Crazylocks continued to exhibit the most random behaviors. She would sniff around as though she were a dog, bang her head on the various surfaces around her, have completely senseless conversations with inanimate objects, etc. She’d occasionally switch between pony tribes for almost no reason other than to either fly around, or…….make a hamster wheel out of nearby sticks and stones for her to walk in…..
All the while, the foals remained totally flabbergasted that such a freak of nature could exist. “Umm…..how are we supposed to get her home?” Spiral Galaxy asked.
“I’m honestly concerned on whether or not she knows that she has one……assuming she does, of course.” Air Slash said.
“Well, she surely is conscious of her name, so she’s not completely cuckoo.” Kickback said.
“Yeah, but everything else is pretty much up in the air.” Fire Fight said.
“SO AM I!” Crazylocks sang as she floated above them. They eyed her as she went by.
“O…..kay…..Right! Well, umm….. Air Slash said that today was a school day, so we can’t go into town right now. Maybe we’ll wait roughly half an hour after school gets out, and then find her home.” Fire Fight suggested.
“That just might have to do, sheriff. Maybe if we all stay calm, she will too?” Kickback said.
“Yes, let’s not try to comprehend her. It…..wouldn’t exactly sit well with our own psyches. I don’t want to risk falling into the same kind of insanity that she has.” Shadow Shroud said.
“We’ll just have to get her home before our train leaves if we still want to take it.” Spiral said.
“Yeah. Prolly shouldn’t stay in the city too long anyway. Homegirl right d’here already a big center of attention. We’d kinda be riskin’ blowin’ our cover.” Turf War said.
“In that case, I’ll go alone. I excel at disappearing when needed.” Shroud said.
“No, Shroud. Crazylocks is pretty dangerous just to be around. I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving any of you guys alone with her.” Fire Fight said.
“She’s one tough bull to wrangle anyhow.” Kickback commented.
Shroud sighed as she conceded to the notion. “Yes…..She managed to outmaneuver me when I tried to get her off of Fire Fight. Quite the slippery little snake.”
Crazylocks suddenly appeared at her side. “Snake bake! Bake make! Make a Rake! Rake snakes! Bake snakes! Snakes rake for SNAKE BAKES!!” she ranted.
Shadow Shroud gently pushed her away in frustration. “Y-Yes, lovely, very poetic. I suppose we could simply lead her into the city. Somepony is sure to notice her, and get her home from there. Much less risk of us being discovered that way.”
“Y-Yeah…..that might be better. It’s kinda heartless of us, but getting caught is the one thing we can’t have.” Fire Fight said. “It’s school time, so she’s sure to be noticed-” he was cut off when they all could hear something digging right below them!
A mound of dirt suddenly swelled from the ground a few yards away from them. A hissing sound could be heard coming from it. What emerged was completely unexpected: it was one of the huge mole-lizard chimeras! It had a nasty burn all over one side of its face, and was very noticeably limping. Nevertheless it had locked its gaze onto Crazylocks!
“The f***!? I though we smoked all d’hese b******!!” Turf War exclaimed as he drew his hammer-axe.
Air Slash drew his swords as everypony else braced for a fight. “Looks like this one hadn’t properly received our message to stay down!” he said.
“Heh. Sorry about that, little guy! Let me be a little clearer with you!” Fire Fight sneered.
Before any of them could make a single move, Crazylocks leapt towards it with predatory force. “YOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!!!” she shrieked. She slammed into it with enough force to knock back into a rock that was behind it. It fell to ground as Crazylocks landed in front of it. Her expression was jarringly furious. “I ALREADY TOLD GRANDPA THAT I DIDN’T WANT ANY OF HIS CHOCOLATE PICKLE COOKIES!! THEY MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A RAGDOLL!! NOW BEAT IT, OR I’LL PUNISH YOU!!” she screamed. The foals were too befuddled by what just suddenly happened to do anything right away. The chimera got up, and hissed viciously at Crazylocks. She creased a wicked smile that would make Chrysalis look like a filly that simply dressed as her for Nightmare Night in a poorly made costume. “You asked for it.” She maniacally hissed. The chimera lunged at her, but she quickly leapt underneath it, and grabbed its tail. Much to the surprise of the foals, she managed to hold on to it with minimal effort, and violently flailed it around like a toy, cackling whilst doing so. She slammed it into the ground, on trees and rocks and stuff with surprising ease. The log she had lifted earlier could have been a fluke, but she was certainly stronger than she looked! The chimera grabbed a tree just as Crazylocks flailed him past it, and managed to hang on to it as she tried to pull him away. “Nrgh! NRGH!! IT’S TIME TO GET OUT OF THE POOL!!” With enough strength, the chimera managed to pull its tail out of Crazylocks grip. It crawled around the tree down to its roots, and hissed. Crazylocks leapt towards, and…….swung one of her pigtails at it….. The chimera managed to move its head out of the way of being brushed by a pigtail, but……much to the foals’ complete shock, her pigtail shattered right through the bark!
