Fallen Flames

Chapter 1

'Many ages ago, long before the crowning of the Two Sisters, Equestria was ruled by a mighty sorcerer. But unlike the Sisters who united the three tribes of ponies with friendship and understanding, Grogar the Cruel ruled purely through fear and force. The Father of Monsters, he created many creatures whose descendants still plague Equestria to this day.'

'Eventually Gusty the Great of the Unicorn Kingdoms, led her warriors against the sorcerer, defeating him and taking from him his bell, the source of the ram's powers. But Grogar could not simply be executed, for the ram had long sacrificed his soul in exchange for the mastery of the dark arts. So Gusty chose instead to banish him to another world, one where he could do no harm. May the Elements have mercy upon him, for no pony alive could'

Excerpt from the original writing of Clover the Clever...please return it to the Royal Archives, Princess Twilight, it's been 7 years'

October 23rd, 2077

Earth D-107

The dark-skinned man sighed, sitting on a bench in one of Chicago's parks, watching as people ran back and forth in a panic. Sirens sounded from all around and helicopters and vertibirds circled away from buildings.

The world was ending today, a flash and boom on the horizon turning into a tiny mushroom cloud, sprouting even more panic. "Fools," the man sighed, before pausing, hearing panicked cries for help, a woman screaming for help in front of a car crash.

Frankly, he had no reason or inclination to help the woman. What's one less life compared to all the others who were about to die? But he heard the sound of a mother crying for her daughter.

He sighed and walked towards the crash, ignoring the other people bustling around in panic, yet somehow never getting knocked over. "Your child is in there?" he said calmly when he reached the crash. Most of the people having ran by that point, leaving the street deserted

"You have to get her out, please!" said a distraught woman.

"Why? A warhead will hit here in less than a few minutes. You aren't exactly going to reach a safe distance on foot," the man said calmly, peering in to see a dark-haired child...probably 16 or 17, out cold, a dead man in the driving seat.

"The Vault is still open!" snapped the woman. The man gave her a blank look. "You know, the Vault that was built by- Oh, there isn't time! Please get her out!" begged the woman.

"As you wish," sighed the man, trying the door.

The woman snapped, "It's jammed from the crash. You'd need one of the rescue protectrons or a jaws of life to-" before the man tore the door off like it was nothing.

"But...how..." started the woman.

"As you've said, there's no time," said the man, extracting the teen from the car. The woman just stared in fear before the man said, "This...vault. Where is it?"

Vault 5 had been placed in the Chicago subway system, and like all current vaults, had a US army presence, making sure only people on the list got in. Captain Parker, the soldier at the gate, looked up as a small family approached. "Crap, if you're not on the list then fuck off," he snapped, the man giving him the creeps. How could he see through those shades down here?

"My name's Angela Lynch. My family's in the Vault 5 program," the woman said, panting, the tunnel shaking. Parker looked at his clipboard, his hands shaking. That blast had been close.

"That's not your husband. You don't get in. Piss off, Brit." Parker said, turning to leave. Maybe he could get the Lynches' place?

A hand grabbed his shoulder and span him, Parker's practice having him reach for his pistol, before everything went green. "The names are on the list," said the man in a low voice, "You've just overlooked them in your haste."

"The...names..." said Parker, slowly stepping aside, Mrs. Lynch and her kid staring in terror at Parker's now glowing green eyes and slack expression.

"And afterwards...go for a walk," said the man, Parker nodding weakly. Mrs. Lynch didn't know what to say. This was...like something from the 'Tales from Appalachia' horror series...but he'd helped them. "I would not wait. It looks like they are preparing to close," said the man calmly.

"But what about you?" asked Mrs. Lynch.

"I'll be fine..." said the man calmly, bowing politely to the two, before turning and proceeding away from them.

Two Vault Tec security noticed the two and ran up. "You're the last two? We gotta go," one snapped.

"But there's still him! He-" Mrs. Lynch turned to point at her daughter's savior. But he was gone. She didn't even see him walking away. It was as if he was never there.

"Come on...we're sealing up," said the security officer. The teen with her was sure she saw a pair of green eyes with reptilian slits watching.

