Spider in Equestria

by DarkSpider


33. Living Shadows

    “It was been exactly two days since LS-002 has become active. During that time period, LS-001 has shown signs of increased activity. Upon further investigation I can only conclude that the two creatures are perhaps communicating with each other through some form of telepathy as no noise is ever made between them. Observation between the two specimens has led me to conclude that while LS-001 does show the same signs of activity, it is more dulled and reserved compared to the activity it was displaying in the first day of awakening… perhaps LS-002 has done or said something to offend it? While they still communicate, it is much more muted now. One can only wonder what exactly it is that these two creatures have been saying. ”


“It’s been three days since LS-002 has awakened, and while it seems to have given up any further attempts to grab at LS-001’s attention, LS-002 still remains curious of its surroundings, always attempting to push beyond the glass that keeps it trapped. Whenever one of us would walk by or do something near it, LS-002 would turn its attention to them, unmoving, almost as if it's staring at us. Theory couldn’t help but feel unnerved by the creature, commenting that he feels as if he’s being examined by a predator, or being stared at as if he was a piece of meat. We could only hope that LS-003 comes out more like its eldest “sibling”. I can’t help but agree with the others in that something about 002 is off in more ways than one.”

    “The “Doctor” has taken a special interest in LS-002, commenting on the fact that of how it has us all unnerved to be a good sign. I’m not entirely too sure just what the Doctor plans to do with LS-002, but just the fact that he seems to be spending most of his time in the lab watching 002 and ignoring 001 puts me on edge…”

    The unicorn put down the pen and sighed, the short yellowed furred pony sagged in his seat, staring up at the lab’s ceiling. Why Chromosome put a hand on his temple and rubbed it, feeling overwhelmed from the stress of this project. Ever since Archer had put the good “Doctor” in charge of the project, he couldn’t help but feel the need to continuously watch his back around him. The man seem to have a talent in putting everyone around him on edge, and his latest fascination with LS-002 had only worsened the feeling. With any luck, the Doctor’s interest will just be a passing one as always and he’ll immediately go back to his own side projects. Already the Doctor has become infamous in the lab with his passing interest in all of the other’s works. One of the scientist that used to work here had the Doctor hovering over him for days in the pony’s quest to regain his lost wings with the use of cybernetics, only for him to be fired and having the Doctor steal his research.

    Chromosome suppressed a shudder at the thought of the Doctor’s underhanded tactics, he too was a victim to it, as the man had usurped his position as the chief scientist of the company. Shaking his head, Chromosome cleared his thoughts and dove back into the research notes in front of him, quickly glancing through the papers in front of him he grabbed one specific paper that was at the bottom of the pile. Looking at the paper he couldn’t help but frown, the single sheet of paper was all they had on the last specimen of the project, LS-003.
   
    Turning around from his desk, he looked back at the three large tanks being used to contain the experiments. LS-001 and 002 were preoccupied in another “conversation”, meanwhile LS-003 was still inactive in the third tank. Why Chromosome shuffled forward towards the third tank, ignoring how 002 stopped “talking” in order to stare at him. Glancing back at the paper in his hand, his eyes narrowed at the lack of notes on it. Chromosome put his hands behind his back and stared at the third tank, waiting for something to happen. After a minute of inactivity, he sagged, “Perhaps it's time to pull the plug. It's been four days since 002 has become active, and it only took it a single day after 001 woke up for that...” He stared for another minute before sighing and stepping away from the tank, already preparing himself to report to Archer about 003’s continuous inactivity.

    Before he could start writing his report for the day, the lab’s door hissed open and from the hallway floated in a strange metal contraption. The metal sphere was completely gray at the top and black on the bottom, with black and yellow stripes traveling horizontally at the middle of the device. The floating pod contained two spinning dishes at the side of it, and possessed a rotating antenna at the top of it's head. At the center of the machine, was a screen showing the image of the Doctor.

