The Adventures of Test Subject SP-1K3

Chapters

Chapter 1: Relocated
Chapter 2: Testing at Twilight
Chapter 3: A Promise
Chapter 4: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Chapter 5: A Door That Opens Both Ways...
Chapter 6: ...Is a Dangerous Thing
Chapter 8: Adventure of the Five Dragons
Chapter 9: The City of Diamond Dogs: Night Time Chats
Chapter 10: The City of Diamond Dogs: The Day Market
Chapter 11: Even if it Kills Me...
Chapter 12: ... I'm Not Going Back
Chapter 13: Confessions
Chapter 13.5: "Hero"
Chapter 14: Plans in the Making
Chapter 15: Lets Have a Talk
Chapter 16: Small Rest
Chapter 17: Pony Town Shake Up part 1
Chapter 18: Pony Town Shake Up pt 2
Chapter 7: Botched Teleportation

Chapter 1: Relocated

"k...em..... fI.... m"

Test Subject D-1043 sat along with other dragon test subjects in a covered cage. The soft mumbling in his head continued to plague him as he tried to get some sleep. But he would not visit the land of slumber anytime soon. The mumbling that only he heard was as if thousands of beings were trying to speak at once, but they were all muffled. If he concentrated, he could vaguely make out some words, but it didn't matter at the moment.

Since getting sleep wasn't an option for the small purple dragon, he took this time to look around the cage to see what his fellow test subjects looked like. There were many dragons in there with him, but none of them seemed as if they had grown out of their teen years yet. Each dragon varied in color and shape. Some had curved horns while others had horns where straight. Some had wings while others did not. Some had scars covering their bodies be it small or large. The origins of those scars could have easily been from battle or one of the numerous experiments done onto them.

Though there was one thing that each dragon had in common, a metal collar was clamped around each of their necks. From what D-1043 had heard, mostly from pony guards and scientist boasting about it, the collars were a modification of a ring that prevented unicorns from using their magic. Since dragons' elemental abilities were magic in nature, the modified collar did its job well, though it didn't stop the use of their elemental breaths or skills altogether. The collar weakened them to the point where it was a mockery of what they used to be.

In D-1043's case, he had the power of emerald flames that used to be strong enough to burn wood and render small stones to lava if he tried hard enough. Even though he was a baby dragon, the purple dragon could efficiently cremate a pony with his flames if he wanted to. Now, though, his emerald flames were nothing more than a blast of warm air. He couldn't even burn a piece of paper let alone burn a pony.

Though it wasn't only their elemental powers severely suppressed, most of their physical attributes were also altered by the collars. To put it just, D-1043 was confident that none of the dragons here were strong enough to fight a butterfly. It probably would take all of them to win against one pony in a head-on fight.

With their powers stripped away and their physical strengths being weakened, the dragons were perfect lab rats. For what they were lab rats for, D-1043 had no idea exactly. That was okay though because D-1043 found himself lacking the motivation to care for the grand scheme of things. This was his life and, as much as he hated it, he decided to along for the ride. It was much easier to go along anyway.

Soon there was a sudden jolt, and the cage stopped moving. D-1043 sighed. 'I guess this is the end of the road.' he thought to himself as the sheet that had covered the cage was taken off, and the light burned his unadjusted eyes.

"Alright, get your scalie butts up," commanded an earth pony mare clad in golden armor. "Move in a single file line out of the cage, no funny business, and no roughhousing." There was a couple of grumbles from a few dragons as they all stood at attention. One by one they all exited the cage. Each dragon looked around their surroundings, taking in every little detail of the ponies that surrounded them. They were all in a gigantic room. One that looked as if it would usually be used to store a large number of supplies.

There was a circle of ponies around them, each of them equipped with some form of weapon. Swords, spears, crossbows, almost every pointy thing that was used for killing something was ready to strike at a moment's notice. One wrong move and, at the very least, a dragon could easily find themselves in a medical ward for a good while. Once they were out of the cage, the mare spoke up again.

"You all have been transferred over to another branch of the research facility overseen by Director Twilight Sparkle. In here, you will be on a tight schedule. Tardiness to experiments and testing will not be tolerated. You will now be taken to your holding cells. As a warning, there might be other test subjects already in your holding cell. All rules from your previous location regarding cell mate behavior apply here. That will be all." A door was then opened to the right of the mare, and the dragons were soon lead through it.

It didn't take long for the dragons and ponies to reach the building where the holding cells were. It did take a few doors that needed a unique key to get through, but they were finally there. The group of dragons was soon split up and led to their holding cell, their new home for who knew how long.

It wasn't too long before D-1043 was in front of the door to his new holding cell. He yawned as the pale white door slide open. He saw the same room as he had seen so many times before. The walls were pale white; the floor was pale white, even the ceiling was pale white. Almost everything about this room was the same as his old one. The only difference being that this room's size was much more prominent. Big enough to accommodate the three, now four, dragons that inhabited it.

To his left D-1043 saw a white teen winged dragon with a pink underbelly and spikes sleeping in one of the two bunk beds. To his right were a duo that consisted of a red teen dragon with wings that had an orange frill going down his spine and a smaller teen dragon that had purple scales so dark that one would have that they were black. A trio of small white horns jutted out the top of his head. Both of them seemed to be in an intense staring contest. Both of them growling at the other one

"Uh... hi?" D-1043 asked blankly. Two pairs of eyes focused on him. Their surprised gazes were returned with his bored expression.

"Well, well, well. I heard that we were getting new testing buddies. Didn't know that they'd be shrimp sized." the red dragon spoke. He walked up to D-1043 like he owned the holding cell. "So, what's your name shorty?"

"D-1043 or Spike. Whichever you prefer." Spike answered.

"What kind of a name is Spike?" laughed the red dragon, "How lame of your parents to name you like that?"

"Oh so Garble is a better name?" asked the dark purple dragon.

"Hey, butt out of this Jet!" yelled Garble, "It's not my fault parents suck at naming..."

"Spike isn't the name my parents gave me." Spike interrupted, "It's the name a pony guard came up with after seeing my spell counter."

"Your what?" asked a confused Jet. To which Spike pointed one of his dark purple claws at his collar. The front of the collar had "SP-1K3" crudely engraved into it.

"It's a long story," Spike yawned, "But the short of it is, ponies used their spells on me a total of 1,003 times. They gave me a nickname of Test Subject SP-1K3. The name sorta stuck after a while, and a guard simplified it to 'Spike' and thus a legend was born." Both Garble and Jet looked at the baby dragon with disbelief. "Hey, I don't expect you believe me. Either way, I'm tired, where's my bed?" Spike shrugged.

"It's not that I don't believe you," Jet spoke, "But you sound so... nonchalant about it."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Spike admitted. He soon walked over to the bunk bed the pinkish white dragon was sleeping in. As he started to climb the ladder to the top bunk, he was yanked off of it by Garble.

"That's my bunk kid," he stated, "You share the bunk with Jet." Garble pointed towards the bunk bed at the other side of the room.

"Thanks," blankly spoke Spike. He went to go to his bed, but the red dragon stopped him again.

"Before you get your little sweepy sweep," he mocked, "You better get one thing through that tiny head of your's, I'm the boss around here. Anything I say goes without question." There was a sudden chuckle from Jet. "Why do I hear laughing, Jet?"

"Cuz you got ears, you dumb excuse for a leader!" Jet barked back.

"Oh, so you think you could be a better leader than me? You're barely older than this shrimp!" yelled Garble. The two of them continued to argue with Spike still in Garble's clutches. He sighed as he began to drown out the bickering dragons. The mumbling in his head returned and again, Spike failed to understand what the voices were trying to say.

"M...Pe.... Mu... E... Pe... K... tH.... E.... Pe"

Author's Note

You do not want to know how many times I had to rewrite this chapter, but it's finally done. I had this idea in my head for a while now and just posting this to see how well it goes.

Chapter 2: Testing at Twilight

"It is six o'clock everyone!" yelled a female voice,"Time to get up" Her voice was loud and authoritative. So loud, in fact, that it was able to rouse even the deepest of sleepers. The doors to each dragon's holding cell slide open and three simultaneous groans were heard.

Garble huffed as he rolled out from his top bunk while Jet forced himself to climb down the ladder. The white dragon stumbled to stand upright. It seemed that while the dragon himself was awake, his legs were not. Spike just hopped out of bed as if he wasn't having any problems being awake so early in the morning.

"Whoa," said the white dragon, "Who's the kid?"

"New roommate... came yesterday... too tired... need coffee." Jet answered. He soon slumped against Garble. A few snores were heard from the dark purple dragon before Garble groaned and knocked the younger dragon to the floor. A snort could be heard as Jet awoke from his short trip back to dreamland.

"Name's Spike," stated the youngest of the four, "What's yours?" He extended a hand towards the older dragon who almost shook it before recoiling back.

"Is that... natural?" he asked. Spike looked down at his claws and was met by the sight of darkened scales. From his elbows down, his scales were a dark shade of purple with only a couple small patches of his natural scale color showing. This was one of the side effects that he had grown used to during his time as a test subject.

"Not really, but it's not contagious if that's what you're worried about," Spike spoke blankly. The white dragon look towards Garble for some kind of confirmation.

"Just shake the squirt's hand so we can go get some grub." He commanded. The albino dragon shakingly extended his hand towards Spike's and quickly shook his hand.

"F-Fizzle." The albino dragon finally answered Spike's question. Spike gave a small smile.

To many, Spike seemed as though he was tired and bored at the moment. While the former was correct, the latter was far from the truth. He was surprised to see the cafeteria where all the test subjects were having breakfast. He was even more ecstatic when he found what was on his plate.

It was just a bowl of oatmeal, some eggs, a piece of toast, and a glass of water. A normal breakfast in terms of pony standards, but, for Spike, it was a meal he would have gladly killed for. Garble, on the other hand, didn't share the baby dragon's sentiments.

"Again with this pony food," he nagged,"When are we going to get some real food, like meat!?"

"Ha!" exclaimed Jet, having just finishing chugging his mug of coffee. "The day I see a pony cook meat is the day I stop drinking coffee!"

"Speaking of which," Spike started. "Why are you drinking that stuff? Everyone else is drinking water." Jet turned his attention towards the small dragon.

"I'm part of a thing they got going. They're seeing if this thing called 'caffeine' has any effect on dragons. Apparently, this thing is in a bunch of stuff. They've got this kid about your age drinking... soda? I think it was. The little bugger can't get enough of the stuff." Jet answered.

"Are they fill in tah methical ward?" asked Fizzle, his mouth filled with toast.

"They went to the medical ward?" asked a confused Spike, "What happened to them?"

"Oh you should have seen it!" exclaimed Garble. "The little devil was just chugging down dozens of sodas and before we knew they were bouncing all over the walls and was running through the whole cafeteria with the guards chasing them. It was so funny I couldn't stop laughing for hours."

"Yeah it was funny," Jet admitted, "Before they got their leg broken."

"Guards?" asked Spike. It wasn't too hard to realize the implications he was making. To which Fizzle was the one to quickly dismiss it.

"No, no, no." he quickly spoke. "They eventually ran out of here and jumped off the top landing of the staircase."

"Oh," said Spike. His eyes ever so slightly widened. "Well then."

"Yeah, but they're a tough little dragon. A broken leg won't keep them down for long," spoke Jet. He finished off the last bits of his meal before continuing. "If I had to bet, I'd say they'll be around and about by tomorrow."

"You gonna hold up to that bet?" asked Garble. To which a sinister smile began to spread across Jet's face.

"Depends. What are you betting?"

"Winner gets the loser's dessert for a week."

"Two weeks and I'm in."

"You got it!" Garble and Jet shook hands, sealing the deal on their little bet. Both Fizzle and Spike rolled their eyes as they finished the rest of their breakfast. As they did there was a ringing sound throughout the entire room. The dragons quickly rose from their seats and proceeded to exit the cafeteria. Spike quickly followed his roommates as they descended the staircase and into a giant spacious room with five walls.

There was a second floor above them that consisted of metal walkways on the perimeter of the room. There were four hallways on the upper level that lead to the rest of the building and, most likely, the testing rooms. On the walkways were pony guards fully clad in armor, of course. 'How many guards do they even have?' thought Spike. A lavender unicorn in a white lab coat trotted into the room from one of the second-floor hallways.

"Good morning everyone," she said. She had same loud and authoritative voice from before. While everyone else groaned and booed at the mare, Spike just stared at her with surprise. The guards and other soldiers were normally the ones who addressed the test subjects when in large groups rather than the ponies in lab coats. So to see this lab coat pony address them personally was quite the surprise. "Enough of your groaning, we're on a tight schedule and I didn't write down a time slot for groaning." The dragons soon quietened down and let the purple pony continue.

"Good, now on to the schedule," she started. She looked down at her clipboard that she held in her magical grip. "The schedule is the same for most of you. D-0456, D-0519, D-D0500, and D-0626; you have been assigned to Building 3, Test Room B-12 today until lunch. D-0256, D-0630, D-0723, and D-0724; due to certain... complications... you've been assigned to Building 2, Test Room C-5." There was a loud 'ooooh' that came from the crowd.

Spike looked around and found many dragons wincing or looking away. His eyes soon landed on two of his roommates, Fizzle and Garble. The former of the two leaned against the latter as if his legs decided to not function as they were supposed to. Garble himself was shaking with what Spike assumed was either fear or rage. He really couldn't tell from where he was standing.

"That is all the changes for the original dragons of my facility," the mare finished. She flipped the page and cleared her throat before continuing. "All test subjects who arrived here yesterday stay where you are, the rest will head to their respective testing room," she commanded.

The room started to become less crowded as most of the dragon test subjects made their way up the stairs that led to the second floor. "Come on, Fizzle." Spike heard Garble say.

"No!" Fizzle yelled, "I don't wanna have my insides removed! I like them where they are!!"

"Your insides are gonna stay where they are if you hurry up and stop acting like a hatchling!" yelled the crimson dragon. He struggled to drag the kicking albino dragon up the stairs. "Who knows, maybe they'll give you a nice big sapphire when they're done." The shouting of the two dragons was soon drowned out as they went further away from the main room. The remainder of the once massive group of dragons were in the mid-twenties. That was Spike's guess at least.

"Okay, now that we're alone. I'd like to formally address myself. I'm Twilight Sparkle, the director of this research facility." she started. "Now, you'll find that my facility is much different from your old one. What differences are there? I'll leave that for you to find out during your first day of testing. But don't be misguided in thinking that just because we're different that we'll let any aggression towards the faculty here go unpunished." The last bit of that sentence made a chill run down Spike's back.

"On to the scheduling," she spoke. Twilight gestured to the white unicorn mare on her left. "D-1019 through D-1030 will follow Luitenant Swift Wind and company to Building 2, Test Room A-12."

She gestured to the bronze pegasus stallion on her right. "D-1031 through D-1041 will follow Private Brass Works and company to Building 1, Test Room B-7."

"D-1042 and D-1043 will be joining me and Private Moondancer in Building 4, Test Room A-11. All testing will continue until lunch at twelve o'clock and will resume at one thirty in the afternoon." Twilight finished and the remaining dragons soon made their way up the stairs to follow their perspective ponies to their test rooms.

Spike and another baby dragon found themselves walking with two unicorn mares. One of them being, of course, Twilight Sparkle. Who was currently flipping through the papers on another clipboard she had been holding. The other was a cream colored mare clad in silver armor. A few streaks of purple ran through the sea of red that was her short mane.

A quick glance to his right and Spike was able to see the other baby dragon that accompanied him. Her scales were in a limbo of orange and red. Her pale blue hair and back spikes stuck out from her rustic scales. A few sparks of electricity flew off of her back spikes as she fidgeting with her collar. Her vibrant teal eyes locked onto Spike's cold emerald ones.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. A great look of confusion was plain to see on her face.

"Nothing," replied Spike.

"You look like you're about to die."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Name's Spike by the way. What's yours?" Spike extended his hand to his female test-mate. To which she looked at his different coloration of scales and had her confusion run deeper.

"How in the name of Bahamut did this happen?!" the she-dragon pulled Spike closer as she inspected his darkened arms. Spike shrugged at her question.

"Don't really know. Pony magic is weird. Scales didn't really change until spell 589. That was a fun day." Spike gave a weak smile. "Still didn't get your name though."

"Little Fang," the blue-haired dragon stated. The two unicorn mares listened to the two dragon's chat as the group continued to walk to the testing room which didn't take too long. Within a few minutes, they were outside test room labeled 'A-11'. Moondancer gestured to two baby dragons inside first.

The room was very small. There was enough room for a small desk and a couple of chairs. On the desk were many instruments that neither of the dragons knew the functions of as well as a few small mountains of paper. A big window allowed whoever was in this room gaze into a larger pale white room. A large metal door to the right of the desk was the only entrance to that room. Spike felt a tingling sensation around his neck. He looked down to see that his collar was glowing in a light purple hue. Little Fang's collar also was glowing in the same light purple hue, but unlike Spike, who still wore his bored expression, Little Fang let out an ear bleeding screech.

"Calm down!," commanded Twilight, "I'm just editing the dampening enchantments on your collars so testing will go smoother and safer for both parties." After a moment, the hue dissipated and both dragons' felt the tingling sensation stop.

"Could you give a dragon some warning you know!" yelled Little Fang. Her yelling, however, fell on deaf ears.

"Okay, D-1043. You're going in first. D-1042, you stay here and don't move a muscle." Twilight said as she opened the metal door leading into the large pale room. She gestured the young purple dragon to go in first. To which he did, giving Little Fang a wave before he crossed over into the other room.

Once inside the room, the lavender mare closed the door behind her. A series of clicking sound emanated from it.

The room itself wasn't as barren as Spike thought it was. There were a few boulders in here as well as a few target practice dummies. Each looking as if they had been thoroughly used.

Twilight soon stepped a few feet away from the dragon. Her horn flashed briefly as a white aura covered the pony. The aura soon faded while Twilight looked over the notes she had written. Spike had seen that spell cast too many times to not know what it was. It was a magic protection spell that, of course, protected its user from a variety of magic attacks. It was a safety precaution when ponies dealt with removing a dragon's collar for testing and recording their abilities.

The mare soon took out a small machine from one of her lab coat pockets. From what Spike had gathered, it was called a 'tape recorder'. Ponies spoke into it and it recorded whatever they said for listening to later. "Commencing D-1043's magic and behavioral observation in three, two, one." The moment the last word left Twilight's mouth, the same tingling feeling returned around Spike's neck. Which then led to a heat that Spike had forgotten he even had returned to him. He could feel his body warming up and his strength returning. His eyes widened with shock and amazement.

"D-1043 please use your elemental ability on the equipment provided," Twilight commanded. There was no need for Spike to be told twice. The little dragon took a deep breath before going down on all fours and releasing a torrent of emerald flame onto the nearest boulder. Spike kept spewing his flames until he had to stop for another breath of air. Looking at the boulder, he was reminded of the power he had held before his time as a lab rat.

The boulder was glowing hot. A few pieces of it even melted off and burned their way into the white tiled floor. There were a few scribble sounds before Twilight spoke again. "Impressive for a baby dragon. Now, use your ability on me this time." Spike looked at her for a moment, completely in shock, and then quickly shrugged.

She had cast a spell that was protecting her from most magic. Spike was sure that his fire breath wouldn't have any effect on her. Besides, she looked confident enough and she wouldn't have said to do so if she wasn't. Also, he was not going to pass up the chance to blast the lavender pony. He wasn't going to get another chance again or with anyone else.

As Spike took in a breath to unleash his emerald fire, something in him stirred. Then suddenly, the voices returned and in greater volume. They screamed inside Spike's head, bringing him to his knees as he clutched his head in pain. He tried to block them out. He tried to stop their constant yelling in his head but to no avail.

"fREE! FReE aT lAsT!!v"

Spike could feel his arms growing hotter and hotter by the second. The heat was intense as if the very sun was now trapped inside his arms and was slowly crawling its way through his body. He soon felt his collar tingle again and the voices shouted from within. He turned his head to face the purple pony who seemed to be trying to say something, but no words came from her mouth. Her horn was aglow and the voices grew louder.

"No!!! NOooo!! NOooOOo!! FrEEEdomm! so close. PuRple PONNNnnnnyyy!! must. DiE!!"

With one last breath and tears in his eyes, Spike bellowed out a torrent of flames. Though these flames were not his trademark emerald flames. They were a haunting purple. They engulfed the scientist as well as a fourth of the room. As the flames died out, Spike fell to the floor. His mental and physical energy spent.

Twilight stood above the unconscious baby dragon. Not a single hair on her was touched by the dragon's purple fire. She had reactivated the dragon's collar's dampening enchantment just before she was blasted with dragon's seemingly new found ability. There was a click as she brought out her tape recorder again.

"The observation of D-1043's magic has ended at roughly fifteen minutes after the starting point. Observations are as followed. When faced with using his full capabilities against a boulder provided to him, test subject's emerald flames performed as well as when he was first captured. When faced with a pony as a target, something in him seemed to change. Abnormal patterns are as followed." She went on listing her findings both in tape recording as well as looking over Spike's records that she had obtained a few days prior to his arrival.

Every detail in her findings brought many things. It brought up questions that Twilight was more than eager to find the answers to. It brought roadblocks that Twilight knew she would dread getting over. It also brought forth a feeling of empathy for the poor baby dragon, but she quickly dismissed it and added another tally mark to the back of her clipboard. She could drink her guilt away once her research was done. After finishing her recording, she lifted the baby dragon onto her back.

"You really outdid yourself this time, Director Starlight," Twilight said to herself as she walked into the smaller observation room.

Chapter 3: A Promise

Spike found himself laying on a warm stone floor. His eyes disobeyed his commands for them to open, but he didn't mind all that much. He would have a chance to get some much-needed sleep at least. But sleep did not come easy for the baby dragon. Instead, he found himself teetering on the edge of the waking world and the dream realm. After many failed attempts at claiming the sweet slumber he craved, Spike settled with just resting in his cozy little spot.

A sudden shift could be felt to Spike's right as something pulled him closer to it. The warmth emanating from of the being was more than comfortable for the small dragon. Spike snuggled up to the being who provided him with more heat. He heard a giggle coming from somewhere. It was followed by a soothing voice that Spike could only hear fragments of.

"Hey....ey..... hEy.... Br...er.... Wake...Up"

With a sudden jolt, Spike found himself awake in an off-white room. He was laying on a bed with only a thin sheet to keep him warm. To his left were other beds, though some had curtains drawn to keep their occupants from the prying eyes of others. "Oh good, you're awake," said Twilight, who Spike didn't see on his right. "Are you okay? Anything out of usual?" she asked.

Spike took a moment to figure out what he was going to say. He was groggy from just waking up and already his eyelids were already trying to close themselves. "I... I'm fine," Spike stated.

"I heard a pause in your statement," objected Twilight, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine!" Spike nearly shouted. The sudden loudness caused Spike to wince in pain as he grabbed his head. A sudden throbbing pain in his head caused tears to start to pierce through the baby dragon's tight-shut eyes. "I-I just got a headache that's all." He opened one eye to look at the lavender pony. She was flipping through the vast amount of paper in her magical aura.

"Hmmm... I'll give you some aspirin to relieve the pain," started Twilight, "Also, after the... incident, you will be part of a project that I have just started." The gears in Spike's head stopped for a moment before rewinding to what happened prior to him falling unconscious. The extremely loud voices that shook him to his very core. The blazing heat that sought to burn him from the inside out. The feeling of unknown rage as he sought to use that same heat to burn Twilight nothing more than ash.

The little dragon griped the bed sheets even harder as his mind began to race, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Thoughts on top of thoughts piled in his head, weighing him down with the weight that each of them brought. He was so wrapped up in trying to find an explanation as to why he did what he did that he didn't even notice his darkened scales glowing an eerie purple. Nor did he notice the lavender pony jotting down more notes.

"Updating D-1043's condition at approx. eight forty-five p.m. He has awakened and is seemingly trying to cope with what transpired during the incident. This evidently has caused him to be severely stressed and it would seem that when under stress his darkened scales glow like they did during the incident. Later testing may be needed to fully prove that stress is a trigger for this phenomena." Twilight quickly wrote. Every now and then she took a quick glance towards Spike. The glow in his scales grew more bright by the second.o

Spike's breath began to grow more rapid and sharp. His pupils darted every which way as if trying to look for something. An answer maybe? Twilight didn't know. But what she did know was that if she didn't step in now to help the little dragon, they would have a lot more trouble in the long run.

"Spike," Twilight spoke, snapping the dragon out of his trance. "I don't know what thoughts are running around in that head of yours. But I know how it feels to be in a situation like this. Something happens to you and you have no control over it. That feeling of helplessness never goes away really. It sticks to you for a long time before you can get over it and to be so young and experiencing that... well, I can't say I envy you." There was a moment of silence between the two. "But I do want to help you. If you leave everything to me, be cooperative, just be patient, and in the end, I'll make sure you get what you want."

To say Spike was surprised, was an understatement. It was the biggest understatement of the year. Not once had Spike heard words with the caliber of kindness that Twilight had given him. She even called him by his nickname! All these emotions that swirled in Spike began to rush towards the surface. More tears began to sting his eyes as he gave a quick sniffle. He quickly wiped them away and gave one last sniffle before his blank expression and a weak smile returned once more.

"D-do I even have a choice in this?" he asked. Both of them knew the answer to that question. Spike knew he was stupid for asking it, but he had to get it off of his chest. He had to hear it straight from the pony's mouth that he was trapped here until they let him go.

"... No, you don't." admitted Twilight,"But you're in good hooves now. I promise." Another chuckle escaped from the baby dragon. "Anyway, it's almost time for dinner. Moondancer is right outside the door. She'll take you to the dining area."

"Okay." Spike obeyed and quickly found his way to the door. He opened it and hastily exited the room, leaving Twilight alone.

With a sigh, the lavender unicorn levitated out a drinking flask that she had been keeping in her inside lab coat pocket. A quick swig of the flask's contents and the unicorn shuddered briefly. She could see that the road ahead was going to be a long and difficult one. She took out her tape recorder and pressed record.

"Date, July 19th, 2019. Time, eight fifty p.m. Test Subject D-1043 seems to be experiencing mental and emotional trauma. It would appear that subject's collar has also been fitted with an 'emotion inhibitor'. The reasoning for such an enchantment is unknown nor is it anywhere within the subject's files. It may have been more damaging to the test subject to have disabled it fully so soon. Schedule testing for the full scope of this 'inhibitor' tomorrow." Twilight groaned as she took a long swig from her flask. The burning liquid that rushed down her throat made her shudder again.

"This will conclude testing for today. End of recording."

"Don't you dare scare me like that again!" Little Fang yelled. A current of electricity flowed through her pale blue hair. "Here I am being worried sick about you for an entire day and what is the first thing you come and say to me?"

"Hey?" answered Spike.

"You got some nerve to just walk up to me and say 'Hey' like it wasn't a big deal. I thought you were seriously hurt or something!"

The two sat at a table eating their dinner; a bowl of soup and a slice of bread. The surrounding dragons could be heard giggling at the rustic dragonette yelling at her male test-mate. Spike could hear some of them gossiping about the two. He could have sworn he heard the words "cute" and "couple" used in the same sentence, but his mind was a bit preoccupied with Little Fang trying to pummel him at the moment.

"Why do you even care that much anyway? We only met this morning," complained Spike as he took another soft punch from Little Fang. To which the dragonette stopped her assault of punches that equaled the strength of pillows.

