> Spider-Girl: The Movie
>  by Lucasnike123
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Are you wondering who I am? Are you sure you want to know? You say you want to know the story of my life, but this story is not for those who are easily scared.

If someone says that my story is a story with a happy ending, if someone told you that I was a normal girl without worries...

...that person would lie.

Mine is the story of a girl whose parents died when she was four years old. It is the story of a scared, lonely and confused girl who clung to the hand of the social worker as if her life depended on it, only to later realize that that hand would lead her to live with her older brother and sister-in-law .

It is the story of a lonely childhood in which books and chemistry games, instead of other children, were my best friends.

Yes; Mine is a story of sorrow and pain, of loss and suffering, of longing and sorrow, of anger and betrayal. And this was just the high school years.

My story, like so many others that deserve to be told, is also that of a girl and a boy. In her there are true feelings repressed for years, those of a lonely and shy girl, desperate to tell the boy how she felt, and at the same time terrified of a possible rejection, that she kept all this hidden until she thought she would explode.

And who is that boy? His name is Flash Sentry. He is the boy that I have loved long before I was aware that I liked boys.

And that girl? I'm sure you already guessed. That girl is me.

And who am I ? 

Well, since you ask, they call me...

SPIDER-GIRL.

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------









The old yellow school bus rattled through the bumpy streets of Canterlor City. The bus, looking like it had been running since before its passengers were born, carried thirty high school students.

Inside, the usual morning chaos reigned. Laughter, screams, jokes, songs, and a few undefined grunts filled the bus as they rumbled through the streets.

"Mmm..." sighed a student sinking his teeth into a sticky jelly-filled donut as a red glob and a cloud of powdered sugar fell onto his pants.

Another student drummed his pencils on his notebook, his eyes closed and his head shaking to the rhythm of the music pouring from his headphones.

"Hey Chips! Where's my homework?" screaming was heard from the bottom.

"I'm making them now!" was the sharp, forced response.

A handsome girl sat next to a handsome, blue-haired boy, and put his arm around her shoulders. She looked out the window and saw someone running alongside the bus, desperately trying to catch up.

"Hey, look!" the girl yelled "Sparkle missed the bus again! Or maybe she's just practicing to get on the track team!"

Everyone on the bus started laughing mockingly. All but the blue haired boy, who pulled his arm from his shoulder and stood up. He looked out the window and sighed deeply.

"Stop the bus!" he yelled at him, so the driver could hear him over the screams "He's been trying to reach us from Woodhaven Boulevard!"





Outside, seventeen-year-old Twilight Sparkle ran as fast as her slender legs would allow. She had missed the bus, as always, and she had been chasing him from seven streets back. Her sweat trickled down her forehead as she tried to keep her legs moving, her arms holding the books and glasses on the elusive bridge of her nose.

The bus stopped and her doors screeched open. Twilight slowed down the road to a trot, then to a normal pace.





Breathing hard, she stumbled up the stairs, limping from the pain in her calf.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" she apologized, as she moved down the hall, tripping over her feet and tossing backpacks.

Twilight discovered a vacant spot with a girl, and their eyes met for a moment.

"Don't think for a second that you can sit here, nerd" the girl muttered, taking her books and taking her empty seat with them.

Twilight kept shuffling awkwardly down the hall, struggling to hold onto her books and trying to put her new glasses on top of her nose with her index finger. Busy searching for a place, she didn't see a big foot now getting in the way of her.

"Aahh!" Twilight moaned as she stumbled and fell headlong to the ground as her books shot out in all directions.

"Trixie Lunamoon!" the blue haired boy yelled at the girl sitting next to him "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Trixie replied, shrugging innocently.

"Don't tease me, Trixie" said the boy, standing up "I know you stepped foot to make Twilight trip".

"Come on Flash ..." Trixie pleaded "I would never do something like that."

Flash Sentry walked past Trixie into the hallway and began collecting Twilight's books.

She, still stunned, looked at him with her glasses hanging from one ear and smiled.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was no ordinary day for the students in Twilight's class. They were not heading to his institute, but were visiting the prestigious Averton University, in Manehattan.

Turning onto the Queensboro Bridge, the school bus left the the Ponyville's neighborhood behind. In front of them they could see the flamanate silhouette of Manehattan, rising like the Emerald Isle in the land of Oz.

Twilight felt the sudden, familiar excitement that always accompanied field trips to "the city", which was what the outskirts called Manehatthan. And for her, as for many of her companions, the appeal of Manehattan was as exciting as it was overwhelming. She would soon finish high school and was cherishing the going of moving to Manehattan to start a new life.





Once the bus turned onto Broadway, the austere spiers of Averton University began to be seen. Its closed campus provided a haven from the inexhaustible energy of life in Manehattan, and her students were among the best in the country.

"Wow!" Was all Twilight could think of as she enjoyed the first views of the beautiful stone buildings. In addition to living and working in Manehattan, Twilight also dreamed of studying for a degree, although at the moment, and despite her good grades, the idea of ​​going to Averton University seemed like an impossible dream.

The bus screeched to a stop. Its doors opened and the students came downstairs still restless and brimming with morning energy yet to be spent. For weeks, Twilight had been waiting impatiently for the demo class they were about to attend. After all, it was a scientific practice, and science was by far her favorite subject.

Twilight's science teacher, Mr. Cranky, leaped up the stone steps of the Averton University Institute for Genetic Research to keep an eye on his rowdy students.

"Come on, don't scatter!" she yelled over the hubbub of shouting, joking, and talking "Head straight to the top of... Hey, stop it guys! Listen up! Even if it's just for the day, you could try to look like ladies and gentlemen. Go upstairs and inside in the building. And that includes you, Lunamoon! "

One of Trixie Lunamoon's friends gave him a friendly punch on her arm, and in her own mind he realized her mistake when he received a not-so-friendly punch from Trixie in response. One or two students began to climb the stairs slowly, the rest kept talking.





A chauffeured car slowly approached the curb where Twilight was standing. A mother and her daughter were accommodated in the back seat.

"Mom, could you drop me around the corner?" the daughter asked, visibly embarrassed.

"Why, Sunset?" asked the mother sternly "The door is here"

"These are boys from a public high school, Mom" ​​replied Sunset, falling into the seat "I don't want to introduce myself to my classmates in a Bentley!".

"That?" her mother yelled angrily at him, "Do you want me to trade my Bentley for a Volkswagen just because you've been suspended from all the private schools I've sent you to?"

"They weren't made for me!" Sunset replied "I told you. They had nothing to do with me ...".

"Of course yes!" Sunset's mother yelled again, running her hand over her daughter to open the door "Never be ashamed of who you are. Always remember that."

"Mom ..." Sunset started, heaving a deep sigh "I'm not embarrassed. I just don't want you to ..."

"What, Sunset?" her mother interrupted him.

"Forget it, mom," Sunset resigned, sliding out of the car and closing the door behind her.

Turning around, he found himself face-to-face with Twilight.





"Hello, Sunset" Twilight said, smiling at her friend. Twilight's camera hung around her neck. She hoped she could take some pictures of the demonstration that she was about to witness.

"What's up, Twilight?" Sunset responded reluctantly.

The back door of the Bentley opened and the intimidating figure of Sunset's mother stepped out of the car.

"Don't you think they will need this?" she said, handing Sunset her backpack.

Sunset attended.

"Twilight..." she began, "This is my mother, Abacus Cinch."

"It's an honor to meet you" Twilight said, holding out her hand. Cinch grabbed her hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset saw Flash and some of his friends pointing at the Bentley and whispering.

"I've heard a lot about you Twilight" Cinch commented "Sunset says you're the best at science."

"Well I'm not so sure..." Twilight said with a shrug.

"I know she's being modest", Sunset intervened, paying attention to her mother and Twilight again. "I told you, Mom. Twilight has won all the science awards."

"Well, anyone who gets Sunset to pass chemistry shouldn't be modest" Cinch commented, staring at her daughter.

"Sunset is very smart, Mrs. Cinch" Twilight said quickly, feeling the tension between mother and daughter "Actually, she didn't need my help."

Sunset looked up the stairs and saw her last classmates enter the building.

"We have to go, mom," she said, eager to settle the conversation.

Her mother ignored the attempt.

"I'm something of a scientist too, Twilight," Cinch announced, and her already imposing presence seemed to grow with the boast.

"Oh sure," Twilight responded instantly "I know all about CinchCorp. They're designing the re-entry and guidance system for the first shuttle mission to Mars. The things your company does are really brilliant."

"Impressive" Cinch said, a tight smile coming from the corners of her lips "Your parents must be proud."

"I live with my brother and his wife" Twilight explained, returning the smile "And they are proud, thank you."

"And your parents?" Cinch asked, now with a more serious expression.

"My parents died when I was a child" Twilight answered.

Cinch took a deep breath and attended.

"I also lost my parents when I was young," she said.

"That was what undoubtedly strengthened your strong desire to succeed, huh, mom?" Sunset intervened, unable to hide her annoyance "Look, really, we have to ..."

"Hey, you two!" bellowed Mr. Cranky, poking his head out the door "Join the rest of the group, now!"

