World of Warcraft: Burning Skies

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: Back to Equus

Once the command had been given Spitfire watched as the majority of the dimensional fleet turned around and headed back to whatever part of Azeroth they had been stationed above before the sudden small quake had occurred, while the Vindicaar remained resting nearby as several of their friends and allies gathered aboard it. Of course they had a couple of special guests who wanted to come with them, as the Titans wanted to see the other world that contained a Titan's World-Soul deep inside it, all while making sure there were no Old Gods to deal with. Spitfire was sure that if their world had one or more of the Void creatures they would have been dealt with in due time, given their history of taking out villains with all sorts of powers, so she remained silent as the Titans, Azeroth included, shrunk to the size of a Human before joining them on the ship. As she expected the newly awakened figure was studying the races that were on the Vindicaar, since this was her first time seeing them with her eyes, instead of whatever she saw in her slumbering state, and everyone else wanted to get a closer look at her.

Spitfire was happy to see that everyone was overjoyed about this situation, that they had beaten the Legion and were able to assist in the awakening of a Titan, which meant the universe would be a safer place for everyone, even though it would take some time to crush whatever remnants of the Legion's power remained. As she thought about that a figure stood off to the side, Sarya to be exact, meaning the succubus was interested in her, more than what she had said previously, and it meant those lessons might be coming sooner than she expected. Such a thing made her think about the artifact that had been passed to her not a few moments ago, the Fel-infused keystone that many had fought and died to claim, which she knew had lost its purpose now that the Legion had been toppled. With her power she knew what needed to be done in the future, it had to be converted into a key to their worlds, as in Azeroth, Equus, and the worlds that were allied with the large army she and Rainbow had formed to combat Sargeras' forces.

As she thought about that, however, Spitfire found that Velen was walking up to where she was standing, no doubt due to the fact that he was ready to depart from this place but were waiting for her to give the order, and Discord was standing nearby as well, near the navigation console, observing everything that was going on.

"Lady Spitfire, we are ready to depart when you give the command," Velen said, as he and the others knew that there was something on her mind, due to the fact that he had observed her for some time since the two factions banded together, and Romuul was prepared to do whatever she commanded, even though he could see Spitfire using a bit of her Cosmic energy to alter the keystone.

"Seriously? You're a 'Lady' now?" Discord asked, because he remembered what he discovered during the last time he had been on this planet, that neither Spitfire or Rainbow were high up in the food chain and seemed to be more like soldiers who were following someone else's orders, but this told him that a lot had changed after his last visit, especially when he felt the power in her and Rainbow.

As he said that, however, Discord heard a number of weapons being drawn and found that some of the heroes looked like they were offended by him not believing that Spitfire was one of the highest ranking members of this world, but before he could do anything Spitfire beckoned to them and the heroes withdrew their weapons without delay.

"Yes, Discord, I am 'Lady' Spitfire now, as I am the Grand Commander of the Grand Army of Azeroth, which formed after the downfall of Gul'dan," Spitfire replied, though while there was a lot more that brought about the event she was talking about, given the events of Draenor, she didn't want to get involved in a long story right now, hence why she glanced over to Romuul for a moment, "Romuul, it is time for us to depart... you may begin whenever you are ready to do so."

Romuul nodded his head for a second as he tapped a few icons on the navigation console that was in front of them, which caused the Vindicaar to rise out of the air of Silithus and head towards space once more, despite the fact that this time he knew there was no final destination in mind, since the portal between worlds was gone. A few moments later he reached a good distance from Azeroth's surface and brought the Vindicaar to a stop, even though he knew that it was within range of the area that the rift between worlds had been located in, before bowing his head towards Spitfire. Once that was done Spitfire headed outside, mostly by using magic to teleport herself into the space in front of the ship, before she produced a silver keystone and applied a bit of power to it, just like what Illidan had done when he used it earlier. It only took a few seconds for the Keystone to react to her energy, where it started to spin above her hand and she sent it flying out into the space that was in front of them, which was followed by a new rift in space opening and she smiled when she saw what was on the other side.

What they discovered was a planet that was as large as Azeroth and seemed at peace, to which Spitfire teleported back to Romuul's side and pointed at the area she wanted to go to, the plains near Ponyville to be exact, where the pilot quickly confirmed her orders and let her step back.

