The Mad Mane Six.

Chapter 8

   Franken-dash woke up to a warm fire on a cold night. She looked around to see Gearhead, who was humming a sort of Celtic tune. It seemed calming, but cold and sullen. He then looked at her and then took a moment to smile, which quickly faded. "Your awake, feeling better?" Dash looked up at him and then sat up, looking around. "You almost had me worry there, but with one worry gone... I made breakfast." He said as he held out a platter of eggs and what looked to be a bar of red meat, but the smell was that of red meat, more of water.
   "Eh, what is that?" She pointed at the red bar of not meat. He looked and smile, a slight chuckle managed to escape. He then replied, "that is a protein derived from a special red algae that grows in water tanks aboard our ship, it tastes like it smells, just toasted." She looked at it again, and then tried eating it. He was right, it tastes like toasted water, and toasted water seems be a lot like liquid burnt, except solid. She decided to spit out the bitter gel and Gearhead chuckled at her. "I told you what it tasted like, but i didn't say it tasted good."
   Franken-dash looked at him with annoyance,"yeah, that bit of info would have been helpful." She then tried the eggs, which were fried to where even the yoke was solid, and it tasted much better. Gearhead also had a plate with both items, and it looked like he took and used a knife of sorts to cut the egg and then sliced the protein patty and then ate the two together. She tried to do the same thing, and found that the egg made the patty palatable enough to eat without gagging. It was still egg with burnt water, but she was able to eat it.
   "So, what is your story in all this?" Gearhead asked her. She looked at him with intrigue, and then answered," what do you mean exactly?" Gearhead then looked at her and said," what was your role in the past, your friends, as, Riplight, spoke highly of you. Element of Loyalty was it? I hope it wasn't blind loyalty, would be poor judgement if I got her lackey back to her." She was slightly offended by that statement.
   "No, of course it wasn't blind, I asked questions when I thought that she was making a poor decision, but I was there when she needed me, even if I was impulsive at times. So many memories there, some I'd like to forget. Or I use to." She looked down at her empty plate, she was still hungry. Gearhead noticed it as he walked over.
   "I understand your sentiment I felt that way myself, and I'm sorry about the food. Despite what me and Riplight thought would happen, getting left behind in a retreat was not in mind. Now I fear we're lost. From now on, we have to hunt and gather our food." He stated.
   She looked at him as he pulled his ax out," what do you mean retreat? What happened?" He looked at her and then said, with a stern face," we almost lost Cloudsdale, but we would have if we had stayed behind. Juggernaught was about to use a move I hadn't seen beforehand. He had gone full Chaos Order, and if it were not for Rusted, we would be in a much worse condition, and trust me, we are not OK." He turned to show his right wing, which was mangled, crushed, and partially missing. She stood and stared in disbelief at the sight of it.
   He then turned away, and she then asked," Why isn't it regenerating? You can do that right?" He looked at her and thought quietly, ending the quiet when he said, I don't know why, and this form is starting to bug me. I've been getting angrier for no reason and it is truly starting to make me worry. I've been running scans on my DNA and it not coming up human with virus, but something else. Whatever is going on has to mess with my genetic code. I need to get to the others to try to repair it." He said, he seemed genuinely worried. Not good if your not the one that was depending on him. Franken-dash didn't have that issue.
   "We should get you back then, and since Cloudsdale is moving, we may have even more issues. Where are they going to anyway? You did tell them where to go right?" She asked.
    Gearhead smile at her question. "Well, I did. Ponyville sound familiar?" Franken-dash looked at him with a slight bit of defeat. "I guess I had to return one day. I just hope all my friends forgive me for not getting back sooner, 5 years sooner." She started to walk with a bit of sorrow. He followed, he was still unfamiliar with the landscape, as well to put trust in her.
   They walked for a bit in silence, until Gearhead decided to cut the tension. "I sure you have to have some really good memories of you friends, any in particular that you are fond of?"
   She looked at him and realized what he was doing, she then smiled at the though that he was trying to make her feel better. She then answered,"well, there was my birthday that I had, and while it wasn't Pinkie's brightest moment, but she did gain a new friend, even if I think they ended up as more than friends. Then there was that one Nightmare night that we tried to get Fluttershy to come out and have fun, never thought I'd be more scared of her. Blowing up Applejacks barn was fun, as well as the Ironpony competitions we had. There was the time that Twilight helped me learn the Wonderbolt history for a exam. Lest I not forget the countless dresses Rarity tried to put me in, and every time in protested. Funny how much you start to miss something like that." She stared in memory for awhile before finally looking at him and asking," what about you? You got to have good memories in that head of yours."
   Gearhead chuckled and said, " a few? Many, too many. Ironjaw's pub and the meat pies that Darkness makes, all while gentle ballad guitar music plays in the background. Toasts being made to anyone who deserved it, or was thought to deserved it. My love sitting next to me as she sung softly. The sound of chopping wood or hammers pounding hot metal into weapons or trinkets. Children playing in the gardens that we made safe, or perhaps my favorite one, the sound of the rain as it hits the ground or a tin roof. Such things have become my favorite memories, for I had to fight of each one of them. Some seems simple, but you wouldn't believe the complexity in our world, our existence. You can't define it  by a equation, for its always changing. And to define the world you see and examine by such a set of variables and numbers would ruin all the beauty of such a complex work of art that created itself." He said it so simply, and yet with a artist's motivation. It was inspiring, in some way. She looked at him as he stared at her. Not a ounce of regret in his eyes.
