Spike and Scootaloo enter into the welcome center for the Soldier Field amusement park, as they walked through the welcome center Spike noticed that the entire amusement park looked like a place that was trying subject young foals to military propaganda. They had made it to the exit of the welcome center when a metal gate closed on them, cutting them off from the exit. Spike then lifted the gate up so they could continue on, as Scootaloo ducked under the gate she noticed a poster advertising a vigor called Shock Jockey.
"Shock Jockey. Who needs the power company?" read Scootaloo.
"Look like somepony's alternative to electricity." said Spike as he ducked under the gate.
"Doesn't seem to work really well." remarked Scootaloo as they entered into the amusement park. As they entered Spike saw the First Lady Airship preparing to dock at the aerodrome.
"There it is, the First Lady. Looks like it getting ready to dock." said Spike pointing to the airship.
"And that will take us to Mare-is?" asked Scootaloo as Spike nodded yes. She then took Spike's claw with her hoof and walk into the park.
"Looks like you really like to hold my claw." said Spike with a small smile on his face.
"You told me to stay close to you, Mr. Spike. So that what I am doing." said Scootaloo blushing.
"Just call me Spike."
"Ok, Spike. So..... do you know why you were hired to come and get me?" asked Scootaloo.
"I imagine the ponies that sent me were interested in meeting you." answered Spike.
"Not that I am complaining but why you?" asked Scootaloo.
"I dont know. I had never even heard of this place before." said Spike.
"Really? I thought everypony knew about Cloudsdale." said Scootaloo. As the pair ventured further into the park, Scootaloo decided to ask Spike more questions while they searched for away to the First Lady Aerodrome.
"So... What do you do for a living, Spike?" asked Scootaloo
"I am an independent contractor. I used to be a royal guard until I left."
"Why did you leave?" asked Scootaloo with a worried look on her face.
"Let's just say if you seen the things I saw and did, you would understand why I left." said Spike.
"Back on the beach you keep saying 'Gem'. What was that about?" asked Scootaloo.
"It was nothing." said Spike quickly, trying to avoid the subject.
"Ok? One more question. Is there a mare in your life?" asked Scootaloo giggling at the thought.
"There was, my wife, but she is gone now." said Spike with a sad tone in his voice.
"Oh I am sorry to hear that. Did you two have a foal together?" asked Scootaloo.
"Yes but... she... she is gone too. If it all the same to you can we not talk about this?" asked Spike. Scootaloo noticed how upset Spike was getting and decided to drop the subject. They so found a gondola that would take them to the aerodrome. Spike pulled the lever to summon the gondola to them, but when he did the Shock Jockey that powered the controls overloaded and shut down.
"Great." said Spike looking at the machine that powered the controls. "It looks like this thing runs only on Shock Jockey. Where in Equestria are we suppose to find that at?" asked Spike.
"Hey look. Come see the future of power at the Hall of Heroes." said Scootaloo as she read a sign beside the machine.
"Well that's convenient." said Spike, surprised he did not see the sign there. They then went to the elevator that would take them to the Hall of Heroes, but the elevators door was covered in yellow tape with a sign above that said "The Hall of Heroes is closed until further notice". Spike pushed the button to call the elevator and started to pull the tape off the door.
"What are you doing? The sign said it was closed." said Scootaloo.
"And that means there is no line to get in." said Spike as he entered into the elevator with Scootaloo following behind him. The elevator was about half way up to the top floor when the power went out in the elevator causing it to stop.
"Great. Just hold on a minute while I get this fixed." said Spike as he took the cover off of the cricket breaker and began to fix the elevator. As he worked, Scootaloo noticed a bee flying around her.
"It's a bee! I hate these things!" screamed Scootaloo in fear.
"Just kill it." groand Spike.
"It will sting me." replied Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo."
"Wait. I have a better idea." said Scootaloo as she put her wing in front of her face and began to pull something open.
"Wait what are you doing?" asked Spike.
"I am opening a..... tear." said Scootaloo as the tear opened up showing a window with a small rose plant in the window sill.
"What... What is that?" asked Spike both afraid and amazed by the tear.
"It's a tear. I used to open them all the time in my tower." answered Scootaloo as she shooed the bee out of the window.
"What is a tear?" asked Spike.
"It's like a window to another world. Sometime some of them are boring, but sometime I see something amazing and I pull it through. See?" said Scootaloo as she pulled a rose bud off of the plant and put it in her mane and walked out of the tear.
