Crucible Spark's Escapades in Equestria

by Baroque

Rating: teen
Tags: Human, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, My Little Pony Comic, Other, Original Character, Comedy, Profanity, Random, Slice of Life
Length: 37250

Brony turns into their OC. You know the drill. But get this... he's Indonesian!

Constantine was just driving to work one day when he was whisked away to the magical land of Equestria due to an experiment gone wrong with the mirror portal. He now has to live as his OC, Crucible Spark, in the whimsical world of ponies.

To Twilight's confusion, he refuses to even try to return, saying this is the best day of his life. She allowed him to stay at the castle until she's able to help him become an official citizen of Equestria.

Ponyville now has to deal with an eccentric, precognitive kirin metalsmith who loves to make weird knives, has unlimited cooking supplies, and speaks an unrecognizable language.

There are a lot of 'Human-turned-something in Equestria' stories out there, but there aren't as many humans who are fully accepting of the antics our beloved ponies do as there are grumpy and/or angsty ones. Most of them just suck it up and force themselves to adapt to Equestria's way of life with a facade of happiness, some with foresight try their best to maintain the "canon" to the point of preventing themselves from functioning normally, while others prefer to constantly reject the values of friendship and harmony due to their predicament, making themselves seem distant and uncooperative.

This story is about one of those humans who'll gladly join ponies in their spontaneous musical numbers and wacky shenanigans without hesitation, but will still do human things that'll make the pastel equines question their sanity.

Featured. By Faust... (25/09/24)

Apologies to my fellow Indonesians on this site for the unfamiliar dialect. I grew up in one of the lesser-known cities in a... less than wealthy province.
Profanity tag applies to all languages present.

Published 2024-08-28 15:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-11-20 11:08:09 UTC

Chapter 7: For His Neutral Special, He Wields a Gun

"I... I think I should lie down for a bit." Twilight muttered from her position on the library's floor, looking towards the ceiling with a thousand-yard stare.

It was nice to know that Spark's devices were compatible with Mirror Earth's–a name he came up with–technology. Spark had been going back and forth through the mirror to use wifi from Sweet Shoppe to search up tools that he could forge and catch up on his fanfiction reading.

Eventually, Spark realized that travelling through dimensions just to access the internet was too much of a hassle, and decided to print out his favorite stories on paper so that he could read them back in Equestria without whittling down battery power. With some help from Sunset and a bit of distracting with Kevin, he was able to print five of his favorite stories and begin reading them in the castle's library.

Waking up to Spark's hysterical laughter from five rooms away wasn't something that Twilight was expecting when she went to bed last night. Yet for some reason, she wasn't totally surprised that it happened at all.

When she entered the library to check up on the unpredictable former human, she was met with the sight of him laughing his tail off, on the floor, rolling around, while clutching a scrappy book in his forehooves.

After calming down for a bit, Spark offered to lend Twilight the 'book' that he was reading. Twilight, being the pony that she is, couldn't resist the prospect of reading literature that was made under the assumption that her world was purely fictional.

The 'book' that Spark was reading wasn't exactly an actual book, it was a stack of paper that was stapled and duct taped together with two thin sheets of transparent plastic that acted as its front and back cover.

On the side that was visible to her, Twilight saw that the 'book' was titled 'Sunset Shimmer is MAD about EVERYTHING'. This was what pulled her in the most, why would Sunset be mad about everything? And is she an alicorn in that image? Twilight just had to see what it was about.

Suffice to say, it was not the kind of story she was expecting it to be.

Spark couldn't help but snicker at Twilight's fried brain, "Just so you know, this is one of their less unhinged stories. It's also one of my top five favorites."

Twilight slowly turned her head towards the metalsmith, "Whyyyy....." she muttered weakly.

Spark shrugged with a smile, "It's hilarious to imagine you guys acting like that. I'll admit, a part of me hoped that Sunset was like that when we first met."

"But that... she... they... the Baby!" Twilight stammered incoherently.

Spark snorted in amusement, "When you're finished, just put it on the table. I'm going to make a couple firearms."

"M-make Sunburst... royal wizard..." Was all she replied with.

Spark walked along a path in Ponyville while looking at his makeshift map. He was trying to make his way to a pyrotechnics store to get some gunpowder, or as it was called in Equestria, black powder.

Supposedly, the unicorn who ran the store was the previous holder of the 'most unique horn in Ponyville' title. Spark didn't even know such a title existed, or that he was its current holder.

When he finally arrived, Spark couldn't help but notice the various scorch marks and patches of bricks that decorated the store's exterior. On top of the front door was a sign with a carved out image of a flame and the words 'Firecracker Burst's Pyrotechnical Emporium' right below it.

Spark raised an eyebrow, "Blind bag pony?" he muttered before entering.

As he entered, he was able to see multiple racks set up in lanes like that of a convenience store, filled to the brim with various kinds of fireworks. Boxes of sparklers, rockets, and... well, firecrackers lined up in each rack and organized by type and size.

"Gacor..." Spark murmured to himself.

Suddenly, the door behind the counter burst open, revealing a turquoise-coated unicorn mare with an orange mane and tail that had a single streak of yellow in them. It was styled in an eerily similar manner to Twilight's, but was noticably messier. Like Fausticorn's, Spark supposes.

What caught his attention the most was her curved horn, pointy ears with brass-colored piercings, and lanky proportions. She was one of the East Asian-styled unicorns from Mistmane's region.

This came as a surprise to Spark, as even in her very, very minute cameo in the comics, she was shown as a normal unicorn. Could it be possible that this Equestria isn't as normal as he had initially thought?

She turned to him with a smile, "Welcome to the emporium! My name's Firecracker Burst, but you call me Cracker! How may I help..." she trailed off.

Cracker's eyes widened as she saw the metalsmith, "K-kirin?" she muttered under her breath.

Spark did the iconic Kirin Head TiltTM, "Yeah, that's what I am. Anyway, you got any black powder?"

The unicorn kept on staring at him, as if ignoring his question, "I thought you were only myths..."

Spark narrowed his eyes, "Well I exist, so whatever. Now, black powder?"

Cracker shook her head to clear her mind, "Er, right! Sorry, how much do you need?"

Spark tapped a hoof on his chin, "About, hm..." he pulled out a notebook and read through it, "About a barrel's worth."

Cracker's jaw dropped slightly, "That's.. a lot. What do you need all that black powder for?"

"Personal project. So how much for that amount?"

Cracker wrote down some calculations on a piece of paper, "About two hundred bits."

Spark took out a pouch of bits that totally wasn't his allowance that Twilight gave him, "Two hundred right here."

Cracker nodded, "Alright. Any specifics for the powder? Like waterproof or color charms?"

"Less smoke, please."

She wrote down his request on a sticky note and floated it over to a cork board behind her, "The smokeless charm might take a while, so you can either wait or have it sent later."

Spark picked up the now empty pouch before turning towards the door, "Just bring it behind the castle, I'll be waiting there."

"Wait, 'castle'," Cracker gestured air quotes, "as in... Princess Twilight's castle?"

"Yeah, that's where I live."

If Cracker had been drinking, she'd have probably done a spit take, "You live with the princess?!"

Spark knew where this conversation was going, and did his characteristic lengthy sigh, "Look, I'm like... her student, alright? I study friendship and stuff under her while I live there."

Cracker nodded quickly, "Alright! One barrel of black powder for Princess Twilight's student coming right up!" she blurted out while rushing back through the staff door.

Spark could only sigh as he went out of the store, is this what Twilight and Sunset went through when they were Celestia's students? Blegh.

"Wait! I didn't get your name!"

An hour had passed and Spark was waiting for the eastern unicorn to arrive while sharpening a newly casted khopesh with Kevin in his nirik form.

"So when will she come with the powder again?" the forgeling praetorian asked while turning a grind stone.

Spark inspected the shiny surface of his weapon for a moment before taking off his goggles, "She should be here right about..."

"Delivery for Crucible Spark!"

"...now."

Cracker whipped her head towards the flaming equine and took a fearful step back, which caused the cart she was pulling to wobble.

"Gah! Nirik!"

Spark sighed and turned back into his kirin form, "Easy, easy! It's just me."

Cracker calmed herself with a deep breath, "W-what was that? Did you just turn into a nirik?"

"I did. And you probably didn't know this. A kirin and nirik are the same individual. When a kirin gets too angry or frustrated, their magic transforms them into a nirik. They'll turn back once they've calmed down." Spark explained while putting away the khopesh and retrieving what appeared to be a scrappy blunderbuss from beside his anvil, "As for me, I can control my nirik form and turn into it whenever I want."

Cracker slowly shook her head, "According to the legends from my home village, kirin and nirik were sworn enemies. The kirin embodied nature and beauty, while the nirik embodied doom and destruction. Looks like we need to make a revision." she said with a small chuckle.

Spark stopped writing on the notebook that he pulled from... somewhere, "Huh? No more lore?"

"What?"

Kevin gently nudged the superfan aside, "Please excuse his antics, he... uh, likes to learn about other cultures."

Cracker's eyes widened, "Woah, I've never seen anypony like you before."

"I–" he put a clawed hoof on his chest, "–am a forgeling."

"I don't think I've ever heard of forgelings before." Cracker admitted.

Kevin nodded, "Of course you wouldn't know, considering that, up until a week and a half ago, forgelings never existed."

"Wait, what? How does that work?"

It was Spark's turn to nudge Kevin aside, "It's a long story. Look, just bring the barrel over there." he pointed towards a wooden table with a flintlock musket, pistol, and a small mortar cannon set on it.

Cracker nodded and grunted as she lifted the barrel in her orange magic.

After everything was set up properly, Cracker gave in to her curiosity, "Could I, uh, stay and watch? I really want to know what you're going to do with that much powder. Just for, um, safety reasons."

The kirin-human and forgeling looked at each other before shrugging, "Sure./Alright." they answered at the same time.

Spark guided the group towards a makeshift shooting range. It had multiple metal targets of different sizes placed in various distances away from a short fence that acted as a firing lane.

Cracker looked at the setup with a puzzled expression, "What does all of this have to do with black powder?"

Spark opened the barrel of black powder with his magic, and used a small metal cylinder to pull out some powder.

He replaced the blunderbuss in his magical grasp with the pistol and proceeded to load the powder into the weapons barrel.

Cracker and Kevin watched him intently. The former was curious of the odd usage of her product, while the latter was waiting for a promised lightshow.

Spark continued the process by inserting a thin carboard disk along with a small metal ball right after the powder. He used a metal rod to properly position both objects inside.

After that, he took a pinch of powder and placed it on a small pan that was a part of the firing mechanism attached to the right side of the pistol.

Once he was finished, Spark looked over the firearm one last time before aiming it at a target that was positioned about thirty meters from the fence.

Spark pulled the trigger with his magic, causing the hammer to strike the frizzen with its piece of flint, igniting the powder in the pan which lead to the powder in the barrel.

BAM!

Thanks to the charms Cracker had applied to the powder, it fired with barely any smoke, removing one of the annoyances (at least accordding to Spark) of using muzzle loaders.

Cracker looked at the weapon and penetrated target with an awestruck expression while Kevin was laughing heartily at the results.

"That was awesome!" Cracker shouted.

Spark blew the tip of the barrel and spun the pistol in his magic, "This is why I needed an entire barrel. The mortar's going to take a lot."

He floated the gun over to Cracker, who eagerly took it in her hooves.

"Woah..." she muttered while inspecting it.

Spark turned to Kevin, "That ferromancy came in handy. Imagine what would've happened if you didn't reinforce the barrel!"

"The target wouldn't be the only thing getting blasted, I assume?" the praetorian replied.

Spark nodded, "Good thing I don't need to use one of my limbs to shoot it."

Cracker abruptly grabbed Spark by the shoulders and stared right at his eyes.

"Teach me."

Spark glanced towards Kevin, who only replied with a puzzled shrug.

"...Teach you what?"

She moved the pistol towards him, "How to make these."

Spark walked through the castle's hallway happily as he recounted today's little adventure. He had another friend now! While he didn't expect becoming friends with a pony by teaching them how to make guns, he didn't really mind. Spark was ecstatic to know that he was on his way to creating his own group of close friends made up of peculiar individuals. Friendship is magic indeed.

It wasn't long before he decided to write a mock friendship report to Twilight for the sake of authenticity. He did tell Cracker that he was her student, after all.

Spark opened the door to the library to show his report to the purple princess, "Hey Twilight, guess what? I made a- eh?!"

In the center of the library, an alicorn, a unicorn, and a baby dragon lay down in a triangular position. Each of them were staring off towards the ceiling with a far-off look in their eyes.

"Ngapain..." Spark shook his head, "Sunset? Spike? What are are you two doing there?"

"List..." Twilight muttered.

"Baby..." Sunset mumbled.

"Horn..." Spike murmured while developing a blush.

Being the fanfiction connoiseur that he is, Spark instantly knew what they were talking about, and saw his 'book' neatly placed on a nearby table.

He took the book with his magic and looked towards the dazed main characters once more.

"I'll uh... talk to you later."

Author's Note

The next member of Spark's crew! Firecracker Burst! I don't think there's ever been a story that uses her character before.

The next member we'll meet is a particularly famous background pony, known for their inventions and questionable doctorate!

Looks like Spark needs to start off easy with the fanfiction. Maybe they'd handle a romance story better?

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Interlude: Ten Years of Rainbow Rocking

"TWILIGHT! SPIKE! IT'S THE TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR RAINBOW ROCKS!"

The sudden intrusion of the kirin-human's presence along with his shouting caused the two of them to jump and nearly topple over a full beaker Twilight was researching.

"Spark! Don't do that! Spike and I could've gotten seriously hurt!" the young princess scolded.

Spark gave them an apologetic grin, "Sorry! Sorry. I'm just sooo excited you guys! Ten. TEN years since you and Sunset beat the sirens! Man, I feel old..."

Spike scratched his head, "But, that only happened, like, around a moon or two ago, didn't it?"

Spark sniffed, "For you, sure. But for me and the world I'm from, that movie was released an entire decade ago! Anyway, I'm inviting you two to my special tenth anniversary rewatch tonight! I've invited Kevin, Cracker, and even Rainbooms over to watch it together!" he pranced in place, "Oooo I'm so excited!"

Twilight and Spike shared a look before turning back to the superfan with their own smiles.

"We gladly accept." Twilight replied.

"MOVIE NIGHT! WOOO!" Spark shouted as he practically danced back into the hallway.

Author's Note

Happy 10th anniversary, Rainbow Rocks!

A short clip just for fun :)

Awesome as I Wanna Be is canonically Spark's ringtone btw

Chapter 1: The Foreigner

"So that's why you don't want to go back? You want to change what's going to happen?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. That's pretty much it. And the fact that I got my wish granted is also a factor. My life was boooooring, Twilight. Even if my life here's gonna be the same, at the very least, in this point in time, I can be the only fan of the show to witness all of your shenanigans first-hand... hoof... limb... you know what I mean."

Earlier that day, she had been doing some research regarding the mirror portal. Initially, Twilight wanted to ask Sunset if she wanted to join, but stopped when she realized that the girl was probably in class at the time. So, she decided to tinker with the portal herself, only occasionally going out of the room to get more parchment, books, or miscellaneous resources.

The main reason she started this project at all was because she hoped to be able to create her own portal to alternate Sombra's world. Twilight recently had the idea of purifying him just like how they did with their own Sombra during the Umbrum takeover. She wanted to turn this into a surprise for Celestia, since if the project was a success, the solar princess will be able to get the chance to save her lover.

That very concept was exactly why she was so determined to figure out how the portal to Canterlot High worked. Currently, it was the only portal available that she could use as a point of reference.

Before she started to tamper with the portal, she informed Sunset that it'd be closed for a while. After doing so, she began by writing down various observations that she had discovered when she upgraded the portal. Eventually, Twilight started to slowly but surely take apart the machinery and started to fiddle with the portal's connection with it and her communication journal.

As she was trying to channel magic through a mechanism that routed the journal's interdimensional connection with its counterpart to the portal, Twilight might have gotten a little too excited and channeled just a tad too much magic into it, causing a massive crack in reality to form right in the middle of the room.

After a few tense moments, the rift eventually spat out something. Something that Twilight could only describe a unicorn-lion-dragon hybrid with a really weird horn. The creature was about as tall as herself when it finally stood up, it's coat was brick red in color, and its curly mane that also surrounded its neck was a dark shade of grey. The scales on its back and face were a darker shade from its fur, and its oddly-shaped horn was quite a ways bigger than most unicorns. It also wore a pair of goggles around its neck, as well as a pair of saddlebags.

When the creature–kirin, as he had referred to himself–finally became aware of his surroundings, he yelped in shock. Understandable, Twilight thought, getting sucked through a portal into an unknown location and being met with a stranger who was staring directly at you would scare the life out of her as well.

It took some time for the weird-looking pony to calm down enough to properly talk. Twilight had to ask Spike to make some tea for their unexpected guest to calm his nerves.

After an awkward greeting, a barrage of apologies, and a scream of joy from the kirin, they began to talk about his situation.

The kirin introduced himself as Crucible Spark, though Twilight swore he was about to say something else before saying his name. Apparently, he was a human who was just making his way to his workplace when he fell into the rift that was caused by Twilight's tampering. Twilight was about to make a comment about the human world when Crucible Spark added that he's not from the world she was thinking about.

This caught Twilight's attention, the way his statement was worded implied that he might know something about the mirror. When she asked what he meant, he told her to, in his words, 'Get Sunset Shimmer to explain what a cartoon show is so you can get the context and then I can elaborate further.'

The fact that he was aware of Sunset's connection to her was another cause for alarm. Twilight took a moment to assess the situation, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her, so she did as Crucible Spark told her to.

After a bit of back and forth with Sunset through the journal and learning what animated TV shows are, she went up to the kirin again for his explanation.

What happened next would utterly shatter her view of reality. Or at least it would have, if Crucible had explained it with more flair and treated it seriously. Still, realizing that your entire world is considered fictional in another baffled her. The fact that Crucible Spark even had merchandise of her and her friends, along with accessories in the shape of their cutie marks in his saddlebags only strengthened his claim. He pulled out something that Twilight recognized as a smartphone, something used by Sunset and her friends beyond the mirror to communicate, and played a video that showed a third-pony view of one of her adventures. Specifically, it was a video of the Elements of Harmony saving the Crystal Empire.

Crucible Spark continued to show her more videos, all of which were events that had happened. Like her freakout when she forgot to send Celestia a friendship report, her friends causing a mess at the Grand galloping gala some weeks later, Discord's release and defeat, Luna's first nightmare night,Twilight's ascension into an alicorn, Sunset turning herself into a demon, Twilight's fight with Tirek, and so on. He even showed comic book pages that featured even more stories, such as Rarity getting possessed by the Nightmare Forces, King Aspen being captured by Well-To-Do for Fun Fun Land, their adventure in the other mirror dimension, Sombra's reformation and reunion with Radiant Hope, and even a set of comics that featured the backstories of various villains Twilight and her friends had faced.

Twilight continued to discuss with Spark–he wanted to be called as such for simplicity's sake–about that very existential dread-inducing topic. She quickly learned that he doesn't want to go back, mostly because he'd rather live the rest of his life as a magical creature and because he was curious if his presence could alter future events in some way.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, "Well... alright then. If that's what you want."

"Yeah. Great. Now, do you know where I can look for a job? Gonna need bits to afford a place to stay. If some of the fanfics I've read were right, I should be able to do some blacksmithing." Spark continued.

"Oh! You don't need to worry about that. Since you don't have a place to stay and the fact that it was my fault you're here in the first place, you can stay here at the castle for as long as you want." Twilight assured.

Spark shrugged halfheartedly, "Baiklah." he mumbled before heaving himself off of the floor from a cross-legged position that he somehow did.

Twilight raised an eyebrow curiously, "Sorry, what did you just say?"

"Hm? Oh, just murmuring to myself in my native language. Wonder why I have an accent? That's because the language I'm speaking is my second language." he explained, "Anyway, thanks for the room, I'm just gonna ask Spike for directions."

Crucible Spark then proceeded to exit the portal room and went on his way to find the number one assistant, which left Twilight by herself, with thoughts circling in her head. Her mind was filled with a maelstrom of questions.

"I should probably take a break..."

After a couple minutes of being guided by Spike, Spark finally entered one of the crystalline guest rooms of the castle. He let out a whistle as he looked around. It was infinitely better than his dinky apartment back in Jakarta.

'Mewah banget...' he thought to himself.

Spark truly couldn't believe it. He was actually there, in Equestria, in the flesh. Not as himself, sure, but he really didn't want to know if the events about Jason Wright were a real possibility or not. Better to be a pony-adjacent creature that's not an unreformed changeling than anything else.

He slowly removed his saddlebags as best he could with his hooves. At least with them being cloven, he can pinch the straps that held the flaps closed on his backpack-turned-saddlebags. Spark wondered how ponies in the show could occasionally pick up items with their flat hooves

Spark then dragged out a novel from one of them. He smiled when he saw the cover undamaged and unaltered, The Infinite and The Divine was his favourite novel, and he was glad his copy wasn't ponified or altered by the rift he fell through.

Eventually, he dragged the book farther from the saddlebag it came from. Spark then took a couple steps back himself and lowered his wavy, branched horn towards its direction.

He wanted to test how his magic worked. Considering how he turned into his own Original Character, he hoped that he acquired some of the same abilities that he had given to Crucible Spark.

Crucible Spark, the character, was supposed to be a kirin metalsmith who lived in a grimdark steampunk version of Equestria. He made every tool and armament used by the main characters and factions of the story he was supposed to be in. He was a member of a family of kirin who were able to fully control their nirik forms without succumbing to rage, which made them masters of the forge and allowed them to use their flames to imbue their work with powerful magic. Spark wanted to know if this knowledge could be accessed by himself.

Spark closed his eyes and focused, he tried to dig through his head for any information regarding magic, blacksmithing, or any attribute that his OC had. It seemed like he was successful, as in mere moments, he felt a sudden rush of... something within his mind. He felt a sudden sense of relief, just like the feeling that one gets when they remembered something just in the nick of time before going out. Almost as if something in his brain just clicked together.

Immediately, the book started to float in his yellow aura. His smile widened when he maneuvered the book around with ease. Spark chuckled in excitement as he zipped the book around here and there, like a child playing with a toy plane.

