What if Emziko was Canon?

It had taken some time for Celestia to explain the entire story to Spyro and Cynder, but nevertheless, she was done.

"So, if you have any questions, now would be the time to ask them." Celestia said.

"There's only one I can think of: Why would you use the egg as a test in the first place?" Cynder asked.

"Because no unicorn should've ever been able to hatch the egg; dragon eggs in this world are very resistant to magic. It'd have to take an alicorn such as myself to hatch it. I honestly was not prepared for what happened with Twilight." Celestia said. "The test was meant to see how a unicorn would handle failure."

"And yet, because of that magic surge, Twilight Sparkle did the impossible." Cynder said.

"Be calm Cynder. I'm pretty sure this would be one of those 'once in a lifetime' kind of things." Spyro said.

"In all honesty, I can say that you're not too far off Spyro. The fact that Twilight had so much magic built up inside of her..." Celestia had to pause. "...It actually makes the most powerful unicorn; even beating out my own mentor of Starswirl the Bearded were he around today."

"Oh him. Yeah, I remember him." Spyro said. "So, did he die since I've been gone?"

"That's just the thing...one day he just poofed out of existence. And not in a 'he died' sort of way either. Around one thousand years ago, Starswirl just vanished with little more than a letter saying he was leaving Equestria to my sister and I." Celestia said.

"Well, I'm sure his remains have to be somewhere. Old coot probably laid low to dodge all the fans his books probably brought after he basically went poof." Cynder said. "There is such a thing as living off the grid."

That's when Shining Armor and Cadence suddenly burst into the audience chamber. "Has the audience chamber doors suddenly become revolving or something?"

"Sorry for the interruption, it's just that scouts have reported something in regards to the crystal empire returning; whatever that is." Shining Armor said.

"...Then it has returned..." Celestia said as she trotted over to a nearby window. "I feared for the day the Crystal Empire would return."

"What do you mean? What's at the Crystal Empire?" Cadence asked.

"Cadence, I wasn't fully honest with you when I adopted you as my niece. I had done so, because I figured out quickly that you had to be the daughter of Princess Mi Amore; the original ruler of the Crystal Empire." Celestia said.

"Original ruler? What's that supposed to mean?" Cynder asked.

"One day, a dark creature whose species is referred to as an Umbrum took the shape of a unicorn. That Umbrum's name was King Sombra; and he turned Princess Amore into crystal before breaking her apart. He then proceeded to scatter her remains to the far reaches of the world, and then usurped the throne." Celestia explained.

"So, you're saying that the Crystal Empire is Princess Cadence's birthright?" Spyro asked.

"Wait, what about the pieces of my mother?" Cadence asked.

"The royal guard did the best they could, but we could only recover a few pieces. There's no where near enough to even attempt to restore her." Celestia said.

"Ouch; talk about thorough." Cynder said. "This King Sombra guy is making my father look nice."

"But not Strykor..." Spyro mumbled too soft for anyone to hear since it was Shining Armor who said something that quickly brought attention away from Spyro.

"So, what do you want us to do about it?" Shining Armor asked.

"You and Cadence will have to go to the empire and defend it. I will send Twilight and her friends shortly after." Celestia admitted. "You'll have to take the train station to the frozen north station, and go to the empire from there."

"Understood!" Shining Armor said then left with Cadence.

"Guess that means the ruinion with our son is going to have to wait." Spyro said.

"Actually, I won't stop you from also assisting. Just...please, don't try to reveal to Spike you are his parents quite yet. I don't know if the drake can handle it. Especially while he's still learning about being a Purple Dragon." Celestia said.

"That's understandable. Wonder how he learnt about the Purple Dragon thing." Cynder said.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Celestia said.

"There's something you're not telling us is there?" Cynder asked.

"Can't an alicorn whose ruled for over a thousand years have a little fun?" Celestia asked.

"Oh...have it your way. It does make things more fun~" Cynder said.

"Yeah, this could be interesting." Spyro said. He and his mate then flew off to follow the train station to the Frozen North.