Equus

D-106

200 years later

"So there really was a Grogar? It wasn't something Discord made up?" asked a young changeling, holding up a hoof.

"The Bewitching Bell is proof of that," said Twilight, pointing at the iron bell. Despite the small cracks on it, it remained as indestructible as ever. Some have advocated throwing it into a volcano, though Twilight just had a feeling that would just put it out of reach until the next eruption.

"Where do you think Gusty sent him?" asked another student, a griffon this time.

"I do not know," said Twilight, "Gusty was before even Starswirl's time. Unicorn magic was different back then."

"How come the Bell's so indestructible?" asked a diamond dog.

Twilight paused. "It's...wolf magic. The wolf kingdoms were masters at totemic magic, perhaps the best," she said carefully.

"Wolves have magic?" asked the griffon.

"Of course, they were our ancestors," said the diamond dog, "They were a proud and mighty race."

"I'm hearing 'were'," said the changeling, "What happened to them?"

"They were also warlike...understandable. In the time of the Three Tribes, war was unfortunately common. Grogar destroyed them as part of his first conquest," said Twilight sadly.

"So why was the Bewitching Bell made with wolf magic?" asked the griffon, "Wasn't Grogar a goat?"

"He was a ram," said Twilight, "And much of Grogar's early life is unknown. There's no telling where he learned his magic."

"How'd we know all this? I've read the story of Grogar but the wolves aren't even mentioned," said the same diamond dog kid.

"Because a lot of wolf history has been lost...until today," said Twilight, "Remember, tomorrow's field trip will be to the apparent wolf kingdom capital, Albion."

The students were excited about that. Only because of the international trust and cooperation that has formed after the final battle with the Terrible Trio has archeologists been able to expand their searches this far.

There were murmurs and smiles at that, the students filing out, as a lanky dragon that was Twilight's fur shade and a light green made his way in. "Hey, Twi. You ok?" he asked.

"I'm just nervous about this trip," said Twilight.

"Because it's in such a remote area?" asked Spike.

"More like what it could mean about Grogar's origin," said Twilight.

"You know that Discord made up a lot of stuff about Grogar," said Spike.

"No, he didn't," said Twilight, "Albion wasn't abandoned, it was destroyed."

Spike nodded at that. The discovery was amazing, and the diamond dog tribes were eager to discover their cousin's heritage, but it also meant some darker things too.

The Calfkill Mountains are a pretty remote mountain range, mostly because few ponies have the leg strength to climb the incredibly steep cliff sides. Flyers of different species found the wind patterns here too unpredictable and unmanageable to make any permanent settlements there.

All in all, it was perfect for a race that liked its privacy, and the wolves had been one of those. Hidden paths allowed their raiders to have harassed Earth Tribe and griffon towns in the valleys far below till they'd met their match.

The city itself was, of course, a ruin. Races from across Equestria were going back and forth, collecting artifacts and the like. A yellow-furred pony trotted up, a blue griffon in trainee royal guard armor beside him. "Princess. I'm honored. Golden Karat, from the Royal Archeologists Guild. I believe you know the trainee the royal guard sent me," he said cheerfully.

"Gallus, it's been a while," said Twilight pleasantly.

"Hi, Professor Twilight. It's Private Gallus now. I saw some of the others from the old gang around. I think Smolder's down in the square, catching up," said Gallus cheerfully.

Golden Karet nodded, "There are some...things I'd like to show you first, princess."

"I'm sure there's quite a lot to see," said Twilight.

Golden Karet nodded, leading towards a tent, where several tables had some strange things, armor plates with badly corroded paint being restored with spells, weapons of some kind as well, and what Twilight spotted as a human skull.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" asked Golden Karet, "So far, we haven't been able to even tell what type of skull it is. Our closest guess is some kind of monkey. Perhaps it's a relative of a yeti."

Twilight nodded. There was no doubt, it was a human skull. Humans had somehow been to Equestria in the past...with weapons and armor by the look of things. "Where was this found?" she asked.

Golden Karet caught her tone. "In the main square alongside what we assume were members of the city guard and army. They were most certainly fighting alongside one another," he said calmly.

"What sort of weapons were found?" asked Twilight.

