Way of the Noble Dragon

It had only been about a month since the defeat of the Sorcerous, and Spyro was already right in the middle of battling his next great foe. Without much time to breath after returning to the dragon worlds, Spyro received urgent news from the fairy, Zoe, about unknown attacks in Avalar that had been leaving magical creatures without their magic. Upon investigating these attacks, Spyro found that a new spellcaster named Anima Lladre, the daughter of Ripto, had been stealing the magic from all magical creatures and eventually stole the magic of even all of the fairies in both Avalar and the dragon worlds. With Hunter and Bianca backing him up, Spyro attempted to take Anima down in the castle of Winter Tundra, like Ripto before her. As it turned out, dragons seemed to be impervious to direct magic from Anima, but that didn’t stop her as she used elemental magic to fight against Spyro. Hunter was brushed away as little more than a nuisance, and in attempting to save him, Bianca had her magic stolen as well. All that was left to stand against Anima was the young dragon.

“Seems like you’re all alone now, dragon,” Anima taunted.

“And just like dear ol’ dad, you’ll lose to this lone dragon,” Spyro smirked, flames dancing out of the gaps in his lips. “Would you like to be slowly smoked, or flame broiled?”

"Are you always so charming?" Anima rolled her eyes.

Hoping that his friends could recover if given a little time, Spyro decided to stall a little. "Just one question. I get that you want revenge for your dad, but why steal all of the magic in the land? Is it just no fun unless everyone's suffering?"

“Power is all I was after from the start. I fed on the magic of this land for that reason alone. I’m not doing this for Ripto. In truth, I did not care for my father. The impotent dwarf and his ego were even more insufferable than your witless banter. But as his daughter, I suppose it does fall under my responsibilities to avenge him,” she replied, blasting a wave of ice shards at the purple dragon.

Spyro breathed fire as his shield against the ice attack, vaporizing the sharp shards and protecting himself. But this created a wall of steam that shrouded from his sight the bolder that was magically launched at him until the last second, when it was too late. The boulder slammed into the young dragon and sent it and himself, crashing against the wall. After a few moments of watching the motionless dragon on the ground, Anima laughed manically.

“Was that it?! That was all the great dragon hero had to offer? I knew my father was pathetic, but to lose to one such as you was even more so.” After laughing to her heart’s content, Anima quickly sniffed the air. “It seems that there is no magic left in these pitiful worlds for me to devour. Then I suppose I should head out to another. YOU! Mole man, prepare a portal for me!”

The Professor was cowering behind a nearby stone pillar, having watched the battle with Elora the faun. “I…I will do no such thing,” he stammered.

Anima blew up the pillar, grabbed Elora by the throat and held a ball of energy to her face. “You’ll do it, or the faun will pay for your lack of cooperation!”

“Don’t do it Professor,” Elora choked out.

The professor tried to stand his ground. “Even if I did set up a portal for you, it wouldn’t work because you’ve stolen all of the magical energy of this world. There would be nothing to power it.”

Throwing Elora aside, Anima placed her hands together and conjured forth a black gem, then tossed it at the professor, who caught it with a loud, ‘oohf!’ “That should be all the magical energy you need. Any more complaints will land you in a world of hurt. Got that, old man?!”

With that last sentence echoing in his head, the Professor’s will to resist was broken and he weakly replied, “y-yes mam,” as he tottered off to the big portal arch with the large black gem in his little mole hands.

He fumbled down the large flight of steps at the front of the castle and looked around with tears in his eyes. Every portal was empty and every fairy lay unconscious on the ground, never to fly or use magic again if this magic thief got away. But what could he do? Even if he resisted and died, it would only delay the inevitable. Anima would figure out the portal technology inevitably, and the only hope to stop her was presumably dead. In the end, the Professor couldn’t think of anything to do, and could only set up the portal as he was ordered.

“There,” the Professor pouted. “Now all that’s left is to input the coordinates. Where are you planning on going?”

Anima blasted the console and sent the professor flying into a snowdrift out in the grass. “Somewhere where there is much more magic to feed on.” Placing her hand on the arch, she magically adjusted the portal’s frequency and locked it onto a world overflowing with magic. “And just in case anyone gets the bright idea to follow me,” she said, laughing at the thought.

Clapping her hands together and then spreading them apart, she created a barer of energy around the platform where the portal lay. Without another word, she stepped through the archway and disappeared into another world. The words of gold shimmered near the top of the portal, which had shown a beautiful, clear, morning sky fading to a starry night. Each letter hung in place to announce the name of the world beyond the portal. A name that would be the last thing the Professor saw before blacking out into unconsciousness. Equestria.

Meanwhile, in Equestria, Spike the dragon awakens to an unusual sound down below in Ponyville. In a sleepy stagger, he wondered over to the nearest window looking out from Twilight's castle to see, rising from the earth in the center of town, a large magical archway with golden letters floating at the top that read, 'Winter Tundra.' Turning away, just in time to miss the figure that came out of the archway and disappear into the night, Spike ran to Twilight's bed.

"Twilight!" Spike called, now completely awake.

The same could not be said for the sleepy princess, as she rubbed her eye with her hoof. "What is it Spike?"

"Something's happening out in Ponyville that I think you should take a look at," the little dragon urgently said, pointing to the window.

The urgency in Spike's voice made Twilight bolt upright and gallop over to the window. She looked with both concern and amazement as she said, "What is that?"