Once the rift was stable Romuul sent the Vindicaar flying through it and they quickly passed into the space that was above Equus, where he focused on the area that Spitfire had marked for him, allowing everyone to stare down at the planet they were currently heading towards. As they did that, however, Spitfire made sure to close the rift once they were on the other side, allowing her to collect the Keystone while making sure not to leave something behind that might startle the races of this world, since she knew some would freak out if they saw the rift. Of course the first thing many of the passengers saw was the rather tall mountain off to their right that had a large city attached to it, where she and Rainbow said nothing as everyone took in the sights of Canterlot for the first time. After that they found some train tracks that left the city and the pair found that many eyes were following the tracks, where it headed out to the plains that Spitfire had pointed at earlier, connecting to a large settlement that interested Velen and the others immediately.

Rainbow smiled as she noticed the rather large settlement, a town that she was very familiar with, while the others found a decent sized town hall, what appeared to be a castle made of crystal, all sorts of shops, and a fair number of houses that the residents lived in. She glanced over the familiar sight in front of her for a few more seconds, taking in her house, the place Rarity both worked and lived in, Pinkie's place, Fluttershy's residence on the outskirts, and Applejack's farm with all of the apple trees, as area she would have to visit later. As she and Spitfire took in all of the familiar sights their allies took some time to take in everything that was in front of them, especially the darkness of the Everfree Forest, which no one in the town seemed afraid of, since they set up their settlement near it. They were slightly amused by the looks on the faces of their allies, especially since this world was so different from the one that everyone was used to, regardless of whether they were thinking of Azeroth or Draenor.

As they did that Spitfire noticed that there happened to be an odd device resting out in the plains near Ponyville, a stone arch of some kind that had a crystal inserted into the uppermost part of it and seemed to have magic attached to it, which she was interested in and hoped to learn about at some point.

"Welcome to Equus, or, to be more exact, the continent of Equestria and the town of Ponyville," Spitfire said, where it felt like a lifetime ago where she and Rainbow had been in this town, a place that didn't look like it had changed at all, which also seemed applicable to the residents if what she was seeing was accurate, as she could see Mayor Mare was outside the town hall and it didn't look like she had aged a day since the last time she had been in Ponyville, causing her to chuckle for a moment as she glanced backwards, "So, what do you think?"

"This is the world you and Rainbow fought to protect? It is so... peaceful." Velen remarked, as there was no other way for him and the others to describe what they were seeing right now, this world was nothing like Azeroth, Argus, and all of the other worlds that they had seen during their quest to bring down the Legion and the Dark Titan who lead them, which also explained why she and Rainbow had been so passive when they first arrived in Outland.

As Khadgar and the others nodded their heads, however, the heroes found something interesting as they focused on the town that was in front of them, there were a number of quadrupedal horse creatures, ponies Illidan realized since he did recall what he had been told all those years ago, walking around the town. Based on what they knew some were stallions and the others were mares, both types having individuals with large and small frames, while some had horns, others had wings, and some had nothing attached to their bodies. Spitfire took a moment to explain the races that lived in Ponyville, and the types to be exact, as she directed Romuul to head over to the Everfree Forest so they didn't draw any unwanted attention, allowing them to learn about the Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns that lived in Ponyville. Of course she also noticed a fair number of Griffins, Dragons, and, if her eyes weren't deceiving her, Diamond Dogs hanging out with the residents of the town, which was incredibly odd based on what she remembered, causing her and Rainbow to turn their heads so they could look at Discord.

"Like I told you earlier, you weren't the first of our displaced... that honor belongs to Spike and Ember," Discord stated, as he must have gotten tired of remaining silent and had decided this was a good time to talk, even though he could see that both Spitfire and Rainbow were interested in the sudden change to Ponyville, the arrival of multiple races that didn't want anything to do with ponies, but now it looked like something had caused them to change their minds and interact with the races of Equestria, especially when he noticed that Rainbow had spotted some Zebras, Yaks, Hippogriffs, and Changelings among the number of races in the town, "they, um, changed things around here... that's all I can say on the matter, since they would do a better job explaining things to the two of you and your allies."