Feeling giddy, he quickly set the book back in the saddlebag. Spark sat down on the floor and tried to dig deeper into his memories, each one flashed vividly and filled his mind with every piece of knowledge that the 'true' Crucible Spark had.

Spark needed to confirm the accuracy of his knowledge, so he thought to go and find a couple of books on blacksmithing and its related topics. He eagerly stepped out into the hallway, happily whistling a tune all the while.

Twilight still didn't know what to make of her guest. Personally, if she was trapped in an alternate world, away from her friends and family, she'd do everything she could to return to her home. Not... whatever Crucible Spark was doing right now.

She decided to talk to him later. For now, Twilight wanted to get a nice book to read for her well earned break. As she approached the doors to the main library, she could hear the sounds of a distinctly accented voice excitedly mutter something. Twilight quickly entered the room, and was met with the sight of the human-turned-kirin floating various books beside him while he read another book titled 'Applying Metallurgy to Blacksmithing by Iron Pick'.

Spark turned his gaze from the book to the princess, "Oh, hey! Just trying to jog my memory a bit. I'll clean up later."

Twilight just shook her head in disbelief. Despite previously being a human, a species she knew lacked natural magic, he seemed to have adapted to using his horn pretty well. While she knew that levitation was the simplest spell that every unhandicapped unicorn could learn, she doubted that somepony–or somebody, in his case–could learn how to levitate so many things at the speed that Crucible Spark did. Even foals would struggle for some time before being able to properly levitate a couple lightweight objects. Twilight theorized that it may be due to the specific species of equine creature that he turned into, but that would require some testing, and she didn't think Spark would appreciate being a guinea pig very much.

Twilight gave him a smile, "Hello Spark, looks like you've gotten used to using magic."

The only indication that told her he listened was a slight nod. Twilight found that reaction to be scarily similar to her past self, before she moved to Ponyville. She continued her task of finding a good book and eventually pulled out a book about the history of Starswirl's spells, which she had already read dozens of times before. Twilight then took a seat in the opposite area from where Spark was seated.

The princess and the alien spent the next hour or so reading in silence, one learning everything he possibly could about the world he was transported to, while the other reread a favourite book to relax. Throughout it all, Twilight couldn't help but notice Spark muttering to himself in his native language. She had never heard of anything like it before, and she was curious about the version of humanity he originated from. Considering that the denizens beyond the mirror spoke the same language as they did in Equestria, the thought of an entirely new society to learn about was simply irresistible.

Barely containing her curiosity, Twilight turned to her guest, who just finished returning the books he took out, "Um, Spark, could you tell me more about the world you came from?" she paused before quickly adding, "If you don't mind, of course!"

Twilight could hear the sound of his unexpectedly lengthy sigh from where he stood, which was quite impressive considering he was at the opposite end of the fairly large room. She felt somewhat disheartened, but understood that Spark was probably not in the mood to talk about such a vast topic.

To her surprise, however, Crucible Spark turned around from the bookshelves and moved over to where she was.

"Alright, princess. You better make yourself comfortable, 'cause we're going to learn about a country called 'Indonesia'!"

Author's Note

A simpler story than Three Outcasts or The Interlopers. Just a simple Human in Equestria story to pass the time while I wait for the commissioned cover image for TO to be finished. I'm hoping to release the next chapter along with it.

Maybe I'll put out another chapter of TI before that, though.

Anyway, here's the Pony Town version of Crucible Spark as a point of reference. I tried my best with what I was given.

I might try to draw him to get the spific details in the future.

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 2: Ponyville Proper

"Wow, it's like each island is its own little world!" Twilight exclaimed as she wrote down the information Spark had explained to her, "Just how many islands are there, exactly?"

"Less than twenty thousand, more than thirteen thousand. It's been a cause for debate for a long time since nobody can agree on the specifics. Like, do you count the uninhabited ones or not? Is that mound of land just a sand bank? Will that islet stay when a massive storm passes by? Stuff like that."

Crucible Spark had been explaining the basics of his home country to the eager princess to the best of his abilities for quite some time. While he was able to elaborate on some details, but left most of it vague because he couldn't access the internet. Spark thought to 'borrow' wifi from Canterlot High when he gets the chance.

"And the single island of Java has a population over a hundred and fifty million?! Last I checked, Equestria only has around five hundred thousand! How does your government deal with that?" Twilight asked again.

Spark shrugged, "Mana aku tahu."

Twilight tilted her head with a confused expression.

The transformed human rolled his eyes, "Beats me. I don't really keep an eye out for the news. I just know that a lot of the less fortunate citizens live in slums. Which, I guess you could compare it to Griffonstone before Rainbow and Pinkie came along." he paused, "That already happened, right?"

"Um... yeah, it did. Do you really know everything that has happened and will happen?" Twilight questioned. Her curiosity about the archipelagic nation that Spark came from was almost immediately swapped by her curiosity about his unsettlingly vast knowledge about herself and her friends, along with that 'TV show'.

"Well, not everything. Just the stuff that's been shown in the cartoon. So only the important or out of the ordinary stuff. Like, I don't know much about any of your more mundane personal experiences. But I might know when the next 'big thing' will happen and what it's all about." Spark explained, "Just so I can get a point of reference, has the Grand Galloping Gala happened yet?"

Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin, "Yes, actually. I think you already know how it went, though."

Spark chuckled, "Yeah, the smooze, Discord almost throwing Tree Hugger into another dimension, all that jazz."

The young princess shook her head and sighed, "He really gave me headache all night. At least Princess Celestia had fun."

Spark slowly nodded, "Mhm." he looked back towards the doors, "Welp, I'm gonna go back to my room. Since it's already pretty late, I might need to take a look around Ponyville tomorrow and draw up a little map."

"Oh! How about you join us? Spike and I are going to shop for groceries tomorrow, we can show you around town as well." Twilight suggested.

Spark stopped just a foot away from the doors, "Huh, alrighty then. At least I won't get lost." he answered before continuing.

The very next day, Crucible Spark woke up early without even setting his phone's alarm. Indeed, it was one of those days where his body was too excited to sleep. He may not show it physically, but he was ecstatic, he was eager to begin his new life in Equestria.

Spark hit himself on the head a couple of times with a hoof. He then shook his head around before sweeping his gaze across the room. Yup, he was still there, in one of the guest rooms of the Castle of Friendship. He swiftly made his way towards a window, and lo and behold, Celestia hadn't even properly raised the sun yet, as it only peeked slightly just above the horizon. He glanced at a clock on the wall, its hands showed five-fifteen AM. Spark decided to get ready for the day because he didn't want to waste this opportunity by sleeping in.

But before that though, he sent a silent prayer to whatever greater power out there for bringing the rift to him specifically out of the eight billion people on Earth, and that he wasn't transported to a dark alternate universe as his human self. While Spark wasn't exactly religious, he certainly didn't want to anger an obscure deity he didn't know about by ignoring them.

He continued to prepare himself for the day while whistling a cheerful tune. Using his newfound mastery over magic thanks to the attributes he had given his OC, he quickly set the king size bed and cleaned up the area used for the little magical practice session he had last night. After everything was cleared, he made his way to the connected bathroom to answer nature's call. Learning how stallions use a toilet was... an interesting experience. At least the shower system was the same.

As he finished drying himself, he decided to eat breakfast first before brushing his teeth, he idly wondered what Spike would make for today.

Just as he was about to exit the room, he heard an odd sound coming out of one of his saddlebags. At first, he simply thought it was his phone, but quickly remembered there weren't any cellular services in Equestria until Sunny Starscout's era.

Spark slowly and carefully approached the saddlebag. When peeked in, he was genuinely shocked at what he found inside.

Within the saddlebag, right between his laptop and power bank, surrounded by rolled up charging cables, headphones, and earbuds, was a brown sack. It was slightly larger than his own hoof, and its opening was held slightly closed by a gold string. He definitely didn't have that back on Earth.

Spark carefully picked up the sack with his magic and held it in his forehooves, 'Apaan ini?' he thought to himself.

He turned the small sack around, observing its exterior. It wasn't long before he found a small paper tag attached around the gold string.

"Bahan Memasak/Cooking Supplies" was written on it.

Spark turned the tag around and read what was written on the other side.

"Gunakan Imajinasimu/Use Your Imagination" it said.

Looking back at the opening of the sack, Spark shrugged and fully opened it. Instead of being filled with items like he was suspecting, there was instead a spiraling yellow portal that had replaced the entrance.

Putting the words on the tag into consideration, he tentatively inserted a hoof into the portal. He soon found out that whatever magical powers that this sack had, it made it significantly bigger on the inside.

Spark tried to focus about the thing he wanted to pull out, he decided to conjure the image of a full bottle of sweet soy sauce in his mind.

He jumped slightly when he felt something brush against his hoof, but immediately tried to grip it as best he could and quickly pulled in out of the sack. Just as he had imagined in his mind, he now held a bottle of his favorite brand of sweet soy sauce in his hoof.

Seeing results of this brand new discovery, he smiled to himself before rushing off to the kitchen. Spark hoped Spike hasn't started cooking yet,

If living with Twilight Sparkle has taught him anything, it was that she was not a very good cook. At least, when it comes to cooking something spontaneously, without a cookbook, proper measurements, and a full set of ingredients and utensils. Hence why Spike was making his way to the kitchen to cook something for the princess, who was currently sleeping on a desk inside of the portal room. She had once again gone overboard with researching, and had knocked herself out while reverse engineering the portal right after she finished her discussion with Crucible Spark. Spike often wonders how Twilight would end up without him as her number one assistant.

When he arrived in the kitchen, he saw Crucible Spark fiddling away with a large pan and a spatula. He was definitely cooking something, as Spike could smell the scent of various ingredients and spices every time Spark stirred or flipped whatever the stuff he was cooking.

"Uh, good morning, Spark. Looks like you woke up pretty early." Spike greeted the extradimensional guest.

Spark turned off the stove, which had been burning an odd red and blue fire instead of the usual orange, and looked towards the baby dragon, "Morning. I'm making breakfast for us, if you don't mind. Any allergies I should know about?"

Spike gave him a smile, "Really? Neat! And no. Twilight gets spring allergies but that's about it."

Spark nodded, "Alright. Why don't you take a seat? I'll bring it to the dining room when I'm done."

Spike gave him a thumbs up before making his way to the dining room. Coincidentally, Twilight had just woken up and was also going to the same location. She perked up when she saw the baby dragon entering from the opposite side of the hall.

"Good morning, Spike." she said while trying to stifle a yawn.

Spike held in a chuckle when he saw her frazzled mane, "Morning, Twi. Spark's cooking breakfast right now. He told me to wait here." he responded before pointing towards the dining room.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Did he say what he was going to cook?"

Spike shrugged, "No, but judging from the smell, it's gotta be pretty good!"

Twilight nodded, "Okay then, I hope he doesn't mind the different ingredients, though. I know humans don't exactly like eating flowers."

Spike snickered as he remembered a small incident that happened during their last visit through the portal.

The two of them took their own seats next to each other as they waited for Spark to finish. Thankfully, they didn't need to wait for long since the transformed human to bust through the door with three plates, three large mugs, a bowl of gems, and silverware floating in his magic.

Spark placed everything on the table before taking a seat himself, "This morning's menu: my go-to fried rice recipe with a vegetarian twist and a large glass of lemon tea!"

Twilight and Spike looked at their plates curiously, all three plates were filled with oily, light brown rice, mixed with diced carrots, peas, corn kernels, slices of garlic chives, fried garlic, short slices of green beans, slices of shallots, slices of snow peas, and bits of lettuce. All topped off with an omelette covered with a generous amount of ketchup. The two turned to look at their mugs and found lemon slices floating inside.

"I don't think we have this much stuff in the kitchen..." Spike commented.

"Spark, where did you get the ingredients for all of this?" Twilight asked with a dumbfounded expression.

Spark ate a spoonful before he explained, "Okay, so this morning, I found this thing in one of my saddlebags." he put the magical sack in the middle of the table, "Seems like it can conjure up anything I need to cook, even utensils. And before you ask anything, no, I didn't have it with me until I went through the rift."

"So it just appeared out of thin air? That doesn't make any sense! I know the portal turns saddlebags into backpacks and gave us clothing, but it's never made any magical items before!"

Spark shrugged, "Hey, I'm not complaining. If I get possibly infinite amounts of cooking supplies from this magic bag, then so be it. Now enough talk, and more eating!"

Twilight looked down at her plate with slight hesitation. Taking a glance at Spike, she saw him eating the dish ravenously while taking bites off of the gems from the bowl Spark brought.

She tentatively took a spoonful with a slice of the omelette on it and put it in her mouth.

She ended up finishing first.

After their very quick breakfast, the three inhabitants of the castle began their trek through Ponyville. Spark brought his saddlebags with him, and was scribbling down roads and landmarks on a large sheet of paper in his magic.

Throughout their walk, Twilight and Spike couldn't help but notice the weird looks the ctizens gave their new friend. They turned to Spark briefly to see if he was alright with the attention, and saw the kirin-human looking around this way and that with an awestruck expression while his pencil constantly fiddled with the paper floating in front of him. It seemed like he didn't notice the attention or just didn't care.

"Gila, cuy..." Spark muttered under his breath.

They continued on their merry way towards the market, Spark continued to mumble in his native language and occasionally hum a song from his world along the way. Once they arrived, the three were greeted by a familiar hat-wearing farmpony.

"Howdy Twilight! Spike!" Applejack waved at her friends from her stall before looking at the newcomer, "Huh, new friend o' yours?"

Twilight gave her a smile, "Hello Applejack! This is Crucible Spark. Spark, this is-"

Spark extended a hoof towards the farmpony, "Applejack, yeah?"

Applejack shook his hoof, "Yessir! Nice to meet ya!"

"Ditto. And you can call me Spark." Spark replied with a smirk.

Applejack nodded, "So Spark, y'all new to Ponyville? Can't say I've ever seen a unicorn like you before 'round here." she asked.

"I am. The reason I'm here at all is a long story, but in short, I'm the result of one of her–" he pointed a hoof to Twilight, "–little experiments.

"And I'm a kirin. Sorta like unicorns, but more fireproof, I guess." Spark explained.

"Oh. So what happened? Twilight casted a spell and ya just popped outta nowhere?"

"It's hard to believe, but that's pretty much what happened. Give or take a few details." Spark confirmed.

Applejack turned to the young princess, who was rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.

Twilight let out a nervous laugh, "W-well! he said he's fine with it."

Spark nodded, "Yeah, so now I'm staying at her castle until I can buy a house start up my own blacksmithing business."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Blacksmithin' huh? That's a pretty useful profession. Considerin' how long it takes to have our tools repaired, it'll be nice to have somepony here who knows how to make an' fix 'em so we don't have to send 'em away to other towns."

"Better be quick, first customer gets to commission for free!" Spark added.

Applejack gave him a smile, "Will do, Spark."

The three of them eventually said their goodbyes to Applejack and continued on to other shops where Twilight and Spike frequent. Spark constantly drew his map as they went on. They were now going back to the castle, and were silently walking along the dirt road. That is, until Spark remembered something.

"Hey Twilight?" Spark called out.

Twilight turned to him, "Yes, Spark?"

"Remember when I showed you the comics and you confirmed all of it?" he asked.

Twilight nodded, "Yeah, how could I forget?" she joked.

"This was only covered there, and it's really important. I have to know. How did Anon-A-Miss end?"

Twilight stopped her walk, Spike nearly bumped into her, "What the heck, Twilight?!"

"Whoops! Sorry, Spike." Twilight looked back at the kirin-human, "From what Sunset told me, it seems like the rest of the Rainbooms and her have sorted it all out and reconciled. Though they are still very sorry about what happened.

"I actually visited them with Spike to check up on them about a week later. It turned out to be more a of a lecture in the end." she admitted sheepishly.

Spike sniffed in amusement, "You sounded like a disappointed parent when you talked to them."

Spark nodded slowly, "Okay... okay. Good. Because I've read fanfic stories where it ended horribly. Glad to know it's the same as the comic."

"How could it end horribly?" Twilight inquired curiously.

Spark looked towards the encroaching figure of the castle and sighed, "Let's just say, there was chance that Harmony could've forsaken their world."

They finally got back to the castle as morning gave way to noon. When they passed the entrance, Spark noticed a trail of pink confetti that lead towards... the dining room? He smiled to himself, he knew exactly what's going to happen. It seemed like Twilight and Spike realized this as well, and the three of them followed the trail to its destination.

When they opened the doors, they were met with complete darkness. Spark slowly entered, pretending to be completely oblivious to what was about to happen.

'Satu... dua..." he silently counted in his mind.

He heard the sound of hooves shuffling against the floor and excited giggles being stifled.

Just as he counted to three, the room brightened, revealing a sorts of party decorations that filled the entire room. Spark saw a large group of familiar characters smiling brightly.

"SURPRISE!"

Pinkie Pie bounced away from the crowd towards Spark, "Welcome to Ponyville!" she announced as she pulled out a cupcake from her mane and gave it to him.

Spark accepted the gift eagerly and gave the assorted ponies a smile, "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!"

Author's Note

Have another chapter of Crucible Spark!

The cover art for Three Outcasts is almost finished! Expect the new chapter to release around early September!

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 3: Testing, Testing...

To say that Spark had the time of his life during the party yesterday would be a massive understatement. It was the happiest he's been since he graduated college.

During the party, he was finally introduced to the rest of the Mane six. He and Twilight agreed to explain the whole 'fictional world' thing for a later time, without so many other ponies around. The five were understandably confused, but eventually agreed as well.

Being the superfan and brony that he is, Spark couldn't help but try to get the autographs of the Mane 6, Spike, and various other iconic ponies. Most of them were confused, but obliged when they remembered that the party was intended for the–in their perspective–odd-looking unicorn. He spent most of the party running around the dining room, going up to each resident of Ponyville and having them sign a notebook. Rainbow Dash was more than happy to sign his tumbler that had her face on it.

What Spark found to be the most interesting interaction, however, was the one he had with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were present because it was apparently the weekend. They had actually approached him first, as they were shocked to see that an adult pony without a cutie mark. The time it took to explain the basics of his species was rather short, to his surprise, and the CMC left while promising to help him find his mark. He decided to humor them, and thanked the trio as they continued on with the party.

Not before asking for their autographs, of course.

All in all, it was a wonderful time for Spark, and he wouldn't want it any other way.

Eventually, the party ended, and everypony had to leave to continue on with the rest of the day. Spark joined in on the cleanup effort, mainly sweeping away stray bits of confetti and crumbs.

With nothing else to do that day, he retreated back into his room with another stack of books on metalworking and metalsmithing to test the knowledge that he inherited from his OC.

It was during this period that he finally had time to let the last thirty-something hours of his life sink in.

He hadn't put much thought into it, but the fact that he was there, living in Twilight's Castle, with foreknowledge and proof of the show's existence, as a character of his own design, instead of his admittedly unhealthy human form, with said character's special abilities implanted into his mind, in a version of Equestria that–from what he's seen–is nearly identical to the show and where the comics actually happened, made him incredibly and unimaginably lucky.

The thought that, in another universe or timeline, he could've ended up like Anon, Max, Zackery Johnson, or even Jason Wright gave him a downright cartoonish shudder.

He was also once again very grateful he wasn't sent to an alternate version of Equestria where everything is... less than optimal, so to speak. While the character of Crucible Spark came from a grimdark alternate universe, Spark doubted that he could live in one as himself. He didn't want to imagine how it'd be like to end up in a darker Equestria like Eric Allen Brauer or that guy who became Skeletor.

On second thought, maybe he's been reading too many fanfics recently...

Nah, that's impossible.

With that closing thought, Spark went to bed, hoping for the chance to encounter Luna.

The very next day, Spark woke up just as early as he did the day before. He wanted to make some of his favorite meals for breakfast, but considered that maybe he and Spike could swap every other day.

Breakfast went swimmingly as the three denizens of the castle dug into Spike's pancakes. Spark had to force himself to stop asking for more.

After that, he decided to finally practice forging something. He knew what to do and what he required based on Crucible's–the name he started to use to refer to his OC recently–memories, but he didn't know if he knew how to do things.

So, after some searching and rummaging through scrap materials from Twilight's old experiments, he was able to make a scrappy but functional charcoal forge to heat up metal.

Spark found the fact that Twilight kept the anvil that fell on her way back in season one absolutely hilarious. Apparently the delivery service gave it to her as compensation, and that only made him laugh harder. Twilight didn't share the same sentiment.

After calming down a bit, he was able to form a small blacksmithing setup behind the castle, and began to forge various tools, components, and other trinkets from Twilight's scrap pile.

The results were quite interesting, to say the least. In addition to getting Crucible's knowledge, it seemed like Spark had also acquired his physical strength and stamina as well. It made sense to Spark, working with metal isn't a light job, and considering how Crucible's lore states that he uses both his magic and hooves to swing his twenty pound hammers at the speed of a power hammer, Spark wasn't too shocked when he was able to almost effortlessly lift a five hundred pound anvil along with a hefty pile of scrap metal with his bare hooves. Magic wise, he had the same general feeling. He'll likely need some help from Twilight later for specific measurements.

As he continued to forge, Spark felt a weird sensation in his mind. It was as if the spirit of Crucible still lingered in his form, guiding his movements as he molded the heated metal to his will. Spark noted the sensation felt a lot like experiencing deja vu for a prolonged period of time.

Eventually, with the help of a construction hammer and his magic, he was able to form his first set of tools, which included a set of chisels, a set of punches, a pair of forging tongs, a three-and-a-half pound rounding hammer, and various other items used to shape heated metal.

After he had finished, he wanted to go through the enchanting and rune engraving process, which meant that he needed to turn into a nirik and re-light the forge with his magical flames. This made him pause for a moment.

Spark knew that Crucible and his family had the ability to control their nirik forms, but transforming into one as himself was another thing entirely. He was afraid of going out of control and potentially causing damage to the surrounding area.

Nevertheless, Spark gathered up his courage and started the process based on Crucible's memories.

He began by closing his eyes and focusing on his magic. The feeling was unfamiliar to him, it was like putting your hand in a fire but not getting burnt. It actually felt kind of nice.

After that, the guiding sensation returned. It wordlessly told him to put on his goggles before doing anything else. He obliged.