Twilight started up the stairs.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Cinch," she said, turning to head for the door, followed near Sunset.

"I'm sure we'll see each other again, Twilight!" Cinch yelled at her, and she got back into the car without a single glance at Sunset.





Twilight walked into the Research Institute excited about the demonstration she was about to see. She couldn't imagine that when she, she left that sumptuous and impressive building, her life would never be the same again.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The main lobby of the Averton University Institute for Genetic Research was a huge marble circle. Tall, fluted columns rose toward the splendid white ceiling, and the corridors extended from that circle like the spokes of a train wheel.

Despite his continued protests, Mr. Cranky could not get his students, who were milling around the lobby waiting for further instructions, to lower the noise level.

"Your mother's not that bad," Twilight said to Sunset as they joined the rest of the class.

"No, if you're a genius" Sunset replied with a smirk "I think she wants to adopt you."

Sunset nudged him and nodded toward a group of students gathered around a column in the lobby.

Twilight looked over at the group and saw Flash Sentry. Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard. She was crazy about Flash since he moved next door, when they were both going to school. Twilight would have loved to date her pretty, popular, and friendly neighbor, but she still hadn't mustered the courage to ask him.

Susnet started walking towards him. Twilight followed her.

"Hello, Flash!" Sunset said nonchalantly "How are you?"

"Hello!" Flash replied.

"Say something" Sunset whispered to Twilight "This is your chance."

Flash smiled at Twilight. She smiled back, but was silent. The opportunity passed. Twilight walked away from her, and Sunset behind her.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Susnet asked Twilight when they reached the other side of the hall.

"I was about..." Twilight replied, defensively "But it wasn't the right time."

"Good, and what are you waiting for?" Sunset asked, shaking her head "To a printed invitation?"

"Alright guys" said Mr. Cranky "Let's go in now. I want adult demeanor. Is that clear?"

For the first time all day, the students fell silent.

"Come on" the professor continued, heading towards one of the many corridors that led out of the lobby "Follow me."





The class met inside a large laboratory. The footsteps of the thirty students, the teacher, and the guide echoed through the huge room, bouncing off the high arched ceilings and hard marble floors. There were different displays throughout the lab, but they all had a common theme: spiders.

"There are over thirty-two thousand species of spiders known in the world" started guide, filling the room with her powerful voice "All are carnivorous, devouring ravenous that feed massive amounts of liquid protein, usually the juices of its victims Of course, the spiders are not insects. They belong to a group of small animals called arachnids. Scorpions and mites are also arachnids".

Twilight's attention shifted from the guide's words to Flash and his friends. She couldn't stop staring at him as he and his group, which included Trixie Lunamoon, giggled and joked with little interest in the class.

As Twilight watched them, Trixie put her arm around Flash's shoulders and brought her head closer to his. Twilight flinched and backed away from her, a move that did not go unnoticed by Flash. In a hurry, he pulled away from Trixie and tried to pay attention to the exposure.

"Spiders have different degrees of strength; it helps them in their constant search for food" continued the guide, and pointed to a glass urn in which a large brown spider was inert on its web "For example, the jumping spider, of the genus Salticus... ".

"Please!" shouted Mr. Cranky noticing the lack of interest of some of his students "Have you paid attention to the genus Salticus?" then he turned to the guide "My apologies. Please continue."

The guide continued:

"The genus Salticus can jump distances of up to forty times the length of its body, thanks to a proportional muscular force much greater than that of a human being."

Twilight caught the guide's gaze and pointed to her camera.

"Can I take some pictures for the high school newspaper?" she asked.

The guide attended and continued with his class. As the exposure continued, Twilight prepared to photograph the spider in the glass urn. But just at the time of shooting, one of Trixie's friends muttered "Nerd!", and hit Twilight's arm, spoiling the picture of her.

"Hey!" Twilight growled looking at Justin, who in turn was watching the guide, showing a smile of false innocence.

"The funnel-shaped web spider, of the genus Atrax, is one of the most deadly in the world" continued the guide "It weaves a web with a complicated funnel shape whose threads have a tensile strength equivalent to that of calbes that support the bridges".

Twilight raised the camera, preparing to take another picture when, once again, Trixie's friend slapped her arm. Twilight turned to him and stared at him. So did Sunset.

"Leave her alone or..." Sunset murmured.

"Or what?" the boy asked defiantly, looking at her with disdain.

"Or her mother will fire yours" Trixie answered quickly.

Those who were nearby and heard the comment laughed.

"Now it is OK!" exclaimed Mr. Cranky, surprising both his students and the guide "The next person to speak will fail this course".

Giggles and whispers spread among the students.

"I am not kidding!" roared Mr. Cranky, and motioned for the guide to continue.

"The crab spider, of the genus Misumena, hunts its prey using incredibly fast reflexes. Its nerve impulses develop at such an impressive rate that some researchers believe it is very close to clairvoyance. In other words, it seems to know when it is going to the pre-hazard will appear before it occurs. Call it "arachnid sense" if you like".

The group advanced to the center of the laboratory, where a team of researchers sat in front of the keyboards of several computers. The computer equipment was connected to an atomic microscope, which in turn was linked to a series of large video screens distributed throughout the room. Each screen showed the unmistakable image of DNA strands... spider DNA.

"During five tough years, Columbia genetic research has been able to map the genetic code of each of the three types of spiders that I just showed you" explained the guide. considered impossible: to mix the species genetically ".

The class gathered around a large glass tank located in the center of the laboratory. Inside the tank, strange-looking spiders crawled and wove their webs.

Flash's eyes widened as he stared at the hideous creatures. He smiled and said:

"How disgusting."

Sunset was standing next to him.

"Hateful bugs..." she said. She would have said anything to agree with him. Although she knew Twilight's feelings for Flash, Sunset also found the vivacious blue-haired boy attractive.

"No" Flash whispered "I think they're cool."

Doubting whether he meant it or not, Sunset chose the safe exit:

"Really?" she said "Me too".

The class continued.





"In our laboratory we have combined genetic information from these three types of spiders. Each of the resulting guests have the strength and jumping power of the jumping spider, the incredibly strong web of the funnel-web spider, and the arachnid sense of the crab spider. In short, we have created these fifteen genetically engineered super spiders, the first humanity has ever produced. "

For the first time, all the attention of the class was devoted to the specimens in front of them and to the words of the guide.

He continued, visibly moved:

"Imagine if one day we could isolate human strength, powers and immunities, and transmit this DNA code between us ... we could make diseases disappear! Of course, we are not close to experimenting with humans yet, so for the moment we are concentrating on these fifteen mutant spiders. Questions? "

"Aren't there only fourteen spiders?" Flash asked pointing to the tank.

"No" replied the guide "There are fifteen, I think ..."

In one of the arches in the laboratory's ceiling, high above the marble floors, a mutant spider, patterned in pink and purple, scurried across the row of its powerful web. Unseen by the people below, the genetically engineered spider left the center of its web and began to descend towards the laboratory floor.





As the visit continued, Flash stopped before a glass urn and stared at his reflection, adjusting some strands of his blue hair.

"Do you mind if I take a picture of you?" asked a voice behind him.

Amazed, he turned and saw Twilight with the camera ready.

"I need one with a student in it," she explained.

"Ok" Flash agreed "But don't make me ugly."

"Impossible!" Twilight replied, focusing her lens "Like this. Don't move. Great!"

As Twilight took the photo, the mutant spider was descending at an ever-increasing speed. Now he was only a few feet above Twilight's head.

"One more, Flash" Twilight said, and hit the trigger again "Thank you."

Flash turned and ran to meet his friends.

The mutant spider leapt from his thin filament and landed right on Twilight's right hand.

"Ow!" she screamed as her arachnid's teeth dug into her skin.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight fell back in fear, waving her hand. She slammed her wrist and her spider flew off. She clutching her sore right hand with her left she stared at the two tiny red marks just under her knuckles. As she watched the dead spider lying on the ground next to her, images from vampire movies began to slide through her head.

A horrible, searing tingling crawled up Twilight's right arm, as the stabbing pain in her hand continued. The lights in the lab went blurry. Looking around her, she realized that her classmates had followed her path. She was alone, confused and scared.

"Home...", she thought. "I have to go home!".





Despite the pain, fear, and strange sensation in his arm that had now spread to the rest of his body, he still managed to formulate this thought: "They will never miss me. Nobody will notice that I'm gone!"

Reeling,Twilight left the lab, she crossed the lobby and out into the clear Manehattan afternoon. His face was pale and sweat ran down his forehead. He thought about taking the subway home, but wondered if he would stay conscious long enough to get to his stop. At that moment, his classmates slammed out the doors of the Institute and ran past him towards the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey, what's the matter, Sparkle?" Trixie scoffed "Did those tiny spiders scare you?"

"Are you okay, Twilight?" Flash asked noticing his sickly and dazed look.

"Huh?" Twilight mumbled "Yeah. I'm fine."

"What's the matter?" Sunset asked, standing next to her "Looks like you've seen a ghost."

"I don't know..." Twilight lied "I guess I'm getting the flu or something."