"I remember seeing you open one in your tower when I came to get you. You opened one with a view of weird looking Mare-is and was almost ran over by a fire-chariot." said Spike.
"Yea, you would be surprised how times somthing like that happens." said Scootaloo embarrassed that Spike saw her almost get ran over, again.
"I guess you don't have some Shock Jockey or an airship in there do you?" asked Spike
"No but there is something. Oh no no no no." said Scootaloo with fear in her voice, as she seen Rainbow Bird flying around.
"Scootaloo, close it." said Spike as Rainbow Bird started to fly towards them.
"I am trying." said Scootaloo as tried to close the tear as Rainbow Bird flew closer to them, but just before Rainbow Bird could crashed through the window, Scootaloo closed the tear. Paralyzed with fear by what just happened, Scootaloo leaned against the wall of the elevator and tried to gather her thoughts.
"I don't understand what I just saw, but it sure looked like a quick way to get us killed." said Spike as the door to the elevator opened.
"But it could help us." protested Scootaloo.
"Look, I can handle the guards. You just stay away from the fighting, ok?" asked Spike, Scootaloo decided it would probably be for the best and agreed. As they exited the elevator and walked to the boardwalk, Spike spotted a group of guards standing at attention at the end of the boardwalk.
"Get down." whispered Spike as he pushed Scootaloo behind one of the shops on the boardwalk. He then tried to listen to what the leader of the group was saying.
"Alright stallions, we have our orders. We are to storm the Hall of Heroes and capture or kill Caption Garble. I know some of you think Gable is some kind of war hero, but he is not. He has betrayed our Prophet and has sided with Applejack and her Vox Ponyuli." said the pegasus leader.
"Grable?" asked Spike surprised by the name
"Who's that?" asked Scootaloo. Spike quickly shushed her and turned his head and noticed a Sky-Line at the end of the boardwalk that would take them to the hall. Scootaloo then saw something shining in corner of her eye and walked over to see what it was. She then came back and handed what she had found to Spike.
"Spike, look what I found. It a vigor." whispered Scootaloo as she handed Spike the vigor.
"Where did you find that at?" asked Spike before he drank the vigor.
"In that crate over there." said Scootaloo pointing to a small crate labeled Bucking Bronco Vigor. When had Spike finished drinking the vigor he seen that the scales on his claws start to split open and start bleed, but then his claws quickly turned back to normal.
"You ok?" asked Scootaloo, worried about Spike.
"Yea, I...I am fine. Do you see any way around them?" asked Spike.
"No. Looks like we will have to fight are way through them." said Scootaloo.
"No. I will deal with them you stay here." said Spike. He then walked out from the shop they were hiding behind and was quickly spotted by the flying pegasus leader.
"It's the Greedy Dragon! Get him!" shouted the pegasus. As the guards galloped towards him, Spike raised his claw and used the power the Bucking Bronco vigor gave him and lifted the entire group of guards up in the air. He then breathed his ice breath, and froze the entire group in a solid block of ice. The power soon wore off and dropped the frozen guards, causing them to shatter into a thousand pieces when they hit the ground. Spike then looked around to make sure that was all of them, seeing that there was no more guards he called out to Scootaloo.
"Ok. It's safe to come out now." said Spike. Scootaloo started to came out from behind the shop when a Zealot of the Lady appeared behind her. The zealot then grabbed her and put his sword to her neck.
"Drop your weapons or the mare looses her head." said the stallion. Spike did as he was told and dropped his pistol and shotgun. "Good, now kick them over to me." Spike kicked the shotgun over to him.
"I said both of them. Do it now or she will die." said the stallion as he pushed his sword closer to Scootaloo neck. Spike then winked at Scootaloo, telling her that he had a plan, she then nodded back to him. Spike raised his claw and used the power of the bucking bronco and lifted both the stallion and Scootaloo in the air. Spike then picked up pistol and took aim at the stallion in the air, careful not to hit Scootaloo, and fired at the stallion and killed him. Spike then ran over to pull Scootaloo back down and check to make sure she was not harmed.
"Are you ok?" asked Spike with a concern look on his face.
"Yea, thanks for saving me." said Scootaloo with a smile on her face.
