//------------------------------// // Maretropolis Part 1 // Story: Skylanders X MLP // by Skylander545 //------------------------------// Spotlight and Blackout reached the portal’s end point as the two dragons were thrown into a place that looked like a huge city. The two dragons landed on the streets of the city as their wings opened up allowing them to land gently. Looking at their surroundings, Spotlight asked, “Where are we?” Blackout looked around and saw a sign as he read, “Maretropolis…” The black dragon was curious, “Why would the Dream Sheep go here?” Spotlight replied, “I don’t know. But Maretropolis isn’t in any part of Equestria that I know about.” Blackout turns away from the sign and notices a tall building near them, “If we can get a good view of the city from the top of that building, we could see where to go from there.” Spotlight nodded as the two dragons took off for the building unaware of a small stallion with a camera as he said, “Dragons in Maretropolis? What could this mean? I need to tell the others about this.” With that, the stallion disappeared into the shadows. Upon reaching the top of the building, the two dragon gazed over the massive city as they couldn’t believe their eyes. Blackout was amazed, “This city is huge...we could explore this city for days.” Spotlight nodded, “And we still wouldn’t see enough.” Blackout remembered one thing, “The Dream Sheep could be hiding anywhere in this city.” Spotlight stated, “If he’s weakened from our last battle, this would be our chance to capture him before he does harm to anyone else.” Blackout nodded, “Which means we need to find where he’s hiding and capture him.” Spotlight remembered, “We don’t have support from Blades and Echo this time.” Blackout understood, “We left them back at the Dream Sheep’s Lair...let’s hope that portal is still open.” Spotlight was going to speak until she saw something move in the streets below them, a lot of law enforcement judging from the lights heading to a building that looks like a museum. She spoke, “I got movement, multiple law enforcement vehicles heading to a museum and they’re in a hurry.” Blackout saw them, “Let’s check it out.” Spotlight and Blackout leaped from the building as they glided down towards the museum. Upon arriving, they landed on the roof of the building and looked down at what was going on. They heard an officer ask, “What exactly happened?” They listened to what looked like a security chief speak, “It was all so sudden. One moment we were patrolling the interior of the museum and all of a sudden, there was this flash and a sheep riding a dragon showed up and these guards ended up falling asleep. I tried shaking them, pouring a bucket of water on them and they still wouldn’t wake up!” Blackout’s eyes widened as he heard the security chief’s story. The black dragon saw three security guards asleep while the chief and the law enforcement officer looked down at them. The officer said, “A sheep and a dragon? Never heard of those in this city before…” The officer looked up at the roof of the museum and noticed Blackout, “Umm...sir, was that gargoyle always there?” Blackout stood as still as a statue when the officer noticed him while Spotlight remained out of sight. But the one thing he needed to focus on was waking up those guards. Blackout, being a dragon from the Dream Realm, he vanished into the shadows as he made his way down the building, passed the officer and security chief as he made his way to the sleeping security guards. He briefly became visible to wake up the guards as their waking moans alerted the security chief and officer as they saw him. The officer asked, “Who are you? What are you?” Blackout replied, “I just woke up the guards that the sheep put to sleep.” He asked the security chief, “The sheep and the dragon, where did they go after he put your guards to sleep?” The security chief replied with, “I don’t know, the cameras only showed him appearing and the guards falling asleep. He disappeared afterwards.” Blackout nodded as he was about to leave until the officer asked, “Thanks for waking them, but who are you?” The black dragon answered, “You can call me ‘Blackout.’” He vanished as he went back onto the roof to reunite with Spotlight. As they made their way to another rooftop, Spotlight asked, “You think that was wise? Revealing yourself in front of those officers?” Blackout replied, “If there was a