She joined her classmates on the bus to start the return to Ponyville. She sat alone at the end of the bus and was sleeping most of the way. Her dream was disturbed by nightmares starring giant spiders. When the bus came to her stop, the driver had to shake Twilight to wake her from her deep slumber.





The modest house in the quiet Ponyville neighborhood that Shining Armor and his wife Cadance called "home" was hardly distinguishable from other houses on the block. The green wood shingled deck sloped down to meet the red brick walls. The small front gardens, full of shrubs and flowers, were surrounded by wire fences.

In the late afternoon, while the dogs barked, the children played baseball in the street and the workers, who had lived there for years, returned home after their Jordanian job.

Inside his house, Shining Armor was rocking in a chair, arms extended above his head, reaching for the light bulb he intended to change. Shining Armor was a tall man in his forties. He was in good shape, slim and active. His kind face was topped by short blue hair.

"Why don't you use the ladder, honey?" asked his wife Cadance, shaking her head. The same age as her husband, Candance was thin and frail, although her spirit was that of a strong young teenager "Better yet, why don't you wait for Twilight to come home? She could do it."

Shining Armor and Cadance had been as good caregivers for Twilight as if she were her own daughter. They loved Twilight very much, and she shared that feeling ... most of the time.

Shining Armor screwed on the light bulb and light flooded the kitchen.

"Did you say something?" she commented, looking at Cadance with a triumphant expression.

"Great" she replied, sighing. Shining Armor was a stubborn man. Sometimes she got desperate, but it was also one of the things she loved about him "Now get off of there before you land on your ass."

"That has already happened!" Shining Armor exclaimed, leaping out of his chair "When the plant's chief electrician is fired after 10 years of service and without explanation... that's what I call falling on your butt!"

While Cadance prepared dinner, Shining Armor sat at the kitchen table to browse the job postings in the newspaper.

"You'll get another job somewhere, honey" she stated.

"We'll see" said Shining Armor, running his finger down the ad column "Computer analyst, computer designer, programmer...".

He hit the table with his fist. 

"I'm 40 years old! How am I supposed to feed my family in today's world?".

Cadance put down the bowl she was holding in her hands and hugged her husband.

"I love you" she said, kissing him tenderly on the cheek "And Twilight loves you. You are the most responsible man I have ever known. We have been through this before and we have managed to survive".

Cadance looked at his watch.

"Anyway, where is Twilight? She's late".

Immediately afterwards, the front door was thrown open and Twilight entered the house, trying very hard not to discover her condition.

"Here you are" Shining Armor said, closing the newspaper so Twilight wouldn't see her looking at the job posting section "How was the field trip, Twilight?"

"You came just in time for dinner, honey" Candance announced.

Twilight headed for the stairs, leaning on the railing.

"I'm not feeling well" she mumbled her "I'm going upstairs to sleep".

"Don't you even want a bite to eat?" Cadance asked.

Twilight whirled on her, the image of the mutant spider's bite still in her head. She then she realized what her sister-in-law was saying.

"No, thanks" she replied, staggering down the stairs "I'm not hungry..."

"Did you take any good pictures, Twilight?" Shining Armor asked.

"No" muttered Twilight "I mean... yeah. I mean... I have to go to bed. I need to sleep. Don't worry, everything is fine".

Then she crawled up the stairs and disappeared into her room slamming the door.

"What was that about?" Shining Armor asked, as he got up from the table.

"She's a teenager" Candance replied, following Shining Armor.

"She's depressed" Shining Armor said, as he walked up the stairs. She thought of all those times when Twilight came home from school crying because none of the kids wanted to play with her. Shining Armor was still able to distinguish her sister's mood from her "I think I'd better go up and talk to her".

"She's a teenager," Candance repeated, putting her hand on her husband's shoulder "Don't go upstairs. She will ask us for help when she needs it".





In her room, Twilight fell to her knees, overcome by a stomachache. The searing daze that had once flowed through her body had transformed into terrible chills, like those of a high fever. She was dizzy and nauseous; she felt like she was going to pass out. But she didn't get any flu.

Examining her right hand, Twilight saw that where she had been bitten by the spider there was now a reddish swelling. Drenched with sweat, she was shaking violently and her teeth were chattering. She paled and her eyes went blank. After her her eyelids closed and she Twilight collapsed on the rug next to her bed, passed out.

A moment before she lost consciousness she sputtered only one word:

"Help..."
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abacus Cinch never did anything that wasn't big. It was no wonder that the industrial complex that housed most of his huge company was sprawling across one area of Long Island. Huge chimneys blew black grime into the air, long, low rows of concrete office buildings made perfect lines, and the giant CINCHCORP INDUSTRIES sign loomed over the main entrance in big red neon letters.

Deep in an underground laboratory, almost directly below the sign, Abacus Cinch strode briskly down a corridor. His nervous secretary, Mr. Simkins, followed, struggling to keep up with Cinch. They passed through a pair of automatically opening doors and into the huge main laboratory of CinchCorp's research and development section.

"General Slocum and the others from the Pentagon have already started the inspection" said Mr. Simkins hastily "Mr. Balkan and Mr. Fargas are with them".

"Why hasn't anyone reported this to me, Simkins?" Cinch hissed harshly.

"I think they didn't want you to know, ma'am" he replied sheepishly.





Cinch and Simkins approached a group of visitors in the center of the laboratory. Some wore military uniforms; others, executive suits, and others, the white lab coat.

They were all gathered around a strange looking object mounted on a pole. Several technicians fiddled with this object, which looked like a medium-sized surfboard or a snowboard with wings on each side. There were two sculpted fulcrums on each wing, and a long tube containing a jet engine took up half the board.

One of the technicians was wearing a tight-fitting suit. Cables and electronic repeaters ran through the suit like the veins of a human being. When the technician moved his right arm, the winged board moved to the right. When he lowered his head, the front of the board tilted. The contraption responded instantly to his every move, but the visitors didn't seem particularly impressed.

Standing next to this strange-looking contraption, Dr. Mendel Stromm, project manager, was about to speak to the group. Stromm was a brilliant scientist, and the woman Abacus Cinch had trusted to keep his company on the cutting edge of technology. The combination of Stromm's scientific genius and Cinch's canine tenacity had made CinchCorp one of the most successful companies in the world. But many were aware of how fragile success can be.

"Our work with Individual Personal Transportation is progressing splendidly" Stromm announced to his guests.

"I have already seen your little glider" intervened General Slocum, the leader of the visiting group. Everything about Slocum had a perfect military air, from the medals he wore on his uniform, to the martial haircut, to his no-joke attitude "That's not why I'm here".

"Ah, General Slocum..." said Abacus Cinch as he walked in with Simkins and joined the group "What a joy to see you again" Cinch took a quick glance at the rest of the group "Mr. Balkan, Mr. Fargas... he's always a pleasure to receive the visit of our board of directors ".

Both Balkan and Fargas were in their mid-seventies. Fargas moved around in a wheelchair. They both seemed annoyed with Cinch's arrival.

"I want a progress report with your Human Powers Enhancer" General Slocum snapped, bored with corporate flourishes.

Stromm steps forward, pointing to an isolated glass chamber across the room. Inside the chamber, a team of scientists made adjustments to a complex keyboard of equipment.

"We have tested steam inhalations in rodents" Stromm explained "They have shown an increase in force of eight hundred percent".

"Eight hundred percent?" Fargas repeated, pulling his wheelchair over to Stromm and Slocum "Excellent!".

"Does it have any side effects?" asked the general.

"In one of the tests, yes..." Stromm began "The rats...".

Cinch cut him off quickly.

"It was an anomaly" she said "A trifle, and it only happened once. The rest of the tests have passed successfully".

General Slocum ignored Cinch and addressed Dr. Slocum directly.

"What exactly happened in the test that went wrong?" he asked "What were the side effects?"

"Violence, aggressiveness, and finally insanity," Stromm replied, avoiding looking at his boss.

"What do you recommend, Dr. Stromm?" General Slocum continued to ask.

Cinch intervened before Stromm could speak:

"With the exception of Dr. Strom, the rest of the team has certified that the product is ready for human testing," she said proudly. "We are ready to create an improved human being".

"I don't agree," Stromm stated bluntly. "I think we have to start over, redesign the formula."

"Redesign the formula?" Cinch yelled, outraged at the expectation.

General Slocum turned and looked at Cinch for the first time.

"Ms. Cinch, you have failed to deliver a single delivery to us seven times in a row" he began "After five and a half years of research and development, the United States government has the right to demand that the supersoldier we hired you be delivered to".

"What you ask for are huge leaps for science, general" Cinch explained with a slow tone and a calm appearance that hid a knot in the stomach "We are unraveling the secrets of human evolution. I never said it was cheap or fast; only that would be groundbreaking".

"Let me clarify one thing to you, Mrs. Cinch" General Slocum said, putting on his hat, an unequivocal sign that the meeting was coming to an end "If your so-called Human Faculties Enhancer is not successfully tested on a human being in the next two weeks I'll withdraw the funds and give them to Crystal Aerospace".

Cinch flinched at the mention of her biggest competitor. The two members of the CinchCorp board of directors approached Cinch.