“Da f***!? Dat some strong-a** hair!” Turf War exclaimed.
“Wonder what kind of conditioner she uses?” Spiral commented.
“Ah reckon it ain’t a kind that makes her any less loopy!” Kickback said.
The tree hadn’t been broken through enough to make it unstable, so it didn’t start falling. The chimera lunged its head at her, and tried to clamp its gopher fangs onto her, but she jumped back just in time. The chimera then limply crawled up the tree. Crazylocks sprouted her horn. Just as she did, Shadow Shroud noticed that her hair seemed to relax; perhaps it only took on its wrecking ball-like property when she was an Earth Pony? Crazylocks levitated some nearby rocks, and hurled them at the chimera. “FINISH YOUR DINNER, YOUNG MAN!!” The rocks struck both the chimera and the tree. It fell to the ground behind the tree. The tree had been struck hard enough to completely break off this time, and fell onto the limp chimera, crushing it to death.
Crazylocks jumped up and down as happily as a filly who just earned her Cutie Mark. “Yippee! I win! I win!” she sang, and then went back to cackling and erratic behaviors.
The foals were completely stunned at this point. She just faced a biological horror, and dispatched of it like it was nothing! Shadow Shroud shared her observation of Crazylocks’ hair. “Seriously!? It’s specific to her being an Earth Pony? How does that make any sense?” Fire Fight asked.
“Son…..don’t nuttin’ ‘bout her make no damn sense.” Turf War said.
“I wonder if Gene Splice had anything to do with her. I remember him saying that he wanted to recapture some…..subject, or whatever. And she acted like she knew what that creature was…..even if she can’t comprehend a whole lot to begin with.” Spiral thought aloud.
“Ah reckon ya might be right, Ms. Spiral! He said ‘Subject CL’, if Ah recall. Crazy…Locks? CL? Ah know it’s a needle in a haystack but…” Kickback said.
“Hmm……” Shadow Shroud pondered for a brief moment before calling out to their crazy new acquaintance. “Crazylocks?”
Crazylocks immediately looked at her with the same crazy smile. “Yes?”
“Does the name, ‘Gene Splice’ mean anything to you?” Shroud calmly asked her.
For a moment, Crazylocks just stood there completely still, locked in her manic gaze. The, she began to twitch her head. Her eyes seemed to widen slowly as though she was either scared, or angry. “G-…..Gene…….Splice?” she muttered.
Shadow Shroud was suddenly beginning to regret her decision. “Uhh…..yes. I assume…….that I am correct?”
Crazylocks slowly became more erratic. “Gene…….Splice?...........Gene….Splice!?.......G-G-Gene S-S-Splice!?.................................................................”
“GEEEEEEEEEEEEENE SPLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Crazylocks flew into a berserk fury. To say that she was pissed off was like calling the Frozen North a snow globe. The foals never thought that such boundless rage and hatred could ever be possible. She pounced onto the half of the crushed chimera that was still sticking out from the fallen trunk, and began ravenously mauling it like an enraged grizzly bear. The foals nervously readied themselves in case she spontaneously decided to turn on them.
“Well……looks like we were right…..” Fire Fight muttered.
“Yo, homegirl! Calm yo’ a** down!” Turf War called out to her. The other glanced at him in frustrated fear. Crazylocks suddenly stopped mauling the chimera corpse, and eyed him with the same unbridled fury she had exerted onto it as she bore her teeth, and growled like a mad dog. “Uhh…….sorry I cursed?” he nervously said.
Crazylocks pounced towards him, and landed right in front of him. She swung one of her pigtails at him, and he blocked it. Turf War was stunned to have actually felt significant recoil from his shield; her hair really was as tough as demonstrated. Before she could swing her other pigtail, Turf War rammed her with his shield, knocking her away a goof few feet. She quickly got up, but Kickback managed to coil his whip around her fore legs.
“Simmer down now, Ms. Crazylocks.” He calmly said.
“NO!! I DISAGREE!!” Crazylocks shouted. She sprouted her wings, and shot into the air, taking Kickback with her as he held on for dear life.
“WHOOAAAA NELLY!” Kickback screamed. Crazylocks flew around wildly, taking Kickback for quite the ride. He didn’t want to fire his guns for the risk of hitting her, and drawing attention from the city itself.
