the cyan and rainbow mare was able to sleep in at her leisure… or just sleep whenever, as the case often was.
It was somewhere between these two polar opposites that Twilight Sparkle stood, with said standing dependant on a number of underlying factors, such as the amount of reading and studying she’d done the night before, what time she’d finally crashed, and how many hours of sleep she’d actually managed; all of these factors added up to whether the next morning was a good morning for her, or a bad morning.
This particular morning… was a bad morning.
“Uh! Princess, it’s too early,” Twilight whined as the pin-pricks of light began piercing her eyelids, causing her to groggily shift and turn in a still half-asleep state.
The mare grumbled again as the pin-pricks gave way to full golden beams, and she felt the first full waves of morning light wash down through the library windows and over her bed. Their golden rays gently warmed the skin underneath her lavender coat, though, in doing so, subsequently dragged the young mare kicking and screaming back into the world of the awake, rather against her wishes.
Muttering under her breath, Twilight quickly pulled her lavender maned head back under her blanket in an effort to escape the sunlight’s forceful intrusion, a content sigh escaping her muzzle as she was greeted by the comfort of semi-darkness.
THWACK!
“Huh?”
…
THWACK!
Twilight’s ears perked at the second disturbance, though whether it was due to her curiosity of the source, or just the annoying fact that it was getting in the way of her falling asleep again, even she wasn’t really sure.
It was a strange sound, one that was foreign to even her; in a way, it was like the sound a book made when it fell from height and landed on a wooden floor, but she’d heard that sound more than enough times to know it wasn’t that.
THWACK!
“Ugh! What the hay!”
With a final snort of aggravating defeat, at the sad realization she wasn’t getting any more sleep more than anything, Twilight freed herself from the bed’s embrace.
Gingerly, she stretched out like a cat to get the blood flowing through her muscles, before heading out the door to discover the source of the morning’s disturbance, and thus the source of her annoyance.
Though once she reached the stairs, and her eyes fell upon the source of the noise, Twilight found herself unsure of whether or not she was actually still asleep.
The main room of her library stood in a fairly clean and respectable state, which was, to put it simply, a far-cry from the natural disaster zone it had been rendered as the night before, though the shelves did seen a little baron and light on colour due to the loss of quite few books; that would take some getting over.
The doorway also happened to once again have an actual door, thanks to a departing ‘sorry for ruining your party and trashing your home’ offer by Shining Armor.
Ember and Cynder lay on the floor directly beneath the room’s largest window, with both dragonesses conversing while their flared wings drunk up the warm morning light that flooded through it. If her hearing was right, and Cynder’s expression was indeed that of mild agitation, Twilight deduced that Ember was giving her pointers on how to control her temper around, presumably, the school colts and fillies she’d soon be having to deal with.
Then there were Spyro, Sparx, and Spike, and it was as she glanced over them that Twilight found the source of the otherwise peaceful morning’s disturbance, and upon doing so felt one of her eyebrow’s arch; Spyro was apparently instructing Spike how to properly move on all fours and… ram his head against a wall?
Umm …what?
THWACK!
“Better,” Spyro commented as Spike shook his head. “But you’re still hitting it with the top of you skull more than the front. You want to make contact right about… here,” he instructed, his front claw tapping the area around the base of Spike’s green spines. “If you had horns that’s roughly where they’d be; sure you don’t have horns, but that’s still the thickest and hardest part of your skull, and the best part to ram with.”
“Ok, just what exactly are you two doing?” Came the voice of a now rather obviously annoyed unicorn, the sudden blast causing the two males to cringe, before turning and coming face-to-face a fuming Twilight.
“And, once again, let’s just pretend Sparx doesn’t exist.” Sparx muttered quietly, quickly leaving the conversation to join Ember and Cynder.
Twilight did just that, and instead focused her sour attention solely on her little brother. “Spike, please, for the sake of Celestia, explain to me why the hay were you beating your head against a wall?”
“Um, Twilight, can we…”
“Answer the question.” The lavender mare hissed with a stomp, her heavy lack of sleep suddenly delivering a buck in the side to her already bad mood.