"You're welcome. I change my mind, maybe those tears of yours would come in handy next time we get into a fight." said Spike
"Ok but there has to be a tear around for me to use. I can't just open ones that are not there." said Scootaloo as they walked towards the end of the boardwalk to the Sky-line. Spike was getting his Sky-Hook ready when he noticed Scootaloo picking up a Sky-Hook out of a crate.
"This is going to be awesome." said Scootaloo as she started to spin the Sky-Hooks blades.
"If your going to ride this thing on your own, then stay close behind me and hang on to your Sky-Hook." instructed Spike
"Got it." said Scootaloo. She then followed after Spike as he jumped up to the Sky-Line and began to ride up to the Hall Of Heros. Scootaloo thought riding the Sky-Line was the most exciting thing she had ever done, to her this was the closes thing to flying. They soon made it to the Hall of Heroes and saw that the entire place looked abandoned, but there was clear evidence that somepony was there. The entire plaza was trashed, with a half destroyed angel statue that laid in ruin, dead Cloudsdale guards lying everywhere, and all the windows of the museum were broken.
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Spike and Scootaloo then entered into the Hall of Heroes and found a giant statue of Comstock with a sword in his claw and a plaque at the bottom of the statue.
"Our Prophet, Father Comstock, Leader of the 6th Guard Regiment." read Scootaloo.
"That dragon did not lead the 6th. I don't even remember guy." said Spike, then all of a sudden a spotlight turned on and shined a light on the statue of Comstock.
"Private Spike proved he was a real dragon two times on the battlefield." said a voice behind the spotlight.
"Garble? Is that you?" asked Spike looking up at the spotlight.
"You always been different Spike. I just blamed it on the fact that you were raised by a bunch of ponies." said Garble.
"Look we don't mean any harm, we just need some Shock Jockey. So if you would kindly let us through to where they keep it I ...." said Spike before Garble interrupted him.
"That so called dragon Comstock wants to kill me and my soldiers, but we will not die by the hoofs of a tin soldier. We will die by the hoofs of a real one. We will die like true dragons and stallions." said Grable before he turned off the spotlight.
"Scootaloo stay behind me. There is going to be trouble." said Spike. Scootaloo did as he said and hid behind him, then the doors in the back of the room opened up and a dragon, with a green scales, and a yellow pegasus ran through the doors. Spike took his shotgun fired two shots and kill them, then Garble spoke again.
"See Spike, you're a real dragon like it or not! You will always kill." said Garble.
"I don't want to do this Garble. Just give me the Shock Jockey so we can leave." said Spike.
"Oh you will get you want Spike. As soon as I get what I want. My soldiers wait for you at Appleloosa and the Badlands. Go give them the death they deserve." said Grable before leaving. Spike and Scootaloo soon made it to the place where Grable had told them to go, it was a room that split into two separate exhibits. The one that went to the right was labeled The Battle of Appleloosa and the on the left was labeled The Extermination of the Changelings. Spike and Scootaloo decided to go into the Appleloosa exhibit first, as they did the exhibit came to life and a buffalo chant began to play and cardboard cutouts of buffalo and stallions fighting started to pop up.
"The fake dragon is taking credit for the acts of real soldiers. The dragon you are with Miss, he became a true dragon of on November 29, 1904." said Garble over aloud speaker.
"What does he mean by that?" asked Scootaloo.
"You don't want to know." said Spike as they entered into the main Applelossa exhibit. The exhibit was filled with cutouts of buffalo warriors standing around a statue of Comstock with a sign above the said "The Hero of Appleloosa".
"You were there, at Appleloosa. I can see it on your face." said Scootaloo talking to Spike, but he did not hear her. He was seeing through the eyes of his younger self again, but this time the filly from before was not there. He was on the battlefield of Appleloosa fighting the buffalo warriors that were charging at him and his fellow guards.
"Tell her Spike. Tell her how we burned are buffalo enemies alive." said Garble pulling Spike back into reality. "Here he is colts. Go and get your heroes death." said Garble in a happy tone.
Then a group of stallions and dragons jumped out from behind the buffalo cutouts and started to charged toward Spike and Scootaloo, Spike pushed Scootaloo behind the Comstock statue and raised his shotgun and fired at the group. More stallions started to fall from the ceiling and began to open fire on him, Spike then took cover behind a small display case and tried to fire his shotgun only to find out that he was out of ammo. Seeing him throw his gun to the ground, Scootaloo grabbed a Carbine rifle from one of the dead dragons that was close to her and threw it over to Spike.
"Spike! Catch!" yield Scootaloo as she threw the rifle to him.