"The general has given Crystal Aerospace the green light to start producing their version of the super soldier" explained Mr. Balkan "I would not like to see how our funds end up in the competition. What about you, Cinch?"

"Yes" added Mr. Fargas, looking at Cinch from his wheelchair "I think we would all be very upset to lose those funds. The question is... what are you going to do about it, Cinch?".
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Golden morning sunlight flooded Twilight Sparkle's room. She was lying on the ground, in the same position she had collapsed into the night before. She began to move slowly.

She raised her arms and lifted her head from the carpet. After swinging her legs and rising to a sitting position, Twilight's mind began to clear. With a deep sigh, she recalled the events of the previous day. She then she realized something: she felt better, much better!

Jumping to her feet, she verified that she actually felt much better than she had ever felt in her life. She put on her glasses and suddenly everything went blurry. "Eh?" she thought. "I don't normally see anything without my glasses" When he took them off, everything was crystal clear. She put them back on. With them, blurry; without them, perfect. She did not understand what was happening.

"How weird..." she murmured.

Now without his glasses, he looked at his watch. "Oh, no! I'm going to be late again! I have to hurry!". She took off the shirt he had slept in, and gasped as she looked at herself in the mirror.

There was Twilight Sparkle, who hadn't been to a gym in her entire life. It looked like someone had placed Twilight's head on the body of a famous supermodel.

"Wow!" she yelled "What's going on?"

There was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Twilight?" called Cadance "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Cadance!" she replied "I'm fine. I've never been better!"

"Are you feeling better than yesterday?" Cadance asked.

"Yes" Twilight replied, putting her glasses in a drawer "Incredibly better!".





Twilight hurriedly dressed, took the steps two at a time and, jumping over the railing, landed like an Olympic gymnast next to Shining Armor.

"Good morning" she said, stuffing a cupcake in her mouth "It's late. I have to go".

"We thought you were sick" Shining Armor commented.

"I was" Twilight replied, and she began to take two-handed food from all the plates that were on the table "But I feel much better already".

"Sit down, dear" Cadance begged her.

"I can't" Twilight replied, kissing her cheek "See you later."

"Don't forget you have to help me paint the kitchen after class" Shining Armor told him "Okay?"

"Sure, brother" Twilight said, smiling and taking more food "Do not start without me."

She hurried out the front door and glanced at her watch, hoping she still had time to catch up with Flash.

"What happened?" Cadance asked when the door closed on Twilight.

"I don't know ..." Shining Armor complained "But he just ate my bacon."





Twilight left the house just in time to see Flash Sentry leave his house. She paused for a moment in front of the door as a voice echoed out from inside Flash's house.

"I don't care what your mother says!" yelled a harsh voice "You're trash, and always will be! Just like her!"

Flash turned to look at his father for a moment.

"I have to go to class" he said, after which, he turned around to get away from there as soon as possible.

"Who is stopping you?" Mr. Sentry yelled at him.

"Leave him alone" said a weak voice from somewhere in the house.

"Am I talking to you?" yelled Mr. Sentry at his wife. And he slammed the door.





Flash crossed the street at full speed, trying, unsuccessfully, not to shed a single tear. A scene like this was pretty typical in the Sentry house. But the fact that it happened so often didn't make it any easier for him to digest.

Twilight was walking across the street, at the same time as Flash, but a little bit behind so he wouldn't see her. "Talk to him" she told herself, trying to muster the necessary confidence. "Come on, talk to him" It was then that she saw her tears. "No" she thought, "He'd be embarrassed if he knew I saw that private little family moment".

A car horn startled both Twilight and Flash. The convertible Trixie Lunamoon was driving pulled up next to Flash. His friends were in it. Flash quickly wiped away his tears and put a huge, happy smile on his face.

"Thanks for taking me" he said, and got into the car.

The convertible started up, and Twilight could hear the sound of Flash's carefree laughter over the noise of the engine.

As Twilight approached the bus stop, she noticed the bus pulling away.

"Not again!" she screamed herself, and ran off. Surprisingly, within seconds she had already reached him, and she hadn't even gasped.

As he reached for her arm to pound on the doors, hoping the waver would stop, Twilight's hand touched one of the posters that was attached to the side of the bus. The sign read, "GO WONDERCOLTS!" ​​The name used by the Cantelot High track team.

As Twilight touched the sign, the bus sped up and pulled out of the stop. But the sign stuck in the palm of her hand, torn from the vehicle that was now accelerating. "What's going on here?" Twilight wondered for the fourth or fifth time that morning as she dropped the sign.

The deafening sound of a horn startled her. Turning, she saw the nose of a huge truck just inches from her nose.

"WOW!" Twilight screeched, instinctively stepping aside.

SCREEECH!

The driver slammed on the brakes, knowing full well that he didn't have enough time to stop before hitting the girl. When the truck stopped, the driver rushed out of the cab. Hurrying to the front of the vehicle, he glanced at the grille of the truck. There was nothing there. Then she looked at the ground. There was no one there either. Taking off her cap and scratching her head, she got back into the truck and continued on her way.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She looked down and saw the street... ten stories below! And looking up, she realized that she was near the roof of a tall apartment building, pressed against a brick wall by the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet.

"I've jumped up to here" she thought "It's the only possible explanation. I've jumped up to here, and now I'm stuck to a wall!".

Twilight reached out for her and grabbed a thick metal pipe that ran the entire building from top to bottom. Hoping she could climb it to the roof, she twisted it like aluminum foil. After releasing the pipe, her Twilight fell onto the sidewalk, where she landed without a single scratch.

Landing and still in awe, but also very jubilant, Twilight ran to the institute.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Canterlot High cafeteria was a lively scene of lunchtime chaos. Students gathered at long tables, laughing and chatting. Many waited in line to order the menu of the day, which they dropped on plates and then went to their trays. At times, food would fly through the air and land on a table, the floor, or a student.

Still brooding over everything that had happened to her, Twilight Sparkle made her way through the maze of tables with enough food to feed ten people on her tray. In addition to the physical changes and strange new abilities that were part of her transformation, Twilight was hungry. Very hungry. And at all hours. Settling into one of the few tables that weren't full, Twilight began to gobble up meat and mashed potatoes.

Flash Sentry was passing by, on his way to a table where her friends were. Her tray prevented him from seeing the ground, so she did not notice that she was stepping on a pile of potatoes and gravy. She slipped and the tray went flying through the air.

Twilight saw that Flash was going to hit the ground hard. With an instinctive move, she jumped out of her chair, caught the flying tray with her left hand, and reached down with her right arm to grab Flash around the waist just before he hit the ground.

Flash regained his balance and Twilight handed him the tray.

"Wow!" he said "Magnificent reflexes! Thank you!"

Twilight shrugged. She also couldn't believe that she had done that acrobatic maneuver. It seemed that the thought of her had transformed into movement in an instant.

"It was nothing" she said relaxedly.

"Hey!" Flash said pointing to Twilight's face "You have purple eyes! I guess I've never seen you without glasses. Did you just put contact lenses?"

"This..." Twilight hesitated, unprepared to share what was happening to her, since not even she was sure "This, this..."

Flash smiled as he waited for Twilight to continue the conversation.

But she did not say anything.

"Well, see you" Flash finally said, walking away.

Twilight gritted her teeth. Another missed opportunity.

Before reaching her table, Flash turned and smiled at Twilight. He then she sat next to Trixie Lunamoon.

Twilight continued eating, finishing off the first two courses and four desserts before stopping for a sip of milk. She put the fork down on the table, but when she wanted to lift her hand to take the milk carton, her fork stuck to her fingers.

Puzzled, Twilight tried to pull the fork down again. A sticky filament that ran from her cutlery to her right wrist stretched like melted cheese on a pizza. Only this filament was thicker and stronger. Twilight couldn't get her fork off. As he lifted her left hand to try to get rid of him, a long filament shot out of her wrist and hit the tray of a girl sitting at the table next to her.

Twilight pulled hard with her left hand, finally taking off the fork on her right. This movement caused the long filament coming out of her left wrist to drag the girl's tray and send it flying right towards her own head.

Twilight ducked and the tray flew past her, ending up landing on Trixie Lunamoon.

Trixie whirled around angrily.

"Sparkle!" she screamed "Have you gone crazy?"

As Flash tried to hide his laughter from Trixie, Twilight ran out of the cafeteria.





Only when she was in the hallway did Twilight look at her wrists and discover a small cut on each of them. "This wasn't here yesterday!" She thought as she rolled down her sleeves and buttoned the cuffs of her shirt to hide it.

At that moment, Twilight had one of the strangest sensations of her life. Time seemed to slow down and everyone around him was moving in slow motion. She also felt that she could see what was happening around her, and in all directions at once, as if her field of vision had expanded to cover three hundred and sixty degrees.

Then, she saw a fist that was heading for her corinilla. Time returned to normal as she turned and took a step to the side, just in time to dodge a powerful punch from Trixie Lunamoon.

Trixie's fist missed Twilight's head and hit a locker hard.

"Oh!" she complained, waving her hand. Then she stared at Twilight, furious "You think you are very funny, right," weirdo "?!".