“Well… uh, I… I asked Spyro to… teach me how to fight.” Spike murmured, looking at the floor.
Twilight, for a moment, just blinked and shook her head, her mind taking a moment to process what her ears were telling her she’d just heard.
“Ok… what?”
The dragon winced and played with his claws. “Well… after what happened last night with the guards… it kinda got me thinking is all. You remember when I went on the migration and met those other teenage dragons? And how they were all kind of… you know, physical, I guess you could call them?”
Twilight sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Spike, please don’t tell you want to be like them?” She grumbled.
Spike quickly shook his head. “Eesh, definitely not,” He shuddered, remembering that particular unfortunate day with nothing but disgust. “All I’m saying is that since I’m a dragon and all, I should at least know how to hold my own against another dragon.”
“Fighting is something a dragon learns naturally while they’re growing up,” Spyro offered simply. “Usually you’ll have mentors or elders who’ll teach you, or you learn fighting with other dragons your age, but since Spike’s never had either of those… eh, I’ll admit that he’s got some catching up to do, but it’s nothing major; plus he did save my tail once or twice last night, so this is the least I can do to repay him.”
“And you’re actually going to teach him?” Twilight asked, shooting him an accusing glare.
“I’ve had a lot of fighting experience Twilight, both in training and in real fights. Ugh, Look, I’m not going to go teaching him my breaths if that’s what you’re worried about, I can’t, all I’m going to show him is a bit of claw-to-claw.”
“Spyro, he lives in Ponyville, the most frightful adversary this town has is Fluttershy’s pet rabbit.”
Spyro winced as a slight jolt of pain ran through his scaly tail, and the face a practically enraged white rabbit simultaneously popped into his head. “Yeah, I’ve encountered him already,” He muttered. “Look… how about we just agree that it’s a good use of my time, and leave it at that, there’s no point in arguing about it; Spike’s made up his mind, and I’ve agreed.”
If this was any other day, Twilight would’ve thrown so many arguments back at the two of them, her rant would’ve made Equestria’s best lawyer look like an embarrassment to his legal practice; but a sour mood, coupled with extreme tiredness, and now the emerging cry of stomach for a source of breakfast, forced her to just sigh and give in.
“Uh, fine, but I still don’t see why it’s necessary; if it came down to it, Spike might be a dragon, but he’s still a citizen of Equestria, and as such sits under the protection of the princesses and Equestrian law just as much as a pony.”
Spyro just snorted and flicked his tail. “You tell yourself that, but believe when I say that no law will be able to protect his and Ember’s eggs better than he can… trust me, I know.”
Although he tried not to think about, Spyro’s mouth still gained a bitter taste at the memories of what Malefor had done to his own unhatched brethren.
What he didn’t notice, however, was the sudden bright and rather obvious blush that had spread across Spike’s face, as well as Twilight’s now virtually unhinged jaw; it moved up and down like she was trying to say something, but any words she had planned subsequently failed to come out.
“I’m… going to go find some breakfast.” Twilight mumbled at last, now rather temped to beat her own head against the nearest wooden wall. “Spike and Ember? Eggs? Whe-NO! brain, don’t you even THINK about going there!”
Mornings were now officially her worst enemy.
THWACK!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Arguing was something Diamond Tiara did quite a lot of on a daily basis, and rather well at that, one might add, as unfortunate as the fact might’ve been.
According to most of the few ponies who knew her family well, there was no doubt it came from having a father like Filthy Rich, a money-capable stallion who could acquire assets and close investment deals so fast that the Wonderbolts would have problems keeping up with the transaction speed.
Either way, Sweetie Belle knew she couldn’t take much more of it.
“So you’re just going to believe what the blank flanks say?! Without any proof?!” Diamond Tiara screeched, pointing an accusing hoof in the vague direction of the Sweetie and her two closest friends.
“Diamond Tiara! What have I told you about saying that!”
“But I didn’t do anything! They’re just saying things because I have my cutie mark and they don’t!”
An example of Diamond Tiara logic at its finest.