“Hang on, Kickback!” Spiral called out. She focused her magic, and created a gravity field within Crazylocks’ erratic flight pattern. Crazylocks couldn’t resist the downward force exerted onto her, and fell to the ground. She and Kickback hit the dirt with a thud. Spiral minimized the area of her gravity field so that it was only around Crazylocks. She walked over to her. “Calm down.” She said.
Crazylocks struggled against the intense gravity. “Nrgh! No! HE WON’T TAKE ME BACK!” she shouted.
Spiral gently laid her hoof on her. “He won’t. He’s gone now. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” She consoled. She gently stroked the frenzied filly as she kept reassuring her that Gene Splice was no longer a threat.
It took a little while, but Crazylocks’ fury finally subsided. She broke down in a mix of frustration, fear, and sadness. She occasionally laughed as if something was funny, but it was clear that she did indeed have a history with the late mad scientist……and it wasn’t a happy one. “Let us make a point of never mentioning that name again.” Air Slash said.
Shadow Shroud glared at Turf War. “Or so brashly provoke her further.” She growled.
“M-My bad…” Turf War mumbled.
Spiral walked up to Kickback, who was still dusting himself off. “You okay, Kickback?”
Kickback just calmly smiled, and tipped his hat. “Surely, Ms. Spiral. Ah thank ya. Can’t say Ah’ve ever had to wrangle a bull that could fly though!” he said. Spiral giggled.
Fire Fight gazed at Crazylocks in pity. What kind of relationship did she have with Gene Splice? How long had she been with him? What all did he do to her, or try to do to her? Where were her parents? Did she even have any? Was she just another chimera born of Gene Splice’s insanity? Nevertheless, she was a pony capable of feelings and emotions like they were, even if they were entirely random. This whole notion made Fire Fight draw to one conclusion. “She’s coming with us.”
The other foals just gawked at him as though he were as crazy as the epitome of insanity that was right beside them. “You…….You’re kidding!?” Turf War stammered.
“Look at her! If other ponies find out what she is, imagine what they might try and do to her! If it wasn’t for us, she’d be way better off living in the forest where she’s not a danger to them. But now that we’re here, we can help her not be such a danger to herself.” Fire Fight stated.
“But we have no idea if she’s actually been missing for a certain amount of time! What if she has parents that love her, and are worried sick about her?” Spiral argued.
“Hmm….somehow, I don’t see that being possible.” Shadow Shroud said. “When I made my rounds the previous night, I saw no such indication that anypony was actively looking for a lost filly. It’s totally possible that Crazylocks has no affiliation with Fillydelphia whatsoever.”
“Well, neither do we, and we’re here.” Air Slash argued.
“Yes, but for a purpose. Crazylocks is just wandering aimlessly. The fact that Gene Splice’s lab is so close to Fillydelphia would make you wonder if he kidnapped her, which he very easily could have, but again, I saw no such sign.” Shadow Shroud rebutted.
“Ah reckon we really oughta just let her into our herd, y’all. Ah can’t imagine what kinda torture G- uh…. ‘You know who’ put her through. Ah’d feel more at ease if she was with us, where she’d be sure to have friends.” Kickback said.
“That’s very gentlemanly of you, Kickback, but…..What’re we supposed to do with her? She’s so unpredictable.” Spiral inquired.
“Treat her with absolute care, that’s what. She’s a foal who’s more lost than any of us have ever been, and we have to help her. It certainly won’t be an overnight recovery, but it’d be way better than forcing a recovery.” Fire Fight said.
“Indeed. Plus…..I really don’t want to have to…..repeat prior events considering just how dangerous she is.” Shadow Shroud said with considerable sorrow in her voice.
The others gasped upon hearing that. They could tell that Shadow Shroud wanted nothing to do with ending another foals life should it ever come to that, but her sworn duty as a Shadewalker knew no such sympathy, and they all, especially Shadow Shroud herself didn’t want any more unwarranted heartache.
“W-Well…..O-O-Okay, Shroud. But still, what does ‘treat her with absolute care’ mean?” Spiral asked.
“It means that we treat her delicately, be patient with her, and most importantly, show her that we’re her friends who want to help her, not some scientists who want to fix her. She’s had enough of that already.” Fire Fight answered. While still hesitant, the foals eventually agreed to his words. Crazylocks was a lost cause, and therefore, their responsibility. She was just a little more lost than they might’ve bargained for.
Shadow Shroud walked up to Crazylocks. “Crazylocks?”
Crazylocks sobered up as though she was never crying to begin with, and looked at Shroud. “Yes?”
“Would you like to come with us?” Shroud asked. Her tone was soft, and her speech was slow.
Crazylocks began slowly inhaling. She did this for a moment before answering. “OK!!!!!” she shouted. With the deal sealed, and Shadow Shroud wishing she had earplugs, the foals welcomed their newest friend into their entourage.