"Why wouldn't I care?!" retorted Little Fang, "We're all dragons in a land filled with ponies that have captured us with these... things!!" She tugged at the metal collar around her neck. "Whether we like it or not, we're in this together. If one of us gets hurt, or worse, we should at least care a little. After all they won't care at all." Little Fang shot a glare at one of the closest ponies that stood guard by one of the exits. Her hair stood on end as arcs of electricity flew off the dragonette in quick succession.

Spike could only gaze at the dragonette. Pure rage was present on her face. If looks could kill, the pony guard that she was looking at would have been killed a thousand times over. He looked off into open space for a moment, thinking about what Twilight had told him a few minutes ago.

"Also," started Jet. The two baby dragons nearly jumped out of their scales at the sudden appearance of the dark purple dragon. "You're the only other baby dragon around here besides Terrus, but I don't think you two have met them yet." He finished. He sat down across from the two younger dragons and began to slurp up his soup. "So, I take it you had a rough first day?" asked Jet.

"You could say that." Spike joked as he too slurped up his soup. There was a chuckle heard from Jet and a 'hmph' came from Little Fang. "By the way," Spike started as he looked around. "Where's Garble and Fizzle?" Jet froze for a moment before placing his bowl down.

"Haven't seen them after breakfast. They're probably in the Medical Ward by now," he answered. This gained him a confused look from the two baby dragons. "Oh yeah, you two are new here," Jet groaned. "I guess I'll have to tell you before you figure it out the hard way. Come closer kiddies and let Papa Jet tell you the story behind Test Room C-5."

The two sat and listened to Jet explain the test room that seemed to have everyone worried and they had every right to be. All testing buildings had three floors. The top floor was labeled 'A', the ground floor called 'B', and the basement floor titled 'C'. It would appear that building two Test Room C-5 had its name shortened to and remembered as "2C-5". Test Subjects in the past went in, but few left the room unscathed. Some came out missing an eye. Others came out dumber than they went it.

But the number of dragons that survived couldn't even hold a candle to the number of dragons that laid dead because of 2C-5. When the facility originally started, the place used to be much bigger to occupy its one thousand dragon test subjects. That number had dwindled down to a mere tenth of what it was as the months and months of testing gone wrong and other accidents went by. It wasn't until the Twilight Sparkle was assigned as the new director that things started to change.

"What kind of changes were there?" asked Little Fang.

"A lot. But the most specific change was that there wasn't any testing in 2C-5 for a while. So when big boss lady put Garbles and Fizz in that room this morning. You can understand why we all get a little unnerved." Jet answered.

"Did you ever go into 2C-5?" asked Spike.

"Nope!" quickly responded Jet, "And thank Bahamut I didn't! I'm not sure Garbles could have lived without me." Jet place an arm on his forehead as he said the last sentence dramatically. A small chuckle spread throughout the table. Spike and Little Fang did their best to keep their smiles under control but failed in doing so. The nearly pitch black dragon's cheese theatricals were just too much for them. Though if anything, they did appreciate the teen dragon for lightening the mood a little.

"I get the feeling you're leaving something out," Little Fang spoke.

"Just leaving out the gory bits," admitted Jet, "Don't want the wee little babies having nightmares." Little Fang huffed and scrunched her face. The dragons at the table gave another chuckle before a ringing sound echoed throughout the room.

The dragons were soon returned to their holding cells for the night. Since they didn't have much to do in terms of entertainment, the dragons quickly went to sleep. The voices in Spike's head decided to leave him alone for tonight and he was left in near silence. The only sounds coming from Jet's soft snoring overhead. Spike laid in bed still contemplating on what the director had said to him earlier.

"... I'll make sure you'll get what you want," she said, to which Spike chuckled.

"What I want, eh? What do I want?" he asked himself before rolling over and falling asleep for the night.

Chapter 4: A Trip Down Memory Lane

It didn't take long for Spike to fall into the routine. Breakfast was followed by testing which lasted until lunchtime. More testing ensued until it was time for dinner and after that, it was lights out. The following days followed the same guideline with ever so few changes to the formula.

What intrigued Spike the most of the routine was that they were allowed a thirty-minute break during testing. He was so fascinated by the idea of them getting a break that he asked Twilight about it while she examined him one day. To which she responded, "Having at least one thirty minute break during the testing periods allows both test subject and researcher to recuperate. Though the break leans more in favor of the researchers' side as it allows them to gather their thoughts and..." Spike had stopped listening at that point. He was just glad to know he could have a break.

The days soon flowed together. Spike found himself having trouble remember if yesterday was indeed yesterday or a week ago, but it didn't matter. He had more concerns on his mind right now. He thought about things a lot nowadays. Certain phrases of what people have said stuck in his mind like a bug in a spider's web. To amplify this, the voices that often spoke to him had taken it upon themselves to repeat the phrases in his head. Though now they weren't fragmented as they were before. Long gone were the voices speaking above one another or jumbling their words. They spoke in nearly perfect unison this time.

"I'll mAkE suRE yOu get WHaT... wANt."
"...We ShoUld at leAST c... a LiTTle. AftER all they Wo... care at all."
"WhAt do I WaNT?"

Spike gazed at the apple that he held in his claws. The more the phrases repeated the more thoughts plagued his already heavy consciousness. His train of thought was only interrupted by Jet's interference. "You've been staring at that apple for a long time, dude," he said, startling the baby dragon in the process. Jet raised an eyebrow. "You okay little buddy?" Spike looked at the midnight purple dragon for a few moments before sighing.

"Can... can you tell me what Fizzle and Garble were like?" Spike asked.

"Oooohh," hissed Jet, "So that's what you're worried about." He too sighed before carrying on the conversation. "Well, Fizzle's a big scalie baby, but he's got us out of a lot of situations before. And he knows quite a lot too. Did you know that he can use magic?"

"Don't all dragons technically use magic?" asked Spike.

"No, I mean like the magic ponies use," explained Jet, "He could make this float in mid-air, make a shield out of magic, he got really mad this one time and turned Garble into a frog." A chuckle came from Jet as he retold the story. "Dude, knocked himself out when he did it though."

"Speaking of Garble, the dude's kinda worthless," admitted Jet.

"Isn't that kinda harsh?" Spike replied.

"It's the truth though. Garble likes to let his fists do the talking for him. The only reason me and Fizz even stayed with the guy was that he was very strong for a fire dragon. Normally it's the earthies that get to be that strong."

"How strong was he exactly?"

"He got mad and ripped out a fully grown tree and threw it at a pony scouting camp. Though he was out of commission for quite some time. That's actually how we got captured in the first place," Jet finished the rest of his lunch, "It's hard to move a dragon that weighs almost as much as you do and fend off anger ponies at the same time."

"He probably has some earth dragon blood mixed in somewhere, " Spike suggested as he finally took a bite of the apple he was holding.

"That would explain a whole lot. But now that we're on the subject of bloodlines," started Jet. He was interrupted by the ringing that signaled the end of the lunch period. Every dragon stood and soon reported to their designated testing rooms.

"Stop drinking that," ordered Moondancer. Twilight looked at her with an uninterested look. Her flask just inches away from her mouth. "You'll die of alcohol poisoning at this rate."

"Wouldn't be so bad," retorted Twilight.

"Don't talk like that either!" Moondance demanded, "Ugghh, listen. How about we just let the other researchers handle this?"

"Can't."

"Why not?!"

"I'm the only one capable of performing this spell for long periods of time," Twilight answered. Moondancer let out a groan as she slammed her hoof onto the table. Spike and Little Fang sat and bore witness to the whole spectacle."Listen, I understand why you're worried, but it's going to be fine. I work better when I'm drunk anyway."

"I'm not just worried about you," Moondancer glanced at the two baby dragons sitting on the bench in the corner, "Diving into someone's mind isn't something you can just go about willy-nilly. Especially if you're drunk, Twilight. Also, isn't that spell forbidden?!"

"Ha! Forbidden, smitten! Just because a spell's been labeled 'forbidden' hasn't stopped ponies from using them! I mean just look at D-1043!" Twilight pointed a hoof at Spike, who was still trying to understand the situation. "Starlight had a field day with him and I can't find a single scrap of information about what she did to him. How am I suppose to fix him when I can't even tell what's magic she used?"

"You can't use fire to fight..."

"THEN EITHER GIVE ME A BETTER SOLUTION MOONDANCER OR JUST SIT THERE AND BE A GOOD LITTLE GUARD DOG!!" yelled Twilight. Her tired eyes now blazed with an anger that neither the dragons nor Moondancer had seen before. Twilight's nappy hair seemed to start to move on its own accord. It danced as arcane energy began to radiate off of the mare.

Moondancer could only sit in fear at Twilight's sudden outburst. Another emotion crossed her face for a brief second before she turned to face the window. Spike couldn't quite tell what it was. "As you wish, Director," she said. Twilight's hair calmed down as she took a deep breath. She looked at her flask before tucking it into her lab coat. She got up from her chair and proceed to open the door to the larger portion of the room.

"Come on D-1042. I need to make sure these calculations are correct," demanded Twilight. Little Fang stood up quickly, She didn't want to anger the mare any further after everything that had just transpired. Once the dragonette passed the threshold of the door's frame, the door closed behind her.

Spike then did something that he normally wouldn't do. He stood up and walked over to the table that Moondancer was sitting at. He climbed onto the chair sat next to her. The two of them sat in a moment of silence as they watched Twilight perform her spell. "I... I take it that she's not always like this?" Spike asked, breaking the silence between them. Moondancer sighed.

"... No, she's not. She also didn't drink so much either," she answered. Her gaze never tearing away from the experiment. There was another moment of silence between the two.

"So... what's this forbidden spell you were talking about?" asked Spike. To which Moondancer remained silent. "Well, I can assume that it allows the user to enter the mind of another. Is there anything else it does?"

"... it doesn't let the user enter the mind of someone else. Well not entirely," Moondancer finally spoke, "It allows the user to view memories of the person they cast it on. But there's a catch to it." Moondancer looked onward to see the events unfold. Little Fang's hair stood on end. Arcs of electricity flew off of her body in waves. Multiple of them had even managed to hit the violet unicorn, but, thanks to the collar around the dragonette's neck, she was unfazed. "The spell causes the one whoever had the spell cast on them to essentially relive said memories. I've read that it is a... very unpleasant experience."

Spike felt his claws start to dig into the wooden table. He could feel his teeth grinding against each other. Unpleasant. Why did that word make him burn up inside at the mere mention of it? Moondancer took the moment to glance at the young dragon beside her. After the weeks of having seen him and his standard blank expression most of the time, It was a surprise to see some fire those emerald eyes of his.

Twilight returned with a worn out Little Fang on her back. She gently placed the heavy breathing dragonette on the bench. Spike rushed towards his friend. "Fang! Fang, are you alright?" Spike asked, his voice heavily dripped with concern. The dragonette looked towards Spike before she reached out and pulled him into an embrace. Her tears flowed freely while she clung to Spike as if her life depended on it. Spike was at a loss for words and in the attempt to try to find the words to say, he was separated from Little Fang by Twilight's magic.

Little Fang screamed for Spike not to leave her, but Spike had no control over the situation. She pleaded for Spike to stay, but he had no say in the matter. The pure look of devastation on her face was forever burned into Spike's mind. He was so distraught by this that he didn't even notice that he was on the other side of the closed door. He had stood there for who knew how long just staring at the door. His stayed frozen in a state of horror.

"D-1043, I would appreciate it if you would come over here so we can start the procedure," state Twilight. Spike's body seemed to have moved on its own. His mind was still lost, but his body had performed these simple actions so many times it didn't need his input. It even went as far as to change his expression to his normal blank expression. "Good, now let us begin."

The familiar aura of Twilight's magic surrounded her horn. Spike felt a sudden pressure on his mind. He felt himself drifting away as if he was about to go to sleep. Spike's world soon turned black.

Spike seemed to be running through a forest. He didn't know why he was running, but he knew that if he had stopped, his life was as good as over. So he continued to run. He ran even as his chubby legs burned and ached. He ran even as his lungs felt as if they were about to burst. He ran until he couldn't feel his legs anymore and had slumped against a tree trunk.

Breathing heavily, he looked ahead of him and found the mouth of a cave. A tired smile was plastered on his face as his eyes shined bright with hop. His destination just a few feet away from him. Just a little bit further and he would be safe. He tried to stand up, using the tree trunk for support but found his way back down to the grassy earth.

A sound was heard coming from behind him. He didn't know what it was exactly, but his fears told him what it was. Using the whatever strength he had left in his arms, the baby dragon began to crawl his way towards the entrance of the cave. The noises began to grow louder and louder. The sound of hoofsteps becoming more evident with each passing moment. Spike had just passed the threshold of the cave's entrance when he heard shouting from behind him.

Looking into the darkness of the cave, Spike could see the outline of the person he was sure would save him. He reached out a claw and shouted a name that he did not know, but sounded oh so familiar. His pleading shouts seemed to grab the person's attention. They stood for a brief moment, looking at the baby dragon with confusion, before running at full speed towards him. Their mouth moved, but no voice came from it. It was then that Spike felt the cold metal of a collar clamp around his neck.

Immediately, his already tired body flopped onto the ground. He could feel his inner flame begin to dim and the heat it once emanated fade away. He was soon scooped into the arms of a teen dragon that possessed his same color of scales. He could hear the muffled yelling of the older dragon that held him in their arms. Spike could feel the heat radiating from the dragon that held him growing stronger with each passing second.

His heavy eyelids soon closed and he nuzzled into the dragon's chest. The heat they gave off felt wonderful to Spike's cold and tired body. The memory ended as Spike's eyes closed.

"Get up D-1043," a pony researcher ordered. To which the young lilac dragon moaned in pain. Not only was the coldness that the dragon felt was nearly unbearable, but the lightning spell that he had just endured took all the strength he had. "If you don't get up within the next five seconds you're going to be punished." Spike pushed his already tired body to its limits. He tried to even move his body even an inch but to no avail. It should have been obvious that the baby dragon was struggling to even stand on his feet, but the researcher didn't see it that way.

Another jolt of lightning was sent through Spike's body. The baby dragon slumped down to the floor, unmoving. His entire world had turned black and the memory faded.

"You shouldn't be using that kind of language in front of children," stated a researcher.

"And you shouldn't be using children for your weird experiments," retorted the purple dragoness that held Spike close to her.

"Listen, I just need to take D-1043 so we can fix his collar. We're trying to save his life, but if you want to do this the hard way can have him taken by force again if need be." This got a growl from the dragoness. Spike looked up at the dragoness that held him. Her dark emerald eyes held a fire in them that he couldn't dream of obtaining. He admired her for that. But he also didn't want her to get hurt again because she was protecting him.

"It's fine sis. Just let me go," Spike said. Which earned him a confused look from his older sister.

"They've almost killed you twice now, Etseon! You can't be serious about going with them!" she complied.

"I am serious, Emory. It's better than them hurting you to get me." Spike stated blankly.

"Huh, I didn't expect the kid to be the sensible one here." commented the researcher. Emory looked towards the researcher than back toward Spike before huffing.

"Fine," she said reluctantly as she released her hold on Spike, "But if you die, you're telling mom and dad that it was your decision!"

"Of course," Spike chuckled before leaving with the researcher.

"Beginning phase two of Project Black Dragon. Test Subject D-1043 are you ready? This procedure will be quite unpleasant." spoke Director Starlight. Spike looked at the mare with a blank stare.

"Do I even have a choice at this point?" he inquired. Starlight ignored the dragon's question. Instead, she continued on with the experiment. Her horn began to glow a sickly purple as the whites of her eyes turned a putrid shade of green. Something inside Spike told him to run. It told him to get as far away from this pony as he could as quickly as he could, yet he still remained where he stood. There was nowhere for him to run. He was stuck in this room until the testing was complete so whatever was to come next, he would have to endure it.

Though he could not prepare himself enough for what Starlight had planned. A beam of purple magic was shot from her horn and hit Spike directly in his chest. At first, Spike could barely feel anything. The beam had a force behind it, but it wasn't strong. It felt like a spout of water trying to push him back. Though soon enough Spike began to feel the effects of the spell.

His eyes widened as he felt the magic start to ebb its way into his being. Its cold menacing presence shook him to his very core. It continued to borrow its way into him until Spike felt it touch his fire. Or at least, what was left of it. What was once a healthy fire that burned strong was now nothing more than a couple of embers of a dying campfire. The magic engulfed the embers nearly putting out the remnants of his internal fire.

Spike finally released the breath he didn't know he was holding. His body was growing cold, too cold. His limbs were like stone and his breath started to slow. He felt his heart start to slow its rhythmic beating until it was so slow Spike thought it stopped completely. Spike fell to the ground. Darkness encroached from the corners of his vision. 'Forced hibernation,' Spike thought, 'At least I'll die sleeping.' The baby dragon closed his eyes. He was ready to face the end of his story.

But the spell was not done with him. The magic that had engulfed the embers of flames began to strengthen them. The embers soon turned to a small flickering flame. A minuscule light in the vast darkness that surrounded it. But soon the flames began to devour the darkness, growing ever more powerful by the second. The menacing magic became infused with the emerald flame. Spike's eyes shot open as he felt the heat of his fire began to grow stronger. His breath quickened and his heart rate returned to normal. His body no longer felt like stone, but it now felt as if he was burning from the inside out.

The heat grew stronger and strong with each minute that passed. Spike was so hot that he started to melt the floor he was laying on. Spike tried to speak, but only emerald and purple flames erupted from his mouth. Sudden bursts of the green and purple colored flames erupted from his body. The flames that had once nearly been extinguish was now a blazing inferno that Spike had no control over.

Spike roared as the heat soon pulled itself into his arms. It felt as if the sun had infused itself into his limbs. It was then that his arms were enveloped by a raging purple fire. Spike gazed in scared amazement at the haunting purple flames and, to his horror, the flames gazed back. The last thing that was heard as the memory ended was the screaming of Spike and cornucopia of random voices that seemed to scream alongside him.

"EnOugh... Enough... enough"

Spike panted heavily as the voices repeated the same word over and over again. All of them seemed to be just as tired as he was. He looked at his surroundings and found that he was in the other room with a sleeping Little Fang on his arm.

"... can't stay mad at me forever, Moondancer," stated Twilight, "I've already apologized. Can't we just move on from this?"

"I'm sorry if I'm being difficult, Director, but I'm just a guard dog. I don't know if I would be able to help you with your research," retorted Moondancer. Her gaze never once met Twilight's. Twilight sighed to herself as she rubbed her temple. She struggled for the right words to say and failed. She returned to the papers on the table and began writing her findings.

There was a silence that filled the room that no one dared to break for what seemed like forever. Moondancer was the brave soul that finally broke the silence after so long. "Why did you become the director, Twilight?" she asked.

"Why did you become a battle mage?" Twilight quickly rebounded, "We were given orders Moondancer. Orders that we have to see through to the end whether we want to or not. Orders that some of us have to deal the consequences in our own ways." There was another short silence.

"Can you, at least, slow down on the drinking? I don't want to tell your parents that you drank yourself to death."

"I'll try Moony," Twilight sighed as she finished her notes, "It's getting late. Let's get these two to the cafeteria."

"We still have five and a half hours until dinner time," complained Moondancer.

"Moony, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the last two hours and a half have been mentally and emotionally taxing. I've got some information that I can work with so I'd say this calls for an early dismissal." Spike pretended to be asleep while Twilight trotted over to get them.

It didn't take long for the four of them to reach the cafeteria. Spike and Little Fang sat next to each other while the two ponies at further down the table. Little Fang laid her head on Spike's lap and tried to go back to sleep. Spike looked down at her and the image of her face from before was still on his mind above all other things. "Little Fang?" Spike started, "Are you okay?"

"I think we both know the answer to that, Spike," Fang answered quickly.

"You want to talk about it?" Spike asked.

"... not right now. Maybe some other day."

"Alright, but just so you know I'm here if you ever want to talk."

"Heh, since when did you get so sentimental all of a sudden?"

"Well, you said it yourself, didn't you? Us dragons are in the same boat here. We should at least care a little about each other." Spike had a smile on his face as he looked down at the rustic dragonette who in turn started to smile too. The two shared a light chuckle before the two took a quick nap before dinner, seeing as to how they didn't anything better to do.

Within time, the rest of the dragons came into the cafeteria and found the two sleeping baby dragons. They had more than enough fun teasing the two throughout the whole duration of dinner and they would most likely continue for who knows how long. Jet was probably the only one who didn't tease them about being mates for life or something to that effect. Though it was probably due to the fact that they had already received enough teasing by the time he got to them, but it was a relief none the less.

Spike took a moment to look at Little Fang trying to cut some of the teen dragoness who tried to give her some tips about dating males with a plastic knife. He then turned to Jet who sat laughing his tail off at the little dragonette's attempt at murder. Spike chuckled a bit to himself as he ate the rest of his dinner next to Jet and watched the little dragonette go. Today had been a long day, but it was over now and tomorrow would certainly be another long day. So he decided he wanted to live a little for today and enjoy himself even it was for a moment.

Chapter 5: A Door That Opens Both Ways...

Author's Note

Bit of a warning. There are some elements of non-consensual stuff in this chapter. It's not a lot and doesn't go far, but this is just a heads up.

Chapter 5: A Door That Opens Both Ways...

During Twilight's memory viewings of Spike's life, she found that some of his memories were 'locked' away. They were buried deep within the baby dragon's mind, and someone took extra care to make sure that the would never see the light of day again. Twilight took this as Starlight's attempt to hide even more details about 'Project: Black Dragon'. To which, she was correct, but she didn't anticipate the fact that other things were there too. Somethings that were meant to be locked away and forgotten. Due to this oversight, Spike soon rediscovered a memory that would have been better left forgotten.

He had been cornered by a cream-colored female guard with a light brown mane. Spike quivered as countless imaginings of what she was about to do to him ran through his head. When he felt the touch of her hoof on his face, he flinched out of habit. There was a chuckle from the mare as she gingerly placed her hoof under Spike's chin and brought his eyes up to meet her's. Cold emerald danced with fierce cobalt as the two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes seemed to glow with a passion that Spike did not understand. A soft smile spread across her face. "Ya know," she started, "those researchers aren't the only ones that can do experiments."

"W-what do... do you m-mean?" stuttered Spike. Every fiber of his being was telling him to run away, but his back was already pressed against the wall. There was no escape route for him to go and fighting was out of the question. The earth pony mare was incredibly strong and could easily break one or two of Spike's bones. The little dragon was just going to have to endure whatever this pony had in mind for him.

"Ah've heard dragons have an interesting tongue." purred the mare. "Let's put those rumors to the test." She brought her face closer towards Spike. Their lips connected and the mare's tongue pushed its way passed Spike's defenses. The little dragon's mouth was filled with the taste of apples. Something stirred in Spike. A growing heat spread throughout his entire being. There were a few flashes of purple flames before everything burned away and Spike found himself lying on the test room floor. A screaming Twilight barely registering over the roaring purple flames that enveloped his arms.

"Bad POnY. ShoULdn't be snOOping wHeRe yOU don't BELoNg~"

The voices spoke again. The purple dragon tried to stand, but a hoof firmly pushed him back down onto the ground. He felt the collar around his neck start to tingle. The haunting purple flames soon began to die and flicker until there was nothing left. Spike felt confusion like he hadn't felt before.

"BOoooOoo. IT was jUst GEttINg FUn."

"Are you okay, Twilight?" asked Moondancer. She took her gaze off the baby dragon under her hoof to check on Twilight's physical condition.

"I'm fine!" hissed Twilight, her horn burning with intense pain. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," stated Moondancer. She turned her attention towards Spike, who was still under her hooves. "What did you do!" The shouting mare's only response was a flinch from the baby dragon.

"I-I didn't try to do anything," he protested.

"Don't lie to me!" Moondancer's horn ignited and Spike could sense the spell being cast. A lightning spell that he himself was a test subject for. Spike quickly scrambled for words to speak in his defense.

"I'm telling the truth, honest!" he pleaded, tears in his eyes. The spell was ready to fire and Spike screamed as he prepared for the pain to course through his body as it had the many times before. But it never came.

Twilight had placed a barrier between Spike and Moondancer. The dragon and pony guard were both stunned at the sudden interference. Twilight proceeded to walk towards Moondancer. "When I say I'm fine, that means I'm fine!" hissed Twilight, "I appreciate that you're doing your job, Moondancer, but scaring an already terrified test subject isn't going to get us anywhere." Twilight gestured towards the shivering mess of a dragon behind her barrier. Moondancer sighed. She tried to correct her actions, but Spike was not listening. The fear had taken its hold and was not letting go.

"...Come on D-1043. It's should be lunch time by now." Twilight said as she opened the metal door into the observation room. Spike still trembled as his body followed the two ponies at a distance.

Spike clutched an apple in his claws. The fruit's glorious red skin practically shined in the light. By all accounts, the apple was a prime candidate for consumption. However, the young drake could not bring himself to eat the fruit. Its sweet juices that had once brought a moment of happiness to the lilac baby dragon now served only as a reminder of her.

The memory played back again in all of its devious details. The mare toyed with him in ways he didn't know possible. It brought back other memories of experiments. Each and every time he felt the same helplessness as before. He was just a ragdoll being passed from pony to pony. A ragdoll that was to be pushed and pulled as much as his owners wanted to and he was to endure it all, but he had endured it. He endured things that no baby dragon should have been put through and has been enduring it all again.

Something stirred in Spike once again. Only this time it was more powerful. The burning sensation grew again and his body began to grow hot enough that the apple in his hand began to wilt from the heat. A deep seething hatred that had been slumbering for a long time was starting to awake from its long slumber. How much longer was he going to keep being a plaything? How much longer would Spike have to wait for his freedom to arrive? He didn't know and the fact that he didn't know made him all the angrier. A purple fire with a green outline erupted from Spike's arms. The apple in his claws burned in the flames.

The dragons and guard around him took notice of the sudden eruption of flames from the baby dragon. At first, they didn't see it as much seeing as to how other dragons used their dragon abilities as well from time to time. Although, that changed when they say that the apple in his hands was now nothing more than a piece of large charcoal at this point. The baby dragon was soon knocked out of his trance as he was bombarded with questions about how he was able to burn something at all. Little Fang and Jet being included.

The guards soon dispersed the crowd and quickly took Spike into their custody. Spike gulped as they took him away to somewhere in the facility.

The day couldn't be over quick enough for Twilight. She had just settled down for lunch when the guards came in with Spike in tow. Twilight, after being informed of Spike's ever-growing strength with his abilities, took it upon herself to check his collar. To her surprise and horror, the enchantments on the collar were on their last legs. It was no doubt that the dark magic in Spike's body had something to do with it. Another outburst or use of his draconic abilities and the enchantments were as good as done. And while trying to reinforce the enchantments, Twilight ran into another snag that had been left behind by none other than Starlight. It was the emotion inhibitor. It was about to go out and there was nothing Twilight could do to fix it. She tried multiple things to give herself a larger window of time to work with, but almost everything she did seem to weaken it more.

She sighed as she looked down at the purple dragon. The things she had put him through, the things her kind had put him through, were things that couldn't be taken back so easily. Especially that one mare. Twilight could feel her teeth grinding together at the mere thought of her. To think that a mare would do something like that to a child made her shiver in rage. Though is she thought about it, Twilight wasn't that much different that mare. The only difference was that they had a different goal in mind. While her's was to obtain some sort of pleasure, Twilight's was to obtain knowledge. But both of them were doing the same thing, using children in fiendish ways to get what they wanted.