"We managed to restore one. Mr. Gallus tested it," said Golden Karet.

Gallus nodded, "It's like something from Power Ponies, a laser gun."

"A working laser gun?" asked Twilight.

"Yes. Whoever these people were, they were extremely advanced but none of the items recovered indicate equipment for long distance travel. I suspect they were located somewhere close by...maybe even in the city," said Golden Karet.

"Have you been able to date anything?" asked Twilight.

"Almost certainly from around the fall of the city," said Golden Karet.

"Do we actually know when that was?" asked Twilight, "How many centuries ago?"

"A long time ago...definitely Before Harmony," said Golden Karet calmly, adding, "Once we realized these sticks were such powerful weapons, I had the restoration on them stopped. If griffon raiders got them..."

"Indeed," said Twilight. While the world was mostly peaceful for now, there were always a few fringe troublemakers. But that wasn't her greatest concern. Her main concern was what were futuristic weapons doing so far in the past?

A griffon ran in, "Professor Karet, we've found something."

Spike, meanwhile, had headed to the fountain once Gallus had said that was where the others were. He smiled as he spotted Gallus's friends, Smolder waving.

"Hey, guys," said Spike, walking over, "It's been a while."

Sandbar nodded. "Yeah. I'm helping Professor Karet."

Smolder rolled her eyes. "Cause this place is so close to the Dragon Lands, Dragon Lord Ember sent me to 'oversee' things," she said, doing air quotes.

"Well, it's nice seeing you," said Spike. Smolder had grown a bit since he had last seen her. She was objectively prettier, though not as pretty as Rarity. Part of him knew the thing with Rarity wouldn't work out in the long run, but Spike wasn't someone to give up. However, he'd be blind to not admit that Smolder was growing into quite the dragoness.

"It's been a long time...heh, seems like yesterday we were rallying your country to deal with three villains. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed that there haven't been any major villains since then," said Spike.

Smolder nodded. "Yeah, shame the rest of the gang are all busy. It'd be nice to have a reunion. If only to catch up," said Sandbar as the dragoness leaned on the ruined fountain in the square, a faint 'beep' heard.

"Uh, was that-" started Spike before a clank was heard under their feet.

The trio looked down before a click was heard and they fell down a hatch...about two feet as a lift was whirring its way up. "Nice discovery, Smolder," groaned Sandbar.

"Yeah, how long would it have taken for anyone else to find it?" asked Smolder.

"Probably in a less painful way." said Sandbar

Once Twilight had been told, the whole group had headed down the lift, Twilight recognizing the human world's flag, though it seemed...off. As Twilight recalled, there were a lot more stars in the blue square and they weren't in a circle, nor were any of them bigger than the others.

There were also more skeletons, some covered in arrows and others with magical damage to their armor. "What were they doing here?" she commented.

Golden Karet said, "Well whatever this place is, it's clearly deserted. No offense but diamond dog tribes of the time would have cleared this place of gear like this if they could get in."

"The Calfkills have no gems in them," said Twilight, "The diamond dogs looked and found nothing that interested them."

"Hmph, rather short-sighted of them," said Golden Karat.

"Not everyone values old history," said Twilight.

"Just be careful," said Golden Karet, as Smolder, Sandbar and Spike went down a side corridor.

A voice said calmly at that, seemingly from the walls, "Auxiliary power at 2 percent. Please restore main power."

"What kind of power do you think this place runs on?" asked Sandbar.

"Just be careful. If this belonged to their guard..." said Twilight.

Golden Karet nodded, "We do not know these people and caution in tombs is always recommended."

Smolder shrugged, "Might be something interesting..."

30 LOOOOONG minutes later…

"This is so BORING!" groaned Smolder as she, Sandbar and Spike turned another corner, following faded arrows.

"If we knew there was going to be a big maze, we would have brought a minotaur," muttered Sandbar.

"Critical warning: Auxiliary power at 1 percent. Please restore main power or commence evacuation protocol 3." said the voice.

Smolder growled, "And I wish that voice would SHUT UP!" before lights flickered on.

"Main power restored. Rebooting Prometheus Base operations."

"That's all you had to do?" asked Sandbar.