Surprisingly, the day had actually started off on a good note for the white unicorn filly; a hot morning shower, a pile of pancakes for breakfast, and the knowledge that a certain dragoness, whom she liked to count amongst her friends, would be visiting her class had gotten Sweetie Belle off to a good start.
Unfortunately, that good start had hit a substantial snag when she’d arrived at school, and found Diamond Tiara being questioned by Cheerilee about the events at the Ponyville Library the night before.
Hence she now sat slumped in her seat, with her head resting flatly on the desk in defeat, as Cheerilee, Silver Spoon, and Diamond Tiara argued and traded accusations at the front of the classroom; everypony else had eventually either tuned out, gone about their own conversations with each other, or, in the case of a few colts, decided to start throwing scrunched balls of paper around the class room.
But due to Diamond’s constant throwing of accusations her way, just ‘tuning out’ was something Sweetie Bell found herself physically unable to do.
“Sometimes I really wish Diamond Tiara was more like my scooter.” Scootaloo huffed, rubbing her forehead like a migraine was building. “She could really do with an off switch.”
“You’re telling me.” Sweetie Bell mumbled in agreement.
“Yeah, ah’ could really do with some earplugs bout’ now,” Applebloom groaned, staring blankly at a nearby wall. “She’s worse than them darn Timberwolves when the zap apples ripen.”
All three crusaders groaned in unison; today was not going as planned.
And yet, as fate would have it, that was when a chorus of knocks sounded from the door.
For a moment there was a flurry of movement throughout the classroom, with everypony hastily jumping backing back to their seats, grabbing the stray objects that lay littered about the floor, and trying their best to look like any other well behaved class as best they could; all the while, their curiosity and attention lay affixed on the schoolhouse doorway.
Sweetie couldn’t help but smile in excitement, and by the looks of things, neither could Cheerilee.
“Diamond Tiara, would you please get that?”
Diamond Tiara appeared to mutter something under her breath, but otherwise complied with the request, the pink filly slowly trotting over, raising a well-shined hoof to the handle, and pulling the door inward; never once did she notice the three crusader’s sniggers of anticipation.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Now remember Cynder, no going and losing your temper, no backchat or snarky comments, and definitely no snarling at anypony, even if they do annoy you,” Spyro chided in Cynder’s ear, the red and white building, which served as Ponyville’s one and only school house, now coming into view at the dirt roads end.
“Spyro, we’ve gone over this three times already, I get it.”
Her agitated words only earned her bonus chuckles from her companions.
“Cynder, calm down,” Spyro sighed happily, leaning across and giving her a gentle nuzzle. “This is practise; in a few minutes we’re going to be in a room full of curious colts and fillies, and like it or not, you can’t just snarl and snap to make them go away.”
“Like you happen to do with me,” Sparx grumbled from his place on Spyro’s horn.
“Not helping, Sparx,” Spyro growled.
“Not trying to.”
Cynder snorted and looked away, muttering something along of the lines of “watch me” under her breath as puffs of black fire escaped her nostrils.
Spyro just shook his head at her antics as they continued walking; quietly, he guessed that for Cynder the walk down the otherwise ordinary, tree-lined dirt road was quickly feeling more and more like the flight through the Belt of Fire had during the war’s last days. The main and surprising difference between the two journeys, however, was that a much more painful enemy for Cynder, then even Malefor perhaps, awaited himself and the dark dragoness at the path’s end.
A school house full of young ponies.
He did understand her unease at the prospect, and unfortunately rather too well at that; ever since she’d been freed of Malefor’s taint, and despite his full and constant support, Ignitus and the other’s backing, and even Cynder’s own best efforts to make amends for her many unintentional wrongs, just about everyone they’d come across had given the dragoness the cold shoulder before even getting to know her.
As such, over time, she’d come to build an emotional wall around herself and her heart, preferring solitude or the company of a bare few to the chance of being further shunned. In turn, that had led to a hiding of the gentleness and affection Spyro knew she had in her, and the gentleness and affection he’d come to love her for.