better way, I would’ve done it, but we know that the Dream Sheep is here and has set those three guards to sleep. Although his sleep curse is actually weak than it was before.” Spotlight mentioned, “Could it be from the battle?” Blackout nodded, “It is possible, the strength of the spell is determined by the strength of the caster.” He added, “And since that battle drained him of the ability to cast a worldwide sleep curse then the city is safe from the curse. But the Dream Sheep will still be a threat.” Spotlight stated, “A more better reason why we need to catch him.” All of a sudden, both Spotlight and Blackout’s eyes began flashing briefly as Spotlight asked, “What’s happening?” Blackout’s eyes flashed red again as he said, “We’ve got some company.” At that exact moment, a costumed unicorn appeared from above and shot a power beam at them. The dragons avoided the beam as they tried to retaliate, but a lasso grappled onto Blackout, pulling him back. The culprit was a costumed earth pony that controls the lasso psychically. Blackout opened a black hole and teleported behind her and lashed his wings at her, knocking the mare to the ground. Blackout looked at the downed mare and asked, “Who sent you? Was it the Dream Sheep?” The mare replied, “Get out of my face, you gargoyle lizard!” She kicked Blackout as he turned into a spike ball and rammed into her again. When he moved to question her again, his eyes flashed red as he dodged several lightning strikes and used his Red Eyes Inferno Fire Blast to destroy a tornado, “Impressive that a deviant like you would possess a power to destroy a tornado.” said a costumed pegasus that happened to be controlling the lightning and tornadoes. Blackout responded, “I’m not going to ask again! Who are you?!” Spotlight shouted as she was having a magic duel with another unicorn that had jewels on her costume, “Blackout! It seems these mares are more fight than talk!” Spotlight’s eyes started to flash blue as she opened her mouth and let out a blue energy beam which destroyed the unicorn’s defense as the unicorn that she fought before shouted, “Radiance!” She jumped to cover her friend and fired a freeze beam at Spotlight, but because of Spotlight’s eyes flashing blue again, she teleported as the freeze beam hit the pegasus that Blackout was fighting, freezing her wings as the pegasus fell from the skies to the streets below. The downed earth pony saw the pegasus falling and yelled, “Zapp!” Blackout heard this and saw her falling, so he separates from the fight and jumped off after the falling pegasus. Blackout had his wings to his sides as he sped up after Zapp and as far as he knew, was the falling pegasus. He knew that with her wings frozen, it’s impossible to fly and she’s falling to what appears to be her doom. As the streets were rapidly approaching, Blackout saw that there would be no way for him grab the pegasus and pull up in time. Blackout sighed, “I guess I have no choice.” His eyes went full red as his body took on the form of the Red Eyes Black Dragon as he used his larger size to reach his claw out and catch the falling pegasus before she hit the streets. When Zapp felt the claw of the black dragon catch her and place her gently on the ground, she looked up and saw the large dragon staring at her as she stared in awe at him. To the black dragon’s surprise, Zapp bowed in respect as she said, “Guardian of Potential, forgive me for my actions earlier.” She was soon joined by two more costumed ponies, an earth pony that got to them super fast and another pegasus that looked shock and tried to control her anger. The fast pony asked, “Zapp, we heard that you, Matter-Horn, Mistress Mare-velous and Radiance were fighting off two dragons and we came here as fast as we could.” The second pegasus asked, “Um...is this one of them?” Zapp nodded and said, “But...he saved me when Matter-Horn’s freeze beam shot my wings.” Soon enough, the large dragon soon shifted back into Blackout’s regular form, “And you thought that I would let you fall to your death?” He shook his head, “I don’t do that to allies.” Zapp realized, “If you were willing to save me even when Filli-Second was on her way, then it means…” Blackout stated, “We’re not your enemy.” Zapp turned to the two ponies with her, “Saddle Rager, Filli-Second, we need to get up onto the roof and stop the others from fighting each other.” Blackout approached, “Let me