Doctor Whooves: Genesis of the Dragons

by Trickquestion

Chapter 1

The ground is barren, a blackened, charred surface devoid of any plant life, beyond the ministrations of even the most able Earth Pony. A chemical fog smothers the air, blanketing the landscape, filling the vision of the few living things left with a green haze and obscuring the sky. Day and night are words without meaning in this broken world. Craters dotted the landscape, some still housing smoldering infernos. Any land that remains flat is covered with discarded weapons and spent ammunition, some very advanced, others primative. In the distance, the booming and chattering of the tools of war can be heard if you strain your ears. Despite the crushing bleakness of the land, this scorched earth will soon be home to an explosion of life.

This broken land is the birthplace of the Dragon Race.

A dull humming fills the air as a blue Police Stable materializes. After a few moments of solid existence, three figures step out, two ponies and a dragon. "Here we are! 6,729 years-ish before the reign of Discord, and a time period shortly before the first dragon sighting!" Exclaims The Doctor, leading the way onto the mysterious new time and place. He then pauses and frowns. "Is a bit bleaker then I'd though it would be."

"Can you believe it Spike?" Twilight Sparkle exited the time machine next. "We've traveled thousands of years, across time and space! Imagine the first hand research we could accomplish!"

"I don't know Twilight. The more I find out about dragons, the less happy I am." Some time after the attempted takeover of Equestria by The Master, The Doctor had learned the story of Spike's migration, and had offered the young man a chance to see his species during their early history, to perhaps learn some sort of nobel truth about dragons that had been lost over time.

The very nature of dragons had always been troubling to The Doctor. They, as both a species and a culture, should not exist. He had traveled the stars and seen thousands of civilizations on millions of worlds, and on some level, every species that had achieved sentience was in some way geared for social co-existence. Many cultures and societies could of course be militant and xenophobic towards outsiders, but some level of harmony between fellow what-have-yous is neccesary to even survive and propagate as a species.

But dragons don't. They have no problem killing children of their own race, something most creatures have instincts against doing except in the most dire of circumstances, the more resources a dragon has obtained, the things that make one gender desirable for the other, the less likely they are to allow in a mate, and despite being fully sentient have never attempted to build a civilization, though this could be because their biology is seemingly incompatible with sentience.

The Doctor's musing were cut short by a sharp whistling followed by an uncomfortably close explosion. "RUN!" The three took off across the broken landscape, explosions blossoming around them.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled as he was knocked from his feet by the shockwave of a blast.

Twilight instinctively charged through the explosions to save her first friend, pushing her magic power to the limit to shield herself from the blasts. Once Spike was safely inside her defensive bubbble, she noticed The Doctor beckoning them over to a shallow cave that could shield them from further bombardment.

After another dash, the three remained inside the cave, watching the withering barrage tear apart the landscape. Once the shooting has ended, Spike let out a huff. "So much for a warm welcome."

"We should probably see if this cave leads anywhere, as it certainly dosen't seem wise to risk getting blown up... again..." Twilight had lit her horn and begun trotting while talking, only to trail off when she noticed The Doctor had become unusually pale and seemed to be standing stiff, struggling not to budge an inch. "Doctor, is something wrong?"

"Twilight, Spike, what I'm going to say next may frighten you, but if we are to survive, we must all remain level headed." The Doctor explained with a cautious, measured tone.

"I'm standing on a land mine."

Comments

[Wondrous Mind]

"Twilight, Spike, what I'm going to say next may frighten you, but if we are to survive, we must all remain level headed."

"I'm standing on a land mine."