It was for that very reason, and, in turn, the hope that Cynder would finally be able to emerge from her shell of self-doubt and make some friends, that he’d come to accept Cheerilee’s offer in the first place.
“That’s why she needs to do this,” He quietly mussed to himself, his eyes wistfully tracing the rolling fields and meadows that surrounded them.
The Ponyville school house, as Cynder noted when the three made their way onto the actual school grounds, and she made eye-contact with the building for the first time, wasn’t exactly the most iconic structure the pony town had to offer; It was a simple, wooden, red and white building above all else, with pink hearts painted around the windows on the long sides no less, that sat in the middle of an otherwise unexciting small grass field, with its only real regaining feature being the small belltower that rose above the doorway arch.
Around said unexciting field lay a scattered number of swings and other assorted similar things, no doubt for the student’s physical exercise when they got restless, as well as a bordering white picket fence that roughly came up to her neck in height.
It wasn’t exactly an overindulgence of the eyes, but even then Cynder had to admit the setting was somewhat… quaint.
“Ugh, these ponies are rubbing off on me,” the dragoness smirked to herself, glad to have grass under her claws again; dragons didn’t have sensitive feet, but long walks on gravel and dirt took their tolls on even the hardest of talons.
Though within the matter of a few more seconds, everything came to a head, and Cynder’s talons became the least of her possible worries.
The two dragons’ morning journey through the quiet pony town, rather abruptly, came to its end as they climbed up a small cluster of steps, and found their front claws standing directly before the school house’s rustic red-painted wooden door… the last barrier that stood between them and whatever entities of evil that the day had in store.
Both Cynder and Spyro’s sharp hearing also happened to pick up some the words that resonated from the other side of the doorway, most of which, if they weren’t mistaken, gave the impression that Cheerilee was presently delivering an utter scolding to somepony.
Three guesses as to who that could possibly be.
“You really still want to do this?” Cynder asked, regarding him with a raised eyebrow.
“We’re already here; no real choice,” he replied flatly with a shrug, raising a claw and knocking a moment later.
As he finished knocking, two things, in a rather unfortunate sequence for everyone involved, happened in quick succession.
Firstly, the sound of Cheerilee’s voice abruptly stopped for a moment, before some kind of an instruction was given; neither dragon caught the exact details, but it was probably something along of the lines of ‘get the door’. This was followed by what was unquestionably an angry snort from the instructed pony, and then the clop of small hooves approaching the doorway from the other side.
Secondly, the door sharply swung open inward with a wooden creak, revealing the two dragons presence to the now jaw-dropped young ponies inside… and to the two dragons, or Cynder mostly to be precise, a sight that brought up every single ounce of bitterness, anger, frustration, annoyance, and seething rage that the events of the night prior had spawned.
An arrogant pink filly face, sporting a white-streaked purple mane, and topped with a tiara.
“YOU!”
“EEEEEP!”
Now, when one comes face-to-face with a creature sporting razor-sharp claws, lethal fangs, scales as tough as steel, and the ability to spew all matter of Tartarus from their maw, and also happens to hate your guts, the most logical thing that one should do… is run as fast as possible, as soon as possible, in the opposite direction; this sort of reaction is generally considered to be brought on by, and is a natural reaction to, extreme fear.
Diamond Tiara, however, had never really experienced such fear; she lived a protected life, with the likes of servants and maids at her hoof and call, and nopony ever daring to lay a hoof on her, lest they wished to be sued for everything they had by her family’s personal team of lawyers. As such, when the extreme bought of fear brought on by the roar of the utterly enraged dragon in front of her actually hit, her reaction was a little different than what one would assume…
THUMP!
… She fainted.
“Well… that was unexpected.” Cynder remarked with a small amount of surprise, eyeing the unconscious filly with a raised eyebrow, and apparently unaware that everypony else was watching her with their jaws almost meeting the floor.
Before any of the three could blink again, however, Cheerilee was over in a heartbeat, concern in her eyes as she hurriedly began checking the pompous pink filly’s breathing and heart rate... and began muttering something along the lines of "I knew that was a bad idea" under her breath.
