//------------------------------// // 1) And Along Came a Spider, Part 1 (New version) // Story: The Awesome Spider-Dash: Origins // by Flufux //------------------------------// (Attention! This is the third and final part of the new and improved version of the first chapter. While the original version is still there if you want to read it, only this version is going to be considered canon to the rest of the story.) Episode 1 And Along Came a Spider…Part 1 An Eight-legged Stowaway As the name suggested, the Bio-Labs were working with things very differently than Doctor Glimmer’s engineering division. Here, the doctors were studying life itself...and specifically, how to improve upon it. Fighting deceases, upgrading the human body, or gaining a better understanding of all things living in the world was the goal here...and it was up to the division’s eccentric head scientist Doctor Silk Mane and her crew to see it happen. As Twilight’s group entered the clinically white labs in the division, they came upon a much more crowded area than they were in last. Unlike the empty observation room the group were using to see into the Open Testing Area, the Bio-Labs were practically bustling with activity as men and women clad in white coats were coming and going from all over the place. There were, of course, a few more isolated labs around with fewer people in them, including the cold storage nearby where no sane person generally spent much time in, but the main room was about as crowded as a laboratory that size possibly could be. On the other hand, there was a certain order to this place, a very professional one, that was very unusual for a gathering of this many people. This was a work ethic that the company’s co-founder Luna was very adamant about implementing to insure a safe work environment relatively devoid of stress. A good thing too...at least if Fluttershy had anything to say about it. While crowded environments were not really her thing (to say the least), the slightly less chaotic nature of the lab helped keep her anxiety down a notch. Plus, unlike the last place they visited, Fluttershy was now completely in her element, and could barely contain her excitement as she gleefully peeked through the many small glass boxes that seemed to be all over this place. The boxes in question contained all manner of strange things, from mutated toads that were climbing the walls of their cages like geckos, to mushrooms that seemed to be glowing and flickering like light bulbs, to what looked like a strange cross between a rat and a lizard, to...whatever the strange black goo-like organism locked in the large dome-like cage in the centre of the lab was. At first, the thing looked barely any different than a dark splash of paint, but when Fluttershy got closer to the cage in order to get a better look at it, the goo seemingly came to life and tried to reach for her...only to be stopped by the glass wall separating it from the outside world. The creature's move was quick enough though that it made Fluttershy jump a little and mutter, "Oh my!" However, after years of handling strange and sometimes dangerous creatures, including big cats and venomous snakes, the normally shy girl didn't freak out or back away in fright too much. Instead, she immediately became fascinated by this bizarre life form and got even closer to it. The goo responded in kind, and frantically tried to reach her with its oily tendrils...even though the glass was clearly prevented it from doing so. "I see you met the guest of honour, Fluttershy," Sunset commented once she and the rest of the girls had caught up with her. Without looking away from the black slime, Fluttershy asked, "What is it though? I have seen many peculiar creatures before, but never anything like this." "That's because there isn't anything on earth even remotely like it for as far as we know," Twilight answered while she walked up the cage. A bit surprised by that, Fluttershy looked at her with wide eyes, "But...how is that possible?" "Because..." Sunset began in a slightly more dramatic tone. "...it isn't from this planet at all." Fluttershy gasped, "You mean, it's a...a...an...alien!?" Before either Twilight or Sunset had time to answer, Pinkie Pie popped up and shouted, "OH. MY. GOSH! THIS IS AMAZING!"...making the others in her group wince at her tone of voice while also drawing the attention of nearly every scientist in the immediate vicinity. "What is?" Twilight asked after she had properly recovered from Pinkie's sudden rise in volume. Pinkie slammed her face straight into the glass dome right next to Fluttershy with the speed of a bullet, nearly pushing her friend out the way in the process. In contrast to the reaction the creature had to Fluttershy’s presence though...when confronted by the smiling face of an overly energetic Pinkie Pie, it quickly retreated to the other end of its cage as if it was afraid of her. "I've been waiting for this day my whole entire life! I can’t believe I’m finally going to host my ‘Welcome To Earth’ party! That was always the hardest party to plan because I have no