"...and, and they said they'd give me some special if I helped, s-so I--"
Twilight Sparkle groaned. "No wonder Dr. Moon Dancer's angry."
The purple being tucked between Twilight's forelegs and under her head shuddered. "At me?"
"No, not you. At whoever got you into this mess, though I suppose seeing Project Fifty Three's effectiveness against a dragon would have provided some nice data." Hearing a sniff, Twilight smiled apologetically. "Don't worry about it, Spike. You couldn't help it. Dr. Moon Dancer understands that better than anypony.
"But I broke the big important thing everypony wanted to show off," the being whimpered as it wiped its nose. It looked up with water still in its dark slitted eyes. "I'm sure everypony hates me now."
"That's not true, not after all your help."
The being sniffed. "My help? What do you mean?"
Twilight chuckled dryly and sighed. "Well, you proved that Project Fifty Three can't deal with dragons, so there goes that hypothesis." She shook her head and smirked. Encouraged by Twilight's grin, the being began to smile too. "You sure you're not hurt?"
"Nope, I'm fine," the being answered. "You sure I didn't hurt anypony?"
"Eh, maybe a few hospitalizations," Twilight replied with a lazy wave. "They knew the risks when they signed up for the job. Now, how about a story?"
"Oh!" The being ran to the corner of the room where a small toy chest sat. It returned with a large hardcover novel, walking awkwardly as it tried to lift the heavy book with its claws. Twilight lowered her head, preparing to magically carry the book the rest of the way, when she heard a frustrated snort. She looked up and smiled as she watched the being carry the book toward her without difficulty, its claws suddenly large enough to establish a grip around it.
It sat down against her side, too large to huddle in the shelter in the space under Twilight's chin. Slowly, it turned the pages of the book until they reached the beginning of a chapter.
"Now," Twilight whispered softly, "where were we?"
Project Twelve cleared its throat. "The knight took a shaky step with his lance pointed forward. His breaths came out in short bursts..."
*
The director cracked open the dusty, old folder before Rainbow. "Project Twelve was, well, it was an experiment mostly for research purposes. Somepony had an idea of utilizing dragons to fight Sombra, for some reason."
"Maybe because it sounds radical?" Rainbow Dash ventured.
Moon Dancer rolled her eyes. "It's impractical. As useful as they may be as weapons, we know next to nothing about dragons, so how exactly were we supposed to convince them to fight for us? We had to study them first." She turned to a page displaying a picture of a purple egg with dark spots. "We had dragon eggs, well a dragon egg that was used as a special examination for prospective students of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns--"
"Wait, how do you test unicorns with an egg?"
"Well, you had to try to magically hatch it, but--"
"You had to hatch a dragon egg?" Rainbow said incredulously, her eyes widening. "Seriously, how did anypony get in?"
"The test wasn't if you could hatch a dragon, that'd be impossible for a single unicorn child. It was to see what you would attempt to do when presented an impossible task. It's more of a test of creativity and critical thinking than actual magical prowess, but that's not the point." Moon Dancer took a breath. "Look, we had a dragon egg lying in the vault, and somepony found it and decided that to better research dragons as weapons, we had to hatch one and observe it as it grew up. Yes, it was a dumb idea," Moon Dancer said with a sigh, "but a lot of the earlier projects were."
"I thought you said hatching a dragon with magic was impossible," Rainbow Dash said.
"For a single unicorn, yes. It took several months of unicorns pouring their magic into our egg before we finally got it to hatch," Moon Dancer explained. She flipped through the pages until they reached the photographs of a small dragon babe curled in a ball, sucking on the end of its tail. Rainbow Dash bit back the urge to laugh as Moon Dancer turned to a less cutesy image, with the dragon held down and stretched on its back. Notes and measurements were scribbled all across the picture.
"Huh, curious."
Rainbow looked up. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," Moon Dancer assured, waving her hoof. "I just find it odd that Project Twelve hatched during my assistant's first rotation, and, well, ah, it's nothing important." She slid a timetable back into the folder before sliding it back in front of Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash picked at a few pages, her eyes scanning the lines of numbers and notes and over the line charts and bar graphs without comprehension. "So, what did you find?"
