//------------------------------// // Maretropolis Part 2 // Story: Skylanders X MLP // by Skylander545 //------------------------------// Soon enough, Spike gave the signal to call in the reinforcements as several flashes of light occurred. When the lights faded, there stood some familiar faces that Spike recognized because of his trip to the future during the Traptanium War. It was five Superchargers along with their trademark vehicles, there was the lark bird Stormblade and her Sky Slicer aircraft, the warsupial Smash Hit and his Thump Truck, the robot High Volt and his Shield Striker battle car, the undead mariachi band leader Fiesta and his Crypt Crusher battle car and finally, the leader of the superchargers, Spitfire and his Hot Streak car. But what’s unique about him is that he is a fire spirit from the Wonderbolt Captain’s connection to the Fire Element, but he is also a whiz at mechanics because his ‘second donor’ Drobot was a professional mechanic for a dragon. His ‘birth’ occurred after the Traptanium War and it was a screw up with the human Drobot’s machine while the original Drobot went inside to check on it with the mare Spitfire watching him. It turned on leaving him trapped inside and once the sequence was finished, he was released. But his pegasus friend noticed the fire spirit unconscious in the machine. Drobot found a strand of her mane in the machine which was the source of the fire spirit’s creation. So they took him in and trained him to use his abilities. His tech enhanced fire wings made him get a need for speed. They named him Spitfire due to his appearance and he showed overconfidence in himself as well as arrogance when they trained him. But when Master Eon wanted a leader for the Superchargers, the flame spirit stepped in and his arrogance was set aside so he could be a true leader. Anyway, if side stories are out of the way, the five Superchargers were on the battlefield as Spitfire said, “Hey Spike, we’re ready to fight anytime!” Spike nodded as he said, “Okay, Spitfire, send your superchargers to different areas of this base and keep the grublins distracted. We are going to need cover while we make our way to Trail Blazer and Ember.” The supercharger smiled, “You know me, my guys and I are always ready!” Stormblade spoke, “I’ll provide air support with my Sky Slicer.” Smash Hit tapped the tires of his truck, “My Thump Truck is ready to run those things under its tires.” High Volt spoke, “The Shield Striker is ready for battle.” Fiesta spoke as his Crypt Crusher powered up, “I helped the Skylanders indirectly by helping hold off Moneybone’s forces to keep his guards from warning the count, but now it’s time to help this city.” Spike nodded, “And for us to return the favor.” The fire spirit nodded as he got into his Hot Streak, “We’ll handle the small fry, you concentrate on getting to your friends and destroying the Bowslinger.” Spike nodded, “Rock and roll, Superchargers!” The purple dragon, the two griffins and the superchargers separated as the battle in the grublin base began. While Spike’s group were heading to where the first explosion took place, they spotted a few grublins in their path, Gilda sprung out with her claws and slashed them to bits. Spike used his Ice Breath on a few of the bowmen and smashed them to bits with a tail strike. Sonic Boom and her babies were making short work of the grublin wyverns in the skies with sonic screams and the pecking attacks of the babies. The trio plowed through any grublins that got in their way as Spike also resorted to using a Fury Attack which Sonic Boom noticed and pulled Gilda into cover as Spike pulled off a Fire Fury Attack. When the griffins came out of cover, they saw nothing but charred grublin corpses as several spirit gems went to Spike, regaining his strength. Gilda looked at the drake, “I’ve heard stories about those shockwave attacks that you do. But to witness it first-claw…” Spike chuckled, “Join the club, those that travel with me see it all the time.” He gestured a wing forward to the rendezvous point, “Right now, we have to get moving,” And with that being said, the dragon and the griffins continued on through the base. Back at the Power Pony Base, Spotlight was with Summers and Marey as the scanner scanned the wool and dragon scale. The process took a few minutes to finish, but as soon as it was finished, the results appeared on the screen as Marey noticed, “Well, according to the scanner, your Dream Sheep is somewhere in one of the more underworld parts of the city.” Spotlight noticed, “Those areas are more dangerous than anywhere in the city.” The detective sighed, “I’ve gotten a lot more cases in those areas than anywhere else.” Summers