Fallout Equestria: Dragon Her Heels

by Pokonic

Drakaina, are you crazy?

Iris rushed down the hall and turned right, ignoring Fragrance's gasp as she tried to get as much space between her and everything else that breathed.

Really, she thought, she should have stayed back there, where at least there was safety, but she was scared and conflicted and hungery and, most of all, wondering if she was going to be alive at the end of the day.

Frankly, she didn't have much advice relating to surviving to fall back on. To be exact, the only advice she was ever given was given by her mother, which consisted of "Find a nice dragon boy", "Leave the nest or die, but try and keep in touch", and the eternal "Find a nice pile of gold and sit on it."

To her dismay, only two of those tidbits of wisdom could possibly apply in her situation, and while Iris has already followed the first two to there letters, the third one was entirely unapplicable and the first one got her into this mess in the first place.

Iris pondered for a few moments about what she should do, and continued to do so until she realised that the hallway she was in led to the mess hall, aply named for what was going on inside. It seemed that someone had already found themselves inside it, considering that there was still chunks of the concrete floor that was semimolten and the air was visably shimmering.

Iris also found the door locked, which she solved by biting on said lock. Her only issue doing so was that it tasted disgusting, like most things pony-made did.

Inside, the mess hall was just as bad as it looked from a view made of three inches of glass. The legs of the varying tables seemed to be fused to the floor, and the floor itself was warped and cracked from the heat. Iris did not dare to spend too much time in the room, however, as the ceiling was mottled and almost slimy-looking from the heat and little droplets of molten plastic fell from it like acrid rain. As such, she decided to continue running until she reached the end of the hall, which, to her delight, had it's door ripped from it's hinges and was partully melted onto the floor. And the ponies who guarded said door, at that.

She really didn't want to think about where they went, exactly, or why the hunk of melted metal that used to be a door had large irregular lumps coming up from under it, but she did so anyway,

She found that she really didn't care, after careful observation, as she felt something hard, like a small rock propelled by a tiny rocket, hit her temple, which caused her to yelp and look upward.

Iris, however, noticed a little lead orb sinking slightly into the ground, and brought it up to her face for closer examination.

It was a bullet, of course.

Looking up from her hunched position over the door frame, she found herself face to face with a small pale yellow pony with a pistol wedged in her mouth, eyes wide and fearful.

Iris, more annoyed than anything, tossed the little deformed ball out in the general direction of the melting room behind her, and growled at the little pony.

This caused her, and it was almost certiantly a her, to scream and throw her gun at Iris's general direction, where it harmlessly flew over her shoulder and into the quickly unidentifiable self-heating furnace formerly known as the mess hall.

Iris reared up to her full hight, stepped off the door, rubbed off the melted parts that stuck stubbernlly to her feet, and left the pony behind her and continued on down the hall. The little pony was clearly a doctor or somesuch, considering that she was carrying such a tiny gun as apposed to the one's that shot the half-inch shells that the guards carried. For a dark moment, she considered kicking the bawling creature into the molten mess behind her, but quickly pushed that out of her mind and continued to flee for someplace that seemed safe enough to rest in.

Unfortunately, the mess hall was directly next to the food storage area, which, to her mild horror, was already inhabited. Not only that, but the acidic stench of rotting meat filled the general area. There was no meat in the food storage area, which ment one of two things, neither of which was good for her or anyone else in the building.

A distant shifting sound eminated from the bowls of the massive room, and a harsh dissaproving clicking noise made Iris get on edge.

"Come in, come in." throatly rasped the unnatural horror from inside the storage center.

Iris, without much choice, obeyed.

After all, she wanted to live.

---

Dursi was a horror. She was clearly something other than a dragon. but what, exactly, Iris had no idea. Dispite not being a pure-blooded dragon, it was undisputed that she was deadly.

The serpentine beast was curled up on a large pile of gems and geodes that took up most of the cold grey room, and smiled smugly as Iris walked inside it.

"What do you want, Durrhurrsi?" Iris said gruffly, trying her best to not notice the stains and dark lumps of putrid organic matter fused to the floor that stunk of acid and pony.

Dursi raised her head off the pile and clicked her tongue, and began to make her way down the makeshift hoard, causing Iris to get a whiff of something awful.

"Oh, for shame, little Iris." she said disaprovingly. "Such a childish name. Durr-hurr-si. It even sound's silly. Like a pony name. Do I look like a pony to you? Really, Iris, I am trying to be nice for once. Call me Slick Scale."

Iris looked at the horrible head of the dragoness, and rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, Slick Scale. What do you want?" pausing, she spared a glance at the pile of gems behind her "And I am at least a few years older than you."