While Twilight was berating herself, she didn't catch on quickly enough to see that Spike was shaking rapidly. He was sitting on a bench and his hands were firmly squeezing his knees. At first, Twilight had assumed that the inhibitor had given out faster than she had calculated and the ticking time bomb in front of her was ready to explode. It didn't take too long for that thought to leave her head and a new one to come and take its place. Moondancer had left due to family affairs and Twilight had stationed the guards outside the room. Spike was alone with another female mare. He was probably scared out of his little mind. Twilight groaned. She wasn't drunk enough to deal with this situation.

Twilight sighed as she stopped the flow of her magic. "Wait here," she commanded. Spike nodded before Twilight disappeared in a flash of light. Spike had seen multiple unicorns do that before. They called it teleportation. It was a neat little trick that Spike wished he could use. Before he could even think about missing the purple pony's presence, she popped back into the room with two bottles of red liquid in her hooves. She sat next to Spike as she uncorked the first bottle. She placed the bottle opening to her lips and proceeded to drink a decent portion of the bottle's contents. She gasped as she stopped for air. She passed the bottle to Spike who looked questionably at the bottle. "Come on, drink up, relax a little," she said.

"W-what is this?" he asked.

"Cheap red-wine," Twilight answered quickly, "Got it for my twenty-fifth birthday. Never really was much of a drinker back then so I never opened these darn things. Figured I'd let you drink this since is smoother than most of the stuff I drink."

"Isn't alco... alcohol dangerous for me to drink?" Spike asked.

"Don't worry," Twilight said. "A couple of sips won't hurt you any more than we have." Spike looked at the bottle again. He closed his eyes as he brought the opening to his lips and took a sip of the crimson liquid.

Spike felt good. He felt more than good. He felt as if he could reach and touch the clouds. Now only if he could remember what a cloud looked like. The baby purple dragon was a giggling mess by the time he and Twilight finished the first bottle and was even more of a mess by the time he finished the other half of the bottle. He wore a stupid smile on his face as he laid in Twilight's lap. The purple pony above him looked down at him with sympathetic eyes. He felt like talking to her, but the words had trouble coming out of his mouth. "Heeeeeeey, Twiiiii..." he eventually said.

"What Spike?" she asked.

"... where are we?" he replied.

"We're at the testing facility," she answered.

"No... no. Where is the testing fa... fa... testing place on the map?" Spike asked. Twilight finally understood what the dragon was trying to say.

"We're just a couple hundred miles south of Equestria," she stated.

"Any trees around here? I like trees."

"No. It's mostly plains of tall grass for a good hour or two by train. It'll take at least a day or so to get to the nearest town by hoof." Answered Twilight. She took the last few swigs of the red wine before doing a few last tweaks to Spike's collar. She estimated that she had a whole two days before the inhibitor gave out. A solid forty-eight hours were all that she had to find out a fix for this. She prayed that the report she had sent to the princesses got there on time.

She looked over at a wall clock and found that time had flown by. It was nearly time for dinner. "Come on Spike, time for dinner," she said.

Spike replied with a soft "Wooooooo." The two of them headed to the cafeteria. Upon arrival, the whole place was cheering. The crowd was dense and Spike couldn't see who they were cheering for until he heard Jet yell for everyone to go back to their seats. The crowd grumbled a bit before dispersing slightly and he was able to see who they were crowded around. Fizzle and Garble had returned. Spike's body moved on its own accord as he walked towards the duo. A large scar spread its way across Fizzle's mid-section. Another scar could be found on Garble's throat. The two of them looked mentally exhausted to Spike.

"Oh, hey," said Fizzle, he tried to put up a smile. "Spike was it? Haven't seen you in a long time. How've you been?"

"Decent for the most part," Spike said, he sat next to Fizzle. "Buutt, I don't want to bore you with the details. So I'll cut straight to the point. What do you know about teleporting, Fizzle?" The baby dragon's question left the albino dragon with a confused face.

After a Fizzle shortened the long explanation about teleportation and the magic behind it, Spike felt as if he had a grasp of the concept. "So, you're saying that I have to picture the place in my head. Then I would use my magic to force my body to be there?" assumed Spike.

"That... is an oversimplification of it, but yes," Fizzle said as he took a bite out of Spike's most hated fruit."Though it takes an extreme amount of magical power to do that. Even more when you're considering teleporting multiple people or going long distances."

"... What if you had dark magic?" Spike asked, causing the alabaster dragon to nearly chock on his apple.

"Where are you getting these questions from?" Fizzle asked in return.

"I think this is what they call 'alcohol talking'," Spike replied. Fizzle looked stunned at the baby dragon. He opened his mouth to ask how Spike came into contact with alcohol, but Fizzle decided it was probably better if he didn't know.

"Well, dark magic is more potent than normal magic. With some practice, normal magic can teleport you at miles away. Using dark magic will get you twice or three times that distance. Most ponies don't use dark magic because it's illegal and it has the drawback of corrupting your mind." Fizzle explained. Spike tapped a claw on his cheek as he closed his eyes in thought. Fizzle gained a worried look.

"Y-you're not planning on doing anything rash are you?" Fizzle asked worriedly.

"Depends. How bad do you want to get out of here?" Spike retorted with his eyes closed. Again, the baby dragon managed to leave Fizzle speechless. The albino dragon tried to retort only to find that the baby dragon was sleeping. A light snore emanated from the little purple dragon. Fizzle was left confused as he would ever be.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,
This letter will be brief as, you can imagine, my schedule has me very busy these days. I have received your report and am... interested in this test subject and this 'Project: Black Dragon'. As to how you acquired the information for your report, we will debate that at a later date. My sister and I have discussed the subject multiple times and we are sure that you will be able to find a solution to whatever Starlight Glimmer has done to him. If Starlight still had her mind intact, I would have her right the wrongs she has committed. However, what is done is done and we can't change the past. Keep an eye on him Twilight and make sure he doesn't harm himself.

Signed,
Princess Celestia

Chapter 6: ...Is a Dangerous Thing

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Chapter 8: Adventure of the Five Dragons

"Wa..... U.... Wak... up.... WAKE UP!!"

The voices had returned as Spike had assumed they would. If he was honest, the pure silence of when they left made him feel uncomfortable and he was kind of glad to hear them again. However, there was something wrong with them. In his head, there once was a sea of voices ranging in different pitches and maturity. It seemed as if a vast majority of the voices had vanished and the ones that remained yelled in pain. He could feel them readying themselves for another round of shouting, but he was one step ahead of them.

He forced his eyelids to open and was not greeted by the four pale colored walls he was used to. Instead, he was in a forest of some sort with his head in the lap of a young rusty colored dragoness. A few light snores indicated that the young dragoness was still asleep. Spike tried to lift himself up. His right hand managed to touch the ground, but his left one never did. A quick glance to his left gave him the reason why. There was no left hand to touch the ground with nor was there a left arm to be seen. In its place were the burnt remains of Spike's left shoulder.

Spike felt his tired eyes widen as the situation began to dawn on him as well as the pain from yesterday starting to web its way back into his body. He fell back onto the young dragoness's lap and curled up in breathtaking pain. Hot tears pierced through his eyes as he struggled to reclaim his breath. He rolled off of the dragoness's lap and thrashed around. Small emerald flames with a small erupted from his body, burning the grass under him.

The sound of the young drake thrashing about managed to stir Little Fang from her slumber. She grumbled something under her breath as she rubbed her sore neck. Her eyes soon laid upon Spike writhing on the ground in pain. Her heart dropped for a moment. "Oh, crap!" she muttered before going over to the young dragon. She stopped just a few inches away from him. The heat of the emerald flames proved to be too much for the dragon to handle. "Spike!" Little Fang called out, "Calm down!!" Spike's emerald eyes shot towards Little Fang. His tear-filled eyes furrowed in an angry look and he looked as if he was about to retort, but he was stopped short as another surge of pain washed over his body.

"Fizzle! Jet! Garble!" Little Fang yelled out, "I need some help over here!" There seemed to have been a shuffling sound coming from her left. She looked over to see two of the dragons she called for emerge from behind a couple bushes. While Fizzle appeared alert and quickly took in the situation, Jet was a bit slower to catch on to what was happening. Fizzle quickly rushed towards the young drake, the heat barely registering. The albino drake took it upon himself to try and comfort the young purple dragon. The attempt was a failure, but Spike appreciated it none the less. The flames continued to spread and the heat was strong enough that it reached Jet, who was standing a few feet away from Spike.

Jet was never a fan of heat. His entire blood of dragons didn't like heat actually. It was instinctive for them to move away from any large heat source as soon as possible or if they couldn't move away from it or in this case, too lazy to move away from it, they would extinguish it. Jet dug down into himself as he took in a breath. A bitter coldness deep inside of him began to spread through his body. The air around him lowered in temperature dramatically before a blizzard escaped from Jet's maw. Spike and Fizzle were caught in the frosty blast. The emerald flames were soon extinguished.

Jet closed his mouth and felt better now that the heat was gone. A small smile spread across his face. However, the smile would not last long as a bolt of lightning knocked him onto his back. The small prongs of pain in Jet's chest was annoying, but a quick trip to dreamland would make him forget them. He closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep. A grumbling Little Fang stood above the dark purple dragon. Her hair jutted out rapidly as arcs of electricity flowed through it.

Fizzle managed to shake off the frozen breath attack as well as Spike. Both of them were chilled to the bone, however. While it wasn't a painful experience, neither of the fire blooded dragons liked the being cold. Though, the annoying decrease in temperature wasn't all bad. It wasn't until Spike stumbled to push himself up that he realized that the coldness that seeped into his body seemed to have dulled the pain by a bit. It wasn't much, but it was enough that Spike could think clearly again. "Here, let me help you up," Fizzle offered a hand for Spike to grab onto, which he did. The purple baby dragon was then gently hoisted up onto his feet.

"Thanks..." Spike said softly. He regained enough energy to speak and stand up. In Spike's eyes, this morning didn't start off too bad. The same couldn't be said for his fellow dragons. Little Fang marched over to Spike. Her fists were clenched, her hair flowed and jutted out at odd angles, and she had certain intense glow in her eyes. The young purple drake felt something stir within him. He couldn't quite put his claw on it, but if he had to guess what it was, it would be fear. This was the same rusty colored dragoness that tried to chock him to death. He wasn't fully aware at the moment, so the event didn't have much of an impact it would have had. However, that was Past Spike. This was Present Spike and Present Spike was fully aware of the situation and had let fear grip his mind. 'Oh, how I envy you, Past Spike.' The young drake thought.

To his surprise, Little Fang quickly wrapped her arms around him in a non-hostile embrace. "Stop scaring me like that, you big dummy!" she nearly yelled in his ear. Spike chuckled lightly as he tried his best to return the hug.

"You need to stop worrying so much," Spike retorted, "I'm fine."

"Stop lying," Little Fang huffed as she let go of Spike and turned towards the teenage albino dragon. "Where are we heading to next?" she asked. Spike looked towards Fizzle as well. The pink spine scaled dragon rubbed the back of his head.

"See, that's the problem," he started, "I'm a bit lost as to where to go from here."

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING!!??" Little Fang yelled.

"Hey, planning out where to go has more to it than the getting to the destination Fang!" Fizzle yelled back, "I have to think about what to avoid. Where is the nearest city? What is the settlement's main population? Are there any mostly pony populated settlements that have access to dragon level magic? Is there any edible food and drinkable water nearby? These are just a few of the things I have to take into consideration before I can really plan out our next move. Otherwise, we could be flying right into a trap and end up right back at the facility or dead! Do you want that to happen?!" A plume of pink fire escaped from Fizzle's nostrils as he finished his rant. Both baby dragons flinched from the albino dragon's outburst. After a few moments, Fizzle sat down and leaned against a tree.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I've been thinking a lot and I didn't get much sleep last night. You could say I'm a bit on edge right now." There was a moment of silence amongst the three dragons. Before they could break it themselves, a couple of yawns could be heard from a few feet away. Jet had just returned from his short trip to the dream realm and Garble had just awoken. A few hand gestures from the groggy crimson dragon were given to which Fizzle quickly responded to. "No, I don't know where to go to next, Garble." he replied grumpily, "I don't even know where we are now."

"Well," Spike started, "I believe facility was a couple hundred miles south of Equestria. So, depending on where you flew us to, it shouldn't be too how to figure it out." The other dragons looked at him with curious expressions

"And how do you know that?" asked Fizzle.

"Twilight told me," Spike confessed plainly, "We shared a bottle of wine and I asked her where the facility was and she just let it out."

"She could have been lying to you."

"Yeah, you're right, but it's the o-only lead we... we've got so far." The numbing was starting to fade away and so was Spike's ability to hold himself up. Just as Spike was about to fall, Little Fang managed to grab hold of him and allowed him to lean against her for support.

Fizzle frowned. Spike was in no condition to be up and about. He needed rest and, if Fizzle could manage to make or find some, magic replenishment medicine. Spike would also have to get what was left of his left arm looked at. Fizzle assumed that the wound had been closed on account of it being burned, but Fizzle wanted to be sure that there wasn't a risk of the wound reopening or becoming infected. If Fizzle were to take the precautions of making sure of that, he would have to go off of the information that was given to him.

"Okay then..." Fizzle said. The gears in his brain started to turn as he thought of a plan. "If the facility was in the South and we flew East for the rest of the day that would mean flying North for a day or two should get us to a mountain range. It's the Diamond Dog capital so we shouldn't have to worry about ponies too much. We could even trade for food and water while we're there."

"But we don't have anything to trade with." Little Fang protested.

"Yes, we do." Fizzle said, "I've heard dragon scales can fetch a pretty good price if you have enough of them." The implications of what they would trade sent a shiver down Little Fang's spine.

"Do we really have to?" she asked.

"If you want a decent meal and a temporary place to stay, yes," answered Fizzle.

"Wait, what do mean by temporary?" Little Fang asked, "Couldn't we stay there until the war blows over?"

"The Diamond Dogs have been pretty neutral on the whole war thing, at least from the last time I've visited them. They can give us a few meals and maybe a few nights to sleep, but after that, we have to go. Since their still on Equestrian soil, they can be charged with crimes against Equestria for not having us detained." Fizzle stood up and stretched his wings. "You can hold out for a little while longer, can't you Spike?"

Spike's immediate thought was 'no', but considering how they needed to move out as quickly as possible, he nodded his head. Fizzle smiled a bit before putting the young drake on his back. He instructed for Jet to carry Little Fang on his back as well. The two baby dragons clung to the backs of the older dragons they rode on during take off. Spike almost passed out as he and Fizzle rose higher and higher into the sky. A few moments later, Spike could feel the howling air around him calm down and found that he along with the rest of his friends were flying smoothly through the sky. The ground beneath them almost a blur as Fizzle flew them towards their destination.

For a moment, the stinging pain that surged from Spike's chest and had spread its way through his body had been forgotten. He hadn't flown on the back of a dragon in a long time and he was going to enjoy it for as long as he could.

"Sister, we can just move a few of the troops stationed in the East to the South." protested Luna. Her sister, Celestia, gazed over the map that sat on the large table in front of them. Dozens of figures stood on the map representing their soldiers on the front and support lines.

"Yes, we could, but then we run the risk of losing ground should the griffons decide to attack us." argued Celestia, "If we took just a little bit of forces from the West, we could..."

"Give the dragons more land and resources." Luna interrupted Celestia, "So far, we've been attacked in our Western and Northwestern regions by the dragons and Northeasterly by the griffons. While I do see the future risk in moving half our units could bring, but we need to address the issue at the Southern border now. At best, it will take the dragons a couple days to reach the border. While we may not be able to stop all of them, we should be able to capture a majority of them with a well placed teleported squad. We should be able to minimize the fear from our ponies too if things go smoothly."

Celestia seemed to hesitate for a moment. Her thoughts were running a million miles trying to figure out a better solution. She hated having to take a good portion of her troops away from a spot that she worried would be attacked within the coming months. However, she knew that the newly released dragons would do to her ponies if given the chance. If she hurried, she could minimize the casualties and property damage. Not to mention the wave of fear that would wash over the nation soon after. "Alright then," Celestia said. "Now, where should we teleport these squads?"

Luna took a pencil in her magical grasp and circled a few areas where she assumed the dragons would have to cross if they passed over the border. They were five small villages that rested on or a couple of miles from the Southern border. If any dragons got further than that then they would have to notify the country of their presence and send troops to intercept them as best they could. Celestia turned to the armor-clad guard that had been standing next to her. "Inform Commander Dash that I want her to assemble six squads of no more than four ponies. Each squad must have at least one unicorn in it. I want one squad to be sent to each of these villages."

"What of the sixth squad, your majesty?" the guard asked.

"That squad is to be teleported to the Diamond Dog capital, here." Celestia pointed at a mountain range just a bit to the East of the border. "I know the Diamond Dogs have been neutral on the war for some time now. So if any dragons want to avoid immediate detection, they might try and go there. I am to be informed should there be any dragons cited, captured, and/or killed there. That is all." The guard nodded his head before leaving the room.

Celestia sighed as she placed a hoof on her temple. "How's Twilight doing?" she asked.

"You want the good news or the bad news?" Luna asked in return. A worried look gave Luna the answer she needed. "Well, the good news is that she'll live." A sigh of relief was heard of the alabaster alicorn."The bad news is... she'll never be able to use her hide legs again." Celestia could feel her teeth grinding together as words escaped Luna's maw. She stood up from the table and walked towards the door. Her sister tried to join her, but Celestia stopped her.

"Don't follow me, Luna." she said, "I just need to get some fresh air." Luna accepted her sister's wishes as the two exited the room and went their separate ways for the day.

Chapter 9: The City of Diamond Dogs: Night Time Chats

The flight was uneventful, to say the least. The most eventful thing that the group of dragons encountered was a feral bison. A very old feral bison. Garble dived down from his high altitude and looked as if he was about to collide with the ground, but pulled up in time to change his collision course to the bison's body. The four remaining dragons could hear the sound of the bison's brittle bones breaking from where they hovered in the sky. A quick snap of the neck later and the poor bison was put out of its misery.

It was also here that Spike learned that none of them really knew how to cook. Garble felt as if he didn't need to know as evidenced by his hand gestures saying "Cooking is for wimps. A real dragon eats his prey raw." He then proceeded to eat the bison's left leg as it was. Spike and Little Fang hadn't the faintest idea as to how it was done so they were out of the picture. Jet didn't know because of he the fact that he had Fizzle do must of the cook. However, Fizzle had, at one point, a loose grasp on the art of cooking. That loose grasp seemed to have slipped completely as the meat that the other four dragons ended up eating was almost burned to the point of being considered charcoal.

Noone wanted to waste the food they had. With another day's worth of flying ahead of them, they were going to need all the energy they could get. Once everyone had their fill, they continued to fly onwards towards their destination. Spike, with the bitter taste of burnt flesh in his mouth, started to have flashbacks to the meals at the facility. If he were being honest, those were the only things that he missed about it. However, the feeling didn't last forever as he began to think of all the meals he could have at the diamond dog capital.

More thoughts ran through his head as he tried to imagine what it would be like in the capital. Were they really dogs made out of diamonds? Rock golems were a thing. So maybe it would be like that. But golems needed a magic source to keep them alive, sure there must be a massive magic source there or something else. However, a capital meant a lot of people and a lot of people can use up a lot of magic. So if there was a magic source, it should be dried up by now. Theories on top of theories ran through his head as the sun began to lower itself past the horizon and the moon began to take its place in the sky.

In last few drops of sunlight, Spike could see that they were quickly approaching a mountainside. The three teen dragons touched down on the even ground once they had found an entrance and the two baby dragons hopped off the backs of their older brethren. Spike slumped against the rusty colored dragoness for support as the five of them walked towards the mouth of a cave. With Fizzle taking the lead, the party made their way through the twists and turns of the cave's inner workings. They had walked so long in the dark cave that some of them had begun to think that Fizzle didn't know where they were going. That was until they saw a light emanating from a corner.

Once the five dragons rounded the corner, they found that there was a pathway carved out of the rocks. A series of wooden arches lined the pathway. What appeared to be some sort of... crystal lantern was attached to the arches and proceeded down the pathway, illuminating the darkness. From what Fizzle said, this was a diamond dog mineshaft and well kept one at that. However, the lack of mining carts and minecart rails made Fizzle question a lot of things. The questions would have to wait, however, as the five dragons reached the end of the pathway. A large canine stood on its hind legs. It was easily a few heads taller than Garble, the tallest one of the group. Its massive arms held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. It wore a metal chest plate and shoulder pads for protection. Its dirty red fur covered most of its body except a large patch of it that was missing from the right side of the canine's face. Which could have probably be explained by the large burn mark that covered the majority of the canine's right face. 'Oh, so this is what a diamond dog looks like.' Spike thought.

The canine seemed to have sensed their presence and immediately tensed up. Its one good eye opened to reveal a light brown iris that stared at the dragons. There was a moment of silence between the dragons and canine before either party spoke. "State business." The Diamond Dog demanded. Its voice sounded rough but held a certain... feminine tone to it.

"We're just here to stay a couple nights." Fizzle replied, "We have an injured kid with us and we'll trade our scales for payment if necessary."

The female Diamond Dog stood silent for a moment. Surveying the group, her eye quickly landed on Spike and his absence of an arm. Her gaze softened a bit and her body seemed to lose some of its tension. A frown quickly took hold of her face before she then turned around to face a large iron gate and pulled a key ring off from a belt that Spike didn't see before. With a twist of one of the keys, the gate was unlocked. The diamond dog stood and held the gate open for the party of dragons. She gestured her head for them to enter. Fizzle thanked that large canine as he and the rest of the dragons passed the threshold of the gate. Once the last of the dragons were through, the diamond dog closed and locked the gate. She then took long strides to get ahead of the group of dragons.

She proceeded to lead them through a series of twisting and branching mineshafts before reaching what appeared to be a large metal hut. The diamond dog rushed forward and stood next to a small panel that stuck out from the inside of the hut. "Come inside lift," she ordered. The dragons followed suit and were now standing behind the Diamond Dog. With a push of a button on the small panel, metal shutters began to close off the entrance to the hut and mechanical noises emanated throughout the hut. It was somewhere between here and having the ground beneath his feet feel as though it were falling that Spike fell unconscious. The world turned black and Spike was allowed a brief moment of quiet before the voices returned.

"CaN't..."
"...breATHe..."
"...Must..."

Spike's eyes snapped open and found his vision impaired by a mass of light red fur. He tried to breathe but found that to be quite difficult. Moving parts of his body seemed impossible as moving a mountain with just his tail. Panic soon began to take hold of Spike's body. His right arm began to glow a soft purple as a familiar heat started to build up inside of him. He dug deeper into his heat and touched his inner dark magic. A small explosion erupted from the purple drake. Several loud thumps could be heard in the room as whatever was pinning Spike to the ground fell from their short trip into the air. As he desperately took in the oxygen that his lungs craved for, he looked around the room and saw the culprits who were stopping his lungs from getting the life-continuing air they needed.

There were an estimated five or seven little red diamond dogs that lay scattered across the room. Some had awakened from their sudden flight. Others continued to give light snores in their sleep as if nothing happened. The ones who had been forcefully awoken turned and faced Spike. Both parties took too long to respond to each other's presence. Whether it be from post-slumber grogginess or sheer confusion, the silence between the two species was painstakingly long. The only thing that broke the silence was the sound of loud footsteps approach. Spike turned towards the source of the footsteps just in time to see the female diamond dog from before nearly burst through the door and shout at the top of her lungs, "Remance said for her pups to sleep!" With her one good eye gazing around the room, her look of anger faded into confusion as she saw Spike awake and staring at her. The two stared at each other for some time and the silence continued. The growling of Spike's stomach caused the silence to be broken yet again. "Dragon pup hungry?" Remance asked blatantly to which Spike quickly nodded his head. "Can dragon pup walk?" the female diamond dog asked. Spike tried pushing himself off of the floor but quickly discovered how useful having two arms could be.

After a few minutes of struggling, Spike managed to figure out how to stand. He used his right arm as support while he let his lower body do most of the work. It took a moment for the young drake to find his balance, but once he did, he knew that he was okay to be walking for a while. He looked towards Remance who gestured for him to follow her. Spike exited the room while Remance stayed behind for a moment. "Remance's pups will go back to sleep. Big day tomorrow." Spike heard the big red canine demand.

Remance and Spike walked down a hallway which seemed to have been cleanly cut out of the surrounding rock. Upon the wall were paintings and photos. Most of them were of landscapes, but a few of them held images of ponies, dragons, diamond dogs and a black equine creature that Spike wasn't familiar with.

As Spike continued to travel down the pathway he started to recognize the bandages on what was remaining of his left arm. Remance saw the young dragon inspecting the bandages and saw it as an opportunity to speak. "Remance has experience with burns," she said, "Remance patch dragon pup up nicely."

"Oh, thanks," Spike replied, "You can call me Spike by the way." To which Remance nodded. The two turned right and started to head down a flight of stairs.

"May Remance ask how Spike got burn? Spike should be fire blood from what other dragons say," Remance inquired. Spike could easily see how she could be confused. Dragons had a natural resistance to what their elemental ability was. Fire blooded dragons like Spike and Garble could not get burned naturally. They could take a swim in an active volcano and it would feel as if it was nothing but hot water. Something unnaturally had to have happened to him for almost all of his left arm to have been burned off. Spike's eyes became half-lidded as he stared off into space. He stopped for a moment to think. How should he go about explaining it? It was a lot of information to give and he wasn't sure if he had all of the facts. Deep down, he could feel that a part of him didn't care about the facts.

"I'd rather not say," Spike answered. Remance nodded in acceptance as she led him onward. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get burned?"

Now it was Remance's turn to think. Her eyes closed as she attempted to obtain a memory from her brain. "During early days of war, Remance stood guard for trading market. Diamond dog capital, Ritania, still allowed trading between ponies and dragons then. Fight broke out between angry pony and young dragoness mother with egg." Spike visibly winced. To say a dragoness was protective of her children would be an understatement. He could only imagine what the fight actually looked like. "Remance tried to break up fight, got hit with flaming tail. Was off-duty for two months after."

"... I'm sorry you had to go through that," Spike apologized. Remance patted him on the back.

"Don't fret. Encounter not all bad. During first few days of off-duty recovery, close chef friend came barging through wall of Remance's personal quarters. Paws blooded from digging he had not been used to in years."

"Oh... was he okay?"

"Chef offered Remance his mark and Remance accepted," Remance turned so that her back faced Spike. A red pawprint lay in the middle of her dark blue vest. "Remance was also given his first litter." A light blush spread across Spike's face.

"That's... one way to get a mate... I suppose. Did anything else happen?"

"Freed was arrested for two weeks. Illegal tunneling."

"Oh..." There was a moment where the two were lost as to what they should say next. "So those pups that were suffocating me were your first litter?" he questioned. The beginning of the war was a good while ago. However, Spike didn't know how diamond dogs aged.

"No, those are Remance's second," She answered. Her tail began to wag quickly. "Freed and Remance's pups grew up big and strong. Tomorrow pups receive first job assignments ahead of time. Mother is proud of them!"

Spike froze in thought for a moment. A memory surfaced for a brief moment. An elegant purple was dragon towered over him. It lowered its head so that the two of them were face to face. Its draconic emerald eyes shined with a warmth that penetrated the young dragon. He reached out to touch the dragon's face and tried to move closer to the warmth that radiated from it. "My, my..." the face spoke in a feminine voice that warmed Spike to his core. "... you sure came out to play a bit early my little drake." Spike felt the face snuggle against him and he basked in the warmth it provided. "Well, you know what they say, 'The early dragon gets the gems'. Your mother is very proud of you."

The memory soon faded as quickly as it came. Spike looked around and saw that Remance was lost in thought too. Her tail nothing more than a blur. "Uh... Remance?" Spike brought the female diamond dog out of her trance. "You were taking me somewhere to get something to eat?" At that Remance apologized and continued to lead Spike towards their destination.

