//------------------------------//
// 1) And along came a Spider...Part 3 
// Story: The Awesome Spider-Dash: Origins 
// by Flufux 
//------------------------------//


Episode 1
And along came a Spider...Part 3
Wait, spiders don't shoot webs?


While Rainbow Dash and most of her close friends lived far away from the more hectic parts of Canterlot City, the same could not be said for Twilight Sparkle, who spent most of her nights in a small apartment downtown.

However, she didn't actually live there as much as she was staying there at her work days whenever she had to be close to her CelestiaCorp internship. Most weekends she still spent back in her family home in the suburban Ponyville district where she grew up. 

This apartment was actually owned by her parents, who mostly used it for the same reason...that is, spending the nights there to be closer to their respective jobs whenever that was required and come back home during the weekends. When Twilight was younger, they usually let a close friend of theirs, Cadence (who was also Twilight's current sister-in-law), take care of her when they were away...but now she'd gotten used to living mostly by herself.   

That was also why, when they left on their all-expense-trip around the world, they had let her stay in their work apartment without any parental supervision.

She did not live there alone however, as her younger brother, Spike, wouldn't leave her side, even if only for the week. Interestingly, even though they shared no blood connection whatsoever, Twilight was actually a lot closer to Spike than to her actual flesh and blood brother Shining Armour. Not that she had a bad relationship with Shining, it was just that the connection was a bit stronger with Spike than with him.

Abandoned at a very young age, Spike had no knowledge whatsoever about his biological family...and neither did anyone else for that matter. So when Twilight's parents decided to adopt him at the age of five, he was more than happy to be a part of their family. He grew especially close to Twilight though, and even volunteered to be her 'number one assistant' whenever she required one, and that meant that even when she had to live in a small apartment downtown to get closer to CelestiaCorp, he was right there with her...even if he had to take the train every morning to get to school. 

Though while the choice to relocate to the city during her internship was the most logically sound one, Twilight still preferred her old home in the suburban district where most of her friends lived. The only friend she lived remotely close to here was Sunset Shimmer, whose apartment was just a few blocks away. 

While the distance to most of her friends was certainly not what she had in mind, Twilight's greatest challenge by far was trying to adjust to the stressful and hectic environment of central Canterlot. The crowds, the rush, the city noise and all those subway stations to keep track of were really starting to get on her nerves after awhile. 

Still, it was a small prize to pay for becoming Celestia's personal protegé and being allowed to study at one of the greatest science companies in the modern world, and she wouldn't trade that opportunity for the world. 

She secretly just wished that the CelestiaCorp building hadn't been positioned in one of the most hectic parts of the city though. 

However, no matter how chaotic things might become outside, Twilight knew that her bedroom was always a peaceful sanctuary. In fact, her room was the complete opposite of the chaotic mess Rainbow Dash lived in, and had everything organised to the extreme. 

The first clue as to how different their rooms were was the fact that the only thing Twilight had on her walls was a map of the periodic table over her bed…and nothing else. The rest of the room also gave a completely different impression. Bookshelves loaded with tons and tons of books made up most of the living space, and if anyone else lived here, that would become quite a mess. However, Twilight had managed to keep every single book in its proper place at all times without exception. First, they had to be put into the proper category, and once there, they had to be placed in perfect alphabetical order unless chronology said otherwise. If a book was not where it belonged, then that could only mean that Twilight was currently reading it or had loaned it to someone else. 

Her desk was also very clean and polished, with the only objects on it being the mouse, keyboard, computer screen and a few somewhat out of place framed photographs. One of those was a family portrait showing herself, her brothers Spike and Shining Armour, their parents Night Light and Twilight Velvet, and even Shining's wife Cadence, all smiling at the camera. 

The second picture was of herself and her circle of friends all dressed up for Halloween, with Pinkie Pie wearing a chicken costume and making a silly face, Rainbow Dash cosplaying as Daring Do while doing an action pose, Applejack garbed as a walking scarecrow while otherwise acting notably more normal than everyone else, and Twilight Sparkle herself was dressed up as a Roman soldier with a goofy grin on her face. However, Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen in the picture and instead there was another girl in her place with expertly curled purple hair who was outfitted in a tight black catsuit outlined by a white furred neckline and also kept a black eye-mask over her face with an expression of mischief in her pretty eyes.