"Why didn't I think of it before?" asked Smolder sarcastically before she looked around "Better be something good in the next room." she growled, the last door being a set of heavy-looking vault doors, a glowing button next to them.

"I'll get this one," said Spike, pushing the button.

A klaxon began to wail at that, red rotating lights over the doors coming on before the door slowly opened, revealing even more skeletons, crouched behind barricades, and behind them, a vast metallic ring, covered in cables and...setting the magical sensitive trio's teeth on edge, like the room had a hum.

"I think I have a good idea what that thing is," said Spike.

"Spike...what is this thing?" said Sandbar nervously, a trio of royal guards running in.

"Sir Spike...message from the Princess. We have to leave," said one of them before a faint hum got everyone's attention, the hum getting louder and more high-pitched.

"Yeah, I think we really need to leave," said Sandbar.

Anything else anyone wanted to say was drowned out as everyone clutched their ears as the sound got earsplitting, before the inside of the ring got a familiar glow. Spike had last seen it inside Starswirl's mirror, though happily the sound stopped with the opening.

"Yep, that's a portal," said Spike.

"Where does it go?" asked Smolder.

The portal rippled before a humanoid, hulking shape, covered in black, almost insectoid looking armor strode through, a rifle similar to what had been in the tent in its arms, followed by three others. Its helmet had simple golden glass optics, its mouth some sort of filter, as it looked slowly around, two more coming through, holding two gigantic cannons, more royal guards teleporting in at a flare from the lead guard's horn.

"You think they're bad guys?" asked Sandbar. "Kinda hard to think of them as anything else," said Smolder.

The royal guard captain used a sound spell before calling "Drop your weapons." The humanoids looked at one another before the lead took aim and fired a green bolt into the captain who glowed a second before exploding into green goop around empty armor.

"Ok, definitely bad guys," said Smolder before breathing fire at the humanoids.

One of the troopers took a step back before continuing to fire, stun spells bouncing off the attackers' armor as they systematically returned deadly fire.

"Spike, we need more fire!" snapped Smolder.

Spiker glared, spitting a fireball that hit one of the troops, a metallic 'oof' heard as it was knocked over, two of its compatriots covering a third as it helped him up, their fire taking out two more royal guards, one of the intruders tossing a orb into the middle of the room.

"What's that?" asked Sandbar. "Probably more trouble," said Spike before breathing his transporting fire at it.

It was unfortunately too late as the orb exploded, arcs of electricity earthing in everycreature in the room, the remaining royal guard, and the trio shuddering before falling, except Smolder who stared. Spike had thrown himself in the way. One of the troopers saying, "Grab the orange one...seems a good subject." in the same metallic tone.

"What? You aren't- HEY!" snapped Smolder as she was roughly picked up, slashing out and kicking up sparks from the creatures face..

One of the troopers responded by cracking her across the head with its rifle before they turned to leave, Spike managing to force himself to his claws, the leader saying "Kill the others...no survivors." One of the troopers aimed its rifle at him before a purple beam sent it flying back through the portal, the others turning to see a glaring Twilight and more royal guards. "Sigma...fire at will!" yelled their leader, the group firing as they backed towards the portal, unconscious Smolder in hand.

"They're getting away with Smolder!" yelled Spike, getting to his feet unsteadily.

"Spike." cried Twilight as Spike ran, tackling the last attacker, sending them sprawling through the portal, before sparks flew from it and the portal cut out

"Uh, you can get that portal open, right?" asked Sandbar.

"Oh no...Spike." said Twilight weakly.

Spike shot upright, sweating, looking around blearily. He was in some sort of white room, wearing a black jumpsuit of some sort, Smolder in the same outfit, sat opposite. "Welcome back." she said sarcastically, Spike realizing some sort of clamp around his waist stopped him spreading his wings.

"Smolder, we gotta-" started Spike as he tried to sit up only to feel something tighten around his waist.

"Yeah...that thing stops us moving too far. Who are these guys?" snapped Smolder, sitting back with a grumble

"I don't know," said Spike, "They might have been humans, but I've never met any that aggressive."

"Spike, you've barely known aggression," said Smolder flatly.