deal with Spotlight, she’ll listen to me.” The dragon looked at Filli-Second and said, “Don’t wait for us, Filli, Go!” She took off while Blackout and Saddle Rager took off with the dragon carrying Zapp due to her frozen wings. Spotlight was caught in a magic duel between Matter-Horn as the unicorn said, “I don’t know why you are here, but whatever you’re planning for Maretropolis, it will not happen!” Spotlight dodged the unicorn’s energy blasts and shot gold rings and used her eye beams to direct them at Matter-Horn, “I don’t know what you are talking about and trust me, I don’t harm innocents!” The beams struck Matter-Horn as she crashed against a wall as she struggled to stand up. Spotlight’s eyes began to glow as she said, “And I don’t take kindly to those that attack us first.” All of a sudden, she was hit by an umbrella made of jewelry which served to infuriate Spotlight as she turned to her attacker which was Radiance as the unicorn said, “You should think before accusing us of first strike. You will end up tied up in knots.” In rage, Spotlight opened her mouth, showing off her small sharp teeth as blue energy started to build up in her throat. Radiance looked for ways to tie the dragon down, but to no avail. Just as the energy reached it’s peak, Blackout and Zapp dropped down between the two with Filli-Second and Saddle Rager joining them. When Spotlight saw Blackout, she closed her mouth, the energy build up stopped, her teeth retracted and her eyes returned to white as she said, “Blackout?” Radiance asked, “Zapp? But...I saw you fall.” She saw the other two, “Filli-Second, that was good timing.” The fast pony shook her head, “Wasn’t me, we were a little late to the party.” Radiance asked, “If it wasn’t you, then who was it? Zapp gestured to Blackout, “It was him that jumped after me saving my life.” Matter-Horn overheard the conversation as she struggled to get up and said, “If...if the dragon saved you…” Blackout spoke, “The dragon has a name you know. It’s Blackout.” The unicorn understood, “If Blackout saved you, then that means we’re all on the same side.” Mistress Mare-velous limped towards them, “Well that makes sense since he jumped after her.” Radiance spoke, “But your friend almost tried to kill me.” Blackout looked at Spotlight, “Spotlight? Did you…” The Sun Dragoness confessed, “I didn’t know what I was doing, okay. I felt an odd power build up wanting me to release it.” Zapp noticed that Spotlight’s eyes flashed blue again as she stated, “The Guardian of Power dwells inside you. It wants you to unleash its power like when Blackout turned into the Guardian of Potential to save my life.” Blackout noticed, “You called me that when you saw me as the Red Eyes Black Dragon. What did you mean by ‘Guardian of Potential?’ And what is the Guardian of Power?” Zapp stated, “Not here in the open. We need to discuss this elsewhere.” Matter-Horn chuckled, “I’m glad to see that egotistical attitude of yours loosened up after that skirmish with Mane-iac.” Zapp silently whispered, “Don’t push it, Summers.” Blackout asked, “Do you mares have a base in this city?” Matter-Horn nodded, “Yeah, we do. Follow us.” Spotlight and Blackout followed these six ponies to their base in order to get better acquainted. Although Filli-Second turned directly to me...the Writer, “Can you go check on what the Purple Dragon is doing since you tend to switch back and forth between them?” After she ran off, a scene transition appeared…(I better fix the 4th wall so it doesn’t break again.) At the grublin base, Spike was doing his best to avoid any grublin patrols as he ducked and weaved through any nook and cranny of the base with the others shadowing him and waiting for his signal to strike. Spike had come to a point where he saw a bunch of grublins stacking explosive crates in a lift that would go up to the surface. Spike knew exactly what those were for and what those grublins are up to. “It looks like we found the demolition team.” The others soon joined him as they saw the bomb boxes. Gilda said, “We need to stop those bombs from reaching the surface or else the city will be toast.” Trail Blazer looked around the area in order to find a way to keep the bombs at bay. He smiled as he asked Spike, “Spike, what’s the attention span of a grublin?” Spike asked, “They react when something goes wrong. Why?” The unicorn gestured to the crates of bombs that haven’t been loaded