Flash stepped between the two girls.

"Trixie, it was an accident!" he said.

"I'm sorry" Twilight added quickly "Really, it was an accident."

"No" Trixie snapped "When she breaks your teeth, that will be an accident!"

"I don't want to fight you, Trixie" Twilight said, as a crowd began to gather around her.

"I wouldn't want to either" Trixie replied, as Flash stepped aside, aware that he couldn't do anything to stop it.

Trixie unleashed two more punches, and Twilight dodged them without difficulty. Trixie was stunned; she couldn't understand how that clumsy bookworm had managed to move so quickly.

One of Trixie's friends tried to grab Twilight from behind, but she felt her approach and she ducked; she then she got up at full speed, making him fall backwards.

"It's enough, Sparkle!" Trixie bellowed "You're dead!" and she pounced on Twilight waving her arms and punching violently.

Twilight did not move from the site. Bending at the waist, she avoided each of the blows without problems.

Flash turned to Sunset Shimmer, who had just joined the crowd.

"Sunset, please help her" she begged him.

"Which of them?" replied Sunset, who was clearly enjoying the success of her friend while she frustrated the bully from high school.

Trixie attacked Twilight with her head down and met her fist. Her blow hit him in the jaw, and the more abusive of the two flew off, she landed in a row of lockers and ended up collapsing on the floor, unconscious.

"Look what you've done, Sparkle!" shouted Trixie's friend, crouching down next to her battered partner "You've knocked her out."

"It was not my intention" Twilight replied looking at her fist, surprised by the new strength acquired from her.

The crowd that had gathered to watch the fight surrounded Trixie. The toughest girl in high school, the fallen giant now pathetically slumped to the ground, was cause for compassion.

The students looked at Twilight strangely, as if she had suddenly turned into some kind of monster. Looking at her hands, Twilight was suddenly scared of her incredible... new powers.

She ran out of the institute.

"I have to discover the extent of these powers" she thought as her mind raced.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Standing in an empty alley, Twilight watched her hands and the brick wall in front of her over and over again.

"I don't lose anything by trying..." she murmured, still unsettled by her recent discovery.

Placing her hands on the wall above her head, Twilight pushed herself up. Her palms stuck to the bricks, as if she had suction cups on them. Supporting first one hand and then the other, she Twilight ascended the wall in a matter of seconds and nimbly reached the roof of the building.

"This is incredible!" she yelled, running at top speed and then jumping off the edge of the roof. Having cleared the small space in the alley, she landed on the roof of the adjacent building. Then she continued her aerial journey from roof to roof.

"I have to try something..." Twilight said, her heart pounding. Standing on the edge of a building, she directed her wrist toward the building across the alley. Trying to remember what exactly she had done in the cafeteria to make the filament shoot out of the cut on her wrist, she closed her hand.

Nothing.

She moved it in all directions and nothing happened. Turning her hand, she exposed his palm and pressed her ring finger and heart against her palm.

ZIP!

A filament of cobweb shot out of her wrist and stuck to the wall of the building opposite. Twilight pulled the string. She was holding on tight. "I don't lose anything by trying" she told herself. Then she held on tightly to the filament and left the roof.

"It works!" she screamed excitedly, swaying like a monkey on a vine, while the powerful thread supported her weight. She only looked ahead in time to see her pounce over a brick wall...

"Agg!" she yelled "Where's the brakes on this?"

With her legs in front of her, Twilight crashed into the wall: first her feet, then her shoulders, and finally her face.

"I think I need a little practice!" She thought as she dangled from the filament, somewhat dazed.

Twilight spent the rest of the afternoon climbing walls, weaving webs, and jumping across neighborhood rooftops, training her skills.





As night fell, Twilight finally headed home. Along the way, she tried to clarify the strange events of the past few days. "When that mutant spider bit me, it must have somehow transmitted all of her abilities to me. I have become a kind of human spider... How strange!".

When she got home, Twilight walked into the kitchen and immediately smelled the wet paint.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed "I promised Shining Armor that tonight I would help him paint..."

She found a note taped to the staircase that said, "Dinner is in the oven. We have gone to the Anderson house to play bridge."

"Ah, damn it!" she sputtered herself, annoyed with herself for breaking her word with Shining Armor.

The screaming from the house next door interrupted her thoughts. Looking out the window, she saw the silhouettes of Flash Sentry and her parents. They were arguing once more.

Twilight stepped out into the backyard just as Flash slammed open the back door and stepped out into hers.

"H-hi..." she said, embarrassed that she was discovered.

"Have you been listening?" Flash asked.

"No. Well yeah..." Twilight stuttered "I guess I heard something".

"Sorry" said Flash "We argue all the time. Your brother never yells".

"Well, you have no idea what they both can yell sometimes you know?" Twilight replied, trying to make him feel better.

"Good" Flash started, suddenly changing the subject "What are you going to do when you finish high school?".

"I've thought about moving to the city, getting a job as a photographer and working while I study for a career" Twilight explained "And you?"

"I think I'll also go to the city" Flash replied "To become an actor".

"Great" said Twilight "I have the impression that great things are going to happen to you, Flash".

"Oh yeah? And what's going to happen to you?"

"I'm not sure" Twilight answered "But I feel something that I haven't felt before. Something... different."

Suddenly there was a moment of awkward silence between them.

"Wow, you're taller than you look..." Flash said, and suddenly grabbed Twilight by her arms. He was surprised to touch them "You shouldn't shrink so much".

Flash put his hands on Twilight's arms again. Meanwhile, his heart was pounding.

The screaming started again and the loud horn of a car was heard, spoiling the moment.

Trixie Lunamoon pulled a shiny new convertible to the curb.

"Hey, Flash!" she yelled "Come on, let's go for a spin on my birthday present!"

Flash looked at Trixie and then at Twilight.

"Thanks, Twilight" he said, shrugging "I have to go."

He smiled at Twilight, then got into the convertible and he and Trixie drove away.

Twilight flexed her arms. They looked huge. She sighed and shrugged.

"What a car" she thought.





That night, alone in her room, Twilight thought about her powers as she flipped through the newspaper. An announcement caught his attention:


"ATTENTION, AMATEUR FIGHTERS
THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS
If you can stay in the ring
for more than three minutes with
Bulk Biceps

Eye-catching clothing MANDATORY!"


"Perfect!" Twilight exclaimed, and she ripped the ad from the newspaper "I'll be able to earn some quick cash and buy my own car".

Using a pencil and sketchbook, Twilight went to work designing a costume for her. Two, three, four pictures were squeezed to the ground before Twilight took a break to get some practice with her newly released spider web shots.

She placed a few bottles on the shelves in her room, and tried to reach them with a cobweb strike. Although she was able to control when she fired, she did not know how to direct the filaments in a certain direction. She missed her target in a single shot, and she just hit the bookshelf, knocking the books and science awards to the floor.

"Twilight?" Cadance called her from the entrance "What's going on?".

"I only exercise, Cadance!" Twilight yelled.

"Well don't hurt yourself, for Celestia's sake" she replied.

Twilight took out her tools and began rummaging through the drawers looking for anything that would allow her to build a contraption to get her web shot. She scattered some old toys, clocks, and other trinkets on her desk.

Excited about the idea, she went to work with her welder.

"Another science project for Twilight Sparkle" she thought, smiling, as she fashioned a pair of web-firing bracelets as she could. She tucked them into her wrists and fired at the first bottle on the shelf.

ZIP! An accurate hit! She tugged at her arm and the bottle flew across the room... eventually slamming into a wall.

"Hey!" Shining Armor yelled from downstairs "What are you doing, Twilight?"

"Studying, brother!" she exclaimed "Studying hard!"
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even in the middle of the night, the tall smokestacks of the CinchCorp industrial complex expelled black smoke.

All the scientists, technicians, and other employees of CinchCorp's underground research and development laboratory had already gone home. All but Cinch and Dr. Mendel Stromm.

Cinch was in a glass-enclosed isolation chamber in the center of the laboratory. The camera pulsed and glowed with vibrant green lucas as Cinch readied herself for an experiment.

"Mrs. Cinch, please don't do it" Stromm begged "I'm asking you one last time".

"Don't be a coward, Stromm!" Cinch snapped "Risks are part of the scientific study. They always have been".

"Let me reorganize this with proper medical personnel and a volunteer" suggested Stromm "If you give me two weeks..."

"Stromm, in two weeks this project, and this company, will be dead!" Cinch yelled. "You heard the general. If we can't prove that our Human Abilities Booster works, our funds will go to Crystal Aerospace, and that will be the end of CinchCorp. I'm going to prove it works... with me! Who better than me to become the first being to take advantage of all the physical and intellectual potential of the human being? My strength and intellect will grow to superhuman proportions. So they will see that I was right".

Stromm sighed and shook his head. She knew better not to argue with her boss once she had made up her mind. Abacus Cinch was going to continue the experiment at any cost.

"Get started" Cinch said.

Stromm flipped several switches and adjusted the levels on the control panel before her. Inside the glass chamber there was a high-pitched hum, growing louder. Cinch squeezed her eyes shut as some kind of black gas filled the cubicle.