"Hey...I faced down my fair share of villains." said Spike accusingly, before a crackling whine was heard and a voice snapped "Knock it off in there, freaks."

"Though these may be the rudest ones," said Spike.

"We could pull these things off in a hot minute." muttered Smolder.

Spike nodded before saying, "But they'd just shoot us."

Smolder sighed. "So, any idea what they want with us?" asked Smolder.

"No idea," said Spike.

"Say, you think they might be aliens?" asked Smolder.

"Uh, possibly," said Spike.

"I've read about alien abductions in comic books," said Smolder, "They grab random ponies and then they experiment by sticking-"

The voice from the wall said in a panic "STOP!"

"Yeah, I'd think I'd rather not hear the end of that sentence," said Spike.

The door opened at that, one of the armored figures there. "You...orange one...get out here," it said.

"Gee, I'm not sure if I can get very far with this clamp," said Smolder.

The figure tilted its head before firing a green blast into the ground at her feet. "Next plasma shot goes through your head. Now move." the figure snapped.

"Ok, ok," said Smolder, getting up stiffly.

The figure grabbed her and pulled her out at that, Spike growling, the figure looking at him and, even through that featureless helmet, Spike got the idea it was smirking. "Go ahead...see how far a punch gets you," it sneered.

"Fine," said Spike before kicking the figure's leg. He stared before yelping, hopping back, clutching his foot, before he was kicked into the far wall, the door shutting to the figure's laughter.

Smolder was dragged down a long metal corridor. She was starting to think she was right about the alien abduction theory.

After a few minutes, she was pushed into a well lit room, more of the troopers at the walls and a, she assumed human in a white suit, an orange dome obscuring its features. "Get on the table, please." said the orange domed figure

"Why should I?" asked Smolder defiantly.

"Because the colonel's men will kill you if you do not." said 'dome' calmly

Smolder grumbled before trying to get on the table. "You know, you could at least lower it if you're going to keep my wings clamped," she said.

"Yes, but then you might do something like claw through the restraints. I said to use tempered steel, colonel." said 'dome'.

An unseen voice said, "I supposed you did...but command wants this second attempt to have results before they send more resources."

"At least this one has a humanoid shape," said 'dome', "Much easier to work with."

"Yes. Not as much work to do. Now show this virus of yours works." snapped the colonel's voice, dome sighing and walking towards Smolder, clamps shooting up to hold her down. "Now then...relax..." said Dome, Smolder sure she saw a green glow behind the glass, before he said "I'm a doctor." as he held up a syringe.

1 hour later...

Spike jumped as the door to his cell opened and a limp Smolder was pushed in.

"Smolder? Smolder, are you alright?" asked Spike, rushing to her side.

The trooper chuckled before locking the door again, Smolder mumbling, "Ow."

Spike helped her up onto one of the bunks. "What did they do?" he cried, noticing a metal dot behind her ear.

"Kept...giving me shots...was worse than vaccination day at...school," Smolder joked weakly.

"Did they say what they were doing?" asked Spike.

"Nothing that made sense," said Smolder, "Except I wasn't the first one they've tried this on."

"Wait...there's other people here?" said Spike, getting a horrible vision of Twilight being poked and prodded by these creeps.

"No...they said...she ran off…" mumbled Smolder before falling asleep.

"Ok, well, at least we know this place is escapable," said Spike.

The door opened at that, the trooper aiming at Spike. "The doctor will see you now." it sneered

Smolder winced as she came round, her head aching before she sat up. "Dumb humans." she muttered, starting to stand up and pausing...was she taller?"

That table seemed lower than before. Did the doctor listen to her or were they changing the furniture around to mess with her head? Spike wasn't around, that was for sure. Damn, probably took him...wait, was something wrong with her chest? For some reason, she looked a little puffy. Maybe she was having some kind of reaction to whatever they were injecting her with.

The door shot open at that, Spike being tossed back in. He'd definitely grown over the years, going through the annoying stage where adolescent dragons looked like they'd been stretched a little...still. "Ow." groaned Spike.

"You gotta love the acupuncture in this place," said Smolder dryly.

"We gotta get out of here...were you always that tall?" groaned Spike.

"Uh, I don't think so," said Smolder, "Unless they're trying to trick us."