onto the lift as the group realized what he meant. Ember was the first to speak, “Blow the bombs from down here? I like the way you think, Blazer.” The unicorn stated to the dragoness, “I have my moments.” Sonic Boom spoke, “If we set the bombs to go off down here, the grublins will know something is up…” Spike finished, “And it will flush the Bowslinger out of hiding.” Gilda mentioned, “It will be one heck of an explosion. But what about the bombs that are on the lift.” Trail Blazer stated, “The explosion would throw the grublins in disarray and we’ll use that opportunity to get onto the lift and dump the remaining bombs into the abyss.” Spike was amazed, “Nice thinking, Trail Blazer.” Sonic Boom stated, “We’ll have to split into two teams in order for this to work.” Trail Blazer spoke, “Ember and I will set the bombs off. The rest of you need to get near the lift and wait for the signal.” Spike understood, “Okay, we’ll make our way to the lift. Be sure that you’re both ready to detonate the bombs.” Ember nodded, “Got it. And the only thing to get their attention would be a huge bang.” Gilda spoke, “Which would be a good distraction in order to lure the Bowslinger out of hiding.” Sonic Boom stated, “Now let’s finish this fight.” With that being said, the two teams separated as they made their way to their positions. They managed to hide behind some crates that were close to the lift. Gilda became curious about Spike since the last time she saw him, “You know Spike, you were just a dragonling when I last saw you and now you’ve grown into a the drake you are now.” Spike replied, “Being who I am has some perks to it. The way Gabby reacted to me showed that my name gets around a lot. For me, I just do what I need to do so our world is safe.” Gilda had this look of sorrow on her face as she asked him, “Do you think...after this battle...I want to see Rainbow Dash again...I need to apologize for acting like such a bossy griffin all those years ago. I doubt she’ll forgive me…” Spike looked at the griffin and made it clear, “She might still resent you for doing that to her. But she’ll listen to me despite her...well... being her. She might be suspicious of you, but I’ll vouch for you. Be your Wing-Drake when you meet with Rainbow Dash.” Gilda asked the drake, “You would do that for me? And I caused you trouble when I was in Ponyville…” Spike interrupted, “What happens in the past stays in the past, you can’t always think that your bossy attitude costed you your best friend. But seeing that you changed, you can fix your friendship with Rainbow Dash.” Gilda didn’t know how to respond, but Spike is willing to help her mend her strained friendship with Rainbow Dash. She gathered up her courage and said, “I’ll do it, Spike. If we’re working together in this war, friendships must be fixed.” The Purple Dragon stated, “It’s what Mom and Twilight taught me.” Gilda chuckled at this as the Purple Dragon went to Sonic Boom and asked, “Any sign of movement near our hiding spot?” The mother griffin spoke, “The grublins are unaware that we’re here and the lift hasn’t been activated yet.” Spike nodded, “We just need to wait until Ember and Trail Blazer set off the bombs that are not on the lift.” The trio waited while keeping vigilant if any grublin were to come wandering towards their hiding place. Getting rid of the demolition team and their bombs would not only save the city, but also flush the Bowslinger out. Meanwhile in the base of the costumed ponies, Spotlight and Blackout were brought in by their costumed escorts as Zapp had a whispering conversation with Matter-Horn about them. There wasn’t any tangible details on what they were talking about, just sayings like ‘What do you mean?’ and ‘Are you sure?’ something like that. As soon as the mares brought the dragons into the command center of the base, they were joined by a small stallion that didn’t look like he possessed any known powers. He noticed the mares, “Power Ponies, you’ve returned.” Mistress Mare-velous added, “And we got two extras with us…” Zapp finished, “After we got our flanks handed to us by them.” Blackout spoke, “Nothing personal, we just defended ourselves...until I had to save you.” The stallion noticed the two dragons and stuttered, “Y-you’re t-the d-dragons that appeared from that portal in the streets…” Spotlight asked, “”You saw us exit the portal?” Matter-Horn spoke, “Hum Drum was doing some recon since rumors started to spread of dragons in the city.” Blackout noticed, “It most likely has something to do with me and Spotlight…” He smiled, “Ms. Summers.” Matter-Horn’s eyes widen as she thought, ‘Impossible! How could that dragon know my identity? If he tells anypony else, we’re finished!’ Spotlight spoke, “Don’t get your mind in a twist, Matter-Horn. We keep things that we know on a ‘Need to Know’ basis. And we don’t reveal any masked pony’s identity.” Matter-Horn sighed in relief and asked, “But how did you know who I am?” Blackout stated, “When I went Red Eyes to save Zapp, her memories of you and this team was shared with me…” He realized as he turned to Zapp, “What did you see in my memories?” Zapp closed her eyes and stated, “I see you, Spotlight and two other dragons fighting a large dragon with a gray sheep as it’s rider. I see you becoming the Guardian of Potential, Spotlight singing to you, entering a realm of nightmares, fighting the sheep again and Spotlight saving you when he took you through a portal…” Matter-Horn realized, “Mind-Melding? And I thought only unicorns had that power.” Spotlight shook her head, “Dragon’s possess the ability meld with others to share memories and usually requires a pool of water for the memories to be seen by anyone else.” Radiance spoke, “You know as much as we love hearing about memories, we forgot to introduce ourselves.” Matter-Horn understood that, “Okay, since we’re going to be working together, I think we should properly introduce ourselves.” She gestured to herself, “I’m Trot Summers, the Masked Matter-Horn, Leader of the Power Ponies.” Mistress Mare-Velous introduced herself, “You can call me Mare, it’s kind of better this way.” Zapp introduced herself, “I’m Aurora, also known as Zapp. It’s an honor to be in a guardian’s presence.” Radiance introduced herself, “My name is Green Gardener, Radiance of the Power Ponies, Zeppelin Pilot and appeared on the cover of three beauty magazines.” Filli-Second was next, “I’m Marey Allen, Detective of the Maretropolis Police Department, and Filli-Second of the Power Ponies.” Saddle Rager spoke, “I’m...Spruce Spanner, I’m a scientist...until…” Blackout noticed, “You got exposed to an unknown radiation which means every time you lose control of your temper, you become a huge rage pony?” Spruce nodded, “That’s...pretty much my story, I’m also Saddle Rager of the Power Ponies.” Hum Drum introduced himself, “I’m Hum Drum, I’m sort of a sidekick since I don’t have any type of superpowers. The last villain who thought that they keep me around because they feel sorry for me...well he underestimated me and now he’s serving a long jail sentence because of it. As the junior member of the team, I have knowledge of Maretropolis that these mares can benefit from.” Blackout nodded as he introduced himself, “Allow me to fully introduce myself, I am Blackout from the Dream Realm and Skylander of the Dark Element.” Spotlight introduced herself, “And I’m Spotlight, Skylander of the Light Element and well known in beam prisms using gold rings.” Summers asked, “What’s a Skylander?” Blackout described, “In our world of Skylands, Skylanders are a group of warriors that varied from the most common thief to the mightiest of dragons to protect Skylands from the forces of evil. Our abilities are granted through the 10 Elements of Skylands, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life, Undead, Tech, Magic, Light and Dark.” Mare asked, “But what are you doing in Maretropolis anyway?” Blackout answered, “We are here looking for the Dream Sheep and we must find him before he does any harm to this city.” Aurora spoke, “That gray sheep in your memories...that’s the Dream Sheep?” Blackout nodded, “He already put a couple of security guards to sleep at the museum when he arrived. We were lucky to wake them up in time.” Marey realized, “I was actually investigating the museum when I got the call to find you guys.” She pulled out a bag with a strand of gray wool and several patches of purple scales, “I found these at the site before heading out to find you. You recognize them, right?” Blackout looked at the fur and scales as he replied, “Those items are from the Dream Sheep and his puppet, the Sleep Dragon.” Spanner asked, “The Sleep Dragon?” Spotlight stated, “As far as we know, the Sleep Dragon is only a pawn while the Dream Sheep is the mastermind behind bringing us