The third and final photo was of Twilight and Sunset Shimmer, receiving a first place award from Celestia for their entries into a science fair a while back, both with very dorky smiles plastered on their overjoyed faces. 

The photos were there to remind her of the people that she cared about...and to make sure she didn't become so absorbed in her research as to completely forget about them...again. Granted, she felt a little guilty for not having a picture of Fluttershy on it, but in her defence, Fluttershy wasn't really comfortable with people taking pictures of her, and she especially didn't feel comfortable leaving her home (or her room for that matter) on Halloween.

Sunset's suggestion yesterday to pay more attention to her friends though was something that had been on her mind, and she was determined to make things up sooner or later.

However, at this very moment, Twilight was fully absorbed into her research on something called the 'Decay-Rate Algorithm' (whatever that was), with her focus being on the screen of her computer...and nothing else. It was how she got her projects done in time, and she wouldn't be caught dead getting stuck procrastinating or letting things distract her (unlike me).

...Which was why she jumped in surprise when a knock came…from her window. Only…she knew that her apartment was on the seventh floor, so how could anyone possibly be knocking on her window? 

Twilight did the most rational thing she thought she could do in this situation: she ignored it and continued focusing on her work. 'Probably just my imagination,' she told herself.

But…when the knocking returned, and a little louder and more impatient this time, she couldn't ignore it any longer. 

'Okay, that was not my imagination. It got to be a bird or someth-'

What she saw when she turned around to look at it though...was definitively not something she expected, and had to actually do a double take to make sure she wasn't just imagining things.

Rainbow Dash was just…there, in her window, looking at her with a slightly impatient stare. How and why she was there, Twilight could not explain, but she could read Rainbow's expression as 'Can you open the window already?', so she decided she might go ahead and do just that.

With a slight hesitation in her moves, Twilight got up from her computer chair, walked over to the window and slowly opened it inwards.

As soon as it was open, Rainbow Dash said, “Took you long enough,” while taking a seat at the edge of the window in a surprisingly carefree manner considering she was at the risk of falling seven stories down and splattering to her death on the pavement below if she leaned back too much. 

Twilight took a few uneasy steps back, “Uhhh...hi Rainbow. Any particular reason why you're coming through…my window?”

“I don’t really like stairs, ” Dash casually replied.

"Understandable, but...how did you even get up there? I mean this is on the seventh floor and I haven't seen any fire escape ladders on this side of the building or..."

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But that’s the thing..." Dash said, not really sure where to start with this. "Look, something strange has happened to me...and when I mean strange, I mean really, really, über-strange.”

Twilight's eyes lit up in concern, “What is it? Are you sick?”

“I don’t know about that, but…I think it will a be a lot easier to just show you.”

“Show me what?"

"Ooh, you'll see..." Rainbow answered ominously, her eyes showing a certain cockiness that Twilight was not sure she liked. 

She stretched her neck muscles a little, rubbed her hands together in preparation, put both of her feet on the window board, and then jumped from the window, flew clear across the room, and latched onto the ceiling directly behind Twilight's head. 

She did it all so fast even that Twilight could barely track her movements, and when she turned around to come face to face with an upside-down Rainbow Dash looking at her with that cocky grin, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates while she backed away slightly.  

Somehow, the girl in front of her was sitting on her ceiling. An act which, according to Twilight's very science-oriented brain, was completely against the laws of physics...and yet, she was still doing it.  

“How…how…ho…how are you DOING THAT?!” She finally blurted out after a few moments of bewildered staring. 

Rainbow casually answered “Pretty neat, huh?” while she crawled across the ceiling, down to the far wall, and finally back down to the floor, at which point she stood up straight and leaned her back against the wall. "That's how I came up here by the way."

“Since when could you climb walls!?”

“Since this morning, I guess. Get this, I woke up on the ceiling with no clue how I got there in the first place, and that's not even the half of it! I can do way more stuff than just climbing walls now."

“Really?! What else can you do?” Twilight asked excitingly as her curiosity reached brand new levels. 

“I'm super strong, super fast, can jump really far. Seriously, I scaled this building in ten seconds flat! Also, I can kinda 'feel' things in my surroundings, and sometimes I get this weird tingle at the back of my head that warns me about...stuff." 