replied, “It’s a perfect place for him to hide in.” Spotlight would know that Blackout will be happy to know where the Dream Sheep is hiding. But now would come with dealing with the Blue Eye White Dragon inside of Spotlight. The dragoness asked, “When we go to this area, what should we expect?” Marey stated, “Crooks, criminals, small gangs, even some people that would gladly burn us at a stake if they ever saw us since we threw them in jail.” Summers asked, “You don't think that the Dream Sheep could use these released criminals that we captured as his personal guard, right?” Spotlight stated, “He could use some for patrolling around where he's hiding, but he's still got the Sleep Dragon at his disposal.” Summers nodded, “But even if we have a fix on his location, we still can't go after him until we deal with the ‘guardian dragon’ inside of you.” Spotlight sighed, “I know. But I hope Hum Drum’s search brought up something solid on how to calm the Blue Eyes White Dragon.” Then something from Aurora’s stories made the dragoness ask, “What was special about the maiden with the eyes of blue?” Summers described it from her own research, “The Maiden was not only a frequent visitor to the Blue Eyes Shrine, but was also very close with a High Priest of the shrine. Legend has it that when she gave her life for the High Priest, he was saddened by her loss that he presented her body to the shrine as it was said to have bound her soul to the Blue Eyes White Dragon.” Spotlight asked in shock and confusion, “Gave her life?!” “Dark forces that attacked the tribe when one nearly went for the High Priest, only for the maiden to get in the way.” Said Aurora’s voice as she walked into the room. Spotlight realized, “So she's connected to the Blue Eyes White Dragon after the High Priest placed her body on the shrine!?” Aurora nodded, “That's how the story of maiden goes. There are other stories that say that the maiden herself carried the spirit and soul of the Blue Eyes and when she died, she saved the High Priest by purging the dark forces from his mind, making him the new keeper of the Blue Eyes.” Summers asked, “How can you be sure which story is the truth? If the maiden became one with the dragon, why did she seek out another?” Spotlight realized, “Because she senses the spirit of the Blue Eyes within me.” Aurora asked, “What are you saying?” The Light Dragoness stated, “In my world, the Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Red Eyes Black Dragon are part of a special breed known as Ancestral Dragons. They were the first known dragons to exist in my world. They were masters in all forms of magic, the first creatures ever to use magic.” Summers raised a brow, “But the Professor once told me that the first creatures to use magic were alicorns.” Spotlight shook her head, “In this world, yes, but the magical abilities came from the dragons - which the spirit of one is inside me.” Aurora was amazed, “No wonder my tribe reveres the two. The legends of the two dragons...you and Blackout, the maiden...she does sense you.” “Guys!” yelled Hum Drum as he ran into the room with the information. “Blackout and I believe that we found a way to help Spotlight with her current dilemma.” Marey asked while studying the scanner, “What did you find?” The young colt brought up the information as he said, “Remember the rituals of Aurora’s tribe that I was studying an hour ago?” He paused for a moment and said, “I’ve discovered a ritual to contact the Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Red Eyes Black Dragon!” Summers looked at Aurora, “Has anypony ever performed this ritual before?” Aurora stated, “Only on rare occasions, but contacting the Guardians requires specific items for the ritual to work.” Hum Drum nodded as he continued, “The only way for the ritual to work is two objects related to the Blue Eyes and the Red Eyes. Aurora realized, “The White and Black Stones of Legend!” Summers asked, “You know those stones?” The tribal princess nodded as she said with a distraught voice, “Those were one of the reasons why I came to Maretropolis in the first place.” Spotlight asked in shock, “What?!” Marey looked at Aurora, “What do you mean?” Aurora looked at the group and stated, “Before I left home, a bunch of thieves snuck into the Temple of the Guardians and stole the Stones of Legend. Those stones were used by my tribe to contact the Guardians and if necessary, summon them to our world.” Blackout asked, “And you followed the thieves to the city to reclaim the Stones of Legend?” Aurora nodded, “Both stones possess powers exclusive to the Blue Eyes and Red Eyes. It would be a disaster if they were used by unthinking hooves.” “And I’ve found out where