    Chromosome stiffend when he saw the man’s mustache face on the monitor, and he could already feel a bead of sweat form on his brow. Straightening up, he gave the man a short but respectful bow. “W-why Doctor, what a surprise!” He said with some false cheer. “I would’ve thought you’ve gone to sleep already with it being so l-late.” He cursed himself for stuttering, but couldn’t stop it. The man always put him on edge.

    The drone flew passed him and went straight for the three tanks and with a jolly, and almost friendly sounding voice that didn’t sound right at all coming from him, the Doctor greeted him, “Why hello Chromosome! I could just say the same thing about you. you know. It’s so late you should be asleep by now!” The man behind the machine tsked, as if to scold him. “It wouldn’t do you any good to lose any sleep, the company needs you after all!” Somehow, he managed to say that while making it sound genuine and like an insult, and knowing him, it was most likely an insult.

    Chromosome could only chuckle nervously, fiddling with his hands. “Oh it's no problem, I couldn’t really sleep anyways.” He forced a smile and looked back at the tanks, “Afterall, the boss is expecting an update on the project tomorrow.”

    From the machine he heard a chuckle. “Ah I wouldn’t worry at all about that old bat.” He said dismissively, the machine flew by him again and towards his workstation to look at the notes. “All he ever does is demand results when he gives us subar tools. If he really wanted results he should’ve given me what I demanded the first time I asked for it! So if the project takes a week longer to finish than it should have then it will take a week longer! I’m not gonna rush things through and end up with nothing but a failed experiment because he wasn’t feeling very patient.” Two clawed hands came out of the machine and picked up a few papers, the arms raised the papers up to the screen so the Doctor can see them.

    The Doctor hummed. “Chromosome?” He called out, putting down the papers. “What is the status of LS-003?”

    The yellow furred unicorn gulped, glancing back at the third tank. “Inactive sir.” Shuffling around nervously, he added, “I-I was planning to pull the plug on 003, with the deadline being tomorrow and it taking much longer than the other two to activate, it no longer seemed necessary to spend any more time on it.”

    He tsked, the machine floated to the third tank. “To pull the plug on such a promising project seems wasteful don’t you think?” He questioned, to which Chromosome didn’t answer. He knew it wasn’t a real question. “...Perhaps this is what can be considered as the runt of the group? If so then perhaps it is best that we wait.”

    Chromosome blinked in confusion. “But sir, are you sure that’s wise? I mean, wouldn’t this just be taking up resources that can be better used somewhere else?”

    The machine let out a scoff, already flying towards the exit of the lab. “The old man’s plan hinges on the success of “Living Shadow”. I’m sure he’ll agree to spend a few more days waiting for this runt to activate and have three monsters instead of just settling for two.” The drone paused and raised one of its mechanical claws, holding up a stack of papers. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be taking these notes. If we’re gonna be presenting this to the boss, then I should be kept up to date on everything that has happened here while I was busy.” The door hissed open and the Doctor flew out of the lab.

    The unicorn gaped for a second before rushing out the lab, following the doctor. “Doctor Ivo! Wait please!” The door shut itself closed after a few seconds, leaving the lab almost empty.

    For a while there was only silence in the laboratory, the silence was then promptly destroyed by one of the creatures, which was red in color, beginning to tap the glass of its tank feverishly. Seeing that its tapping wasn’t producing any results it began tackling the glass. The second creature, being a pure black substance, turned to look at the other, its body seemed to vibrate as it slithered closer to the red creature.

    “What are you doing?” The black creature asked, its body seeming to shine under the bright light above them.

    “What else? Trying to break the glass.” The red blob answered, not pausing its attack on the tank. “This place is boring! I wanna get out and have some fun!”

    “You're wasting your time,” the former said simply. “They made these so we wouldn't be able to break out on our own.”

    The red blob let out a chuckle. “Well you can stay at this dump if you want, but don’t come crying to me to free you once I break this glass!”

“And what do you plan to do if you manage to get out?”

The red blob paused for a moment. “You know… I don’t know, but anything is better than just sitting here and having those idiots poke and stare at us all day!” The blob seemed to shake his body left and right before resuming his attack. “Besides, wouldn’t you like to leave this place? We can go and have some fun! Maybe gut the fat bastard while we’re at it!” The blob laughed again, his body vibrating in amusement.