Twilight's glasses slowly slid down her nose while her mind was slowly trying to process what she had just heard and witnessed. Her mind coming up with at least a billion questions she felt the need to ask Rainbow Dash about. But for now at least, there was really only one question that mattered.

"How exactly...did this happen?"

Rainbow scratched the back of her neck, "Weeeeell...that's kinda why I'm here actually. I figured you'd be the one to ask about this."

After pushing her glasses back up, Twilight sat down at her computer chair and put a hand on her chin as she was trying to figure out an explanation for this. 

"Have you ever experienced any similar abilities before?" she asked first.

"No...can't say I have."

"And you just...woke up like this?"

"Yep!"

"Okay, let's see..." Twilight mused. "Uhmm...sudden exposure to alien radiation? Not likely since you were nowhere near any radiation sources recently. Unusual genetic mutation revealing itself through adolescence? Possible, but way too sudden. Also, the mutant X gene is still just a hypothesis. Or maybe...wait a minute! Maybe that visit to CelestiaCorp yesterday could have something to do with this? But what could you possibly have been into contact with there that could give you these...abilities? I dunno, maybe-" 

Suddenly, a light bulb lit up in Rainbow's head. "The spider! It must have been that weird spider that did this!"

"Spider? What spider?"

"Oh, right, Fluttershy is probably going to use 'the stare' on me for telling you this, but back when you were showing us the Biome-labs...or whatever that place was called, Fluttershy begged me to help her open one of the cages and let her take care of that spider she kept moping about. And of course, me being such a loyal friend, I agreed, and was halfway about to open the thing when-"

"You did WHAT?!" Twilight suddenly shouted. 

Rainbow groaned at the interruption, and repeated, "I said I was just about to open the cage to the..." but trailed off when she noticed that Twilight was angrily glaring at her. 

"Do you have any idea how much trouble the both of you could have ended up in for that?!"

"Sorry, Sparkle, but I can't resist it when Fluttershy uses those adorable puppy dog eyes on me..." Realising what she just said, Dash quickly added, "...and I did not just call her eyes 'adorable'. Just forget I said that!"

A bit confused, Twilight started, "Rainbow, what's so wrong about-"

But before the conversation could potentially get awkward, Dash immediately steered them back on topic. "Anyway, before I could get the spider out, some bossy blue-haired woman in a black suit got in my face and asked me what we were doing. Things got a bit...tense, but it worked out in the end."

"Are you talking about Luna?" Twilight guessed off of Dash's description.

"Yeah...I think that was her name," Rainbow noted in realisation. "You know her?"

"She's my mentor Celestia's younger sister. She owns about half the company and is pretty much in charge when it comes to security. We have worked together a few times on a couple of projects, but I don't know her that much personally."

"Does she always have that stick up her butt?"

"I'll admit she's a bit less jovial than her sister, but from what I've been told...well, she's been through a lot. Neither of them really likes talking about it."

"Touchy subject?"

"I guess so. All I know is that it had something to do with something that happened twenty years ago...and someone named Sombra, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I digress. What happened after the encounter with Luna?"  

"Oh, well, nothing special really. We gave up on getting that spider out and continued the day pretty much as it happened. However...when I got home and was about to check on the pictures I took, the spider had somehow gotten in my camera bag and bit me when I reached into it. I...don't remember anything after that until I woke up this morning."

"So if I got this straight...you got all these abilities from...a spiderbite?"

Dash shrugged, "I must have. It's the only thing I can think of that could have done it at least."

"Hmmm..." Twilight mused while her brow creased in thought. Analysing everything Rainbow had told and showed her, it didn't take her brain all that long until she came up with a theory for how all this made any kind of sense. 

"Alright, I think I may have an idea as to what happened to you."

"Yeah, and..?" Rainbow urged, moving her hand in a 'go on' kind of motion.

"The spiders that we're studying at CelestiaCorp are not exactly...ordinary, to put it mildly. All of them were exposed with a strange form of radiation that emanated from a meteor that crashed into the Everfree Forest about a year ago. It was also from the very same meteor that the 'Symbiote' organism originated from. The radiation mutated the DNA of the spiders and enhanced some of their abilities beyond what normal spiders are physically able to do. And my best guess is that those enhanced abilities must have somehow transferred over to you through the venom of the affected spider. While nothing in our research have ever suggested such a transfer to be possible, if the spider that bit you was the one that came into contact with the symbiote creature, the symbiote could have given the spider the ability to transfer genetic traits from one organism to another, and that is how this particular spider could have given you these abilities."