Familiar voices started to become louder as the dragon and canine approached a large room. "Hold still ya big baby!" Jet fussed, "A few more and I'll be done!" A pair of pliers was held in one hand while another held Garble's arm in place. Garble grunted in pain as another one of his red scales was plucked off. Jet observed the red scale. He nodded before putting it in a small pile of red scales. Spike looked around the room and found that it was quite large. Now that Spike thought about it, calling it a room would be an insult. This was a large cave. A young adult dragon could have easily lived here at some point and still had enough room to stretch their wings. Various wooden and metal walkways rested along the higher walls of the cave. No doubt that they lead to other hallways.

A delightful smell filled Spike nostrils, taking his mind off of the cave he was in. Spike's body moved on its own accord and was now in pursuit of the source of the smell. It was then that Spike began to realize that he wasn't observing his surroundings like any normal person would. Somehow he failed to notice the massive amounts of chairs, couches, and tables. He didn't even notice the massive platform carved out of stone that seemed to serve as a large kitchen. On the platform was Fizzle standing next to a tan colored diamond dog that came up to Fizzle's chest. He wore an open white vest that had a red paw print on the back of it.

After Spike made his way up onto the platform, he heard the two's conversation. "This stuff can last for years?!" Fizzle asked surprised. The diamond dog nodded. "But how? It's just dried meat mixed in with animal fat!"

"I thought the same," the diamond dog said, "But I found out that by rendering the fat and making sure meat is dried, pemmican lasts much longer than other foods."

"Well, now that I think about it... with all the rendering down and drying, there should be little to no water in the fat or meat to cause much reaction..." Fizzle mussed as he soon began to become lost in thought. The pink flames continued to roar underneath the pan that he was cooking in and whatever was in the pan continued to sizzle.

"Fizzle..." The diamond dog said worryingly. The albino dragon quickly came back to his senses and quickly took the pan off of the pink flames. A slightly bitter smell mingled in with the wonderful smell emanating from the pan.

"I didn't burn it too much did I?" Fizzle asked the diamond dog.

"Just a little bit. Don't worry about it. You're not cooking for any royalty tonight and my Remance isn't picky about her food." the diamond dog joked. The two chuckled for a bit.

"Freed," Remance called out. The tan diamond dog turned his head and let his ruby eyes meet the ever large female canine. "Dragon pup hungry." Spike felt the eyes of Fizzle and Freed land on him. Fizzle quickly rushed towards the little drake and knelt down to examine his eyes.

"How are you feeling Spike? Any pains?" Fizzle said. Spike admitted to a dull pain in his chest. Every once and a while it would suddenly spike in terms of intensity before returning its original state. Other than that and his stomach begging for food, he was fine. "That's good," Fizzle sighed in relief. "I've almost finished your medicine. Why don't you get some food in you while we wait for Fang to come back with the last ingredients."

The albino dragon took the whatever that was in the pan and placed it on a few metal plates. Freed and Fizzle took the plates and placed them one of the nearest tables. Upon finishing collecting scales and cleaning up their mess, Jet and Garble soon joined the group as the smell of the cooking finally gotten to them. Seeing that Spike was up and about, Jet took it upon himself to joke about how Spike had passed out on the way down there. Spike chuckled as he sat at a table that seemed to have been made completely out of stone.

With a fork in hand, Spike began to eat the food that was placed in front of him. Fried potatoes and onions were one of the first things the dragon tasted. They were quickly followed by the taste of meat. Spike didn't know what type of meat it was, but he didn't care. He was just happy to eat something that wasn't completely burned. There were a few other flavors mixed in, but the most powerful one was a certain spice that Spike couldn't put his finger on.

There was a small *tink* as Spike's fork hit the empty plate. Nothing but a couple of tiny puddles of sauced lay on the plate. "Does dragon pup want seconds?" Remance asked. The offer was tempting and Spike nearly accepted it. However, his stomach was satisfied and since his stomach was satisfied, he was allowed more energy to think for a moment. The diamond dogs had taken them in and were no doubt spending their resources to help them. Resources that had to be paid for and the dragons didn't have much to offer in terms of payment. Offering their scales as payment would only get them so far and they were on a time limit so they couldn't really work to pay off any debts they made.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Spike said. Remance looked as if she were about to say something but decided to stay silent for the time being. Freed pulled his mate away to another table saying that the dragons should have some time to talk to each other. The four dragons now sat together, waiting for someone to speak up first.

"You know..." Jet started, "... this place isn't so bad." He leaned back in his chair. "We've only seen a few places so far, but I feel like I could hang here for a while."

"What places?" Spike asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you took a five-hour nap."

"I was asleep for five-hours?!" exclaimed Spike. "What time is it?!"

"Probably almost midnight by now." Little Fang spoke up. The sudden appearance of the young dragoness made the other dragons nearly jump out of their scales. Garble nearly choked on his food. "What? Did you guys seriously didn't hear me come in?!"

"No! Where did you even come from?!" Fizzle nearly yelled. Fang pointed to an opening to the cave just a few yards away from them. A large pale red canine with a light brown underbelly stood at the entrance. They were snacking on what appeared to be candy.

"Sasha over there not much of a talker, but she's been a great help getting these things." Little Fang said as she plopped a sack onto the table. Flowing from the sack was a pile of blue glowing mushrooms. A light chime could be heard emanating from them. Fizzle's jaw nearly came unhinged.

"I only needed a few lunar mushrooms, Fang! How did you even get so many?!" he nearly flipped out. Little Fang chuckled a bit.

"The guy that had them wasn't being cooperative so Sasha... handled things." Little Fang said.

"What do you mean by..." Jet started to ask, but he was interrupted by Little Fang.

"Sasha. Handled. Things. Nothing more, nothing less." Her cobalt pupils shrank a bit. Whether it was because of anger or something else, Spike wasn't entirely sure. "Anyway, You've got your mushrooms. Make Spike's medicine so I don't have to relive what happened on the lift down here," she grumbled.

"It was that bad?" Spike asked.

"You drooled all over her, dude," chuckled Jet. "Like, a lot. It's not the most common way of leaving your scent, but hey, whatever floats your boat, my dude. It's a shame that we can't have a ceremony for the new mates." A thumbs up was given by Jet. Spike and Little Fang felt their faces heat up quickly. Both of them looked at each other before turning back to the dark purple dragon. Any words they could have said to rebuttal him became lost in their throats. Jet laughed at the top of his lungs.

"Th-that's not funny!" yelled Little Fang.

"You should have seen your faces!" Jet laughed, "No price could be put on that!!" Spike could hear a rough sounding chuckle from Garble followed by a pained grunt. Spike found himself laughing too for a moment. He cherished the moment while he could. He knew he probably wouldn't get many other chances to in the future.

Chapter 10: The City of Diamond Dogs: The Day Market

Medicine always tasted despicable. It didn't matter what anybody said about the added flavor to make it go down smoother. The result was the same unpleasant taste in Spike's mouth. To make matters worse, Fizzle had somehow made it apple flavored seeing as to how the young purple dragon loved apples during their time in the facility. However, times have changed. Every apple on the face of the world could be tossed into the deepest pits of oblivion and Spike would have celebrated the demise of the red fruit for a whole year.

The medicine's effect started to kick almost immediately as Spike felt the pain in his chest start to fade away. He could feel something. There was something about his inner fire that changed as well as the medicine coursed through his veins. The flames were growing stronger with each second that passed. At that moment, Spike felt as if he was worth a million diamonds.

However, that feeling soon faded as Spike's muscles relaxed and he found himself slowly drifting off to sleep. Whatever conversations were going on around him were nothing but muffled noise. The massive cave blurred into darkness. Spike placed his head on the cool stone table. It was relaxing, to say the least.

Not long after Spike's head rested on the table top, he was lifted by someone and carried away. Who he was being carried by was of no concern to him at the moment. There was a silence in his head that, while a bit unnerving, was something of a rare oddity that Spike enjoyed. The voices that had plagued his sleep were not there. Another peaceful night of slumber was just what Spike needed. Sadly, the night would not last much longer for Spike. His sleep was cut short by a sudden cut of his air supply.

He thrashed awake, eyes the size of tiny dots. He coughed a bit before looking around for the one who dared to try and suffocate him. All around him stood the pups from last night. Each of them held a certain glow in their eyes. The one that was closest to him, and the one he had suspected with cutting his supply of air off, still had her arm outstretched as her curious eyes didn't dare to blink. Before the silence could settle in, Spike found himself drowning in a sea of questions. Voices continued to overlap each other and their tones varied greatly. While some were curious and eager to have the dragon answer their questions, others were the exact opposite.

The constant assault of voices began to stir up memories that Spike would rather leave behind. As he tried to block out the pups' questioning, his arm began to glow in an unnerving purple light. Most pups soon stopped their interrogation and grew tense. They were the ones who had remembered what had happened last night. Even if it seemed like a dream, the light bruises on their bodies were enough evidence to say otherwise. Soon the rest of them fell silent as well. The silence was a relief that Spike was thankful for.

The purple light soon faded and Spike's darkened scales returned to normal. He took a few deep breaths before looking at the crowd of diamond dog pups that surrounded him. "What... time is it?" Spike asked grudgingly. Spike still didn't understand why waking up from sleeping made him more tired than when he went to sleep.

"I-it's almost half-passed sunrise..." answered one of the pups hiding behind one of their siblings.

"Is anyone else up yet?" Spike asked as he struggled to stand up. Some of the pups began to back away from the dragon. The pup that was closest to Spike answered his question while trying to support him.

"No," she said. Spike was certain it was a female. The voice just sounded too delightful to be a male. "Only us for now. Very little did we see you before mother came. We wanted answers about outside."

"What do you mean outside?" retorted Spike. Before the young she-pup could have answered another one of her siblings did it for her.

"Big place, outside caverns. Outside mountain!" They exclaimed, "Tell us about the outside!" Spike's eyes widened a bit as a light ignited in his dead emerald eyes. He looked around and saw the signs of their curiosity and wanderlust of the pups leaking through their scared expressions. The young purple dragon found him almost envious of the pups and how they reminded him of before the war. Spike sighed a bit before replying.

"How much of the... outside do you know about already?" he asked. The replies were numerous. A few pups named off the species that inhabited the world. A few others named of the types of minerals found in other regions. A couple of them let loose some of the cooking knowledge from other nations that Freed had been teaching them. Spike turned his attention towards the she-pup that had helped him up. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"Rosemary was taught ways of old dragons." The she-pup spoke in echoing hisses and long forgotten words. Spike didn't know he had stopped blinking and that his eyes were the size of watermelons until his eyes started to burn. It took him a moment to fully realize that he just heard the long unused language of his kind escape the mouth of a diamond dog pup.

"... I'll admit. You've really surprised me, Rosemary." Spike responded, "I did not expect to hear ancient draconian anytime soon. Especially not from someone who doesn't even have the proper tongue for it."

While Rosemary wore a cheerful expression, her siblings were another story. With their skin beginning to crawl as they listened to the two converse in hisses and weird words that none of them understood, They finally asked for the two to stop talking. Spike and Rosemary chuckled to themselves for a bit.

The sound of approaching footsteps began to be heard from the other side of the door. The pups' ears flicked collectively and remained still for a brief moment. After a moment of silence, the pups quickly rushed towards a closet door near the back of the room. They opened it and each pup equipped themselves with a small backpack. Most of them were nearly worn out and the colors on them seem to have nearly faded away. From the patches of new material sewed on to some of them, Spike could see that the backpacks had been through a lot of trauma.

Once the pups had their backpacks in order, they lined up in a single file a few inches in front of the door. A couple seconds later, Remance entered the room. Her eyes scanned over her children, taking in every last detail of them. They, in turn, kept their gaze on her as if waiting for a signal of some sort. Once Remance's eyes left the last of her pups, she gave a smile. "Remance's pups will do good on their first day," she said. The pups broke their formation as Remance used her large arms to pull them all into a giant hug. "Eat hearty this morning and report to workstation for assignments. Remance will be there shortly."

The pups nodded their heads in excitement before rushing out of the room, leaving Spike and Remance alone. Remance looked out the doorway and listened as the rapid footsteps of her children faded into the distance. "Remance remembers her first work day. Couldn't sleep at all. Feel asleep during guard training and was stuck on washing duty for entire month." She said with a deep laugh.

"Hey, what job's are they going to be assigned anyway?" Spike asked.

Remance looked down at the young dragon and gave another laugh. She gestured for him to follow her as she left the room. The two got a few steps towards their destination before Remance spoke. "With way things have been going, pups may mostly be assigned mining duty or perhaps guard position. Not much need for merchants with war happening. Trade come to near stand still." she said.

"Why?" asked Spike. Remance put a claw to her muzzle as she thought.

"Many reasons, Remance thinks. But most important one is that dragons no longer wise to trade here," she answered.

"Because you're in pony terratory?"

"That one reason." Remance's voice seemed to grow cold, "The other reason is that we choose not to take a side in the war between dragons and ponies."

"That is a thing I'm also curious about," started Spike, "Why not take sides with the dragons? I mean from what my father used to tell me about dragon history, Diamond Dogs and dragons are kinda the same. It seems like you guys would have picked the dragon side when the war first started."

Remance was silent for a moment. "It hard to pick side you want to be on when the princesses of the land could burn or freeze you to death in a brief moment. We Diamond Dogs, while share past with dragon kind, do not have luxury of magic proof scales."

"With how ponies go about their testing, I'd say dragons don't have that luxury either," Spike said, his blank stare turned furious for a moment before settling back into its natural state. His hand subconsciously rubbed his neck as if he was trying to feel for something that was no longer there. Remance was frozen in place for a moment. Her mind seemed to have been trying to figure something out and Spike had just given her the last piece of the puzzle she needed. Spike stopped a few feet ahead of Remance and gave the giant Diamond Dog a confused look. Remance soon came out of her trance and quickly caught up with Spike

"Maybe we change topic? In wise words of Mother: picking at wounds, whether fresh or old, is not good for healing or self-improvement." Remance said. She gave Spike a soft smile in an effort to cheer him up a bit. Which, Spike had to admit, was effective to some extent.

The two entered the same cave that Spike was in last night. However, there was a noticeable difference this time. The cave was nearly filled with Diamond Dogs of all sizes and builds. Spike could barely tell most of them apart, but Remance seemed to have no problem finding the difference amongst the sea of canines. However, through all the fur, Spike managed to find a refreshing sight. All his friends were sitting together. Most of them seemed to still be waking up. Jet was the worst of them all as he was asleep where he was sitting. His face nesting in a bowl of what looked like to be porridge.

Spike took the moment to sit next to Little Fang who was the most lively of the group. "You all got here pretty quick." Spike said, "Barely half-passed sunrise and you guys up and at 'em."

"Years of being in a facility have led to some undesirable instincts I suppose," Fizzle commented.

"Doesn't help that barely half-passed sunrise is 'late' for these guys," Fang chimed in, "I kid you not, the moment I wake up I hear, 'Guys, wake up! The sun's over the horizon! We're late!' I swear I want to go back to sleep so much right now."

"You could just go to sleep now, I'm sure we have some time," Spike suggested.

"Nah, the first-morning wave is almost over. We'll be leaving soon. Oh, that reminds me. You want the rest of this? My stomach's not really awake at the moment." Fang said as she slid a half-finished bowl of porridge with a strip of bacon on top. Spike's eyes widened as his hand reacted before he could think. He grabbed the bowl and finished off the bowl of food in the blink of an eye. Fang watched in amazement as Spike licked the bowl clean of any remaining food. "Dude, I can never see how you're able to eat food like that so greedy like. Its like you've never seen any food before and only read about it in books."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Spike said, "I know we don't want to think about it now, but what section were you in before we transferred to Twilight's district?" Little Fang took a long moment to answer.

"Section S2B, why are you asking that?" Little Fang replied

"Huh, figures. I was from Section S1C," Spike said. He looked over and saw that surprised looked on Fang's face. "I take it you heard the rumors about us then?"

"I-I thought those were only rumors! I didn't think that... that they actually did it." Fang protest, "Long testing times with barely any stopping, barely any sleeping or eating, punishments for passing out in the middle of an experiment.... how did you survive that?"

"If I had to guess? It would have to be pity or the ponies took a liking to me and wanted to keep me around. Either way, I got given a sort of 'Special Treatment'. It wasn't too much, though. A small meal here or there to keep me going. Don't even get me started on those 'Food Pill' they made me test." Spike answered. Fang took a moment to respond again.

"You know, you've gotten a lot more talkative lately," Fang admitted.

"Really? Huh, neat." As the first-morning wave began to clear out and Jet managing to wipe off the porridge from his face, Spike found himself following the now fully awake Fizzle. He had asked where it was that they were heading, to which Fizzle replied that they were going to the day market. Spike was confused for a bit as to why there was a market in the first place seeing as to how the war was still going on. Fizzle was quick to correct Spike misunderstanding. The young dragon was thinking of the trading center, where species of different races could come trade their wares. The market was for buying and selling items. It was where all Diamond Dogs went to buy things they needed. It was also where they were going to go to buy supplies for the rest of their trip.

After cashing in the scales they had collected from everyone, the group was sitting at about five hundred bits. That was enough for each of them to buy the things they needed and still have some left over. Fizzle then tried to give everyone a goal to achieve. He was going to buy food and water while Jet went to get a map and traveling supplies. Garble would see if he could get some weapons. That left the two youngest of the group to gather any information about the closest towns. They would return to the dining hall they were in a few minutes earlier after they were done. With objectives to complete, the five dragons set off.

Gathering information was a lot easier that Spike had originally thought it would be. They had insight into the nearest towns and what to watch out for such as checkpoints, watchtowers, and large settlements. From what some Diamond Dog miners were arguing about, Equestria has been requesting more and more metals from them. "Listen here, ain't no good coming from them ponies wantin' so much metal. Either they build somethin' huge or they making a fleet." said one grey canine.

"A fleet of what? Carriages?" asked a gold-colored Diamond Dog.

"I reckon its cannons." suggested a droopy-eared female dog, "Heard from a friend that they making cannons to fight of sky attacks. Knock a fully grown dragon clean out the sky is what it suppose to do." Hearing these things made Spike's stomach seem to tie itself in a knot. Fang was faring no better. Together the two of them rested outside a shop and let their stomaches untie themselves.

It was during these moments of relaxation that Spike noticed something. It was a slight tug in the back of his mind. It was like something was reaching out to him. As he stood up and turned to face the shop, the tug became stronger. Fang asked him if anything was wrong, but it seemed like her words fell on deaf ears. Spike continued into the shop, a bell rung and signal the owner of the shop to the arrival of some new customers. An old black and white Diamond Dog stood behind the counter. Her elderly female voice greeted the two young dragons, "Greetings." Spike seemed to ignore her as his eyes scanned the shelves of books that sat before him. The tugging in his mind pulling him closer to an unseen destination.

"Sorry, my friend is a little... out of it right now." Fang apologized. The elderly canine behind the front desk seemed to nod in understanding. Spike continued his short journey of being pulled by an invisible force. As he continued to get closer to what over was having an effect on him, the voices in his head returned and grew louder the closer he got.

HeRE? Why? DoN'T CaRe. NEEEed!

Soon, Spike's journey came to an end as he found what had been tugging at his mind. A dark red book sat on a shelf just a few shelves out of his reach. The tugging seemed to be the strongest when he faced it. He stood on the tips of his toes and reached out to try and grab the book, but found that it was just too high for him to reach it. Just as he was about to give up, the voices shouted in his head.

NEEeeeD IIIiiIIT!

His right arm began to glow in its usual purple glow before being completely engulfed in darkness. Spike's arm was covered in pitch black aura as his arm stretched far past the limit of what it should be able to. His hand grabbed the red book and pulled it from the shelf. Once his arm was back to its original length, the dark aura that had engulfed his arm vanished. This left Spike with a look of both confusion and fear at the discovery of his new ability.

He soon walked out of the row of shelves and made his way up to the front desk, book in hand. "Mmmmhmmm, Just as I thought." the elderly canine said. Spike looked even more confused at the Diamond Dog's words. "You've got a quite a keen sense for magic, dear. That there is a magic tome. The last time I saw someone with that kind of stare coming into my bookstore was before the war. I had got a couple of magic tomes from the trading center and..." Spike had stopped paying attention at this point. This 'magic tome' was just screaming for Spike to open it. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stop himself from just opening the book and reading its contents until Fang nugged him in the side. He looked at her with confusion.

"So, you gonna pay or what?" she asked. Her eyes gesturing to the elderly Diamond Dog patiently waiting for Spike to pay for the book.

"Oh, sorry, I spaced out for a minute. How much is it for the book?" Spike asked.

"Twenty bits," answered the canine. After the book was paid for, Spike and Fang left the shop. The moment Spike left the door of the shop, he opened the book to its first page and read aloud.

"Pyromancy for Beginners. Chapter 1: Your First Fireball..."

Outside the mountain the housed the Diamond Dog capital, a group of four armor clad ponies appeared in a flash of light. There were two unicorns. One had a light red coat and the other possessed a light blue one. A light grey pegasus stood behind them as well as a cream-colored earth pony. Each member of the group carried with them a weapon of some sort and an iron collar with enchantments engraved onto them. "Alright girls, you know the plan." Started the light red unicorn, "We go in, inspect the area for any signs of dragons. If any are found, they are to be detained as non-violently as possible. I'm looking at you Storm Rider."

"Ah, come on!" protested the pegasus, "It was my first assignment and I panicked! These are dragons we're dealing with here!"

"Yes, and we have weapons that can cut through their scales as if they were paper. We don't need or want to explain to Commander Dash or Princess Celesta that we killed another dragon when it could have been captured, do we?"

"No, Squad Leader Diamond Storm." Responded the rest of the group.

"Good, now... Let's hurry and get this job done." Diamond Storm finished her instructions and started to lead the group into an entrance to the Diamond Dog Capital.

Chapter 11: Even if it Kills Me...

Navigating the twist and turns of the Diamond Dog's mountain entrance proved to be far more confusing than the pony squad initially thought. After the first few hours of traversing the many caverns and abandoned mineshafts, to say that the group was annoyed would have been an understatement. Along the way, Storm Rider decided to lighten the mood a bit as they walked. The four ponies may have been in the same squad, but they barely got to know each other. Well except for Diamond Storm to an extent. She had read all their profiles before they were sent out.

"Sooo, rumor has it that you use to be stationed at a research facility, Sweet Crisp," Storm Rider started, "What was it like?" The cream-colored mare stopped for a moment as if her brain needed more energy to process how to respond to Storm Rider.

"It was... borin', to say the least," Sweet Crisp replied, "Mostly stood around and kept the peace before being transferred to the Griffon Front."

"Oh? Because that's not all I heard~" Storm Rider said, a sly smirk found itself plastered on her face. Sweet Crisp quickly turned her head to look at Storm Rider. Her cobalt colored eyes were brimming with confusion. "I heard that you... um... how do I put this? Let a dragon sample your... eh... baked goods." The smirk turned into a wide grin as Sweet Crisp's face contorted with surprise.

"Wh-where did ya'll hear that?!" she exclaimed.

"I have my sources," answered Storm Rider.

"By sources, she means me," answered the blue unicorn behind the two, "It's just a new rumor that most of the ponies pass around during free time mostly because the mares that transferred in from research centers were all going through their heat, except for a few. That few including you, by the way. So, that leaves some to assume that you, taking into the fact none of you are pregnant, had some "fun" with a dragon or two while you were stationed at the research center."

"How.... what?!" Sweet Crisp felt at a lost for words.

"It's either that or you just came out of your estrus cycle early. But let's face it, the former of the two is a way more juicer story. Am I right Saphire?" said Rider

"While I hate agreeing with you, I have to admit that it would make for an interesting story. I might have to send it to my friend in Windbrooke. He's an excellent writer." replied Sapphire

"How good is he?"

"Remember that book I let you borrow?"

"The Trials of Chocolate?!"

"He wrote that."

"OH. MY. GOD! You should do that! Crispy, honey, you could be in an amazing book, and I'd bet you'd get a ton of money from it! Now, all we need is some juicy details about that dragon lover of yours, and we'll be set!"

"Alright, you two," Diamond Storm finally decided to speak up, "I think that's enough teasing for one day. We still have a job to do."

"Ah, come on Diamond! Don't you wanna know if the rumors are true?!" Storm Rider asked.

"As of right now, I don't care. If in time, after this mission, that I find the answer to the question, I hope that the answer is no." Diamond Storm continued onward as Storm Rider, and the rest stayed a bit behind.

"Man, is she alway's like this?" Storm Rider questioned.

"That's my sister for you. She doesn't like to get sidetracked with useless information when she has something that needs to be done." Ruby Storm confirmed.

"But, this isn't useless!" retorted Storm Rider.

"It may not be for you, but to her, it is," Ruby replied, "And considering that this is a rumor with practically no facts backing it up, she has the right to think so." Rider quickly turned to Sweet Crisp before continuing.

"Come on, Sweet! At least tell us what he looks like." At that point, Sweet Crisp had had enough of Rider's 'teasing' and marched onward to follow Diamond. Rider gave a defeated sigh before she and Ruby began to follow Diamond as well. The four ponies got back into formation with Diamond in the front, Rider and Crisp in the middle, and Ruby in the back. The journey ahead fell back into silence.

However, the pony squad's long journey came to an end as they found a giant double door guarded by two diamond dog guards. The two guards soon made eye contact with the group of ponies. Almost immediately their posture changed. Gone were the relaxed statures they possessed before. Now they stood at attention, their grips tightened on their weapons, and once their gaze had landed on the ponies, they never left.

Each pony felt the intimidating stares from the guards. Their pony instincts were telling them to run away. However, they had a job to do. The group didn't break formation as they approached the giant door. "State business, pony." demanded a diamond dog on the right. Diamond took a moment to take in the diamond dog's features. The canine that towered over her was covered in dirty red fur — well, mostly covered to be exact. The majority of her right face was a massive burn mark. Diamond would have to question the diamond dog about the mark if she ever had the chance.

"We have been given a mission to inspect the Diamond Dog capital for any signs of dragons. While the princesses are sure you are not harboring any dragons, they have sent us to check as a precaution."

"Princesses sent four ponies... to check entire capital?" the dirty red diamond dog questioned.

"We have our ways," Diamond responded, "Listen, I know you don't like us ponies very well. Especially after what happened in the Griss Crystal Mines." The mere mention of that name made the diamond dogs tense even more. "However, this is an order directly from the princesses. Just let us in, look around, capture any dragons that may be here, and we'll be out of your fur in half an hour. An hour at most."

The dirty red diamond dog took a glance towards the other guard. For a moment, a hesitant look sparked in the guard's eyes but quickly vanished. The other guard gave a quick nod. The dirty red canine scoffed and began muttering something under their breath. They took a key ring from their belt before walking into a side room just to their left. "Ponies this way," they said as they unlocked a door that was considerably smaller than the one that they were guarding. As the group of ponies walked through the door, Rider commented about how disappointed that they couldn't go through the giant door.

"Remance..." started the other guard, "You think this good idea?"

"No matter if good idea. Ponies probably force way in otherwise and Remance can't die here just yet," Remance said, "Remance has pups to care for."

"Spike! If you don't stop throwing fireballs at me, I'm gonna kill you!" Little Fang yelled as she dove behind a giant stalagmite. A burst of flames erupted from the other side of it as one of Spike fireballs collided with it.

