Chapter 13 - Subject 616
Several hours before…
Octavia returned to her personal office worn out from all the programming of the mental imprints on one of the many multi-processing units destined to be installed in the brains of the Roboponies. She was told that these were necessary for the machinations to think they were a pony--to a certain extent--for they need to have precise control of their legs, tail, neck, and the like. She was also told that these mental imprints were based on executed criminals whose brains had been scanned and analyzed ten times over.
Unlike the offices of others, this was a clean office. This was a mare's office. She had her own personal library of various medical books, a glass shelf to hold pictures of her family, and a corner where her beloved cello lay after days of rest. What she had here weren't just related to her specialty. Octavia loved music. She played music. She wanted to continue playing music, but destiny in its own twisted way drove her to these cold labs.
She received her Nature's Call after her mother, who herself was an accomplished musician, died after years of battling a debilitating cancer. As a prodigy, she enrolled into the Gaeaopolis Arts Academy where she graduated at the top of the class years ahead of her peers, though officially she was still a sophomore. Nevertheless, her skills were employed in the Gaeaopolis Symphony, and she toured with her group across Gaea and on occasion to countries allied with Gaea.
Along the way, she sometimes ran into Fiddlesticks, a mare whom she regarded more of a sister than a cousin. She had been there for her since Octavia’s mother’s funeral.
Octavia would never say it outright, but she envied Fiddlesticks. Fiddle, energetic and lively, always seemed to make other ponies smile, and she would easily attract stallions who would enjoy her company. She didn't seem to have any formal education, and so it would be assumed that her education on her instrument of choice were informal as well.
Octavia never knew what her cousin did for a living. She never even saw her Nature's Call. Somewhat like her cousin, Fiddlesticks toured Gaea with her traveling country group to play far and away from the grand orchestral halls folk songs in old bars and abandoned warehouses. Yet the Government often frowned upon their music as being too rustic and unstructured, clashing against Gaea's "recommendations" that all songs were to glorify the struggles of the common earth pony against the menace of the pegasii and other abominable species. Often times, there were stories of the police or the army shutting down bars and dispersing makeshift concerts held by Fiddle's group. Generally, these acts were done to prevent the zealots from violently attacking them, but as it was accepted all over Gaea, the Government protected its Party and not its ponies.
One day, Octavia showed for practice in the symphony hall, and the conductor, surrounded by several fascist-suited government types, told her she was fired. They gave no explanation why, and her fellow musicians would not even speak to her. The ponies whom she thought were her friends shunned her, but eventually foals began throwing rocks and rotten produce to openly claim that her cousin was a terrorist. She later learned that Fiddlesticks and her traveling musician group had been arrested as being allies to the rebel Apple Family.
She could no longer get any job, and even if she tried freelancing as a solo musician, angry ponies would refuse to let her play at their bars or try to break her precious cello. All ponies in Gaea were required to work per the Government Constitution, and between fighting in the front lines and working deep in the mines, she opted to take a job as a receptionist for a local laboratory.
Then her employer suddenly requested that she work part time to go to a medical school. Half-heartedly, she accepted the offer because during her mother’s illness, she had fancied ideas of becoming a doctor to cure common diseases. Eventually, she became an expert at many disciplines, but she began specializing in non-pony biology, hoping that what she found in other creatures may soon help her kind.
On nights like this one, Octavia would pull out her cello from her case and stroked the bow back and forth across the strings. Sounds summoned from the-holes seeped through the door and into the holding pens. The screaming and screeching creatures ceased their cries, and then lay down to sleep. While she could not set them free, at the very least her music would soothe their tortured souls.
Right as her song finished, she heard a knock on the door, and she allowed the pony in.
Gizmo.
"You never ceased to amaze me Doctor," he said as he dragged in a bottle of wine upon entering.
"May I help you?"
"I finished my part in the Robopony programming just now. I think we should celebrate. Oh, it looks like I already drank half of it. You can have the rest."
"I'd rather not. Look Gizmo, I think you should go home."
"With me?"
"I'll call a taxi to pick you up."