After Twilight had finished her explanation, Rainbow Dash was left staring blankly at her with a confused, dull expression on her face. "...You lost me."

Twilight rolled her eyes and simplified her long and detailed explanation to, "The spider had super-powers that it somehow gave to you when it bit you."

"Oooooh...now I get it," Rainbow mused in an understanding tone. "Wasn't that easier to say?"

Twilight released a very audible sigh and gave her friend a deadpan look.

"What? It's not my fault this egghead stuff goes over my head," Dash argued.

Twilight silently turned her attention to her computer and Googled after a picture of the species of spider that bit Rainbow Dash. While it was impossible to find a good enough picture of the exact species, she settled for a close relative and enhanced it.

"Look familiar?"



Rainbow Dash took a good look at the picture. It certainly looked similar to the one that bit her, but something was off. "Wait, I remember the spider being red and blue, not brown."

Twilight explained, "This is a picture of an ordinary wolf spider, the one that bit you was not, let's say, 'ordinary'. After being exposed to the radioactive meteor, they changed colour...among other things."

"What other things?"

"A wolf spider is a fast and strong hunter...for a spider at least. Unlike most other spiders though, they don't use elaborate web traps to capture their prey, and prefer to just chase them down instead. They're a very common and diverse group and can be found basically everywhere. However, the 'super-spiders' we're studying are something else entirely. Somehow, the mutation had altered them to be faster, stronger and far more agile than they were before."

"Meaning?"

"They could outrun cockroaches easily, and believe me, cockroaches are fast. They could lift several times their own weight, and if that wasn't impressive enough, they could even jump better than jumping spiders...who can jump really far if the name didn't clue you in. Also, while spiders can climb on solid surfaces, they cannot do so on completely smooth things like glass, the super-spiders could."

"So because the spiders had those powers...I have those powers?" Rainbow surmised, speaking slowly to make sure she herself understood what she was saying.

Twilight nodded.

"That's cool, but...what about the strange tingling thing?"

"Well, all spiders can feel vibrations in the air through the hairs on their bodies. That way they can sense movements or obstacles in their surroundings. The super-spiders have a version of that ability that is even more sensitive than usual, letting them react to multiple objects coming at them at once. That and the fact that their enhanced reflexes made it feel like they could predict the future sometimes. Sunset liked to call this the...'Spider-Sense'."  

"Spider sense, huh? Has a nice ring to it," Rainbow admitted, making sure to remember it.

"And there you have it. Increased speed, strength, agility, reaction time, the ability to climb on solid surfaces and sense objects in your surroundings. I got to say, those are some fascinating changes, almost makes me wish I was the one that got bitten by that spider." 

Twilight then realised something, "Wait...where did that spider go after it bit you?"

Rainbow Dash was about to answer...but stopped herself when she realised that she had no idea.



   

Meanwhile...

Fluttershy was beyond excited when she found the red and blue spider she tried to save at CelestiaCorp just wander around aimlessly on the pavement just outside her house. 

After letting the mutated arachnid climb up into her hand, she gushed, "I am so glad that I found you, you poor, poor thing. My name is Fluttershy, and what might your name be? I think I will call you 'Fuzzy Legs', do you like that name, Fuzzy Legs? I can tell that you do, and I'm sure you will become good friends with the rest of my cute little animals. Now let's take you to your new home and I'll find a nice little snack for you to feed on." 





Back at Twilight's apartment...

"Not a clue," Rainbow Dash finally answered.

Twilight contemplated just what the consequences of what that could mean, and because she was Twilight Sparkle, the results quickly turned dire. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, this isn't good, this could be a potential disaster!"

Rainbow looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "A disaster, really?"

"Just imagine what would happen if the spider bit someone else, or even a bunch of people! And what if every one of them started to have the same powers you have?! Too many variables! TOO MANY VARIABLES!"