Spark continued on with his controlled transformation. He tugged at his magic and channeled it throughout his body, making him feel more energized in the process.

Then, he took a deep breath and pushed it outwards. Immediately, wisps of red appeared around his horn and mane.

From an outsider's perspective, it would seem like Spark was enveloped in a maelstrom of blue-red flames and was replaced by a demon. His magic turning his cutesy kirin form into something more monstrous.

After the flames settled, Spark looked over himself. His coat and scales had darkened, which made him look burnt. His mane, eyebrows, tail, and hooves were covered in roiling flames. His teeth were sharpened to a point, and a pair of long fangs jutted out of his mouth. His horn now resembled heated metal, where the black keratin faded to a glowing white. If he were to take off his goggles, which were apparently fireproof, others would only be able to see a pair of glowing white orbs peering back at them.

Despite being transformed, Spark didn't even feel the slightest bit of anger. He had expected to at the very least feel some mild annoyance or irritation when it happened, yet here he was, just as calm as he was mere moments ago.

"Anjir..." Spark muttered. He noticed his voice was lower and had a bit of an echo.

He looked back at his forge with renewed determination, and began to go through the enchanting process.

Twilight's little project was still ongoing. She had managed to figure out a significant amount of circuits and parts that the portal used to function, only a bit more tampering and she can move on to figuring out the magic and spells used by it.

She was in the middle of writing down her findings when she heard the sound of metal clanking together. Twilight was aware that Spark was experimenting with his newfound abilities, and had created a small forge behind the castle to play around with.

But the compared to the clanking sound from before, it seemed... harsher, and a lot more aggressive. She also felt the presence of an unidentifiable magical aura that emanated from Spark's location.

Curious, she decided to go check up on the kirin-human and make sure he was alright. As she made her way to the back of the castle, Twilight thought about how well he has been adapting to Equestria. She knew that it took Sunset and herself quite some time to get fully accustomed to the world beyond the mirror, but how would a human adapt to being a pony or pony-like creature?

Surprisingly well, evidently.

If one didn't know of the circumstances he was in, they would assume that he was just an odd-looking Equestrian native.

Twilight's train of thought halted abruptly when she approached Spark's makeshift forge. Looking around, he saw a pony-shaped creature who was striking a re- blue? piece of metal with a hammer that had unrecognizable glowing symbols on it. The creature itself looked like it was on fire, with blue-red flames bursting out of its head, face, tail, and hooves.

Twilight took a tentative step forward, "Spark?" she called out.

The creature stopped what it was doing and turned around, "Yo."

"What... happened? Are you on fire?" Twilight asked, being oddly calm about this.

Spark was engulfed by a whirlwind of flames and turned back to his normal kirin form, "I was, yeah. What you just saw was my nirik form. Every kirin can turn into a nirik when they get too angry, but I found out that I can control mine and use it to enchant my stuff." he explained while floating his enchanted hammer in front of her.

Hearing about the prospect of new knowledge to learn, Twilight perked up, almost losing all feelings of concern from before. The possibility of a brand new field of magic to study was all too enticing.

Spark, not really caring about what she was thinking continued, "Now that you're here, I might as well begin the next thing on the list."

Twilight shook herself out of her reverie, "And what's that?"

Spark put out his forge and floated his tools and anvil back to the castle's main entrance, "Testing spells."

Twilight followed and gave him an excited smile, "So what spells do you want to learn?"

"I already know them, I just need to give them a go and just sort of see how they feel." he replied, not looking back.

Turns out, Crucible knew quite a decent amount of spells for a metalsmith. Most of the spells he knew were for utility and not combat, sure, but Spark wasn't going to complain when he had a spell to make an entire smithy the size of Twilight's castle work by itself. Plus, the few offensive spells that he had knowledge of were empowered by his nirik form, which was also a lot more combat-ready than his normal kirin form.

Spark also discovered that he had quite a lot of magical stamina as well, it seemed like his theory from before was correct. Crucible was indeed a fairly strong individual, both physically and magically. Fitting for the go-to producer of steampunk style machine components and weapons in his AU; forging stuff for entire factions, main characters, and secret societies likely took a lot of effort.

Throughout his experimenting, Twilight wrote down each and every new discovery he made on pieces of parchment. The stack that she levitated beside her grew larger and larger as time went on.

Spark summoned an ethereal salamander on the tip of his hoof before turning to Twilight, "Don't you have a project to work on?"

Twilight stopped her writing immediately. The magic holding the stacks of parchment flickered, almost causing them to fall.

"You're right! I got so caught up in studying your magic that I forgot!"

She filed away the parchment in a nearby bookshelf and rushed back to the portal room, leaving Spark alone with his salamander-avatar-elemental-patronus-stand-thing.

Spark looked at the small ethereal amphibian intently before nodding to himself.

"Your name shall be... Ray Jr."

Author's Note

A lot of name-calling this chapter, maybe Spark should cut down on the fanfics a bit.

Ooo... I can't wait to see the finished cover art for Three Outcasts! It'll be revealed with the first multi-part chapter of the story!

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 4: Yer a Human, Spark!

So it turns out, Crucible did have his own personal floo network! Or at least, his own magical nirik-fire version of it. The way Spark found out was quite interesting, as he was just going through another round of enchanting when he tripped over his anvil (somehow) and fell face-first into his own lit forge.

Instead of getting covered in burning soot like he had expected, Spark was engulfed by the blue-red fires and disappeared into it.

What he saw next left him awestruck. The flames had transported him into some sort of pocket dimension, specifically to a hallway of sorts. He stood in an area that wasn't all too different from the ethereal location that Twilight went to when she ascended. It was long path made out of the same fire that a nirik produces, with oval-shaped holes on either side that acted as windows.

When Spark took a peek into one of them, he saw what appeared to be somepony's living room. The view came from a very weird angle, as he was able to see pieces of wood and charcoal close to the portal-thing, as well as a structure of bricks that surrounded it.

Getting even more curious, he extended a hoof towards it, which caused him to immediately get sucked in, leaving the pocket dimension behind.

It just so happened that Applejack was just making her way out of the kitchen when the fireplace in the living room seemingly exploded with blue-red flames and spat out a familiar kirin, who ended up with his face on the floor.

Obviously, it was a surprise to the both of them. Fireplaces don't barf out sapient creatures very often. Thankfully, Spark's little incident hadn't caused any damage to Apple family's property, and it was all swiftly sorted out with a quick apology from Spark.

On his way back to the castle, he thought back to what had happened. While it was great to discover another one of Crucible's abilities, he was also starting to get a little worried about his and others' safety whenever he experiments with his volatile nirik pyromancy. He didn't want to burn down an entire building just because he didn't realize he was still in nirik form when he fast-travelled, and he really didn't want to know if normal kirin can be harmed by nirik fire. Autumn had shrugged it off when she went nirik in the show, but it was just a simple gag.

Spark didn't know how expensive hospital bills can get in Equestria, and if it was expensive, he hoped it wasn't overbearlingly so. In any case, he should probably go ask Twilight about it.

After arriving, it took him quite some time to finally locate her in the portal room. It sounded like she was talking to somebo- somepony.

"Hey Twilight, how do I get health insura- anjay..."

That was how far Spark's sentence got when he saw a familiar amber-coated unicorn talking to the princess.

Twilight and Sunset turned their gaze towards the kirin-human, who had just entered the room to inquire about a fairly important matter. It was quite the coincidence, as Twilight just finished explaining to Sunset about his rather odd situation.

"Oh, Spark! We were just talking about you," she turned to Sunset, "Sunset, I'd like you to meet Crucible Spark. Spark, I think you might already know who she is."

Spark just stood there silently, mouth slightly open.

Twilight approached him with concern, "Spark? Are you alright?"

There was still no response.

Sunset glanced between the two of them, "Uh... is he okay?"

Twilight looked at him right in the eyes. It was then that she saw a very familiar look in his eyes. A look that Rainbow Dash has when she sees a Wonderbolts show or gets a new Daring Do book. It was the look of idolization.

Spark took a deep breath, "Everypony. Don't. Move. I'll be right back." he said in an eerily calm voice before going out and turning to the direction of his room.

Twilight looked back to her friend with an exasperated expression, "Sunset, remember when I said he's a fan of us?"

"Well, yeah." Sunset answered unsurely.

Twilight heaved a sigh, "Well... let's just say... he's preeeetty big fan of yours."

"So is he going to ask me to sign something? Or..."

Twilight nodded, "More than one thing, probably," she corrected, "and maybe take a few photos with his phone."

Sunset raised an eyebrow, "He brought a phone?"

"And one of those laptop things. He brought a lot of human items in his saddlebags. He's been thinking about going through the mirror to charge them."

As if on cue, Spark returned while floating a notebook and a clicker pen. He was also wearing his saddlebags.

Spark flipped open a blank page on notebook and floated it and the pen over to Sunset, "Sign here, please."

"O... kay?" Sunset accepted the pen with her magic and wrote down her autograph.

Spark took the book and pen back, and then brought up lunchbox and marker from one of his saddlebags, which had her face and cutie mark on it.

"And this."

Sunset glanced back at Twilight, who silently replied with an awkward smile and a shrug.

After signing the lunchbox, Spark took out another piece of merchandise, which was a black shirt with an elaborate piece of artwork depicting Sunset as an alicorn with a phoenix flying beside her. She was beginning to see a pattern.

This went on for a while until she finally signed every piece of merch that can be written on. Both Twilight and Sunset were amazed by the sheer amount of Sunset Shimmer-centric merch he had with him. Every time they thought he was done, he would pull out yet another poster, shirt, comic book, plushie, and so many more.

Utterly confused by the casual warping of space in his saddlebags, Twilight thought to ask, "Spark, how do you have so much of this stuff? Some of them don't even look like they fit in your bags!"

Spark sniffed in amusement, "Remember my sack of infinite cooking supplies?"

Sunset turned to him, "Wait, your wh-"

"I recently found another one that gave me access to my merch collection back home." Spark tapped a hoof to his chin, "Based on some stories, this could mean that me being here was actually Discord's fault."

Coincidentally, Discord passed by the open doors as he walked through the hallway. He was casually eating a hayburger.

"Not me. Though I honestly think I should have!" he called out.

Twilight looked towards the draconequus with a surprised look on her face, "Is that my hayburger?!"

Discord stopped mid-chew and looked back and forth between the burger and the miffed princess.

"Uh... no?" he said with a full mouth before snapping his lion paw and disappearing.

Twilight simply facehoofed and sighed.

Spark took this as a chance to change the subject towards his current goal.

"Aaaanyway... now that you're both here, I'd like to ask a very important question," he paused for a moment before asking slowly, "I'd like to ask for your permission to go through the portal to charge my stuff. My phone's at twenty percent and last I checked, my laptop's at twenty-five."

The two Equestrians look at each other cautiously. While he may be a human once, they wondered how the portal would interact with his current form.

Spark has stated occasionally both directly and indirectly that the body he inhabited wasn't his actual self, that the kirin in front of them was originally a fictional character created by Spark himself. The specifics were rather difficult for Twilight to fully understand and explain to Sunset at first, but they understood the gist of it. Crucible Spark, the kirin, is being puppeteered by 'Spark' the human, and Crucible's mind–and perhaps even his soul–is either replaced or dormant. Spark, in turn, can access Crucible's memories and abilities to do as he wishes.

Both magical prodigies were very concerned of how the portal would react to him with its tendency to transform living organisms who pass through it. The possibility of things going wrong with how it interpreted Spark's form was likely very high, and neither of them wanted to know what the results would be like.

"Spark, don't you think that maybe, with your, erm... predicament, there might be problems with your transformation?" Twilight asked tentatively.

Spark shrugged, "As far as I know, I should turn into Crucible's human form, which I honestly wouldn't mind. If I do somehow turn into myself, then that's okay too."

"What we're trying to say, is that the mirror might get confused and you could get, uh... 'jumbled up' by it, if you know what I mean." Sunset elaborated.

Spark's eyes widened as he realized what she implied, he knew exactly what Sunset meant and was trying to not picture it in his mind.

He turned to the portal with slight apprehension, "Betul juga ya..." he muttered to himself. It was entirely possible that the portal could turn him into kirin smoothie.

"Maybe you could just lend Sunset your things so she ca- SPARK NO!"

They didn't notice the kirin-human when he was slowly inching towards the portal. As such, they were caught absolutely off-guard when Spark got close enough to gallop straight into the portal, preventing them from catching him.

"YOLO!" he shouted as he went through.

Both Twilight and Sunset immediately ran through the portal to follow him.

"Ow... my... everything..." Spark muttered weakly as Twilight and Sunset helped him up from the ground.

Fortunately, he wasn't turned into a smoothie of kirin bits, and was instead transformed into Crucible's human form. Unfortunately, when he ran into the portal, it kept his momentum and threw him straight onto the ground. He wasn't injured or anything, but it still hurt like he- tartarus. It was also the third time he faceplanted after travelling through a portal that day.

"What were you thinking?! You could've been seriously hurt or worse!" Twilight scolded him.

Spark dusted himself off, "Worth it."

Sunset could only shake her head at the whole ordeal.

Fully recovered, Spark looked over himself to see what Crucible's Equestria Girls design looked like. While the portal and its version of humanity existed in his AU, he never made a human form for Crucible since the character wasn't supposed to go through the mirror.

Spark realized he was a teenager again, maybe only a year older than Twilight and Sunset were in their own human forms. He had a slightly paler skin tone than his Equestrian form like the others, his hair was still curly and colored dark grey, but was quite a bit shorter than his kirin form.

The portal made him look like a mix between a modern and a steampunk blacksmith. He wore a beige-colored shirt, made of cotton to resist sparks from striking metal. For legwear he had brown canvas trousers, with its leg openings stuffed into his dark brown steel-capped leather boots.
On top of it all, was a leather apron with many pockets for storing tools.
His goggles were placed on his forehead, they looked considerably more steampunk-y.
There was also a leather belt around his waist with just as many pockets as his apron, and was decorated with bronze studs and a bronze buckle. A pair of gloves were hanging from it as well.
Finally, his saddlebags had turned back into the same backpack he had back on his Earth.

Spark cracked his knuckles and stretched his limbs, "I feel young again!"

He searched his pockets and pulled out his phone, and then dragged the two girls beside him before taking a selfie with an empty CHS in the background.

Spark turned to Sunset, "So, you know anywhere I can charge? Don't need to worry about plugs, I've got a travel adapter."

Twilight waved a hand between them, "Wait a minute! You can't just ignore this conversation!"

Spark slowly pulled down her hand, "Twilight, calm down. We're all fine, right? I didn't get vaporized, I'm in a pretty cool blacksmith outfit and now you know what happens when someone in my situation goes through the portal. Win-win!"

Twilight's eye twitched before she buried her face in her palms and sighed. Looks she's going to have to deal with this until Spark gets his own home. Though a part of her thinks that maybe he might not even want to move from the castle.

"So!" Spark put his hands together and turned to Sunset again, "Charging?"

"Well, I guess the safest place would be my apartment?" she replied.

Spark nodded, "Lead the way!"

"You know, I think this is the first time Twilight's visited my place." Sunset commented idly as she, Twilight, and Spark walked through the city.

Twilight's eyes widened, "You're right!"

"Another change in the timeline, nice." Spark added.

"So this isn't supposed to happen?" Twilight asked.

Spark scratched his head, "Uh, let's see..." he paused for a moment, "If I remember correctly, I don't think Twilight's ever gone through the portal again after the Friendship Games, which is going to start-" he looked to Sunset, "-when?"

"In a couple of weeks from now is what I've heard." Sunset answered with a shrug.

Spark nodded, "Right. And as far as I know, Twilight hasn't been here since the Battle of the Bands, yeah?"

Twilight paused to recall if she had visited the human world since then, but realized she couldn't.

"You're correct, I haven't been here in a while." she finally answered. Spark noticed the slight look of guilt on her face.

"Alrighty then. Lump that in with me appearing in Equestria, and this would be the second significant change. 'Twilight visits Sunset's apartment'," he said with a wave of his hand, "it doesn't sound too exciting, but considering the fact that the show and spinoff never acknowledged each other directly, this is could act as a massive shift to the continuity."

"Well, in any case, I'm glad you can come by, Twilight. Even if you're just accompanying Spark here." Sunset said with a smile.

"Yeah, me too." Twilight replied with her own smile.

Watching the two interact like this, Spark discreetly typed down one more thing on the list on his phone. For some reason, he felt like this could mean something.

The three of them finally reached the apartment. When they entered, Spark noticed that it was a bit more sparse than he remembered from what was shown in the available content. It made sense though, it was first shown some time after Friendship Games. Sunset simply hadn't decorated much yet.

Spark let out a whistle, "I'm gonna admit, I'm jealous. This is practically a mansion compared to the one I had in Jakarta."

"That's where you're from, right?" Sunset asked.

"It's the soon-to-be former capital city of the country I'm from. A lot more urban than this Canterlot." he paused to think for a moment, "And a whole lot more polluted."

Spark proceeded to set up his charging cables and devices on the floor near a set of sockets. Just as he expected, they were made for type B plugs, commonly used throughout North America. Those adapters came in useful indeed.

After he was done, they left everything to charge and waited while touring Spark around Canterlot City.

"How long will it take to fully charge your stuff?" Sunset inquired.

"About three-quarters of an hour left at most. It won't take too long."

As they rounded a corner, Spark abruptly stopped in his tracks. It took Twilight and Sunset a few moments to realize he had stopped walking.

Twilight looked back to him, "Spark?"

Spark slowly pointed a finger towards the direction of a building.

It was a small sandwich bar, with a green and yellow theme. Atop the building was a large sign that said 'METROWAY'.

Spark turned to Sunset with an urgent look in his eyes, "What's the conversion rate of bits to dollars?"

Author's Note

You're a kid now! You're a kirin... now?
That doesn't sound right...

Spark's getting a lot more attention than the Three Outcasts, do you think I should focus more on his story now?

I genuinely have a lot of fun writing both stories, as I find the concept of extradimesnional foreigners in Equestria very fascinating. But I'd prefer to write a story with more users to interact with.
As for The Interlopers, it's mostly a playground for me to test out ideas.
Choices, choices...

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 5: Kevin

"Remind me again why we're looking for a changeling in the Everfree Forest?" Rainbow Dash asked exasperatedly.

Twilight moved a vine out of the way before looking back at her friend, "Because Spark said he can help them somehow," she turned to the kirin at the front of the group, "Right, Spark?"

Spark took another bite of his footlong Metroway sandwich and sipped some es cendol from a cup that floated in his magic, Crucible was an omnivore apparently, "Yup, if Kevin's still around after Cranky and Matilda's wedding, I think I have a solution that can get him on our side."

Spark had been once again digging through Crucible's memory and cross-referencing it with his lore. It was then that he remembered about Forgelings.

Crucible Spark's forge was supposed to be about the same size as the Castle of Friendship, everything within it was handled and overseen by Crucible himself. Obviously, for such a large place, he couldn't surveil and maintain every bit of machinery and store room twenty-four seven, and thus, he employs the work of forgelings.

In Crucible's AU, forgelings were a subspecies of changelings that have adapted to the treacherous environment of the Dragon Lands. They traded their ability to fully shapeshift for mastery over pyromancy, geomancy, and ferromancy, making them only capable of changing the shape their horns to fit the spells in their arsenal. Their large, spiny wings were covered by pair of thick elytra and their compound eyes were sharper compared to any changeling subspecies.

It is said that a forgeling's carapace can withstand heat from the surface of the sun, and that they were just as capable of swimming in lava as the dragons. Their fangs were covered by a layer of obsidian, making them incredibly sharp, which they need to protect themselves from rowdy dragons.

With the lack of genuine love dragons produced in their AU, forgelings had to change their diet to rage and greed. They would often send out teams of collectors to gather both emotions from slumbering dragons. Unlike love, when rage or greed is collected, it calms down the host and brings them a sense of tranquility.

Due to the positive relations Clan Spark had with the forgelings and their queen, their forges usually have swarms of forgelings in various ranks working for them. The magical flames expelled by nirik-fire and the greedy nature of the clan members are also a bountiful source of sustenance for them.

Spark had discovered that, if a clan member wishes it, they could 'ascend' a normal changeling into a forgeling with their nirik magic. All they needed to do was to feed the aforementioned changeling with ash from a nirik-fire forge and they will go through a near instantaneous transformation into a forgeling, who will then be compelled to follow the command of the clan member who ascended them.

He had initially planned to do this for Thorax, (or later on, Pharynx) but he didn't want to go through the effort of going to the Crystal Empire to search for a hidden ice cavern. So Spark settled for the closest available alternative: Kevin, the changeling who made a cameo during the show's one hundreth episode. He was thankful that he arrived within the range of the events of season five.

After asking around Ponyville as well as the Mane Six, Spark found out that Kevin's last known location was somewhere in the Everfree, specifically near Fluttershy's cottage. She wasn't all too happy to know there's been a changeling roaming so close to her home.

Twilight decided to tag along with her friends to help Spark in his endeavor. She was curious to see if it was possible for a supposedly fictional version of a creature to exist at all. Spark allowed them to follow because having more eyes to scan the area would be fairly helpful.

So far though, it seemed like there were no traces of Kevin to be found, and they've been trudging through the Everfree Forest for well over an hour. Despite getting multiple complaints from five out of six ponies, Spark pushed on, determined to at least get a scratch or splatter of changeling mucus in his Notebook of AutographsTM.

The group stopped in front of the entrance of a large cave as Spark finished his drink and put away the sandwich's leftovers in one of his saddlebags.

"Maybe Kevin's in here." Spark commented.

"Why do y'all keep callin' 'em 'Kevin'?" Applejack asked.

Spark shrugged, "That's what the fans call him, and there's an official card of him with that name slapped on."

"Your fandom's weird, dude." Rainbow replied.

Spark only rolled his eyes, "Says the member of a fandom with bondage body pillows of a real perso- uh, pony."

Rainbow's eyes widened after hearing his remark, "Wait what?"

"Nevermind. Anypony wants to come with?" he asked while pointing a hoof towards the cave.

The ponies looked uneasy at that comment. Going into dark cave with the possibility of a changeling ambushing them didn't seem very appealing. Fluttershy especially wasn't very keen on following.

Twilight, being motivated by research, stepped up, "I'll go!"

