Author's Note
I really wanted to write this story revolving around the fallen Autobot known as Elita-1, or by her new identity: Blackarachnia.
She's perhaps one of my favorite characters in Transformers Animated, and I really wanted to give this femme bot justice since there was so much more that could've been known about her if TFA had gotten a season 4 back in late 2000s.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy the first chapter.
Life Reset
It was a normal afternoon in the woodland areas near Maretime Bay. The blissful noises from nature was all that was needed to provide anypony with a chance to feel at peace with themselves.
But what resided deep inside the woods was an entity that was not native to the natural habitat to which the animals made it their home.
On the lush green floor was the techno-organic known as Blackarachnia. She was unresponsive, not moving any part of her body while suffering from the aftermath of the transwrap field from Waspinator. Her helmet was lying next to her, toppled over as it waited for her to wake up from her slumber.
A cold breeze caused the small tendrils on her face to twitch, although that wasn’t enough to get her back online. The stingers on her back also shook from time to time even as birds tended to parch themselves on them.
It remained uncertain if anypony would find her.
Or were there ponies already watching over her?
There were two shadowy figures that walked over to Blackarachnia. Both had their arms crossed, with a sense of uncertainty coming from one of them.
“She’s been offline for a while now,” Athena Knight turned her head and looked over at Moonstone Arcana. “Can you truly be certain she doesn’t have the ability to remember who she is?”
Moonstone remained silent. She knew what Blackarachnia was. The thought of this new entity appearing in this world didn’t shock her at all.
It was then she responded to Athena. “That energy source that brought her here did a number on her. However, I’m impressed that she didn’t die from being electrocuted. She’s still weak, but her… soul has miraculously survived.”
Athena nodded while looking down at Blackarachnia. “How about her communications?” She was concerned about the possibility of the Decepticons trying to reacquire their fallen comrade. Athena went over to inspect the helmet, picking it up while trying to see where the comms were to cripple any transmissions from being picked up by Blackarachnia. “Her allies could be a threat to this world. We mustn’t allow any chance of her being pinpointed by them.”
There was the sound of a cracking noise from the inside of the helmet, causing a short-lived static effect, before going completely silent. “There, that should do it. It’ll take time before there’s a chance of them finding her.” Athena put the helmet back on the ground, putting it in the position that it was found.
Looks like the dent on it is gone, but the burn mark remains, although it has gradually disappeared, Athena recalled seeing how the helmet had regenerative abilities based on how fast the dent had degraded, but with the burn mark near the side of it not quite gone. Moonstone did say somepony shot at her. Wonder what could be the cause of her not briefing me on who it was?
Moonstone noticed Athena thinking, seeking to get the latter’s attention, “Remind me that despite your best efforts in repressing her communications, there are perhaps other ways for them to know where she is,” Moonstone wanted to change the subject to something else while remaining focused on the unconscious Blackarachnia. “Either way, you and I both know she’s just a kid that fell on the wrong side of the tracks.”
“Yes, I know,” Athena calmly said while going back to her. “You already told me you went through her memories, even despite them being…. difficult to make out. But can she really be saved, even by the likes of you?”
“I believe she can,” Moonstone retorted her friend’s question. “Through seeing her shattered memories, I could see she had everything that anypony else would kill to have. Friends, family, and wanting to dream big. Full of energy and loyalty and charisma this one had. Yet all that was lost in the matter of a single day. Somewhere in that darkest region of her soul, I still see a light that remains to be snuffed out. In that light, there is still good in her.”
Athena wasn’t sure how to respond to Moonstone’s dialogue. She remained curious, yet stoic at the same time. “Should we continue to watch over her?”
“I’ll look after her, Athena,” Moonstone said with a voice of reassurance. “I’m her angel now.”
“I see,” she responded while her ears twitched from hearing a twig breaking from afar. “But perhaps it’s in our best interest that we both continue to watch over her. Good luck, Moonstone,” she saluted her before she morphed into an owl, flying in the opposite direction where the sun was coming down.
Moonstone chuckled while she kneeled down to check on Blackarachnia, putting her dark navy blue hand on her purple hand. “I know somepony who can give you the ability to rebuild your life," her voice was crisp yet quiet. “Perfect chemistry, you and her. But there is another mare who is a friend of hers who will also watch over you, and her loyalties are with me and me alone. Now, I’ll give you something that I have, and perhaps other things to help aid you in this world.
I know who and what you are, and I can sense how lost you’ve become. This world is different from the likes of the ones you are familiar with. But now, I will restore a certain aspect of your ability to gain a vehicle form. However, it is you who must gain the conviction by selecting what you believe suits you the most.
Even now, it’s for the best if you can’t recall much of your past, at least at this time, since I desire to see a different you than the one who once lived back then. And I promise to you that if anyone attempts to harm you, The Demon from within me shall make them pay for their trespassings against you.”
It was then that Moonstone finally made the call to wake Blackarachnia up from her prolonged slumber.
“Awaken, Blackarachnia.” Moonstone commanded with her eyes glowing, seeing the red optics of the techno organic weakly opening up.