"Don't say that honey-flank. You're just sending me away so you can enjoy some quality time with those three President-Advisers. I know that blonde one was trying to hit on you. He's an incompetent fool. He knows nothing about economics, which makes me wonder how the heck he became a soccer star. The coaches must tell him that all he needed to do was to kick the ball to the other goal and not worry about the score. And that mohawk one? I hear he has, ahem, certain leanings. Let's just say he doesn't play for the same team. Don't bother with that indigo stallion. He's head over hooves for the Chancellor. I mean, you're smart mare, I'm a smart stallion. We really should hang out more often. Really, really hang out."
"You're drunk gizmo."
"Oh, why are you avoiding me? I've been nothing but nice to you all those years!"
"All those gifts are appreciated, but I don't feel the same way for you."
"What if I told you that it was I who recommended that you get hired here? What if I happen to be the one who recommended you go to medical school and get your doctorate? If it weren't for me, you'd be working at a dead-end job at the taxation office! Or worse, you'd be Ace's pet!"
The skinny stallion advanced too close. Octavia managed to overpower him before he had his way with her, and she dashed towards the door to come face to face with two silver Roboponies. Behind these machinations, lay the dead bodies of two Clone Soldiers and one lab technician. Certainly it wasn't just the alcohol that drove Gizmo to commit these crimes.
"Beautiful aren't they?" grinned Gizmo. "Being afforded access to the lower catacombs allowed me to construct these in secret. Octavia, you should be happy. We can prove to everypony the effectiveness of our Roboponies, and Posey will have no choice but to put more funding to our project. We will be the ones who will save Gaea!"
"You're mad Gizmo! You've killed ponies in doing so!"
"They're just Clones and one lab tech. A small sacrifice for success."
"I will have no part in this!"
"But you already helped more than I can ever dream of. Contain her! Make sure she is not harmed."
The Roboponies whirred and advanced, but after her hardest kick on their lifeless hulls, she managed to buy time to run away down the hallway. These Roboponies did not topple over like Deep Blue, but had immediately recovered and galloped after the mare. They were slow, and Octavia could outrun them, but not forever. Quickly, she climbed up to the second level and barricaded herself in cage control room with all the available stools. She then broke the emergency fire hose on the floor and sprayed water on the floor. She grabbed the axe and cut the nearest electrical conduit pipe. As a precaution, she also donned rubber horseshoes and waited until Roboponies finished breaking down the door.
With her hooves insulated, Octavia tugged with all her might the live electrical cables and plunged them into the puddle she created, right where the Roboponies stepped. A large shock rippled across the waters and into the Roboponies that convulsed before shutting down. Satisfied, she threw the live cable away from her.
Suddenly, the Roboponies reactivated. How could she be so dense? She knew they were designed to resist lightning, hence electricity. Their conductive armor had electrical traces leading into internal battery packs designed to hold the equivalent of two lightning strikes. When the Roboponies resumed operation, they deployed their mechanical unicorn horn like a switchblade from their heads, and fired back their absorbed electricity.
One thing was for certain, the electrical strikes didn't hit Octavia. When she turned to look at the sparking control consoles, she knew right then and there that all hell was about to break loose.
"Dragon," whispered Applejack. "You mean a dragon-dragon?"
"A dragon," Twilight replied. "Accord to the records, there is a dragon here."
"I heard of Gaea capturing a dragon, so I wasn't sure if it was true or not until now. Do you unicorns know how to deal with them?"
"I know almost nothing about them."
"Drat. I ain't sure if this sword is gonna cut through their skin. Anyway, we gotta find our way out of this dragon pen before we're eaten. You know the way out?"
"Yes, but it's still a long way there."
"And with a dragon here, we can't exactly clop our hooves hard on the floor and say ‘howdy doody, partner’. I know there is stuff happenin' above us, but the Alicorn ain't goin' anywhere for the time bein'. Lead the way, Twi."
The unicorn took point, and as quietly and quickly as possible, she led Applejack along the wall towards the exit. Throughout the way though, the two began hearing distant cries. At first, they thought it was their imagination, but the further they moved, the more audible the lonely cries became.
"You hear that?" asked Applejack.
Twilight nodded. Briefly, they stopped and listen to assess the source of the sounds, whether it came from outside the massive dragon's pen or from within. Strangely, this sound put them on more edge than that of the rumbling sounds of a dragon’s breath.