idea what food the aliens would like to eat and if something might offend their alien culture or-” “Uh, I think you will have to postpone on the welcome to earth party, Pinkie,” Twilight advised. “As far as we know, the creature isn’t even sentient, so it would be like...making a party for a...fungus...or something.” “I’ll have you know that I’ve hosted parties for Gummy, Boulder, and a bunch of garden gnomes one time!" Pinkie proclaimed with a huff. "Trust me, I can handle making a party for a puddle of alien slime or my name isn't Pinkamina Diane Pie!” “While I have to admit that all sounds pretty fun and all...” Sunset started while gently putting a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “...there are these, you know, rules, you guys have to follow if you don’t want to get thrown out of here.” Pinkie scratched her head while showing a confused expression on her face. “...waaaaait...I don’t remember there being a rule against parties...unless I missed something?” Twilight was about to give her friend a detailed explanation for how exactly Pinkie throwing a party in the bio-labs would be against the company’s strict rulebook...but Sunset silenced her with a knowing look, as if to say ‘trust me on this’, and instead answered, “Well, it was a long list to keep track off, and maybe we forgot to mention that specific rule.” “Oh...well...if you ever change your mind though, Pinkie is definitively the girl for you!” Pinkie relented, still keeping her enthusiasm up though. "So let me get this straight..." Applejack started, keeping her eyes on the black puddle while maintaining her distance. "...this here goo thingy is supposed to be the first ever proof that aliens exist?" "As far as we know, yes," Twilight proudly replied. "Well sorry to disappoint y'all, but I know for a fact that this ain't the first alien I've seen!" "What the heck are you talking about, AJ?" Rainbow questioned. "All I'm sayin' is that we've had UFOs fly over Sweet Apple Acres for years...and they keep stealin' our cows every other summer. Heck, Granny once told me that she was taken aboard one of their spacecrafts when she was about Apple Bloom's age." Dash scoffed, "Yeah, right!" "It's true," Applejack insisted. "While stories about alien abductions and UFO sightings are definitively fascinating, I still hold that this is the first concrete proof that extraterrestrial life do, in fact, exist," Twilight settled on. "...not that I'm saying you're making things up, Applejack, I just-" "Don't worry, Twi, I get what ya mean." "I don't really see what the big deal is," Rainbow Dash said while she took out her camera and approached the cage. "I mean, it's just a stupid puddle." Curiously, the creature, after having shown an interest in Fluttershy and a severe disinterest in Pinkie Pie, immediately began to reach out for Rainbow the moment she got close enough...even to the point of completely ignoring the other two humans near it. "A stupid puddle that really seems to like you, it seems," Sunset noted in surprise. Rainbow stopped and looked at it, seeing it stop as well when she did so, then she took a step to the left...and it did the same, then she stepped to the right, and the creature did that too. She then backed away and commented, "Okay...that's freaky." "Yeah...it kinda is," Sunset concurred. "We don't really know why it seeks out some people and not others...though either way, it's probably best we keep it locked up for now." "You mean to avoid an 'I have seen enough Hentai to know where this is going' situation or something?" Rainbow joked. That line made Sunset chuckle a bit...while Fluttershy started to faintly blush a little instead. Thankfully for her, no one noticed that she did so, as that would mean answering a few questions that Fluttershy did not want to answer. "Well, it's not really like that," Twilight clarified. "Basically, the organism seems to seek out other life forms in order to bond with them." "What in the hay does that mean?" Applejack questioned, probably being the only one of them who actually kept their distance from the thing. "It's hard to explain, but it seems that the creature can merge itself with another organic being and become a single more powerful creature. When the goo fuses with an animal for instance, it seems to increase the animal's natural attributes while giving itself several traits of the animal it fused with. This concept is called 'symbiosis', which in simplest terms means when two different organisms coexist for mutual benefit." "And that's why we like to call this thing...a ‘symbiote’," Sunset finished off on. Briefly, everyone took a moment to let this all sink in...until Pinkie Pie decided to ask, "So...you're saying that if it touches me we'll combine to become some kind of Super-Pinkie? THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!" "Ehh...I don't know if that's a good idea, Pinkie," Twilight answered with a bit of cringe. "It could do that, but right now, we have no way of knowing what else it might do to someone." Pinkie shuddered at the thought, then took a few steps away from the