"Nothing concrete." Moon Dancer leaned back and crossed her forelegs. "What would you expect? We only had a single sample. Our control consisted of a painted rock. It'd be foolish to assume that any conclusions we could make on Project Twelve could be applied to dragons as a whole. The best we could come up with are some half-baked theories that would've been laughed out of any scientific institution."
"Well give them to me anyways."
Moon Dancer took a moment to respond. She stared at the Wonderbolt officer in her chair before shrugging yieldingly. "Besides confirmation of rumored traits, such as breathing fire, most of what we have is on the subject's anatomy. Project Twelve's body is covered with scale-like material, similar in shape to those found on members of the Lepisosteidae family, though not composed of keratin. They grow back within hours if removed. While individually brittle, these scales seem to provide, at least in part, resistance to both physical trauma and intense heat. An extreme omnivore, has been observed to consume grass, dirt, hay, stones, hemlock, and, if I recall correctly..." She reached for the folder and removed a sheet. "...on one occasion, Sus scrofa domesticus, though the subject refused further--"
"Could you go over the whole resistance to heat and physical stuff in more detail?"
Moon Dancer looked up. Did her guest suddenly straighten her posture? She looked back to the notes. "Subject remains comfortable at temperatures up to a thousand degrees centigrade, though reactions to higher temperatures have not been explored. As for physical trauma resistance, the record is a blow equivalent to eight hundred psi, without injury. And I know what you're thinking, but all attempts to design armor from dragon scales with even a fraction of such characteristics have failed spectacularly."
"Eh, a little disappointing to hear, but that's not what I was thinking."
"Oh?" The director's eyebrow was raised. "Well, would you like me to continue?"
"Hmm." Rainbow tapped her chin. She leaned forward. "What was the most interesting finding?"
"Most interesting finding? By far, Project Twelve's maturity and growth rate," Moon Dancer answered immediately, "and also perhaps the most befuddling and most inconsistent. If the subject is representative of dragons as a species, it would appear that dragons alter their size and body structure to better fit their environment."
"And in laypony's terms?"
"At times, about..." Dr. Moon Dancer peeked at her notes. "...sixty eight point eight percent of all recorded instances, Project Twelve seems to grow in order to pass the trials it's in. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to when the growth actually kicks in, however."
"You mean, like he grows at will?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Moon Dancer shook her head. "It appears to be more of an adaptive response, though despite our best efforts Project Twelve will not grow wings. The current explanation is that dragons will grow to best defend their property, hence larger hoards of treasure are guarded by larger dragons. No explanations to why Project Twelve always reverts to its adolescent form." As the words left her mouth, Moon Dancer pressed her lips together disapprovingly. "It's really all just wild speculation implying correlation equals causation, but at this time it's not worth correcting, not when there's so much to do."
"So, about the other project, Project Fifty something or other," Rainbow began. "You said Project Twelve was part of its combat test, right."
"Yes, if we really must dwell on that incident," Moon Dancer grumbled.
"Project Twelve adapted to, fight it?"
"From what I heard, yes. Project Twelve grew into an adult dragon, likely the size of Project Fifty Three, if not larger, before tearing it apart and incinerating it," Moon Dancer respond with all the excitement of flat soda pop. "Nothing extraordinary, no new data, and a colossal waste of resources." Setting aside her glasses, Moon Dancer leaned forward, staring at the pegasus across from her. "Forgive me for acting so forward, Lieutenant, but I have to question your interest in Project Twelve. We currently have no military applications for the research, and I can't believe you would waste our time to satisfy some personal curiosity on the subject of dragons."
"Well, maybe it just takes a military mare to see military potential." Rainbow Dash grinned. "I want to take Project Twelve with me."
"I beg your pardon?" Moon Dancer said. "You wish to take Project Twelve, where?"
"To the battlefield, of course."
*
"...shining in the light of the sun. His blade broken, his armor dusty and dented, but he kept his head held high as waves of cheers rolled over him. The whole city was flooded with feelings of joy, of relief. Nobles and beggars alike crowded around him, shaking his hoof and showering him praise, but the knight saw past them. There, struggling to squeeze her way through the crowd, was his maiden, wearing the ribbon he had left her in her hair. The knight disentangled himself from the mayor and--"
"Ms. Sparkle?"