   "Well, you speak your mind as always. And while the end is more poetic than I like, it seems to make sense. But that first part, make a a lot of sense and I could definitely see it. A lot of descriptive language, sure your not a writer?" He chuckled and then said,"no, but I may try in the future. Let's just focus at the task of getting you home. Speaking of which, I don't remember something that just occurred to me as soon as this smell hit my nose. Where did these webs come from?" Thought the time that they talked, they had wandered into a part of the forest that was covered in web. Franken-dash looked around and saw that these were freshly woven by something large, double the size of a pony. There was also already corpses wrapped up in the webbing. Franken-dash then examined the bodies and found bite marks in a pattern that she recognized, and she began to panic.
   "We need to get out of here before she notices!" Franken-dash said just as webbing flew down from the ceiling and stuck them to the ground. They both started to struggle as their attacker then dropped right behind them. Then attacker laughed and the voice was decidedly a very sadistic and feminine voice. A metallic and slender leg the landed itself right in front of Franken-dash. She was the picked up to see the blue eyes of a monster she had hoped to never see again. She only needed to utter one name and she was filled with dread. "Spyder."
   Spyder then chuckled as her name was utter by something she desired. "Franken-dash, what a wonderful event, you walking into my web, and with such perfect timing as well. I was just about to dissolve my webs and leave to get closer to that precious city in the clouds. Once a few stallions and mares disappear, you with your honor would come to find an only to get caught in my web as you watched any survivors go crazy for me. Now I don't have to do that, and you also brought a very capable male with you."
   "Leave him alone!" Franken-dash said, only to have her mouth get webbing to keep it shut. Spyder then looked at Gearhead and walked around him, examining him in detail. Gearhead grew more angry and furious with each moment, but something kept him from breaking the web. It was like his muscles didn't want to do as he wanted, and they relaxed as he grew more angry. It got to a point where he wanted to growl, and couldn't. He could only breath and pump blood.
   "Ah, not used to my pheromone? Interesting, isn't it? It has a bit of a toxic relationship with the anatomy and chemical biology of the body of ponies, infected or not. It causes the victim to relax no matter how much emotional stress they may feel. Physical euphoria is experienced while the victim panics and attempts to regain control. My webs are just loaded in it, and that's what happening to you. Don't worry, I don't need you dead, I need you alive and well for what I have planned. You'll be very well taken care of." Spyder said with a air of joy as she then turned and looked at Franken-dash.
   "As far as you go, I'd devour you this very moment if it wasn't for the two twins I ate. Young ones, fillies, tender and full of youth. They are going to take a bit to digest, but I know how to speed the process up. It will involve a bit of replacing those young ones, if I'm lucky." Spyder said with a hint of glee at the end. She then picked up Franken-dash and wrapped her in a stiff coating of web before placing her next to a mummified victim. Spyder then did the same with Gearhead, but she carried him away, allowing Franken-dash to finally see the full extent of the cyber-mutant that was Spyder.
   As the name suggested, she had eight legs, four where sprouted from her back and where slender metal appendages that had sharp points at the end of each leg. The other four where regular, red hooven pony legs that clinched Gearhead underneath her. Spider had regrown her damaged horn into a twisted, gnarled and blight ridden mass on her head. Her light red body matched her clotted blood red colored mane and tail. She had a silver and blue spider plastered on her as her cutie mark. Spider then looked back one last time to reveal those pale blue eyes and her eight metallic red mandible. That didn't attach unlike Franken-dash's six."I hope you don't mind hanging out here, keeping a eye on my cooking. Sometimes the lids come off from the pressure of their frying brains."
   Spider then left, chuckling at the cleverness she thought she had. It had appeared as if Franken-dash had succumb to the toxin, but a few moments later she moved. She knew that she had the toxin in her bloodstream, but she also knew she had to remain calm. If her heart beat had gone over a certain point, and enough of the stress related hormones had been produced, the toxin would then cause what it was meant to do. Her life literally depended on how well she had to handle this. And she knew she needed to get out of the web first. She slightly stretched out her wings as far as they could and then unleashed a blast from the guns that were at her side. The heat and the force blasted through, only slightly scolding the fur at her sides. Once cut, the web let loose and and she fell onto her hooves. She then took a moment to breath, for the web had made it hard to breath once she opened her wings.
   She then looked towards a trail that Spyder had made when she carried Gearhead away. She then began to follow the trail with a sense of determination and understanding that she did not quite understand at that time. The path seemed familiar in the sense of dejá vú, as if she made these decisions before, and yet couldn't quite remember why. The eerie feeling was emphasized by her surroundings. The webs, corpses, the stench of blood. A normal pony would be creeped out by that sort of thing, but a nightmare would just grow hungry, and that was what was happening to her. Her stomach growled, and she knew that she had to eat soon, but she couldn't leave Gearhead behind. She knew that if she had left him, she wouldn't forgive herself, ever. She would have become the traitor that they said she was.
   Franken-dash walked the path, in more than one sense of the word. She fought with Her inner demons more times than she could count since she had woken up, and it had always been a stalemate. She was about to face one that she had hoped she never would. She would have to face what she could have been, and it terrified her to no end.