Applejack followed suit, "Let's just get this over with."

Rainbow, being ever courageous, was the first to fully enter, "Let's go already!"

Pinkie bounced closer as well, "Oh, oh! I wanna meet Kevin!"

Rarity sighed, "The sooner we're done the sooner I can get myself cleaned."

Fluttershy realized she would be all by herself if she stayed outside and followed the rest of the group into the cave, "Um, o-okay I'll follow too..."

Once inside, Spark transformed into his nirik form, which easily lit up the entire cave and also startled the ponies.

"Can you tell us before you do that?" Rarity asked pointedly.

"Sorry."

The six ponies and one kirin continued deeper into the cave, making sure to look around for a changeling drone all the while.

After a few minutes of not finding anything, the group heard chittering and hissing noises coming from behind a stalagmite. Spark raised a flaming hoof to stop the ponies behind him.

"Bug sounds behind there. You all watch what he does and prepare to catch him if he tries to book it." Spark instructed.

The Mane Six nodded in confirmation, and he turned back to a kirin before activating his horn to light the way.

Spark tentatively stepped closer towards the stalagmite, the sound of chittering became louder and was eventually accompanied by some buzzing. Kevin was probably bracing himself.

"Kevin?"

The buzzing stopped, replaced by set of hisses.

"Kevin, you there?"

Spark carefully stepped around the stalagmite, he prepared to catch Kevin with his magic in case he was uncooperative.

When Spark, finally got behind the rock formation, he was met with a sight that he honestly was not expecting.

There was indeed a changeling hiding behind the massive stalagmite. However, instead of the usual, hole-ridden state of your typical unreformed changeling, the one in front of Spark was emaciated and heavily injured. Its carapace was cracked in multiple places, its wings looked like it had chunks ripped off, and it seemed like it was only moments away from... croaking, that's a word one could use.

When the changeling saw Spark approach, it immediately pushed itself into a corner formed between the stalagmite and the cave's wall and looked at him fearfully.

Spark lowered his body to look less intimidating to it, "Woah, woah, hey. Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you." he said softly, "Or eat you." he quickly added.

The changeling continued to squirm away from him, fear clearly seen on its face.

Spark decided to sit down on the floor, "Do you happen to know a changeling named 'Kevin'?"

The changeling stopped and stared directly back at Spark, he winced slightly when he saw a scratch on its left set of compound eyes. It nodded slowly, with a very clear expression of trepidation.

Spark took his chance, "Are you Kevin?"

The changeling nodded hesitantly.

Spark smiled. Kevin was real! But he was hurt, very hurt. Spark needed to speed this up. He pulled out a ziplock bag out of his saddlebags and opened it, revealing a couple of grams of ash from his forge.

"Kevin, listen. I want to help you." he floated a small ball of ash in front of the changeling, "This will help you heal, you just need to eat it. It won't taste good, I know, but everything's going to be better after this."

Kevin eyed the ball and Spark suspiciously, how could eating dust save him? Is this a trap? A distraction so that the other ponies with the weird unicorn could capture him?

But... if he refused, then he'd probably be left alone in this cave to starve or get eaten by a wayward monster. It was between that or eating the ball of dust.

After a moment of thinking, Kevin decided to take his chances with the odd-looking unicorn, and quickly chomped down on the ball of nirik ash.

Kevin tried to swallow it as fast as possible, as the ash tasted bitter and slightly metallic to him.

Spark stood up again with a satisfied look in his face, "Okay, good. Now wait a minute so your body can process it."

Kevin stayed put in his little corner, he felt a sense of warmth filling his stomach. Just what the heck was that dust?

Instantly, he was engulfed by a torrent of flames. Kevin panicked, but quickly felt a wave of calmness go over him. The maelstrom of nirik fire reached to such heights that it seared the roof of the cave.

The sudden lightshow caused Mane Six to run over to Spark behind the stalagmite. When they peeked over the rock formation, they were met with the sight of a madly grinning kirin and a very confused... forgeling?

Kevin looked over his new form with awe, so the unicorn truly was trying to help him.

Every bit of damage done to his body had healed over, not leaving a single trace of a scar. Everything just felt better in general.

He was taller, and generally bigger. His previously black carapace had changed to a dark crimson. His joints were covered by segmented and overlapping layers of scarlet chitin, allowing flexible movement and full coverage of his weak points. Kevin looked at his hooves and saw two large hooked spines at each tip. He tried to move his wings, and realized that they were placed below his elytra now. Kevin fiddled with the odd placement for a moment before fully opening them to reveal his large, spiny wings. They were folded up under his elytra, much like a beetle's.

One of the most prominent changes he experienced, however, was his horn. Being natural masters at magic, forgeling horns were larger and shaped in such a way to channel offensive magic more efficiently compared to other magical creatures, with the ability to change their shape if required. Kevin's horn had transformed into a shape that was more akin to a rhinoceros beetle's, with it being elongated with a tip that branched out into for points. Perfect for pyromancy and ferromamcy, not so good for geomancy.

The fin on his head had also grown, to the point where it was essentially a spiky yellow membranous mohawk.

His eyes were different as well. The compound lenses had changed from blue to a bright orange, and the light glow that resembled pupils was a lot more visible. The combination made it look like he had glowing orange eyes with yellow slitted pupils.

His tail was still the same shape-wise, but had the same color as his head fin.

Kevin also realized that he didn't feel as hungry as he was before. The feeling was still there, just subdued. It will return, yes, but it won't be as agonizing as usual.

Kevin looked back towards the fuzzy unicorn with a twisted horn and his allies, "Y-you saved me... why?" he asked in a surprisingly deep voice. Spark noted that it sounded like Keith David's.

"Mmm... monkey..." Spark replied absentmindedly.

"...What?"

Spark quickly shook his head, "Uh, I mean, because I couldn't just leave you there! Let's not beat around the bush here, we both know you would've died here if this didn't happen."

The ponies were shocked, was Kevin really in that bad of a state?

It was Kevin's turn to shake his head, "I... don't know what to say."

Spark extended a hoof towards the new forgeling, "Well, how about we get out of here and I'll explain a few things?"

Kevin looked at the hoof for a moment before taking it, "Alright."

"Thorax is destined to become our king? Really? Of all the changelings in the hive? Him?" Kevin asked incredulously.

"Well, not your king specifically, since you're a forgeling now." Spark corrected.

"Right, right. By turning into this," Kevin motioned a hoof around himself, "I've pretty much pledged my allegiance to you?"

Spark nodded, "Correct. Me, as well as my friends, and Equestria in general, I suppose."

Kevin scratched the spines that connected the membranes of his fin, "That's a lot to take in." he muttered.

"So like, what? Is he good now?" Rainbow asked.

Spark waved a hoof around, "Eh, depends on your perspective. The changelings only did what they did because Chryssie told them to, and her word is absolute to them. The whole reason the invasion happened at all was because the entire hive was running low on love, being located in the Badlands and all."

Kevin gave him a confused look, "That was surprisingly accurate. How do you know all of this?"

Spark shrugged, "I just know things. It'll take too long to explain. Maybe later."

Applejack decided to chime in, "Well, now that it's all settled, what now? Where's he," she pointed to Kevin, "goin' to end up?"

Spark looked back to the forgeling, "At the castle, duh."

Rarity raised and eyebrow, "You can't possibly be serious."

"It's not like he's going to hurt anypony or anything, he feeds on rage and greed now. The fire my nirik form produces is basically physical rage, and if he eats the ash next time, it'll taste better to him."

"Really?" Kevin asked.

Spark nodded with a smile, "Really. You're not going to be looking through scraps anymore, buddy. You've got a walking all-you-can-eat buffet right here." he said while pointing at himself.

"I have a question!" Twilight exclaimed as she raised a hoof.

Pinkie giggled, "This isn't a classroom, silly!"

Twilight realized what she was doing and quickly lowered her hoof, "Ah, right..." she cleared her throat, "From what Spark has told us, changeling names are usually derived from words used in insect anatomy, unless my sources are outdated, 'Kevin' isn't used anywhere in entomology. Why is it that your name is different from the others?"

Kevin sighed, "They ran out of names and I had to choose from the 'weird names' list." he answered with an annoyed expression.

"Changelings... choose their names from a list?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

Kevin nodded, "When a changeling moults into an adult, they get to pick a name from a list based on words that we've learned from previous emcounters. There's a clear preference towards names with X-es and Y-s in them for some reason. When a list is finished, the leftover changelings get the scraps. I was hoping to get 'Proboscis' or 'Spiracle', but I was too late and got lumped in with the other leftovers."

Spark copied Twilight's actions and fervently wrote down Kevin's explaination in another notebook, "Woah, this wasn't explained in the show. Keren coy!"

Pinkie hopped between Spark and Kevin, "You know what this means?"

Kevin gave her a confused look, "No?"

"You're going to have your first ever PARTY!" She practically yelled.

Author's Note

We have the beginning of Spark building his own Mane crew, starting with Kevin the Forgeling Praetorian!

Here's a little sketch as a visual guide to what a forgeling praetorian looks like, and his colors.

As a sneak peek, the next member's going to be a blindbag pony. Which one of them has a fire theme, hmmm?

Also, looks like I'm genuinely moving my focus here. I genuinely enjoy the amount of interactions I'm getting with this story, and it's always fun replying to my readers!

Next chapter, Spark will start preparing for Starlight's arrival and we'll see how he's going to figure out going on a temporal field trip while simultaneously trying to get pictures of a magical girl fight. Kevin's going to get a headache.

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 6: Be Prepared!

Kevin grunted as he lowered a large stack of scrap metal next to Spark's backyard smithy with his magic, "Why exactly do you need all this stuff?"

Spark poured a crucible full of molten metal into a sand mold before turning to him, "If I'm going to fight an overpowered sorcerer while travelling through time, I'd rather be prepared."

Kevin raised a hoof, "Okay, I know I probably don't have the right to complain much right now, but could you please give me context before you start talking about future stuff?"

Spark scratched the mane around his neck, "Oh, yeah, sorry. You see, if my sources are correct, in about two weeks or so, a unicorn mare will sneak into the castle to exact revenge on Twilight. There's going to be time travelling involved."

"And you're setting up," Kevin gestured towards the pile of forged melee weaponry next to the anvil, "all of this, to stop her?"

Spark barked out a laugh, "Ha! No. I want to go on a temporal feild trip to collect momentos from alternate timelines. All of this is for self defence, mostly."

Kevin tilted his head, "Mostly?"

Spark shrugged, "I'm going to be fighting somepony powerful enough to swap the cutie marks of ancient alicorns and banish a spirit of chaos with her own power, I might as well use it as an excuse to test out enchantments."

"Can't you just test them on those tree wolf things in the forest?" Kevin countered.

Spark smirked, "Now where's the fun in that? I'd rather fight a compotent opponent. Besides, she can handle it." he glanced back at Kevin after a moment, "And they're called timberwolves."

Kevin opened his mouth to argue, but decided not to. He knew it would be a losing battle, so he continued to gather scrap metal from a nearby cart.

"Wait a minute..." Spark said aloud.

Kevin returned with another stack and looked towards the kirin-human inquisitively, "Hm?"

"If I'm going to be time travelling, then who's going go get pictures of Daydream and Midnight?" Spark muttered to himself.

"Who-"

Kevin was immediately interrupted as Spark lifted him up in his magic and ran towards the castle's entrance, "To the mirror!"

"Wait, the forge and foundry! They're still lit!" Kevin exclaimed.

Spark stopped and turn right around, "Anjrit!"

Spark and Kevin stood in front of the mirror portal, which was set to active in case Twilight or Sunset needed to go through should any magical trouble arises. Twilight was away with Fluttershy for a friendship mission at the time, so Spark can use the portal as he pleased. Of course, he had forced them to watch the mission's episode before they left to see if anything would change.

Spark had explained to the new forgeling the ins and outs of how the magical device worked, and the world that it connects to. Kevin, like any sane individual who grew up in a society of warriors and infiltrators, was trying to soothe a migraine that threatened to appear.

"So you want me, to go through there, and sit through a sports event, so I can get pictures with your glowing rectangle thing, while you fight a... time-travelling unicorn cultist?" Kevin asked slowly, as to not miss any details.

"Well, you're not going to use my phone, but yes, that's pretty much it." Spark affirmed.

"And you're going to show me around the place for these 'perfect photos'?" Kevin asked while using his hooves to gesture quotes.

Spark nodded happily, "Yup! Now come on!"

He levitated Kevin again and threw him straight into the portal.

"Wait wait waiiii-!"

Kevin couldn't believe what he witnessed, it was his first time hurtling through a bridge between realities, and all he could see was a whirlwind of colors and light. He felt his body warp and contort the longer he stayed in the chaotic realm.

Thankfully, he didn't need to wait for long, as the portal spat him out along with Spark just as quickly as they entered.

Kevin rubbed his head with an armored hand, "Ow... wha-"

Kevin looked at his newly acquired digits with wide eyes, he looked over his entire body and realized he had transformed into another creature entirely. He tried to follow his natural instincts and transform back, but quickly remembered that forgelings can't change anything beyond their horns.

He turned to his right and saw another creature like him, who resembled...

"Crucible Spark?"

Spark extended a hand to lift him up, "This'll take a bit to get used to. Nice armor, by the way."

Kevin hauled himself up and look over his new form. His entire body was covered in metal armor!

Spark noted that it had a mix between fantasy and steampunk theme, with intricate detailing on larger plating like his chestplate and pauldrons, as well as bronze trimming near his joints and limbs. The designs were definitely gear-themed.

The color of his armor was a lot more subdued compared to his carapace, which gave it a rugged and worn look to it. Between a couple of open spaces, Spark could see a layer of chainmail, and what looked to be a gambeson as well. Kevin looked like he was going to war.

His head, however, was left unprotected. Which revealed his pale red skin that was only a tad more vibrant from Spark's. His hair was colored yellow, which faded to orange as it reached the back of his head. It was styled as a short yellow mohawk.

"Don't have a helmet though..." Spark commented.

"Spark?"

The human-turned-kirin-turned-human turned his head towards the source of the voice calling out his name, and he saw Sunset along with the rest of the Rainbooms walking up to them with confused expressions.

"Rainbooms! Hold on–" he fished put a notebook and pen from a pocket on his belt, "–sign here, please."

"A fan, huh? Alright!" Rainbow eagerly took the book and pen from his hands.

"Y'know this guy, Sunset?" Applejack asked her friend.

Sunset nodded, "Remember when I told you about the guy who lives in Equestria? Well, here he is." she said while pointing a thumb towards the metalsmith, who nodded.

"And the knight lookin' guy?"

Sunset turned to Kevin, who was wiggling his armored fingers around, "I... don't know. Spark, who is he?"

Spark wrapped Kevin in a one-armed hug, "This guy right here is my pal Kevin! He's a forgeling on the other side."

"Forgeling?" Sunset asked.

Spark waved a hand, "Too long to explain. Look, I'm here to show Kevin where he should place himself to document the Friendship Games since I'll be busy fighting a time travelling evil sorceress." he grabbed Kevins arm and ran towards the entrance of the school, "Onwards!"

That left six girls standing in front of the Wondercolts statue in various states of confusion.

Rarity turned towards her friends, "Did... did he say he was going to time travel?"

"And fight an evil sorceress!" Pinkie added helpfully.

Sunset shook her head tiredly, "Let's go after them so they don't get into trouble."

Spark stood on the highest seat of a set of bleachers while gesturing towards the field. He had taken Kevin through an impromptu tour through CHS (despite being unfamiliar with the building himself), while informing his armored friend of the locations that he will need to be in to get the so-called 'perfect photos' of the Friendship Games, as well as an event that Spark only referred to as 'The Cool Magical Girl Fight'.

Throughout his little tour, the Rainbooms, being the responsible people that they are, tailed the foreigners around to keep them away from trouble. While they knew Spark is supposed to be a human, his attire and eccentric nature might get him some unwanted attention.

Kevin was another case entirely. Having been raised for the simple purpose of capturing and consuming love, he was utterly baffled by the intricacies of humanity and its technology. His reactions have given them all a good laugh, and reminded them of Twilight whenever she comes over. He might need to tone down the hissing and growling though.

Kevin's attire had also garnered him some attention. Nearby students would drop whatever they were doing whenever he passed with Spark. A man in steampunk-styled knight armor and an old-timey blacksmith isn't something you see at school everyday.

It got to the point that Vice Principal Luna had come out of her office to see why an alarming amount of students were gathered up in a group close to the field, which was blocked off due to preparations for the Friendship Games.

She didn't expect to see Sunset Shimmer along with her friends attempting to drive away an ever-growing crowd that watched over two oddly dressed individuals who were standing on top of the bleachers.

"Just what on earth is going on here?!"

The crowd immediately went silent and turned around with surprised and guilty looks on their faces.

Sunset looked over the crowd and felt a sense of relief as she saw Luna, "VP Luna! Thank goodness you're here."

Luna made her way through the crowd, which parted easily just from a single glance.

"Care to explain what's going on, Sunset Shimmer?"

Sunset rubbed the back of her head, "W-well, you see-"

"Sunset's friends from Equestria came to visit so that they can document the Friendship Games while the other is busy fighting an evil time-travelling sorceress!" Pinkie explained cheerfully.

Luna raised an eyebrow.

Sunset sighed, "I know it's hard to believe, but that's exactly the reason why they're here."

The vice principal craned her neck to look beyond the group of girls, and saw the blacksmith-looking boy animatedly talking with the confused knight-looking man. She wasn't paid enough for this.

It was Luna's turn to sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose, "Just make sure they don't hurt themselves walking around a construction area." she muttered tiredly.

Sunset quickly nodded, "Right away!" she said before dashing off towards the two visitors.

Luna just shook her head as she instructed the students to return inside and went back to her office.

"I need more coffee..." she muttered to herself.

In the distance, she could hear the blacksmith maniacally shouting something along the lines of 'Spark and Kevin adventures, a hundred and hundred years!'

Spark and Kevin plopped onto the floor as the portal spat them out back into Equestria. Kevin shook his head around to reorient his eyesight.

"That... was an interesting experience." he commented.

Spark gave his elytra a pat, "It'll only get more interesting as long as I'm here!"

Kevin could only chuckle at the kirin-human's attitude. A part of him wondered if anyling would ever be able to act as eccentric as he is.

"Now, back to forging. I'm thinking of making a billhook. What do you think?" Spark asked the praetorian.

"I don't know what that is. But it sounds cool. Let's make it!"

Author's Note

This chapter is mostly filler, I know. But I'm publishing it to set up how things are going to work once we get to Cutie Remark. Each subsequent chapter will switch back and forth between Spark and Kevin's POVs to cover Spark's field trip and Kevin's content making.

Also, look out for a Human to Daybreaker story coming out soon!

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 8: Everything Changed When the Fire Nation Attacked

Spark entered the dining room while holding four dishes he had cooked covered by silver cloches.

"Dinner is served!"

Spark recently decided to swap out with Spike when it came to making dinner. Spike, knowing that it'll give him more time to work on other chores, gladly allowed him to take over.

This was his time to show off the cooking skills he inherited from his mother. Tonight, they're having some Indonesian dishes that he thinks they'll enjoy very much.

Of course, like any considerate sapient being, he asked the three what their preferences were. Twilight's was an easy one, anything vegetarian was all she asked for. Spike requested the fried rice again, but with some gems incorporated to the dish, so Spark needed to get creative. As for Kevin, anything spicy and cooked with nirik-fire was something he liked.

And so, Spark went to work, cooking away with ingredients he acquired from the magical bag of infinite cooking supplies. He started early to make sure the wait wasn't too long.

Spark eagerly approached the table with an excited smile on his face.

He set the plates in front of each individual and opened them, revealing their contents, and began to list the names of each dish served.

Spark gestured towards Twilight first, "Untuk mbak Twilight, aku berikan rujak. Didn't put anything spicy in it, promise! "

He then motioned a hoof to Spike, "Untuk abang Spike, disajikan nasi goreng kristal. I couldn't do taste test for obvious reasons, but I think you'll like this one even better."

Finally, he nodded towards Kevin, "Dan untuk mas Kevin, saya sajikan mie Aceh, extra spicy!"

Twilight and Spike flinched at the sight of cut up meat. They knew forgelings ate physical food in addition to rage and greed, but knowing that he was eating parts of a sentient–and possibly even sapient–creature made them shudder.

Spark sat down on his own seat, "And I've got... soto ayam! Wuihh!" he finished off with a clap of his hooves

While the meat in Spark and Kevin's food did put them off a bit, they couldn't help but snicker at the kirin-human's enthusiasm and the more casual use of his native language.

As they ate, Twilight decided to speak up to break the silence, "So, what's everypony been up to?"

Spark wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Kevin and I are going to do magic training tomorrow. It's mostly to see how good we are with our magic."

Kevin nodded, "Looks like forgelings are born with pre-existing knowledge of basic spells, maybe with some work, we can modify them for more uses."

"Also, Cracker's going to teach us some pyromancy techniques from her homeland. From what she's shown, it kinda looks like firebending." Spark added.

Spike ate another spoonful, "Firebending? What's that?"

The metalsmith waved a hoof dismissively, "Ah, I'll show you guys later. I need wifi to do that."

Twilight gave her guests a smile, "That's very nice to hear. As for me, I was planning on having a book-sort-cation, but..."

"But because I showed you the episode, now you're having second thoughts?" Spark continued.

She sighed nodded slowly, "Yes. I mean, I get that Discord was trying to–" Twilight gestured air quotes, "–'teach me a lesson', but I also don't like the fact that his true goal was to get a rise out of me. Now, I don't really know if I should go through with it."

Spark raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't it be that, because you've seen how it'll end, you'd be more content with your book-sort-cation? You've literally made an essay on it."

"I guess so... I can't really explain it, but it just doesn't feel right to me."

"Perhaps you could join us as a spectator, then, princess?" Kevin suggested.

Twilight perked up, "Really?"

Spark shrugged, "If you got nothing else to do, then why not? Maybe you could learn a new spell or two from the three of us."

Twilight's mind began to race with a new wave of ideas. Learning new forms of magic from a faraway land, an alternate universe, and a new species was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Even if they were only going to focus on pyromancy, it was too enticing to refuse.

"Great! When will you all start?"

Spark tapped a hoof to his chin, "Hm, about nine am, I'd say. Behind the castle."