"Thanks." said Spike as he caught the rifle and started fire at the stallions trying to get to him, he then launched a flock of crows to kill the remaining stallions. After the fighting was done, Spike went to check and make sure Scootaloo was ok and search the dead dragons and ponies bodies for ammo.
"You see mare? You see the real dragon Comstock wishes he was?" asked Garble over the loudspeaker.
"I told you Garble. I don't want to do this. Just give me what I need." demanded Spike.
"I will Spike. Come and find me among the Changers." said Garble.
"What are the Changers?" asked Scootaloo.
"He means the Changelings. He wants us to go to the other exhibit." said Spike as he exited the Appleloosa exhibit. As they entered into the Changeling exhibit, Scootaloo noticed the strange cutouts that looked like a black pony/insect hybrids
with blue eyes and fangs, standing in a desert scenery.
"What is this?" asked Scootaloo looking at the strange creatures.
"It the Changeling army." answered Spike.
"What happened here?" asked Scootaloo.
"In the Badlands? It was my dragon breath the burned the kingdom to the ground. But of course that not what Comstock said happened." said Garble over the loudspeaker. They soon made it to the main Changeling exhibit, the exhibit was filled with cutouts of Changelings and a giant statue of Comstock on the ground with a pistol in his claw.
"I read about this. On November 12, 1904, Comstock lead the 6th regiment into the Badlands and...." said Scootaloo before Garble interrupted her.
"COMSTOCK WAS NOT THERE!!!" yelled Garble. "I was there. Spike was there too until I sent him away to bring renforcement. The Changers captured me and my comrades and tortured us for three days, they took eye and killed all of my friends right in front of me. Is there even a plaque to remember them by? NO!" shouted Grable in anger, as he ordered his soldiers to attack. The soldier jumped down out of the ceiling started to gallop towards Spike, one dragon tried to tackle him from behind, but Spike dodge him causing him to run into the other group and making them fall over themselves. While they tried to get back on their hoofs Spike froze them with his ice breath, killing them.
"Thank you Spike. You gave these soldiers a hero's death." said Garble
"I did not ask for this." said Spike in anger.
"Heroes never ask." said Garble.
"I never said I was a hero."
"Then what are you? If you take away all the parts of Spike the Dragon you tried to erase then what's left? hmm? I have what you want. You will find me in the gift shop past the First Ladies Memorial, it's almost over Spike." said Garble. Spike and Scootaloo were making their way out of the exhibit when Scootaloo noticed that Spike looked disturbed, because of what had Garble said.
"Spike, what did Garble mean? What did you try to erase?" asked Scootaloo.
"Now that you're out of yours, maybe you'll see that cages have their advantages." said Spike
"It is better to have a choice, than to never be able to chose, Spike." said Scootaloo.
"Yea, but if you woke up one day and decided you didn't like what you chose?" asked Spike with tone of regret in his voice. Spike and Scootaloo soon made it to The First Lady Memorial, as they entered into the first room of the memorial they found large paintings and statues of Lady Fluttershy. They then found a set of stairs that took them to the next room that had a stone statue of Lady Fluttershy riding on a chariot with a baby pegasus in her hoofs.
"The foal of the Prophet laid in the womb of our Lady for only two months." said Scootaloo as she read one of the plaques at the foot of the statue. "This can't be right. My books never said anything about Comstock's wife having a foal." said Scootaloo.
"That something big to leave out. I don't think that was by accident." said Spike as he watched her read the other plaque.
"But the foal took ill and our beloved lady prayed day and night for God to heal her. And after four days the foal was not only healed but had aged into a full grown mare." read Scootaloo. They then entered into the next room that had a statue of Comstock holding the mare in his arms as he walked to a replica of Scootaloo tower.
"Spike look, it's my tower." said Scootaloo. Then the statue of Comstock began to speak.
"While Applejack has killed my beloved, she will not have the mare. She will not come between her and prophecy." said the statue. "THE MARE OF THE PROPHET WILL SIT THE THRONE AND DROWN IN FLAME THE MOUNTAINS OF STALLIONS." said the statue in a loud voice.
"Am I... Am I?" asked Scootaloo.
"Your Comstock daughter." answered Spike.
"No I...I... I cant be. I just can't." said Scootaloo.
"He want you to follow in his hoofsteps." said Spike.