“Ugh…” I gave out a light moan while coming online. I couldn’t even be bothered to open my optics or move my body. I felt drained of any energy that I may have had not long ago. I wasn’t even sure how long I'd been out.
Could’ve been a few chords for all I knew. The worst thing to be deprived of my strength is not knowing what actually happened to me. I’m almost certain I was trying to protect someone, but who they were and what I was doing with them had slipped my mind.
Attempting to open my optics, I was washed in a beam of rays coming from the sun. Furrowing my optics, I groaned while being unable to properly get myself to see my surroundings. This was going to take a while.
I wasn’t going to lie around and have any predators attack me. I needed to get my bearings, and myself together.
After some time in getting just a tad bit of strength to aid me, I tried to get the feeling back in my body. I felt movement in my servos and peds.
Ok. I just… needed to carefully raise myself up. If I did it too fast I was going to hurt myself more. Couldn’t allow that to happen to me.
It was then I started to feel myself bending my survos. “Perfect…” Lowering my head to avoid the sunlight, I tried to work more on getting up. “Get…yourself together. Don’t fuck up.”
Slowly but surely I managed to prop myself up, but was trying to be careful to avoid any further injuries to myself. I sighed in relief. Turning around without losing my balance, I fully opened my optics.
I was in some woodland area. How did I even come to this place? Did someone bring me here or was I separated from the others I was with?
I looked over to the ground, seeing my helmet. Walking over to it, I picked it up, seeing my spider-like reflection from it. My red optics and my tendrils on my face gave me a feeling of having a desire in not wanting anyone else to fully see me like this.
Just having that thought made me swiftly put it back on without further thoughts. Hearing the clicking noise that my helmet produced indicated that it fastened securely around my head. I felt a sense of comfort with my insecurities washing away.
The only thing that felt good was I was in one piece and not in pieces. Nevermind becoming a scrapheap in some junkyard somewhere.
Crossing my arms, there was something that I kept thinking to myself. I knew my name, but my memory looked to have been compromised. Whatever happened before I went offline must’ve caused irreparable damage to the way my processor operated.
Didn’t know where to start. Didn’t know where to go. And I really wasn’t sure what caused my memory core to become unreliable, at least to a certain extent.
The only question that I now had was why did it feel like someone was watching me where I stood? I inspected my surroundings, gathering as much intel as I could, but no indication of anyone in my presence. Why did I feel like someone had their hand on me, though? My sensors were probably giving me a false-positive.
My stingers on my back began twitching. Something FELT off.
Someone’s watching, I thought. Perhaps it had something to do with the creatures. The only hypothesis that I had was maybe it was just an animal, causing me to feel uneasy and assuming that there was a sentient person watching over me.
On the contrary to the animals, my sensors did detect dozens of organic life forms while soldiering through the wooded area. Couldn’t detect any large lifeforms that could’ve potentially harmed me, but I needed to get a better picture of things.
Strangely enough, I felt like this place was familiar, but at the same time, it wasn’t. What was the reason for me questioning myself? Something would lead me to remembering who I was, nevermind the ones I was with.
At least it couldn’t get any worse from here.
It was night time now. The sun was replaced by the moon half an arc ago. Ironically, the night felt better than having the sun. It made me feel almost… safe. Wasn’t really bragging about it, but it actually did feel nice not having the sun blind my optics.
My paranoia was getting the best of me while hearing the sounds of animals. I heard hooting and chirping noises, too. An owl was it? Along with crickets?
“This place is giving me the creeps,” I shook my head while wanting to get out of here. “If it’s one thing to feel wary, it’s one thing being unable to contact anyone.” My annoyance was strong with my thoughts wanting to get a response from anyone.
I tried getting anyone on my comms, but no luck. Must’ve gotten damaged while I was still offline. Trying to repair it now was the least of my worries. Getting out of here was my objective.
The journey in these woodlands looked to have been almost over with. What looked like a dirt road not far from where I was made me hopeful on where I could’ve been.
“Hmmm,” I began to think about what I needed to do. “Maybe I’m not that lost after all.” I sprinted out of the woods and got onto the road.
Looking over where I came out from, there was a wooden sign plastered with white letters, consisting of a dark green background.
Paradise Woods
~ Operated by Maretime Bay and protected by its forest rangers!
“Maretime Bay?” So… I’m not entirely cut off from civilization. Only question is where was it? There had to have been some way to know where it was. Although I had to find something to disguise myself from the locals. I knew I could turn myself into my beast mode, but I desired a vehicle to copy, and I needed something that could be easy to analyze and transform into.
Turning my head to the left, I noticed another sign, this time showing the way to this Maretime Bay.
I continued on the dark road, transforming myself into beast mode while staying clear of what looked to be the highway not far from where I was moving, it roared with the life of cars going up and down to whatever their destinations were.
Couldn’t do it here. I needed to find Maretime Bay without causing massive panic.
“There it is!” I could see what looked like the skyline of the town while on a hill. “So Paradise Woods isn’t even that far from this place.” Being pragmatic, I remained as a spider, going down a hill while keeping a sharp optic out for anyone seeing me.