"Oh, you won't be going anywhere, Gamma and Delta...you're going to be most useful." sneered the dome's voice.

"Which one of us is Delta?" asked Spike.

"Does it matter?" snapped Smolder.

"Well...this sucks. I don't think we're near Canterlot High...or even the same world, given I'm not a dog at the moment. I can't breathe my messenger flame with this damn clamp on...and I swear something's happened to Smolder. We've been here a week and something's happening to us both."

"By this point, I think it's clear that we're both growing bigger. Even if they were moving furniture around, we've definitely grown taller in comparison to our so-called 'host'. And yet, I don't think we're growing the way dragons are supposed to grow."

"Spike...are you still writing? We can't send it anyway." said Smolder's voice, Spike looking up from the grease paper he'd been writing on.

It was hard to deny the changes to Smolder's shape now. Her waist has been getting thinner as her hips were getting wider. And the puffiness of her chest was gaining a distinct shape. Right now, she was reminding Spike a lot of the shape Twilight took in Canterlot High along with all the other girls there.

"I swear, if we get out of here, I'm gonna rip Dome's head apart." snarled Smolder, Spike twitching. It didn't help Spike's attention that their jumpsuits were skintight.

Of course, Spike's shape was changing too. He was losing his lanky look as he started filling out more, namely getting broader shoulders and a more defined chest.

He was still pretty thin, but it was more the 'thinness' of a dragon athlete, or reminding him a little of Smolder's brother.

The room shook for a second at that, the lights flickering. Smolder grinned. "Bet that's Ember and a load of dragons from Equus kicking the walls down," she said.

"I wonder how they got here," said Spike.

The door opened at that, several humans with plasma rifles aiming. "You, Delta, move it!" snapped one of the troopers, aiming at Smolder.

"Hey, I don't anywhere with-" started Smolder.

One of the troopers pressed something on her wrist, Smolder's expression going slack before walking out with the troopers. "I'm taking her to the evac transport. Take the other one to disposal and join us there." said the trooper leading Smolder

"Wait, disposal? Smolder, wait for me!" called Spike.

Smolder didn't react, Spike noticing the small metal dot blinking before she went out of sight. "Bad luck, Gamma...your control implant got held up." sneered one of the troopers, Spike noticing movement behind them, what looked like a badly-emaciated human coming into view.

Spike really didn't like the green tinge to his skin which just barely covered his bones. Actually, it put him strongly in mind of a zombie. His potential executioners had noticed it, as several more came in behind it, one snapping "Ghouls on the prisoner level!" both of them forgetting about Spike.

The ghouls let out raspy cries, which sounded rather hungry to Spike. Spike just ran, the gunfire behind him turning into agonized screams, no doubt as the ghouls reached their dinner

Spike wasn't sure what the difference between a zombie and a ghoul was. But the difference seems arbitrary considering how much the ghouls wanted to eat flesh.

He ran out onto a catwalk to see a lobby of some sort below, a hole in a wall and the ghouls pouring in, dead and bits of dead kidnappers around...and crossing it, armored figures, the almost zombie-like herself Smolder with them.

"Smolder!" cried Spike running along the catwalk. He strained against his harness, but his wings were still pinned. The guards had heard him, firing at him and forcing him to duck down "Smolder, answer me!" called Spike.

Smolder actually turned to look at that, though there was no recognition in those eyes before she was led on, into one of two lifts, Spike growling, growling more when the clasp squeezed.

"I've had enough of this thing," snarled Spike, grabbing the clasp and pulling. The metal gave way, a little to his surprise at how easy it did, Spike sighing with relief as his wings came free for the first time in days. His wings felt a little weakened from the prolonged confinement. He wasn't sure if he could fly right now, but he could at least manage a glide.

A quick glide down to the lobby later and three ghouls were running at him with unearthly shrieks "Hope these things burn easily," said Spike before spitting fire at them.

One of the ghouls got hit and flailed on fire, one of the others pushing it aside and tackling him, trying to bite his shoulder. However, the ghoul's decayed teeth cracked on Spike's hard scales, which caused the ghoul to shriek with pain and frustration.

