//------------------------------// // Chapter 57: Scar and Spike // Story: The Reader // by GnollReader //------------------------------// Scar yawned happily as he dozed in the the early morning sun. He had found himself a nice spot on a balcony and was enjoying dozing around on the warm stone. Normally he avoided sleeping in the open, but this place seemed peaceful enough. "Hey Scar." The gnoll lifted his head slightly to see Spike walk up to him. The little dragon sat down next to him, "Nice place you have here." "Is nice." Scar replied as he put his head back down. "So..." Spike said after a moment, "You got any plans for today?" "Plans?" Scar asked with shut eyes. "Yeah... you know, do something?" The gnoll thought a bit, he hadn't actually planned anything for this trip at all. He was content enough to stick to Purple Haze. But now that the little dragon had mentioned it... He studied Spikes face, "Spike is bored?" The little dragon got a bit more lively, "Well, Twilight and Cadance are off doing girly things and Purple Haze is inspecting the barracks with Shining Armor so I don't really have anything to do... I heard there's a fair in town and I'd really like to see it but Twilight doesn't like it when I go exploring on my own." The little dragons head dropped a bit, "Yeah, I'm bored." The gnoll thought about it for a moment. On the one side he could probably just stay here and sleep all day, but what would Spike do? It wouldn't be fair if the little dragon had to stay inside all day, "Scar could go with Spike." "You'd go with me? Really?" Spike asked excitedly. "Scar will." the gnoll replied as he got up. "Awesome!" --- "Wow!" Spike exclaimed in wonder from the gnolls shoulder as the two of them walked over the fair. "Look at all those stands! I don't even know where we should start!" he turned down to Scars head, "What do you want to do first?" Scar looked around the fair with searching eyes. With his height it was no problem to look over the ponies. There were many of them here, the whole place was buzzing with activity as parents walked around the stands with their happy foals. Sweet and delicious smells found his nose from every direction, all around him were colorful stands with games and little things to buy. "Scar isn't sure, doesn't want to scare tiny ponies." The ponies didn't seem like they were about to panic but many of them seemed to be intimidated by his sheer size. Those that noticed him quickly collected their foals and gave him a wide girth. He was starting to think he should have stayed in the castle. That's when he heard something that caught his attention, the sounds of crying. --- A little foal sat next to a trash can, crying softly to itself. "Pony is sad?" a deep voiced asked softly from behind. The little pony nodded without turning, "I got lost and now I can't find my mommy!" There was a pause, "Scar and Spike will help pony find mommy." "Don't worry we'll find her in no time!" another voice said with determination. The little pony turned around, "Thank you so much, I..." The foal stopped as she looked at two huge black legs. Her gaze traveled upwards and her mouth fell open, "What are you?" she asked in fascination. "I'm Spike." the little dragon answered from his position, "And this is Scar. He's a gnoll." "Scar is gnoll." the huge figure confirmed with a nod. "Gnoll will help tiny pony." he got down slowly, reached out a huge paw and held it out before her with the palm facing up. "Huh?" the foal turned to Spike, "What am I supposed to do?" "I think he wants you to jump on..." Spike turned to Scar, "Right?" Scar nodded, "Can't find mommy with pony down there, gnoll's back much higher." She looked at Spike, "Don't worry, it'll be fine." he said with a smile. The foal carefully got on his paw and was surprised at how easily he lifted her up. Spike helped her find a position on the gnolls wide back, "This is a special spot reserved only for special ponies and foals! There, how's that position?" "It's nice, thank you." the foal replied happily as she sat down. "Wow, I can see so far from up here! It must be great being this tall!" "Is good for many things, but sometimes Scar would like to be small too." he replied as he got back up. "What? If I were as big as you it would be totally awesome! I could protect everypony and be a hero like you!" Spike said as he fantasized himself being huge. "Scar is no hero. Also needs no size to be hero." the gnoll replied thoughtfully, "Big things fall much harder than little things." "I guess..." Spike replied as he wondered about the gnolls words. He turned to the foal, "Can you see your mother from up here?" The little foaled turned her head in every direction and scanned the crowd, "No... I can't see her." "Scar has idea." the gnoll spoke up beneath them, "If tiny pony can't see mother then maybe mother can see tiny pony." "How do we do that?" Spike asked in wonder. "Is simple, Scar needs to be bigger." he replied happily as he started to head towards a stand. --- Purple Haze and Twilight were walking through the fair with worried faces. Upon returning one of the guards had told them that the gnoll and the dragon had left the castle and were headed to the fair. Why it hadn't occurred to the guards to accompany the two was beyond Purple Haze's understanding. "I just hope they don't get into any trouble." Twilight said, "What if they get lost?" Purple Haze couldn't help but sigh, "I don't think that somepony as big as Scar could get lost at all. I'm more worried about the trouble those two could start." Twilight looked around the fair, "At least everything looks to be okay. Maybe we're worrying too much..." she was stopped by Purple Haze. "Look, up there." Twilight followed hear lead and felt her mouth drop. There, on top of a big stand stood the gnoll with Spike on one of his shoulders. The ponies below were by now starting to notice and many of them stopped and murmured to one another, unsure if this was a threat or an act of the fair. Purple Haze groaned, "Just what are they doing up there?" Twilight squinted her eyes, "Is that a foal on Scar's..." At that moment the gnolls voice boomed like thunder over the ponies below, "ALL PONIES LISTEN! SCAR FINDS TINY PONY! WHERE IS TINY PONY MOTHER?" For a moment there was a dead silence as the ponies simply stared at the gnoll. Then, from the back of the crowd a voice could be heard screaming out in terror, "That's my foal!" The fair suddenly became very loud.