"Well I want a pet turtle, but we don't always get what we want." protested Scootaloo, with tears in her eyes, as she galloped out of the room with Spike chasing after her. Spike soon found Scootaloo collapsed on a bench, in the middle of a hallway, sobbing. He went and sat down beside her and tried his best to comfort her.
"I....I...I don't understand, how could I be that dragons child. Do I look like I am half a dragon to you?" asked Scootaloo through her tears.
"Well no, you look like a regular pegasus too me. Maybe you are part dragon on the inside and you just have the outward appearance of a regular pony. I don't think anypony really know what a dragon/pony hybrid is suppose looks like." said Spike hoping that would give her some comfort, but sadly it didn't. "That thing said that the foal had aged into a mare in just four days. How old are you exactly?" asked Spike.
"My birthday was just two days ago, I thought I had turned twenty-six, but I don't know anymore." said Scootaloo.
"Well, maybe you are and all this stuff about your age is just one big lie. It looks like it doesn't take much to fool the ponies around here, so it would be easy for Comstock to lie about your age." said Spike trying to make her feel better.
"Maybe, but I don't know Spike it just doesn't make any sense. I have memories of me being in that tower for as long as I can remember, all the way back to when I was a little filly." said Scootaloo.
"Just more evidence that prove that you really are twenty-six. It might not prove that you are not Comstock daughter, but it is at least something." said Spike.
"I guess. Thank you Spike this means alot to me, you talking with me like this." said Scootaloo as she wrapped her front hooves around Spike hugging him. As she did Spike was pulled back into another dream like state, this time he was hugging the filly from earlier, but now she was a young mare.
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"You came back. I...I can't believe this. I thought you were dead." cried the mare hugging Spike.
"I promised I would come back to you, my Gem." said Spike.
"You did, you came back. You came back to me." said the mare through her tears.
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"Spike are you ok? You're starting to cry." said Scootaloo with a concerned look on her face.
"Yea. I... I am fine." said Spike wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Are you sure? You kept saying Gem again." said Scootaloo.
"I am fine. Come on we still have to find Garble and get that vigor." said Spike as he got up from the bench.
"Ok." said Scootaloo in a worried tone, still concerned about Spike and the discovery her origin. The next room they entered into was a memorial to Lady Fluttershy death and had a statue of her having a red ribbon wrapped around her neck and another statue of an orange coated earth pony mare, with three apples for her cutie mark, holding the ribbon that was strangling Fluttershy. The sign below the statue read 'The Death of Our Dear Lady Fluttershy, Killed by the Anarchist Applejack'.
"Well this is not disturb at all." said Spike sarcastically casing Scootaloo to giggle. The last room had a statue of Comstock chasing Applejack and some dragons, griffins, and mules off a bridge and a sign above that said "The Prophet peruse Applejack and her Vox Ponyuli to this day." They soon made it to the courtyard where the gift shop was at, and came up to a large gate that kept them out of the courtyard.
"Great how are we suppose to get around this?" asked Spike as he tried to shake the gate open. Scootaloo then looked up and saw something that might answer Spike's question.
"Spike, Look up there, it a tear." said Scootaloo pointing to the tear. Spike looked up to the tear and was able to see what it was.
"It a freight hook, thats convenient." said Spike.
"It's a form of wish fulfillment. It looks like I can pull it through." said Scootaloo.
"Well go ahead and open it." said Spike. Scootaloo then put her wings in front of her face and began to pull open the tear and bringing the freight hook into their world. Spike then grabbed Sky-Hook and was getting ready to jump on to the freight hook when he noticed that there was only one hook for them to use, so he grabbed Scootaloo's hoof and ran with her up to the freight hook attached to it. They then jumped down from the hook and walked across the courtyard to the gift shop, as they entered into the shop they found the place completely empty. Then all of a sudden three, seven feet tall, machine in the shape of the founders of Equestria came to life. They all started to speak at once, making it hard to understand what any of them were saying, and then all the machines turned off.
"You see what Comstock wants to replace us with. These tin soldier. He will replace all of us with them. I will not be replaced by a tin dragon." said Garble over a loudspeaker, as soon as Garble finished speaking one of the machines in the back shop started to hit against the glass case holding it. The machine was in the shape of Comstock and held a large gatling gun in its claws, it soon broke through it's glass case and started shooting at Spike and Scootaloo. Spike and Scootaloo took cover behind the counter as the machine fired at them. Spike then checked to make sure Scootaloo was not hit, seeing that she was alright Spike began to shoot at the machine. Scootaloo then saw a tear with a MG turret inside it, she then started to open the tear and pull the turret through. As soon as the turret appeared it locked on to the Motorized Comstock and started to shoot at it. With the combined firepower of both Spike and the turret the machine was destroyed.