The rest of her class, all the while, went about muttering and whispering amongst themselves about what they’d just witnessed; given her relationships with the rest of her classmates, very few of them were sympathetic towards to Diamond Tiara’s plight.
And, of course, the fact that there were two dragons standing in the doorway also came up.
“Who the hay are they?”
“W-what are d-dragon’s doing here in Ponyville?”
“That darker one’s… kinda pretty.”
“This is all your fault! I told you putting gum under Archer’s desk was a bad idea!”
Cynder just rolled her eyes.
“It looks like she’s just passed out from shock.” Cheerilee sighed eventually, ears flat as she rubbed her brow with a hoof. “She’ll be fine and awake fairly shortly… but still, it’s my duty as her teacher to take her to the hospital, just to be on the safe side more than anything.”
“You want me to do it?” Spyro asked tentatively. “I can probably fly her over there faster than you can carry her.”
Cheerilee just shook her head. “Thank you for offering, but my student, my responsibility,” She shrugged, using her neck to sling the filly over her back. “What you can probably do though is take care of the class while I’m out.”
Spyro and Sparx gave her curious looks, while Cynder immediately and visibly stiffened, kind as if someone or somepony had suddenly poured ice water down her back.
“Just for a little while.” Cheerilee continued, noticing their reactions. “Just… keep an eye on them, introduce yourselves maybe, and explain why you’re here today, that’s all I’m asking; I should be back in half an hour or so at the max.”
“Are…”
“Eh, we can do that.” Spyro jumped in.
If looks could kill, then the one Cynder gave her mate would’ve strangled, beaten, hung, drawn, quartered him, and then sent what was left of the purple dragon to the deepest bowels of Tartarus.
Still, she remained silent out of politeness, mentally deciding it better to tear his tail off when they weren’t around any colts or fillies… who apparently fainted from as little as being snarled at, one might add.
With nothing more than a final nod of thanks, Cheerilee was gone and out the door at a canter, the still unmoving mass of Diamond Tiara bobbing and jumping with each of the mare’s steps.
“I just want you to know that I utterly hate you right now.” Cynder hissed in Spyro’s ear, watching as the school teacher disappeared down the road…
… Leaving the three of them alone…
… With a class of still staring colts and fillies. Colts and fillies who, apart from the three crusaders, happened to look about ready to bail out the nearest window in terror.
Cynder growled and stared at the ceiling. “Why do I get the feeling this’ll be the longest day of my entire life.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Travelling in Zebrica: The do and do not, one thousand cultural rules?”
“Check!”
“The roaming Zoologists guide to Equestria?”
“Check!”
With a happy sigh of relief, and the scratch of an inked quill on parchment, Twilight ticked the last box of her booklist as Spike returned the tome to its rightful place… and then proceeded to slump against Ember’s pink side in mock panting.
The dragoness didn’t seem to mind in the slightest, and instead happily directed her efforts to re-straightening his green spines to her liking.
For the unicorn mare, and her two young dragon compatriots, cataloguing the library’s remaining books had been a rather long, agonizing, and at times tearful process… for Twilight anyway… to push through. Her pain though, the mare felt, was both warranted and understandable, given that the many books that lined the shelves, through the near countless hours spent reading, cleaning, and re-shelving them, had basically become part of both her and Spike’s lives, and thus losing said books was like losing memories in a strange kind of way.
Still, a task completed was a task completed, and that made Twilight smile all the same.
“Annnnd done,” She declared, giggling as the two dragons simultaneously collapsed into a heap of purple and pink scales on her floor. “Hehe, looks like you two could do with a nap; I’d imagine last night took a lot out of you both huh?”
“Not really tired for my part,” Spike shrugged. “Just kinda tender in a few places.”
He couldn’t help but rub his gut as he spoke; the monster of a fireball he’d coughed up the night before, much to his annoyance upon waking up and realizing, had left him with cramps about half as bad as when Discord had gotten free from being a royal lawn ornament, and he’d been used to relay every single friendship report Twilight had sent Princess Celestia.
He still hadn’t completely forgiven her for that.