the stones are in this city.” said Mare as she entered the room. Marey Allen asked their recent arrival, “Where are the Stones?” Mare looked at Aurora and asked, “You said that the stones possess unimaginable power, right?” Aurora nodded as Summers realized what she's getting at by saying, “If we modify the tracker to track abnormal magic...we could find a way to track down where the stones are being kept! Mare, you're a genius!” Mare replied with, “You're the brains ‘round here, Summers. I just figured out how to find them.” The detective added abnormal magic to her tracking device and soon enough, the screen showed areas of abnormal magic in the city. But the strongest source of abnormal magic was centered in the criminal underworld section of the city - the same area where the Dream Sheep is. Marey spoke, “The strongest source of abnormal magic is coming from a warehouse in the criminal underworld.” Blackout looked at the location of the supposed Stones of Legend and said, “I sense the Dream Sheep somewhere in that area as expected.” Spotlight added, “I also sense a trap.” She looked at Summers, “Any ideas?” Summers knew it was going to be a tough mission, they were going into dangerous territory where they would most likely get attacked by the criminals that they caught. They were also going to find two artifacts from Aurora’s tribe in order to summon the two dragons that said tribe revere inside the two dragons from another world while also tracking down an evil sheep with the power to make anypony fall asleep. She looked at the dragoness and said, “Our options are limited at this point, so we spring the trap.” She noticed that one member was missing, “Where's Dr. Spanner?” Blackout spoke, “She's on her way right now. She had to check on some things in this command center.” Soon enough, Spanner joined the rest as she was filled in on the information for the mission. But knowing her, going to the most dangerous place where innocents are harmed for amusement is going to be a major test for keeping her anger down. Blackout stated, “Are you sure you can handle it?” She nodded while saying, “Yes, I can. This is something that we can't avoid. And this could be a chance to get you two home.” Spotlight realized, “That's right, we need to find a way back to our world after the job is done.” Blackout hoped, “I hope the Princesses are watching us from the portal, if they can activate the Trap Vortex in this world once we defeat the Dream Sheep, then we have a good chance to get home.” Summers asked, “How does it work?” Spotlight stepped in, “The Princesses are our Portal Masters, meaning that they can activate the vortex on their side and transfer it to the defeated villain. The vortex won’t stop until the villain is sucked in and inside the crystal back home.” Spanner noticed, “It would get him out of our world...and sever the connection between him and the Sleep Dragon…” Blackout finished, “Freeing the King of Dreams in the process!” Summers knew what they had to do, “All right, we have our mission. We’re going into the criminal underworld to find those stones and stop the Dream Sheep from spreading his Sleep Curse all over the city.” She scanned her eyes at the team and said, “All hooves and claws on deck for this one.” She glanced at the sidekick, “Even you Hum Drum.” The sidekick stood on his hind hooves and saluted, “I’ll do my best, Matter-Horn. I won’t let you down.” Because the sidekick used her power pony name, it obviously means that they’re going into action. Marey spoke as she transferred the tracker’s data to nine wristwatches, “Everypony and dragon will need to sync up their trackers once we arrive. These will help us locate the stones and the Dream Sheep.” They all took a tracker watch and attached it to their left foreleg as Blackout said, “When this is all over, it's been an honor serving with you seven.” Summers smiled as she replied, “In my opinion, it’s us that should be saying that to you.” The black dragon chuckled as the unicorn looked at her team and said, “Power Ponies, Let's Go!” With that being said, the team of nine left the command center to the most dangerous place in Maretropolis. Back in the Grublin Base, the creatures were swarming all over a single area which was where the first explosion took place. They were surrounding a certain unicorn stallion and a cyan dragoness who was in her Supercharger form, wrist swords at the ready while the unicorn had his fire powers ready to torch anything in his path. As they stood back-to-back, Ember glanced over to Trail Blazer and asked, “Think you can handle this many?” The unicorn looked around and replied, “Well, might be tough if one more shows up.” Ember smiled, “Then