Maretropolis

Applejack followed Thorax’s instructions and made her way to the abandoned amusement park down by the docks.

The Dragon’s Lair.

Spike’s dream.

The warehouse itself had burnt to the ground, but the rides (though broken-down, burnt and decrepit) still stood.

Applejack exited her dad’s truck and the first thing she saw was a burnt sign featuring Spike’s happy young face. The “Welcome” sign to the once illustrious adventure playground, now laid broken in two.

Applejack entered the empty park and walked past the high striker, the ball pit, the laser tag arena, the photo booth and the video arcade.

It was all calm and quiet.

She found Spike standing in the middle of the ruins, looking at the roller coaster. The crown jewel of his park. His dream. Now, just another bad memory. One that would forever haunt him.

He was dressed in the same mulberry vest, black slacks and shoes he had worn since she first saw him.

And just like the park, he looked still, calm, and composed.

“Spike. Snapdragons isn’t code for ‘wolves’, they’re toxic flowers. I think someone is targeting hybrids on purpose and making them go savage!”

“Wow,” he said passively. “Isn’t that interesting.”

She followed him as he walked further into the rundown theme park.

“Wait... Wait! I don’t blame you. And I don’t expect you to forgive me! I don’t think I’ll ever be able forgive myself, either,”

Spike stopped and stood with his back to her, refusing to look at her.

“I was ignorant, irresponsible, and small-minded. But no one should have to suffer because of me or my mistakes. I have to fix this. And I will fix this! But I can’t do it without you,”

Spike said nothing.

“And... And after we’re done, you can hate me all you want,” she sobbed. “And... and I’ll be happy about it, because I was a rotten apple, and a horrible friend to you, if I was ever a friend at all, and I hurt you... and you--and you can walk away knowing that you were right. That you were right all along. You were always right... I really am just a dumb, blonde bimbo.”

Spike still didn’t respond.

It was unbearably quiet until, suddenly, Applejack heard her voice play back on a recorder.

“I really am just a dumb, blonde bimbo,”

She heard it again.

“I really am just a dumb, blonde bimbo,”

Spike finally turned around to face her, holding up her recording pen.

“I really am just a dumb, blonde bimbo,”

“Don’t worry, AJ,” he said with a smile. “I’ll let you erase it... In 48 hours.”

She sniffled as she wiped her tears away.

“All right. Get in here,” he said.

She buried her face into his chest and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, you’re so emotional,” he said. “There we go. Are you just trying to get the pen? Is that what this is? You are standing on my foot, though. Off, off, off.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said softly.

They left the amusement park, and AJ climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck as Spike walked around the hood and slid in beside her.

As Applejack drove, Spike sat comfortably, enjoying the extra legroom.

“You’ve changed,” he said.

“In what way?” she asked.

“Your clothes. They look nice,”

“Don’t get used to them,”

Spike reached into the basket that was sitting in between them, grabbed a handful of grapes, and popped a few into his mouth.

“Oh! I thought you guys only grew apples! Mmm. So, what’s the plan?”

“We are gonna follow the Snapdragons,” she said.

“Okay. How?”

“First, I need you to call someone for me,” she said, handing him her cell phone. “A girl named Fluttershy. Give her my name. Tell her to go to Torch’s house. And tell her, that when she gets there, to tell them it’s about her father. They’ll let her in and we’ll meet her there.”

Spike made the call and relayed the message as Applejack had said.

“She’s on her way there now. What else?”

“You know this guy?” Applejack asked, holding up a picture of Discord, the crook she had busted in Dragontown for stealing flower bulbs.

“I told you, I know everybody,”

“Good,”

Spike and Applejack cruised through town and found Discord standing on a street corner, wearing the same mismatched suit, selling bootleg books.

“Well, hello. Step right up. Anything you need, I got it!” he called. “All your favorite stories! I got ones that haven’t even been released yet! Hey, fifteen percent off! Twenty! Make me an offer! Come on!”

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Lord of Chaos,” Spike said, walking up to him.

“And what do you want, Drake?” Discord asked. “Shouldn’t you be melting down a popsicle someplace? Oh, and look who you brought with you,” He recognized Applejack. “Blondie the Copper.”

“We both know those weren’t moldy onions I caught you stealing,” said Applejack as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “What were going to do with those Snapdragons, de Prancie?”

“That’s Discord, Lord and Master of Chaos, to you!” he stated. “And I ain’t telling you jack, sweetheart. And there is nothing that you can say, or do, that is going to make me.”

He flicked his toothpick in her face. Applejack turned to Spike and they shared a smile. She knew they had the exact same idea.

“Pay it forward.”

For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means in the future, whether it’s years, months, weeks, days, or even seconds into the future, you’ll meet someone who needs help. So, you help them out.

“Pay it forward.”

That is what Torch, the Dragon Lord, had told Applejack. She had done him a service, he had said. She had saved his daughter’s life, so he was indebted to her.

After Spike and Applejack had found Discord, their argument turned into a fight that resulted in Spike knocking Discord out and Applejack hogtying him.

A minute later, they were back in the truck, with Discord tied up and unconscious in the back seat, and driving to Dragontown, all the way to the place where Spike and Applejack decided to collect their favor.

When Applejack pulled up to the gate, two Dragons came up to the truck. One came up on the right and stood ten feet away, the other stayed on the driveway and checked the truck’s load bed, and then came back and stood off six feet from Applejack’s door and called out in a loud, clear voice.

“Lower your window,” he said.

Applejack wound the window all the way down, then she put her hands high on the wheel, and glanced left.

“Tell Dragon Lord Ember that the officer who saved her life is here to see her,” she said.

The Dragon’s eyes went wide for a moment, then he nodded.

He turned to his associate and ordered him to open the gate. He did.