symbiote. Suddenly, the whole idea didn't sound so appealing anymore. Fluttershy stayed where she was though, and even mumbled, "...Nature is so fascinating..." to herself as she looked at it. "Wait a minute!" Applejack voiced. "How in the blooming apples did you find out how this thing worked? Don't tell me y'all let it get on any of you!" "Oh goodness no!" Twilight immediately rebuked. "We will have to be one-hundred percent sure that it isn't dangerous before we would even attempt to let it come into contact with a human being." "However..." Sunset started to say. "...there was that one time it got out of its cage and bonded with one of the spiders we were working on. That's when we learned how it worked...and also that, for some reason, if you apply enough high-pitched sound to it, it will force the symbiote to detach itself from its host." "Wait, so this thing is weak to loud noises?" Rainbow asked incredulously. "Apparently. To be honest, we have no idea why." Fluttershy peaked up at that. "Wait...what about the spider? Is it okay after what happened to it?" The question made Twilight and Sunset look to each other for an answer. Twilight shrugged and Sunset said, “Well...it’s alive. Other than that...I’m not really sure.” With a hand on her chin and a thoughtful expression on her face, Fluttershy mulled it over for a bit, then suggested, “Maybe I can be the judge of that?” Knowing how, not only caring, but also knowledgeable, her shy friend was when it came to animals, Twilight was more than happy to let her take a look and promptly motioned for the group to follow her as she walked over to a big selection of small glass boxes at the other end of the lab. Each one of the small cubes had a spider or two inside them, ranging from all kinds of different species. These included, but were not limited to, species in the orb-weaver, wolf spider, jumping spider and even one or two in the tarantula family. However, if one looked a bit closer (and knew enough about spiders to begin with), one could tell that the eight-legged arachnids in the cages were a bit...‘different’...than they were supposed to be. None of them actually looked or behaved exactly as any you would find in the wild. Fluttershy noticed this as soon as she had taken a good look at them in fact. “I don’t know if it’s just me, but, um...these don’t look like...well, how do I say this, real spiders. Uh, no offence, spiders.” “Well, these aren’t naturally occurring spiders, if that’s what you’re asking,” Twilight explained. “You see, the symbiote creature was discovered inside a meteor that crashed somewhere in the Everfree Forest, and that meteor, as it turned out, gave off a strange unidentified form of radiation. The radiation then began to affect the DNA of nearby animals and plants, and gave them strange new properties. In fact, most of this lab is dedicated to studying the bizarre life that we found in the forest after the meteor hit.” “Hey, Twilight, you ever heard the phrase ‘too much information’?!” Rainbow Dash snarked. Twilight gave her a dirty look. Fluttershy meanwhile was looking through the boxes more closely in an attempt to find the one she came here for. "So...um, which one of these was...uh..?" She didn't actually have to finish her sentence for Sunset Shimmer to figure out what she was asking about. So she calmly walked up to Fluttershy and pointed at a large red and blue-coloured wolf spider. "That's the one you're looking for," she provided. A bit awkwardly, Fluttershy muttered a timid "Thanks," and then took a good long look at the spider in question in order to determine whether or not it was in good health. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell if a creature like a spider was sick or not...but Fluttershy was definitively not most people. Not only was she studying to become a veterinarian, but she had also always had this strange ability to understand and communicate with animals on a level that no one else seemed to be able to reach. Heck, she probably understood animals far better than she did people. That is why when she saw the spider sitting in the corner of its cage with its legs lazily sprawled out on the floor around it, a lot of warning signals began to go off in her head. "No, this poor little creature is not okay. That alien must have really affected her, because she will need a lot of help as soon as possible!" "Wait, really?!" Twilight questioned, suddenly sounding a bit alarmed. "What are its symptoms?" "Well...it seems like she has been, well...drained of energy somehow. She needs to eat something to restore her strength and feel good again, but...wait, I got just the thing!" Fluttershy took off her backpack and reached into it to get a can of...something? It wasn't labelled. "I'm sure that if she has a taste of this, then she will be back to health in no time." "Eh...what's that?" Sunset asked suspiciously. "Oh, it's just some yummy and nutritious food that I give the spiders back home," Fluttershy explained. "It's easy to digest and always makes them feel better. Now, if any of you could perhaps open the cage a bit, I