When Twilight was beginning to hyperventilate, Rainbow grabbed the other girl by the shoulders and shook her hard enough to shut her up, nearly making her glasses slide off her face in the process. 

Rainbow flashed her a grin and assured, "Relax, egghead. My 'spider-sense' is telling me that there is absolutely nothing to worry about, Hakuna Matata." 

After readjusting her glasses, Twilight gave Rainbow a deadpan look, "You just made that up."

Rainbow winked and confessed, "Guilty as charged."

"Rainbow Dash, can you take things seriously for once?" Twilight grumbled with a frustrated undertone in her voice. 

"Of course I'm taking things seriously...but that doesn't stop me from making jokes about it. It's just how I roll. Get used to it."

"There are times to be funny and there are times to be serious, and the fact that right now, a mutated spider is potentially giving random people super-powers, is not a laughing matter!"

Rainbow crossed her arms and asked, "...And freaking out about it is going to help...how exactly?"

Twilight tried really hard to answer that...but quickly found herself running a bit short. "Well it's, I suppose, but spider, super-powers, have to...FINE, I guess you're right, stressing out about it is not helping anything."

"See? You worry too much."

"Maybe..." Twilight concurred uneasily

An Idea then popped up in Rainbow's head, "Sooo...now I can do all the stuff that spiders can do, huh?"

"More or less actually," Twilight corrected. "You can use the enhanced abilities of the super-spiders, not anything that-"

"Then that means that I can do..." she haughtily interrupted before she dramatically pulled her arm out, aimed it at the far wall and shouted, "...THIS!"

Nothing happened... 

She shook her wrist a little and tried to do the same thing again, "I mean: THIS!" 

...Still, nothing happened... 

"Ah, come on!" 

...Cue crickets chirping. 

Not one to give up easily, Rainbow shook her hands and tried to do it a few more times, each with the same result. The more she tried though, the more she started to shout increasingly odd things, such as "FIRE!", "NOW!", "WEBBING AWAY!", "SPIDER POWERS ACTIVATE!", "SHAZAM!", "HADOKEN!" "RAINBOW OF POWER!" and even "KAME-HAME-HAAA!"

While she kept doing this, Twilight was unsurprisingly left staring at her with a completely baffled and confused look on her face...though she was soon not the only one to do so.

Spike, the other resident of this apartment, heard the strange noises coming from his sister's room and immediately went to investigate...and was very surprised to see Rainbow Dash there pointing her arms all over the place while shouting gibberish. 

The kid was about two years younger than Twilight, was a bit on the short side, had spiky green hair and almost always wore a purple hoodie even when indoors. And at least for the moment had a wide-eyed confused look on his face.    

Wondering what on earth was going on, Spike asked, "Uh, Rainbow Dash, what are you doing here? And...what exactly is it that you're doing?"

"I'm trying to shoot webs, Spike!" she replied while continuing to point her arms around aimlessly.

Of course, that answer only made him even more confused. "Shoot...webs?"

"Yeah, you know, like spiders do."

Twilight facepalmed and clarified, "Urggh! First of all: spiders don't shoot webs, they weave it slowly. Secondly: wolf spiders don't spin webs like other spiders. And thirdly: even if the ability to 'shoot webs' was given to you through the spiderbite, you would not be doing it from your hands."

Rainbow stopped what she was doing and cockily put her hands on her hips, "Oh yeah, and where exactly would I shoot webs from?"

Twilight gave her a serious look, "Do you really want to know?"

Her tone gave Dash a moment of pause, but she said a hesitant "...yes," either way.

"Spiders produce webbing from the dorsal end of their bodies."

"Translation?"

"The web come from their backsides."

That answer immediately made Rainbow's eyes open wide while she became very uncomfortable. "So...you're saying that I have to shoot webs from...my butt?"

"Thankfully no. You can also be glad that you haven't grown additional legs or transformed into human-spider hybrid or something."

"Gee thanks for those nightmares." Rainbow added sarcastically.

"Sorry!" Twilight squeaked, blushing a bit. 

Dash rolled her eyes and muttered, "Still, it would have been cooler if I could shoot webs though."

After having listened to Twilight's and Rainbow's conversation about, well, whatever they were talking about, Spike took this opportunity to ask, "So what exactly is going on here?"

