"Great," Pinkie Pie muttered unhappily to herself, as she dusted herself off. "First I let Uncle Al die, then I created Mysterio and The Scorpion, then I failed to save Pokey Pierce, then I wasn't able to protect Starlight Glimmer, and now Cheese Sandwich has been taken over by an alien symbiote that wants me dead. Why do I always hurt the ones I care about? It always seems like I end up doing more harm than good."
Sure, she'd been able to apprehend Uncle Al's killer, convinced Mysterio to turn to the side of good, and put away The Scorpion, The Green Griffon, and The Rhino. But that still hardly made up for her failures and mistakes. For the first time since the death of Pokey Pierce at the claws of The Green Griffon, Pinkie Pie was seriously considering hanging up the mantel of Spider Mare and leaving the web slinging to someone else.
"Well, before I do anything, there's one pony I NEED to see. The one I owe the biggest apology to," Pinkie Pie thought, and after stuffing her spider suit back into her saddle bag, took off for her Aunt Suzanne's house at the outskirts of Ponyville. She hadn't told her favorite aunt about her double life yet, or any of the details regarding how it connected to that faithful night, but that was about to change. "I just hope she doesn't hate too much for what I'm going to tell her." Pinkie Pie nervously thought.
Ever since Pinkie Pie had moved in with The Cakes, Aunt Suzanne's life had relatively quiet and peaceful. She mostly spent her days sitting on her front porch, gazing out towards Ponyville or knitting away. The only times her favorite niece came back to see her, was on her birthday.
But Aunt Suzanne didn't mind, she'd lived a good long life and had experienced many things. So now, she was content to spend the rest of years in Ponyville, resting and enjoying the relatively peaceful environment.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. "I wonder who it could be this time?" Aunt Suzanne thought, as she set her knitting supplies down and got up from her favorite rocking chair. As she made her way across the carpeted floors, Aunt Suzanne was thinking back to how lovely it had been to receive a visit from Cheese Sandwich yesterday. Hopefully, her current visitor would be as pleasant and cheerful as Cheese Sandwich had been.
Trotting to the front door, Aunt Suzanne opened it and was quite surprised by the pony that greeted her! There was Pinkie Pie, who seemed void of the usual spring in her step, as if something was wrong with her. In fact, her mane and tail seemed a bit deflated, like someone had taken a vacum and had sucked all the air out.
"Hi, Aunt Suzanne," Pinkie Pie greeted glumly. "I hope this isn't a bad time for you. If it is, I can just leave."
Aunt Suzanne shook her head. "Oh don't be silly, Pinkie. I always have time for you. Please, do come in, it's been ages since I've seen my favorite niece."
Before Pinkie Pie could say anything else, Aunt Suzanne grabbed her by the hoof and led her inside. Pinkie Pie, for her part, remained silent. She just stared absent mindedly at the furniture, the gentle yellow walls with flowers of alternating light blue, pink, and white, and various photographs framed in simple wooden display stands. How was she going to break the news to her Aunt Suzanne?
"Why don't I get a nice kettle of tea going?" Aunt Suzanne suggested. "I always like to make some whenever guests come over."
"Sure, go ahead." Pinkie Pie said flatly, as she sat down on an old, worn out sofa. "The very sofa Aunt Suzanne was sitting when I learned Uncle Al was dead." she realized, and even though it had been year since that faithful night, the memories of it were as fresh as ever in Pinkie's mind. Which only made it harder for her to be here. If not for her own selfishness, her Uncle Al would've still been alive today.
Once the kettle had boiled, Aunt Suzanne poured its contents into two cups, and brought them over on a tray which she set down on a table positioned between the sofa Pinkie was sitting on, and the rocking chair.
For a few moments, Pinkie Pie didn't say anything, and neither did Aunt Suzanne. They just sipped the tea, and gazed at each other as if trying to figure out what the other one had to say.
At last, with a sigh, Pinkie Pie broke the silence. "There's..... something I've kept secret from you for a long time, Aunt Suzanne," she said, her voice not shifting from it's flat and unhappy tone. "Something I should've told you about from day one. But I kept secret out of fear of what you would do to me if I told you. I know you're not going to like it, and I just want to say in advance, that you have every right to be mad with me for what I'm about to tell you. I'd be pretty mad if the roles were reversed."
Aunt Suzanne, suspecting nothing, merely said in reply. "Pinkie Pie, I could never be mad with you, no matter what you might be keeping secret from me."
"You're going to reconsider that once you hear just what my secret is," Pinkie Pie unhappily replied. "It's about Uncle Al."
"What about him?" Aunt Suzanne asked.
