Feral World

Spike and the girls entered the facility while walking through a tunnel with a map on the wall to guide them. As they walked the whole place was covered in dust and rust.

“This place looks like it's seen better days.” Applejack said, while looking around.

“If I worked here I'd hire a new cleaning crew.” Rainbow joked.

“So would I.” Rarity agreed, as she was appalled by the state of the place.

“Oh, I don't know about this,” Fluttershy said nervously, “Who knows what we'll find in here.”

“Hopefully nothing dangerous.” Starlight replied.

“Look, I think this is the main room.” Spike said, as they approached the entrance of a room where the metallic doors were lying on the ground.

They entered and saw several computer monitors set up as well as other types of machinery, “Whoa!” Twilight gasped as her eyes brightened, “I made it to heaven.”

“This stuff is all still standin'?” Applejack asked in surprise.

“It must've been state of the art if it could still be standing.” Pinkie said.

“Yes, but is it even operational?” Spike wondered.

“Only one way to find out,” Twilight said, as she spotted a master switch on the wall covered in cobwebs. She tried pulling the switch but it felt stuck, “A little help please!”

“I gotcha.” Applejack offered.

“Me too.” Spike agreed, as they all tugged on the master switch before finally pulling it all the way.

They watched as all the lights came on and the machines started working, “That did it!” Pinkie smiled, as they saw all the monitors came online.

Applejack turned to Twilight, “Well, Twilight, you're good with computers, think you can find anything out from this here one?”

“I can try. In the meantime nobody touch anything,” Twilight instructed, before noticing Pinkie about to touch a lever, “That means, you too, Pinkie!” Pinkie backed away.

Twilight began looking through several folders found in their mainframe, as Sunset spoke, “Find anything?”

“Well, most of these files are heavily encrypted, but with a little work I may be able to decrypt them.” Twilight said.

“Anything to help us uncover what my parents were actually doing in here.” Spike said, as he looked at the monitors.

Pinkie started to walk around feeling bored until she bumped into something, “Owie!” she looked and saw she bumped into some kind stasis pod, “Hey, guys come over here!” Everyone hurried over to her.

“What is it, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

“Look at this.” Pinkie showed them the pod.

“Fascinating. Some kind of stasis pod.” Luster inspected.

Spike looked at it, and saw the glass window of the pod though dirty could see a silhouette on the other side, “Girls, I think there's something inside it.”

“Something inside it?” Rarity asked.

“What could it be?” Starlight wondered.

“I don't know, but I wonder if we should find out.” Spike told them.

“Uh, it is safe looking inside a closed pod?” Applejack asked sounding unsure.

“Especially since we don't know what's inside it?” Twilight asked feeling the same.

“Well, we won't know what it is unless we look.” Rainbow noted.

Some of the girls felt unsure about this, but knowing this could be a chance to see what was going on in the lab before the outbreak decided to get it open. Twilight hacked into the controls for the pod and unlocked it making the lid open up releasing steam. The group backed away and saw what was resting inside the pod.

It was a mechanical being slightly taller than the group with a silver colored body and blue spines. This being actually looked like a mechanical dragon.

“Wow!” the group gasped.

“What is it?” Pinkie asked.

“It's a... robot.” Twilight gasped.

“Why would a robot be put in a stasis pod?” Luster inquired.

“Let's turn it on and find out.” Pinkie suggested.

“And how?” Rainbow asked, “I mean it's not like it comes with an on and off switch.”

“It could come with an activation code,” Twilight suggested, “Some do.”

“If it does it could be anything,” Spike noted, “It's not like it's gonna come online if I say 'Robot Activate'!”

Suddenly they heard whirring sounds coming from the robot and saw it's eyes glowed blue causing them to back further away in shock.

“You did it, Spike.” Pinkie gasped.

The group watched the robot dragon stepped out of the pod and moved around while surveying it's surroundings.

“Uh, what's it doing?” Rainbow asked Twilight.

“Getting a read out of where it is and see if there are any potential threat.” Twilight explained.

“I hope it doesn't see us as potential threats.” Rarity shivered, as she and Luster stood close.

The dragon robot suddenly looked upon the Equestrians and analyzed them with each one being identified by pony type in its vision. Then it turned to see Spike and started analyzing him. Suddenly the name Spike Clawson came up, and it started walking forward towards him. The girls were ready to attack it, but Spike waved his arms to them signaling to not act.

The girls reluctantly stood down as the robot stopped before Spike, “Spike Clawson?” it asked in a calm voice.

“Uh, that'd be me.” Spike answered not sure how this robot knew his name.

To his and the girls surprise the robot got down on one knee and bowed its head to Spike, “I cannot tell you how joyed I am to finally meet you.”