Without missing a beat, Twilight answered, "Rainbow Dash got bitten by one of the mutated spiders I was studying at CelestiaCorp and now she has all sorts of new abilities."

"Abilities? Like what?"

Dash answered that by leaping off the floor and attaching herself to the upper walls in the far corner, keeping herself up with a hand and foot on a wall each. She then crossed her arms and said, "Climbing walls, super-strength, faster reaction speed, faster speed in general, increased agility, aaaaand I'm still as awesome as always!"

Spike's eyes widened in amazement while he exclaimed, "HOLY NEW SUPERPOWERS, BATMAN! You're like a comic book superhero or something!...unless this is another dream." He quickly perished that thought though when he realised, "Nah, Rarity's not here, so it's obviously not a dream."   

Twilight gave her younger brother an unreadable look after hearing that and asked, "Wait, are you seriously dreaming about her every single time you sleep?" 

He blushed and scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Maybe not...every time, but its...eh never mind, forget I said anything."

"Oh, it's nothing to be ashamed of, Spike. Trust me, I know the feeling..." Twilight assured while dreamily staring into nothing.

That look did not go unnoticed by Rainbow, and she didn't hesitate to tease, "Really, and who is that you're always dreaming about, Twilight?"

Twilight silently thanked her dark skin for hiding her blush while she nervously sputtered out, "What?! No! I didn't say I dreamed about someone!"

"You...don't really have to. So who is it?"

"Let's not get sidetracked here!" she said a little too loudly to avoid suspicion. "I believe we were talking about Rainbow Dash's...change."

Spike frowned a bit before he noted, "Hey, you got me to tell you who I secretly had a crush on, now you got to tell me who you have a crush on!"

"Spike, your crush on Rarity was hardly a secret to begin with. Even she knew about it!"

"Twilight, you promised not to say anything!"

"Oh, I knew that already," Rainbow assured. "You're not exactly subtle, Spike."

"No, no...you're right," Twilight relented. "I shouldn't have said anything...and yes, I can't deny that I might have a crush on someone, and you totally deserve to know who it is." 

Now groweing a bit impatient, Dash urged, "Come on then, spill it!"

Twilight gave her a stern look and said, "I said I would tell Spike, not you."

"What?! How's that fair?"

"Well, you refuse to tell who you have a crush on, so why should I?" 

Twilight's logic was irrefutable, and Rainbow Dash didn't like it, so instead of arguing it anymore, she groaned and muttered, "Fine, have it your way."

Spike however, gave his sister a surprised look at that and questioned, "Wait, are you telling me you don't know who Rainbow Dash has a crush on?"

"Um, no. Should I?" Twilight asked, wondering whether or not she missed something.

"Seriously? Isn't it super-obvious at this point? How could you possibly not know?!"

"Hey, I'm not that obvious!" Dash defended.

"Yes, Rainbow...you are." Spike insisted in a deadpan tone.

Twilight finally answered, "I guess I'm not that good at spotting crushes. I have never actually- Wait a minute, Rainbow Dash has just received superpowers and we're talking about CRUSHES!? Aren't there more important things to talk about?" 

Rainbow climbed up on the ceiling and crawled over to the middle of the room where she sat down (up?) and let her head fall down to Twilight's level...only upside down, causing her rainbow-coloured hair to hang down freely. 

Once she had gotten in this position, she gave Twilight an upside down grin and asked, "Really? And what more is there to talk about?"

Twilight then had an idea, "Well, you said you wanted to be able to shoot webs."

"Yeah?"

"While it might not be possible for you to produce natural webbing like a spider, I might be able to give you the next-best thing," Twilight revealed, much to Dash's intrigue.

She then spun her chair around to look at Spike and say, "Spike, can you find me the boxes from CelestiaCorp titled 'Project Arachnid' and bring them to the workroom?"

The boy actually saluted and said, "I'm on it!" before he headed off. Whether he was her brother or her assistant, no one could really tell...though the most likely answer would probably be both.

Twilight stood up and looked back at Rainbow, "Follow me, I think you're gonna like this."

Intrigued, Rainbow dropped down on the floor, even twisting her body in such a way that she landed on her feet while doing so, and proceeded to follow the teen genius to her designated 'workroom' where she usually performed most of her odd science experiments. 