Holding her breath, Cinch felt dense gases penetrate her nostrils. Trying to calm herself, she exhaled and then inhaled deeply as the smelly gas filled her lungs.

As Cinch continued to gently breathe in and out, the burning tightness that spread across her chest gave way to a sense of well-being that flooded her mind and body.

That moment the spasms began.

Cinch's entire body began to shake and twist, her teeth began to chatter, her arms and legs trembled violently.

On the monitor, which Stromm watched closely, all of Cinch's vital signs - heart rate, respiration, blood pressure - dropped dangerously low. Stromm panicked. He knew what those signs meant. In a few seconds, his boss would be dead.

Stromm hit a red button with the flat of his hand. Instantly, an emergency suction system sucked the black gas from Cinch's chamber. Stromm opened the cubicle door, rushed inside, and ripped Cinch's shirt off.

Placing his ear on his boss's chest, Stromm heard nothing. Was he too late? He was about to perform an electroshock to resuscitate him when the alarms on the monitors of his control panel went off. Cinch's vital signs had returned, to continue to grow to alarming levels.

Stromm was still staring at the control panel when Cinch's eyelids snapped open. His eyes swept the room from side to side in a split second, and she began to roar like a wild beast.

"Mrs. Cinch, please" Stromm began, turning to look at his boss. She couldn't finish.

Cinch slammed her arm across Stromm's chest and pinned her against one of the chamber walls. The glass shattered.

Stromm flew through the lab, hit a supporting pillar, and collapsed to the ground, dead.

Abacus Cinch emerged from the shattered glass chamber. He was no longer the same person who had entered her, but something completely different, something new and strange, not quite human... she staggered through the lab and looked at Stromm's lifeless body, lying in a pool of blood.

Something caught his attention. He awkwardly approached the high-tech glider and the suit he controlled, which were in the center of the room. Abacus Cinch threw back his head and let out an inhuman, unnatural howl of pain and confusion.

Of transformation.





Abacus Cinch's apartment was a reflection of power and style. Although the furniture was modern, the luxurious home was decorated with ancient objects from different cultures, collected throughout a lifetime of travels around the world. This collection was dominated by tribal masks, all based on the same theme: war. Abacus Cinch took his business, like everything else in his life, very seriously.

The morning after the experiment, Cinch sat on the couch in her cabinet, dressed in the same clothes she wore the night before. She stared at the wall, stunned, her mind confused, her body aching.

Sunset Shimmer hurried to the front door on the way to the institute, her backpack on her shoulder. She looked into the cabinet and stopped.

"Mom, are you okay?" she asked, approaching her mother "You look sick. What happened?"

"I really don't know" Cinch replied.

"Where were you last night?" Cinch asked, kneeling next to her mother to look into her eyes. "I didn't hear you coming".

"I was... I was last night..." Cinch stuttered "I really don't remember".

Voices were heard in the corridor.

"I have to see her" someone said firmly.

Sunset recognized the voice. It was Mr. Simkins, the secretary of her mother.

"She can't be disturbed now," said the other voice, which Sunset recognized as her housekeeper.

Mr. Simkins entered the cabinet anyway.

"Who's there?" Cinch inquired, squinting at the intruder.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cinch" said Mr. Simkins advancing towards Cinch.

Sunset blocked his path.

"My mother is not feeling well, Mr. Simkins" she explained.

He walked past Susnet and knelt beside Cinch.

"Mrs. Cinch..." began "Dr. Stromm is dead".

"What!?" Cinch exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

"They found her body this morning, in the laboratory" reported Mr. Simkins "It seems that she has been murdered".

"What is she talking about?" Cinch managed to articulate, fighting to dispel the mist that still clouded his head.

"Besides, ma'am" he continued "The winged glider prototype has disappeared. It has been stolen".

Cinch sat up, struggling to clear his mind.

"Take me there" she said firmly "Now".
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight ran down the stairs to the front door, her school bag hitting the side.

"I'm going to the library, see you later, bye!" she blurted out this sentence at a speed that sounded like a single long word.

"Wait, Twilight!" Shining Armor asked, taking her jacket and car keys "I'll take you."

"Don't bother ..." Twilight answered quickly "I'll catch the train."

"I said I'm taking you" insisted Shining Armor "Get in the car."

Twilight knew it was best not to argue with her brother when she used that tone of voice. The two of them got into the vehicle.





After the silent ride, Shining Armor stopped the car in front of the library on 42nd Street.

"Thanks for bringing me" Twilight said, opening the door.

"Wait a minute" Shining Armor said firmly "We need to talk".

"I don't have time for chatting, brother" Twilight complained "I really have to go".

Shining Armor ignored the protest and continued:

"Something's changed, Twilight. Cadance and I don't know who you are anymore. I wonder if you know yourself. Our Twilight, fighting in high school?".

"I didn't start that fight" Twilight protested.

"Something's happening to you" Shining Armor pointed out forcefully "You're changing".

"How do you know?" Twilight asked, unable to hide her annoyance at what seemed like an interrogation.

"Because, when I was your age, I went through the same stage" Shining Armor replied, determined to maintain his point of life.

"I don't think so" Twilight replied "Not exactly... Look, I have to go".

"These are the years when someone becomes the person they will be for the rest of their life" continued Shining Armor, undaunted "You have to take care of who you become. Like any other girl who transforms into a woman, you feel that great power. But remember: a great power comes great responsibility".

"What are you afraid I will do, turn me into some kind of criminal?" Twilight yelled, finally understanding her brother.

She almost never raised her voice to her brother, and he wasn't sure if the anger she felt now was a consequence of the transformations she was undergoing or simply what any other teenager would feel in that situation.

"Stop worrying about me, okay? Something has changed! I'll understand. Stop teaching me!"

Twilight opened the car door and got out.

"I know I'm not a dad, Twilight" Shining Armor said through the open window, keeping her tone calm.

"Well, don't behave like one!" Twilight snapped. In the precise instant that Twilight blurted out those words, she regretted saying them.

"I'll pick you up here at ten," Shining Armor said softly, and started the car.

"Sorry!" Twilight yelled at the car pulling away from her, wishing she could erase that moment.

Full of frustration and reproaching herself for having spoken so harshly to the person who had raised her since she was a child, she Twilight waited until the car disappeared from her sight. She then she turned and walked away from the library.





After walking a few blocks, Twilight came to a large sports hall. A huge crowd was outside, pushing toward the doors. The entrance canopy read: "TONIGHT, FIGHT!" Twilight took the crumpled newspaper ad out of her pocket and unfolded it. She took a deep breath and joined the crowd of spectators and future fighters that was slowly advancing towards the entrance.

Once inside, Twilight walked over to a table next to a sign that read: "THREE MINUTES FOR THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS" In her tail, behind men twice her size and dressed in costumes of the strangest shapes, Twilight managed to sign up to fight Bulk Biceps.

As she passed the stands, she was overwhelmed by the noise of the crowd cheering the wrestlers and the bright spotlights filling the stadium. In the ring, Bulk Biceps was holding his latest victim above his head. Twilight headed for the locker room.

The enormous fighter was a specimen with an amazing physique. He was over six feet tall, and his body seemed sculpted from marble, with each and every one of his muscles perfectly defined. He was not wearing a shirt, so that he could better show his torso and arms. His tight pants outlined his powerful legs.

Bulk Biceps lifted his defenseless opponent several times as his muscles tensed with the movement. The crowd rose to their feet and shouted their approval as they sensed that the end was near.

"No one can last three minutes with Bulk Biceps!" bellowed the monstrous fighter.

Then, almost effortlessly, he sent his opponent to the ropes, who ended up plummeting to the ground, out of the ring. The poor man, who was almost unconscious, fell at the feet of the spectators in the front row.

"The next!" growled Bulk Biceps, raising his fist in triumph.

The presenter was in front of a curtain on a ramp leading to the ring.

"Do you want more?" he yelled into the microphone.

"More more more!" chanted the audience, carried away by frenzy.

"Bulk Biceps is ready!" shouted the giant in the ring, moving through him, stalking, waving his arms to exhort the crowd.

"Please bring the next victim into the ring now!" shouted the presenter "If you can endure three minutes of terrible fight with Bulk Biceps, the sum of three thousand dollars will be paid to..."

The presenter turned to the curtain behind him.

"The Human Spider?" he whispered, covering the microphone with his hand "Is that it? Is it the best thing you can think of?"

Twilight waited anxiously behind the curtain. She had donned a makeshift costume made with old purple sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a pink hood that covered her head, neck, and shoulders.

"The Human Spider" she said "That is my name".

"Bah!" said the presenter, as the crowd grew impatient "We'll have to give it some good atmosphere" and turning to the microphone, he continued: "The sum of three thousand dollars paid to the terrifying... mortal... and amazing... SPIDER-GIRL!".

"I'm the Human Spider" Twilight corrected the presenter as she walked past him.

"Get in the ring and shut up, weakling" snapped the presenter.