Spitfire wondered what could have happened to Spike and Ember to warrant such a thing, though since Discord was, for some odd reason, keeping his mouth shut there wasn't much she could do to learn about what had occurred, though that was when the Titans paused for a moment and then focused on part of the Everfree Forest. Such a thing caused her to have Romuul follow their directions, even though she had a feeling that she knew where they were going, since it seemed like they must have felt a brief surge of Equus' Titan power and were following the echo it must have left behind. It didn't take them long to reach the castle that the Princesses had lived in all those years ago, though when Romuul stopped the ship she, Rainbow, and all of the Titans headed down to the gorge that their true destination rested in, and sure enough a beacon was fired down as well. Such a thing allowed Khadgar, Velen, and a few others to join them in seeing what in the world might be happening to Equus' World-Soul, leaving the others on the ship to make sure the area was clear and talk to whoever might show up, as they didn't want the ponies to think they were an invasion force.

Discord, of course, decided to come with them so he could see what happened when they reached the end of the cave, as he must have known about their planet's World-Soul and didn't say much about it the last time he came to talk with them, but they weren't annoyed with him for not sharing that information, given their focus on the war. A few seconds later they found the entrance of the cave, thank to Rainbow's knowledge of the area, to which they landed and walked through the opening, finding a familiar tunnel Spitfire had been in once before, though she suspected that they would find the key to speaking with the slumbering Titan in due time. As she expected they found the crystalline tree that Rainbow had told her about, which contained the six Elements of Harmony inside it and had some sort of connection to something Discord did to the Everfree Forest at one point in time, rested at the end of the tunnel, inside a decent sized cavern at the end of the tunnel, which caused their allies to raise their eyebrows as they spotted it. Based on what she could see that there was nothing else in the cavern, save for the Tree, and she to come to a stop, which caused everyone else to do the same thing as the Titans walked up to where the tree rested, making everyone wonder what was going to happen next.

Amun'thul and the others breathed a sigh of relief for a few seconds, meaning that Equus wasn't in danger and that she might have been responding to their arrival, though after that happened they watched as Azeroth stepped forward and came to a stop in front of the Tree.

"Sister... thank you for sending some of your champions to help me," Azeroth said, where she raised her hand and rested her right palm on the crystalline bark, something that caused the tree to shimmer for a moment, almost as if in response to what she was doing, while at the same time Amun'thul, Eonar, and the rest of the Titans nodded their heads, to show the slumbering World-Soul that everyone agreed with what the new Titan was saying, "now its our turn to do the same for you, as the other Titans and I, not to mention all of our collective champions, will do everything in our power to make sure the incoming demonic invasion is repelled and make it so that you are able to sleep in peace."

"So the Professor was right, more of our displaced have returned," a voice said, to which Spitfire and Rainbow turned their heads and glanced at the opening of the cave for a second, where they found a humanoid dragon standing at the cave entrance, one who seemed to have a lean body while wearing a light blue robe over his body, one that didn't even touch the ground, before they found that it also had a collar made of light gray feathers, before they found that the dragon's scales were purple colored and Rainbow assumed his chest scales were light green colored, and he was carrying a rather interesting looking staff in his right hand, which had a purple gem at the top and a ring of runes around it, "Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, I'm glad that you two made it back safely, especially after what Discord told us you were up to, but before we start answering questions, since I'm sure you have some for us, allow me to introduce myself: I am Spike, the youngest Archmage in the Dragon Realms, brother to Spyro, the greatest hero to grace the Dragon Realms, and Ember, who is the greatest warrior in all of the lands as well."

"Spike, it is good to hear that you and Ember are well," Spitfire replied, though while Discord had said nothing about who else had been displaced, since they had been busy earlier, it did seem like the young dragon had been sent somewhere that allowed him to grow into a rather powerful individual and she was sure it was the same for Ember, the Dragon Lord if her memory was correct, before she beckoned to the others for a moment, "Allow me to introduce Archmage Khadgar, one of the members of the Council of Dalaran, Prophet Velen, leader of the Draenei, Illidan Stormrage, Lord of the Illidari and the one who taught Rainbow and I how to fight, and the Titans of our universe: Amun'thul, Eonar, Aggramar, Azeroth, Norgannon, Golganneth, and Khaz'goroth. We also have a number of heroes from Azeroth aboard the Vindicaar, which is resting above the ruined castle right now, though you'll be able to meet them in due time... though we're just checking on the slumbering World-Soul of our world, making sure the nascent Titan is just fine."

"World-Soul? Okay, you have my attention now, especially with a brand new topic for me to research," Spike said, where Spitfire and Rainbow watched as he shifted his stance for a moment, as he pushed part of his robe to the side and quickly revealed that he had a pouch of some kind that had a number of writing materials inside it, quills, parchment, and inkwells no doubt.