"But you said you'd help me test it out!" Spike yelled back as he circled the rock formation and shot off an emerald fireball from his hand. Fang yelped in surprise as she rolled out of the way of the incoming attack. Electric currents ran through her hair, making strands of it float in the air. She opened her mouth and let a bolt of lighting fly directly into Spike. The impact was strong enough to send the baby dragon flying a few feet backward. As Spike laid on his back, the unexpected attack knocked the breath out of him; he couldn't get up in time to stop Fang from firmly planting her foot on his chest.

He looked up at her and saw her hands on her hips with an angry expression on her face. Her air looked as if it was alive as it floated in the air with electricity running through it. "Care to throw any more fireballs at me?" she huffed.

"No... nope, I think I got it." Spike answered. Fang lifted her foot off of Spike and allowed him to get up. "You know, this the first time I've seen you really use your lightning before and I have to say, I don't want to be on the receiving end of that again. It stings worse than belly-flopping into lava."

"I'll take that compliment. Now let's hurry up and get back to the guys. I think we've killed enough time." Spike nodded as two went in search of their friends. The two baby dragons managed to make their way back into Ritinia. Spike had to thank the Diamond Dog for telling them where he could practice his pyromancy if he ever saw them again. After a few minutes of walking, Spike felt that something was off. In the back of his mind, he felt something. He couldn't put a claw on what it was but it as if something wasn't right.

Halfway through their walk back to their rendezvous point, the feeling grew stronger and stronger. So much so that the voices returned. Their words drenched in hate and malice.

"Here! They're HeRE! RuN! Find NOw! KiLL NoW!"

Their screams and demands forced Spike to stop for a moment and lean against a wall. The voices in his head were mixing with the sounds of the city, causing him not to notice a strong arm pulling him away into a back alley. The sensation of sudden movement drove the voices off for a moment and allowed Spike to see who had just picked him up. The pale red diamond dog from the night before had just scooped both him and Little Fang up.

"Sasha, what are you doing!?" yelled Little Fang. Sasha turned down another alleyway before responding.

"Hush, little one! Word travels fast. Ponies in Ritinia! Must get you out now!" Sasha explained. She continued to run through alleyways and ran up the series of ramps and stairs. Eventually, the trio ended back at the day market. Some of the traffic had managed to calm down, but there was still a decent amount of Diamond Dogs to serve as cover from any spying eyes.

"But why the rush? Ritania is like the whole mountain. It'll take them days to even find a hint about us!" Fang protested.

"Ponies have way of finding certain magic. Only matter of time before dragons' secret slips out. Need to get you out before then." Sasha rebutted. Fang seemed to quiet down after that. The trio continued to make their way to one of the places that Sasha was confident the two young dragons would be safe until her siblings brought the others, The High Cliff Mines.

The pony squad walked through the streets of the Diamond Dog city. Each of them received glares as they did so. Questioning them would prove to be difficult, but the pony squad went on anyway. Staying together, they went by stall after stall, building after building, and were met with the same results each time. It was either the Diamond Dog being questioned would ignore them, change the subject, shut them down, or threaten them in hopes of getting them to leave. That last result almost ended in a fight a couple of times, but it was either stopped by a spectating Diamond Dog or one of the members of the squad.

After a few more failed questionings, Storm Rider's frustration began to become evident. "All we want to know is where the bucking dragons are before we do this the harder way! Just a single scrap of useful information and we'll be out of your fur for good!" She yelled to a Diamond Dog trainer. The silver-furred Diamond Dog stared at the fuming pegasus for a few moments before replying.

"Listen, ma'am. I haven't heard nor seen any signs of dragons here. Also, could you please calm down? I have pups with me." the Trainer said. Rider leaned to the left a bit and saw a group of Diamond Dog pups behind the trainer. Some wore white vests and held a small box with them. A little chef's hat was perched on top of their heads. A few of them wore pieces of armor and carried a spear tightly in their grip. The chefs in training huddled behind their armored companions in fear; though the armored pups couldn't do much better as their armor clacked from their constant shaking.

The grey pegasus was stunned for a moment and couldn't find something to say. It was at this time that Diamond Storm stepped up apologized, "Sorry for taking up your time and I apologize for my squad member here. We'll be taking our leave now. Have a nice day." Diamond Storm quickly left, her three squad members behind her. The heavy sigh of relief from the pups did not go unnoticed by the ponies.

Diamond Storm led the group into an alleyway. Her horn ignited in a blue hue as she casted a soundproofing spell. For the next few feet, no sound would be heard anyone outside the radius of the caster. Once the spell was completed, She turned around and yelled, "Rider, what the buck was that?!"

"With all due respect Squad Leader, we aren't getting anything done with questioning these dogs!" rebutted Storm Rider, "We should have just scanned the place as soon as we got here."

"I know dealing with Diamond Dogs is difficult, but we have to do things by the rules. We have to give them a chance before we-" Diamond was interrupted by Rider.

"Buck the rules! There is a possibility that they are hiding dragons from us! I assumed that you know that since they are still in Equestria's border, the crown may take action if we find some here. If they don't want to tell us and be free of the consequences, then buck 'em!" Storm Rider yelled.

"I am the squad leader! You follow what I tell you and when I tell you to! If you have one more outburst, so help me, I will teleport you straight to Rainbow Dash with a note telling her to 'go all out'! You don't even want to know what happened to the last pony that happened to!"

"I've been sent to Dash before and survived. What could she possible-"

"Remember Private Feather Drop and Moonreader? The ones whose hair turned grey?"

"Y-yeah, why?"

"They were one of the few ponies that got the 'go all out' treatment." Diamond Storm smiled a bit as her words caused Rider to be taken aback for a moment. The pegasus sat down quickly after she heard what Diamond said. "Now, that you've calmed down, I agree with you saying that we aren't getting far with just questioning and I'm getting frustrated as well. So, it's time for us to use the scanning spell." The two unicorns' horn ignited. While Diamond focused on performing the spell, Sapphire worked on amplifying the spell's reach and other properties. After a few moments, the spell ended. "Well, then..."

"What happened? There aren't any dragons in here, are there?" Sweet Crisp asked. Diamond shook her head.

"There are dragons here, alright. Three teen dragons, maybe a few more. And they're all around the same place. Get ready girls; we're heading out." Diamond ordered. Once the group was ready, there was a flash of light as the group teleported away.

Sasha, Spike, and Fang stood outside the entrance to the mineshaft. The female Diamond Dog was going over the dangers of the mine and what to look out for. Before she could finish Garble ran passed the trio and down the mineshaft. He was quickly followed by Jet and Fizzle.

"Okay, we need to go. NOW!" Fizzle yelled as he picked up Fang. Jet scooped up Spike before they all entered the mineshaft. Sasha, who felt a little confused at the moment, looked at where the teen dragons had run from, and her eyes widened as she saw four ponies running straight at them. She quickly went to close the gate. However, she was shot in the back with two stunning spells before she could do so. Her muscles stopped working as she fell to her left with a thump. The pony group rushed passed her, weapons at the ready.

Jet cursed as he ran down the mineshaft. How in the world did the ponies catch up to them already? Fizzle yelled something that caught Jet's attention. The mineshaft was opening up ahead into a large cave. Just a little more and they would be able to get an advantage. That was until he got struck by a stunning spell. His body stopped working as he fell to the ground. Spike, who had been carried by Jet, was fumbled out of his grasp and tumbled farther than the teenager. Spike quickly rose up to help Jet, but a familiar clang rang out through the air. The red and blue unicorn had clamped a collar around Jet and Spike's neck. Immediately, Spike felt his strength draining. "Leave them alone!" yelled Fang. Fizzle struggled to keep the raging dragoness under control. Garble and Fizzle stayed in the air while the ponies were on the ground, surrounding Jet and Spike.

"We promise not to harm a single scale on their head if you come with us!" yelled Diamond Storm.

"Whose to say you won't kill us when we come down!? Why don't you step away from our friends before we get serious!" yelled Fang.

"We don't go around killing dragons because we want to." stated Sapphire, "We can't let you guys get away and cause terror and destruction everywhere you go. We'll stop you any way we can. If we have to kill, we will. So, if you really care about these to dragons we've got collared, then you will come down and we can..." the mare known as Sapphire continued to talk, but Spike zoned her out. He observed the situation. She and the red unicorn held a bow and arrow in their magic grasps. Their arrows and horns were aimed directly at the trio in the sky. Storm Rider stayed close to her squad with her wing-blades. However, Spike was sure she could get one of them, especially Fizzle since he was holding Fang. Spike heard a gasp and locked his emerald eyes on a familiar set of cobalt eyes. Spike began to breathe heavily at the sight of the cream earth pony. Sweet Crisp almost lost the grip on her sword as she stared at the purple dragon.

There were more exchanges of dialogue between the pony squad and the dragon trio, but all sound faded into nothing. The voices in Spike's head came again.

"It's hEr. It's HeR. We go BACK? Be uSEd as ToY?! NO, NevEr!! Don't WAnT to Go BAck. WOn't Go BAcK!!"

A thought ran through Spike's mind. This could be the end of them. Even if Fizzle, Fang, and Garble managed to escape, Spike and Jet were still collared. After this, Spike faced either death or becoming a subject to even more experiments. He had tasted freedom and was on his way to his homeland. Only to be caught by ponies and the chance of being sent to a facility grew ever more. The mere thought of going back to a facility caused purple flames to spark to life around Spike's body before being snuffed out by the collar. "H-hey, don't try anything funny, ya hear?!" Sweet Crisp yelled. The sudden yelling from their squadmate caused the rest of the ponies to glance back for a moment. At the same time, Fang to that moment to discharge a lightning bolt towards the pegasus. The lightning bolt found its mark in the blink of an eye. With loud thoom, the pegasus was struck down by the lightning and fell to the ground. Her fur was covered with black patches. Soon after the lightning bolt struck, Diamond Storm and Sapphire Bridge let loose their arrows. While one of the arrows barely missed Garble, the other managed to hit Fang in her right shoulder. She screamed as she clutched her injured shoulder. It was then the voices asked the question again. Only this time Spike felt as if it was directed more towards himself.

"KILl or go BAck? Kill or go back? KIll or GO baCK?"

Spike stood up fully. Purple flames ignited on his right arm. He grasped the collar around his neck. Sweet Crisp watched in fear as Spike melted the collar with his purple flames before throwing it aside. "Kill," Spike answered before erupting in dark purple flames.

Chapter 12: ... I'm Not Going Back

Dark purple flames danced around Spike's body before erupting in a tower of fire. Pain coursed through the young dragon. He screamed as the blaze around him roared louder and louder. The rock beneath him began to glow white hot. The cave's ceiling began to fall in large drops of lava. The ponies rushed to pick up their downed comrade and escape from the ever-growing area of molten rock. Diamond put up a force field around the group to block the falling droplets. At the same time, Sapphire cast a heat-resistance spell to help with the increasing temperature.

Jet did his best to roll away from the approaching lava. He cursed loudly towards the ponies who placed the collar on him. As he finished his last swear, the tower of flames stopped. Small dark purple embers floated on the air as everyone gazed at the creature that had taken Spike's place.

A dragon of pitch black scales stood at the center of the bubbling lava. Its size was taller than Spike had been and now stood at eye height to the ponies. Purple flames cloaked its arms, occasionally a few specks of green flickered in the fire before they disappeared again. Slowly, it turned its gaze towards the pony squad. All the mares stood frozen as they stared into the seas of white that should be the creature's eyes. Sweet Crisp stared at the beast and felt her heart stopped when the creature focused its gaze on her. She took a step backward; her body shivered in fear as the creature took a step forward. A squeak of terror escaped her muzzle as she took another step. The beast soon followed suit. Sweet Crisp fell onto her haunches, and the creature continued its advance. Her limbs resisted her urge to run, and with what seemed like her inevitable death approaching, her bladder emptied itself of its contents.

Diamond and Sapphire stared at the pitch black dragon that slowly approached. They couldn't believe one of those were here much less that it was a baby dragon. They heard Sweet Crisp let out a small shriek of fear and turned to see the earth pony fall on her behind. The poor mare was too afraid even to stand. Diamond turned to Sapphire; the blue unicorn stood frozen in time. Whether it was for fear of the black dragon or something else, Diamond did not know. Diamond's horn ignited in preparation for a teleportation spell. Her plan was simple. After they teleported out of harm's way, they would report to the Princesses, get re-enforcement, and track down the dragons again. If all went well, the dragons would be captured within a day or two. However, her plan was stopped at its first step. Something was interfering with her magic. She couldn't teleport out of the cave! Why couldn't she teleport out!? Those thoughts briefly ran through her head, distracting her from the imminent threat in front of her.

In the blink of an eye, the black dragon extended an arm. The appendage quickly stretched the distance between the creature and the red mare. The dragon's claw broke through Diamond's force field as if it were wet paper. Diamond felt the creature's claw grab her horn. She was about to cast a spell to get the claw off. However, Spike was faster. Spike gave a strong and quick twist. A loud snap rang out through the air while time slowed down to a snail's pace. The ponies stood in horror as they witnessed the scene in front of them. The dragons' jaw dropped as they saw the red horn firmly in "Spike's" grip. After what felt like hours, time resumed, and Diamond screamed.

Spike looked gazed at the red unicorn horn in their claw. Having been severed during the middle of a spell, it still retained some magic. The flames that snaked across their body now surged towards the horn and engulfed it. Spike felt the magic from the horn flow into them as the fires burned away at the horn. Within seconds, the only thing remaining was a clawful of ashes. The magic absorbed from the horn felt good in a way. It coursed through their veins and served as more fuel for their flames. Their maw opened to reveal an abyss of white. What could be assumed was their mouth seemed to curl into a satisfied smile. Their moment of bliss was interrupted when a magic bolt was hit them in the head. What would have usually killed a dragon of their nature, only forced their head to face toward's the cave's ceiling.

Moving their gaze back to its natural position, Spike's eyes locked onto a blue unicorn mare. Her horn was still smoking from the spell. Her face was riddled with anger. Spike's smile disappeared as they remembered why they were here. Hatred began to make their blood boil as the purple blaze grew in intensity. Spike lifted his arms. While their right arm was the same as the rest of them, their left arm consisted of purple flames. In the palm of each claw, giant fireballs were summoned. Both of them doubled the size of the black dragon's head. The unicorn's face now turned horrified as she saw Spike raise their arms higher. The two fireballs rapidly grew in size. It was not too long before the two spheres collided and morphed into one gigantic ball of purple fire. Its heat could be felt even through the heat-resistant spell that had been applied earlier. More of the ceiling of the cave began to melt, and large sections of it were beginning to fall.

"PoNies cAme to Take US baCK," said Spike. The sound of hundreds of voices came from their maw. They were all in this together now, and they were going to put an end to this, an end to these ponies. "We wILL NEVER REtuRN!!" Screams were heard as Spike brought the titan of a fireball down. The grey pegasus yelled while the earth pony cried. The red unicorn laid unmoving while the blue unicorn's horn ignited again. Fizzle rushed upwards through one of the holes in the cave's roof. Garble was close behind with Jet, who Garble had retrieved after Spike snapped the red unicorn's horn off.

Flying faster than they ever thought they could. The two able flying dragons flew their way up through the snaking tunnel. It was not long before they heard a loud boom. Looking back, they saw a purple flame in the distance growing larger and larger with each passing second. Fizzle began to panic and frantically searched for a place to put their companions. While he and Garble were fire blooded and had resistance to anything involving heat, the same could not be said about Fang and jet.

Just as the flames seemed to have caught them, the tunnel began opening up to a new cave system. Fizzle and Garble quickly tossed the two dragons they were carrying as well as their equipment. The two dragons rolled onto the ground will the other two were engulfed by the flames. Garble and Fizzle screamed as the fire seemed to have hurt them. They plummeted from the sky and rolled onto the ground. The blaze that covered them quickly disappeared, but the pain lingered. Patches of their scales were blistered, and a few even fell off. The four dragons remained on the ground and waited for the pillar of fire to stop. Thankfully, they did not have to wait long as the blaze calmed down soon after.

Fizzle struggled to stand, the weight of a mountain seemed to rest on him. It took him some time, but he was finally able to stand up. He then hobbled his way over to help Garble. The two grunted as they tried to walk to the others.

Fang stood with Jet on the other side of the hole they had flown out of. They began to move closer to the other members of their party. However, they were stopped by the intense heat of the stone. Fizzle took notice of that and looked around for a place for them to meet. It was not long before his eyes landed on a small bridge made out of stone that they could cross. The group was back together in just a few minutes and began treating each other's injuries. While the Fizzle's and Garble's burns hurt, they would recover quickly. The collar around Jet's neck would prove to be an issue, but they were confident they would find a way to remove it. Fang was the one everyone was worried about. They had suspected her to start yelling and asking questions upon questions, but she remained silent. Her eyes were wide as she sat in silence. Fizzle assumed that the current events were just now beginning to set in, causing her to go into a state of shock.

In the short moment of silence from the female baby dragon, Fizzle inspected her injury. The arrow had penetrated deeply into the young dragoness' shoulder. Blood covered most of her shoulder and showed no sign of stopping soon. Fizzle and Jet cursed to themselves as they quickly went through their supplies for anything of use. Minutes began to fly by in the blink of an eye. Silence threatened to suffocate them were it not for Fizzle and Jet's discussion. "Okay... so, ignoring what just happened for a moment. We need to get Fang patched up first," stated Fizzle. Fizzle did not know much about medical practices, but from personal experience, he knew that they needed to get the arrowhead out as soon as possible. They had some essential medical equipment: a roll of gauze, a bottle of disinfectant, safety pins, and a few vials of medicine. Looking through some more, they found that they had a sewing needle and some thick thread. Fizzle knew a little on how to stitch wounds. He wasn't the best, but he should be enough for the job. Now the only thing was to remove the arrow carefully.

However, it was here that Garble had enough of their discussion. He took matters into his claws as he walked over to Fang. His plan was simple: rip out the arrow and burn the wound shut. He placed one claw on her injured shoulder and another claw on the arrow shaft. Before the Fizzle and Jet could stop him, Garble pulled the arrow with all his might. Most of the arrow was intact once it left Fang's shoulder. The arrowhead was snapped off and fell onto the ground. With the arrow now forcefully removed, Fang was left with a bigger hole in her shoulder than she started with. As the pain forced her to out of her initial shock, it made her scream to the top of her lungs before passing out.

Spike awoke laying in lava. The bubbling lava was soothing to his aching body. He winced now and then as his hearing was sensitive now. Through the bubbling lava, he heard screaming that came from above. His eyes opened as he recognized the voice. Spike's body quickly moved on its own. He flew upwards into a tunnel, through a mass of melting earth. The flight was quick as he flew into another cave system. However, he flew too fast and could not stop his momentum in time. The ceiling of the cave became very acquainted with Spike's face in the ensuing crash. Fizzle, Jet, and Garble turned their attention just in time to watch the purple dragon fall from the top of the cave. Spike landed on the ground with a loud thud and groaned just as loudly soon after. The three teen dragons looked at each other for a long time before they acted. Fizzle quickly flew over to pick up the purple dragon.

"Spike?! Spike!!" yelled the white dragon as he approached the downed baby dragon. As he got closer, Fizzle found that he came to a stop as he looked over Spike's lava covered body. Fizzle managed to get the chance to look at the new appendages on Spike's back. A pair of darkened purple wings laid limp on Spike's back. The scales that surround the base of the wings had darkened as well. Fizzle stared at the newly grown wings intently. More so out of fear than anything else. "That's... that's not natural.." Fizzle whispered to himself.

"WhAt's NOt... naTURaL?" Spike asked through labored breathing. Multiple voices came out at once as he did so. Fizzle took a step back. "... WhAT's wROnG?" Fizzle found the strength that he had just returned vanish in an instant. His legs gave out as he stared at Spike. "FRiZZle? Frizzle... is everything okay!? Where is everyone else?!" Spike's voice slowly became normal as he stood up weakly. Fizzle gave a fearful look at the now worried dragon.

Fizzle took a moment to calm himself down. Spike seemed to have returned to his usual self for the moment. He quickly tried to regain his confidence before speaking. Fizzle guided Spike back to the group. He filled Spike in on Fang's current situation, which caused Spike to rush towards the awaiting group. Garble and Jet were still on edge after seeing what Spike just a while ago. They were even more on edge as they spotted Spike's new wings. Everyone began asking questions; however, barely any of them were answered. Fizzle managed to get all their attention focused on Fang whom Jet was trying to stop bleeding. For the next hour or so, the group focused their effort to patch up the rusty colored dragoness.

Meanwhile, the pony squad cheated death. Sapphire was able to teleport the group farther into the cave system as well as protect them from the blast of the black dragon's attack. The attack left the blue unicorn with relatively low magical reserves. It would be a while before she would be able to teleport again. Not to mention, the way they escaped from was impossible for them to go back. The lava stopped any progress made going back within range of the entrance on hoof unlikely. Usually, that would not be an issue. With at least two unicorns casting the spell, the range of teleportation was more massive. However, after that thing took Diamond's horn, that too was impossible.

Sapphire couldn't stop herself from shaking fiercely. Her eyes the size of pinpricks as she held onto Diamond Storm. The red unicorn still laid unconscious. "How could one be here?! They weren't supposed to be here?! And how did it get so strong? None of them were that strong!!" she muttered. Her questions did not fall on deaf ears, and Storm Rider ran up to her.

"You know what that thing is!?" she yelled. The look of terror in her eyes rivaled that of Sapphire herself. "I've fought dragons before, but that thing is on a whole 'nother level! What are we supposed to do against that thing?!"

"We can't," answered Sapphire, "The Black Dragon Protocol was only meant to be used on the dragon front! Even then, it was used sparingly!! We can't go up against something like that!!" Storm Rider's fear only deepened. She looked around as if searching for something to say.

"If we can't fight it, then we have to escape and report back to the princesses!" Storm stated. Sapphire shook her head.

"We can't teleport out now that Diamond's horn is broken. And this Celestia forsaken mine won't let me even send a distress signal out..." Sapphire stopped to think for a second. "... No, this can't be..."

"... Yeah, I think it is..." Diamond Storm confirmed, "... This is the High Cliff Mine. The number one resource in Equestria for pony level anti-magic material." The rest of the group crowded around Diamond. Each happy to see that she returned to the conscious world. "There are bound to be countless ores and minerals in here that cancels, absorbs, or redirects pony magic." Diamond continued. "Felt it before I got my horn snatched by that dragon. I was going to teleport us out before it was too late, but my magic couldn't connect to the outside. It's most likely that this is a Closed Off Effect."

"What in the name of Luna's flanks is that?!" Storm Rider asked. Diamond groaned as the pegasus' yelled made her ever-growing migraine worsen.

"To make it simple, it's when pony magic can't leave a certain area due to outside influences. The area has a certain 'limit' based on its size and the amount influences there are. While magic cannot leave the area, it can travel freely inside the area. If I still had my horn, Sapphire and I could have tried to force our magic out and, at the very least, send an S.O.S signal," explained Diamond. She stumbled a bit as she tried to stand. Sapphire stood and helped her as Diamond's legs felt like bags of sand. "Until we find an exit or a weak point, we're pretty much stuck." Storm Rider groaned loudly as Sweet Crisp sat back onto the ground.

"We're... going to die here," Sweet Crisp said weakly. Her eyes began to water. "Why do ah have to die like this?! Is it karma for the facility?!"

"Sweet Crisp, don't start!" Diamond warned.

"Ah mean, sure, ah used my position for personal gain. That's bad. Ah get that, but ah was in heat! Ah don't want to die just because ah wasn't thinking straight," she screamed, tears streamed down her face. The three ponies looked at the hysterical mare as she cried her heart out. With the morale of one pony already dangerously low, the rest of the ponies knew that it was only a matter of time before they were out of luck.

Chapter 13: Confessions

The ponies looked through what supplies they had while Sweet Crisp continued to cry her eyes out. They would set up a makeshift camp for the moment. They needed a moment to recover from what had just happened. Going through their bags, they found that they had the makings of a small campfire as well as a few MRE's. Somewhere along the way, they had lost their sleeping bags as well as a few other pieces of equipment. Quickly, the fire was started, and the meals were being prepared. It was halfway through making the meals that the group noticed that Sweet Crisp had stopped crying. She now laid on her side with her back facing the group. Little sniffles could be heard from the earth pony mare.

Questions rolled around in the heads of the other mares. Each of them wanted to say something, ask anything. However, the tension in the air seemed too thick for their liking. "Looks like lunch is done," Sapphire commented. Each pony took their MRE and began to dig in — all except for Sweet Crisp, who still laid on her side. Diamond struggled to eat at first. Being a unicorn, telekinesis was second nature to her. It was as easy to lift an object with magic for her as it was for a griffon or dragon to raise things with their claws. When she tried to lift the tab off of her soup can, however, all she received for her trouble was a throbbing headache. She kicked herself mentally for forgetting about her handicap. She growled in frustration as Sapphire pulled the lid off of her can for her. Diamond muttered her thanks before she drank her soup through a straw.

Storm Rider munched on a few crackers while she took a few glances towards the earth pony. "So... are we going to say anything about her?" Storm whispered. Diamond and Sapphire looked over to the sniffling mare for a few seconds.

"She's just hysterical," suggested Diamond, "Close death encounters

"I don't think that's entirely true, remember what she said earlier? You know, with the whole using her position for personal gains thing?" Storm replied.

"I have my theories," said an oddly relaxed Sapphire, "She said something about karma from a facility and being in heat, right? Maybe this has something to do with the rumors about her mating a dragon?"

"Okay, let's say that you and the rumors are right and Sweet Crisp banged a dragon. The mare was in heat, and she used some leverage to make that happen. Kinky and I'm sure there some reprimands to be had, but both parties got something out of it. I don't see why she's so-" Sweet Crisp interrupted Storm Rider. The pegasus jumped a bit as she heard something else besides sniffling coming from the cream-colored mare.

"It wasn't exactly... he didn't... It was more one-sided than you're making it out to be," Sweet Crisp admitted, her back still facing the group.

"...And what do you mean by that?" asked Storm Rider, her curiosity peaked. Diamond also started to listen while Sapphire's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Ah... may have... sorta... forced mahself on a... baby... dragon," Sweet Crisp curled into a ball and waited. The silence amongst the group grew noticeable with each passing moment. Diamond, Sapphire, and Storm Rider sat in shock and continued to stare at the mare. Sweet Crisp could feel their gazes cut into her as the silence continued. She heard a shuffle followed by the sound of a tin can being kicked further down into the cave.

"That's just great!" yelled Storm Rider, "Not only are we trapped in a cave with dragons, of which we don't know where they are, and supplies that will last us a few days at best, we're stuck with a pedophile and a rapist. Just what I signed up for!!"

"Now with all due respect Storm," started Sapphire, "While they may be called baby dragons, they can be about the age of a full grown pony. The pedophile claim could technically be overlooked."

"Oh, so you're defending her?!"

"I am not defending what she did, Storm Rider. I'm just saying that she couldn't technically, in Equestria, be considered a pedophile."

"Okay, okay... I am not in the mood to be arguing with you for hours on the technicality of Sweet being a pedo," Storm admitted before turning her attention towards Sweet Crisp. "But what I am going to do is argue as to why you would do that!!"

"Ah was in heat!!" Sweet Crisp yelled, "We usually bare through it, but this time, it was just too much for me. Ah couldn't satisfy mahself and Ah couldn't get pregnant, so Ah thought there was only one thing to do. Ah just picked one that wouldn't say anything — one that quiet. Not to mention Ah paid off a security guard for good measure.

