Twilight carefully escorted a weary Pinkie Pie back to the castle, trying her best not to be too repulsed by the horrible stench her friend gave off.
Pinkie Pie, for her part, remained silent. But in her mind, one question continued to eat away at her. "Is there any way I can destroy Venom without destroying Cheese Sandwich as well?" Venom didn't appear to have any known weaknesses, except for two, but Pinkie Pie had no way of knowing if those weaknesses were true weaknesses or just strokes of luck.
Once Pinkie Pie was safely inside the castle, and out of prying eyes, Twilight removed Pinkie's spider suit with her magic. "You go wash off, while I try to clean the stench out of your suit," she instructed. "Be thankful I'm not going to charge you for dry cleaning."
"Thanks, Twilight," Pinkie replied. "I think it's safe to say today's been one of the worst days of my life. At least it's good to know that something's going my way." And with that, Pinkie trotted through the hall and past a wide variety of doors, as she searched for the bathroom. "Twilight really SHOULD get these labeled." she thought to herself.
At last, Pinkie found the bathroom, and wasted no time in starting a nice hot bath in the tub. With its beautiful white tiles, and shiny lead pipes, it seemed almost too luxurious for a town like Ponyville. But as Pinkie carefully settled into the hot bath waters, she was just relieved to be able to take any sort of bath. How long it had been since she'd truly taken time for herself? Even before Venom and Electro had come on the scene, Pinkie had been used to constantly staying out late and waking up early, only showering off briefly before bed each night. "Well, once this whole symbiote thing blows over, I think nopony will mind if I take some time to catch up on my rest." she thought to herself.
Surprisingly, Pinkie almost didn't want to get out of the bath, once she was clean. But once her thoughts turned to Cheese Sandwich and the symbiote that he was struggling against, she found all the motivation she could ever want.
"It wasn't easy, but I managed to clean and purify your suit," Twilight said with a sigh. "Just don't go running into anymore sewers, the souvenirs you picked up down there belong under the streets of Ponyville."
"Hey, a sewer chase wasn't exactly my idea of a good time either," Pinkie Pie protested. "That was symbiote slimeball's fault. He spent the entire day trying to humiliate and destroy me. And the worst part is, he tricked and enslaved Cheese Sandwich to do so."
"So that's what this is all about," Twilight realized. "I knew something was up when I overheard your angry rants, but I couldn't be sure. I'm sorry if I reacted a bit harshly to your actions, I know it must be hard having to go through all that."
"You were right though, Twilight," Pinkie replied. "Getting mad and shouting wouldn't have done anything," then she noticed something. "By the way, where's Starlight? I haven't seen her once since I came inside."
Twilight sighed, a noticeable frown forming on her face. "Starlight's still really torn up about losing her front hoof, I sent her to The Crystal Empire to stay with Sunburst for a few days."
"A good thing you did that," Pinkie Pie said, breathing a small sigh of relief. "If the symbiote hadn't gotten to Cheese Sandwich, I'm pretty sure it would've gone for Starlight next. I shudder to think what kind of damage would've resulted from that 'partnership'." She then hung her head a bit, as she remembered how it was that Starlight had lost her hoof in the first place.
"Don't keep beating yourself up over what happened to Starlight. You can't be everywhere at once." Twilight said to Pinkie Pie, extending a hoof out to her.
"Well I should be!" Pinkie insisted. "When she needed me most, I couldn't be there for her, and because of that she almost died! And now there's that alien monstrosity known as Venom that's determined to destroy me by any means possible! This is just like Uncle Al and Pokey Pierce's deaths all over again, where I ask myself if I'm truly doing the right thing."
"How did you get those spider powers in the first place? I've been meaning to ask that ever since you exposed your secret to me and to the rest of our friends, not to mention The Cakes." Twilight responded.
"It all started years ago, when I was but a filly," Pinkie Pie began, narrating in a tone of voice that sounded almost depressed. "If I knew then what I know now, would I have gone to that exhibit? Would I have pleaded with my father to take me and my sisters to that science convention in Ponypalooza?"
"The Equestrian Science Exchange?" Twilight asked. "I've heard about that, it's a very rare event that happens only once every year! They invite the top scientific minds from all over Equestria to come and share their research with the public!"