might-" "Wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on!" Twilight interrupted. "You want me to open the cage of a test subject in a maximum-security lab!?" "Umm...yes. Is that a problem?" "Even if we discount the numerous possible dangers of a test subject escaping containment, I'm just an intern, and have no authority over things like this!" "What if we just, I dunno...just sneak in a little of that food thing in the cage when no one's looking?" Rainbow Dash suggested. "It's only a crime if you get caught, right?" "You would say somethin' like that..." Applejack mumbled under her breath. Rainbow heard her loud and clear though. "And what's that supposed to mean?!" she asked while giving Applejack a glare. "Nothin'," Applejack answered while making a way too obvious attempt to avoid eye-contact with anyone. Lying...wasn't one of her strong suits. "Actually..." Sunset interjected before that conversation could escalate. "...neither me or Twilight has access to the keys to the cages. Meaning we can't open them even if we were allowed to. Sorry." "Oh...well...then sorry I asked," Fluttershy muttered dejectedly, her posture now shrunken in disappointment. "No, you don't have to apologise," Twilight insisted. "You had a perfectly valid concern." "Then...I'm sorry I said sorry." Twilight was about to say something, but soon found that she had no idea what to say to that. She then subtly looked at Sunset for help. Sunset decided to go the easy way out by changing the subject altogether. "Okay! Why don't we, uh...go to the next place? Where was that again, Twilight?" "Oh, that was the...ehhh...oh, right, the Professor Starswirl Collection! It's just around the corner, so...follow me!" Twilight provided while she started to head for the exit. At Twilight's insistence, the rest of the group began to follow after her and Sunset in order to continue the extensive tour of the building with the next item on the agenda. Well...most of them anyway. When the others were already starting to leave, Fluttershy remained standing where she was. For her, it just felt wrong to leave a poor suffering animal alone without doing anything to help it...especially when she could help it but wasn't allowed to. Rainbow Dash soon noticed that her friend wasn't going with the others, and excused herself from the group to go back and fetch her. "Hey, Shy, you coming or what?!" she asked once she had run back to her. Suddenly, Fluttershy grabbed Dash by the shoulders and said "Rainbow Dash, I need your help!" in an urgent tone. A bit surprised by that reaction, Rainbow awkwardly asked, "...with what exactly?" "Remember back in eight grade when you snuck into the principal's office to play a prank on her?" "Yeah...but what-" "And that time you and Gilda started to go shop-" Rainbow immediately put a hand over Fluttershy's mouth before she could finish that sentence, a slightly panicked look appearing on her face while she did so. She even proceeded to lower her voice to a whisper, "I thought we agreed not to mention my...you know...shoplifting days in a public place, ya know?" Then she removed the hand. "Now, can we please not bring that up again and just say what you wanted, okay?" Fluttershy nodded. "Well...I was thinking that maybe you could, uh...maybe pick the lock on that cage so that I could give the spider a little of...um, this," she stuttered while she held up her can of special spider food. "I'd hate to ask this of you, but could you maybe consider doing this...for me?" Rainbow scratched the back of her head and looked around nervously. "I dunno, Flutters. I mean, couldn't we get in trouble for...for..." She was soon however stunned into silence when Fluttershy gave her what Dash could only describe as the single most adorable pair of 'puppy-dog-eyes' she had ever seen. It most certainly didn't help that the one who was giving them to her was the same girl that she just so happened to have a massive crush on. 'Damn you, Fluttershy, and your perfect blue eyes!' Rainbow inwardly cursed before she decided, "Fine! But you owe me for this, got it?" She quickly grabbed the can of food out of Fluttershy's hands, said "Cover me and while I get this open", took out her secret lock-picking equipment from her pocket and began to work on getting the cage open. Fluttershy did her part as well. First by deliberately standing in the way of Rainbow's hands so no one could see what she was doing, and secondly by keeping a vigilant eye on anyone approaching. It didn't take long for the experienced shoplifter and prankster Rainbow Dash to break through the lock though. And when she did, she quickly opened the can and was just about to pour the food in the spider's cage when a woman's voice suddenly asked, "What are you two doing?!" The unexpected voice made both teenagers freeze up, with Rainbow spilling some of the food on the floor while Fluttershy's eyes immediately fixed on the woman who was swiftly approaching the two of them with an angry frown on her face. She appeared to be in her late thirties by the looks of it, and could be easily recognised by her purple