Yet, they heard nothing remotely sounding like a dragon, let alone smell anything. There were no smoke, no scent of burning flesh, and no feeling of severe heat. The two mares began to wonder if there was even dragon in the first place.
Their pace quickened as did the sound of their hooves on the dusty concrete ground. Instead of searching for the exit, they began searching for the pony who was muttering these lonely cries. Whether it was a pony or not, the two kept their guard up as they approached an area of stacked boxes that were sometimes empty and sometimes filled with discarded clothes and old toys. There were even some pieces of furniture haphazardly arranged on the floor.
"Is anypony there?" Applejack called out. "Hello?"
"No!" the voice cried out. "I don't wanna go! Please! No more!"
Somepony or something shuffled on the ground and scurried away. Within the limited range of their sight, Applejack and Twilight saw a small shadow darted back and forth in the sea of stacked junk. Some stacks shook, and some stacks were knocked over. Eventually the shadow crashed into an old armoire that collapsed upon impact.
The two ponies immediately ran over to the over to the source of the noise, but kept their distance as something purple, reptilian, and pudgy emerged from the piles of wood. The numbers "616" were black-branded onto his arm.
"What in tarnation is that thing?" Applejack asked.
"It's our dragon," replied Twilight, "and he's only a baby."
"How do you know it's a he? Did you see his you-know-what? And is it retractable?"
"The records say it is 'male dragon."
"Never expected it to be a baby, though."
"Please," said the baby dragon. "Whoever you are, I don't want to do it anymore. It hurts!"
"We're not here to hurt you, little guy," said Twilight. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend, Applejack."
"I don't think we're winnin' him over. Look at the poor fella. The ponies in this here lab must have experimented on him so much that he's frightened of everypony. We're lucky we haven't been bitten by now."
"But we can't just leave him."
"I understand your feelings, but we can't help every critter we come across. Twi, we gotta go and grab our Alicorn before that ice-horse or some Robopony catches up to us."
"We can at least ask him. Hey, do you want to escape with us?”
"Why should I trust you?" he asked. "You guys lead me out with promises of food and playtime, and then you knock me out and shackle me to the table!"
"See?” said Applejack. “He don't wanna come with us."
"Look little one," said Twilight, "we're not with those scientists. We're just ponies who are against their ideals, and I'm sure you'll want to see what the outside world looks like, don't you?"
The little dragon, poked his eyes past the armoire wreckage, yet he was still apprehensive at the presence of these strange ponies before him.
"Hey, I got something for you," said Twilight.
From her saddlebags, she magicked out the dime novel she bought in the underground tram station back in Sewer Town, and set it to where the baby dragon could see it.
"It's about a detective living in Detrot who is trying to solve a murder case. It's an adventure story full of twist and turns, and an interesting cliffhanger in the end."
There was no reply except for a stomach's growl. By the process of elimination, it came from the dragon. So Twilight magicked a red delicious apple from Applejack's saddlebags, much to the earth pony's protest, and then set it down on the book.
"Take it from me, it's really good," winked Twilight.
"Twi, let's go," said Applejack.
Twilight didn't put any resistance when she was tugged by the tail by her partner in crime. Sensing that she had yet to win over the little baby dragon, she resumed leading Applejack to the exit, and they made as much noise in their pace as they wanted.
It felt like a long time, but they did eventually reach their destination. Yet the mechanism to open the door was unusually high for anypony, and the buttons were too small for hooves. Each mare tried their keycards, but it failed no matter how many swipes over its supposed proximity sensor. Each failure was met with a static electronic voice uttering a sentence of a language similar to Basic Eques.
"Damn that Unca Curio!" cursed Applejack. "He gypped us! What the hay is that thing sayin'?"
"I think it's saying 'Keycard Unrecognized. Please try again'."
"That's a whole lotta help. Do you know of any other way out?"
"They're all too high for any of us," replied a familiar and boyish voice.
Emerging from the darkness was the baby dragon with the book under his right arm and a half-eaten apple in his left hand, which he finished shortly.