"At the time, Ah didn't think too much of it. Ah got mah heat under control and Ah was fine for a while. That was until Ah actually got a good look at him. The poor thing could barely walk, and he looked as if he just wanted to end it all. Ah starting thinking about what they do to the subjects and Ah got my hooves on some of the reports. After that, Ah couldn't sleep for weeks. " Sweet Crisp took a breath before continuing. "Ah didn't know how even to start making up for what Ah did. When Ah got transferred to the Griffon Front, Ah thought Ah could put that all behind me. But no, somehow, the universe seems to want mah head on a silver platter because the dragon from the facility is the same one that nearly killed us!"

"You can't honestly mean to say that you banged that black monster!" Storm Rider objected. Sweet Crisp scoffed.

"He wasn't always like that. He was smaller with purple scales and a green underbelly," Crisp corrected. She turned her head to Sapphire. "And Ah'm sure it has something to do with that 'Black Dragon Protocol of your's," Sapphire stared at the earth pony for a moment before looking towards Diamond. The leader of the group was fuming.

"Now, listen here, Sweet Crisp," Diamond started, "You are in no position to be demanding any-"

"In the name of Celestia's fat flanks, Diamond! He ripped off your horn as if it was a twig and burned the thing to ashes!!" Sweet Crisp yelled, "Yes, Ah used my position of power to rape a dragon. Ah will walk up to the princesses and admit that to their faces. You can have me court marshaled the moment we set hoof out of these caves or thrown in a dungeon, or anything else. Ah won't resist. But we won't be able to do any of that if we get killed!! The next time we meet him, it might be more than a horn he takes!!"

Diamond was about to retort when Sapphire interjected her. "First, you have to understand a few things. To get where we are today, sacrifices had to be made. Lives had to be lost. Despite our grudge and distrust against the dragons, it doesn't build morale to know that the life of the dragon you capture may be used to make a spell or improve an enchantment," started Sapphire. She could already see the look of shock spreading through Storm Rider's face. "So a lie or two are thrown around. A few memory replacement spells needed to be cast for those who couldn't handle it. Also so that morale remained as high as it could, and the lives of innocent ponies would not be lost." She took a moment before continuing.

"Also, I want to make it clear that, as far as I know, not all facilities are like this. Some facilities I've been stationed to are more like holding facilities rather than experimental ones. And, the Black Dragon Protocol was agreed to be used only when needed or if a particular dragon decided to continue being a threat to ponies on site. I can only assume that there was some need for a baby dragon to go through the procedure." Sapphire stopped talking as she saw Storm Rider was about to speak. However, it seemed the words were stuck in her throat as she fumbled for words to say before she sat on the ground, waiting for Sapphire to continue.

"The Black Dragon Protocol is on a need to know basis. Unless the protocol was needed or something else relevant happened, ponies like you, Sweet Crisp, would not have needed to know about it. The reason for that is that the process behind it is, from what I've heard, like torture. It involves more than a few Dark Magic spells as well as some memory altering. A byproduct of the protocol is darkening of the scales in certain areas. I should have noticed that from the moment we captured him, but I was too focused on the others."

"So you're saying ponies tortured a baby dragon?!" yelled Storm Rider.

"Yes," Sapphire answered.

"Why!?!" Storm Rider pleaded. Her eyes begged Sapphire for an answer.

"I don't know."

"Don't know or you don't care!!" accused Storm Rider. Sapphire stared at the pegasus for longer than necessary.

"We're getting off topic. Going back to the protocol, it all started a year and a few months into the war. While we had some ground to stand on, everypony knew we needed something to push the war in our favor. We needed something drastic to get the dragons disorganized and fighting amongst themselves. Princess Luna secretly gave no restrictions as to what that something was as long as ponies would not be hard in the process. It was Director Starlight Glimmer that came up with an idea. The Black Dragon spell. It was a spell that would convert almost any dragon over to our side without causing their greed to complicate things."

Everyone sat in silence. "Director Starlight Glimmer lost her mind finalizing the spell, but it worked. The few of the dragons she managed to convert became living, breathing bombs for us to use. We ended up using them in a prisoner trade. Thanks to them, we got Captian Shining Armor and a few others back. After a few days, the dragons 'detonated.' The event is what some call 'The Black Dragon Massacres"."

"So we were behind that!?" yelled Sweet Crisp.

"Strategically, it gave us what we needed. The dragons were confused beyond belief, rumors spread like crazy, and it had many dragons fighting amongst themselves because they were afraid that one of them could turn on them at any time."

"Stop with your cold strategic speaking! Because of us, thousands of civilians were murdered!! Women, men, children! All dead because of us!! Ah thought Ah was terrible, but this..."

"You think I wanted those things to happen?" Sapphire asked, "You think I like the thought that somewhere out there a mother has her children taken from her and used in some experiment where they are likely to die? You think I like the idea of a dragon being pushed into a corner so far that they kill their children, so they don't have to face us?! Do you think I enjoy the fact that dragons look at us like we're some monster?!" Sweet Crisp and Diamond were taken aback by Sapphire sudden outburst. Sapphire's nostrils flared as she breathed in and out. Once she was calm enough, she finished what she was previously saying, "Yes, we've done horrible things. Horrible things that many of us will never be able to atone for, however, most of it was for the sake of keeping innocent ponies alive, regardless of how... enthusiastic some ponies have gotten."

The silence made itself known again as no one dared make a sound. Storm continued to sit, unblinking. Her brain seemed to shut down all functions as she tried to comprehend the enormous scope of the situation. Sweet Crisp laid on her back staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes seemed to scan the roof of the cave as if searching for something to say. Diamond took a few bites out of a piece of bread and focused on chewing as slow as she could. Her mind was set on trying to have some sense of control. The situation was one big mess that none of them knew how to get out of.

"So, in regards to the baby dragon, what's going to happen now?" Sweet Crisp asked plainly. Sapphire sighed.

"As far as I can tell, there are two options. Either A: He burned through his magic reserves, pushed his body to its limits like the other Black Dragons and died. Or B: He's still up there somewhere." She answered. "If it's option B, then we need to get moving. That one is a strange case. Normal Black Dragons are meant to go after other dragons, not ponies."

"We're all going to Tartarus," Sweet Crisp stated. Sapphire gave out a weak chuckle.

"Now that's something we both can agree on," she chimed in. The rest of their time was spent in silence, and they rested not seeing the glaring eyes in the darkness at the end of one of the cave's tunnels.

"... I hear voices in my head sometimes," Spike admitted. If he hadn't earned the curious gaze of the teenage dragons already, he had earned it now. Fizzle stopped the stitching of Fang's wound and looked at the baby dragon. "It started around spell 600. It was also the day I got those purple flames."

"What does that have to do with anything? Besides saying that you're practically insane," Jet asked as he rubbed his neck. The collar that had once clamped around it was now on the ground, partially melted thanks to Garble.

"I think it has something to do with my new wings," Spike flapped his dark purple wings a few times. "It also might have to do with HoW I cAn tALK liKE THiS." The teenage dragons cringed as they heard multiple voices mix with Spike's voice. The three young dragons soon huddled together while Fizzle worked to patch up Fang. While they were whispering to each other, Spike could still hear them thanks to his heightened hearing.

"He's a Black Dragon, Fizzle! You know what those things can do!!" Jet stated, "I mean, I like the kid, but I don't know if I can sleep knowing a Black Dragon is sleeping next to me!" Garble used his claws to say something. While Spike didn't understand sign language, he knew that Garble agreed with Jet.

"Okay, okay... let's slow down a bit," Fizzle said as he started finishing stitching Fang's wound closed. "I'm just as scared of
Black Dragons as you are. I know about the massacres just like you do, but look at him." The two teen dragons turned their gaze towards Spike. His look of worry greeted them. He fumbled with his claws as he waited for them to finish. "I think he's an exception because if he weren't, we'd be as good as dead right now. Plus, he seemed to be more interested in those ponies rather than us. So for now, how's about we keep an eye on him. If he proves to be like the Black Dragons, we'll do what we have to do."

Garble didn't seem happy with the compromise, but Jet was on the fence about it. After a few more rounds of hushed debating, they came to a conclusion. Spike, much to his relief, wouldn't be kicked out the group. The teens tasked him to tell them whenever the voices started speaking to him again and what they said. Spike was okay with that, and the group prepared a small camp as they waited for Fang to wake up. The voices remained silent for the most part, but Spike could feel them mumbling. Whatever was happening to him hasn't stopped yet, and if he was honest with himself, he was scared to find out what would happen next.

Chapter 13.5: "Hero"

Twilight Sparkle was many things. She had a list of the titles she had obtained throughout her years. Most of the said titles had to do with academics. However, a few of her latest accomplishments had to do with the advancement of spells and enchantments for the war effort. What the average ponies applaud her for was her work in generalizing spells and charms any unicorn could cast and prepare. It didn't matter what one's skill was in magic. It didn't matter if one could only levitate a pair of scissors or an entire house. If one were to use a spell that Twilight Sparkle made, chances are it would work without a problem.

Now, these enchantments and spells were nowhere near what was needed on a battlefield. They mainly consisted of highly illusionary and defensive spells. Twilight had made them with the mindset that the Equestrian army can't be everywhere at once. She knew that, eventually, the civilians of Equestia would have to learn how to fend for themselves, even it was only for a few hours.

An incident occurred at one point during the war, some dragons and their allies had gotten through the cracks in an Equestria border checkpoint. They quickly worked to cut off the troops' supply line, destroying many settlements and small towns. It took nearly two months to catch them. Almost two months of destruction was left for the ponies to clean up. Many children lost parents, and many parents lost their children. It was this incident that Twilight used to fuel her motivation to craft her spells, and it was her motivation that eventually earned her a position as one of Equestria's research facility's directors.

She was excited at first, and who wouldn't be? A species that has been on their planet for eons and barely anybody knew any facts about them. Not a single being has ever recorded the traditions, magical and physical features, or any relevant information? And she was going to be one of the ponies that got to learn, document, and eventually publish this practical gold mine of information? This opportunity was like a dream come true for the lavender mare; a dream that would soon shatter into a million pieces.

It all started the day a clutch of baby dragons and their mother had been captured. Each of them was given a designated number for "identification purposes" as per regulation. Every researcher was buzzing around as they had never seen a baby dragon before. They had hypothesized hours upon hours as to why that was. Teenage dragons were about as rampant as their adult counterparts and could be seen in most parts of the land they inhabited. It didn't matter at the moment to them, however. There was testing to be done and discoveries to be made.

Nothing too drastic was done at first. A few sketches of the baby dragon were made along with profiles of them added to their database. They were examined quite thoroughly also. This made the mother angry beyond belief when her children told her exactly where they had been touched. She then tried to smash through the wall of her containment cell using her weight. Thankfully, the protection enchantments were in place, and they were able to stop the raging mother long enough for her to be sedated. The incident made everyone realize that any baby dragon were going to have to be treated more carefully. Which, now that Twilight looked back on it, is a bit ironic considering what happened.

She could remember it so clearly. It was a hot summer day the operation started. Many of the researchers, Twilight included, had performed dissections on dragons who were killed and transported from the battlefield. Part of her didn't like the idea of cutting open a sapient being to figure out how they worked. It felt wrong somehow. At the same time, another part of her wanted to know how these beasts could be practically immune to magic or how could their elemental breath be so powerful. That type of information could save lives! Plus, Twilight thought of herself a careful and cautious mare. It's not like anyone was going to get hurt. Maybe that was another contributor that made her accept a proposal of vivisection of one of the mother's children as well as partake in operation. They had already seen an adult's biological workings as well as a teenager's that was similar to the dragons they had captured. They only need a baby dragon to complete the cycle. With a chance to complete the cycle, as well as prove some theories, Twilight soon found herself in an operating room on Level C with a female baby dragon, D-0148, under anesthetics and injected with muscle relaxants.

It was about halfway through the vivisection that Twilight felt that something was wrong. She shrugged it off as her researchers continued to take notes. However, Twilight could have sworn that out the corner of her eye she had seen the baby dragon's eyes opened. She once again shrugged it off, blaming it on sweat getting into her eye. Why had she not double checked? Why didn't anyone else catch on to what had happened? Twilight didn't know. After they stitched the baby dragon back up and started the healing process, they had believed everything was fine. Sadly, it was not.

Over the next few days, D-0148 began showing some worrying signs. Large bags started to form under the young red dragon's eyes. She began to become more sluggish in her movements. She rarely ate and her attempts at escaping being with ponies, which was usually normal among the baby dragons, had drastically grown in intensity. Twilight remembered seeing her during one of the tests she supervised. It was a test to see if they could make a dragon see an illusion rather than placing an illusionary spell on something else. A directly applied illusionary spell would be more effective than an indirect one as it would affect all of the five senses rather than just sight and hearing.

The spell was simple. It would show a short vision of something the target feared. The spell lasted approximately ten seconds, but ten seconds could be more than enough when a life was at stake. D-0148 couldn't stand still, and her eyes kept moving back and forth between the ponies in the room. It seemed as if she was keeping track of their every move. If a pony happened to get too close, she would press her body against the wall in an attempt to get as far away from them as possible without moving too much. It was apparent now that D-0148 was showing signs of high emotional stress, but, in Twilight's mind, a new spell seemed to overrule of what the test subject was feeling.

Twilight, as well as the other researchers, did not expect much. A frightened shout and a bit of cowering, maybe even some confusion when it was all over. What they got instead was a blood-curdling scream followed by the baby dragon trying to claw her way out of the room. "Momma! Momma! Help me!! Don't let them cut me open again!!" she screamed as she continued to claw at the wall. Those words would haunt Twilight for the rest of her days. The door to the room opened, and guards quickly rushed in to restrain her. This sudden surge of ponies proved not to be the best course of action as upon seeing the armored ponies rushing towards her, the baby dragon even furthered her attempts to escape and screamed even louder. Her claws bloodied by her failed attempts at digging through the wall.

As the ponies tried to pull her away from the wall, she kicked and clawed at them. She managed to land two solid hits on two guards. One was kicked in the throat while another caught a claw to the eye. While the former was only taken by surprise and was momentarily shocked, the latter was bleeding where his eye used to be.

Now the shouts of the guard mixed in with screams of the baby dragon in a confusing mess of anguish and terror. Seeing their comrade getting injured caused the rest of the guards to react before they could think. Their spears came down quickly, and the baby dragon let out one more scream before it faded to a bloody gurgle and eventually nothing. Twilight had enough time to remember how long that scene took to play out: approximately two and a half minutes. In the short span of two and a half minutes, Twilight witnessed the death of a baby dragon. Sure, a baby dragon could have been twice her age, but that does not overshadow the fact that she just witnessed the death of a child. She couldn't remember how long she sat there, staring, as the life drained from the baby dragon's terror-filled eyes. She also didn't remember much else of that day besides seeing the bottom of her first bottle of hard liquor.

Twilight had gotten caught up on what had happened when she returned a day later. The researchers lied, saying that they were holding the dragon mother's daughter for additional testing. At most, they had a about a week until the mother grew restless and demanded to know about her child, and things would get pretty out of hand soon enough after that point was reached. Twilight racked her brain for hours looking for an answer, yet she had none. Soon, hours turned into days and days turned into a week until Twilight finally had her answer. With her face devoid of all emotion, she began to walk to D-0148's mother's containment cell.

"Where is my daughter!?" bellowed the enormous red dragon. Twilight stared at the dragon for a moment. The sizeable female dragon, known as D-0143, glared at the lavender unicorn with such hatred that Twilight practically see lightning leak out of the dragoness' eyes.

"D-0143, I regret to inform you that due to negligence on our behalf, your daughter..." Twilight even couldn't remember the poor baby dragon's name, "... D-0148 has passed away while I was on temporary leave. I'm sorry for your loss." The dragoness stared in disbelief at the mare for what seemed like an eternity.

"You're lying," she claimed, "This is one of those experiments isn't it?!"

"Ma'am, I assure you that this is not an experiment of any nature," answered a monotone Twilight, "Your daughter has passed away and has been buried outside. My researchers thought it would be better to wait until I returned as they thought that I would have been the best choice to give this news to you." A moment of silence filled the air as the dragoness continued to stare. Twilight licked her dry lips before continuing, "Now, ma'am, I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand what you must be going through right now. However, if you cooperate with us just a bit more and let us escort you, you can visit your daughter's gra-" Twilight couldn't finish as a fist came crashing into the window she stood behind. The shield enchantments withstood the impact of the punch and prevented Twilight from meeting an untimely death.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" the dragoness hissed. Twilight could feel the pain that coated her words. "Don't you dare lie to me, you filthy pony!! My Sabrina is alive! I know it, and you're keeping her from me!!!" The dragoness began to unleash a barrage of punches on the wall, putting all of her energy into her punches. The shield enchantments began to crack under strain. Twilight feared that she would have to activate the dragoness' collar, but as soon as the dragoness landed one last punch, a loud crunch filled the air. The crunch sound was immediately followed by the pained screams of the dragoness as she held her now broken left hand. The dragoness quickly laid on her side, hissing in pain. Her remaining four children rushed to her side. Twilight couldn't hear what they were saying as they were too far away. Or was it because she couldn't remember what they were saying? Twilight didn't know.

More time passed after that incident, and more dragons died under her watch. It was here that Twilight came to a revelation as to another reason as to why they gave their dragons test subjects numbers. Twilight believed there was something more to it that just procedure or organization. Twilight's theory was that, after seeing them all day and night, the numbers lose all meaning. When Twilight thought of a name, that name was usually attached to a person. A person who had feelings, independent thoughts, family, and friends. It made it harder to deal with the aftermath for when they eventually... "kicked the bucket" as they say. When Twilight thought of a number, it makes it a bit easier to become numb to it all. Twilight didn't know if that made her even more of a bad pony or not.

Numb was an excellent word to describe Twilight Sparkle when she worked for Equestria's Research Facilities after the incident. She continued her work however and, consequently, made a name for herself among the public. Many saw her as a "Hero." They welcomed her back home with open arms after she got off the train in Canterlot. Some pitied her as they saw that she could no longer move her hind legs, yet she was still a "Hero" in their eyes. It made her sick to her stomach. When fillies and colts told their parents they wanted to be just like her when they grow up, Twilight bit her lip. When she was showered in praise for her work and how she gave them all a fighting edge against the dragons, Twilight felt a little bit of pride before snuffing it out and gave empty an "thank you" to them.

Twilight was many things, but a "Hero" is not one of them in her opinion. Heroes shouldn't tear apart families. Heroes shouldn't experiment on children because of the potential information that could be gained from it. A hero shouldn't have nightmares of children crying for their parents to save them from the so-called "Hero." If being a "Hero" meant all of that, Twilight was scared to find out what a "Villain" would do.

Chapter 14: Plans in the Making

The sound of hooves running on stone echoed throughout the mines. The mares' screams nearly matched their hoofsteps in terms of loudness. While Sweet Crisp and Storm Rider ran ahead, Sapphire stayed behind. Looking back, she saw the many eyes of the flying monsters chasing them. Her horn ignited before discharging a powerful blast of freezing air. While the first dozen of the beasts became little more than ice sculptures before shattering on the ground, the rest of the colony wasn't far behind. Sapphire cursed under her breath before running to catch up with her other teammates.

It was almost unbelievable how well those monsters were able to see in the darkness of the mines. If it wasn't for the Eyes of Dragon spell, Sapphire knew they would have all been bumbling around in the dark. It was a shame she couldn't cast it in time to save Diamond. Had she been just a few seconds faster, their commander could have seen that divot in the ground. And maybe Sapphire wouldn't have had to see those flying monstrosities descend upon Diamond, ripping away her flesh as if it were paper. The pool of blood growing ever so larger as Diamond...

Sapphire shook those thoughts from her mind as she refocused on running for her life. It did not take long for her to catch up with her teammates. They seemed to be stuck at an intersection of eight mine shafts. Each path seemed to go on forever. "A come on! Where do we go?!" panicked Storm Rider, "There could be a whole bunch of dead ends!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it! Come on!" Sweet Crisp yelled as she ran ahead. Storm Rider and Sapphire run alongside Sweet, the pack of canines on could be heard not too far from them. Sapphire lit up her horn again and fired a beam of magic into the ceiling of the mine shaft. Tons upon tons of rocks came tumbling down. The ponies ran as fast as they could to outrun the collapsing tunnel. Luckily enough, they managed to beat the self-made cave-in. Gasping for air, the three ponies took this time to rest.

"Wh-what are those things?!" asked Storm.

"If I had to guess..." Sapphire took a deep breath before finishing, "... Some type carnivorous bat."

"So, the Diamond Dogs just have flying bats that can eat through a pony in less than two minutes?!" Sweet yelled, "Why are those things here?!"

"I don't know! Your guess is as good as mine!" retorted Sapphire. Her eye twitched slightly. She paused for a moment before following the sound she heard. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Storm. Sapphire did not reply to Storm's questions as she took a few more steps forward before sprinting ahead.

"Hey! Wait!" Sweet Crisp exclaimed as she and Storm ran after the unicorn. Eventually, the sounds of rushing water made it to their ears. The group increased their speed and saw that the tunnel was opening up to a large cave. A few wooden platforms and walkways could be seen along the edges of the wall with a large natural stone bridge that stretched over a vast chasm at the center of the cave. However, what grabbed the mares' attention was the massive waterfall roaring to their left.

To say that they were happy would have been an understatement. The light from Luna's moon almost made the pony trio break down into tears. Just a little more, and they could teleport to the nearest town, rest, and report back to Celestia and Luna! However, the shriek of dozen upon dozens of bats echoed throughout the cave, making their blood run cold. Swarms of the little devils spewed out from holes in the cave's walls. Sapphire quickly cast a shielding spell to cover the three of them. However, she wasn't quick enough as Storm Rider took to the air. Sapphire screamed for the pegasus to return, but she was cut off by Storm Rider's howls of pain.

The bats were quicker than Storm Rider had given them credit for. The moment she took to the air, they chased after her. They quickly attached themselves to her no less than a few yards away from her teammates. Their teeth sunk into her flesh, tearing out chunks of meat with every bite. A few of them had taken an interest in her wings and had begun devouring them. It was not long before the screaming pegasus fell out of the sky and into the rapidly moving river below.

Sapphire grit her teeth as the bats continued to ram into her shield. Her horn grew in brightness as she charged for another spell. If these bats were surrounding them, then there was only one way to get rid of them all. "Brace yourself," She ordered Sweet Crisp. The earth pony clenched all her muscles and prepared for whatever Sapphire was about to do.

A bright blue light shined throughout the entire cave as Sapphire unleashed a powerful blast of magic. All of the bats that were close enough to Sapphire when she cast her spell were frozen in an instant and shattered into tiny pieces once they hit the ground. Others had a worse fate as they fell out of the air, partially frozen. Those that weren't killed by their fall or by drowning the river cried out as they suffered from frostbite, twitching on the ground in agony. Sapphire panted as she gazed over her work before turning towards a shivering Sweet Crisp.

"W-W-Why c-couldn't you use that earlier?!" asked Sweet. Sapphire huffed before she explained herself.

"It uses too much huff magic," Sapphire answered. "I'm huff surprised that I'm still standing. Normally, that should..." Sapphire's body chose that at that moment that it was at its limit as she fell to the ground. "Ah... buck..."

Sweet stood up and tried to help Sapphire back up. After what seemed like forever, Sweet finally managed to get Sapphire to stand up. The unicorn's legs wobbled with each step she took, and she had to concentrate on moving. They were almost home free. They just had a little more to go, and they could be back with their family. The sunlight began to warm her fur as she hobbled Sapphire along with her. Freedom was just a hop and a skip away.

She could practically see her home already. Her sister would welcome her home with a fresh apple pie. She could sleep in her bed, her ever so soft bed. She could nuzzle with her dog and play with him until the sunset, and the moon was high in the sky. Just a couple more steps, a bit of rest, and they would be home free.

It was a miracle that most of, if not any, of Spike's stuff had survived his meltdown. He would have to thank Jet for grabbing it. A few holes and more than enough burnt marks appeared across the surface of his bag. His knife, money, and rations made it through mostly unscathed. The rations were a little well done, but he could deal with that. It was his book that took the brunt force of his meltdown. A little less than half of the book was salvageable while the other portion was burned.

Spike didn't know what he should be feeling at this moment. So many emotions flooded his mind that it became nauseating. He felt joy and happiness by the fact that he was out of that facility. He was freed from those collars, and he was taking the first steps to ensure he would never be shackled by them again. Spike also felt anger and rage boil softly in his veins. Whether it was his own emotions or influence of the dark magic resting inside of him, Spike felt this deep urge to go out and render all those who sought out to harm him to nothing but ash. However, because he let that urge take control of him earlier, he could feel that Fizzle, Jet, and Garble had distanced themselves from him as one would a dangerous animal, which made Spike feel sad and a bit lonely.

A few tears began to sting Spike's eyes as they began to roll out of his tear ducts and down the side of his face. He quickly whipped them away as he looked over what could be salvaged from the situation. Only a few seconds passed by before Spike felt a presence behind him. The young dragon turned around to find Fizzle standing nervously behind him. The two remained in silence for a few moments, but to them, it was an eternity. Upon seeing the book that Spike was holding, Fizzle changed entirely from being awkwardly nervous to surprisingly lively. "That's interesting," Fizzle said, "That grimoire is really odd."

"Grimoire?" Spike asked, confused.

"That's what that book is," Fizzle explained, "Think of them like magical teaching books. Beings with knowledge of magic, but with no direct heir to teach, make these from time to time so that their knowledge can be passed down. Alone those with a natural ability to use magic or those who've studied it for years can use them, though. What's really interesting is that an author can enchant their grimoire to act a certain way. This grimoire is about pyromancy, right?" Spike nodded head. Fizzle rubbed his chin with his claws.

"Normally, a grimoire is enchanted to be resistant against the elements. More so if it's teaching how to manipulate one. So for this grimoire to be burned so bad. I would theorize that whoever made this grimoire enchanted it so that if the user of the book uses fire magic with malicious intent near the book that the book absorbs the magic and burns pages equal to the amount of intent used. So if you wanted to kill someone with fire magic near the book, you'd end up burning a lot of pages."

"But why would someone do something like that?" asked Spike, "What's the purpose of learning elemental magic if I can't use it near the book!?"

"Well, I've heard that some beings separate education and violence. While they may teach you combat-focused spells to defend yourself, they don't want you to use it in a place of learning. So the author might have thought that this book would only be used in a school or something and enchanted it, so if you use magic with the intent to hurt someone near it, you will lose knowledge as a consequence." Fizzle said. The two dragons continued to talk for what seemed like a few minutes, but they had been chatting for hours. They were only stopped by the loud groans of Fang.

Spike rushed over to his friend and check on her. She complained about the pain in her arm, where the arrow was ripped out. Fang glared daggers at Garble while she did so. In her complaining, she didn't notice Spike's new wings to which she had more than enough questions. It took some time to get the little dragon to calm down, but once she was, the group began to put their plan into motion.

With Fizzle leading them, the group dug their way down into the rock. They continued to dig for what felt like forever until they made their way into an out-of-commission mineshaft. The group then took a break while Fizzle looked at his maps. The rest of the group passed around a few snacks while they all waited to catch their breaths. Midway through his meal, Spike heard something. His ears tuned into the sound that was coming from his left to try and make out what he was hearing. It almost sounded like... screaming. Pony screaming to be more precise. The voices in his head returned with glee in their tone.

HoWW?! PonIEs live? ImPOSsible. No MATTer, We CaN FInish the JOb!

Spike felt the rage boil inside him. Purple sparks flashed across his body as he began to move. Before Spike could stand up, the young drake forced himself to sit back down. The voices screamed at him and questioned as to why he would hesitate to finish off those ponies. Spike argued that they were not a threat. By how far away the screams were and by how much they were fading away, the ponies were too far away to do any harm to them.