"You see Spike, maybe you're the dragon I remember. Maybe not, it doesn't matter anymore, Comstock has sent his stallions to capture me.You can have your vigor now, it's in the back of the store." said Garble as a spotlight shined on the door of the room that held the vigor. Spike and Scootaloo entered into the room only to find that the room was empty.
"It not hear. Garble where is the vigor!" yelled Spike.
"Come and finish what you started, Spike. Me and my stallions are waiting for you in the courtyard." said Garble. Spike and Scootaloo ran out of the gift shop and back into the courtyard when they did, they seen small airships flying above the hall.
"Spike what are those?" asked Scootaloo.
"It's Comstocks guards, they're coming for Garble." said Spike. Then Garble walked out onto the balcony of the memorial and started to shoot lightning from his claws at the airships, lighting them on fire.
"IT WAS GARBLE THAT FOUGHT AT APPLELOOSA. IT WAS GARBLE THAT BURNED THE CHANGELING KINGDOM TO THE GROUND." shouted Garble. "Do you see Spike? Comstock has sent his tin soldiers to kill me and my colts. We will not die by their hoofs. Here he is guys, the dragon that will give us our heroes death!" said Garble, after he said that his soldiers started to jump down from the balcony and fire at Spike. Scootaloo, who was hiding behind a column, started to open another tear and bring through another turret and a Motorized Comstock to help Spike defeat the stallions and dragons trying to kill him. Spike took cover behind the turret and was able to kill many of the stallions and dragons that were taking cover from the Motorized Comstock. Spike took aim at the last stallion standing, that had just killed the Motorized Comstock, and was about to shoot him when he seen Garble getting ready to shoot his lightning at Scootaloo. Seeing this, Spike quickly changed his aim and fired at Garble and shot him in his left shoulder causing him to flee back into the the First Lady Memorial. After Spike had killed the last stallion, he called out to Scootaloo for her come out from where she was hiding. They then made their way back to the memorial and found Garble laying on the ground past out, Spike walked over to Garble and went to pick up the Shock Jockey that he had took, when Grable grabbed his claw.
"You're not done here dragon. Finish it." said Garble handing Spike his pistol. "Please." begged Garble, Spike was taken back by what Garble had just said. Knowing that if he spared Garble he would be captured and tortured to an inch of his life, Spike decided to kill him. Spike then took the pistol from Garble claw and pointed it at his head.
"They haven't changed you Spike. Not.... one... bit." said Garble before Spike pulled the trigger. Scootaloo turned away before Spike pulled the trigger and jumped when she heard the shot. Spike then took the vigor from Garble.
"This better have been worth all this Garble." said Spike as he uncorked the bottle. After Spike finished drinking the vigor, his claws started to grow weird purple crystal and started to shoot lightning from them. As Spike's claws turned back to normal, he decided to try out his new power on a nearby fountain. He pointed his left claw at the water and began to shoot lightning at it, shocking the water. He then turned back to Scootaloo and seen her standing over Garble lifeless body.
"I guess it was an act of mercy. Comstock's guards would have taken him and done who knows what to him." said Scootaloo as she closed Garble eyes with her hoof.
"It was." said Spike
"Do you ever get used to killing?" asked Scootaloo as she started to head back to the entrance of the Hall of Heroes.
"Faster than you can imagine." answered Spike following behind her. They walked back to the entrance in complete silence, both of them were trying to come to grips with what had happened. Spike was trying to block out the memories of the horrible acts he had committed when he was a royal guard and Scootaloo was still trying to understand how she could be Comstock daughter. Spike had convinced her that even if she is Comstock daughter the stories about her ageing into a full grown mare in just four days could not be true, since she has memories of being in that tower all her life. The one thing she could not wrap her mind around was the fact of her being Comstock daughter.
"How could I be his daughter? It doesn't make any sense, even if what Spike said is true and I am really half a dragon on the inside. Wouldn't I be able breath fire?" thought Scootaloo. Spike and Scootaloo finally made it back to the plaza of the Hall of Heroes and road the Sky-line back to the boardwalk. As they entered into the elevator that would take them back to Soldier Field, Spike decided to ask Scootaloo about her tears.