About half of those projects were basically 'homework' from her job at CelestiaCorp, while the other half were just her curiosity and boredom getting the better of her. With the resources of one of the leading research companies in the world backing her up and a very high IQ scale, there was barely anything Twilight Sparkle couldn't create if given the right motivation.

By the time Rainbow Dash and Twilight reached the room, Spike was already there holding a box with the words 'CelestiaCorp' printed on it. After receiving an approving nod from Twilight, Spike put down the box on her work table. She reached into it and picked out a small pistol-looking object that seemed pretty high-tech. 

Then she presented it to Rainbow and explained, "This is called a 'Cobweb High Trajectory Launcher' or 'Webgun', and was designed by me and Sunset Shimmer as a way to harness the remarkable tensile strength and stickiness of a spider's webbing. While the spider that bit you was a wolf spider, the webbing in this device was harvested from a species of orb-weaver spider that was also affected by the meteor radiation. However, this time, the mutation caused the spiders to not only produce far more webbing than usual, but that webbing was also a bit stronger than usual. We eventually found a way to store large quantities of the webbing in very small capsules that could release it with a lot of force at the push of a button. One of those capsules is embedded in this device."

After seeing Rainbow Dash stare at her incomprehensibly, Spike rolled his eyes and simplified his sister's detailed explanation to, "The webgun is loaded with spiderweb and can be used to shoot webbing with."

Now Dash understood exactly what she was talking about and let out a "Ooooh..." in comprehension.

"Anyway," Twilight continued. "The webgun can release very strong threads of cobweb that flies faster than the speed of sound and is strong enough to stop a fighter jet at full speed if enough force is backing it up. A single capsule can also contain enough webbing to go on for months of constant usage."

Rainbow picked up another identical webgun from the same box and toyed around with it a little. She began to toss it around and catch it repeatedly, and eventually even began to juggle with the both of them. She normally wasn't the best at juggling multiple objects at the same time, but with her spider sense and enhanced reflexes, she could probably do this in her sleep.

"Wow, these things don't even weigh anything,"  Dash commented after a while.

Twilight began to explain, "Well, they were designed to be lightweight. Also, with your enhanced strength, your perception of what is-" 

Instead of listening to what Twilight was telling her though, Rainbow Dash aimed one of the guns at the far wall and pulled the trigger with no warning given whatsoever. In under a second, a long thread of condensed webbing shot out of the barrel of the gun and attached itself to the wall like super-glue.    

Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin and sharply turned to face her reckless friend, "What do you think you're-"

But before she had a chance to finish that sentence, Dash began to shoot around with both guns wildly, sending threads of cobweb flying all over the room faster than the eye could track. Twilight and Spike both quickly got behind a nearby desk to avoid getting hit by any of it. While Spike got out okay, a sling of webbing got stuck in Twilight's tied up dark-blue hair.

By the time Rainbow Dash was finished 'testing' the webguns, Twilight's workroom had turned into a complete mess, with almost every available surface covered in sticky webbing, including the walls, objects and even the ceiling. Suffice to say, it would not be fun for Spike and Twilight to clean it up.   

This also made Twilight's barely contained anger very understandable when she stomped from her hiding place, got in Rainbow's face and shouted, "RAINBOW DASH! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Just testing these things out," Rainbow nonchalantly replied.

"Couldn't you have done it somewhere else than my workroom!?"

"Hehe, sorry about that. I guess I got a bit..." she trailed off when she caught a glimpse of her friend's web-covered hair "...phtthe-HAHAHAHA-hahahahahahahaheheheh!"

Twilight was not amused. "Okay, what's the joke this time?"

"Have you looked in a mirror lately? Wait, don't answer that! HEHEHeheheheh! Spike, check out Twilight's new hair, curtsy of yours truly!"

When Spike got up from behind the desk and got a look at it, he too couldn't stop himself from joining in on the laughter. 

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Laugh it up, you two, laugh it up. And perhaps when you're done, you can clean this place up."

That made both Rainbow Dash and Spike immediately stop laughing.

Spike pointed at himself and asked, "Wait, ME?"

Twilight shook her head, "No, not you! Rainbow Dash on the other hand, being the one who made this mess, would feel ever so thankful if she cleaned it up...won't you?" she finished that question with a glare that made it very clear it wasn't a request. 