here.” Blackout remembered something, “There was also something about him...something familiar.” Spotlight asked her longtime friend, “What do you mean?” Blackout answered, “When I was held in the Sleep Dragon’s claws, I felt a familiar presence inside of him…” Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, “The presence of the King of Dreams.” Aurora asked, “Who is the King of Dreams?” Blackout looked at the pegasus, “He’s the King of the Dream Realm and he vanished after the Dream Sheep made his move on the waking world.” Spotlight asked, “You’re saying that the Sleep Dragon could be the Lost King of Dreams?” The Dark Dragon remembered, “Now that I remember, the King was a dragon...so it’s gotta be him.” Marey spoke, “We can help you find your Dream Sheep with my sample tracker. I use it for tracking down any trails for possible suspects back at the MPD.” Summers spoke, “Marey and I could get the results from the tracker to pinpoint the location of the Dream Sheep. Until then…” She turned to Aurora, “Aurora, you called Blackout a ‘Guardian’, can you explain what it exactly means?” Aurora set the Thunderer talisman on the central table as it sparked and showed two images of two dragons, the Red Eyes which was recognizable and another dragon that was a mixture of white and blue with blue eyes circling each other, fighting and coming to terms with each other. Aurora exclaimed, “My tribe tells tales of the Guardians, two powerful dragons that were powerful engines of destruction. Before my tribe came to occupy those lands, two dragons were feuding over the land, The black and white dragon would battle constantly to no end for control of the land until it looked like they would destroy themselves until several gatherer ponies encountered the two.” The Thuderer’s image turned to show more ponies arriving at the land of the two dragons as they were no longer fighting as the two dragons made a pact with the queen of the tribe. “The queen of the tribe made a pact with these marvelous creatures since she admired them saying that the Blue Eyes represented Power while the Red Eyes represented Potential. My tribe revered the dragons as guardians since they turned to stone after a long period of protecting us. Even as stone, they became a symbol among my tribe with the Thunderer being their gift to us.” The image faded as Aurora finished, “I left my home to prove myself to be worthy in the eyes of the Guardians. And when I return home, I would ascend to the throne.” Blackout asked. “So...if the Guardians see you as worthy, you would become queen?” Aurora nodded, “Yes, but I will go home to rule someday. But you have the Guardian of Potential inside of you and I can sense the Guardian of Power in Spotlight.” Spotlight asked, “That Blue Eye White Dragon?” Aurora nodded, “My tribe also told stories of the return of the Guardians in the bodies of dragons like you, but the spirits dwell inside of you.” Spotlight remembered an incident on the roof, “When Radiance attacked me, I almost felt like I was going to use a power that belonged to the Blue Eyes…” Aurora asked, “Were your eyes flashing blue?” The dragoness nodded as the Tribal Princess knew, “Just like the stories…” Blackout asked, “What do you mean?” Aurora explained, “The Blue Eyes White Dragon represents power and its soul is highly unstable due to its use in battle. The Guardian’s spirit wants to unleash its power, but your friend is fighting it.” Spanner realized, “Just like me and ‘the other mare.’” Summers spoke, “Not exactly, while your condition determines on rage and anger, Spotlight’s condition is more on trying to keep the Blue Eyes from taking over.” Blackout realized, “Now this brings back memories…” Mare-Velous asked, “What do you mean?” The black dragon replied, “When I first became the Red Eyes, I was consumed by its potential that I wanted to fly after the Dream Sheep...but Spotlight stopped me when her eyes shined blue and...started singing.” Marey asked Aurora, “Anything in those stories about the Blue Eyes and singing?” Aurora remembered, “There was one about a young mare with blue eyes and a white mane that would go to the Blue Eyes Shrine and sing to it…” Mare-Velous asked while raising an eyebrow, “So we just have to sing to it to calm it down?” Hum Drum spoke catching them by surprise, “Not exactly...while you gone, I took it upon myself to do a little research on rituals involving