Reaching the flat surface, I turned back into my robot mode. Going out in the open right now was inconceivable to commit to. I had to stay in the shadows until I could find a good place to formulate a better plan.
“So close and yet so far,” I mentioned under my breath. “The sooner I can figure out what happened to me the better. But now, I need to figure out what I can transform into.”
Staying off the streets, I climbed on top of one of the buildings, using my spider web abilities to leap from one building to the next, going from block to block.
I could see a few organics walking around, but none of them appeared to have heard me.
Judging by what they looked like, they were bipedal.
Yet, for some reason…I knew what they were. They were ponies. Despite my uncertainty on how I knew that, that’s what they were. Equines were their species. How exactly was I even able to know any of this? Nothing in my memory could bring up their kind.
What was making me automatically have this info without lacking said knowledge? Even the sounds of the animals while in Paradise Woods I somehow knew.
Landing on another rooftop, I tried to process everything so far. “Whatever is happening to me, I need to think quickly,” my thoughts were getting clouded while heading over near the edge of the building I was on. Squinting my optics again, I saw a parking lot filled with different kinds of vehicles.
Jumping down, I went over to the parking lot, making sure that there was no one in my presence. “There’s got to be something for me to transform into,” I stressed that part into my processor. “Turning into a spider will come in handy at times, but I’m in uncharted territory now. Need a vehicle mode this time.”
Some of the vehicles weren’t appealing to me. A few cars, trucks, and SUVs were present. Damn it. There had to be something else for me to work with.
Almost wanting to give up, my optics locked onto one vehicle that looked desirable for me to transform into. It was a sports bike. Judging by the size of it, I wouldn’t have had any problems trying to take its form.
Scanning it from top to bottom, I confirmed my theory. I focused on trying to transform myself into said vehicle. But I needed to focus. If I didn't concentrate, I was going to revert to my beast mode form. Couldn’t afford any distractions, not when this was important for me to do.
Focus. Just…focus. If I could go back into beast mode, I could undoubtedly succeed in getting this vehicle mode down pat.
Blocking all sounds, I closed my optics. I can transform… I can…transform…
A couple seconds later, my body reformatted into becoming a sports bike. I tried to reduce much of the sound to not have anyone in an earshot hear me. That was the biggest worry that I thought of.
Hmmm.
This wasn’t so bad. Not too compacted, but just good enough for me to stay under the radar for the time being said. Getting the hang of my new vehicle form, I didn’t feel any discomfort. At least my theory wasn’t wrong. Though I probably needed to wait another time to test my vehicle mode out.
My thoughts were onto something else.
“I'm gonna have to find a new place,” I whispered to myself, slowly driving off the lot while checking my surroundings. “Majority of the populace is already in bed, but only a few night owls are roaming around. Staying here will make me a sitting duck.”
Duck… A new animal I didn’t know. How do I even know this stuff?! Unless I was feeding off of someone else's processor without me realizing it, this was driving me insane.
Maybe not making a pun while in vehicle mode would help me a lot… I couldn’t believe I was annoying myself at the rate things were going. And I clearly had no time for it.
Rounding my corners and checking everywhere I went, there was one road that remained untainted by the likes of ponies. Looking over to my left, there appeared to be a dealership up the road. It went by the name Destiny Dealership Company.
Oh, that’s rich. Whoever came up with that name didn’t have much originality going on in that cognition of theirs.
Insults aside, I advanced towards the dealership. Thinking it was too easy, I saw how it was clearly gated. Perfectly secured and hard for anyone to get in and out of while driving a vehicle.
They can keep ponies out, but not me.
Transforming into robot mode, I jumped over the gate, landing with ease while turning back into vehicle mode. “Peace of cake,” I whispered while strolling through the place.
This dealership was loaded with vehicles. Whoever owned it must’ve wanted to show off big time. They’ve got some spark, but it didn’t look like they would be selling energon’s worth of cars in the future.
I could use this place to rest. I felt tired, but this was a good time for me to gather as much energy as possible before heading out again on my own.
Couldn’t afford slacking off. I just hoped I could find a way to restore my memory.
Athena was perched on one of the tresses at the dealership, witnessing Blackarachnia parking where the motorcycle section was, not too far from the front of the building. She saw the headlights go off, indicating that she was now planning on resting for tonight.
But there was something that Athena couldn’t understand regarding Moonstone.
“What could you be withholding from me, Moonstone?” Athena remained focused on Blackarachnia. “She saw something in her… But why keep it from me?”
She knew something was off with her friend. “Ever since that ex-Autobot appeared in this world, she has been keeping a lot of intel about her from me. Why keep such things under lock-and-key despite all that has transpired now? It's only been a few weeks with her just coming online, and I must confront her on this.”
Such thoughts made Athena question what Moonstone was planning for Blackarachnia. What was her friend’s objective? What purpose would a mere techno-organic from another planet be of use to her, even despite not being a pony?
Athena flapped her wings, hooting with uncertainty as she continued to monitor the Decepticon. “If I even suspect hostility from this one, I will intervene.”