Twilight smiled excitedly, "Wonderful! I'll see you then!"

Just as promised, Twilight met up with both Spark and Kevin at the homemade forge. She had prepared an entire saddlebag's worth of paper, quills, and books to aid in her observations and research for the day. Now, the three of them were just waiting for Firecracker Burst to arrive.

To pass the time, Spark and Kevin were taking turns asking Twilight different questions regarding Equestria, with the kirin-human mainly asking about 'lore' and the forgeling asking about the ins and outs of Equestrian society. Twilight, in turn, asked questions about alternate humanity and changeling society.

"So how much longer will Sombra and Radiant Hope take to find all of Princess Amore's pieces?" Spark asked as he crossed out another question from his notebook.

Twilight took a moment to think, "Well, while I haven't been actively staying in contact with them, from the last time they sent a letter, they've fully rebuilt the front half of her body."

Spark grinned while writing down her answer, "Hope they find the rest soon. I'm hoping I could get her autograph."

Kevin raised a hoof, "What happened to Trot before the Sun Princess sealed us in a volcano? I know it's been centuries, but shouldn't there at least be some remains of that city?" he sniffed in amusement as he shook his head, "I remember busting out of that wooden statue like it was yesterday."

Twilight and Spark immediately halted their writing, "Pardon?/Huh?"

Kevin's 'pupils' flickered, "I... remember bursting out of that wooden statue... like yesterday?"

Spark looked straight towards the forgeling, "Kevin, when did you hatch?" he asked slowly.

"Uh, some time after the hive invaded Timbucktu?" he answered hesitantly.

Twilight ruffled her wings, "But... that would make you about three hundred years old!"

Spark put his forelegs in a 'T' shape, "Okay, time out! In the show, it was kinda implied that most of the changelings are, at least, around the same age as your typical adult pony, and they age like normal ponies. How the he- tartarus are you three hundred?"

"Hibernation!" Kevin replied happily.

"That- huh..." Spark shrugged, "Okelah."

It was good thing that Cracker had arrived, preventing Twilight from drowning the praetorian with a deluge of questions.

"Good day, everypony! I- woah! Princess Twilight?!"

Spark nodded his head towards the princess, "Right, so she's going to watch us do magic. Hope that's fine with you?"

Cracker took a nervous glance at Twilight before quickly shaking her head to clear her thoughts and bowing, "I'll be honored!"

Spark approached her and put a hoof on her withers, "Yeah... don't do that, it makes her uneasy."

Spark, Kevin, and Cracker stood in a triangular position whilst facing each other. The pyrotechnics expert had put aside her sachel and wore her own pair of goggles to signify the beginning the session. Twilight sat on the sidelines with a sheet of paper and a quill in her magic.

"Okay, do any of you know any basic pyro spells? Like fireballs, for example."

Kevin lit his branched horn, and summoned three flaming orbs that were nested between each branch, "From what Spark and I have discovered, it appears I am capable of creating hyper focused streams of fire, in addition to creating blasts that explode on impact."

He pointed his head upwards and focused. Each orb were channeling their energy into the beam, coalescing into a mighty surge of flames that blasted at least fifty meters into the sky.

Not wanting to be beaten, Spark transformed into his nirik form, "And I'm able to channel fire from my limbs, in addition to my horn and mouth."

He stood on his hindlegs and directed his mouth towards the sky while his forehooves were extended in an 'A' position.

"Which means I can do this!"

Spark took a page out of Ozai's book and channeled nirik-fire through his mouth and forehooves, creating three massive jets of blue-red flames that almost reached Twilight, who had jumped behind a pile of scrap metal.

Cracker pushed her jaw back to a closed position after his display, "O... kay then. Looks like we're going straight into the later spells."

"Okay! Okay! I think I got it now!"

Spark put all four of his hooves down in a slightly spread out position. He then continued by channeling his flames through them in concentrated jets. This caused him to slowly ascend and eventually, hover.

"Rocket hooves, baby!"

Twilight fervently wrote down Spark's discovery, "That's incredible! Obtaining flight by using forces produced by pyrokinesis!"

Spark furrowed his flaming eyebrows to focus, his legs were starting to jitter randomly.

"Uh... okay, let's- WAH!"

He tried to move one of his hooves to the side in an attempt to move himself. Unfortunately, he overdid it and...

"AAAAAHHH!"

SLAM!

Spark zoomed pass his three friends, and crashed directly into the hard, crystalline surface of the castle. The sudden impact also caused him to involuntarily revert to his kirin form.

"My... everything..."

Cracker put a small log on Spark's anvil and took a couple of steps back.

She stomped a hoof, "Alright, so this spell's mostly for offense. It was primarily used by the elite sharpshooters of my homeland to protect their settlements from chimaeras and ophiotaurs.

"The ranged combustion spell is considered unique because it requires the caster to take a deep and controlled breath before firing. Like so."

Cracker took a more relaxed stance and focused her eyes on the log. She lit only the very tip of her curved horn before inhaling deeply.

She followed with a slow exhale, which caused a narrow, transparent beam to shoot from her horn. It popped and crackled with smaller explosions as it went through the air.

F-BOOM!

Once it made contact with its target, it produced a large explosion that engulfed both the log and the anvil in a ball of fire.

After the smoke dissipated, there was only a crater with a scorched but otherwise undamaged anvil left.

Spark looked at her with an awestruck expression, "If you can combustion bend, why the ffffffrackas do you need guns?!"

Cracker shrugged, "Non-magical explosions are cooler."

"A little bit more to the left! Eh, right! Now down a bit! Okay! Stay there!"

Rainbow Dash looked down from the storm cloud she was moving, "Where do I aim?"

Spark pointed towards Kevin, who had flared his wing out to his sides, "Aim the bolt straight on his horn!"

Rainbow took a glance at the forgeling, who gave her a confident grin.

She readied herself, "Alright! One lightning bolt coming right up!"

Rainbow gave the cloud a hard kick, which caused it to release a massive lightning bolt towards Kevin.

The bolt went straight towards his branched horn. Kevin grunted as millions of volts coursed through him.

"Alright, Kevin! Now!"

With Spark's command, he channeled the electrity through his horn, into his stomach, and then through his wings.

When the energy reached them, each spine on released its own violent arc of electricity.

Spark clapped his hooves, "Woo! Awesome!"

Kevin gave them a shaky smile before dropping unconscious.

Twilight sighed, "I'll go get the first aid..."

Author's Note

Some fiery fun with our troublesome trio! Looks like we've got some firebenders on our hooves now.

Anyway, next chapter, Spark plans to visit the forested kingdom of Thicket! Will he be able to get King Aspen's autograph?

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 9: The Cutie Re-Spark [Part 1] (Spark POV)

Crucible Spark stood in front of the entrance to Canterlot High alongside Kevin and, surprisingly, Firecracker Burst. The Friendship Games will begin soon and he decided that it was the perfect time to brief them on their task.

Cracker's addition wasn't exactly a part of his plan, but he thought that having somebody—or in this case, somepony— familiar accompany Kevin in an alien world would help calm the forgeling's nerves.

With that in mind, the kirin-human had made a habit of bringing the two over to Mirror-Earth on a semi-regular basis, typically during his visits to Sweet Shoppe whenever he wanted to access the internet, as a way to help them adapt to the ways of a human. Much to Twilight's dismay.

The native human members of the Rainbooms, being ever-so-curious of Equestria as they are, were more than happy to help both Equestrians get used to walking around as a featherless biped. Spark found the transformed unicorn's reactions to humanity fairly entertaining, though he was kind of jealous of the outfit that the portal gave her.

When he had thrown her through the portal in a similar matter to Kevin, he thought that she would be wearing something more, well, Asian, considering the sub-type of pony that she is and the region she came from.

Coming right out of the portal, the first thing he noticed was her light turquoise sukajan jacket that had the image of an orange translucent eastern dragon wrapping its serpentine body around a fireworks rocket on her back, along with trails of bright orange fire along her sleeves. The front of the jacket was open, showing a dark turquoise shirt that had her cutie mark emblazoned at the center. She was also fitted with ripped jeans, as well as a pair of pale turquoise sneakers with white highlights.

Basically, a lot of turquoise.

While it certainly did fairly well to contrast Spark and Kevin's warmer—or perhaps hotter—colors, the metalsmith couldn't help but feel annoyed that he didn't get a cool custom-made jacket himself. Sure, it wouldn't fit with his fantasy-steampunk blacksmith aesthetic, but a cool jacket is still a cool jacket, damn it!

Moving on to the task at—currently—hand, he lent them a 'MovePro' video camera and 'Mortar' photo camera to the praetorian and pyrotechnician respectively. The brand names gave him a good laugh when Sunset had told him about it.

Spark crossed his arms, "Okay, once I start travelling through time, the portal will stay closed until I get things finished on my end, that means you two will be here for... eh, pretty much until Twilight and I are done."

Kevin turned on the small device and fiddled with its buttons, rembering what the kirin-human had taught him on operating it.

"And we need to record everything that happens until then, right?" he asked.

Spark waved a hand, "Not everything. Just anything that seems important, like the competitions and stuff. Otherwise, it'd just be a waste of memory."

Cracker took a peek through the decently hefty camera, "I'm only doing this because you promised me we'll make a... what was it?"

"An RPG. Hopefully we end up in some advanced war timeline so I can snatch up a few to reverse-engineer."

Kevin raised an eyebrow, "I have a feeling no sane creature would ever say that out loud. Nevermind saying it so casually."

Spark gave him a dismissive shrug, "Never claimed to be sane, have I?"

"Yeah, that's fair." the armored man replied.

The sound and sight of a pair of buses caught their attention.

"It'd be nice to have those in Equestria." Cracker commented.

Coincidentally, it seemed like Sunset had also decided to take a peek outside. She noticed the group of—mostly—native Equestrians and gave them a wave.

"Oh hey! You two ready for the Games?"

Cracker hung the camera on her neck and gave the girl a smile.

"Yeah, Spark's just finished his gameplan."

She turned to the buses again as they were parking, "Those the visitors?"

Sunset leaned to the side to look beyond the other girl, "Yeah, looks like they're here."

The former royal student then turned to look at the twice-transformed human with an annoyed expression.

"You're really not going to tell us what's going to happen, are you?"

"Nnope." Spark replied in a deep voice, mimicking a certain red-coated farmpony.

Sunset sighed, "You know, you don't make a lot of sense sometimes..."

The kirin-human grinned, "What fun is there in making sense?"

(Meanwhile)

"ACHOO!"

Fluttershy moved over a box of tissues towards a sniffling Chaos Spirit.

"Oh my, are you feeling well, Discord?"

The draconequus wiped away the confetti around his muzzle as he waved a paw, "Oh no, it's nothing for you to worry about, my dear! I think somebody out there might be talking about me."

The timid pegasus gave him a concerned look, "Well, if you say so..."

"And here I thought watching a movie about meand my friends' past experiences was weird enough..." the former unicorn muttered.

After taking another look at his assorted friends, Spark clapped his hands to get everybody's attention.

"Alright! I better get going. Still need to plan my menacing entrance before she gets here."

With an exchange of farewells and wishes of good luck, he stepped back into Equestria.

"Apa lagi ya?"

Spark muttered to himself as he went through a list of items he had prepared in his saddlebags for his field trip. It was mostly composed of various items he had cast a shrinking spell on.

All melee weapons were accounted for, from his mightiest polearms and greatswords, to the smallest of daggers and knives, all were secured in a small coin purse in their shrunken forms.

He had practiced using them remotely, controlling their movements from a distance with his magic. The techique itself was yet another skill he had acquired from Crucible's mind, based on the OC's own character files.

And that meant that Spark himself was already very adept at it on the get go. During his practice sessions, the metalsmith was a nigh-unstoppable whirlwind of sharp metal and flames.

Those poor timberwolves never stood a chance.

Along with those, the ziplock bags and jars that he'd use to store momentos also had been prepared. Spark wanted to grab at the very least a dirt sample from each of the timelines he will visit. It was ufortunate that he was the only brony in his version of Equestria, which meant that he was unable to show off his totally awesome collection of dirt.

His phone and camera were also there, stored in a smaller pouch on the side of his backpack-turned-saddlebags. Documenting this experience was the whole reason he prepared everything in the first place, after all.

Then there was the ziplock bag full of extra potent nirik-ash. A particular type used for a forgeling transformation procedure that granted the clan member who produced it full control over the 'ling they wanted to convert. He had an admittedly devious plan that required it.

And to top it all off, everything had been

"Huh, sudah semua." Spark said to himself.

It was then that his ears swiveled towards the sound of hooves clopping against the crytals floor, with a lack of clicking claws accompanying it.

But Twilight and Spike aren't supposed to return until later.

The kirin-human smiled broadly, letting his canines peek through his lips.

"Showtime!"

Starlight Glimmer grunted in annoyance as she swiftly made her way down a corridor. She had spent the last few minutes trying to find the room that contained the most powerful source of magic in the castle. Unfortunately, it seemed like she had underestimated just how complex the crystalline structure would be.

"How can anypony live like this? This is going to take- oh, there it is."

It appeared that luck was on her side, however, and the doors to the room she had been trying to reach was directly in front of her.

She quickly looked around. After confirming nopony was there, she quietly opened the door and entered with her prepared spell floating right next to her.

Starlight giggled to herself as she began to channel the massive table's magic to her spell.

"All according to plan~"

No more than a few moments later, she heard the sound of whistling coming from the doorway. Its haunting tune caused the hairs on her coat to rise and a chill tp go down her spine.

The unicorn whipped around with her horn lit brightly, preparing to engage in potential combat. Her eyes widened as she realized who exactly had discovered her.

Standing right in the middle of the doorway was a creature that almost looked like a pony. Its coat was charcoal black, with a twisted horn that glowed a bright white upon its forehead. Parts of its body were engulfed in what was likely magical blue-red flames that didn't seem to affect it.

The creature stared at her with its white glowing eyes as it smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth that glowed, for... some reason.

"Ah, Starlight Glimmer, I've been expecting you." it said with a deep, reverberating voice.

Starlight scowled, "Who are you?!"

The creature's smile widened, "You may call me... Crucible Spark."

The flaming creature, Crucible Spark, began to walk towards her, "I didn't know Princess Twilight was expecting guests."

Starlight started to walk towards the side, making the two of them circle each other.

"You work for her, I'm guessing? What are you? A guard?"

Spark chuckled, causing small motes of fire come out of his mouth.

"In a way, I suppose. I personally think of myself more as a... student, of hers." he lied, not like the pony opposing him knew that.

Starlight's expression grew more fierce, "Well, if you think you can stop me-"

The flaming equinoid laugh heartily, his burning body parts flaring with breath.

"Au contraire, I'm not planning on stopping you, let alone try, Glimmer."

The unicorn fugitive halted her trot, "What?"

He reached one of the thrones and sat down as he placed his saddlebags upon the table. Spark got into a comforfable position before resting his head on a burning hoof.

"If I were to be honest with you, I'd like to see how things will go down. It's not everyday you get to meet one of your teacher's enemies while they're plotting a revenge scheme."

Starlight took a less tense position and raised an eyebrow, "So what? You're just going to sit there and watch me work? Like I'd let her student of all ponies... or, uh, whatever you are, stay here and make myself vulnerable to an attack."

Spark leaned back on the throne, "Oh I assure you, I won't do anything. If I wanted you captured, you would've already been in a cage with a magic inhibitor the moment I heard your hoofsteps."

Somehow, Starlight felt like it was certainly possible, so she just gave him a suspicious look and a nod before grabbing her scroll and continuing her work.

Spark hid a cheeky smile with a fireproofed book as he pretended to read it while discreetly watching Starlight work her magic. Literally.

Everything was going according to his plan, now all he needed to do was to wait for Twilight and Spike to return.

During that time, Starlight had asked him a fair amount of questions, mostly regarding his species, origins, and how he became Twilight's 'student'.

Spark decided to keep up his mysterious façade and only answered with vague hints and clues. Eventually, their conversation slowly went towards cutie marks, mostly caused by the metalsmith wanting to see her reaction to him not having a cutie mark.

As it turns out, not as... bombastic, as he expected.

Starlight looked at him incredulously while sitting on another throne, "You never had a cutie mark, but your you know what your special talent is? How did you even know what your talent is in the first place?"

Spark sniffed out a small burst of fire, "Practice makes perfect. Unlike you ponies, the rest of us creatures have to work hard to be good at something. I like blacksmithing, so I spent years learning it." he answered, completely leaving out the part where he had the memories and abilities of a pre-existing entity implanted straight into his mind and body.

"Huh..."

"Spark! Kevin! We're home!"

Starlight turned towards the doors as she heard the voice of a familiar purple princess from somewhere in the castle. Spark got into a more comfortable position, he was glad that they can finally begin.

The nirik-human turned to the unicorn with a smile, "Got a dramatic reveal in mind?"

"-it does sound kinda- huh?!"

Twilight abruptly interrupted her comment to Spike as her mind registered the two individuals in the map room.

"Welcome home, Twilight!" Starlight said sarcastically from one of the thrones.

"Yo." Spark greeted them with a wave of a burning hoof.

The young princess quickly shook her head, "Starlight! And... Spark?! what are you doing just sitting there?!"

The nirik-human shrugged, "Oh, y'know, just hanging out with Glim-Glam here."

Said unicorn gave him a glare, "Don't... don't call me that. You're still an enemy."

"Whatever you say, Stalin."

Twilight waved a hoof, "Okay, okay! Everypony settle down." she turned to the only unicorn in the room, "What are you doing, Starlight?"

Starlight laughed at her, "I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise!"

She casted one final burst of magic to complete her spell on the map, which activated her modified time travel spell.

Throughout the entire thing, Spark took out his phone and recorded the portal's emergence right up until Starlight went through.

Once finished, he lowered his phone and was met with the sight of a very disgruntled Twilight and a very worried Spike.

"Spark, why didn't you try to stop her?! Don't you already know what she's planning?!" the young alicorn practically yelled at him.

The metalsmith gave her a smile, "Because of this."

He proceeded to levitate over Starlight's crumpled spell in front of Twilight.

"Touch it. After that, I'll explain everything."

The peincess stared at him for a moment, silently hoping that just once, he would actually be consistently straightforward with his foresight, before letting out a sigh.

"Fine. But no more of those vague explanations."

With that, she reached out a hoof and made contact with the scroll.

As the rift in time began to manifest, Spark gave her and Spike a suspiciously villainous smile.

"Let's just say... we're going on a field trip."

The locals of Cloudsdale stared in awe and confusion as they saw an alicorn, a small dragon, and a burning-unicorn-thing that fired jets off of its hooves to hover converse on a small cloud platform. What in Equestria is going on over there?

Twilight rubbed her temples to drive away an incoming migrane, "So, let me get this straight... we travelled back in time, because Starlight is trying to prevent the Sonic Rainboom from happening, and with each failed attempt to stop her, we'll get thrown into an 'alternate timeline' which are basically various forms of apocalypses because the the connection between my friends and I was that important, along with us being the Element Bearers."

She paused before turning to Spark with a tired expression.

"Did I get that right?"

The hovering nirik gave her a nod, "Eeyup."

"Alright... then, where is she now?" Spike asked.

Spark adjusted his rocket hooves and pointed towards the area where Starlight was levitating herself, she had already captured a young Rainbow Dash in her magic.

The unicorn saw them looking at her and decided to give them a mocking smile before she got sucked into a rift.

Spark looked up to their own time rift opening up above the cloud platform.

"Our first alternate timeline. I admit, a part of me is hoping that they're actually alternate universes."

The alicorn and dragon duo looked to each other worriedly before letting themselves get pulled into the rift.

Spark gazed around the desolate sights of the—according to him—Crystal War timeline with his phone out. He had transformed back into his normal kirin form to take pictures and videos without potentially damaging the phone, despite it having five layers of different fireproofing spells and enchantments.

"Dark-questria..." he murmured.

Twilight inspected the blackened projections on the Cutie Map and the larger-than-before Crystal Empire before turning the kirin-human.

"Alright, I think this is too big to handle with just the three of us, we need to find our friends and get help!"

Spark paused the recording on his phone, "Not so fast. Since you six technically never met each other, they won't recognize any of us. At this point in time, they've already lived vastly different lives from what we knew." he explained.

The princess wilted at the realization, Spark couldn't help but feel guilty.

"But- buuut!" he quickly added, "Talking to them could help us understand the situation of each timeline better. I we're in some kind of AU instead of a diverging line, then I'm hoping we could go all Ken-light Sparkle out here."

The metalsmith paused, "Minus the whole 'becoming your fiancé' thing. Don't get me wrong, you're a wonderful pony and there are a lot of fans who would agree, I'm just not interested in a relationship right now." he commented before trotting away to Sweet Apple Acres.

Spike raised an eye ridge, "Did he just..."

Twilight nodded, "Okay then, that's a good idea. Let's go."

It took her a moment to register what the kirin-human had said.

"Wait, what?!"

Unfortunately, Spark was too far to hear her double-take.

Twilight started to chase after the wayward kirin, "Hey! Wait!"

Spike could only shake his head.

"This is... disheartening..." Twilight muttered as she and her companions trotted through the remains of what used to be a beautiful orchard.

"So... you said Applejack's working in a factory?" Spike asked as he huddled closely to the group.

Spark levitated his phone to the side, "Yeah. Sweet Apple Acres supplies canned applesauce as rations for the war. Applejack and Big Mac should be working their tails off right about now."

Twilight shook her head, "I still can't believe any of this is even possible! If Sombra could get this far... what happened to Radiant Hope? And the umbrum?"

The metalsmith stored away his phone in his saddlebags, "'Seige of the Crystal Empire' was one of the comics lore the show never adopted, so I don't really have an answer outside of fan theories and speculation."

"I think we're here, guys." Spike called out as he pointed a claw towards a modified Apple family barn.

"Yeesh, it's a lot worse in real life, my God." Spark commented.

The princess and baby dragon could only gape at the sight of the once friendly and welcoming structure, now transformed into a crude industrial complex.

Twilight turned towards the sound of something being rolled around, and saw Applejack coming up from the side of the barn.

"Appleja-"

Spark held a foreleg in front of her.

"Remember what I said?"

The young princess looked between him and the alternate version of her friend before letting out a dissapointed sigh.