BuT, what HaPPens If THeY escape? Tell PrInCESseS?

Hatred began to fill Spike's eyes, but he forced himself to calm down. Rage and hate weren't what he needed right now. The stunt he pulled earlier manage to put the teenage dragons in the group on edge, and if he wanted to earn their trust back, he would have to stay calm. The voices were cut out by Fizzle, putting a claw on Spike's right shoulder. "Spike, are you okay?" Fizzle asked. The young drake turned his head to respond.

"I'll be fine," Spike replied. Fizzle stared at Spike for a moment.

"You're hearing those voices, aren't you?" Fizzle asked. Though, with his tone, Spike suspected that it was more of a statement than a question.

"... Yes," answered Spike, "I thought I heard ponies screaming, and they reacted like they usually do."

"There is no way you heard ponies," Jet commented. The two turned around to see Jet slouching against the wall. "After what you did, those ponies are deader than dead. We won't even be able to find even a hair from them down there. It's probably some bats or something." Spike nodded in agreement. With their leader's horn broken and the rest in a panic, he most likely killed them.

"In any case, we should be hurrying up. If we can manage to get out of here before the sun sets, we can get some scavenging done. Topping off our supplies isn't a bad start to our journey home." said Fizzle. The rest of the group nodded before they followed Fizzle down the mineshaft. Fang helped Spike up, and the two walked behind their older counterparts.

"Twilight, honey, you should be resting!" Twilight Velvet pleaded to her daughter. However, Twilight continued on writing and editing her research. She may not be able to use her legs again, but she wasn't going to just sit around while there was work to do. Books nearly towered to the ceiling while a sea of crumpled paper with magic theories and equations written on them. A chalkboard stood at the foot of the purple unicorn's bed. Equations, graphs, and other things filled the board that was beyond Twilight Sparkle's mother's understanding.

"I need to finish this, mom," Twilight replied, "I can almost taste it, I'm so close. I'll sleep when I'm done."

"Twilight! You've been doing this ever since you've gotten back. You haven't eaten anything, and the only thing you've drunk is coffee!"

"Oh, that reminds me-" Twilight levitated a coffee pot over to her mother, not taking her eyes off the board. "Can you give me a refill, please?"

"I'm not giving you more coffee, Twilight. I'm serious when I say that you can't keep doing this. You aren't going to keep doing this! Not in my house!! You nearly worked yourself to death in those facilities, and I'll be damned if I'll let you do it here." For the first time since Twilight arrived at her parent's home, she stopped writing on the chalkboard. She turned her attention to her mother, who had tears building up in her eyes.

"I've always been told it's a mother's job to worry about her children, but I don't think they meant I should fear for my children's wellbeing," Velvet paused for a moment to get her words in order. "Twilight, do you know how long it's been since I've seen you smile? How long it's been since I've seen that spark in your eyes? You've done amazing work for Equestria, and for ponykind, don't get me wrong. But, you would have to be blind to not notice how much it's taken from you. You can't do this anymore, Twilight. Whether you think so or not, you've reached your limit, and I'm not about to just stand by while my daughter continues to work herself to an early grave. You can stop now, Twilight. It's over." Twilight stared at her mother, surprised. Was she really that easy to read?

Twilight turned her head towards the chalkboard in front of her. Her eyes scanned the board for what must have been the hundredth time. She was so close to finishing her work, but there was still something missing. Spike's reaction to her spell before when she tried to cleanse him of the dark magic in his body meant that there was something else going on with him other than what she had previously expected. Not to mention, he was free now. The equivalent of a walking time bomb of mass destruction was just out in the world. He was a danger to those around him as well as himself, and that danger only grew as time went on.

It was then that a thought came into her mind, maybe she was going about this all wrong. She was dealing with dark magic and severe dark magic at that. If there weren't enough sufficient resources that Twilight could use on her own, then maybe the princesses could be more help to finish her work. Her pride hated the idea of asking the princesses for help, but her mind told her that this was now the best course of action. She had tried her best on her own, but she was restricted by many factors. Surely the princesses, being alive for as long as they had been, knew of something else that they could add to this.

"Alright, mom," Twilight started, "I guess your right. I'll hand over the rest of my research to the princesses, and I'll wash my hooves of this for good."

"I know this may have meant something to you, Twilly, but you'll see it was for the best," Velvet pulled her daughter in for a hug and the two embraced each other for a few moments. Once the two separated, Velvet spoke again. "I'm going to go ahead and start a bath for you. We're having take-out from Hay-burger tonight, so start thinking about what you want to eat tonight. Oh, and don't worry about the mess, we'll help clean it up tomorrow."

"Okay, mom, thank you," Twilight said as her mother exited her room. She pulled out a quill and paper before beginning to write to the princesses. "Dear Princess Celestia and Luna, I wish to have a meeting with you to discuss something that involves Spike (the dragon that responsible for the escape of nearly all dragons at my previous employment) and his... special magic..."

Author's Note

Hello, happy late holidays! I was stuck on this one for longer than I would have liked to be, but I think I'm happy with this one. I hope you like it.

Chapter 15: Lets Have a Talk

Princess Celestia and Luna walked side by side with one another. They would be having a meeting today, a special meeting. They had received a letter from Twilight Sparkle yesterday detailing her findings and wanting to present them. The two princesses had been ecstatic about this for two reasons. First of all, they would have a chance to meet Twilight again. They had previously met briefly when Twilight and her crew were brought back to Canterlot, but they left earlier than expected as they wanted the mare to get some rest. Another chance to meet and have a somewhat friendly chit-chat would be a nice break from their routine. The second reason is that Twilight had informed them that there might be a way to rid the baby dragon of his dark magic. That was most likely going to be the main focus of this meeting. Both princesses agreed that the faster a solution was found, the quicker they would have one less problem to worry about.

The door to the meeting room came into view faster than the princesses thought. Stationed outside the room were two guards standing at attention. "Has Miss Sparkle arrived yet?" asked Luna. Both guards gave a quick nod. The guard to their left was the first to speak.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle arrived an hour ahead of schedule, your majesties," he stated, "She said she wanted to have everything prepared for when you arrived." Luna chuckled a bit.

"She still has that student spark about her, doesn't she?" she asked Celestia.

"Yes, she does," Celestia replied. A slight smile was seen on her face. She then turned her full attention to the guards in front of her. "This meeting is a crucial one. Unless permitted by myself or Luna, nobody is to enter this room. Am I clear?"

"Crystal clear, your highness!" answered the two guards as they saluted.

"Good. Now then, Luna, let's not keep Twilight waiting any longer, shall we?" as Celestia finished her sentence, the two walked into the room and closed the door behind them.

The sight of the room was mind-boggling. On the round table in front of the princesses rested stacks upon stacks of research papers, data tables, graphs, and written recordings. Surrounding the far half of the table were five large chalkboards filled to be brim with equations, theories, and conversions. It had been barely half a minute, and the princesses already felt more than a little lost.

With her back facing the two alicorns, Twilight was mumbling to herself as she sat in her wheelchair. Celestia frowned a bit before she greeted her old student. Twilight continued to mutter to herself. She flipped through an assortment of papers in her magical grip. Celestia greeted her ex-student again, this time with much more volume. Twilight jumped a bit in her chair before she looked back at the two alicorn sisters; an embarrassed smile was plastered on her face. The two princesses gave a low laugh at the mare's sudden surprise. "You still have that habit of getting engrossed in your work, don't you, Twilight?" Celestia giggled.

"Well, you know what they say. Old habits die hard," Twilight nervously chuckled.

"How are you getting used to your new wheels?" Luna asked bluntly. Celestia gave her a stern look as the words left her sister's mouth. Twilight gave a small chuckle.

"It's weird having to get around in a wheelchair like this. Expecially after being used to walking on all fours my whole life. I doubt I'll ever get used to it," Twilight admitted, "I'm getting the other kind of wheelchair soon, though. The one that you can use your forelegs to walk with."

"That's good to hear," Celestia said. She looked over the table, filled with paper. "Is this all your research?" She shouldn't have been surprised at how much a pony can write when in the right position. Nor should she have been surprised with the stacks of paper that threatened to collapse the table. She was the ruler of a whole kingdom. She was used to seeing mountains of paper. However, laws and politics were well-sharpened tools of her position. Her skills and memory of science and physics were subpar at best. Perhaps that was the reason as to why she was dumbfounded by the about of numbers and jargon.

"About eighty percent is mine. The other twenty percent is from some colleagues of mine. I'm sure that there are a few papers here that we all collaborated on as well." The three ponies talked for quite some time about normal things, such as upcoming books and events. Soon enough, the princesses wanted to know how Twilight was doing. The princesses' hearts shanked a bit when they heard she was planning on seeing a psychiatrist. Also, while she wasn't having them now, Twilight estimated that some vivid nightmares were going to come her way in the future. Luna said that she would banish any nightmares that Twilight would have, but Twilight requested that she didn't. When asked as to why she would make such a potentially scaring request, Twilight began her speech.

"Call it what you will, but I see this as the only form of punishment I'm going to get for the time being," she said. Her horn ignited as she used her magic to flip one of the chalkboards directly behind her. She picked up four chalk sticks in her magic aura and began quickly drawing four diagrams. "Celestia... Luna, what are your thoughts on Spike?" The two princesses took a moment to process.

"From what we have heard and read in your letter, Spike is a dangerous one," Luna started, "As of now, we have no idea where he is or what he is planning, but we have received info that some of the dragons he helped escaped have been recaptured. The interrogations so far have not given us any useful results, so at the very least, this Spike is a danger that we will stamp out once we have enough resources freed up."

"I agree with Luna to an extent," Celestia commented, "While I do believe that this dragon needs to be recaptured as soon as possible, I believe purging the dark magic from him would be enough. We have enough blood on our hooves as it is." Luna looked at her sister with a degree of shock and disappointment. Before she could say her opinion, the snap of one of Twilight's chalk sticks drew their attention back to her.

"It would seem that you two have different outlooks on this," Twilight sighed, "That makes this a bit more difficult, but I can work with that." She placed down the chalk sticks and picked up a wooden ruler in her magic grasp. She moved out of the way of the chalkboard. Using her ruler, She gestured to three pictures of ponies on the left side of the board. "What do these remind you of?" The princesses stared at the images for a few moments before commenting.

"Those are diagrams of each pony race's magic system," answered Celestia.

"Correct! Each of these diagrams represents the magic system that runs throughout all ponies. Notice how each race has different locations for their mana pools." Twilight gestured to white dots that represented the pools of mana of each race. Each dot had lines drawn between them, connecting them in a variety of ways. "Each pony race has a certain number of mana pools and connection paths that allow them to do what their race is unique for. Out of all the species, ponies are the most tuned to magic. Dragons are close to us in that regard, however..."

Twilight quickly sketched a diagram of a dragon. In the center, a large white dot was drawn with lines that branched outwards from it. "... While they only have one mana pool, it is very potent and only grows in strength the more the dragon ages until it reaches its physical peak. That is one of the reasons why using magic directly on a dragon is incredibly difficult. Most adult dragons have too much potent mana in them that they're able to repel foreign magic. The same cannot be said for their younger counterparts." Twilight rotated the chalkboard so that the back could be seen. A sketch of a young dragon was already drawn on it.

"Dragons that have not reached early adulthood are more susceptible to outside magic. Teenage dragons are in the middle of the range. They are at the stage in which their mana is no longer as weak as a younger dragon, but not as strong as an adult. That is why request the capture of teenage to hatchling dragons was sent, as I'm sure you know. A few requests for unhatched dragon eggs were sent as well because there were some researching wanting to experiment with them, but they were denied." Twilight looked towards the princesses. Both of them continued to watch Twilight as she continued her lecture. Neither of them had an easy to detect emotion on their face. "Moving on to the point," Twilight started.

"A little interesting fact about dragons: until they reach their teenage years, a dragon's mana pool can change properties based on the magical environment they're in. If one were to take a young dragon from a frozen environment and into an environment with fire, their mana pool would eventually adapt to the new environment quite easily. There is a limit to this, however. Not to mention that this trait is lost as they come of age, but they can only do this a certain number of times before they are stuck with whatever element power they currently have," Twilight levitated some notes from the table.

"Spike was an interesting case. It seems as though they wanted to not only test new magic spells and enchantments, but they also wanted to see how young dragons react to excessive magical stimuli. Spike has been experimented on multiple times. If I read the documents correctly, he was the only baby dragon to survive just over 1,000 spell experiments. Due to the experiments, I theorized that his mana pool tried to adapt to its environment. However, with all the different types of magic being used, I've concluded that his mana pool didn't know how to adapt properly and was left weakened. With the Black Dragon Protocol being used, the dark magic would have little to no resistance from Spike's mana pool."

At the mention of that name, both princesses seem to tense only for a moment, but Twilight caught onto it. "I'm not here to judge what you ordered. Though, I will come back on another date to debate that. I'm only here to discuss a way to help someone who can still be saved."

"So you believe that this Spike can still be rescued?" asked Luna.

"It won't be easy, but it is possible. Dark magic is never an easy thing to cure, even for ponies. It infects our mana pools and slowly corrupts our minds. However, due to the nature of our magic system, the spread of dark magic is slowed. For a mild case, studies have shown that it would take a month to cleanse a pony fully. Dragons, on the other hoof, are a different story. They are naturally magic resistant, and that resistance only grows the more they age. That doesn't mean that they can't be corrupted. For dark magic to corrupt dragons, the source of it would need an extremely long time or for Spike's case, a heavily unstable mana pool. And when corruption takes hold..." Twilight levitated a red piece of chalk and began shading over the white chalk with red.

"... It holds on tight and continues to creep in." Most of the sketch's mana pool was now red with only a white dot in the center. "At this point, Spike is still in control, but I do not doubt that the dark magic will influence him more and more."

"And what makes you think he hasn't been taken over already?" Luna asked.

"Because, as far as I know, there haven't been reports of a dragon chomping down on ponies like Celestia chomps down on cake or how you devour pies," Twilight replied without thinking. Her eyes widened as she realized what came out of her mouth. The room was silent as the two princesses sat with their mouths nearly reaching the floor. It took some time for everyone involved to regain their composure. A light chuckle managed to escape Celestia's mouth.

"Did not expect that today," she said. A small smile had appeared on her face for a second before turning back to its neutral position.

"Yes, quite," Luna mumbled. Twilight cleared her throat before she continued.

"Disregarding that, I believe Spike is still in control. However, that control is bound to slip now that his collar is off, and I don't think that I can replicate the enchantments that were on it," said Twilight.

"And what enchantments would those be?" asked Celestia.

"That is the thing. I don't know. As far as I'm aware, the enchantments were to smother Spike's emotions completely."

"Why would someone make enchantments that do that?" asked Luna.

"Well, think about it. What fuels dark magic?" Twilight questioned. The princesses took a few seconds to answer.

"Negative emotions," answered Celestia and Luna.

"Exactly. Hatred, sadness, envy, regret, and every other negative emotion serve as fuel for dark magic. If you remove the fuel, then the fire will die out. And Spike, well dragons in general, have a reason to hate us. Now that that collar is no longer retraining him or his emotions. His dark magic can have more than enough fuel to burn."

"All the more reason to put him out of his misery while we have the chance," Luna stated.

"Luna, what would you do if there was a colt out there, and he was tainted with dark magic, but there was still a chance to save him?" Twilight stared right at Luna as she asked the question. "Would you still say that he should be killed? Or would you try to save him?"

"That's different."

"How so? Both the colt and Spike have dark magic, a magic that corrupts anything it touches. Both of them are male and the youth of their species. In both cases, nothing is different except that one is a pony, and the other is a dragon. Is that the only difference that is stopping you from helping this boy? This child who has been effect by and is going to suffer by your hoof is just another name on the long list of children you've already sent to their deaths, isn't he?" Twilight's calm yet angry tone was unnerving.

"Why you...!" Luna was stopped by Celestia, raising a hoof.

"Twilight, nobody in this room is innocent in these times. It is not fair to hold the actions of a pony, of which they have regrets..." Celestia looked over at her sister, who seemed to have found something interesting on the floor. "...over their heads like a guillotine while you also have done actions that you regret as well." Twilight rubbed her temples before she spoke.

"I know, princess, but I'm... I'm just so tired. Of all of this. This war, this fighting, these experiments. By all that's sacred in this world, do you realize what we've become? Do you realize what we are doing?!" Twilight turned to face both of the princesses. "This war has brought out the worst in us. We have troops out there hunting down and capturing children! We are capturing children and experimenting with them like lab rats!! What good did we think could come out of this?!"

"We have saved the lives of our fellow ponies," Luna answered. "Had it not been for your efforts and your colleagues, Equestria might not have been standing as of today. That is the 'good' that came out of it. I thought that you would know that being that you happily did the work." Twilight looked stung by Luna's last comment.

"Of course, I was happy. Who in their right mind wouldn't be? Not only did I have the chance to be a part of history in discovering the secrets to dragons, but I thought what we were doing would bring an end to this war faster. In many ways, you can say that I succeeded in the first goal and somewhat in the latter. However, I now realize that I may have helped open up a can of worms that should have stayed closed. Do you know what the dragons are saying about us?"

"The words of the enemy hold no-"

"They're saying that we're child-killing monsters. They say that we'll take any kids from their parents. We'll even take eggs housing unborn children so that we can use our magic to twist and turn them into slaves to use however we want. We have dragons taking extra precautions to hide their children from us. We have dragons willing to kill their offspring so that they don't have to suffer through whatever it is we would do to them! If what I've uncovered from Spike's records, my research, and reports on what happens in other facilities, I don't think that I blame them," Twilight ranted. "What I'm trying to say is: since did we become the monsters?"

"Twilight, in war and life, you sometimes have to do things for the better of the people. Even if it means that you have to bloody your hooves," Celestia said calmly.

"I'm sorry, princess. I do understand what you're trying to say, I do, but why do we have to abandon our morals for this? Since when in this country's founding since we've stooped this low? I mean honestly, if we look at it from an outside perspective, it looks like we're the villains! That doesn't even cover what other countries are going to think if they hear about this whole thing. Or are you going to try to cover everything up like with the Black Dragon Protocol? Just going to act like this whole thing never happened? After everything that we've done, that I've done, you're just going to forget about it!? Do all the dragons that died in those facilities mean nothing to you?! We tear apart families, leave children without parents, and snuff out lives for our gains and they're just dust in the wind?! What happens after this war?! Ponies already had misgivings about dragons before. Now that they have a means of fighting back as well as capturing dragons, do you think that everyone is going to sto-"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!" yelled Celestia. The unicorn mare flinched as she was interrupted by the princess of the sun. The room was quiet for a few moments. Celestia placed a hoof on her temple as she sighed. "This war has brought out the worst in us." She started, "I do not doubt that my past self would be disgusted at what she had become. And in a few ways, I am disgusted with myself."

Celestia gazed down at the mountain of paperwork again. Years of research were on display before her as well as years of torment. Another sigh escaped her mouth. "If there is one thing that I want to be clear to you, Twilight, is that we did not wish to take this route. Our backs were against the wall and were given limited options. So when the opportunity to save our little ponies came up, we did not hesitate. If you think that I enjoy the fact that I'm seen as a monster, then I'm afraid you are wrong. If you think for a minute that Luna takes pleasure in being a nightmare to children, no matter what the species, then you are wrong."

"... we've made some terrible decisions," Luna admitted. Her cold princess persona seemed to disappear and left a tired alicorn in her place. "Terrible decisions, decisions that we have to see through to the end and that will no doubt lead to difficulties in the future. However, do not take what we did and what we are doing out of cruelty. Our main goal was for the best chance for our ponies to survive. It seems though that more ponies are more... 'dedicated' to seeing that goal to its conclusion than we expected." The room was silent again. This time the silence hung in the air for quite some time before anyone spoke again.

"Okay, we've all made bad, horrible decisions," Twilight started, "Decisions that are going to leave many beings with nightmares, physical scars, and mental scars that will last them a lifetime. However, that doesn't mean that we can't take action to fix some of the damage."

"Twilight, I'm-" a tired Celestia was interrupted.

"Celestia, we can do this. We need to do this. How long has this war gone on? Four, eight, ten years?" Twilight said, "We've dug ourselves into a hole, a very deep hole. It will take some time, and it will take more than enough work to get ourselves out of that hole. Spike will be our first step, a difficult one, but a much-needed one. I can't guarantee that we can fix everything we did, and I can't guarantee that we can rebuild the bridges we burnt down. I can guarantee that we can stop ourselves from continuing to be the monsters we've made ourselves."

The princesses were silent for a few minutes as they stared at each other. "Okay, Twilight," Luna spoke, "What do you suppose we do about Spike?"

"Before the breakout, I was using a spell on Spike that erases dark magic. It worked as intended, and I was able to erase some of it before things got out of hand." Twilight turned her attention back towards her diagrams. "I should have seen this coming and accounted for it. However, multiple factors made me overlook it. At the same time, I've come up with a plan. As long as we're careful, nothing too bad should happen."

The moon had taken its place in the sky for some time now. Spike and his friends had been flying the moment the sun had set, and the moon had risen. Fizzle had already mapped out their route to the Dragon Lands. If everything went according to plan, they would reach the border within a little over a week. Their food and other supplies would last them a few days. Maybe, after their food ran out, they could make it the rest of the way if they pushed it. Fizzle managed to convince them that they would be better flying on a somewhat full stomach. When their food started to get low, they would have to scavenge around for food. At the very worst, they could raid a pony town while they were on their way.

Even the thought of being close to ponies made Spike's magic flare up. He hoped that it would not come down to that. He didn't know if he would be able to hold himself back. If he couldn't, there would be no doubt in his mind that the princesses would be on the group and his tail until they were caught. He didn't know what he would do if he ever met the two princesses face to face. The thought of meeting them was enough to make his blood boil. Spike did his best to keep his flames under control. They were basically on a stealth mission, and any sign of unusual sightings would surely be reported. Just a couple more hours, and he could vent all he wanted when the sun rose. He could wait until then.

Author's Note

I can't tell you how many times I've rewritten this chapter. Part of me thinks that this could be better, but I don't know how. If you want, you can leave a comment with any suggestions.

I hope that you enjoyed this.

Chapter 16: Small Rest

Rest was a critical aspect of any mortal creature's life. It was a way for the body to refresh itself to be ready for the trials of the next day. It also allowed for the mind to stop to relax a bit and perhaps dream about things one couldn't even imagine when they were awake. This made Spike all the more twisted as he did not dream most of the time he slept. He didn't sleep too profoundly much at all before. Finding that he could rest and drift off into nothingness for a few hours took some time to get used to. Dreams, however, were still as rare as a high-grade fire ruby. So one would be surprised if they had known Spike was peacefully dreaming. A few light snores came from the small dragon's mouth.

Etseon loved to dig tunnels. He found that digging underground and uncovering gems and ores to be quite fun. However, he knew that his sister would most likely tease him about it again when he got back to the surface. Perhaps she would poke fun at him and call him a Diamond Dog. Or maybe she would just try and sneak a few of his gems away. However, Etseon supposed that that last option would depend on how hungry she was. 'Though she won't be able to find them now that I've got a super-secret hiding spot!' he thought as he continued to dig. He had already gained a decent pile of gems, one that could last him quite a while if he paced himself. Who knows, maybe he could get a headstart on his horde now?

After a couple more dozen of rock and dirt were removed from Etseon's path, he saw something he didn't think he would see for a hundred years. The edges of the gem glowed a soft green as it poked out from the rock and dirt. Etseon could barely believe his eyes as he gently excavated the jewel from its rocky prison. A few moments later and the young lilac dragon could see the glowing green gem in his claws. "An earth jade..." he whispered to himself. An earth jade was not as rare of a find as a fire ruby or a wind pearl, but to find one was not very common. Even though Etseon could see that the jewel was low grade, he couldn't help but be excited.

Quickly, he worked his way back towards where he was keeping his other gems. He knew that he wouldn't be able to take all of them in one go, so he buried half of the pile and took the rest with him. Etseon was ecstatic. He was more than that. He couldn't wait to stockpile his gems in his hiding spot and make the earth jade his centerpiece. Maybe in a few decades, the catch would be suitable for eating. However, in his haste, he had forgotten one of some important lessons his parents taught him and his sister always reminded him of. When outside of the den: stay silent, move quickly, and stay vigilant of your surroundings. Etseon did none of those things and came face to face with a squad of ponies.

In a matter of seconds, the environment shifted from warm and exciting to frightening and cold. Dark clouds blocked out the sun as Etseon was forced to ditch his precious gems. He ran for what seemed like forever, and yet he could still feel the ponies on his tail. He hid in bushes and trees, held his breath in deep rivers, and risked his life multiple times to try and outmaneuver the ponies. However, they would always find a way to capture Etseon nearly. Each failed attempt made the ponies wiser to Etseon's tricks and closer to success. With each try, the clanging of the metal collars they carried with them grew louder and louder.

Etseon knew he couldn't keep up for much longer. His feet were hurting from the constant running. His legs strained to keep his body up, and his lungs burned. At the same time, he knew he wouldn't need to keep running. The area around him began to look more familiar. Soon enough, a cave entrance appeared within his sight. Tears of joy filled the young dragon's eyes as he ran towards the cave. He shouted out for his sister. She would help him, and together they could escape the ponies. If he could just make it a little bit- CLANG!

As the metallic noise rang out, ~~Etseon's~~ Spike's world slowed to a crawl. The color quickly faded away from the world, leaving it in a series of greys. The warmth from his body left him just as fast. ~~Etseon~~ Spike could see his sister emerging from the darkness of the cave. Surprisingly, she was the only thing that had any color left in the world. Her scared expression was the last thing the young dragon saw in detail as the world faded to black.

Memories passed by Spike like a blur. Thousands of needles drew his blood. Enchanted scalpels made removing his scales so easy a child could do it. Tests upon tests being performed. Pony faces flew by in a matter of seconds. As each memory came and went, the more Spike grew to hate. The more he grew to hate, the hotter his body became.

"HaTE! Hate! hATe! Burn them All down! Burn Everything Down!!"

The voices returned in full power. They fed off of Spike's hatred and slowly unified themselves together, becoming one. What was once darkness was burned away by purple fire. The once eery and still silence was now filled with screams of pain and terror. Spike watched as the world around him burned as extensive forests were reduced to ashes in minutes. Grassfields were scorched earth in mere seconds. Mountains became volcanoes, rivers evaporated, and the very air itself became toxic to breathe. But all that failed to compare to the ponies.

Spike's smile threatened to wrap itself around his head as he watched the ponies run for their lives. Many of them were already covered in the purple flames. Spike laughed as the ponies desperately tried, and failed, to save their fellow kind. The look of horror as they witnessed their people be reduced to lumps of charcoal was priceless. The cries of anguish as a pony watched their loved one become engulfed in flames or fall into one of the many forming lava pits were music to Spike's ears. The highest grade gem of the rarest kind wouldn't be enough for the view Spike was seeing. At the same time, Spike felt as if it wasn't enough. No, no, no, the princesses were still part of the equation. He wanted, needed, to see their faces as he burns them and their country to the ground. They would be the cherry on top of his cake!

"YES!! Burn EVeryTHING!! BURN THE PONIES! BURN THEIR ASHES!!"

Jet watched as the young dragon laughed softly in his sleep. Once the kid's laughing fit calmed down, Spike curled up and was snoring again. Jet placed a shaking hand on his aching head. Something was wrong with him. Well, there was something wrong with many of the dragons in the group. Garble couldn't speak. Spike was a Black Dragon with dark magic, Little Fang was... herself, and Fizzle was tenser than he had ever been before. Jet had assumed that he was the most stable out of all of them. That assumption proved to be wrong, however.