"So...How you are able to do, what ever it is you do with those tears?" asked Spike as he pushed the button on the elevator for it to go down.
"Well to be honest, I really don't know how I am able too. I have been able to open them ever since I was a little filly. I remember when I was younger not just being able to open tears but create ones." said Scootaloo
"But how?" asked Spike.
"Well I tried to figure it out. I read some books on physics."
"What did they teach you?"
"That there is a world a difference from what we see and what is." said Scootaloo as they exited the elevator and made their way to the gondolas controls. As they walked to the controls they noticed that the entire amusement park was empty, Scootaloo suggested that the park was closed and that was why it was empty. Spike told her to stay close to him just incase it was a trap. They soon made it back to the gondolas controls and Spike shot the lightning from his claw at power source, after the power came back on he pulled the lever and summon the gondola. Spike saw that Scootaloo was getting more and more excited the closer the gondola got to them. Then out of nowhere two Cloudsdale sky barges, full of armed guards, rose up from the clouds and surrounded them. Comstock then started to speak over a loudspeaker.
"He will leave you my sweet sweet Scootaloo. Once he has what he want he will toss you aside like an old toy. What do you expect from a liar and killer." said Comstock.
"Dad...Prophet...Comstock, who ever you are. I am leaving whether you like me to or not, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." said Scootaloo.
"Oh my sweet child. That's where you're wrong. Kill the Greedy Dragon but do not harm the Mare." said Comstock. The guards then jumped off the barges and started to gallop/fly towards Spike and Scootaloo. Spike and Scootaloo ran to a near by bookstore to take cover, Spike then took his rifle and aimed at the unicorns that were firing their magic at them. Spike was able to shot one guard in his neck, just before he could fire his magic at Spike, and made the unicorns magic hit one of the flying pegasus guards. Scootaloo then seen a tear at the entrance of one of the shops close to where the guards were taking cover, she then pointed the tear out to Spike to see if he thought it would help them. Spike shook his head and told her to open it, Scootaloo then put her wing in front of her face and opened the tear pulling through a speeding train through that ran over the unicorn guards.
After Spike finished off the rest of guards, he and Scootaloo made a run for the gondola before more guards could arrived. They made it into the control room and pulled the lever to send them to the aerodrome. Seeing that there was no guards chasing them, Spike and Scootaloo decided that they were in the clear for the time being.
"Spike, why did you come here to Cloudsdale?" asked Scootaloo.
"To come and get you." answered Spike.
"Yes, but why?"
Spike sighed "I gambled and I owe money to ponies you don't want to be in debt to. I came here to pay it back."
"Who sent you?"
"Somepony willing to take away my debt in exchange for you." said Spike. The gondola soon arrived at the aerodrome and dropped them off at the main hall of the aerodrome. They soon found an elevator that would take them to the top of the building where the airship was docks, as they entered the elevator Scootaloo noticed a poster of a dragon with its claw reaching out to an orange pegasus mare, seeing this made her laugh.
"Well it looks like you're the Greedy Dragon, Spike." said Scootaloo pointing at the poster.
"I guess that makes you the Mare." remarked Spike.
"Yea, lets not call each other that." said Scootaloo.
"Fine with me." said Spike as the elevator stopped at landing pad where the airship was at. Spike made Scootaloo wait outside of the airship until he made sure that nopony was in it, after he had finished checking airship he called for her to come in. They made their way to the control room and Spike started to pull the levers to set their destination.
"I want to see Mare-is. I want to see everything." said Scootaloo flapping her wings in excitement.
"Well that up to you now." said Spike as he finished putting in their destination.
"Hey. What is that? 40 north by 74 west? That Manehattan not Mare-is" said Scootaloo seeing the coordinates that Spike put in.
"Wait, how did you know that?" asked Spike
"Another thing I had in that tower besides books was time. Time to study stuff like geography." said Scootaloo irritated that Spike had underestimated her.
"Look there is a stallion in Manehattan that was willing to wipe away my debt if I brought you to him." said Spike, then Scootaloo started to cry. Spike walked over to her and tried to get her to stop crying.
"Come on Scootaloo. I sorry I lied to you. If you will just turn around and look at me so we can t...." said Spike as Scootaloo stopped crying and grabbed a wrench, that was laying on the control board, in her wing and hit Spike in the head with it knocking him unconscious.