Spike glared, a sudden burst of anger overwhelming him before he swatted the ghoul so hard it was torn in half before grabbing the other flailing ghoul and tearing it in half. Spike grabbed the ghoul halves, breathed more fire on them, and then flung them into the middle of the ghoul swarm below him.

Part of him wanted to rip these things apart, but the other half managed to steer him into the elevator, pressing the highest button. It opened up onto cracked concrete, two aircraft getting ready to take off, Smolder seen on the one taking off

"SMOLDER!" roared Spike before taking off at her. At least that was the intention. Anger-fueled strength doesn't really apply to flight capabilities and his wings were still weak.

He slammed into the concrete with a wince, the aircraft preparing to fly off, Spike turning to see the other one getting ready to go and growling. "You're not leaving me behind," snarled Spike.

The chopper lifted off just as he reached it, Spike grabbing on and climbing in, a trooper trying to grab his pistol before Spike's claws flashed out, the trooper falling out, gurgling before he turned to the pilot

"Take me to Smolder, now!" snapped Spike.

"Who?" snapped the pilot.

Spike grabbed his throat, "Follow that other plane." The pilot nodded weakly.

Colonel Andies glared, looking at the doctor, then at Gamma. "This is a fucking disaster." he muttered to the doctor, adding "And trust me...it won't be my head on the block."

"It is not beyond salvage," said the doctor, "We still have a viable female to work with. All I need is another lab, one that's not so close to ghoul territory."

"Sir...problem..." said the pilot at that.

Andies muttered "It never rains but-" before he snapped "What?"

The pilot said urgently, "Lone Star 2's coming up on us fast...pilot won't respond."

The doctor closed his eyes for a minute before saying, "Gamma has control of that bird. Well, well, I was starting to think he lacked the spirit."

"Pilot...swing us around and arm a missile," Andies said coldly. No mutant freak was going to show him up.

"Keep going." snarled Spike.

The pilot snapped, "They'll blow us out the sky, you idiot!"

"Just get me close enough!" snapped Spike.

The aircraft ahead was swinging around though, something trailing smoke leaving a pod on its wing, the pilot snapping "Oh shit." as the controls wailed.

"This is where I get out," said Spike, wrenching open the door. The missile slammed into the front of the aircraft at that, the explosion threw him out.

Spike didn't quite take to the air as smoothly as he hoped. Mostly, he was sent tumbling. The last thing he saw was the ground running up to meet him and the last thing he thought was 'sorry, Smolder'.

So it was a bit of a surprise to wake up on a mattress, a wooden ceiling staring at him.

The stark contrast to what he remembered made Spike briefly wonder if that whole thing with the lab was just a vivid dream. But he felt a soreness as he got up. And he noticed his body was definitely bigger, his chest firmer than before. So no, he was not dreaming and he wasn't home either.

"Call the Alpha...he's awake." said a gruff voice.

"The who? What?" asked Spike. His brain wasn't quite catching up to where he currently was.

"And make sure he stays here." said the same voice at that, Spike seeing what, though his still blurry vision, he thought was a minotaur leaving.

Spike rubbed his eyes and muttered, "How long have I been out?"

"You were found last night, mighty one, in the marshes," said another voice, Spike turning to see what he thought was some sort of cat.

Spike rubbed his eyes and asked, "You didn't give me any funny-tasting water, did you?"

"The water is the same as it has always been...faintly tasting of mirelurk," said a third, female voice, a chorus of laughter heard.

Spike massaged his temples and said, "Maybe I should take another nap."

"You must be awake when the Alpha of Alphas comes," said the female voice.

"What does that mean?" asked Spike.

"You will know." said the 'cat' though as his vision cleared, it seemed to be a human in ragtag furs, a rifle on her back.

"Where exactly am I?" asked Spike.

"The warcamp of the Blackwings clan." said the woman

Spike gave a blank look. "The Alpha said that some things might be unknown to you," said the woman, "She'll educate you on what you need to know when she sees you."

Spike sighed, his side ached, probably where he landed and these people, weirdly dressed as they were, weren't trying to kill him or experiment on him...a step up.

"Do I need to be dressed for this?" asked Spike.