“Yeah, I’m just hungry more than anything.” Ember put in, licking her lips and staring dreamily towards the kitchen. “Do we have any more of Pinkie’s pastries?”
Spike grinned and straightened up. “Nope, but that’s nothing a trip to Sugercube Corner can’t fix.”
As if to emphasize his point, a small cluster of bits seemed to suddenly materialize in his claws, courtesy of some apparent pouch or similar he kept between his scales.
Twilight couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow at her assistant’s action, the same which had produced the needed gem when they’d been trying to rescue Rarity from the diamond dogs, but she said nothing; some questions, as she’d learned from far too many experiences with Pinkie Pie to remember, weren’t worth answering.
“You want anything Twi?” Spike asked, abruptly snapping the mare out of her trance.
“Um… no thanks Spike… I probably ate enough junk food last night to last me a month or two.” Twilight smiled sheepishly, unable to stop herself glancing back at her flank. “Just take care while you’re out, and don’t be gone for too long.”
“Sheesh, you make it sound like something bad might happen in Ponyville.”
Twilight grinned and put a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, well, there’s been Nightmare Moon, parasprites, an Ursa Minor, Discord…”
“Ok! Ok! Point taken,” Spike winced, Ember giggling at his fluster as they made their way out the door.
Eventually, their voices, laughter, and footsteps faded away, and silence once more greeted Twilight like an old friend.
With a content sigh, she quickly took a comfortable seat on the rug, and summoned Starswirl’s book from its home on the shelves with her horn, her present mind-goal to uphold the promise she’d made to her four guests in finding them a way home.
Well… that was the plan anyway.
As strange as it was though, her home actually being a library and all, the sudden lack of noise felt… strangely cold and unnerving to Twilight; It was almost alien experience not to hear Ember’s laughter, or for the library to be devoid of Cynder’s snarky comments. It just didn’t feel… whole anymore.
Twilight sighed and shook her head; she figured it was to be somewhat expected, seeing as she’d recently been living closely with the three extra, rather talkative dragons of late.
However, that fact didn’t exactly make the silence any more bearable or better, if anything, it just made one unfortunate fact clear above all else.
“It’s going to be hard on everypony when they leave, Spike especially.”
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Aside from a missed word here and there, no major errors to lose sleep over. I'm just happy to see a new chapter up.
3563483 same here on all counts
pretty nice update all in all, I LOVED the little Cynder/ Diamond Tiara reunion
the justice held in those four lines
I hope Spike decides to go with them when they leave. THAT would really get to Rarity.
Glad to see a new chapter.
The reunion between Diamond Tiara and Cynder was especially sweet!
And Twilight, there is no getting around the fact that before this is all said and done, Spike and Ember are going to have some eggs.
as stated before only minor corrections that just about everyone would and probably will ignore. All that really matters (to me anyways) is that there is finally a new chapter out and now i really cant wait for the next
.
3563628 Very true. Either that or Ember decides to say. Sorry Rarity but you had your chance.
Wonderful. Never enough dragons on this site.
3564109 Agreed.
I
'ed when I saw it updated. I was not disappointed.
Well, well, well, Spike!
Rarity is going to be less than pleased.
And, did Spyro say EGGS?!
3564109 Most definatly.
I hope you fully intend for this story to end in free travel between their worlds... and then a cut away to Spike and Ember's first clutch... assuming the actual end of the story comes before such an event anyway...
I can't wait for the art work! And will there be a scene between Luna and cynder. It would make a great character development scene and are any other Spyro characters gonna show up? I wanna see the guardians!! And what about that crystal empire? Also you misspelled "practice ".
You have made me so happy with this update dude. thank you so much.
Are the drawers also small dukes? How about miniature lords for cabinets?
'It’s going to be hard on everypony when they leave, Spike especially'
Or she might find herself needing a new 'assistant'
that little epiphany will be worth waiting for.
3564109 Ain't that the truth.
Even fewer that are done this well. One of the Spyro crossovers I found, 'even gods make mistakes' or something, got EVERYTHING wrong. Most notably the personalities of all characters from both franchises. Seething just thinking about it.