Twilight slipped between the ropes and began to assimilate the situation that was presented to him. She was a student who got nervous reading an exercise in front of the rest of the class... And now she was faced with thousands of frenzied and hungry onlookers, most of whom had paid for the privilege of seeing her pounded.

A noise coming from somewhere overhead brought Twilight's attention back to the ring. As she looked up in horror, a huge bottomless steel cage fell onto the ring, creating a prison for the two fighters. Four stagehands wound metal chains around the corners of the cage to lock the combatants inside.

Twilight grabbed the bars of the cage and shook them. They hardly moved. She turned and watched as Bulk Biceps stared at her from the center of the ring.

"You can't go anywhere" announced the huge fighter "You are mine for three minutes. Three minutes to play with Bulk Biceps ..."

Twilight gulped.

"What am I doing here?" she muttered under her breath.

The bell that signaled the beginning of the fight rang loudly. Bulk Biceps wasted no time. The mountain of muscle lunged at Twilight, who, jumping off it, caused her opponent to slam into the steel bars of the cage.

Bulk Biceps looked up and saw Twilight hanging from the top of the cage.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked surprised.

"Stay away from you for three minutes" Twilight explained calmly, as if she had just been asked the time.

Bulk Biceps jumped angrily, trying to grab Twilight's head, but it moved quickly, flipping and landing on the other side of the cage.

The crowd roared.

"Come on, Spider-Girl!" they yelled from everywhere.

"Come on, Spider-Girl?" Twilight thought "A moment ago they wanted to see me turned into mincemeat. Now is it 'Come on, Spider-Girl'?" She shrugged, determined to give the audience the show she wanted. Moving at breakneck speed, she launched into a one-handed headstand on Bulk Biceps head.

"Your costume isn't bad," Twilight joked, becoming more confident "What's this, latex? I tried to make mine out of lycra, but it gave me terrible itches."

Bulk Biceps raised her arms and slapped her away from her head, grabbing Twilight's ankle in the same motion.

"Got you, bug!" he growled at her, as he pushed Twilight to the side of the cage.

"You know? Technically, spiders are not insects" Twilight explained as she dropped onto the mat "They belong to a group of small animals called arachnids".

Bulk Biceps launched herself into the air, directing her elbows and her entire massive bulk at Twilight.

Twilight then raised her feet against Bulk Biceps' chest, then unleashed a furious kick that sent the giant against the steel bars of the cage.

Bulk Biceps collapsed on the mat, unconscious. The combat was over. The amazed Spider-Girl was the winner.

The crowd went wild, chanting "Spider-Girl! Spider-Girl! Spider-Girl!" as light bulbs exploded and chaos reigned in the stadium.

Twilight raised her arms in triumph.

"Ah, the show..." she said smiling.





Backstage, Twilight waited while the promoter opened his safe and took out money.

"Here's your money," the promoter said, placing one hundred dollar bill on the palm of Twilight "Now get out of here".

"Hundred dollars?" Twilight yelled "The ad said three thousand!".

"Read it again, cobweb head" replied the promoter with an annoyed tone "He was saying three of the greats for three minutes. You have immobilized him in two. That's why you have earned the hundred dollars. And you are lucky to have won that. You have made the best of my fighters look like a wimp! "

Furious with rage, Twilight grabbed the promoter by the shirt and pulled him to her face.

"I need that money!" she growled at him threateningly.

"And what makes you think that's my problem?" the promoter replied calmly.

Twilight had to muster all of her self-control to avoid beating him up right there. But she finally won her reason. Twilight released him, turned and stormed out the door. A short man with blond hair and round, bright eyes pushed her past the promoter's office.

Still outraged and muttering under her breath, Twilight was already reaching the elevator when she heard a scream behind her.

"Hey! What are you doing?" said the voice. He was the promoter.

Twilight turned to see the office door slam open. The blond-haired man shot out of there, clutching a bag under his arm.

Red-faced and sweating, the promoter staggered through the door.

"Help me!" he yelled "That guy just stole all the money I've made in combat! He's taking my winnings!"

The thief was running towards the elevator that Twilight was next to while a security guard tried to hunt him down.

"Hey you!" the guard yelled "Stop that guy!"

The elevator doors opened. Twilight watched the thief running toward her, then looked across the lobby at the promoter who had just cheated on her. She thought for a few moments, and then she stood still as the thief walked past her in the direction of the elevator.

"Thanks!" the thief scoffed as the elevator doors closed.

"What is your problem?!" the security guard yelled at him, trying to catch his breath "You let him get away!"

The promoter came running to Twilight.

"You could have ripped him to pieces!" he yelled furiously "Now he's running away with my money!"

Twilight looked the promoter in the eye.

"And what makes you think that's my problem?" she said with a satisfied smile. She then she turned around and left there.

Although she didn't know it then, that was a decision she would regret for the rest of her life.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dressed in her street clothes, Twilight hurried out of the sports hall. She didn't want her brother to know where she had been that night, so she hurried to the library before he arrived to pick her up.

Twilight looked at her clock in the corner where they had arranged to meet.

"Five past ten" he said aloud "Hmm ... Shining Armor is never late. I hope you are not mad at me for the nonsense I told you this afternoon about not being a dad. That was stupid. I have to. repeat how sorry I am. "

A police car sped past Twilight, her blasting siren breaking the night's silence. A few seconds later she was followed by an ambulance, with the siren also sounding. Both vehicles made a right turn into the next block with a screech.

This was the same route Shining Armor had to take on its way from home.

When another police car sped past and made the same turn, Twilight felt a pang of terror. She walked briskly to the next block and then started jogging, ending up running. As she rounded the corner, she almost stopped her heart at the sight of a large crowd.

Trying to push her way through the growing number of onlookers, Twilight arrived alongside three policemen. There was a man lying in the middle of the street, bleeding from a terrible wound on his chest. As they approached the officers, Twilight looked at the dying man's face.

"Shining Armor!" she screamed in disbelief of what she was seeing, feeling dizzy and nauseous. When she knelt beside her body, an officer grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away.

"Come on, come on..." said the policeman "Stay away, miss!"

"My brother!" Twilight groaned "He's my brother!"

The officer released his arm.

"What happened?" Twilight asked as everything spun around her, like in slow motion.

"A car thief" explained the officer "He shot this man and he fled in his car".

Twilight approached her brother again.

"Come on, miss" said the policeman "You can't do anything to help this guy anymore".

"This guy?" Twilight yelled, stunned to hear someone call the man she had loved so much, who had sacrificed everything for her "It's not "this guy "!" she blurted out to police, "He's my brother!".

Twilight knelt beside the body and began to rock her brother's head in her arms.

"Shining Armor!" she called out "It's me, Twilight!"

Shining Armor's eyes slowly widened. He looked at her and smiled.

"Twi... light..." he whispered weakly. After her her eyes closed and her body went limp.

Shining Armor had died.

Twilight hugged the lifeless body of her brother and began to sob uncontrollably.

"They already have the one who shot!" An officer standing behind Twilight, now mired in anguish, announced in a squeaky voice. "He was heading south on Fifth Avenue!"

Twilight's tears stopped as if someone had cut them off. At that moment, pain gave way to anger. Gently placing her brother's body back on the ground, she stood up and pushed her way through the crowd with firm determination.





Sliding down a dark alley, Twilight tore off her shirt and pants, revealing the clothes she had worn to the wrestling match. It wasn't a proper costume, but for the moment she would do.

With one leap, Twilight landed on the side of a building, glued to the bricks, and raced to the top floor.

She ran across the roof to get to the side of the building that faced Fifth Avenue. She looked down and saw a line of police cars shining her headlights onto a single car (Shining Armor's Oldmobile) as sirens sounded.

Twilight raised her right hand and a sticky strand of cobweb sprouted from her wrist, adhering to the building across the street. Wrapping the web around her right hand, she leapt from the roof in a swift, nimble arc.

Cars, lights, and people approached Twilight at full speed. Calmly, she reached out her left hand and fired another strand of cobweb. As soon as the second thread had attached itself to a new building, she let go of the first, shifting her full weight now onto her left hand, and curled once more high above the city.

With a smooth, relentless rhythm, alerting the cobweb shooters on each of her wrists, Twilight picked up speed and advanced down Fifth Avenue. It only took her a few minutes to reach the car that her brother's killer was driving at full speed.

The car swerved recklessly from one lane to another, weaving through the traffic. Her driver was trying by all means to get rid of the police cars that were pursuing him. Upon reaching an eastbound street, she swerved and made a sharp left turn. The rear of the car skidded as it accelerated toward the river. Brakes screeched and wheels squealed as police cars continued their pursuit.

So was Twilight.

PUM!

The driver heard a thud from the ceiling, as if something had landed there. As he looked up in puzzlement, a fist went through the plate and a hand smashed into his face. Unable to see, he bounced off a curb and struggled through a junction as several cars skidded and collided trying to avoid him. While he held the steering wheel with one hand, the driver put the other in a pocket, pulled out a pistol and fired at the roof of the car.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Outside, hooked to the ceiling, Twilight watched as the bullets exploded through the shattered metal, passing only inches from her. She let go of the killer's face and jumped onto the roof of a truck that was traveling in the adjoining lane at a speed similar to that of the Oldmobile.