"Right, right..."

The kirin-human gestured towards Applejack and began approaching her, "Just play along, and act natural."

Applejack grunted as he straightened out a barrel of apples, she was glad that this batch was almost complete, which meant that she could take a break for a minute before going back to almost literally feeding the war machine.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know anypony named 'Applejack'?"

She quickly turned around to see where the voice came from, and was met with the sight of a fairly weird-looking unicorn, not that she'd say it out loud.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Uh, yeah, that's me. What can I do for ya?"

The odd pony put a hoof to his fluffy chest, "I am Crucible Spark, personal guard of Princess Twilight Sparkle. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

He then proceeded to gesture towards an... alicorn?! A small one, but still an alicorn, who was accompanied by a small dragon.

Spark glanced back and winked at his companions. They gave him descreet hesitant nods to show their confirmation.

Applejack's eyes widened before she bowed in front of Twilight.

"So sorry, your highness! I-I didn't know there was another princess turnin' up! We've uh, been mighty busy, y'see..." she ended with an awkward chuckle.

Twilight gave Spark an uncomfortable look, to which he only responded with a 'go on' gesture with his hooves.

She cleared her throat, "It's no problem, uh, M-Miss Applejack! It's like what my, ah, 'guard' said, we're just here to ask some questions, if you don't mind."

Twilight took another glance at the kirin-human, who showed an image of a thumbs up on his phone.

Applejack quickly stood up staright once more, "Oh, well, then ask away. You might wanna keep it brief though. Not that I'm trying to disrespect you or anything, princess, but there are ponies out there who need their food."

Spark waved a hoof, "We understand, it won't take long."

"So yer' sayin' that good-fer-nothin' varmint Sombra had a marefriend? " Applejack put a hoof on the map table, "Well now I've officially heard everythin'!"

Twilight nodded, "Radiant Hope was absolutely integral to his change of heart. I don't know when exactly she exited the prison, but surely she must be somewhere in Equestria."

The factory worker shrugged, "Can't say I've ever seen anypony who looked like her. The last unicorn who came to Ponyville was Lyra Heartstrings before the war, and they've only been leavin' since."

She turned her gaze towards the corrupted projection of the Crystal Empire and sighed.

"Well, guess ya'll should get back to uh, repairin' the time stream or whatever. Hope you'll knock some sense into that Starlight pony."

"Assuming that this version of Equestria is just a divergence that'll disappear once we patch things up, and not an entirely seperate world that will persist after we leave." Spark interjected.

The alicorn and dragon of the group gave him a deadpan look.

"What? Oh, so when she—"he pointed to Twilight, "—does it, it's okay, but when I do it, it's bad?" the metalsmith retorted.

"Don't give me another reason to get a headache..." Twilight exasperatedly scolded.

Applejack gave him a curious look, "What do you mean?"

Spark turned to the former—or maybe she still is?—farmpony, "There's a possibility that, with so many changes occurring in the timeline, this version of Equestria has diverged so far from the original that it's basically its own reality. One that won't be affected if, say, another Rainboom is pervented. Which means that this war-torn world may still continue on its own even if we succeed in stopping Starlight."

Everypony and dragon could only sit in silence after his explanation. Nothing is ever easy, is it?

Spike decided to speak up, "So... what do you think we should do?"

The kirin-human raised a hoof, "Let's see our options, shall we? Scenario A: everything follows the show, and this timeline presumably disappears when the Rainboom happens or is pervented again and causes another alternate timeline to form. This means we can just continue to confront Starlight until we can stop her without needing to stay in each alt-Equestria for long, save for getting food and rest."

He stood up from one of the thrones and began to pace.

"Scenario B: the universe, or perhaps even multiverse, has its own set of rules. And this timeline is actually its own individual reality. That means that this Equestria, along with the war and pretty much everything else here will continue to exist even if the Sonic Rainboom happens.

"Keep in mind that this is purely speculation. I can't do a Screwball and take a peek at alternate universes." he added, murmuring something about chaos powers as he took a seat back on the closest throne.

Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin, "So there's a chance that, even if we succeed, this Equestria would still be stuck in a war with Sombra..."

Applejack frowned, "Yeah, that doesn't sound too good."

The young princess shook her head, "This is... I don't even know what to do anymore... what do you think, Spark? What did the other humans in those fanfiction of yours do?"

In her mind, Twilight's thoughts screamed at her to halt. To think, they'd be desperate enough to consult fanfiction, of all things...

The kirin-human showed a smug grin, "Oh? Starting to agree with me about them being windows to other AUs, I see?"

The alicorn gave him a glare, "Just answer the question, please."

"Fine, fine."

He stood up again, "Personally, I would love it if this Equestria was its own world."

Before the others could react, he raised a hoof an continued.

"Don't misunderstand me. If this Equestria was its own world, that means that, maybe in some way, we, the time-travellers, could help with the cause with our knowledge and foresight, possibly turning the tides on Sombra's assault. Knowledge is power, after all. I could even use this opportunity as a way to practice the fighting skills that I got from Crucible."

Spark stood on one side of the map and put a hoof on the corrupted crystal castle.

"But the itty-bitty logical and sane part of my mind tells me that it won't happen, since the Equestria I got thrown into has been fairly in-tune with what I've known thus far from the show."

He gestured towards the scroll in Spike's claws, to which the dragon responded by letting it go into the metalsmith's magic.

"That's why I would like to propose a test."

Twilight, beginning to feel curious, looked at the scroll as well.

"What kind of test are we talking about here?" she asked.

Spark smiled, "Every time Starlight stopped Rainbow Dash with a different technique, a different timeline is created, usually one set in its own 'villains winning' scenario. I'm hoping to get Starlight to capture Rainbow in the same way, location, and time to see if we get transported back to this—" he waved a hoof around, "—timeline again on a later date.

"If we do, then this Equestria is more likely to be a seperate reality, and maybe, if the two of you are willing, we could help out a bit if we're back."

He floated the scroll over tp Twilight, "What do you say?"

The princess hesitated for a moment. His plan was risky, dangerous even, and it would require some cooperation from their adversary, which seemed nearly impossible considering her current hatred towards Twilight. There's also the possibility of leaving an entire world, filled with familiar faces who she had gotten very close with, to suffer, and Twilight's heart definitely wouldn't be able to live with that regret if Spark's scenario B was true.

She gave him a nod, "Alright. We'll try this out. But what happens if we get sent to a different timeline?"

Spark waved a hoof, "Then scenario A is in motion. We'll take rests in each alt-timeline if needed."

He then turned towards Applejack, who had been observing their conversation with a look of intrigue and confusion. Though it was mostly of confusion.

"Applejack, if you're able to, please keep an eye on this location every now and then. If we ever return, then that means we're back to help you out. If not, then you've probably been restructured by the time stream back into your 'true' self and won't remember anything that lead up to the war."

The factory worker nodded halfheartedly, "Uh, alrighty then. I can't say I understood any of that, but sure. And good luck out there, whatever happens, I hope y'all can put an end to this."

Twilight gave her a reassuring smile, "And good luck to you too, Applejack. I promise that we'll bring everything back to normal."

"Yeah! And we're not going to give up! No matter how long it takes!" Spike confidently added.

With those final parting words, Twilight fired the spell and activated the rift.

As the trio fell out of the portal, Spark immediately turned into a nirik and used his rocket hooves. He zipped in front of Twilight and Spike with a halberd that he had reverted back into its normal size as he saw Starlight preparing to fire her crystallization spell.

With the reflexes he had obtained from Crucible, he swiftly spun the enchanted polearm in his magic and swatted the beam away from his allies, causing to hit a cloud instead.

Starlight glared at him, "Oh you little-"

"Glimmer! Wait! We have a request to make before you prevent another Rainboom!" the burning pony bellowed as he waved a flaming hoof.

The self-levitating unicorn scoffed, "And why exactly should I listen to you? Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to fall for some petty tricks?"

"This request actually requires you to prevent the Rainboom, actually. I'll just get to the point, we need you to catch Rainbow Dash with the same technique, in the same location, and in the same time frame."

Starlight jabbed a hoof at his direction, "If you think- wait what?"

"I know you heard me. Just do what I said. We'll be waiting over there." he pointed a hoof towards Twilight and Spike, who were hesitantly waiting on a stray cloud.

The unicorn looked at him incredulously, "Wait, are you serious? What game are you playing here, huh?"

Spark shrugged, "No games. Not yet at least. We're just curious about something, you see."

Starlight took another suspicious glance at him. It was difficult to see how his face was reacting due to his lack of pupils and the flames around his head.

"Fine. But just this once. I won't be as generous next time."

Spark gave her a toothy grin, which actually caused her to flinch, "That's all I ask."

And so, she proceeded to grab Rainbow Dash with her telekinesis in the same manner as she did last time. In but a few moments, two rifts for each respective side appeared and pulled them in.

"Let's hope for the best..." Twilight muttered before she entered the swirling tear in the time stream.

Author's Note

The first part of Cutie Re-Spark is here! Woohoo!

As you can plainly see, I've given the reader two options on how the story could go.

Would you like to see our heroes deal with each timeline as its own AU, or do you want something closer to the show? You may vote in the comments!

Next chapter, we'll see how Kevin and Cracker are holding up in CHS as they try to document the Friendship Games for their eccentric friend!

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 10: The Kinship Games [Part 2] (Kevin and Firecracker POV)

Kevin and Firecracker Burst looked around the decorated gymnasium as the pep rally for the Friendship Games began. Even in his human form, the forgeling could sense a high amount of competitive aggression coming from the students of either school, as well and the noxious amount of greed coming from the rival school's principal.

"I've infiltrated a few schools back when I was still a changeling, but I don't think I've ever been in schools that were this competitive before." he commented, completely ignoring the odd looks that everybody else—mostly the Crystal Prep students—gave him.

Cracker sniffed, "Yeah. Honestly, I think these kids are taking this way too seriously. At this point, all of that glaring just looks stupid."

She turned to the armored man, "Also, what did you turn into when you're in a school?"

Kevin looked up for a moment, trying to sift through multiple decades' worth of memories not in hibernation.

"Mostly into popular colts or fillies with a lot of ponies crushing on them. Sometimes, when I'm feel a little daring, I turn into a special somepony to get some more potent Love." he finally answered.

Cracker blanched at the thought. She was reminded yet again how existentially terrifying her friend's former species was.

"Ah, r-right..."

Thankfully, it was time for Principal Cinch's opening speech, pulling everybody's attention towards the stage. The second third pony to ever enter the school couldn't help but stare at the two main authority figures of Canterlot High.

Cracker scratched her head, "It's so weird to see the ponies who're basically responsible for the day-night cycle as faculty memvers in a school here..."

Kevin nodded in return, "Oh, right, the Sun and Moon Princesses are basically deities to you ponies, aren't they? It must be quite surreal. Like seeing the Queen start baking muffins or something."

The transformed unicorn could only shrug.

"Huh, there she is..." the praetorian muttered, looking off towards the gathered Crystal Prep students.

Cracker followed his gaze, and saw the human counterpart of Twilight Sparkle, secluding herself from her fellow students.

"What was Spark's warning, again? Don't let her get too close?"

The armored man nodded once more, "'Don't get close to her, don't talk to her, and don't, under any circumstances, channel our magic whenever she's present until the end of the Games. No matter how weak magic is in this dimension' is what he said."

Cracker the held up her hands and touched her forehead, feeling the lack of her familiar curved horn.

"At least that last bit's gonna be pretty easy to do."

As Cinch finished her, uh, 'speech', the two Equestrians decided to regroup with their extradimensional clone-friends. They seemed to be talking about Princess Twilight's counterpart.

Sunset turned towards the newcomers with a concerned expression, "Hey guys, any of you seen the other Twilight? I don't know why, but I have a feeling something is going on with her."

Kevin tapped his chin, "Considering how Spark gave us orders to avoid her at all costs, it appears that she does indeed some sort of significance. I don't know what, though."

Rarity crossed her arms, "Avoid her at all costs? Now whyever would we do that to the poor dear? She might not be the same Twilight we know and love, but that doesn't mean we should give her the cold shoulder."

Cracker shrugged, "Those warnings are for Kevin and myself. If you girls want to be friends with her, then go ahead. We just know that whatever Spark says, no matter how cryptic, usually means that something's important one way or another."

"And this time, he actively refuses to share. The only thing I got was that apparently, the portal being unavailable was 'the same as canon'." Sunset finished with air quotes, along with mimicking Spark's deeper voice

"So what are we gonna do about her?" Rainbow asked. Clearly confused.

Applejack adjusted her hat, "Guess we should just carry on with the Friendship Games like usual. If she starts doin' somethin' odd, we'll confront her together."

The Academic Decathlon was about to begin, and the students had gathered in the school's foyer to listen to Dean Cadance's announcement. Kevin and Cracker stood off to the sidelines once more after taking a picture of the assembled competitors.

"I have a feeling they're gonna sing a heartsong for this." the human-unicorn commented.

"Maybe. Camera's on?"

Cracker looked to the screen of her MortarTM camera, "All good here. First is chemistry, right?"

Kevin gave her a nod, "Yes. And they're already off, come on."

BOOM!

An explosion from Ditzy Derpina Doo's vial spread throughout the classroom. Every other competitor turned their heads in surprise at the sudden development.

With a click, Cracker took a picture of the soot-covered girl as she was taken to the school nurse.

"Reminds me of my early days." she chuckled, "My parents got me my own workshop just so I can stop scorching the house. Good times..."

Kevin paused his recording before raising an eyebrow, "While I am no expert in chemistry, shouldn't we be worrying about that just a little bit more? If the chemical that she created exploded, who's to say it won't have any adverse effects on her as well?"

The pyrotechnician turned towards the wall-eyed girl, who was busy cleaning herself. She still had a big smile plastered on her face.

"She seems fine. Maybe humans are resilient to random explosive chemicals or something."

The praetorian crossed his arms, a gesture he had grown to frequently use in his human form.

"A significant part of me is seriously doubting your words, but Spark isn't here and I'm not knowledgable enough to know if what you said was true. So I guess you're right."

Next was baking. Neither forgeling nor unicorn were expecting much from this, as they never really cared about the minutiae of such an activity. A good cake belongs in your mouth, a bad cake belongs in storage, never to be touched ever again unless it starts to go rancid.

That is, until they saw Pinkie Pie recreate the Mona Lisa within a massive cake.

Kevin switched the camera to one hand and turned to Rainbow Dash, who was standing right beside him.

"I'm surprised she hasn't gotten worldwide recognition for her talents. I'd imagine a cake like that would be at the very least, newspaper-worthy."

Rainbow shrugged, "The cakes don't usually last long enough for people to really notice."

Cracker chuckled, "Can't argue with that. Even in another dimension, Pinkie's still the top baker in town, huh?"

The young athlete nodded with a smirk, "Heck yeah she is!"

She the glanced off towards the assorted cakes before turning back to the pyrotechnician.

"Say, how do ponies bake when they don't have hands? I've tried the other Pinkie's cupcakes when Spark invited us over for his anniversary rewatch thing, but how did she make them?" she asked aloud.

The sudden question about Equestria garnered her fellow Rainbooms' attention, as well as a few students who were genuinely confused at how horses could relate to baking. Ever since they were invited over for a certain metalsmith's celebration, they've gotten a lot more curious and pushy about the Land of Friendahip and Harmony. Mainly caused by Twilight not allowing them to venture into Ponyville proper.

It seemed like Rainbow found this to be the perfect opportunity to ask.

Sunset remembered how it was like when Rainbow began to ask her about Equestria, and tried to interject before Cracker gets smothered by a billion questions from her friends.

Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough.

"Well you see..."

And so, for the following matches, Cracker went on to explain the ins and outs of Equestrian society to anybody who wanted to listen. Sunset herself was quite surprised by how in-depth her explanations were. From the everyday life of a shopkeeper, down to how taxes worked post Nightmare Moon. Even a few bits of culture from the pyrotechnician's own region of origin

Kevin also had his time to shine. Sharing his patchy knowledge of Equestria's history from the day of his hatching to the invasion dhring the Royal Wedding, to which he recalled the fighting capabilites of the Rainbooms' pony counterparts.

He might have also revealed a few government secrets for both Equestria and the Hive, but nobody really noticed.

The praetorian also just so happened to indirectly reveal the fact that he was effectively over three hundred years old.

Sunset raised a hand, "Now wait a minute! Three hundred years old? Kevin, I may not be an expert on either changelings nor forgelings, but that sounds like a load of horseapples."

The native humans of the surrounding group gave her an odd look at the odd phrase. Only the students of CHS shrugged it off for some Equestrian slang.

The transformed forgeling shook his head, "If you don't want to believe me, then by all means. But know that I can prove it to you by recalling everything that happened prior to us getting trapped in a volcano for a few decades." he crossed his arms, "Everyling my age swore we were there for at least a century, but I believe the heat just got to them earlier. Typical drones..."

Nobody knew what to say to that. The Rainbooms, along with a few of the eavesdropping spectators, could only stare at him with disbelief.

"Dude... you're a fossil." Rainbow managed to mutter.

Cracker snapped her fingers. A gesture the transformed unicorn had started getting used to doing.

"Oi! We're moving on to the math-stuff-and-things! Come on everypony, move it!"

"Sweet Celestia... that equation's got more letters in it than my alchemy thesis!" Cracker exclaimed as she snapped a picture of the blackboards upon the stage.

Principal Celestia glanced at the second ever unicorn in her school, but quickly remembered that her extradimensional counterpart supposedly moves the sun back in Equestriland. What a weird world they live in.

Kevin stuffed his mouth with a leftover slice of cake from the baking round, "Thahs a maff ekwasun?"

The pyrotechnician leaned away from him, "Swallow before you talk, dude."

And so he did.

"Solid food... so many gimmicks..." he mumbled, "I said, 'that's a math equation?'"

Cracker gestured exaggeratedly towards the blackboards, "Maybe?! Are humans super-geniuses or something?!"

Kevin discreetly turned to Rainbow Dash before looking back at her.

"I don't think so."

"Oh believe me, darlings, this isn't something they would teach at any grade. Except in, perhaps some esoteric STEM program." Rarity assured.

Pinkie nodded, "But Sunset is really, really, reaaally smart! That's why she's the one competing!"

"She's always gotten top marks in every subject." Fluttershy commented, "Except for history, apparently. But I guess it makes sense, since she's more familiar with your world's history than ours."

"Eeyup. I bet it's 'cause she was the royal student or what have ya' back in Ponyland." Applejack added.

"Equestria." both natives corrected.

The farmgirl awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, "Uh, yeah. Equestria. Of course..."

Cracker turned back to the stage just as a visibly nervous Sunset passed by. The pyrotechnician then firmly grabbed her fellow unicorn by the shoulder.

Sunset turned around, "Huh?"

"I admit that I never was the beast at math, but if there's one thing I learned from Mr. Circumference's classes back in highschool, it's that you shouldn't rush these things. Take it nice and easy, even when the clock's ticking away. That way, you won't miss the small things in life." Cracker encouraged with a smile.

The former pony returned with her own slightly less confident and somewhat confused smile, "Oh. Um... thanks, Cracker."

She continued on her way towards her own blackboard. Though this time, it seemed liike she had lost some of that nervousness.

On the other side, the human Twilight Sparkle also stepped up to the stage. She appeared to be a lot more focused this time.

Seeing her like that reminded Sunset of the Twilight she was more familiar with. Ever since her... memorable introduction to Crucible Spark, the young princess had started to visit a lot more frequently.

Sometimes she'd follow along the eccentric twice-transformed human and would then go on her own way to visit the Rainbooms. Other times she'd visit alone, with nothing but her backpack, a few books to read, and the occasional paperwork she decided to work on in Mirror-Earth. It was during those personal visits that she would meet up with Sunset herself, and the two Equestrians would spend the day together, doing whatever it is they thought would be fun.

While Sunset did enjoy the company of her friends, there was just something... special, she supposed, about spending the day with Princess Twilight. Be it bonding over a book series they enjoy, or simply watching the princess make those cute faces when she gets frustrated by some discrepancy in her papers. It felt nice to relax and spend time with the same person who had helped her become the person she is today.

The former unicorn blinked, "Cute? Where did that come from?" she murmured.

She shook her head and set her eyes on the blackboard in front of her. Sunset couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the equation written on it, but she remembered Cracker's words, took a calming breath, and began to write.

The match was nerve-wracking, the tension in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Both geniuses furiously wrote down numbers, calculations, and formulas; powering through the monstrosity of an equation with incredible speed and precision.

Sunset felt the urge to take a peek at the other Twilight to see how she was fairing, but resisted and continued on with her own work.

Twilight's scribbling faltered for a few moments, her eyes quickly glanced at her oddly serene-looking adversary. She went straight back to her calculations, yet this time, she seemed a lot less sure of herself.

As the two finally finished, Cinch raised both of her arms and gestured towards the blackboards.

"Both are correct." she announced. The silence of the room made the strain in her voice noticeable.

The students of Canterlot High erupted with cheers and claps at the announcement, many stood up as they did so.

Kevin was glad that he had kept his above-avrage height even in his human form, and only had to move his camera closer to his head to avoid the students in the way of the shot.

As the celebrations died down, Vice Principal Luna stood up from her seat.

"That means the first event of the Friendship Games have ended with a tie!"

The students of Canterlot High cheered once more. Crystal Prep merely shared a collective sigh. Some of them

Cracker looked around, "I don't understand, what's so great about it being a tie?"

Applejack turned to her with an excited smile, "This is the closest Canterlot's ever got to beatin' Crystal Prep!"

"And if we keep this up, we could finally win the Games for once!" Rainbow continued.

Pinkie ran up halfwat towards the stage, "Come on! Let's go see Sunset!"

As the rest of the Rainbooms went on ahead to congratulate their friend, the pyrotechnician looked to her armored friend. She noticed that he was focusing on something—or rather, someone—in the distance.

She nudged him by the arm, "What'cha looking at, bud?"

Kevin narowed his eyes, "That girl is hiding something..."

"Who?"

He nodded towards the human Twilight's direction, "That... thing hanging from her neck. I have a feeling that's the reason why Spark told us to avoid her."

The praetorian gave his camera to Cracker, "Hold on to this. I'm going to follow her."