Of course, even though one could consider Rarity OOC... they can't really. She's one of my favourites and I can honestly see her doing pretty much what she's doing here given the right circumstances.
I was previously unaware of this promised art. Looking forward to it and more of the story.
3573222
Hehe, pretty sure I've redrawn Ember (aged up a few years) about seven times now, but I'm finally happy with her-ish.
3603476
Evil author is evil
3565285 the author did say this was unedited
3718159
Yes! Someone finally gets that!
MOAR! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MOAR!
3747919
I've got three different versions on the go, and I'll (hopefully) be putting them all together this weekend or early next week.
3748179
*puts down blowtorch, power drill, pliers, and spoon*
Good.
3749644 *Pumps double barlled shotgun* Don't even think about it
3749644
3784054
Before anyone goes killing a poor, defenceless author (who probably deserves it, let's be honest
), I've just sent the next chapter's gdoc link to my editor (not exactly 'my' editor, more or less someone who's willing to put up with my infuriating existence/writing skills) 
3784498 It's on stun mode (but still painful) but I wasn't aiming at you I was aiming CV12hornet....
3784514
Well, now that the author's moving I won't need to use my tools, and you can put that shotgun away.
3784671 Yeah I don't think so, but I won't fire unless you provoke me.(Maybe I'am playing too much bioshock and dead island)
Practice has two c's, no s. I think you did this once more.
Hey! No starting a new sentence when wrapping up a character's dialogue! Bad author. You need a comma and a lowercase h.
Well durn,
that author's note made me hungry for a sandwich.....a hot one....with grilled onions, and cheese.
To the burger shack!!!
I feel like perfect killing machine. Sandvich!
I almost wanted the Cynder/Dimond Tiara reunion to be:
1: It to be normal with but with Cynder saying "Get that motherfucker ."
2: Cynder hiding behind the door and then popping out saying "Surprise motherfucker."
spoilers are for swears
So we open this chapter with Twilight not wanting to wake up to a series of unusual THWACK sounds. Not being a morning mare, she grudgingly goes to check and finds Spike ramming his head against the wall.
Sorry, Sparx; we only pay attention to priority threats.
So, yeah. Spyro's teaching Spike how to fight - if the previous comment sections are anything to judge by, this was brought about because the fans suggested it.
(FANPANDERING!!!)
Shut up!
Twilight doesn't take this very well, as Ponyville is relatively peaceful.
Then what about those other monsters that come to Ponyville on an almost weekly basis?
Do you even continuity?
Yeah, Twilight. The Law didn't stop Tirek from wrecking everyone's---Oh wait, not season 4 yet......
On to the school house, we have Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon getting told off by Cheerilee about the anonymous letter that was sent to Shining Armor, with the CMC overhearing every accusation the spoiled fillies have to throw at them.
Mwahahahaha! The berating of Diamond Tiara pleases me..... 
It'd be even more pleasing I didn't know she was being accused of something she didn't actually do.
Changing scenes again, Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx are on their way to the schoolhouse and are going over once again how to NOT act while there.
Sparx, are you trying to get killed?
So they arrive at the school and Cynder actually finds it at least a little pleasing to the eye. "Quaint", I think she called it.
No, it's called "You're getting used to the new environment."
After knocking on the door, Diamond Tiara answers it and Cynder is.....angrily surprised?....I dunno how to put this.
And Diamond Tiara faints........I have no joke here; that's funny on its own. (Humor: +1)
So Cheerilee gathers Diamond Tiara up and takes her to the hospital just to be safe, despite Spyro's offer to fly her there. Instead, she suggests he and Cynder introduce themselves and explain why they're here.
Easier said than done, when the whole class looks ready to jump out a window.
Back at the library, Twilight is making a list of the books she has left with Spike and Ember's help. Look at that, Spike! Two days and you're already getting your girlfriend in on the family business!
When they're done, Spike and Ember head off to Sugarcube Corner for some sweets while Twilight decides to do some research and try to send the three dragons (and dragonfly) back to their own world.
Indeed......