Dursi reared up on her hind legs, which was impressive, as they were quite small for such a large creature. Iris found herself staring at the general area of what would have been Dursi's navel, if dragons had them.

"I am much larger than you, little Iris." Dursi said spitefully as she leaned over Iris slightly, causing the slightest droplet of spittle to drop from the larger dragons mouth and onto Iris's left shoulder, where it sizzled slightly.

Biting back a yelp of pain, Iris glared at the larger dragon. "What do you want from me!"

Dursi kept her eyes locked with Iris only for a few more moments before allowing herself to fall on the pile of gems behind here, on which she began to lounge on it like a throne. "Oh, come on, Iris, lighten up! The ponies have blown each other into little bits and your not even happy? Here," she picked up a rather sizable ruby that laid close to her left arm, "catch."

Iris caught the tossed gem deftly and, giving it a glare, bit it. It tasted wonderful, but it had an vomit-like undertone to it.

"So, you just want some company?" Iris said between bites, slightly wondering herself.

Dursi made a tiny shrug that caused several smaller gems to roll down her shoulders. "Is it so wrong? Besides, I wouldn't go the way you were going. Garble's mad as all out, and there's nothing stopping him from getting to you now. You know how it is."

Iris shuddered slightly. " Oh, he's a jerk, but you can't possibly think..."

Dursi picked up a orange-sized sapphire and breathed on it, causing the outside surface to bubble and burst like a rocky blister. "Sorry to be the one has to say it, but when it comes to you, he's a bit head's over heels for yeah, don'cha think?"

Iris sighed. Dursi shook her head sympheticly, Iris almost felt appreciated until she looked down, and saw what was probably a hoof sticking out of a grey-green sludge pile.

"You've killed a lot ponies." Iris said to the ground, a empty feeling creeping over her.

Dursi cracked a snaggletoothed grin. "Yeah, what about it? It's not like they weren't shooting at me."

Iris didn't want to look at the thing that was crouched over the small hill of foodstuffs. Her smell was enough.

"You don't even care, do you Dursi?"

The overgrown serpent blinked, uncomprehending. "Care 'bout what? Oh, the ponies." she moved a rather sharp crystal out from under her and looked at Iris. "Think about it. I was born here, you know."

Iris rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know."

Dursi stared at Iris for a few moments, but after a tense few seconds she licked a claw, let the new layer of acid on it sizzle a bit, and slowly impaled a ruby with it like it was made of cold butter. "There stupid and tasty, like goats. But they taste better than that, you know. Or should, anyway, I bet you never even tried to take a bite-"

"Your not even a real dragon!" Iris spat out in disgust, causing Dursi to giggle wetly. "Your some genetic backwash from some swamp that should have been culled when you wiggled out of your egg!"

"Oh, I am simply hurt." she breathed, bringing a stunted seven-taloned claw to her breast." Ah, how can I live when I, a mere dragonkin, is in the face of true beauty? Oh, woe is me."

Iris, fuming, did not turn to leave, but still started moving towards the entryway. "So, what are you going to do now, Dursi? Going to stay here?"

The alleged dragoness grinned a crocodile grin that could have swallowed her whole. "Why not? Sure, the world's burning above, but I have all the gems I need until this blows over. And it's not like anyone here can kill little old me..."

Iris let out the start of a growl. Dursi didn't look impressed.

"Look, little one-"

"I am two years older than you!" Iris barked.

"-I understand it might be hard for you, knowing that you have no future." the serpent purred. "After all, what are you going to do, assuming you live? End up being the mother to some poor sap's eggs in some nice cave somewhere? Oh, I know you like the city outside, all bright and colorful, but let's be realistic here." she said as she slowly moved down the pile, more snake than lizard with her legs close to her side.

"You are doomed, like the rest of us. There's only so many good drakes to go around in this horrid little country, and many of them are in here, and most of them are going to die. We are all dead in the end, Iris, you know this."

Iris groaned. "And what are you suggesting I do, then?"

"I will live through this, you know. I can protect you from Garble. There's food here, and there's plenty to share. I know the way outside, too." she said simply and bluntly.

Iris was stunned. She had never gotten such a nice offer from...anyone before. There had to be a price.

"What do you want, Dursi?" Iris said, a little tired of amusing the other dragoness in the room.

The larger dragon, bearing a strangely happy look, got ever so closer to Iris. "Well, it's simple. I never did like the drakes, anyway."

It took Iris a good few seconds to comprehend what the creature said, and immediately afterwards started to break for it, managing to get outside the room before the larger dragon got closer.

Iris almost made it out the door entirely, but she had the terrible luck to run right on top of the yellow pony from before, now flanked by two Protectaponies.

Comments

[Pokonic]

2881934 That's always a good sign.