"There's clothing for you in the chest." said one of them

Spike looked around and noticed a chest at the foot of his bed.

He gave them a look, one of the guards saying "We are not to leave."

"Uh, can I have some privacy?" asked Spike.

The guards looked like he'd just asked them to do a tapdance and then try to explain Pinkie Pie.

Spike said, "Could you at the very least turn around?"

The guards rolled their eyes before walking out the door, though a click indicated it was locked. Spike got up and checked himself. Dirty bandages were around his lower chest and the top half of his jumpsuit had been removed, happily leaving him some modesty. The chest's contents were...not nice. The shirt inside had blood for a start.

Part of Spike wondered why he asked them to leave. After all, he rarely wore clothes at all back in Equestria. Even most ponies don't bother with much clothing.

The rest of the chest was...slightly better, armor plates that seemed to be made of wagon bits, rusty bits, and a sword made from some sort of machinery.

Spike held up the shirt and looked it over. He wasn't sure how he could twist it in order to not show the blood stain. He would need to make some slits in any case for his wings. He highly doubted these people would have any soda water he could use to get rid of the stain.

"You could just wear the armor without the shirt," said a female voice, "But it would chafe after a while."

"Did I ask for some..." started Spike as he turned around. His complaint tumbled off the tracks as he saw who walked in.

He was certainly not expecting to meet another dragon here, especially not a dragoness. Like Smolder, she had a taller, humanoid frame. But unlike Smolder, there was no real questioning about the nature of the orbs on her chest. She was currently wearing a jumpsuit similar to what Spike and Smolder had been forced to wear, but she had some alterations done. Part of it was the shoulder armor she was wearing. Another was that the upper chest was unfastened and allowed a good view of her cleavage... How did Spike know that word?

"You can talk, you know." said the dragoness, in amusement.

"I, uh, buh, er, ah, buh," stammered Spike. He hadn't felt this flustered since he first met Rarity. Was this dragoness really that pretty? With some effort, he tore his eyes away from her chest and focused on her face.

She had ebony-colored scales, though they looked dark purple under certain light angles. From what titillatingly little he could see of her front, she had a red underbelly. Her wings also had a red membrane. She had at least six white horns on her head, though they looked more like spikes. Her tail ended with a bladed tip that was also white.

"Hi there." the dragoness said in teasing amusement. "My name's Cynder. From the sound of my scouts you dropped in, literally." the dragoness said, noticing his look and zipping up the suit, which appeared to be covered in flexible armor, lines of light barely visible

"Oh, er, I'm Spike," said Spike. He was starting to think his name didn't sound very impressive or properly draconic.

"Spike...and you're a purple dragon, I see." she commented to herself

"Oh, well, I guess so," said Spike nonchalantly.

"You could be just what we need...but you must be tired. Get some sleep and I'll give you the tour tomorrow." said Cynder

"Yeah, I think my head isn't quite all here yet," said Spike.

"Like I said...recover then I'll show you around." said Cynder politely, turning to leave, before pausing and saying "Unless you want some company tonight." smirking as a thud and gargling noise was heard. "Still got it." she muttered to herself, leaving the fainted Spike

She walked out of the room and found the fur-wearing woman outside it.

The woman gulped and ran, a man and woman, dressed in leather armor and well-armed. "William...Mags." Cynder said.

"Ma'am...I assume we're not shooting the newbie." said the man

"Shoot the only dragon who's appeared here? A purple dragon no less?" snapped Cynder.

The two exchanged looks before the woman asked, "What's so great about him being purple?"

"Back in my world, purple dragons could devastate armies. This little dragon could deliver us the entire Boston Commonwealth." said Cynder with an evil grin, "He just needs some...persuading."

Here's the first chapter in a new story that's going to be a lot more experimental than my other stories. This one is a few years in the making so some parts may be a bit odd at first. This is going to be rather different from the usual MLP/Fallout stories, not the least being because it'll also include a crossover with Spyro the Dragon. I ask that you bear with me through at least the first few chapters. I haven't played Fallout myself, though I've studied the lore and my co-author has played it. There is going to be a lot more development going on even before the story fully hits its stride. The first batch of chapters will be posted close together so keep an eye out and please review.