that would be the one I take care of.” Trail Blazer joked, “What, You fighting too?” The duo soon charged at the horde and used their abilities from fire-based attacks to traditional charging, sword, melee and buck attacks. Ember’s agility and the use of her wings allowed her leap over the trolls and stab the mossy abominations in the back with her wrist swords, tearing open the moss while using her fire breath burn them from the inside. She noticed a bowman trying to shoot her, but she threw a fire dagger at the creature, taking it out of commission. She noticed a Hero Orc command its underlings while yelling in its garbled language. At its command, several flies went towards the dragoness with the intent to stop her, but she used a flaming tail strike which knocked a majority of them to the ground with a fireball finishing off the remainder. That wasn't until they spotted a Grublin Orc Bowman wearing a glowing red helmet, pointing his crossbow at the two from the dragoness’ side. Ember’s eyes widen as she seen types like these before, “They've sent in an Elite. He's a fire type!” The stallion added, “And so are we.” He was going to attack the Elite, but the Grublins on his end kept him occupied. He looked at Ember, “Ember, I'll handle these guys. He's yours.” Ember didn't know what to say about it, ‘He wants me to battle the Elite?!’ The stallion spoke, “You saw the way Spike fought the Elite. Remember what Spike said!” The Dragon Lord-To-Be thought about what Spike taught her when taking on these particular enemies. As she heard Spike’s voice in her head from before they arrived at Griffonstone, “When facing an Elite Grublin, keep your distance because they have powerful attacks. If their helmet is of the color of your element…” She finished the statement, “Just shut up and aim for the helmet.” The Elite shot at her, but the dragoness dodged it and shot her wrist swords at the deadly foe. The swords struck the helmet as the Elite staggered for a bit before preparing to shoot her again. But Ember was already charging at it at full speed as her returned swords slashed at the helmet. It didn't do any visible damage to the Elite itself, but she noticed a few cracks starting to form on the helmet. The Elite sprung up a sword attachment in his crossbow and challenged Ember to a duel. Her wrist swords had fire forming around them as she accepted the challenge as the Elite struck first, but Ember blocked it. She countered with a kick to the Elite’s chest as the monster staggered back for a bit, leaving him open for an attack to the helmet as the dragoness struck the helmet as more cracks began to form. The Elite jumped over her as it tried to stab her in the back. But Ember sidestepped and used a sword blaze attack which shattered the helmet, leaving it vulnerable to attack. Ember saw the helmet shatter as she mentally said, “Now’s our chance!” She looked over to Trail Blazer as the stallion finished off a group of Grublin Trolls as he looked back at her. She yelled, “Blazer, the Elite is vulnerable! Let's finish it off together!” The fire unicorn went to her side as he said, “On my mark!” He charged the Elite, bucked it up into the air as both unicorn and dragoness jumped to its level and performed a combined takedown attack which had them strike both sides of the Elite until they finished it with a swift strike as the impact with the ground caused the creature to burst into spirit gems. Seeing that their foe is defeated, the briefly blew a breath of relief until an arrow nearly pierced Trail Blazer’s head. But they dodged it as their high valued target appeared before them: The Bowslinger. He was about to fire another arrow until several electric bolts hit where he was standing. The Bowslinger wasn't hit, but after those bolts, Spike, Gilda and Sonic Boom landed next to their friends. The Bowslinger looked at Spike and spoke in an impressed tone, “I’m surprised, dragon. My Grublins were convinced that the griffins were the real threat. Very good at deceiving them with the diversion, but of course it would soon be all for nothing. You can't stop what's at work here.” Spike asked, “Why are you working for Malefor to destroy this world?” The Bowslinger replied, “Not destroy, Malefor wants to conquer this world, make these lowly creatures know who their masters are. You of all dragons know that you were born to dominate the weak, to destroy those beneath you, and yet you refuse your purpose.” Spike heard this before, “Malefor said that to me before at the Crystal Empire, but did that stop me from protecting my home, my friends and family? No, it didn't. Malefor chose his path when he chose to dominate. But I choose my own path, and I choose to