The human-unicorn raised an eyebrow, "Really? I know you used to be this love-vampire-bug-super-spy, but I don't think tailing around this girl is a good idea." she pointed a finger to his breastplate, "Especially since you're wearing all of this."

Kevin crossed his arms, "Don't underestimate the abilities of an elite infiltrator. I'll have you know that I hold the title of 'Best Lurker' back in the Hive!"

The pyrotechnician held up her hands, "Okay, okay, I get it, your spy senses are tingling or whatever. Just... don't get into trouble, 'kay? Because if you do, they'll probably trace it back to me, and I really don't want to deal with that right now."

The praetorian sharply nodded and gave her a salute, "Yes ma'am! Understood ma'am!"

He then soundlessly followed the path the the purple girl scurried away to. His previously clanking armor so quiet that Crackle had to strain her less sensitive human ears to hear his steps.

"I have a feeling I'm gonna regret this..."

After a moment, she spun around and went in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Eh, that's future me's problem."

Author's Note

Think of these EG chapters as a minor B-plot to Spark's escapades (heh) that are made up of less words, so that we can see how Kevin and Cracker are doing when left to their own devices.

And yes, there will be the classic SunLight ship in this story, you can't stop me nor Spark in this endeavor. But since I am in no way experienced enough to write romance, it'll mostly be a background thing that pops up every now and again, until Spark finally notices and explodes in joy. Happy days, yeah?

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 11: The Cutie Re-Spark [Part 3]

"Guess they're not comin' back..."

Applejack muttered to herself as she stood beside the large crystalline table that depicted a projected map of the world.

Ever since her fateful meeting with the time-travelling trio, she had followed the orders that had been given to her by the self-proclaimed bodyguard. Every now and again, when she has the time, the factory worker would make her way back to the odd crystal structures where the visitors came from.

She made sure that she was never followed, not even by her brother, who simply thought that his sister just wanted to get some fresh air.

It had been a month since then, and there hadn't been any new developments around the area. The war raged on, and now both the forces of Equestria and the Crystal Empire are locked in a stalemate. Princess Celestia had worked tirelessly both in and behind the front line, hoping to help reclaim just a sliver of lost territories.

Applejack sighed, "Oh well... back to cannin' those-"

The air suddenly buzzed with magical energy. The table thrummed in rhythm with a crackling ball of light above it. Applejack's eyes widened and her breath hitched. Could it be?

A rift in time and space about the diameter of the table itself manifested, and through it, three figures flung themselves on to the map with consecutive thunk!-s.

Spark pushed himself up and looked around before locking eyes with a familiar orange-coated earth pony.

He grabbed Twilight and Spike in his magic and helped them stand as well.

"We're back, baby! I hope you didn't wait too long for us to return!" the metalsmith greeted happily.

Twilight rubbed her still aching head, that fall wasn't a good one.

"Whu...huh? It worked?"

The kirin nodded enthusiastically, "Yup-yup! Looks like we're here to help out after all!" he chuckled darkly, "And I've already got a plan for dear old Sombra~"

Spark turned to Applejack, who had been left speechless at their return.

"Now, I believe, is the time to let the princess know that cavalry's finally here."

The factory worker snapped out of her reverie, "Uh, right! Come on, y'all can stay in the house for a bit. They're pickin' up another batch o' cans later today, so I can talk to one of the guards."

The metalsmith nodded, "Wonderful! Lead the way, Applejack!"

As they waited for Applejack to do her thing, Spark, Twilight, and Spike sat down on the now sparsely decorated Apple Family home. The sight of it nearly broke the alicorn and dragon duo's hearts.

Thankfully, they had a chatty kirin beside them for company.

"You know, this is the first time I'll be directly meeting Celestia and possibly maybe Princess Luna too." Spark commented.

He scratched his chin in thought, "I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. I thought you'd have told at least Celestia about me the moment I left the portal room."

Twilight turned to him, "I already have. It's just that she's been fairly busy these last few weeks. I'm sure once she gets the time, she'll come to visit. You did say you wanted to get a citizenship for Equestria, right? I also told her about it in my letter."

The metalsmith nodded halfheartedly. He was fully aware of how dear old Sunbutt likes to deal with her former student's shenanigans, and he wasn't exactly a fan of it. It was likely that Celly sees him as another opportunity for Twilight to learn about friendship, or some other bullsh-

Spark glared to nowhere in particular.

-Shark. Some other bullshark.

"Hm, okay then."

Spike rested his chin on a claw, "Say, Twilight, I've noticed you've been visiting the Hum- uh, Mirror-Earth a lot lately."

The princess shrugged, "Ever since Spark reminded me how little I see them, I decided to visit my friends more often now."

"She's also going out with Sunset." Spark teased, keeping his fangirling purely internal.

The number one assistant's eyes widened in realization, "Oh... ooooh, I see." he replied with a cheeky grin.

Twilight jumped out of her seat, blushing furiously, "W-what?! No! We're just- just... y'know, hanging out together! And visiting places! By ourselves... a-and talking about... stuff..." she stammered.

The boys nodded, but are otherwise totally unconvinced.

"If you say so. / Totally."

She sat back down with a thump!, frivolously trying to cover her still red face with her hooves and wings.

"You two are the worst..." she muttered. Her voice now muffled.

Thankfully for the purple princess, Applejack entered the room, taking away the attention from her supposed romantic developments.

"Alright, I've got some good news everypony! I've talked to one o' the guards and they'll take y'all back to Canterlot. But ya might need to go through a test first."

"A test? What's it for?" Spike asked.

Spark stood up from his position, "Probably to see if we're the real deal, or if to see if we're changelings. It makes sense. In times like these, there's always the possibility that some unknown third party would try to take advantage of the situation."

Twilight followed suit, "It's also likely because our story sounds kind of ridiculous if you haven't seen it for yourself."

The kirin nodded and turned back to the factory worker, "Let's go."

The test itself had been about what Spark had suspected. They were directed to meet up with the lead officer of the cart's escort team, to which he would then do an 'interview' that was actually more of a veiled interrogation, with a few other guards discreetly casting certain spells that would disable various forms of illusions, charms, and the like.

Both Twilight and Spike passed without much issue, though they appeared to be slightly shaken by the harsh way they were questioned. Spark paid it no mind, the lead officer was doing it according to what he assumed was standard protocol. Making the potential deceivers comfortable would be counterintuitive to the whole test.

And now, it was the former human's own turn.

The officer stood in front of him with a neutral, yet stern expression and looked at him straight in the eye.

He suddenly, with absolutely no warning whatsoever, grunted and stumbled backwards. His fellow guards tensed, suspecting an incoming attack.

A moment passed, and nothing happened.

Spark raised an eyebrow, "Officer?"

The older, armor-clad stallion straightened himself and turned back to the so-called 'bodyguard'.

"N-nothing, it's nothing. I suppose I haven't gotten enough rest as I should have..."

Spark gave a small nod as his reply. What was that about?

The lead officer turned to his subordinates, "All clear! Let's get 'em to the princess, stat!"

They all gave him a quick salute before directing the newcomers into formation.

The officer sighed before focussing his gaze on the odd, red-coated unicorn.

He stifled a shudder as he recalled the visions that flashed through his mind when he looked into that... pony's yellow eyes. It was supposed to be a small dip into the interviewee's psyche to potentially view their true intentions, just as he was taught! Not... not whatever that was...

It was all so vivid... too vivid. A massive industrial complex hundreds of times larger than Canterlot spewing forth sickening amounts of smog into a tainted sky, unfathomably gigantic steam-powered machines loudly molding red hot metal en masse, red bug-like creatures slaving away in foundries and smithies...

He could hear it, smell it. The officer could still feel the heat released by those building-sized furnaces even now.

And after that... two white glowing eyes surrounded by a sea of blue-red flames, an alicorn with a red and yellow mane, a beating heart stabbed with glowing nails, a hammer, an anvil, and six bells...

He shook his head.

It probably meant nothing.

Right?

The way to Canterlot thankfully didn't take too long. Sure, it was a lot slower since they had to hoof it all the way there, but nopony, kirin, nor dragon felt all that fatigued. In Spike's case, however, it was because he was sitting on Twilight's back.

As they made their way through the capital city, Twilight and Spike felt even more disheartened at the sight of their hometown. Gone was the beauty and grandeur of the mountainside city, now heavily 'decorated' with various defensive measures to ensure the safety of its inhabitants.

Noticing their sad looks, Spark decided to cheer them up, "Hey, look at it this way: once we stop Sombrero for good, it'll all be back to normal and we can go back to dealing with Starlight. I assure you, this plan I have is gonna turn the tides of war so hard it's practically a tsunami."

The two couldn't help but feel a sense of amusement from his words. Crucible Spark is many things, but a pessimist he is not, it seems.

"'Sombrero?' Really?" Twilight asked with a giggled.

"A pretty common nickname for him in the fandom. But it's usually used for the unreformed version of him."

He then pulled out his phone—which drew the attention of a few of their escorts—and showed them a picture of Sombra, wearing an oversized sombrero, playing the maracas, with a thick moustache on his face.

That did it for them. The moment the alicorn and dragon registered the photo in their minds, the two began snicker, which then eventually developed into full on laughs. Spark simply smiled.

One of the escorting guards glanced back at them, but wrote it off as nothing too important.

It was quite the fortunate timing that Princess Celestia just so happened to be checking up on Canterlot that day, which meant that she would be easily informed about the arrival of the three time-travelling guests.

The solar princess blinked, "Apologies, I don't think I heard you correctly. Could you run that by me again?"

Raven Inkwell, clad in grey-colored military fatigues, adjusted her glasses.

"As I said, princess. There are three individuals who are demanding an audience with you. They claim to be time-travellers, and wish to share, ahem, 'knowledge that could turn the very tides of war'. As one of them stated." she explained again, slowly.

"And you said that one of them is an alicorn? Are you absolutely certain?"

The secretary held up a clipboard towards the princess, which she then grabbed in her golden magic.

"At least ninety-nine point nine percent certain. The guards have done numerous magical scans and checked her for any items that could interfere with disillusion spells. They couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. As far as we're aware, those wings and horn are indeed a part of her."

Celestia nodded in understanding. After a moment of thought, she turned to her aide.

"Alright, take me to them."

After their meeting and subsequent check up from castle security, the time-travelling trio had been told to wait for Princess Celestia in the throne room. Spark, like any sensible brony to have ever been transported to Equestria, fervently documented anything that he had deemed interesting enough to remember.

The kirin might have also taken a few... 'souvenirs' and shrunk them down as they made their way the throne room. Nopony had told him to stop, so there was no real reason for him to do so.

As they waited for the princess to arrive, Twilight anxiously turned to Spark, "You said you have a plan, but you haven't really told us anything about it."

The metalsmith stopped the recording of the throne room and stored away his camera.

"Have you ever read 'Gusty the Great', by any chance?"

The young alicorn seemed to perk at the mention of the book, "Recently, actually! It was because Sunset mentioned once that it was her favorite foalhood story, so I started..." she turned away, "Um... a-anyway. Yes, I have."

Spark pretended not to notice her blush, as to save her the awkwardness.

"Well, what if I told you that it was actually real? That it all happened so long ago, it likely predates even the Royal Sisters themselves?"

Twilight looked back towards him and tilted her head, "Well, I would assume that the story itself had been based on an actual event, and was passed down for generations up until modern Equestria with many alterations done to it. But considering the way you're talking about it, it makes me think there's something more."

The former human nodded, "Exactly. But I'm saving that explanation for Celestia."

Twilight tried not to make a retort at his blatant disregard for proper decorum, but by the way his face looked, it seemed like Spark isn't very fond of the solar princess. For whatever reason it may be, she didn't know, unfortunately.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long for her to arrive.

Princess Celestia strode into the throne room with a group of four guards around her. Two in front, and two behind. The trio noticed that their armor seemed more ornate and bulkier compared to the ones worn by other guards they've seen. Each of them also appeared taller, almost reaching Celestia's muzzle.

The guards then spilt apart into a four-directional stance around the trio. Twilight and Spike flinched at the sight.

The solar... monarch? Approached them with a small smile.

"Greetings. I am Princess Celestia. Though I believe you might already know that."

Spark nudged Twilight with an elbow, signalling her to talk to her fellow royal.

The younger alicorn took a deep breath before taking a tentative step forward and bowing.

"Uh, hello, princess. I'm Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. It's nice to meet you."

Celestia waved a hoof, "Please, you don't need to do that. We are both of equal standing, are we not?"

Twilight shot up from her position, "Oh! R-right..." she followed with an awkward laugh.

The older princess took a small step forward, "And it is nice to meet you too, Princess Twilight. I must say, I've heard quite a lot about your group recently. My sources informed me that you claim to be time-travellers, yes?"

Straight to the point, Spark noted. Twilight simply continued.

"I understand it's probably hard to believe, but that's really what our predicament is. You see..."

And off the conversation went. Twilight continued on to explain to the alternate Celestia of their situation. Starlight, the time travel spell, the Sonic Rainboom, everything.

Spark and Spike stood there, watching the whole exchange. The former waiting for the right time to chime in to execute the first part if his sche- plan, while the latter anxiously glanced at the surrounding guards.

At the end of Twilight's explanation, the older princess nodded sagely.

"I see... so you're all back here now, and you intend to aid us in stopping Sombra?" she reiterated.

The younger alicorn gave her own nod, "Yes! Since this timeline has diverged far enough to be its own reality, meaning that it will no longer be affected by the Sonic Rainboom, we couldn't in good consience leave this Equestria to its own devices. Not when we can do something about it."

Celestia looked at her apologetically, "I mean no disrespect, Princess Twilight. I highly appreciate that you all are so willing to help, but do you truly have the means to end this long-running conflict?"

Spark found this to be the perfect opportunity, and finally made himself heard.

"We do, actually."

Celestia turned towards the... unicorn? Who was supposedly Princess Twilight's personal guard, and raised an eyebrow.

"Please, do share if you could, Mister..." she trailed off.

The metalsmith smiled and briefly bowed, "Crucible Spark, your highness. But you can just call me 'Spark'. It'll make things easier for everypony."

The elder alicorn gave him a nod, "Very well, Spark, what exactly is the plan for stopping Sombra?"

The former human looked around conspiratorially before leaning towards her.

"If you could, princess, please cast a sound-dampening spell around this room and have the guards do a quick scan of the area. I don't want this information to fall into the wrong hooves, you see." he whispered.

A look of confusion passed through Celestia's face. She focused on the odd-looking pony—not that she'd say it out loud—for a moment before turning to her elite guards.

As if reading her mind, two of them separated from formation. One of them went outside while the other did a thorough sweep with her magic.

Not long after, they returned to their initial positions and gave sharp nods to the monarch. Celestia then followed by lighting a horn and covered the entire throne room with a soundproofing enchantment, not allowing anypony outside to listen in.

Spark bowed his head, "Thank you kindly, your highness.

"Now, before I continue, I need to ask. Do you know of the legend of Grogar, princess?"

Celestia still didn't know where he was going with this conversation, but she decided to humor him anyway.

"I am aware. Long ago, before even the arrival of myself an- ahem, there was a powerful ram sorcerer who claimed dominion over what will one day become Equestria. The stories say he ruled with an iron hoof, creating and using nightmarish monsters to enforce his will upon the denizens of the land." she recalled.

The kirin noticed how she seemed to have purposefully omitted the mention of Luna, but chose to ignore it. The main enemy at the time was Sombra, and it was also none of his business.

"And do you know of the artifact that he used to gain such power? The tool that allowed him to reach such heights during that era?" he asked again.

The solar princess paused in thought before continuing, "He... had a bell, if I'm not mistaken. A magical bell. One that he created himself. I cannot remember the exact details, but supposedly, it had the ability to siphon magic from other creatures and channel it back to another."

Both Twilight and Spike listened in. How could he be so calm talking to Celestia whilst being surrounded by those intimidating guards?

Spark smiled. Perhaps a little too excitedly, "Would you believe me that it does, in fact, exist?"

If Celestia hadn't been well-practiced at reigning in her emotions, she would have sputtered at his question. That information was supposed to be sealed away, yet he knew? Did she somehow reveal it in their timeline?

One of his companions weren't as well-trained as she was, though. Twilight was visibly twitching, holding back the urge interject with a wave of questions. Spike had to rub her back to help her calm down.

"Perhaps if you had proof." the elder princess responded.

The kirin, while not exactly one of the most attentive people out there, knew he had succeeded in fully catching her attention. There was something about the cartoonish nature of Equestrian ponies that made them painfully easy to read. Maybe it's those eyes?

He put a hoof to his fluff, "I know of its location."

"And where exactly is it?"

Spark smirked, "In a cavern, located near the peak of Mt. Everhoof, protected by an incredibly strong shield that not even a sufficiently powerful Tirek could fully break through, lies the Bewitching Bell. The very same bell used by Grogar all those years ago."

A moment of silence passed. Celestia looked at him blankly. A mask of calmness covering her true nature.

Another moment, and she finally spoke.

"You intend to use it on Sombra, correct?"

The former human nodded, "Yes! With the bell, we can formulate a strategy that could be used to stop him and save the crystal ponies in one fell swoop!" he proudly declared.

Celestia gave him a look, "I do appreciate your optimism and enthusiasm, Spark, but I don't believe everything is that simple."

Spark waved a hoof, "Of course not, your highness. This plan relies on a theory, one that assumes the bell is able to be fine-tuned to only absorb dark umbrum magic. This is why I'd like to bring us to the first part of the plan. The... ah, 'manual' for the bell. If I'm not mistaken, is currently located within the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives, no?"

Twilight's eyes widened. The restricted section? How did Spark know- oh, right. Probably because of the cartoon or something along those lines. Maybe she should take up on that offer to binge watch the entire show. And maybe she could watch it in Mirror-Earth, so she can watch it with Sunset, and then they can-

She shook her head. What's up with her today?

Coming back to the main conversation, Celestia craned her neck back slightly, making her appear taller.

"And what if the bell cannot be tampered with?"

The kirin shrugged, "Then we'll just use it on Sombra, and keep him imprisoned somewhere secure while we figure out how to break the mind control spell. That is, if by taking away his magic won't already remove everything else connected to him. To which we then celebrate our victory.

"Is there a more peaceful way to defeat him? One without directly harming him? Probably, but we don't know where Radiant Hope is, and it'll probably take too long to find her. The three of us found this to be the most viable option."

Both Twilight and Spike couldn't really comment on that. When did Spark have the time to plan this all out?

"You keep saying that we can use the bell on Sombra, as if we can simply walk up to him without issue." Celestia followed.

Spark grinned. Perhaps a little too widely.

A column of blue-red flames suddenly emerged around him, surprising everypony and dragon in the room. The guards took stance and prepared for an attack, Celestia calmly stood her ground, while Twilight and Spike jumped back at his transformation.

As the flames faded away, Spark, in his nirik form, smiled at the elder alicorn.

"Worry not, everypony. This is simply a demonstration."

Celestia gave him a sharp glare, "And what exactly are you trying to show by doing... this?"

It hadn't been a recent discovery when Spark found out that the headcanons he had for kirin in Crucible's AU were made true after his transformation. The fact that he was still able to eat meaty foods with no trouble meant that the headcanon of Crucible being an omnivore had been applied to him as well.

And that also meant that his other headcanons were also at play here. Like his cloven hooves allowing him to climb better than ponies, or him being as tall as present day Twilight, or even the... shimmering... nails...

Oh, right.

A dull ache made itself known in his chest.

He decided to think about it later.

With his headcanons becoming true, it even meant that he was also able to...

"My flames have the ability to consume magic to fuel itself. All magic. It cares not from whence the magic comes, only that it fuels.

"I know that I can burn through his crystals. While they do absorb magic, they are inherently magical themselves. Put me in the front lines, and I'll be able to carve a path to Sombra."

The princess' galre softened, changed to a more calculating look.

"Wouldn't your... flames, affect the bell?"

Spark extended a burning hoof, and took a dramatically time to finally point towards a certain purple pony princess.

"Princess Twilight will bear the Bewitching Bell, while Sir Spike and I will be the escort."

Twilight jumped to her hooves, "What?! Y-you want me to go to war?!"

"And me as well?!" Spike added.

The former human turned back into a kirin, and looked between her and Celestia.

"I mean no offense, I simply trust her more in handling the bell than, say, a random guard. She has an affinity to magic, you see, and I believe that Princess Twilight would know how use it properly after a thorough read of the book."

Celestia took a brief glance at the three. Spark, for the most part, seemed to be relatively unbothered by the plan. He looked excited, even.

Princess Twilight and her assistant, on the other hoof, were less than pleased by the idea. The two were already sweating bullets at the thought of entering the battlefield.

To her surprise, however, the young alicorn did what appeared to be a breathing exercise and stepped up with a renewed look of confidence.

"Alright... I'll do it. For Equestria."

The baby dragon beside her also appeared to have gained a boost in confidence.

"Yeah. For Equestria! I- uh, we already beat Sombra twice, right? That means we can beat him again!"

Twilight pat her assistant's head, "I'd say less 'beat' and more 'reform', but you're close."

Spark clapped his forehooves giddily, "Wonderful! But, ah, Princess Celestia, before we begin executing our plan, I would like to make a deal."

The elder princess tilted her head slightly, "And what would that entail, if I may ask?"

"In exchange for this information and risking our own safety in the front lines, we would be allowed to keep the Bewitching Bell and bring it back with us, along with its accompanying book. "

He paused in thought.

"As well as a chip off of Sombra's horn." Spark quickly added.

She looked at him incredulously, "Excuse me?"

"Since the shield around the cavern is nigh-impenetrable, I will have use my nirik-fire to burn it, effectively destroying it in the process. The three of us will also play a significant role of infiltrating through enemy lines and directly confronting Sombra himself. I think it makes sense for us to get a compensation, yes? Unless..."

Celestia couldn't believe this. Letting these unknown individuals take possession of a potentially dangerous artifact? Looks like his companions shared a similar sentiment with her. Either this part of the script was unplanned, or those two had been kept in the dark.

Whoever held whatever rank within this group, Celestia didn't know for sure. But it seemed like the princess wasn't the one in total control.

Crucible Spark, the so-called 'personal guard' had been taking the reigns of their conversation since Princess Twilight finished her own explanation. He had a rather devious and, dare she say, treacherous look in his eyes every time she had responded to his words, as if already predicting and anticipating her next move. This stallion, whoever he may actually be, was likely the one who came up with the plan in the first place. Only having Princess Twilight begin first as a means to ease his way towards this deal.