Aurora’s tribe...and I found a ritual to calm the Blue Eyes Spirit inside Spotlight and allow a peaceful transformation like what Blackout has for the Red Eyes.” Summers looked over the information that Hum Drum whipped up and realized, “Hum Drum, You’re a Genius! We could help Spotlight with her condition in no time.” Blackout remembered their mission, “There’s also the Dream Sheep.” Summers nodded as Marey spoke, “We’ll run those samples into the tracker to pinpoint the exact location of your Dream Sheep.” Blackout nodded as he turned to Gardener, “Spotlight almost unleashed an ability from the Blue Eyes on you?” The mare nodded, “Yes, she almost did if not for your timely intervention. Who knows what might’ve happened?” Blackout stated, “It’s best not to talk about it since it doesn’t paint a pretty picture.” Summers spoke, “Since we all know what to do. Let’s get to it.” The Power Ponies dispersed as Spotlight and Blackout were escorted to their room. Upon arriving at their room, Blackout looked at Spotlight and said, “I still can’t believe that the Dream Sheep opened a gateway into a comic book.” Spotlight sighed, “He plans to cause trouble in a comic book world, so we better stop him and get back to our world.” Blackout asked, “So I’m not the only dragon to have an Ancestral Dragon inside.” Spotlight nodded, “The Blue Eyes is an Ancestral Dragon, a powerful engine of destruction as the legends say.” Blackout remembered, “Aurora said that both dragons were feuding over her tribe’s land until her tribe came to those lands.” Spotlight nodded, “It’s all confusing that both dragons are involved in this world as well as our world.” Blackout remembered, “The Blue Eyes is Power while the Red Eyes is Potential. If we could calm down the Blue Eyes inside of you…” Spotlight added, “We would be fulfilling a prophecy of the Guardian’s return. Power and Potential.” Blackout finished, “Then we can battle the Dream Sheep once and for all.” Back in the abyss, Spike and his crew remained on alert for any patrolling grublins while they waited for Ember and Trail Blazer to give them the signal to head for the lift to dispose of the explosives. Spike whispered, “It’s only a matter of time before they…” He was interrupted by a large boom as an explosion ripped through the inner-sanctum of the grublin base. The grublins saw the explosions and ran towards them to see what was going on, leaving the bombs on the lift unguarded. Spike spoke, “Now’s our chance.” The trio jumped out of their hiding spots and went to the lift as they started to shove the bombs over the cliff and into the abyss. When they were dealing with one of the last crates of bombs, Gilda realized, “Spike, I’ve got an idea on what to do with these.” Spike looked at where the explosion came from and the last of the bombs, “You want to set off the bomb here on the lift?” Gilda nodded, “Yes, the grublins will have to figure out what’s going on as well as the Bowslinger. This is a perfect opportunity to take him down.” Spike smirked, “Well we were bound to be discovered sometime during this mission.” Sonic Boom added, “None of us could stay hidden forever.” Spike saw the fuse attached to the last set of bombs, “Let’s blow this thing sky high. I’ll light the fuse and then we run away.” The two griffins got to a safe distance while Spike puffed a small breath of fire on the fuse as it began to spark and make its way to the explosives. The purple dragon joined his companions in the safe zone as the bomb detonates, destroying the lift and sending a huge explosion which is most likely to attract the grublins to the lift. They were right as the first grublins that reached the lift were regular grub soldiers. So Spike decided to spring the trap as he leapt from cover and did a ground pound combined with a meteor attack. The shockwave obliterated the grublins while the second batch fell victim to Gilda’s claws or Sonic Boom’s screech and her babies. Soon after, the trio saw several fire flashes spring up in the distance. Spike realized, “It looks like Ember and Trail Blazer have started their attack.” Gilda spoke, “Let’s give them a claw.” Sonic Boom warned, “There is no doubt that the Bowslinger will be among the grublins. We must be ready.” Spike looked at Gilda, “Gilda, remember that back-up I was telling you about?” The griffin asked, “Time to call them in?” The purple dragon nodded, “Time to call them in.”