protect those that can't defend themselves. Like those who accompany me, we are the sword and shield of Griffonstone!” The Bowslinger shook his head, “You have no idea what you are dealing with, dragon. Although, Malefor gave me specific instructions to eliminate you in case of a chance encounter.” Gilda stepped forward and said, “If it's a fight you want, we’ll give you a fight, dweeb!” The Bowslinger recognized her, “The former bossy griffin, who wanted to leave the city.” Gilda sneered, “I changed my mind after you guys attacked.” The Bowslinger looked at the group, “So the Fellowship of the Purple Dragon...come to fight me?” He took out his bow, “So be it!” Spike yelled, “Bring it!” And with that, the fight began. The Bowslinger shot his arrows at the quintet, but they decided to spread out to give the Doomlander multiple targets to shoot at. The Bowslinger shot five arrows at them, but they dodged them at the right time as Spike and Sonic Boom retaliated with a screech attack and electrical attack as the Doomlander staggered for a bit. His staggering left him open to a slash attack by Gilda as she managed to scrape off a piece of his armor. The Bowslinger picked himself up and said, “So you have the nerve to strike me?! It’s time you see why I was chosen to lead this assault!” The Doomlander charged up his arrows and fired three of them at the heroes, but the only difference about this arrows were… “These are homing arrows!” yelled Spike as he dodged one of them. Trail Blazer used his fire attack to destroy some of the arrows while Ember used her fire breath on the Bowslinger as the archer fired multiple arrows to stop the dragoness only for Gilda to notice as she yelled, “Ember, LOOK OUT!” The female griffin opened her beak and unleashed a crazy shriek that blew the Doomlander backwards. The shriek knocked the Bowslinger into a pile of crates as Ember asked, “Gilda, did you do that?” The griffin didn’t know what else to think since it’s been a long time since she did something like that. It was almost unreal to her since the loudest she’s ever scream was during her botched visit to Ponyville. But this scream felt like an ability, something that was locked away and finally unleashed. Sonic Boom took notice of the younger one’s shocked state, “You have the Sonic Shriek ability. The griffins of Griffonstone had this ability in your golden days. I’ve read about the griffins of old in this world, it seems they forgotten what powers they possess.” Gilda asked, “What do you mean?” Sonic Boom was going to answer when one of her babies tugged at her leg and pointing a wing at the Doomlander that’s just getting up. She sighed, “Maybe later, but you can use your new ability to help defeat the Bowslinger.” Gilda understood that as she and Sonic Boom regrouped with the others to attack the Doomlander. Back in Maretropolis, Blackout and Spotlight had reached the front door of the warehouse where the stones are said to be located. Blackout used his communicator, “Blackout to Matter-horn, we’ve reached the front door to the warehouse.” Matter-horn  replied, “Nice work. Zapp, Radiance and I are coming up on the side entrance, no problems so far.” Blackout asked about the junior member, “What about Hum-Drum?” Radiance spoke, “The colt said something about setting up an overwatch position of the area. A shadow technique as he calls it.” Spotlight whistled, “Clever colt.” Blackout asked, “Any word on his position?” Zapp spoke, “Not really, he said that he’ll contact us soon.” Blackout nodded, “Let’s hope he’s covering us. Blackout out.” He clicked off as the two dragons make their way into the warehouse through an opening in the front. It looked like a real fixer-upper, but it's where they need to go. Blackout contacted Mare-velous, “Blackout to Mare-velous. We're in.” Mistress Mare-velous replied, “We're in as well, the back door to the warehouse was only lightly guarded.” Blackout was curious, “There weren’t any guards on our end. Something’s wrong here…” Filli-Second spoke up over the comm, “You did sense that the Dream Sheep would be baiting us.” Blackout nodded, “And we agreed to spring the trap.” Saddle Rager spoke, “Just watch your tails out there...there’s no telling what the Dream Sheep is up to. But the lack of any vengeful criminals in this area is disturbing.” Spotlight threw in her two cents, “When in doubt, get angry at the right time, Saddle Rager.” The cautious Power Pony spoke with a little bit of caution, “I’ll remember that, Spotlight. Saddle Rager out.” The two dragons began to navigate through the warehouse while keeping an eye out for either the Power Ponies or any thugs that could be guarding the place. Spotlight looked around