"The ponies use a special tool to wave a special card they use to open it," he continued. "There was one time when their card wasn't working, and after an hour so they typed in a special code to get out. If you let me, I can let you two out."
"Appreciate the offer," said Applejack, "but I'm sure Twi here can crack this door."
"I'm not confident I could," said Twilight. "This looks like magical technology dating back to the Before Times. Besides being too high for me to even look at it, and I don't want to risk breaking it or else we become trapped. Applejack, let's let him help us."
"Ya sure he ain't brainwashed to attack intruders?"
"Please trust me. He's just an innocent baby dragon."
"Well, okay. Twi, get on my back, and little guy, get on her back."
The tower of bodies had been constructed, and the little dragon's fingers were perfect for pressing the tiny buttons on the panel. More words were uttered from the system, but Spike kept pressing until the massive doors finally whirred. Dim light filtered through the opening as well as a gust of cold and snowy wind. The mares did not wait until for the door to open all the way, so they ran out.
The dragon pen was massive, but there were several dozens of these lined up along a gargantuan hall that was just as wide. The entire place was filled with snow, but there were evidence that ponies had cleared pathways on a regular basis. Pony-sized construction equipment lay dormant along with a small fleet of track-wheeled snowcats. Applejack and Twilight had never felt so tiny until now.
"Thank you little one," said Twilight, "but if you knew the secret code, why didn't you escape before?"
"But where will I go?" replied the baby dragon. "Here, I don't need this book. I can't read anyway."
Not too far off, Applejack managed to get one of the snowcats working, and she pulled up beside Twilight to get in. The mare hesitated in doing so, and while she received her book back, her eyes floowed the baby dragon as he sulked back to his massively large pen.
"That's inexcusable," said Twilight. Without warning, she levitated the baby dragon into the backseat and jumped in the passenger side right before Applejack sped off.
"Once we are in the clear, I will teach you how to read," said Twilight. "How does that sound?"
"Seriously?" Applejack asked.
"We can't just broker peace just between ponies. All creatures have the right to live and be free from oppression, big or small."
"All right, but the little guy better not slow us down."
"I'm sure he won't. What's your name little guy?"
"Subject 616," replied the baby dragon, "but the Doctor likes to call me Spike."
"Sounds like a cool name for a cool pony--I mean, dragon. How did you end up here anyway, if you mind me asking?"
"I don't know much, but as far as I could remember, I was taken away from my parents. I've been living here for years."
"There aren't any other dragons here?"
"I'm the only one so far. They want me to use my fire for something called a teleportation experiment."
"Can't you do that Twi?" asked Applejack.
"Dragon magic is a lot different from unicorn magic," replied Twilight, "and we don't have a lot of records of it because they are too dangerous for anypony to study."
"Gettin' them while they're young. This is a sick place, Twi. Do you know what else is trapped down here that I should know about?"
"All I could gather is a few hydras, some kind of ooze monster, a cloud apparition, a lava demon, and one Changeling Queen. Fortunately we only have to go one level down to retrieve the Alicorn."
"Only one level down? You mean there are more levels?"
Twilight nodded. "As Octavia had said, they only partially explored Tartarus. Deeper still there are automated magic defenses that would kill any pony on sight because they are guarding creatures a lot more dangerous that the ones in this level."
"Can't figure out why an anti-magic government wants to spend all this time and money to research magic, but if it's to wipe out the pegasii, they'll use anythin'."
Night Light had been captured for that purpose, and Spike was a victim as well. Considering that a unicorn and a dragon were easily tamable creatures, the others frozen in suspended animation had not been released due to the danger it posed. The massive holding pens just on this level were evidence of the Before Times: a dark era of war and chaos where ponies and other creatures were feral and fought alongside the mythical titans known as the Walkers. Twilight only knew what her mother taught her about the Before Times, and after what she had seen so far she only scratched the surface.
It was cold in these concrete and metal catacombs, and it felt like she, Spike, and Applejack rode for a long time towards the direction of the nearest working elevator. Painted high on the walls were "T-01" accompanied with letter and number designations that indexed the massive holding pens. At pony height, there were newer signs, hoof-written or typed, of what was inside, whether they were empty or the imprisoned evil creatures.