and dark blue hair that went down her back in waves. The black suit she was wearing, complemented by a purple undershirt and dark blue trousers, hinted at a very business-oriented woman, and her body-language and facial expression clearly spoke of a no-nonsense kind of attitude. This, coupled with the fact that she was strangely tall for a woman, made her a fair bit intimidating already. Fluttershy gave her the most innocent smile she could muster, though she felt her confidence wane for every step the woman took towards her. "Oh, uh, we were just, um...looking at the spiders, and-" "Step aside, young lady!" the woman ordered with a directness that really caught Fluttershy off-guard. Out of fear of being caught in the act, Rainbow immediately turned around and stood up straight, all while keeping her arms behind her back to hide the food can she was holding onto. However...in her haste, she may have forgotten to close the cage after opening it. Too terrified to defy the woman, Fluttershy took a step to the side to reveal a guiltily-looking Rainbow Dash suspiciously holding her arms behind her back. "Hey, wazzup?" she asked in a lame attempt to keep her cool. The woman studied her carefully for a second, narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and turned back to Fluttershy, "What was your friend doing before I came in?" Fluttershy blushed, "Well, she was just, um, uh...just...um..." "Taking pictures of the spiders!" Rainbow provided...though a bit too loud. The woman gave Rainbow a glance, then looked back at Fluttershy again, "Was that all she was doing?" Fluttershy nodded. The lady did not really look like she believed her, but nevertheless, she turned to Rainbow and ordered, "Give me your camera." "What for?!" Dash questioned. "Just give it to me!" she insisted a bit more firmly. Rainbow groaned but did as she was told. She hid the food can in her back pocket, then opened her camera bag and presented the small digital camera she hid inside. The woman took it off her hands, then didn't waste any time before she began to go through the pictures stored on its memory card. The fact that she did so without asking for permission or explain what she was doing was more than enough to seriously irk Rainbow Dash. "Hey, what're you doing!? Give me back my camera!" she demanded in a confrontational tone. "Hello! I'm talking to you, Lady!" all while repeatedly trying to reach for it. The woman easily kept it out of Dash's reach though, and continued doing what she was doing without making any eye-contact with her. "You will get it back in a moment. I just need to delete a few photographs that could potentially reveal company secrets to the public." Rainbow protested, "What!? You can't do that!" "Oh, yes, hehe, oh yes I can." she answered with a slightly arrogant chuckle. "Yeah well...who do you think you are anyway?!" Suddenly, the woman looked her straight in the eye and bluntly answered, "I am Luna, Vice President of CelestiaCorp, and also head of security in this building. Does that answer your question, Rainbow Dash?" That response was enough to make Rainbow speechless for a second. Luna's quick and to the point demeanour usually had that effect on people. To say she wasn't big on small talk would probably be a bit of an understatement actually. After Dash had processed what she just said though, she soon asked, "Wait...how do you know my name?" Wordlessly, Luna pointed a finger at the visitor's pass Rainbow had attached to her jacket. That was, the one with her name printed on it. "Oh, I guess that makes sense." "Also...I had the immense pleasure of reading through your criminal record before I allowed you to even be here," Luna added in a somewhat sarcastic tone. "A history of pranks, recklessness, shoplifting and trespassing is what I found. Now, surely you can understand my reluctance to let you have access to CelestiaCorp even for just a day. In fact, the only reason I did was because someone gave me an offer I could not refuse." She handed the camera back to Dash, then levelled her eyes at her and warned, "Do not make me regret that decision." Rainbow Dash gave her a glare back that almost matched Luna's intensity. "Or what?" "Or...I can kick you out of this building." "You can try," Dash warned while taking on a fighter pose. "But don't think I'm going down easy, pal! Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, I know 'em all li-EAAAHH!" Before she had a chance to finish that sentence, Luna grabbed her by the wrist, pulled her around and easily immobilised the smaller teenager with a tight arm-lock...all without breaking a sweat. "So do I," Luna revealed with a small proud grin on her face. "Though I mastered all three of them over the course of two decades...which is longer than you have even lived, as a matter of fact." Rainbow struggled and wriggled as best she could, but Luna's grip didn't budge no matter what, so she gave out a frustrated groan and shouted, "Ouch! HEY! let me go! Come on, man!" "Your bravado is impressive though," Luna started to say, unheeded. "Reminds me of how I used to be when I was your age. Bold, stubborn, arrogant, rebellious. But that kind of behaviour is not called for here, you understand?" "Screw you!" was the only response she got from her. Luna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Um...Miss Luna?" the diminutive voice of Fluttershy asked, drawing Luna's attention while she still held Dash in a tight grip. "We didn't mean to cause any trouble, Rainbow just isn't the best at dealing with...uh...being confronted." "You don't say..." Luna replied with a touch of sarcasm. "But, we'll gladly get out of your hair if you want us to," Fluttershy pleaded, sounding as kind and sweet as she could. "Just...um...maybe let Rainbow Dash go now?" Luna was about to respond, but then her eye caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the glass of the spider-enclosures next to them. It wasn't clear exactly what she saw in it, but whatever it was, it made the woman freeze for a second where she just ended up staring at the glass wordlessly with an unreadable expression on her face. Then, she suddenly released her grip on Rainbow Dash, who very much appreciated her newly regained freedom of movement. "About time...oooouch, eh..." she commented soon after, still feeling the sting in her shoulder. "Very well then," Luna decided. "But don't let me catch you two doing anything suspicious again or I will have to call security, you understand?" "Understood, Miss Luna!" Fluttershy quickly replied, showing a bright smile on her face to prove that she was sincere about that. Luna gave her a small nod to show that she believed her, but then gave Rainbow a small suspicious stare just in case. With a groan, Dash assured, "Fine, I'll stay out of trouble. You happy?" "We'll see..." she replied ominously. Then Luna simply turned around and left without another word spoken. She...had a habit of doing so on occasion...especially when she had more important things to deal with. Not wanting to end up in any more trouble than they already were, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy made sure to hurry up and rejoin the others as quickly as they could. ...And from there, the day went about as you would expect... They continued following Twilight and Sunset around, saw even more labs and testing areas, learned of more science-y stuff and cool inventions, tried out a few of them, and eventually finished the day with a late dinner at the cafe on the bottom floor. The little incident with Luna and the spider was not brought up once during all that time...and that was probably for the best. However, after all was said and done, the sun was about to go down, CelestiaCorp was about to close and Rainbow Dash was about to fall asleep at any moment, the girls eventually decided to head on home for the day. By the time Rainbow and Fluttershy finally got back to the little suburban district where they lived, Rainbow couldn't stop herself from yawning every ten seconds or so and even had trouble walking straight. "Finally home..." Dash moaned upon seeing her house in the dead of night. The lights were off, so her parents had likely already gotten to sleep yet. 'Lucky them.' "Yes...home..." Fluttershy murmured in agreement, not quite as tired as her friend, but still pretty beat. "So...what did you think about that place? I for one was quite fascinated." "It was fun at first, I guess, but after awhile...well, I kinda stopped listening," Rainbow confessed while delivering another yawn. "Don't tell Twilight, but I kinda do that a lot when she's talking." "I...do that too actually," Fluttershy admitted a bit guiltily. "It's not to be rude or anything, but sometimes she can get really into it." Dash snickered, "Heh, glad I wasn't the only one." Fluttershy smiled a little at that. For a moment, the two of them just ended up silently standing there...alone on the dark suburban street...with nothing but the sound of nightly birds and crickets filling the air around them. These kinds of awkward silences were getting more and more common these days, as neither one knew what to say to each other, and neither one would know how the other would react if they did say anything. 'We're alone, right? I mean, wouldn't this be a perfect time to just tell her why I broke up with Gilda...or that I kinda have a thing for her...or that those things are related?' Dash thought while trying to avoid eye-contact with her crush. 'Arghh...I dunno, it's just too damn complicated, and I'm waaaaay too tired right now to think about this anyway.' Interestingly...unbeknown to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy was also doing the same thing. She just managed to be more discreet about it on the outside. 