for a moment before she heard the sound of voices coming towards them, it wasn’t their friends. Spotlight whispered, “We got hostiles.” Blackout went into the shadows while Spotlight hid behind some crates as two unicorn thugs entered. Both were regular thugs that dwell in bad areas like this part of the city. They were talking to each other as the dragons eavesdropped on them as one said, “Did you hear? The boss broke out that crazed mare earlier tonight.” His partner asked, “The Mane-iac?” The first one nodded, “Yes, I heard that she and the boss are collaborating to destroy the Power Ponies once and for all.” The partner shook his head, “We all tried fighting those costumed freaks and we’ve all failed and got thrown into jail.” The first stated, “I’ve heard that the boss has been monitoring their progress and finding out their weaknesses. He’s already found out the weakness of at least three of them.” His partner asked with intrigue, “And who are those lucky three?” The thug replied, “The fast runner can’t go fast without motion. The one with the lasso, she’s not going to look tough when she has it tied around her. But the Radiance, a little whiff of nerve gas would break her will.” His partner asked, “Would capturing three of the four power ponies serve as an example of those that worship these heroes?” The thug added, “But also for harboring the two dragons that the boss is after.” In the shadows above, Blackout realized, “Radiance, Mistress Mare-velous, Filli-Second? I must warn them!” But he couldn’t warn them with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum below him. He saw Spotlight and sent a signal via eye flashes. Spotlight emerged and pulled the thug partner behind the boxes and knocked him out while Blackout swooped down, grabbed the thug and ascended up as the unicorn looked at him with a frightened look. When they were on the rafters, Blackout let the thug dangle over the edge while holding his neck, “I want to know about your boss and his plans.” The thug said while frightened, “You...you’re...the black dragon! The...one the boss talked about.” Blackout squinted his eyes, “Tell me about your boss!” The thug struggled as he spoke, “He’s a sheep...with a pet dragon.” Blackout nodded, “The Dream Sheep hired you for the opportunity to get revenge on the Power Ponies didn’t he?” The thug quickly nodded, “Yes...he did! He told us of what we could accomplish if we rid this city of the true villains of justice - The Power Ponies!” Blackout nodded as he knocked the thug out and flew down the ground and placed both thugs in the crates. Blackout’s comm went off as he heard Hum Drum’s voice, “I overheard your interrogation with that thug. It’s clear that the Dream Sheep is delusional, hoping to get the most dangerous ponies that we locked up to fight us.” Blackout asked, “Where were you, Hum Drum?” The sidekick replied, “I’m on the roof of the warehouse, I managed to locate the stones of legends, but there’s one problem - it’s heavily guarded.” Spotlight sighed, “Figures.” The sidekick spoke, “Hang on, I’m going to find a way to thin out the guard forces, this won’t take long.” Blackout asked, “What are you…” He was interrupted by a sound of magic blasts, hooves and what sounded like an explosion sound. The two dragons went to the room where the fight occurred and saw several knocked out thugs with Hum Drum standing over them. The two dragons looked at the sidekick and the knocked out thugs as Blackout asked, “Did you do all of this?” Hum Drum nodded as he held up what looked like a flash grenade, “I had my Concussion Detonator with me. It disoriented them long enough for me to knock them out.” Spotlight asked, “Should I really ask who trained you?” Hum Drum simply said, “I think you already know.” The light dragon sighed, “I thought so.” The trio turned their attention to the two stones that were in the room, one was blue while the other was red and they glowed as Spotlight and Blackout approached. These were what they came for - The Stones of Legends. Hum Drum decided to contact the others, “Hum Drum to Power Ponies, we found the stones.” The panting voice of Matter-Horn spoke, “You found them?! That’s great news! But…” Zapp spoke over the comm, “We were ambushed, somehow the deviants caught us by surprise.” Saddle Rager spoke, “Filli-Second, Mistress Mare-velous and Radiance have been captured and it gets worse…” Blackout asked, “Mane-iac is back?” Matter-Horn replied, “Yes, she’s back.” Spotlight told the others, “Meet us in the central chamber.” The others nodded as the comm ended as this mission went straight to Tartarus. Blackout lowered his head as said, “It’s my fault I should’ve warned them when I had the chance.”