“While I won't lie in saying it would be fun dealing with him, that would be too far. As for myself, I know exactly what I'd do if I got out.”

    “Oh?” The creature stopped, turning his full attention towards the other. “And what is your plan? I hope you don’t expect to find daddy dearest.”

“That's exactly what I plan to do.”

    The red blob scoffed. “How boring. What do you think is gonna happen when you find him, huh? What, you think he’s just gonna welcome you home with open arms? Gonna play some catch with our old man?” The blob then gave a sinister chuckle. “Or are you gonna have some fun with the idiot? Maybe trick him into accepting you and when he least expects it, BLAM! Stab him in the back and laugh at his face as the life drains from his eyes?!” The blob’s body vibrated in amusement as he laughed.

“You really do act as your namesake, brother,” the elder creature said with annoyance. “Cletus would be proud.”

    “Aww thanks bro!” Carnage extended a tendril towards the elder’s direction, stopping as it hit the edge of his tank. “You say the sweetest things. Besides I know for a fact if you just let loose, you’ll be having just as much fun as I will once I get out of here.” He chuckled. “I’ll be sure to save you some of these nerds so you can have fun with them too V!”

‘V’ sighed. “May God have mercy if you ever got out, Carnage.”

Before the blob could respond, the two creatures stiffened when they felt a new presence start to form in their link. The two shuffled towards the third tank and stared in interest as they witness the third blob convulse, a couple of tendrils stretching out as if to feel the area around it. Slowly, the tendrils retracted and the third blob got up from its position and seemed to look around the area it was in, examining everything.

Carnage seemed to gap. “Huh… I thought for sure that he was braindead. Didn’t think he would ever wake up.”

“Still wish that was the case for you,” V commented.

Before Carnage could say anything, their attention was once again stolen when they noticed the third blob staring at the two of them. The new creature was both black and red, seeming to share traits from the other two. It looked between the two in what they can sense as a mixture of fear, confusion, and a bit of excitement, or perhaps hope?

“Are you okay?” V asked his youngest sibling.

The third creature seemed to pause, as it shuffled around nervously. It stayed silent for a few seconds before deciding to respond, but before it could get a word out it was cut off.

“Hey! You stupid or something? Or are you just mute?” Carnage asked, chuckling a bit. “I knew you were a bit braindead, given how long you were asleep, but still. Hell, even I didn’t take that long!”

“Carnage!” V shouted at his sibling.

The third creature shrunk at the red blob’s words, slithering away from the two as Carnage laughed. Carnage saw this and couldn’t help but laugh harder. “Hey V look! It's a chicken! It probably inherited all of daddy’s fears or probably his cowardness! Lord knows he has plenty of that. Come on already and say something!” He said impatiently, no longer being amused all of a sudden. “What? You’re too cool to talk to us or something? You think you’re some silent protagonist?! Man let me tell you something! Quiet people piss-”

“Stop it!” V shouted, getting mad as he vibrated in anger. “Your attitude won't help anything!” He then shifted his focus back on his youngest sibling. “Are you okay?” He asked calmly.

The third creature seemed to be shaking in what was most likely in fear, not wanting to anger the red one any further, it forced itself to answer. “I! I-I! I’m fine.” It tried to answer quickly, the fear was noticeable in the quaking of its soft voice.

Carnage paused when he heard the youngest speaking, seeming to be confused. “Yo, V! You notice anything weird with chicken shit?” He asked, glancing at the eldest. “You know, as in the chicken sounds like an actual chick? And I don’t mean that it sounds hot. Nah it sounds like a little girl!”

“I noticed,” V said, equally surprised. “Can't say I saw that coming…”

The third blob seemed to recoil as if struck. Seeming to take their shock as a rejection, she slithered backwards, trying to hide herself from the other two as much as she can.

V simply focused on her again, saying, “Okay, besides our brother's attitude, what's wrong?”

“Nothing’s… really wrong… I guess..?” She answered, examining the two of them again before gathering up the courage to continue. “But… who are you two? And where… are we?”