The elevator they reached was still large, and large enough to drive and bring their snowcat along with them. It was even one of the smaller ones Twilight could remember from the lab diagrams and one of the working ones. Even though it was still one floor down, the elevator ride was still long, and it gave enough time for Twilight, Applejack, and Spike to feast on their provisions.
"Um, actually, I do know how to read," said Spike. "A little. The Doctor taught me how to read and write my own name, what the numbers on my arm means."
"This Doctor of yours," said Twilight. "Is her name Octavia?"
"It is," smiled Spike. "She is one of the nicest ponies in this place. Is she with you?"
"Not at the moment, lil' fella," said Applejack. "She's kinda tied up at the moment."
"We'll make sure we meet her when we're finished getting something down here," said Twilight. She and Applejack exchanged glances, agreeing not to tell the baby dragon Octavia's grim fate. Frozen in ice by the equine wraith, Octavia could be dying, and there wouldn't be any time to save her. All they could do was hope and make it out of this hellhole alive.
Ding. The overhead speaker uttered another notification in the same ancient language, but both ponies knew they had arrived. The doors whirred open, but instead of expecting freezing winds, they felt the gust of searing heat. Already they were sweating, and even the dragon felt like he was hot. Before them, steam fissured from the valves and joints of almost every pipe, and a deep whirring and hammering echoed throughout the gargantuan halls. The configuration of the floor was the same as above, but here it was occupied. It was alive.
The snowcat barely had enough traction to drive across the dry floor. Then at the whining sound of a hovering transport vehicle, the two ponies and the dragon immediately hopped off and hid behind the corner. Zipping right past them was a hover truck towing three hoverbeds of seventy-five silver Roboponies.
"Looks like that Gizmo fella didn't just build a bunch of Roboponies," said Applejack. "He built himself an entire army! Enough to topple the government I might add. Twi, are we close to the Alicorn?"
"Not yet. We need to go up this hallway, turn right, and then--"
Applejack heard the screams of a girl, but after turning around, Twilight appeared composed and unharmed. Then Twilight turned around and found Spike being chased by a pair of Roboponies.
"Spike!" Twilight cried.
"That dragon is gonna get us in a lot of trouble!" muttered Applejack.
With horn and sword, the two mares came to the baby dragon's aid. Twilight fired a concussive magic blast at one of the Roboponies, and to her dismay, it had no effect. Applejack on the other hand was able to make contact with her katana, but all she could accomplish was a deep gash on the Robopony's torso armor. She immediately doubled backed to her companions and managed to slice off one leg each of the two Roboponies. Both of them collapsed, but being that they were machines unable to feel pain, they rose back up and resumed their chase even on three legs.
Twilight and Applejack caught up with Spike as they made their back to their snowcat, but the Roboponies had already beat them to it. The three intruders turned around and with little choice presented to them they ran towards their intended destination. Roboponies were slow. They could outrun them, but they were numerous. Their numbers enabled them block every turn, forcing Applejack, Twilight, and Spike before the giant doorway into the Alicorn chamber. Twilight used her magic to frantically wave her keycard over the door’s proximity panel while Applejack staved off the dozens of incoming Roboponies with her katana, cutting more and more of their metallic legs.
“Twi, hurry up!” cried Applejack. “These things keep comin’!”
“My keycard doesn't work!” cried Twilight.
“Little guy! Get on Twilight and punch in the code now!”
“I don't know the code!” cried Spike. “I never been here!”
“Then we gotta think of somethin’! Ya think you could shock them Twi?”
“I can,” said the Unicorn. Though tired from all the levitation, Twilight mustered enough strength in her horn to fire off a lightning spell that ripped through all the Roboponies before them. They went down to the mares’ initial relief, but to their utter dismay they rose back up and deployed their charged-up mechanical unicorn horns.
Just then, sparkling dust splashed onto the ponies' coast, and behind them Spike brushed the very same material off his hands. He then took a deep breath and blew out a stream of green dragon fire that ignited the powder he threw on Twilight and Applejack, who immediately began panicking.
"Spike, why?" Twilight cried.
"You traitorous little runt!" Applejack screamed. "Why, I oughta--"