In addition to that they found that he also had journals resting inside the pouch, as if he was waiting for an adventure or something to happen, before he settled on a couple of items and focusing on the Titans as he appeared near the area that they were standing, almost as if he had teleported over to them after gathering his supplies.

"Wow, he's like Twilight now," Rainbow commented, as the moment Spike neared the Titans he started to ask questions, as he was eager to learn more about them and the World-Soul that was slumbering inside their planet, though she had a feeling that if he found his way to Dalaran, or any of the parts of Azeroth that contained a bunch of knowledge, he would have a field day, even if it was odd seeing him like this, since it reminded her of Twilight.

"You aren't the first one to say that," a new voice said, where Spitfire and Rainbow glanced at the cave opening once more and found that three more dragons had arrived while they were focused on Spike, all standing at around the same height as Spike, finding a blue scaled dragon who seemed to be wearing steel armor, molded to fit her body and likely didn't even weigh her down, another female dragon that had an interesting set of attire on that had to be armor, possibly made out of some material neither of them recognized, while her scales were black colored and she had ivory horns, and a dragon who had purple scales with a yellow color in place of Spike's light green color, though he seemed to be wearing the attire of an aviator, which she and Rainbow had seen on some Gnomes during their time in Azeroth, before the other male dragon stepped forward, "I'm sure Spike already mentioned our names, but I'm Spyro, this is Ember, our sister, and my girlfriend Cynder, plus we have a few others coming as well, namely Elora, Hunter, and Bianca, as everyone else stayed back in the academy, to help with the training our recruits are going through. Anyway, like I said, you aren't the first ones to mention such a thing about Spike, as he's one of the smartest dragons in our world and knows far more about magic than anyone else we know, save for Malefor anyway, and I can tell you that some of the residents of this world were surprised by the sudden change he went through... even though we're used to it, since Ember and I spent fifteen years with Spike and have seen what happens when he discovers something new, be it a new continent, a pair of facilities on the moons orbiting our world, or a long lost treasure trove of knowledge."

"I'm still trying to figure out why that happened, and my best guess is that the displacement process mixed with my soon to be repressed memories of Twilight, and that magic might have mixed with the nature of the Artisans Homeworld when Ember and I arrived," Spike stated, showing everyone that he was listening to what Spyro was saying and that he had his own opinion to add to the conversation, even though it was clear that he had already learned a lot from Amun'thul, given that the single page had developed into five and he promised to have a better discussion with the Titans once they were done explaining things to Spitfire and Rainbow, all while Rainbow just stood there with her jaw dropped, as Spike was like a whole new dragon at this point, "though if that was the case, and I'm positive that it is close to the truth of why I turned out like this, it doesn't explain why Ember wasn't affected in a similar manner... best I can come up with, after taking that into account, is that my magic bonded with the power of the Artisans Homeworld and Ember's magic must have done the same with the Peace Keeper's Homeworld, despite the fact that we appeared in the lands Nestor watched over and not in Titan's lands."

"Basically, he has a few ideas on what might have happened, but no clear answers," Ember remarked, revealing that all of them were used to Spike speaking in this manner or style and knew what he was talking about, to the point where one or more of them could easily sum up what he might be talking about, something that caused Spike to nod his head for as he made sure his notes were organized and safely stored away, before Rainbow noticed that he was wearing a blue wizard's hat on his head, one with holes for his horns no less, "neither of you are wearing all that much, but based on what I can see both of you carry interesting weapons, ones that I've never seen before."

"These are called warglaives, while mine are known as the Twinblades of the Cosmos and Rainbow's are known as the Aldrachi Warblades, though she modified them a little to fit her new form," Spitfire replied, where she held her hands up for a few seconds and pulled her blades out of her demonic horns, surprising most of the dragons while interesting Spike as he took a moment to document what he had been shown, even though Ember ran a hand over the blades as she studied them in great detail while both Spyro and Cynder watched for now, before she beckoned to Illidan, who pulled out his warglaives a few seconds later, "and our mentor wields the Warglaives of Azzinoth, while the rest of the Illidari wield unnamed versions of these weapons, save for Allari, who carries a scythe into battle. As for our attire, we're used to wearing the robes of an Illidari, giving us maximum mobility while not being weighed down by some of the heavier armors that some of Azeroth's heroes wore into battle, though the attire I'm wearing came from me gaining all six Cosmic Forces and balancing them out, which came with this staff for some odd reason... and Spike, before you ask, I'm sure that one of the Archmages would be willing to exchange information with you, since they're likely eager to learn more about Equus and the world that you and Ember were sent to."