“Finally meet me? How long have you been waiting?” Spike asked.

“Judging by your current age and what I was told the age you were, I'd say... Six years.”

“Six years?” Spike asked as he did the math, “The same time since the outbreak.”

“Um, excuse me,” Twilight spoke up grabbing the robots attention, “But, who're you?”

“I am Dragotron. And you are?”

“Twilight Sparkle.

“Luster Dawn.

“Pinkie Pie!”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Applejack.”

“Rarity.”

“Fluttershy.”

“Sunset Shimmer.”

“Starlight Glimmer. And this is Jack.” the dog barked.

“A pleasure.” Dragotron greeted.

“Dragotron, why were you in that stasis pod and left here?” Spike continued to question the robot.

“Well, I was meant to be a gift to you. And your voice command to activate is what triggered my start up.” Dragontron answered him.

“A gift? From who?”

“Your parents of course.”

Spike stopped in his tracks, “My parents?”

“I was tasked to play this for you when I was presented to you.” Dragotron said, as his eyes glowed and displayed a holographic message of Spike's parents.

“Mom? Dad?” Spike gasped, as the girls listened to the recorded message.

“Hi, son,” Oliver began, “I know you don't like it when your mom and I have rush out to the lab unexpectedly. Especially right after you get home from school.”

Rena continued, “But your father and I have found a way to keep you from feeling lonely while you're at home waiting for us. Aside from our projects at the lab we were also working on this for you.”

“His name's Dragotron,” Oliver said, “We built him as a friend and playmate for you. And we modeled him to look like a dragon since it is your favorite creature.”

“We wish we could be there more than we want to be, but the lab has been needing us a lot as of late. Our new project is going to be launching soon. And once it's done we promise to have all the time in the world for you.” Rena promised.

“We love you, Spike.” Oliver concluded, as the recording ended.

The girls looked to Spike seeing he was staring at where the recording was playing, “Spike?” Luster asked.

Spike sniffled, “Mom. Dad. They built me a friend. They really did love and care about me more than I realized.” He let some tears drop to the floor, as Dragotron seeing this approached Spike and wrapped his arms around him.

“It's ok. I am here for you.”

Spike hugged Dragotron back and cried. The girls joined in on the hug comforting Spike until he calmed down.

“It's amazing they did all this for me,” Spike marveled at Dragotron, but how come I didn't receive you?”

“I don't know, clearly something must've happened here and they left me behind.” Dragotron looked around the lab seeing it's messy state.

“I don't know if you were aware of this, Dragotron, but the world isn't what you might've thought it was while you were being programmed.” Sunset began.

“Aren't the humans and Equestrians trying to live peacefully?” the robot inquired.

“Far from it,” Spike replied bitterly, “Things have become worse, when the outbreak occurred.”

“Outbreak?” Dragotron asked.

Twilight explained, “Around the time you were meant to be given to Spike, an outbreak was unleashed upon the world turning humans into monsters we all call Ferals.”

“More than half the human race was wiped out from it, and the Equestrians have further shunned the remaining humans thinking they could become Ferals themselves.” Starlight added.

“But that has yet to be proven true.” Luster put in.

“I was taken in with the rest of the refugees to Canterlot the supposed safe haven for humans and Equestrians. But I never felt safe there. Like the other humans I was ostracized and shunned by so many Equestrians thinking I would become a Feral too.” Spike explained.

“So I have already failed you by not being there when you needed me the most?” Dragotron asked in shock.

“It's not your fault,” Spike assured him, “It happened before any of us could've known about you.”

“And you're here now. That's what matters.” Fluttershy smiled.

“True,” Dragotron admitted, “I suppose my role as playmate to you will have to be updated to servant.”

“A little harsh. Just stick with friend instead.” Spike said.

“Very well. I accept.” Dragotron said proudly.

“The world isn't safe out there, I hope you're prepared for it.” Rarity hoped.

“Not to worry, Rarity. I have been programmed with defense protocols and weaponry to protect Spike should he ever feel threatened to a high degree.”

“Sounds good, because you'll need to have them.” Applejack said.

“We should still see if there's anything here we can use for weaponry,” Twilight began, “Everyone look around for anything salvageable. I'm gonna keep trying to decrypt some of these files.”

“Allow me to assist you, Twilight.” Dragotron offered.

“Thanks, Dragotron.” Twilight smiled.

So Spike and the girls spread out to check out the place for anything salvageable, wile Dragotron helped Twilight decrypt the files.

As Spike walked around he went by a desk seeing one of the only things in tact on it was a framed picture. He looked seeing it was of his parents and several of their colleagues they worked with at the lab. He smiled seeing his parents and recalling some of the faces of their colleagues when he would visit. Suddenly his gaze stopped upon the image of a woman he recalled from Canterlot.