Both Twilight and the dragon tore their attention away from the book. A stallion in a stained lab coat stood at the entrance of the room. He coughed once before going, leaving a wordless message they both understood. Twilight felt the dragon beside her shrink, and she tried to give him an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry, Spike, I'll come back later, we can finish the book then."
The dragon mumbled something she couldn't make out. "Sorry, what was that?"
The little dragon looked up at Twilight with a pout. "But you're always so busy. When?"
"I'm not always busy," Twilight placed a hoof on the dragon's head, and rubbed it gently. "We'll find time, I promise." She got up and walked to the entrance.
The dragon followed her up to the threshold. "If I'm good, will we have more time?" he asked hesitantly, as if fearful that such a question was potentially offensive.
Again, Twilight smiled. "Of course, Spike." She raised her hoof and waved. The dragon lifted his hand, just as a sheet of crystal slid over the entrance, sealing the room.
*
"You want Project Twelve as a weapon?"
Rainbow Dash was leaning back in her chair with her forelegs placed lazily behind her head. "Well, I'd hate to return from this trip empty-hooved, and you're not exactly using him for anything important, right?"
Moon Dancer's eyes narrowed. "You did hear me when I said that Project Twelve's a research project, correct? This project wasn't designed for actual military use."
"Really?" Rainbow scoffed. "Come on, you said this whole project was leading to weaponizing dragons. Well, there's our dragon, and I'd say he sounds like a pretty impressive weapon."
"Project Twelve has not been trained for combat."
Rainbow pointed to the window at the back of the room. The wreck of Project Fifty Three was still visible, along with the clean-up crew. "Looks pretty trained to me. Or maybe that's just dragon instincts. Whatever. You know if he's resistant to magic?"
"Once grown to a certain point, yes."
"Then he's perfect," Rainbow Dash laughed. "Big enough to handle Sombra's crystal beasts and magic resistant? Geez, why even bother with that metal giant?"
"Because we can work with metal," Moon Dancer said coolly. "Because we can control mechanical giants. Because Project Fifty Three doesn't suddenly grow fifteen feet to throw a tantrum and cause thousands of bits worth of fire damage that ends up hospitalizing a good chunk of my staff. Project Twelve is a dragon, a living being, and that makes it volatile, unpredictable, and dangerous. Very risky."
"We'll take that risk."
At Rainbow Dash's sudden and immediate response, Moon Dancer blinked. She opened her mouth to protest, but something she saw in the Wonderbolt's glare kept her silent. She pressed her front hooves together and laid them on the desk. "And you think your superiors would accept this decision?"
"Yes."
Moon Dancer frowned. She stood up and began to pace. "You know, the previous director, she had approved several eccentric projects under the justification that desperate times called for desperate measures." She looked to the pegasus in front of her desk. "Lt. Dash, just how desperate is Equestria?"
Rainbow Dash hesitated. She bit her lip and looked behind her. With a sigh, she lowered her head, her hooves gripping each other tightly. "Sombra got a lucky hit. Princess Celestia's out of commission."
The tan of Moon Dancer's fur lost color. "You mean, the princess, she's..."
"She's still breathing," Rainbow quickly assured. "But right now, it's taking all her energy just to keep the sun and moon moving, and without Princess Celestia, well, the fighting's gotten harder. That's when the crystal beasts started to show up, when we started feeling the affects of the Crystal Empire's magic." Rainbow laughed coldly. "Yeah, I guess we're pretty desperate right now."
Moon Dancer hummed to herself thoughtfully. She continued her pacing. "If it's that dire, perhaps--"
There was a knock at the door. "Dr. Moon Dancer?"
She turned to the office's entrance. "Yes?"
"It's Twilight Sparkle," came the voice from the other side.
"One moment." Moon Dancer quickly gathered all the notes on the table into the folder and slid it onto the bookshelf against the wall. "Come in, Ms. Sparkle. I have another job for you today."
Twilight stood at attention. "Yes, ma'am?"
"Please show the lieutenant Project Twelve."