"Yeah, well when it came to Ponypalooza, I practically begged my father to let me go and he agreed," Pinkie Pie continued. "Towards the very end of the whole thing, there was an exhibit on radioactives. Somehow, a spider managed to cross through the beams of radioactive energy and bite me. But for years I wasn't aware of it. All I knew was that I got really sick when I came home, and the next morning I was perfectly fine."
"So, when did you first discover your spider powers?" Twilight asked Pinkie. "I'm sorry if I'm being nosy, but I really want to know."
"It's alright, it's not anything really personal," Pinkie said in reply. "I discovered them when I was in high school, attending it with Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. I woke up late for school one morning, and in my haste to be on time I didn't see a carriage come speeding down the road! I jumped out of the way, and found out that I could cling to walls! Later that same day, I discovered just how strong I was, and with the discovery of my Uncle Al's chemistry set, I had everything I needed to form my superhero career. The costume was a suggestion from Iron Will, he claimed nopony would take me seriously if I just wore a mask."
"I see." Twilight nodded.
"But that was when I made my greatest mistake," Pinkie went on, tears forming in her eyes. "I selfishly threw myself into the career of a professional wrestler, and used my powers solely to build up my reputation! Then, one night, a unicorn thief came running past while I was changing! I let him get away, and that mistake cost Uncle Al his life! From then, I strove to live by the saying he was always fond of 'With great power, comes great responsibility'."
Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but quickly decided against it. Nothing she said or did could properly express the shock and sadness of learning about such a tragedy.
"I never asked for any of this!" Pinkie continued. "I never asked for these powers, and I never asked to be Spider Mare! I didn't know it would come with such a high price! I wanted to help Equestria, perhaps out of a selfish desire to feel better about myself for my own failure to protect my Uncle Al! And yet, look at everything I've let happen! Now, thanks to me, there's a deadly symbiote on the loose and he's perfectly willing to hurt or kill others in order to get to me!" But then her tone changed from one of sadness and anger, to one of determination. "But that's part of why I can't quit! Venom is MY mistake, there's no doubt about that, but I didn't get to where I was by running from my mistakes. I've saved innocent ponies in Manehattan, Canterlot, even here in Ponyville, and if I turn my back on them now, Venom wins. So what if nopony throws a parade in my honor?! Spider Mare stays because she's needed, because the citizens of Equestria deserve a protector! If you asked me if I'd still let myself go to that convention, despite knowing what I know now, my answer would still be: 'Yes'!"
Twilight remained silent for quite some time, even when it became obvious that Pinkie Pie had finished with her speech and had no intention of saying more. At last, mustering up some courage she told Pinkie. "It's very brave of you to do what you do, and think that the well being of Equestria is more important than your own. But when you made the decision to tell others about your double life, you had to have known the risks. You don't have to do everything alone anymore, Pinkie. You've got friends, a supportive family, and now even a special somepony! You can't just shut them out and tell them to leave everything to you! Your well being is important too."
"I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that my failure to listen to you and Starlight about the alien suit has turned Cheese Sandwich's life upside down," Pinkie Pie said seriously. "And right now, all I care about is finding a way to free him without having to destroy him, and without having to put the rest of Equestria at risk. So, is there anything you can do to help on that?"
"I... don't know for sure," Twilight replied. "But I'll tell what you, Pinkie. You get some rest, and I'll try to conduct research on this 'symbiote' you speak of. It originated from that meteorite fragment that crashed in Sweet Apple Acres a few nights ago, right?"
"Right." Pinkie nodded.
"Then I'll see if there are any sort of weaknesses that can be exploited," Twilight explained. "I'll inform you of my results in the morning, after you've had breakfast. Okay?"
"Okay." Pinkie Pie reluctantly agreed, and headed off for the guest bedroom. She could only hope that Twilight would indeed be able to find a weakness in the symbiotes, and come up with a way to use one of them against Venom in order to free Cheese Sandwich. The thought of having to destroy the pony she loved so much, tormented Pinkie to no end, until she at last fell asleep not long after Luna's moon had risen into the night sky.