“Cinch?” he asked, before hurrying back to Twilight.

Back at the main computer Twilight and Dragotron had decrypted a few files, as the girls returned, “Did you find anything?” Twilight inquired.

“A few rifles from the supply stash with a number of rounds.” Rainbow explained.

“It ain't too much, but it's what we got.” Applejack shrugged.

“Girls!” Spike announced, as he returned.

“Spike, are you ok?” Sunset asked.

“Did you find something?” Pinkie wondered.

“I think so,” Spike answered, as he held up the picture, “This is a picture of my parents and their colleagues. Any of them look familiar to you?”

The girls looked at the picture before noticing what Spike did, “Is that Abacus Cinch?” Luster asked in surprise.

“Cinch, the human rights activist?” Rainbow asked.

“She worked with your parents?” Rarity asked Spike.

“Even I didn't know. They said some of their colleagues preferred to work in private. Guess she was one of them.” Spike said.

“So she was here.” Sunset looked around.

“She went from scientist to fighting for human rights?” Starlight asked.

“Looks that way, but even if she's trying to fight for human rights, she's not exactly doing humans any favors with how she goes about things.” Spike said.

“How so?” the unicorn asked.

“Cinch has been said to resort to bribery and blackmail to get where she is today.” Spike answered.

“Yikes.”

“Dragotron and I found something too through these files. But...” Twilight began sounding nervous, “I don't think you're gonna like it.”

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight sighed, as she turned to Spike, “You said your parents were working on a way to help humans so they wouldn't feel inferior to ponies?”

“As I said, yes.” Spike confirmed.

“Well, they were onto something.”

“What do you mean, Twilight?” Sunset asked.

“I looked over the schematics and plans for what they and everyone here was working on, and they were going to launch it... But according to the records it was launched prematurely than planned.”

“Guess someone was eager to launch ahead of schedule.” Rarity said.

“But that's not all,” Twilight continued, “Spike... I don't know how to say this, but I think the virus that caused the outbreak was supposed to be the enhancement for the humans.”

Spike froze in place upon hearing what Twilight said, “The virus was... made here?”

“And it came from the project his parents and their colleagues were working on?” Rarity asked.

“HOLY MOLEY!” Pinkie cried.

“My parents... They caused all this to happen?!” Spike demanded angrily.

“Not quite.” Twilight interrupted him putting his anger on hold.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I looked over the notes and formulas and it should've worked. The whole Feral virus shouldn't have happened.”

“Twilight, what're you saying?” Applejack asked.

“I think... Someone tampered with the formula and launched it ahead of time.” Twilight said with squinted eyes.

“Tampered with?” Rainbow asked.

“So the outbreak was caused on purpose?” Starlight asked.

“It looks that way.” Twilight answered.

“But why would anybody do that?” Fluttershy wondered.

Spike looked down at the picture of his parents and the others, and eyeballed Cinch, “I'm not sure how but there's an eyewitness to the project, and she's back in Canterlot.”

“You think Cinch was the one who did it?” Luster asked them.

“It wouldn't make sense why she'd wanna turn her own kind into monsters.” Sunset said.

“Does this mean we have to go back to Canterlot and talk to her?” Rainbow asked.

“No way!” Spike answered, “I'm not setting foot in that hell hole ever again!”

“Spike.” the girls gasped.

“Especially after what I did if I came back I'd be arrested.” Spike continued.

“Look, we're all tired, hungry, and overwhelmed,” Twilight calmed Spike, “Let's go back to the Rainboom to relax and figure out what to do.”

Spike calmed down and nodded, “You're right.”

“And with all the data on the virus and the formula that was tampered with I downloaded from the mainframe is worth studying. Maybe could even make a cure.”

“A cure?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight spoke, “Theoretically at least.”

“We'll talk about it in the RV, come on ya'll.” Applejack said, as they started walking out, but not before Twilight turned off the power.

“No reason to waste power.” she told herself as she followed the others.

As they walked down the tunnel heading for where the group entered from, Dragotron spoke, “I can't wait to see the outside world instead of being in a lab my whole created life.”

“Well, we said not to get your hopes up too high,” Spike said, “Remember the world's not as a much a haven as you might've led to believe during your creative process.”

“I am prepared to face the harsh truths.” Dragotron admitted.

As they exited the tunnel and were back outside they were on their way back to the RV, until they stopped in their tracks to see Shining Armor and the guards he was with blocking their path.

“Shining Armor?” Twilight asked.

Before he could speak one of the other guards spoke up directing his attention to Spike, “Spike Clawson, you're under arrest!”

Spike's eyes widened before he screamed in aggravation, “OH, COME ON!!!”