"Korma. That's the name Malefor, the historians, scientists, leaders, and I came up with for our world," Spike stated, which told Spitfire something interesting as many of them turned towards Spike's group, that the world Spyro and the rest of the dragons Spike and Ember had grown up with, a race of dragons who seemed different from those she was used to, didn't have a name for a very long time and Spike had gotten around to convincing the others to name it, just for the books and tomes no doubt, "though I welcome the chance to talk with your Archmages, as you two have caused so many questions to spring up in my mind and I'm eager to expand my knowledge, maybe learn a few new spells along the way.

As Spike said that Spitfire noticed that three new arrivals had appeared outside the cave, where the first was a humanoid cheetah who stood on two legs and was wearing what appeared to be ranger clothing over his body, like he was a scout or something, and he carried a bow on his back, as in it rested inside a quiver with some arrows. They quickly found another humanoid being to his right, a cream furred rabbit girl who was wearing an open purple robe over an orange dress, which did stop halfway to her knees, and it looked like she had a wand in her right hand. The third figure was an oddity, as she looked like a humanoid deer whose body had been twisted into a mix of deer and dragon, which was due to the fact that her fingers looked like sharpened claws, she had clawed feet like Spike and the others had, and she had a pair of dragon wings and a dragon tail. As the group took in what they were seeing right now, and the Titans raised their eyebrows for a couple of seconds, Spitfire glanced at Discord with an accusing look in her eyes, as it seemed like something he would do, only for the Spirit to proclaim that this instance wasn't his fault.

"You must be the displaced the Professor detected, and their allies. I'm Elora, and this is Hunter and his girlfriend Bianca," the faun-dragon said, noticing who was standing in the cave as both of her companions noticed what was going on, which also gave the group a chance to see that she was wearing an interesting set of armor over her body, metallic that seemed to mimic a dragon's appearance, as in scales for the most part, though Spitfire had the feeling that her helmet, since she had to have one, likely mimicked the shape of a dragon's head and was scaled down to fit her body, "I know, I know, I'm an oddity, and I can tell you what happened to me: I was just a normal Faun before I met Spike and his siblings, where I had the Professor craft me some armor so I could join them in their adventures, and when we faced off against the villain who tried taking over the lands I called home a few years ago, a tale for another time, his unstable magic struck me and altered my body to what you see now... and, before you ask, I'm fine with it, especially since I have such a supportive and helpful boyfriend."

Rainbow's jaw dropped as she and Spitfire watched as Elora kissed Spike on the cheek, something that was so shocking to her since it was Spike they were talking about, though she had to remind herself that Spike and Ember were different now and that she was going to be shocked by them for some time.

"Should we retire to somewhere that is more private? There are some things I want to ask and this doesn't seem like the best place to do such a thing," Spitfire inquired, something that caused Spike and Ember to glance at each other before the pair looked over to Spyro, who nodded and beckoned for them to follow, meaning they likely knew a good place that they could talk in and allow her to figure out what they had done since they finished their own adventures, so they could plan out how to prepare for the impending invasion.

At the very least it sounded like the pair had started training some recruits for the demonic invasion, even though she did have a few ideas on who might have formed the basics of their army, though this would allow her to figure some things out before seeing how many heroes would be willing to join them in advancing the training that the recruits were getting at the moment, all while waiting to see what happened when all of the other displaced, whoever they were, returned from their adventures and added their power and allies to their might, but for now she focused on the here and now as she and the others followed Spike's group, knowing that this conversation was going to be important for all of them.

Author's Note:

Edited on 3/24/22

Comments

[PrismStrike]

I had forgotten how intelligent spike had become, was nice seeing him with so much confidence. Definitely enjoyed rainbows dropped jaw at the fact that he was dating, got a good chuckle out of that.

[badninja]

So I wonder how things are going to go during this meeting and how the training fight will go for Ember and Spitfire/Rainbow. I think Spike may get involved but he is far more scholarly and probably not going to last long.

[zachary12]

nice work