Dash let out a nervous laugh, "Hehehe...heh...I suppose that's fair. Do you think Ajax works on webbing?"

Twilight sighed, then switched the subject. "So, now that you've given us all a pretty big demonstration, what did you think about the webguns?"

"They're cool, I guess, but they could be cooler."

"Cooler how?"

"Just...cooler."

"Yes, that's very helpful, thank you very much" Twilight noted with heavy sarcasm.  

"Maybe they could be...about...twenty percent cooler."

"What does that even mean?!"

Rainbow tried to think of a way to explain it. "Okay, while the gun is cool, I was thinking of something that looked like I could actually shoot webs from my hands or something. I need something that's also a bit more securely strapped to my arms rather than just something I'm holding. Also, isn't me walking around with something looking like a gun a very bad idea." 

Twilight began to consider Rainbow's request for a moment. Her friend really had a point about that, she had to admit. And it was most certainly doable to modify them to work the way Dash requested. All she really needed was a couple of web-guns, a few extra parts and materials, and an hour or two tops.

However, there was one thing she had to take care of before she could get on with that.

"I think I have an idea about that. But before I get to it, I'm going to wash this web out of my hair, and you are going to clean up this room. Deal?"

"Sure thing, I'll have this place looking as good as new before you know it."

"And I'm holding you to that..." Twilight added before she walked out of the room to take a quick shower, leaving Spike and Rainbow alone.  

After she had left, Rainbow Dash looked around for anything to use to get rid of the cobwebs all over the room, but she couldn't really find anything of use, so she instead grabbed hold of one of the loose threads and simply ripped it off of the wall. Her enhanced strength made it look a lot easier than it actually was...or rather, how it would be for anyone else.

With nothing better to do, Spike considered this to be as good of a time as any to ask something he'd been wondering about.

"Um...Rainbow?"

"Yeah?" she said while still pulling the webs from the walls.

"I've been wondering...what exactly are you planning to do with your new powers?" 

Rainbow turned to him and beamed, "Isn't it obvious?! I may have been awesome before, but now I have super-powers! Think of the possibilities! Lightning Dust can eat her heart out, because now I'm the best athlete in school! I will be so awesome that nobody will ever be able to beat me, and it will only be a matter of time until I get a sports scholarship or something. Who knows, I might even sign up for that wrestling tournament coming up at Gladmane's. I'd probably ace it too. Either way, say goodbye to Rainbow Crash, and hello to Captain Awesome!" 

Hearing Rainbow say that though, made Spike a bit...disappointed, as he had a very another idea on what she could do with her new powers. "...Or you could be a superhero!" 

Dash looked at him and raised an eyebrow,"A superhero, seriously?"

"Of course!" Spike suggested with enthusiasm. "With those new powers, you'd be great at it! Just think how many people you could save, how many bad guys you can put in jail, and just how much people will love you. Everyone loves a hero, and I'll say that you might just be up to the challenge." 

"No offence, Spike, but I'm an athlete, not a superhero from one of your comic books. Besides, superheroes are lame anyway. You won't see me wearing a cape or undies on the outside, and I can think of a lot better things to do with my life than saving cats out of trees."

"It's not just about that. I mean, wouldn't it be awesome to fight supervillains?"

"What 'supervillains' are you talking about? None of those guys have been out of prison for more than twenty years or so. And even if they were still running around, I'd rather let the cops handle them than getting myself killed."

"But, but...ah, fine. It's your choice anyway..." Spike noted with obvious disappointment in his voice.

Seeing his crestfallen expression though, Rainbow said, "Look, that was a good idea, but I'm not really cut out for superhero stuff."

"Yeah I guess. Just, whatever you do...don't go too far with it. I know about that whole shoplifting thing you were doing before, and I don't want something like what happened with Rarity to happen with you."

Rainbow muttered "I'm never gonna live that down am I?" to herself before she assured, "Look, I may have shoplifted a little and played one or two pranks on Spoiled Rich, but I'm not a criminal and I know when to draw the line."

"You know, that's exactly what Rarity said too, and look how that turned out." 

"Just chill out, Spike. I'll be on my best behaviour. What's the worst that could happen?"

Spike groaned, "I really wish you didn't just say that."