"Well.... do you remember.... the night he was killed?" Pinkie Pie spoke up. "I know you don't like when I bring it up, but there's a very good reason why I wanted to ask you about."
"How could I forget?" Aunt Suzanne replied, a faint tear forming in her eye. "It happened so fast. One moment, I overheard Alfred arguing with somepony upstairs, and the next moment there was a zap and somepony fell to the floor. I raced upstairs quick as a flash, and there was your Uncle Al laying on the floor. His last words before he lost consciousness were 'Should've taken my own advice.', an hour later he was dead."
Pinkie Pie sighed again, this was it! "I let Uncle Al die! I could've prevented a tragedy, but I didn't!"
"Pinkie, don't be ridiculous," Aunt Suzanne replied kindly. "There was nothing you could've done, even if you'd been home. It was a random encounter with a desperate thief."
"But I met the thief, and let him get away!" Pinkie Pie protested. "I had a chance to stop him, and I didn't take it!"
"Pinkie, the royal guards told me the thief fled from a wrestling ring set up at town hall," Aunt Suzanne replied. "You told your Uncle Al and I that you were just going out to spend time with some friends."
"Well I lied!" Pinkie Pie proclaimed. "I was at that wrestling ring! In fact, I was the star attraction!"
"That's impossible," Aunt Suzanne said with a shake of her head. "The star attraction was Spider Mare, she was being pitted against that Bulk Biceps pony. It was all anypony in town was talking about that day, Spider Mare was becoming the greatest thing in show business since Hoofdini."
"But I was at that wrestling ring! I was and still am, Spider Mare!" Pinkie Pie finally confessed. "That night, after the show, I was changing out of my costume. The thief suddenly came rushing past, persued by a security guard! And I just stood there and let him get away! Because of that, Uncle Al died! It's all my fault, I could've saved him, but all I could think about was 'Me, me, me!'! I can't believe how selfish and stupid I was! Now go ahead, hate me, curse me, do whatever you want with me! Whatever you decide to do, I know I deserve it! I'm a murderer!"
Much to Pinkie's surprise, however, her Aunt Suzanne looked at her and said seriously "Pinkamina Diane Pie, I've know for years that you were Spider Mare. It was a still deduction, really. You and Spider Mare were never in the same place at the same time. I was wondering when you were going to tell me."
"But what about Uncle Al? I could've saved his life, but instead I let him die!" Pinkie Pie protested.
"You don't know for sure that you could've stopped that thief, or that Uncle Al wouldn't have died anyway," Aunt Suzanne replied. "He was really old, Pinkie, even if he didn't show it. He figured it was only a matter of years until it would be time for him to pass on."
"So, even a few more years would've been better than just having his life end abruptly, because of me," Pinkie Pie sobbed. "And I've repeated that mistake time after time! I cost Pokey Pierce his life, turned the lives of an innocent magician and Filthy Rich's wife upside down, and now the stallion I love has been taken over by an alien symbiote. What good does it do me to be Spider Mare if I always end up hurting someone? Equestria would be better off if I just gave up the super heroine gig for good!"
"Don't say such things, Pinkie," Aunt Suzanne insisted. "No one ever said being a heroine was easy, because it isn't. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes."
"But my mistakes always cause others to suffer!" Pinkie protested.
"So, what's important is that you learn from your mistakes," Aunt Suzanne advised, rising up from her rocking chair and sitting down on the sofa next to Pinkie Pie. Gently stroking her back to get her to calm down. "You can't change the past, no matter what anypony else might think. You can only change the future, and right now I'd say Cheese Sandwich's future looks pretty bleak."
"Then, how do I make it brighter? I don't want to lose him like I lost Pokey Pierce and Uncle Al." Pinkie Pie asked.
Aunt Suzanne smiled. "I'm sure you know the answer to that one. Equestria needs Spider Mare, and so does Cheese Sandwich. If you give up now, you'll only be dooming him to suffer under that symbiote's control. So get out there, and go find him! I know you'll find a way to save Cheese Sandwich."
"But how am I supposed to find him? Now that Cheese Sandwich has been taken over by that symbiote who calls himself Venom, I can't detect him with my 'Pinkie Sense'." Pinkie Pie said nervously.
"Well, knowing your luck, Venom will find you," Aunt Suzanne replied. "Have faith, Pinkie. You've been in tight spots before, and always found a way to win. This shouldn't be any different."
Pinkie's mane and tail returned to their usual poofy state, as she got up from the sofa. "Thanks for the advice, Aunt Suzanne. I really needed it." she said, and after dawning her Spider Mare suit, headed out the door.