“Regarding the former, we're your brothers, and you are apparently our sister,” V answered. “If you want our names, I'd say try to see what memories you have. You may already know it. As for where we are-”

“We’re in the Nerd Dungeon!” Carnage answered. Deciding to show his sister some mercy, he elaborated, “This place is a literal nerd dungeon. It's constantly surrounded by nerds, and we’re locked up here as if its a dungeon. No one really cares about us and only want to stare and poke us all day,” he whined, his body slumping. “It’s sooo boring! Man I think I might die of boredom here! The worst part is having to deal with the fat bastard and his spineless pet!” His body vibrated, as he grew angry. “GRAH! Just seeing their ugly mugs makes me want to grab that baldy’s mustache and rip it off! And I wonder if that coward can get anymore spineless if I rip his spine out! Wait, would he even have a spine to rip out?”

V sighed again. “He isn't exactly wrong,” He told their sister. “The 3 of us are in some sort of lab and are stuck in these tanks. And Carnage here won't shut up about wanting to kill the ones who made us.” He then vibrated as if to shake a nonexistent head. “Do you have a name you recall?”

The youngest blob slumped forward a bit, sighing. “Sorry, but I can’t really remember my name… I can remember a bunch of other things… but they don’t seem to be my memories…”

“That would be our...father, for lack of a better word,” V explained. “We come from him, and seem to share some of his memories for whatever reason. To a point…”

“Yup! We may not have all of daddy’s memories, but what we do have helps us find our names!” Carnage chimed in. “Not to mention that we also inherit parts of his personalities that relate to the memories and his issues!” He chuckled. “And man do I have my fair share of them. Think I got the bulk of it, so lucky you! You might’ve got off scott free! Then again with how you acted earlier, I think you just inherited all of his fears or some lame crap like that.”

Ignoring Carnage, V looked to his youngest sibling and said, “What is the most recent memory that you recall before waking up?”

The blob hummed, tilting her entire body to the side. “I remember… being on a roof.”

“A roof?” Carnage questioned. “Why would a roof be the first thing you remember? What, was daddy gonna jump or something? Did he see a kitten near the roof and wanted to go save it?”

The third creature shook her body in disagreement. “No, someone else was there…. It was a blue… pegasus I think it's called? They were talking, and I remember feeling weird too…”

“Ah, Rainbow,” V said. “I know of that event. Don't worry about that feeling though. That's something he'll need to deal with himself.”

“Eh? The blue bitch?” Carnage question, before vibrating in anger. “I remember that bitch being a real ass to us the whole time! Heck she knocked us out just cause we weren’t a pony the first time she saw us!” He chuckled maliciously, “When I get my hands on her, I’m gonna tear off her wings and make her choke on them before slitting her throat and pulling out her-”

“Carnage!” V shouted, not wanting to hear his brother's murder fantasies of someone he was fond of.

Their sister's body rippled. “Hey you leave her alone! She’s a pretty nice lady. I’m sure that someone… Err… somepony like her wouldn’t do what you said!”

Carnage chuckled. “Oh trust me princess, you don’t have all of daddy’s memories. Heck she was probably all buddy buddy with daddy in the beginning but she just went full bitch mode later on.”

Deciding to quickly change the subject, V asked his youngest sibling, “So you don't know your name?”

The blob slumped forward, “No… I wish I did know… but all the memories I have are of… dad...?” She said the last bit uncertainty.

“Well I can give you the name of the being you resemble, if you want.”

She nodded, appearing to be excited now. “Yeah alright! Any name is better than no name!”

“I believe the name I'm looking for is...Toxin,” V said, the memory of the name being rather blurry.

“Toxin…” She said her name slowly, as if to test it out. “Toxin. Yeah alright, Toxin! That name sounds good to me!” The blob jumped up in excitement before pausing and staring at the elder in silence. “Umm… sorry if it's sounds rude… but what’s your name? I’ve only ever heard you be called V.”

The eldest of the trio chuckled, imagining himself smiling as he answered, “I...am Venom.”