Not long after, Discord awoke, inside Torch’s (or rather, Ember’s) throne room, and he saw Spike and Applejack standing in front of him with Torch and Ember.

Spike was holding a teacup in one hand, sipping, enjoying his beverage, while holding a saucer in the other. Applejack was standing next to him, with her arms across her chest, and Ember was seated at her father’s throne behind his desk while Torch stood between Ember and Applejack.

“Ice him!” Ember shouted.

Basil and Reginald held Discord over the icy death pit, and he screamed and struggled, trying to break free of their grip.

“You dirty Dragons! Why are you helping her? She’s a cop!”

“And the godmother to my future children,” Ember said as she motioned Basil and Reginald to wait as they dangled Discord over the pit. “If my first child’s a girl, I’m going to name her after you,” she told Applejack.

“Aw,” Applejack said, feeling very honored.

“Ice this weasel,” Ember ordered.

“I already told you, you can’t make me talk!” Discord shouted.

“We might not,” Applejack said. “But we know someone who can.”

She nodded to Torch and Torch nodded back.

“I’ll bring her in,” he said.

“Her?” Discord asked. “‘Her’ who?”

Torch left the throne room through the side entrance. He returned a minute later with a young woman. She was petite and dressed in blue jeans and a turtleneck sweater the same shade of green as the skirt she usually wore.

“Fluttershy?” Discord asked.

“Discord?” Fluttershy gasped.

“So, you two do know each other,” Applejack said.

“He's my friend,” Fluttershy said.

“Friend?!” Spike, Applejack, Torch and Ember exclaimed.

Discord sighed heavily.

“It’s true,” he confirmed.

Discord was standing outside the factory that Fluttershy's father was working at the day he retired. After his retirement party, he and his family came across Discord in the parking lot. Fluttershy's parents were reluctant to approach Discord, but Fluttershy did. She thought he was homeless, so she offered him a place to stay until he got back on his feet... and he graciously accepted.

It took some time getting used to, but Discord enjoyed having Fluttershy in his life. She sensed there was good in him and what's more, she gave him something nobody else had. She gave him a chance. A chance at friendship. Discord had never had a friend before, and now that he did, he didn't want to give that up.

One day, Discord went out for a walk. It was not so much a walk as it was scouting a location for he and Fluttershy to have a picnic, and he ran into a group of individuals who made him an offer he couldn't refuse. It appealed to his chaotic nature, and if he agreed they promised that they would reward him for his assistance. At first, he wanted to accept, but he realized that if he did, he would lose his first and only friend.

Fluttershy had told Discord that he could stay with her as long as he needed, but he knew that as long as he stayed with her he only put her at risk. At risk of learning the truth about him and his criminal activities as well as risk her very life. He didn't want to lose the one person who had shown him any kindness, but he certainly didn't want to risk putting her, or her family, in danger.

Discord had to choose.

So, he left the Shy family and returned to his life on the streets. But at least he knew they would be safe.

“But what are you doing here?” he asked Fluttershy. “What is she doing here? I thought this was about the Snapdragons!”

“Snapdragons?” Fluttershy asked. “You told me this was about my papa,” she said to Spike and Applejack.

“We believe there is a connection,” Applejack explained, “between Discord and what happened to your father.”

“What?!” Discord and Fluttershy shouted.

“We believe that your father was targeted because he knew something about the other people that went missing,” Spike told Fluttershy. “And that was that they had all gone insane from ingesting Snapdragon flowers. This was a day before he went missing. Isn’t that right, Torch?”

“Yes,” the former Dragon Lord said.

“Something that couldn’t be talked about over the phone,” Spike recalled. “And right now, the police seem satisfied with what they believe to be some kind of outbreak that seems to predominantly affect hybrids. That’s why Stratus Shy called you. He found out what was going on and he wanted you to know about it. That’s why he wanted to meet with you in person. He probably figured you would take him more seriously face-to-face... but then he went missing.”

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Then Applejack asked Fluttershy, “Your mom is a florist, right? And your dad helped her out in her shop after he retired, right?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy replied.

“Your mom is in the floral business and she found out that some of her competitors had started dealing under-the-table with some of their customers,” Spike said. “Offering kickbacks, maybe even bribes. Your dad eventually found out and pieced together enough to make some sense of it. And when he went to tell Torch about it, someone went after him, to keep him from talking. It was you, wasn’t it, Discord?”

“No! I swear, I never laid a finger on him!”

“No, but you have been stealing Snapdragon bulbs from floral shops all over town,” Applejack said. “Why?”

Discord said nothing.

“You understand that serious crimes have been committed,” Applejack told him. “Not just by you, but by others. And you need to choose sides. Now.”

Discord still said nothing.

“You want to go down with them?” she asked. “An accessory to what happened to Fluttershy’s father and fourteen other people? It’s your choice. You can either talk and we can see that the D.A. goes easy on you... Or you can keep silent, which gives you two new options: Being dumped into an icy grave, or these guys can take you apart, one piece at a time.”

Basil and Reginald looked more than happy to oblige.

“All right, all right, I’ll talk!” Discord shouted. “I admit I stole those Snapdragons,” he confessed. “But I only stole them so I could resell ‘em at jacked up prices. They offered me what I can never refuse... chaos! But Fluttershy, believe me when I say this; if I had known what they were going to do with them, if I had known they were going to go after your father, I never would have done it in the first place!”

“Who’s your buyer?” Applejack asked him.

“A tartlet named Strawberry Sunrise. We got a drop spot underground. It’s an abandoned subway car with a fancy lock on the door. Maybe a lab, maybe a storeroom. She spends a lot of time there. That’s all I know. I swear. And watch yourselves. Strawberry isn’t exactly friendly. In fact, she’s the exact opposite of friendly. She’s unfriendly!”