Lately, his head had been giving him a lot of trouble. As of right now, his splitting headache is what awakened him from his sleep. Which he really needed as his body had been feeling more sluggish too. Maybe it was something that he ate, or perhaps the events of the previous few days finally caught up to him. Now that he thought about it, this week had been completely weird. He never thought that Spike would be able to be the one that led them to freedom and not in the way that it happened either. Then the ponies and what happened to Spike at the diamond dog capital were a surprise. That served to prove that the pony government was after them. Which only proved they needed to get back to the Dragonlands as soon as possible.

If there were going to be more things like that happening, Jet could see why Fizzle was so tense. Not to mention that since that pony squad was toasted, they would more than likely not be reporting back anytime soon. Not reporting back means that whoever sent the first squad will get suspicious and send another team. When that squad says what happens, there will likely be an increase in ponies watching out for dragons. More ponies watching for dragons means more chances of them getting caught. Which is all the more reason for them to hurry towards their home.

As Jet continued to think, his head began to pound more. A hiss left his mouth as he tried his best to endure the pain. He stood up slowly and began to look around the surrounding area. He had seen a river as they flew by. A quick dunk in early winter water should dull some of the pain. While it was his turn to watch over the group, he figured a few minutes wouldn't be too long for anything terrible to happen.

It didn't take Jet long to find the river. A smile etched its way across his face before he plunged his head underneath the water. The freezing cold water rushed over the teen dragon's scales, relieving some of the pain that had ruined his sleep. Jet stayed underwater for however long his lungs allowed him to before he came back up for air. Letting the water on his head snake down his body, Jet wandered back towards his group. He could feel that it was time to switch out. A few gentle kicks from Jet awoke a grumpy Garble. "It's your turn," Jet stated tiredly. Garble grumbled before standing up. The red dragon leaned against a tree as he yawned. His eyes slowly focused on the group's surroundings.

Jet's headache wasn't completely gone. It would be hard getting some sleep, but he had to. It would only be a few more hours until the sun went down, so he tried to get some rest before they started traveling.

Little Fang awoke with a yawn. As she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she heard a "Good afternoon," from Spike. The green and purple dragon sat a few inches to her left. His eyes met hers for a few moments they returned to the book in his lap.

"Good afternoon," replied Little Fang as she yawned, "How long have you been up reading that book?"

"... I don't know. I would guess a couple of hours because the sun is lower than it was when I woke up."

"Ah, alright then," Fang stretched before scooting over to Spike and looking at the book herself. The letters on the page were unfamiliar to her, and it hurt her head trying to assume what the words meant. "Dude, how can you read this stuff?" she said as she scratched her head.

"My father and mother were hoarders of knowledge. They often taught me and my sister how to read, write, and speak in different languages. This book is written old Equestrian."

"You have a sister?!"

"Yeah, I had a..." Spike froze for a moment, "... a sister." The image of his sister, Emory, flashed in his mind. However, the memory had details that were missing that shouldn't be. Her eye color was pink, right? Did she have wings yet or not? Was Spike really forgetting what his sister looked like? Tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Oh... oh. I'm sorry dude."

"I-it's fine," Spike said, his voice struggling to get out. He quickly wiped his eyes clear of tears. "She wouldn't want me crying over her anyway. Especially now that I have a chance to be free." The two sat in silence for a few seconds. However, those seconds felt like years.

"So..." Fang started, rubbing the back of her head, "Have you learned anything from that book?"

"Oh, yeah, I did," Spike said; he seemed to cheer up a bit, "Watch this!" Purple sparks flew over Spike's body until streaks of flames snaked across the young dragon's form. Quickly they converged at the stump of Spike's left arm and extended outward to form an arm. Fang watched in amusement as Spike's new arm replacement finished taking form.

"That's awesome!" she exclaimed.

"That's not all!" Spike extended his fire-arm towards Fang. "Shake it." Fang's amused look quickly shifted to skeptical. "Come on, shake it! It won't burn you." Spike said.

Little Fang slowly inched her hand towards Spike's flame hand. She could feel the heat radiating from it. However, it was not as hot as Fang thought it would be. She grasped the hand and was surprised that it, indeed, did not burn her in the slightest. "Whoa! This feels so weird!" she nearly yelled. "I can feel it moving!"

"I know, right! I just got through reading this chapter about fully manipulating fire magic and..." The two continued to talk to each other even as the teens began to stir from their sleep. Everyone went over the plans once more before having a quick meal together. Spike asked for some pointers from Fizzle about his pyromancy while they ate while Garble and Jet watched Little Fang try to imitate what Spike could do. However, the farthest she could get was a few sparks that flew from her palms. The teens gained a few chuckles out of seeing her try. After the group finished eating, they took to the sky and continued on their journey.

Chapter 17: Pony Town Shake Up part 1

Rhubarb Sweet awoke to the darkness of his underground room. He let out a yawn as he got out of his makeshift bed. The cold early winter air met him almost instantly. It nearly forced Rhubarb back under the warmth of his blanket, but he had things to do today. Plus, it could have been a lot worse. If his mother hadn't built the place as she did, he most likely would have been a popsicle by now.

Groggily, Rhubarb made his way over to his work desk where his lantern rested. He fumbled around for a few seconds for his matchbox before he lit the candle in his lantern. The room was quickly illuminated from the room. While the room itself could be considered cramped to an adult, with the bookshelf, work desk, and living area, it was nearly perfect for a kid like Rhubarb.

With the light now on, Rhubarb set about his next task: heat. He walked over to a large rectangular metal machine that rested a the foot of his bed. The machine was nearly as big as Rhubarb was and yet weighed nearly twice as much as he did. Rhubarb could remember how much of a pain it was to get the contraption down there. Rhubarb quickly went to one side of the machine and found a series of buttons and dials. A few beeps of the buttons and a turn of a dial were all that was needed for the machine to hum to life. The metal grid on the front of the machine began to glow as heat flowed out through the grate in front of it. Rhubarb sat in front of the machine for some time, allowing the hot air from it to warm him up. "I swear, this flameless fireplace is one of the only good things that came out of this war," he said to himself.

Rhubarb then went on through his daily activities after he warmed himself and his room up. He was nearly done within half an hour with only one last thing to do before he went to study: Breakfast. When the child went to open the chest that contained his rationed food, he realized that he was getting awfully low. "Huh, has it been a month already?" he asked himself, "It's hard to tell down here." Grabbing some of the last few things in the chest, Rhubarb went on to prepare breakfast. It looks as if he would be having his old favorite by the looks of the items he had. "Peanut butter and peach jam crackers for breakfast it is then!" While munching away at his breakfast, he gazed at his notes from last night to see where he had left off.

Sweet Peaches considered herself to be an above-average unicorn living her dream. In the town that she lived in, she had managed to successfully start her own bakery as well as keep it afloat. She had some great friends, survived going to war with dragons, and the horrifying experience of having her horn broken. She even managed to raise a son. Through the pain and the stress, she managed to make her life how she wanted it to be and she was happy. Which made it more fear-inducing when guards came to her town. Many of the ponies assumed it was just a harmless guard patrol, sent to make reassure that everything was fine. However, Sweet Peaches knew better. It may have been a while since she had been in the field, but she recognized the weapons that they were carrying. They were the same weapons used on the front lines. 'The Dragon Slayers' they were called.

Sweet Peaches, and those who knew her, considered her to be a paranoid pony. Her mind often tended to lean towards the worst of outcomes if she didn't correct herself. A simple talk to somepony else could be the difference between life and death for her when her mind was too far gone. While meeting a member of a race one has never seen before might be a bit nervous, it is terrifying for Sweet Peaches. Back before the war, she fainted the first time she met a griffin. To say that she was embarrassed after she regained consciousness would be an understatement. Especially since the griffin turned out to be a pretty swell guy. Her paranoia only grew when she came back from the front lines and it kicked into high gear after she saw the soldiers carrying those weapons.

It didn't matter how she tried to stop it. Her train of thought was already at its destination. The only thing she could do was to excuse herself from the front of the bakery. "Excuse me, I have to go check on something in the office for a moment," she said as she quickly walked into her office, locking the door behind her.

Dragons were here. That much she knew. She didn't know where they were or how close they were to her, but they were here. Peaches could feel her heart beating faster and faster. She tried to think about something else, but she couldn't get the image of a full-blown dragon wreaking havoc on her town. Houses being burned to the ground in nearly an instant. The smell of burn fur washing over everything. Ponies screaming for their lives as their lives are cut short by a crushing jaw. The imagery made the area around her broken horn throb with pain. A side-ways glance at the clock showed her that she would still have five hours before she could begin to close the shop. That's not taking into account those last-minute ponies or the time it takes to go through the closing process. The worry she had only grew more as she realized that she might be a bit late getting to her son. Her heart was still racing nonstop before she tried to calm herself down.

'Relax, Peaches. Your son is safe and sound. You built that bunker yourself and he should be alright. A dragon won't think too much about some shed in the middle of nowhere and thanks to your fermentation projects nopony will even think to go try and enter it. They'll probably think it's an old outhouse or something like that,' she thought herself, 'Rhubarb will be fine. He'll be perfectly fine. Oh, I'm gonna hug the ever-loving mess out of him when I get off work.'

With that, Sweet Peaches put on a smile before leaving her office. The next five hours were going to be hellish.

Rhubarb looked towards his clock and saw that it was half-past ten o'clock. "Mother should be getting off soon. I hope she packed a big bag too. My dinner wasn't that big and I'm still a bit hungry," he said before turning back to his notes. He had just finished a chapter in Prench 101. While he was skeptical of learning other languages at first, his mother promised that if he could speak at least decently in two other languages then they could take a trip around the world once the war was over. Not only would he get to see other parts of the world that he had read up on, but he would also get to spend time with his mother while doing it. A smile crept onto his face as he imagined it. However, the sound of movement upstairs quickly got his attention. "That must be Mom!" he said as he rushed to the spiral staircase that leads upstairs.

Now, his mother had told him countless times that he should wait for her to come down instead of him coming up to meet her. However, he hadn't seen his mother in a month and was eagerly excited to see her again. After fumbling with the lock on the hatch at the top of the staircase, Rhubarb flung it open was met by two things. The first being the smell of his mother's fermentation projects. With the enchantments his mother had put in, the smell never came downstairs. Rhubarb nearly gagged as he inhaled the scent. The second thing that he saw was two baby dragons staring back at him. His gaze was returned twofold as the baby dragons looked at him in confusion.

"Spike... what's another baby dragon doing here?" the female baby dragon asked.

"... I have no idea, Little Fang," the male of the two responded. As the three of them continued to look at each other, Rhubarb had one thought pass his mind.

'Mom is gonna kill me when she finds out.'

Author's Note

Sorry for the inactivity. I just got a new job and have been adjusting to it.

Chapter 18: Pony Town Shake Up pt 2

The three young dragons continued to stand there, looking at one another. Little Fang and Spike stood in shock as their minds raced to figure out any explanation as to why the red and green baby dragon was here. Let only how he came out of the floor. Meanwhile, Ruhbarb remained still out of fear and confusion, having never seen another dragon in real life before. Stories, research notes, and drawings were all he ever knew about his kind. However, there were two dragons in front of him now. Both of them looked to be about his age. His mind raced to find words to say. Anything that could break the tension in the air would have been nice. Just as Rhubarb opened his mouth to say something, a noise came from outside that startled the two other baby dragons.

"Quick, close the door!" Spike quickly whispered as he rushed to the hatch Rhubarb was still holding up. Fang promptly closed the door behind her before also running to hatch. Rhubarb was still trying to process the whole situation and couldn't react in time to move out of the way of the two young dragons. He lost his balance and quickly tried to grab onto something or, in this case, someone. The falling Rhubarb seized both Spike and Little Fang, and all three of them lost their balance and tumbled down the stairs before crashing into Rhubarb's underground room. The three dragons rested in a pile for a while after their fall. The makeshift backpacks Spike and Little Fang were carrying now lay on the ground.

"Ow..." Rhubarb muttered as he rested underneath the other two.

"I second that," Spike agreed as he pushed himself up and rubbed his head. Little Fang and Rhubarb slowly got up on their feet as well. The three dragons once again looked at one another, trying to find something to say. Fang was the first one to speak up.

"So... uh..." she started, "Nice place you got here. I feel kinda sad for the pony you had to kill to get this place."

"K-kill?!" exclaimed Rhubarb. This encounter was the first Rhubarb Sweets ever had with another of his kind. He had dreamt of this moment a few times before and even daydreamed what it would be like. He had never expected that his first meeting with his species would involve implied murder.

"Yeah," Spike spoke up, "This place seems well made, and to have that secret door must have meant that that pony spent a while planning and building this place. Could have done without that awful smell upstairs, though." Spike nearly gagged as the smell of fermentation still lingered in his nostrils. Little Fang nodded her head in agreement. "Either way, this seems like a decent place to hide out for a while. At least, until those soldiers go away. Jet just had to go and-"

"Wait!" Rhubarb interrupted. "There are soldiers here?! Why?!" Panic was quick to set in. A thousand questions filled his head so quickly that he could barely keep up. His mother had reassured him countless times that the chance of a patrol coming out this far would be next to none. Yet, they were here. Why were they here? How long were they going to stay? With his food supplies gone, when would his mother come to replenish them? If the guards found him, what would happen to him and his mother? The questions piled higher and higher. Meanwhile, Rhubarb didn't have a single answer for them. His breathing became erratic as his claws began to dig into the scales on his arms.

It was then that Rhubarb felt the two other dragons pull him into an embrace. The sudden action had brought him back to reality from his short panic attack. "Don't worry," Spike calmly said, "We won't let the ponies get you." His words, while soothing, held a note of determination and something else Rhubarb couldn't quite pin down. Rhubarb knew Spike tried to calm him down, yet he could help but be unnerved by him.

"Yeah, and if they try to," Rhubarb could see arcs of lightning run up and down Little Fang's back-spines for a brief moment before she continued speaking, "We'll destroy them!" Her declaration oozed with malice.

Rhubarb knew that the other two meant well by their words and actions. All three of them were dragons in a world where ponies and dragons were at war. It was natural for them to look out for one another. That was what Rhubarb had learned from his mother's teachings as well as from his studies. However, the way the other two dragons spoke and how they seemed to carry themselves scared Rhubarb. The young red and green dragon would be the first to admit that he was never one for violence. He found that words worked far more often than punches. Where words failed, his feet were more than enough to let him escape. Rhubarb often thought of violence as a very last resort. Words can fail if the one on the receiving end chooses not to listen. His feet can only take him so far and can only move so fast. So when backed into a corner and with little hope, a good enough punch or a well-timed use of his elemental breath would be his trump card.

These other dragons, however, were another story. Rhubarb wasn't sure how they felt about other races, but they held little to no love for ponies. To make matters worse, they were willing to kill ponies if it meant Rhubarb wouldn't be harmed. They even assumed that he had killed a pony to the underground bunker for himself. Rhubarb could feel his heart pounding as he realized just how deep into trouble he was in. However, in a moment of clarity, he forced himself to calm down. He knew that one day he would need to be strong and confident. Even if the war had ended and he could travel around the world with his mother as they had planned, he would need to be a strong dragon who could brave the world that was beyond his hometown. So, Rhubarb took a deep breath. He could find a way out of this. He just needed to use his words.

"T-thank you," Rhubarb nervously replied as he returned the hug, "that's good to know."

"No problem," said Spike.

"Yeah," Little Fang chimed in, "Us dragons have to stick together, right?"

"...r-right," Rhubarb said as the three continued to hug for some time. After some time, Spike and Little Fing broke the embrace and began to look around the room. As they did, Rhubarb considered himself lucky that he didn't keep any pictures of himself and his mother down here. Those photos remained in their house, and Rhubarb had forgotten to ask his mother to bring some the next time she visited. Now, however, he thanked his past self for never asking.

The three young dragons soon began to talk more. Rhubarb had asked the duo how they managed to get here and was surprised by the retelling of their story. A few times, Rhubarb found himself in a mix of awe, terror, and disgust. Rhubarb Sweets had known that there were cruel beings in this world. For every good person, there seemed to be two or three bad ones. However, if what Spike and Little Fang said was true, then there were ponies out there that could put even the worst pony Rhubarb could think of to shame. That would also mean that the rumors Rhubarb and his mother had heard were not wholly false either. Rhubarb almost lost what little he had left in his stomach by the end of their story.

The rumors that Rhubarb and his mother had been hearing for years had some truth to them. That fact sent shivers down Rhubarb's spine, and fear began to sink in again. He had thought his mother was exaggerating the situation. Both he and his mother often did that. However, now his mother's plans and backup plans felt less tedious and stupid. Rhubarb wished he had remembered even half of those now.

While Rhubarb wished this was all a bad dream, the two dragons in front of him again brought him back to reality. "Yeah, it was weird," Little Fang said as she played around with some of Rhubarb's writing supplies. "I've never seen Jet go off like that. I would have normally pinned that on Garble."

"You think the stress finally got to him?" Spike asked, looking over the flameless fireplace. "He's normally good being under pressure." Ah, yes, one of the teenage dragons Spike and Fang mentioned that were traveling with them. This Jet had recently complained about headaches and acted sluggishly from what the two dragons had told Rhubarb. These symptoms had been happening lately and were suspected to be because of Jet being an ice-blood. Ice-blood dragons were known to become sluggish when placed in warmer environments for too long. However, that theory was shot down as it was early winter. The cold air should have been enough to keep him going, even though it wasn't as freezing as ice-bloods would have preferred. The headaches could have resulted from stress; however, Rhubarb quickly recalled a part of Spike and Fang's story.

"C-coffee," Rhubarb stuttered out. The two dragons turned their heads to look at him. "Y-you said there was coffee being given to some dragons at the facility, correct?"

"Yes," Spike answered, "Why are you bringing that up?"

"Coffee as this chemical called caffeine in it. It helps provide a boost of energy for a person. However, it can be addictive."

"Addict what?" chimed in Little Fang. Her head tilted to the side in confusion.

"It means that you'll want more of it and if you get more of it, there will be some issues," answered Rhubarb, "I'm assuming that the facility you guys were in gave those dragons coffee on a regular basis, right?" Rhubarb received nods from Spike and Fang. "Okay, so it is most likely that those dragons became, at least, somewhat addicted to caffeine. Their body will require it to function without issues. However, since you guys are no longer in the facility and you didn't know about caffeine until now, Jet's body isn't getting the caffeine it's used to. Meaning he's suffering from something called withdrawal. Those scientists were probably testing to see if dragons can even have withdrawal symptoms and if we did, what the effects would be." As Rhubarb finished his lecture, he remembered who he was talking to and was met by the surprised looks of his peers. However, Spike's look of shock quickly turned into an expression of rage. Rhubarb couldn't tell whether to feel glad that he knew that hatred wasn't directed towards him or scared because he knew whom that rage was directed.

On the other hand, Little Fang had an amused look on her face as she nudged Spike with her elbow. "Oh man, I think the new guy's outdoing you in the smarts department, Spike. He's a bit of a chicken, but once he joins the group, how will you feel being the third smartest dragon in the bunch?" Spike scoffed a bit before he smirked.

"At least I'll still be smarter than you, Little Fang," Spike said, "Honestly, besides addition and subtraction, you really suck at math. Even Garble can do multiplication and division." A slightly flustered Fang punched him in the arm before returning her attention to Rhubarb.

"Okay, so what I'm hearing is all we need to do is get some of this caffeine into Jet and he'll be good to go, yeah?" Little Fang asked.

"The effects probably won't be immediate, but yes," replied Rhubarb. " He should be good to go until you run out of coffee or any other caffinated drink to give him."

"Awesome! Do you know where we can get some coffee?" she asked.

"There is a pony town not too far from here," Rhubarb paused for a moment before continuing. He quickly thought over what he was going to say next. "That's where I've been getting my food and water from. You can get a lot of supplies if you're stealthy about it."

"Great," Spike chimed in, "It's night time and while that pony guard patrol is definitely still out there, it's small. So we should be able to get in and out without a problem. After that, it's just a matter of finding Jet, Garble, and Fizzle. Come on you two." Spike grabbed his backpack before rushing towards the staircase with Little Fang right behind him. Rhubarb took a moment to breathe. While he didn't like the idea of stealing, it would be fine if it meant that Spike and Little Fang would leave soon. As long as he helped them quickly, maybe his life would go back to normal. Tonight was enough excitement for him to last a lifetime. He set one foot on the staircase when he recalled what Little Fang had said earlier. His thoughts were still a bit too jumbled at the time to fully understand what she said. His heart skipped a beat now that he had time to think and had relaxed somewhat. What did Fang mean when she said 'once he joins the group'?

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait. Life kinda got in the way. Either way, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I can't promise that I will be faster with uploading new chapters, but I'll try my best. As a consolation, have this doodle I drew of Spike and Little Fang meeting Rhubarb.

Chapter 7: Botched Teleportation

Puffy white masses drifted on the wind. Spike believed that those were called clouds. He would have to think about that when the world around him wasn't fading in and out of existence. He saw what appeared to be a few dragons flying overhead. That was good. Maybe one of them would come and help him. The world faded out of existence once again.

"HEY! I FOUND HIM!" yelled a familiar voice. Spike opened his eyes and the world came into view again. A nearly pitch black dragon stood above him. "... well... at least most of him." Soon the shuffling of grass grabbed Spike's attention. There was a high pitched yelling that accompanied the grass shuffling. A young dragoness whose scales were stuck in a limbo of red and orange jumped onto him with her claws around his neck. Her pale blue hair danced wildly as electricity radiated from it.

"SPIIIIIKEE! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT DOING SOMETHING STUPID!?!" the young dragoness roared as he claws began to clamp harder around Spike's throat. Spike should have been utterly terrified at having his air supply being cut off, yet he stared at the dragoness with an uncaring gaze. A pair of red claws managed to loosen the dragoness's grip on Spike's windpipe.

"Thanks, Garbs," the near pitch black dragon said. He was responded to with a grunt. Spike tried to open his mouth to speak but found that he lacked the strength to do so. In the attempt to speak, he used up what little energy he had left and the world faded to black for what Spike could only guess was the tenth time.

When the world faded out of existence this time, it didn't return for a long time. Spike debated with himself for a time on whether he was dead or not, but that was soon overshadowed by something else. It was quite in Spike's mind, too quiet. There weren't any soft mumbling of countless voices to keep him company while his mind drifted into the black void. He could barely even feel the presence of any of them either. There was next to nothing here with him and he was becoming more and more unnerved as time went on.

However, Spike wasn't alone for much longer. A sharp pain started to accompany the baby dragon. It was born in his chest and began to spread its way through his body. The arching pain forced Spike's eyes to open as a gasp escaped from his mouth. The world came into view again as well as the site of three teenage dragons standing just a few feet from him. "...don't just leave kids, Garble!" The white dragon with pink scales running down his back. The crimson dragon in question moved his claws in a weird fashion. Both the white and nearly pitch black dragon seemed to understand the hand motions. Spike had a lapse in memory of the two dragons' names.

"Well, we didn't leave you behind, did we Fizzle?" the near jet black dragon retorted. A few angry hand gestures from Garble were made in retaliation. Spike soon remembered the dragon's name was Jet. A brief thought passed through his mind about how his parents named him after his nearly jet black scales.

"You were about as useful as a kid," Fizzle started, "No, actually I take that back. Spike over there seems like he'd be more useful than you. Heck, even Little Fang could be more useful." Garble's face contorted with rage as orange flames escaped from his maw. He took a quick glance over at the baby dragon Fizzle just used to mock him with. The two dragons eyes met and Garble's rage-filled face, for a moment, is changed to a more surprised expression. Jet and Fizzle noticed the change in Garble's face and also looked towards the newly awakened Spike.

There was a short silence that filled the air between the four of them. Spike was the first one to try and break the silence, but, as he went to speak, it dawned on him that he lacked the energy to do so. He was barely able to keep his eyes open. The albino dragon walked over to the Spike and kneeled down next him. "Uh..." he started, "nice to see you're awake there buddy. You gave us quite the scare." A small smile seemed to spread across Fizzle's face. His smile seemed to be contagious as Spike found that his lips started to curl into a smile as well. The smile soon faded as Fizzle's face adopted a more serious look. "I'm sure that we're all glad to see that you're alive. However, I'm going to need you to never do that again." This got a reaction out of Jet.

"Wait, wait, wait. This little dude just teleported us out of that place and can probably get us back to The Dragon Lands and you don't want him to do it?!" Jet asked angrily. Fizzle turned his head to meet Jet's angry gaze.

"Teleportation is a serious matter, Jet. I'm not going into all the details since we're pressed for time, but I will say that Spike got extremely lucky that he's suffering from magical fatigue and that only his left arm that was L.I.T." Fizzle responded. This gained him a confused look from his two teenage ex-test-mates. "Lost In Teleportation." He explained. Jet let out a loud 'oh'. Spike didn't hear the last few exchanges of dialogue as he started to realize something he hadn't noticed before.

The pain that coursed through his every vein in his body made it hard for him to not to notice which parts of his body hurt the most. However, the pain, tiredness, and the new information bombarding him made him neglect something that should have been obvious to him. He couldn't feel any pain in his left arm. Spike couldn't feel anything in his left arm other than a burning sensation at his shoulder. "But still, with some practice I'm sure..." Jet was interrupted by Fizzle.

"Jet, learning how to use magic takes time and time isn't something we have a lot of right now," Fizzle argued. All the while, Spike laid in the grass with the fact that he just lost his left arm slowly doned on him. The arguing of the two teen dragons began to fade away. They were just noises in the background as Spike stared at the sky. Large grey clouds began to hang overhead. The possibility of rain was not too far off. For a moment, Spike let his mind wander as to how it would feel to have the rain pour down on him, to have those tiny droplets of water cascade down his scales. The only thing he had to compare it to would be the showers at the faculty, but something told him that the rain would be better. Spike would have to wait to test out that theory.

He blinked, or he thought he blinked, and the world changed. No longer was he in the open plains with the facility in the far distance. Now he was in what he assumed to be a small forest. There were trees and bushes here, but they were spaced out more than any forest Spike could remember. The sun had also lowered itself passed the horizon and the moon took its place in the darkened sky. Spike tried to push himself up, but a force pushed him down onto someone's lap. "Stay," commanded the female voice from earlier. The young purple dragon found that more of his energy had returned and turned to face the young dragoness.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like forever. The silence between the two of them was only interrupted by the occasional sounding of crickets. "L-Little Fang..." Spike tried to speak, but Little Fang placed a hand over his mouth.

"Don't talk," she commanded. Her cobalt eyes were cold and tired. "Sleep and we'll talk in the morning." The young dragoness rested her head against a tree trunk and closed her eyes. The light snoring gave evidence that she drifted off to sleep the moment her eyelids closed. It didn't take long for Spike to follow suit. Today had been a long day and tomorrow and the days after that were sure to be longer. He closed his eyes for what was surely the twentieth time and let the world fade away.

EMERGENCY REQUEST

Test Subject D-1043 has somehow managed to teleport no more than eighty-two percent of the dragon test subject population at Director Twilight's facility. Director Twilight and Private Moondancer were injured during the escape and there has been one death reported. Restrainment collars of the escaped dragons have also been removed during the event. Requesting immediate help to locate and secure the dragons.

As the last words of the letter were spoken, Princess Celestia let out a groan of frustration. "Well," started Princess Luna, "This is an interesting turn of events."

Author's Note

This chapter would have been up sooner, but life likes to have other plans.