To put it simply, the pony—if even he was one—was untrustworthy. At least to her, since his companions seem to believe him for the most part.

And yet... did she even have any alternatives? For the last few months, Equestria and the Crystal Empire's forces have been locked in a prolonged stalemate that has been taking a toll on the morale of the troops and civilians. Ponies have started to lose hope, thinking the war will continue on until either side ended up as nothing more than desolate wastelands.

The presence of these three were akin to that of a beacon of light in the middle of a raging storm. These three time-travellers held the knowledge and abilities to help end the war once and for all.

It was tempting. Way too tempting.

She just had to be careful, then. One wrong move and this whole operation could blow up in her face.

Celestia extended a reluctant hoof toward the former human, "Very well. You have my word."

Spark eagerly shook it, "You've made a wise choice today, princess."

"What was that?! Your first time meeting Princess Celestia, and you gave her an ultimatum covered up as a deal?!" Twilight ranted as they made their way towards their assigned rooms within the castle.

"The bell will be an essential tool for us, Twilight. If we get pulled into a different, more dangerous timeline, Grogar's bell will be our key to helping each alternate timeline out of their apocalyptic situation. Besides, we're also taking away one less source of trouble for this Equestria." Spark replied.

"And bringing it to our Equestria, giving us two things to worry about! And what's with the piece of Sombra's horn, anyway? You know he can remanifest from it, right?" the young princess asked again.

Spark let out a small laugh, "I just want a keepsake from this timeline. I'm hoping to be the first Transformed HiE to ever make a phone charm out of his horn. Or maybe, if I get a bigger piece, I can make a nice knife out of it."

A moment of stunned silence passed between his companions. The kirin-human had always been rather eccentric, but this was just pure lunacy!

"I think he's lost his marbles, Twi." Spike muttered.

(Two Days Later)

Celestia had retrieved the book from the archives. It took some time to find, but the fact that it was chained up made it easy to identify. Now all they had needed was the bell itself.

Spark, Twilight, Spike, and Celestia stood at the base of Mt. Everhoof, peering up at the impressively tall mountain. Both alicorns and dragon had come prepared with the proper attire for traversing harsh conditions and low temperatures.

Spark, however, had come with... nothing at all. Not even his saddlebags, which he had left back in the castle.

"Remind me again why you're not wearing protective clothing?" the younger princess asked.

In a flash of flames, the metalsmith transformed into a nirik and flashed her a toothy smile.

"Oh, right..."

Spark turned his gaze towards the peak of the mountain. While it was blocked by thick billowinh clouds, he could still make out the faint glow of the enchanted rocks that surrounded the cavern.

"Alright everypony, let's get to it!"

It didn't take the group too long before they encountered their firsg checkpoint. Rusty Bucket's outpost and home could be seen even from a distance. The large snow-covered roof being one of its most recognizable features.

The bucket-wearing guardian stepped out of the front door when he heard the sounds of hooves clopping outside. Spark got a good look of him, and noted that he looked pretty much the same as he did in the show sans his cloak, which was a pale green color instead.

"Halt! Who goes- wha... Princess Celestia? My goodness, it's been quite a while since I've last seen you, your highness!"

The solar monarch smiled kindly, "Hello, Mr. Bucket. I see you're still vigilantly keeping watch over this area."

Rusty stood proudly and gave her a salute, "Been following your orders for decades now, princess! Now, I don't mean to sound nosy, your highness, but what are you all doing in a dangerous place like Mt. Everhoof?"

"We have... business, to attend to here. I simply thought that we should inform you of this. I didn't want you to worry over us."

The elderly stallion adjusted his walking stick, "Oh. Well gee, princess. I still don't think-"

"Enough chit-chat! Come on!" Spark called out as he walked past Rusty, baffling everypony else.

"That... was easier than I thought..."

Twilight commented as she, along withthe rest of the group finally made it to the entrance of the cavern that contained the Bewitching Bell.

Really, the only problems they came across were the ravine and the incredibly steep incline they had to climb, and even then, those were easily solvable when you have two magically knowledgable alicorns as a part of your team.

Like when Celestia was able to create a magical construct that they used as a bridge. However, out of fear of somehow burning it with his nirik-fire, Spark had to quickly turn back into a kirin to pass it. Who would've thought that he'd keep his South East Asian biology?

Now all they needed to do is to somehow get through the barrier. Spark knew just the solution for it.

"Everypony stand back. I think I've got an idea on how to get through."

After giving the nirik a few looks of uncertainty, both alicorns and dragon trotted a few paces away, just enough for them to not risk falling off the edge.

With no other living organisms around him, Spark raised a flaming hoof towards the barrier and began to channel his flames on to it.

A small ball of nirik-fire began to form on the tip of it. Within seconds, it grew exponentially in size.

It was then that Twilight gasped in realization. Spark was trying to burn away the shield! But... isn't there too much to be burnt away? Aren't those enchanted rocks continuously generating magic?

Something clicked in the the young princess' mind when she finally found out why he had told them to move back. She then connected it with the nirik's utter disregard for his own safety, as well as what could theoretucally happen if his flames made contact with the magically potent rocks...

Like a lit fuse on a firecracker...

"Um, Spark, I don't thi-"

Her warning was left unheard as Spark finally stopped charging up. The ball of fire, now about as big as Spike, was then jabbed straight into the barrier.

ssssSSSSSSSSSSS-BOOM!

Once it made contact, the nirik-fire immediately engulfed the invisible barrier, quickly eating away its magic until it reached the glowing runes carved into the surrounding rocks, at which point it decided that there was even more inside of said rocks, and proceeded to somehow enter them.

The building internal pressure caused the combustion process was simply too much for the structural integrity of the rocks, so all of that pressure was released with a loud and bright explosion of molten shrapnel and nirik-fire.

Celestia quickly stood in front of her companions and raised a shield. As she took the brunt of the magical explosion, she felt that her barrier didn't feel as strong as it should, with its golden low occasionally flickering.

"I got it! I gotta say, it looks better in person!"

Both princesses and dragon held a bewildered look in their faces as they saw the flaming figure of Crucible Spark, madly grinning with glee, slowly stepping out of the roiling smoke and cracked terrain with the Bewitching Bell held in his flame-like magic.

It didn't seem to affect the bell

For the first time in a long while, Celestia felt pity for her enemy.

(Meanwhile)

Rusty Bucket pulled himself out of the avalanche that had been caused by a certain nirik's explosion.

The old stallion took a deep breath of fresh air, "What in Equestria are they doing up there?!"

(Two-and-a-Half Days Later)

With the bell within their grasp, all the Equestrian forces had to do now was to wait for Twilight and Celestia to figure out how to use it with the help of its 'manual'.

During that time, Spark had opted to use that opportunity by forging armor for his companions in a nearby smithy. Thanks to his status as an associate of the princess, he was able to convince the owner to let him borrow it with relative ease.

It didn't take him long to realize just how mich help Kevin was whenever he was working. The praetorian usually helped around his open smithy by using his ferromancy, where he was able to detect the quality of the metals they'll be working with, along with keeping the forge hot by working the bellows, so that Spark can focus on the metal itself.

"Nanti bawakan oleh-oleh..." he muttered to himself.

After he was done with the details of their armor, the kirin-human wondered back to the castle to check up on the two alicorns and their little dragon assistant. He hoped they would be done soon, as he found the surrounding area fairly boring. Spark always did prefer Ponyville over Canterlot.

As Spark trotted to the castle's entrance, he spotted Twilight, with what seemed to be a modified bell, with a magenta crystal stuck to its central rune, talking to Celestia excitedly. It looks like they were in a good mood.

The younger alicorn turned to the newcomer, "Spark, your theory was right! We were able to set the bell to only siphon dark magic. This is great!"

Celestia nodded, "Indeed. And with the modifications made, I believe that we only need to use it on Sombra to break his spell. All there is to do now is coming up with a strategy to get close to him. We need to strike when he is out in the open."

The metalsmith could only smile.

"But..." Twilight quickly added "while we know that the bell itself would't be affected by nirik-fire, I'm not sure if the things we added would. So..."

"You still have to be the one using it." Spark continued, "It's fine Twilight, it's not like you'll be doing the fighting. Leave all of that to me, while you do your magic. Spike's gonna be your emotional support, by the way."

The Princess of Friendship nervously pawed a hoof on the floor, "A-alright then..."

(One Week Later)

Spark, Twilight, and Spike, clad in custom-made nirik-enchanted armor, stood on a small cliff that overlooked an ongoing battle.

It had taken them a week to sort everything out. From finding the whereabouts of Sombra himself, to thinking up a strategy that would allow the trio to get close to the umbrum tyrant without much issue.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the scouting force, they were able to discover that Sombra had been slowly advancing towards Fillydelphia. Celestia, along with a group of high-ranking officers stationed in Canterlot, planned to interrupt his trajectory by focusing a significant amount of their forces there. This would serve as a distraction so that the time-travellers pass by undetected.

It would be the one battle that would decide the fate of Equestria, as well as the battle where one former human can finally live up to the legacy of his fellow transformed humans by directly having a hoof in saving Equestria.

Twilight adjusted her impressively ornate deep purple plating, "I'm glad you thought about making armor for us, Spark. But don't you think this is a little..." she gestured to her rather oversized pauldrons, "excessive?"

Spark, wearing a similarly proportioned set, but with yellow-black hazard stripes scattered about, shrugged, "I just followed whatever my mind thought of at the time. I didn't know it'd end up looking like space marine armor. But honestly? I'm pretty happy with how they turned out."

Spike stretched his arms. His green plating still allowing him to move freely, "I'll say. This is actually pretty nice! And it's comfortable too!"

"There's a reason why Crucible's got entire governments bowing down to him. And it's not just because he manufactures everybody's toasters." the kirin replied.

Twilight fully turned to him, "You really need to tell me more about the world Crucible comes from. Maybe then, we'll be able to find out the full extent of your abilities."

Spark waved a hoof, "After Starlight."

Suddenly, a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus landed abruptly in front of them. Sargeant Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a salute before informing her.

"We've got a clear track a couple of ways to the west that'll lead you straight towards Sombra. I think Princess Celestia's fighting him right now to wear the guy down."

The young alicorn nodded as she tried not to compare the pony in front of her with her friend from her own timeline.

"Alright, thank you, Rainbow."

The scarred soldier gave another salute before launching off towards the battlefied once more.

Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "It's... sad... to see them like this." she murmured.

Spike put a claw on her foreleg. Unfortunately, both were covered in armored plating.

Spark tried to change the topic, "Well, this is our chance to make things right. Let's go, shall we?"

With nods of confirmation, they set off save an alternate Equestria.

A royal guard grunted as he recieved another blow from his adversary. Despite being very zombie-like when not in battle, the ponies under Sombra's influence can be surprisingly sturdy when they need to. He had been fighthing this one for Celestia knew how long.

And it seemed like he was nearing his limit as well.

The guard shook his head, "C'mon! Is that all you've got?!"

He didn't expect an answer, as ponies under mind control typically can't answer for themselves. Though if one were to take a peek at their inner consciousness, they'd probably hear various forms of fervent apologies.

The mind-controlled pony pulled back their foreleg, preparing a devastating punch.

The guard raised his own forelegs in front of his face, anticipating the hit.

...

But nothing came.

Noticing the lack of an impact, he carefully lowered his legs, expecting a psych-out.

It was then that he noticed his adversary had somehow, out of nowhere, been bound to the ground by blue-red ethereal chains. The pony thrashed about, trying to free themself, yet everything they did were only making the chains get tighter.

"What the..."

"IN THE NAME OF HARMONY, I CAST YOU DOWN!"

"Spark! Wait! We're supposed to stay close together, remember?!"

"Wait up, guys! This armor's kinda heavy!"

In the blink of eye, a burning, armored thing blitzed past the two opposing soldiers with a blast of red flames from its limbs.

Right after it was a purple alicorn he'd never seen before. She was also wearing armor. It also appeared that she was chasing down the 'thing' that had zipped by.

As the alicorn and burning creature galloped—and rocketed—away towards a larger skirmish, a small dragon, also wearing a similarly-proportioned set of armor, jogged by. He seemed a little out of breath.

The dragon turned to the guard for a moment and gave him a small wave before continuing on towards his presumed allies.

The guard rubbed the side of his helmet.

"I think... I should see a medic..."

Spark landed with the grace of an extinction-causing meteor as he powered down the crimson flames on his hooves.

The former human let out a disturbingly maniacal laugh, "I've never felt this alive before! If we're not trying to save these ponies I would've totally gone all 'Blood for the Blood God!' out here."

Twilight finally caught up to him. She slid on her hooves for a moment due to he weight of her armor.

"Why is it that I always end up running after you every time I try to warn you about something?! This isn't a game, Spark! You could've costed us the whole plan!"

Spark tried to give her a look of guilt, but couldn't keep his smile down.

"Alright, alright, I hear you. It's just that I never thought a fantasy war could be so fun! Granted, I suppose it's because nopony's actually dying and I have magical powers, but still!"

The princess wanted to facehoof, but she didn't want to smack herself with a plate of metal.

With a small slip of his his armored feet, Spike leaned on Twilight's foreleg to take a breather.

"Whew, you might need to make this thing lighter, Spark. I think my whole body's sore now..."

"Noted. I'll put a featherweight enchantment on it when we're done here.

"But for now," he pointed a hoof towards the dueling monarchs up ahead, "we have an Empire to liberate."

Twilight nodded, "Right! Okay, so the plan's simple enough."

She pointed towards Sombra, "Spark, you'll help Celestia in distracting and if you can, restraining him. While Spike and I will sneak up and use the bell to siphon his magic. Any questions?"

Her two companions shook their heads.

"Nah. / Nope!"

"Alright, now let's go!"

That was all Spark needed before he launched himself straight towards Sombra with a jet of flames.

With another flash of golden energy, Celestia deflected a blast of dark magic away from herself. She had decided to engage Sombra first, in hopes of whittling him down so that the time-travellers could swoop in with relative ease.

Though it seemed like the tyrant had quite a bit more energy than she had predicted. Despite the near constant barrage of attacks, he hadn't shown any signs of slowing down.

To add to her struggle, he had also been constantly trying to breach her mind to with his fear spells. Celestia was more than capable at fending them off, but with how frequent the king casted that blasted spell, it was starting to get rather annoying.

The solar princess and umbrum tyrant were preparing their own salvoes of magical bolts when they heard the sound of whistling.

Both of them briefly halted their attacks as they turned towards the source of the odd sound.

It was then that they saw the flaming form of Crucible Spark, clad in his armor, casuallly advancing towards them with gleeful look on his face.

"My, my. Is that the King Sombra himself?" he squinted, "Oh it is!

"You know, ever since I heard that you've been freed from imprisonment, I've been absolutely dying to meet you!"

He pulled out a shrunken halberd and poleaxe from a compartment in his armor. The nirik gave him a pitying look and sighed, releasing small tongues of fire from his nostrils.

"Oh what would Radiant Hope think of you now, I wonder?"

Sombra held back a reaction and deepened his scowl. Who is this... creature, and how did he know that name?

Spark returned his polearms to their true size with a burst of flames. Their sharpened parts glowed with an eerie pale blue light.

"Just so you know, in a world not all too far from this one, you're a pretty great ruler. Ponies adore you, and your subordinates loyal to a fault. Some even find you, hm... attractive."

He turned to Celestia, "Isn't that right, princess?"

The elder alicorn glared at him but otherwise held a neutral expression. Just how deep does his knowledge go?

Spark couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ah, well. Just some small talk before I take your horn, Sombrero."

The former human followed the instincts that Crucible's body had and took an offensive stance, with his polearms pointing their heads towards the umbrum tyrant.

Spark then proceeded to blast the ground beneath, launching himelf towards Sombra in the process.

The sudden burst of speed took the king by surprise. He turned into his shadow form just before Spark got the first strike in, only swiping off the tail end of his smog-like body.

As he reformed himself a few paces away, Celestia found an opening and shot a beam at his direction. This time Sombra reacted quickly, summoning a large crystal to block the bolt of magic.

While the tyrant had his back turned, Spark spat out a fireball at him, along with his enchanted halberd following suit.

The ball missed its target, but the blast that it created knocked Sombra aside. The king whirled around to see the incoming polearm and turned into smog once more. This time the halberd flew right through a bigger part of his body.

It didn't take Sombra long to realize that some part of him was, in fact, burning.

Impossible! He thought. His shadow form was supposed to be impervious by all but love magic!

The tyrant tried to reform farther away, but was forced to stay in his form when another beam of golden energy struck the area.

As the fight continued, Twilight, with Spike on her back, oberved the battle intently. She had seen a very small glimpse of how Spark could act during conflicts when he deflected Starlight's shot, but they never expected to see him fight like this.

One of the most notable details of the metalsmith's fighting style was that he never stopped moving. The only time Spark would stop his trajectory was when he needed to do change directions, and even then, it was only for a fraction of a moment before he launched himself again.

His methods of attack were rather peculiar as well. Despite the way his polearms were dancing around himself, it looked like he was barely controlling them at all. Twilight remembered the animation spell that he apparently had access to thanks to Crucible's memories, which meant that the halberd and poleaxe were essentially moving by themselves, whilst also working with their own strategy and style that would support both Spark and Celestia at wrangling their opponent.

"Ray Jr. I choose you!"

And then he summoned a dragon.

Well, to be more specific, an ethereal magical construct in the shape of serpentine dragon, that mere seconds ago was just a projection of a small lizard.

Ray Jr., the sentient magical construct that Spark had often referred to as his 'patronus', whatever thay may be, had come out to play. Twilight didn't know what exactly Jr's role was in its world of origin, but she knew that Spark rarely ever summons it.

Ray Jr. slithered around Sombra's attacks and swirled around the smoke-like umbrum. It's flame-covered form causing his gaseous form to retreat back into itself, seemingly beyond the king's control.

Twilight felt a tug on her mane. She turned her head around and saw Spike on her back, who was giving her a concerned look.

"You zoned out there, Twi. Spark and Princess Celestia just got him cornered, let's go!"

The young alicorn shook her head to clear her mind.

"Right!"

She extended her wings, which also had parts of it armored, and flew towards the raging battle withthe bell floating beside her.

Spark noticed her fast approach, and summoned a set of flaming chains around himself.

He turned to Celestia, "Purple Smart's coming in hot!"

The monarch gave him a quick nod before firing one final bolt that forced Sombra to position himself closer to the nirik.

Spark quickly directed Ray Jr. to ensnare the king with its body. The magical chains around him quickly followed the ethereal construct, encircling Sombra's limbs and forcing him down to the ground.

The tyrant struggled to break free, with each movement of his body causing Jr. and the chains to tighten their binds.

Going for the last resort, Sombra decided to let loose a mind control spell at the nirik. If he could get this powerful pony on his side, he could turn the tables and finally bring down Celestia!

A small mote of dark magic slipped from his horn and made contact with Spark's forehead.

The umbrum closed his eyes to focus and peer into his opponent's mind.

And he saw...

Crack!

Sombra reeled back in pain.

"GAH!" the king yelled.

He cracked open his eyes and saw the white glowing eyes of Crucible Spark, who had a terrible, horrible smile plastered on his face.

For the first time in a long while, Sombra felt fear once more.

Spark pulled him up by the chains around his body.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're a sneaky little thing, aren't you?" he sniffed in amusement, "Thanks for the gift, by the way."

Sombra's eyes widened when the nirik floated over something in front of him. Something very important.

"My-"

"Your horn. Correct." Spark smiled, "I know what you're thinking, 'if you end me now, I'll just revive myself later from this!'

"Well, fat chance."

He levitated the chunk in front of himself, and proceeded to blow a small plume of fire upon it.

The piece was almost instantly engulfed by the blue-red flames, burning for some time before it extinguished itself.

"Now it's just a fancy piece of keratin."

Spark then threw the tyrant aside in front of Twilight and Spike, who shared a look of bewilderment on their faces.

"He's all yours."

Twilight glanced between Sombra, Spark, and Celestia.

The king had never looked so pitiful before, with his stump of a horn, scuffed armor and ripped cloak.

The former human held a proud grin on his face as he examined his newest souvenir.

And the older princess had a look of pity and... longing?

Ah right, the other Sombra, Twilight recalled. She should really get back to her project.

She looked back at the bound tyrant in front of her for another moment, before finally activating the bell.

(Three Days Later)

The time-travelling heroes, clad in their custom-made armor, stood side by side in front of the Cutie Map as they said their final goodbyes to their ally.

Celestia smiled warmly at the group, "I cannot thank you enough for helping us end the war. Please stay safe, and ensure that this Starlight Glimmer pony sees the error of her ways."

Twilight returned it with her own, "Of course, princess! We'll definitely make sure of it!"

She turned around and fired off a beam upon the map, activating the spell.

"Oh! And one more thing, Princess Twilight." the solar princess called out.

the younger princess looked back, "Yes?"

"Please, send my regards to Luna in your timeline."

Twilight noted the melancholic look on Celestia's face when she said that, and nodded, "Will do, Princess Celestia."

Spike waved a claw, "Bye princess!"

Spark finished shrinking down his acquired items, "A pleasure doing business with you!"

With a final wave to the monarch of that alternate Equestria, Twilight, Spike, and Spark prepared themselves to confront Starlight once more.

Author's Note

Man... 8k words... and here I thought chapter 5 of Fire Horse was my longest one! Sheesh!

Here we see Spark channeling his inner Crucible. He finally meets Celestia, and what does he do? Give her a thinly-veiled ultimatum.

He gets a chunk of Sombra's horn, and instead of destroying it, he makes a phone charm out of it. Will it bite him in the flank one day? Maybe, maybe not.

Also, as a point of reference, the armor our heroes were wearing during their confrontation with Sombra were a mix of space marine armor. Twilight has purple-themed Thousand Sons armor similar to the one shown here, Spark has pre-Heresy Iron Warriors armor but with his touchmark instead of the legion's insignia, and Spike has Salamanders armor, because dragon.

Let's hope Starlight and the Ponyville Rebels won't be freaked out by their costumes next chapter.

Also, I'm leaving Crystal War Luna's fate up to the reader's interpretation.

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"