'Just tell her, Fluttershy, you can do it! Just like we practised in the mirror: come on, say 'Do you want to go out with me?', no, no, no, say 'I love you, Dashie', no, no, that would come on too strong. What about 'I have a crush on you, Rainbow'? No, that's just wrong. Oh, who am I kidding, she wouldn't want to go out with me in a hundred years. I mean, she didn't notice me for the last twelve years, why would she start now? Face it, Fluttershy, it's hopeless.' With a sad sigh, Fluttershy eventually said, "I think...I'm going to go home now." "Yeah, me too," Rainbow agreed while awkwardly scratching the back of her neck. "Goodnight, Dashie," Fluttershy parted with before she turned around and began to walk for her parents house across the streets. "Night, Flutters!" Rainbow called back before she went ahead and began to do the same. Since it appeared that everybody at her place were already asleep, Rainbow didn't bother announcing her arrival and quietly went up to her room instead after having kicked off her shoes and thrown off her jacket unceremoniously on the floor. She knew her parents were probably going to give her a hard time for that, but right now she was simply too tired to give a damn. Once she reached her bed, she didn't waste a second before she collapsed on it and released an exhausted sigh. And for a while...she just laid there...looking at the ceiling while she sorted out the feelings that were going through her head. 'I was that close to telling Fluttershy everything...and I totally chickened out...twice today! Great work, Rainbow Dash, you are definitively a beacon of confidence...' she noted sarcastically. 'And here I thought she was the one with the anxiety problems. Figures.' Her eyes then landed on one of her wall posters, specifically, the one with her favourite adventurer Daring Do facing off against the dreaded Ahuizotl himself in an epic stare-down. The title of the poster was 'Daring Do and Ahuizotl's Last Hunt', her undisputed favourite of the Daring Do books. 'Man, would be sweet if I could be as cool and confident as Daring Do. Acting cool is one thing, but being able to take on whole armies of bad guys with your bare fists and escape the deadliest deathtraps of all time with just your wit and cunning is something totally different. Daring could have easily handled that Luna bitch without breaking a sweat, but me? I just end up making a fool of myself right in front of Fluttershy. Smooth, Dash, smooth...' Her thoughts then turned to those wicked flying machines they showcased at CelestiaCorp and her eyes settled on her collection of model fighter-jets she had stacked on her bookshelf. 'Of course, when it comes to awesomeness, nothing ever beats flying in my book. Just the thought of being up there, moving so fast, feeling the wind in my face, and that awesome feeling you get in your stomach when you take off. One day...one day I'll be up there, and I'll be the best flyer the world has ever seen!" The thought brought a confident grin to her face...but it soon faded as she realised just how unlikely that dream was of ever coming true. She let out a tired sigh, then collected herself and began to reach for her camera bag. 'Still, I guess the day was not a total loss, I did get some good pics after all...at least if Luna hasn't deleted all of them.' However...the moment she blindly put her hand into the small compartment, she unknowingly started a long turn of events that would eventually change her life forever. As it turned out, back during the visit when she was too busy trying to maintain eye-contact with Luna after she stopped her attempt to feed the mutated spider...she hadn't noticed that the spider had taken the opportunity to climb out of its little cage and slip into her opened camera bag. There it had been for the rest of the day, and now when its peaceful slumber had been disturbed by the invading hand, it responded in the only way it knew how...by attacking! Rainbow gasped as she felt the sudden sting in her hand, and quickly pulled it back out only to drag the spider along with it...which then proceeded to land on the floor and scurry away as fast as its eight legs could take it. "What the hell?" Dash questioned out loud while she saw the unexpected arachnid run across her floor. She had no time to dwell on that though...for soon after, a seriously strange sensation rapidly began to creep into the hand where she was bitten. The feeling was not unlike how Dash would imagine a swarm of bugs crawling underneath her skin would be like, and it did not take long before it started to affect more than just her hand or even just her arm...soon, it was starting affect her entire body. As the spider's venom spread into every single one of her organs one by one at a pace that could only be described as unnatural, more and more symptoms began to flare up at a rapid pace. Before long, Rainbow was sweating profusely, her face turned beat red, and an uncontrollable shiver began to run through her entire body, causing her to convulse and spasm like a stranded fish for several minutes non-stop. Suddenly and without warning, she eventually just stopped dead in the midst of her crazy spasms, and quickly turned pale and rigid instead. In fact, in this state, she couldn't even move at all. All she could do was stare aimlessly at the ceiling with wide open eyes. Then...everything went black. ...And that's the end of the rewrites. From now on, you will have to read the rest of the story as I originally made it...small alterations aside.