//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Relocated // Story: The Adventures of Test Subject SP-1K3 // by Dedion //------------------------------// "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"