Looking ahead, Twilight discovered a low-rise bridge across the street that she was about to crash into. Synchronizing her movements perfectly, she jumped, did three cartwheels to release the bridge; and she fell back to the other side, onto the roof of the truck. Taking a moment to regain her balance, she jumped back up to the speeding car and landed on the hood.

PAM!

Twilight's powerful fist smashed through the windshield, shattering the glass, obscuring the driver's visibility. As it drove at full throttle, uncontrollably, the car collided with the closed doors of an old riverside warehouse, ripping the rusted hardware from its hinges.

The car skidded into the warehouse entrance, but with no hint of stopping. Seeing that they were about to collide with the building, Twilight jumped up and managed to hang onto the wall above the entrance. The Oldmobile ended its run by crashing into the warehouse, ripping the door off its hinge and then stopping.

As police cars plowed through the already open entrance, sirens and radios blasting, Twilight quickly ascended the surface of the building, disappearing through a broken window.





Inside the warehouse, Twilight deftly crawled across the steel ceiling beams and surveyed the gloomy place. It seemed that the old structure had been abandoned for a long time. The rats shot out between the broken boxes and the rusty clump that was scattered on the concrete floor. The stench of decay mingled with the salty scent of the river that came through the windows that had lost their panes long ago.

In a dark corner of the warehouse, the killer looked around nervously, his gun in one hand and the cloth bag full of stolen money in the other. Police searchlights swept across the wall he was standing behind, barely showing his profile. His shoulder was introduced into a room to avoid being surprised from behind, he stopped for a moment and looked around him expecting something, although he did not know exactly what.

Slowly, silently, Twilight descended from the ceiling with the help of a filament of cobweb. The soft sound of her feet hitting the dusty concrete floor startled the assassin, who turned and began shooting at the silhouette that had just landed right behind him.

"Who's there?!".

With her arachnid sense, Twilight knew the bullet was approaching a moment before she would leave the barrel of the weapon. She jumped away, and the shot carved into the wall she had been standing on just moments ago.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

As if it were a shooting game in a carnival booth, the killer shot Twilight over and over again. With each shot, Twilight leapt from the wall to the ceiling, to the ground, back to another wall, always avoiding the bullets thanks to her spider sense and her incredible agility.

With astonishing speed, Twilight launched herself at the assassin, making him drop the weapon with one blow. The man tried to hide in the shadows, but Twilight grabbed his shirt and lifted him off the ground.

"This is for the man you killed!" She grunted, and throwing her right fist back, she delivered a furious blow to the jaw that sent him against a still intact window, shattering the glass around her. Twilight grabbed him back instantly, picking him up again and squeezing her fist for another punch.

"Don't kill me!" the man yelled, struggling inultimately to free himself "Let me live! Let me live!"

"Did you let your victim live?" Twilight roared increasingly irate "The man who matate, would you let him live? Huh? Answer me!!".

Twilight picked up the killer with the intention of throwing him across the building when she, for the first time, could see his face, illuminated by one of the police searchlights.

Twilight Sparkle recognized the man. That blond hair and round-socketed eyes were unmistakable. He was the thief who had stolen the promoter of the matches that afternoon. He was the man Twilight had let slip away, when she could have stopped him without a hitch. He was the same man who had just killed Shining Armor.

"No..." Twilight yelled, her chest tightening, gasping "No, not you! It can't be you!".

She threw the killer against the wall, where he collapsed, right next to his weapon.

Twilight buried her face in her hands as some images came to her head: the promoter with the red face, shouting that they had just robbed him; the blond-haired thief running to the elevator, clutching a bag full of money; the security guard asking Twilight to stop the thief... And then the image of herself angry and arrogant, too preoccupied with her own problems and with the opportunity for petty revenge by letting the malefactor escape. One last image flashed through her mind: Shining Armor's body slumped in the street.

The killer stood up and pointed his gun at Twilight, who was walking in her direction, furious. The gunman pulled the trigger. A small click echoed through the huge open-plan building. The gun no longer had bullets.

Twilight continued toward him with her fists clenched and her chin pressed to her chest. The killer stumbled back, still clutching the money bag. He then he tripped over an old piece of wood and fell through a low window.

Twilight reached out to hold him, but it was too late. The killer met his own death by crashing into a wooden pier several meters below. The bills fluttered out of the bag and fell to the ground around his limp body.

On the river, a police boat shone its spotlights on the window from which Twilight looked at the corpse.

"There is another one!" a ship officer shouted at his companion, and pointed his pistol at the silhouette of the window "I told you there were two!"

The second officer raised his gun, but the silhouette in the window had already disappeared.





Twilight Sparkle sat on a stone gargoyle protruding from a nearby roof, her head buried in her hands again. The deafening noise of the city of Canterlot City faded to almost silence. The only sound in her ears was her own voice.

"Shining Armor..." she whispered as tears slid through her fingers to her makeshift disguise "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

After a long time, she got up and started down the side of the building. Once on the sidewalk, she headed home, wondering how she was going to tell Cadance about all that had happened.
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Crystal Aerospace test area stretched for miles around, and its perimeter was defined by intermittent barbed wire. At the center of this inhospitable and barren landscape was a cement bunker half buried in the ground. Watchtowers surrounded the bunker, armed security guards paced up and down, scanning the horizon in all directions, and powerful searchlights illuminated the night sky.

Inside the bunker, a small group of military personnel, led by General Slocum, met with Badger's coordinator, the Crystal Aerospace project, and other employees.

"I think you're going to like this, General" said the coordinator, handing out binoculars to everyone present "The Badger robot is the ultimate super soldier. Take a look".

Through a long rectangular window, General Slocum and the others watched as a four-meter-tall robot approached an empty military truck. Raising its arms, the Badger fired several missiles from the shuttles embedded in each of its limbs and blew the truck to pieces.

"I see you have a good arsenal" said the general "But what about the armor?"

"He has passed all the tests we have subjected him to" explained the coordinator "he can receive any blow, as well as deliver a good thrashing left and right, general".

"I want to review the budget numbers" commented the general "But if what you say is true, I will sign the contract to finance your production tomorrow".

The project coordinator took General Slocum aside.

"What about his engagement to CinchCorp?" he asked.

"The only thing Abacus Cinch has done has been wasting our time and money to fulfill his wildest dreams" replied the general "Nothing would please me more than to give you your funds and ruin Cinch".

A small shrill sound coming from outside the bunker grew louder. The group ran to the window and could see how something broke the tranquility of the night sky.

"What's that?" asked a Crystal Aerospace technician.

"I don't know" replied the coordinator "But it's going in the direction of the Badger..."

The shrill sound outside turned into a deafening noise. Without warning, a missile rose from the sky and smashed the Badger.

The tower's security guards raised their weapons and unleashed a blast of fire, but they couldn't hit what they didn't see, and the ghastly form looming over them seemed to fade and then reappear again.

More missiles continued to fall from above, appearing as they razed the towers.

"What the hell is going on?" asked General Slocum, who was watching the massacre from inside the bunker.

His response came in the form of a roaring turbine engine, and another shrill, high-pitched sound as a missile headed toward the shelter.

"Oh no!" the general yelled as the bunker exploded into a great ball of bright orange flames.

A black form settled on the smoking ruins of the building as a horrible sly laugh faded into the night.





The weeks following Shining Armor's murder were the hardest of Twilight Sparkle's life. She spent a lot of time at home, with Cadance, helping her get through her tragedy, while she struggled with her own guilt for allowing this to happen.

One bright June morning came the moment that Twilight and her companions had longed for. Smiling students and their proud parents packed the outdoor amphitheater in preparation for Canterlot High's graduation ceremony. For Twilight and Cadance, being able to celebrate a special occasion was a small respite from so much pain, although the absence of Shining Armor left a bittersweet taste in such a joyous reunion.

After the typical speeches and the distribution of diplomas, the time-honored tradition of students throwing their caps into the air took place. The students erupted in joyous applause. Later, the group began to disperse and they went to reunite with their families.

As she scanned the crowd for Cadance, Twilight spotted Sunset, who was also searching for her mother.

"Hey, Sunset!" Twilight yelled cheerfully "We did it!"

"Sure you do" replied Sunset "And thanks in large part to you! So I have good news: my mother owns a building downtown that has a spare apartment. Says we can use it. Why do not you come with me to city?"

"I don't know" said Twilight, shrugging "I don't know if I can afford to pay the rent. I have to get a job first!"

"We'll come up with something" smiled Sunset.

Nearby, Cadance and Abacus Cinch walked through the crowd, searching for their respective students. Cadance recognized Cinch.

"Mrs. Cinch" she said, extending her right hand "I'm Cadance, Twilight's sister-in-law".

"Nice to meet you" said Cinch, shaking her hand affectionately "How is she? I can't find my daughter".

"There's Sunset" Cadance said, pointing over the heads of the people next to them.

Sunset pushed her way through the crowd, clutching her diploma with pride.

"Hey, mom!" she yelled, stopping next to Cinch. She wanted him to give her a motherly hug, but she knew better not to expect anything.

"You did it" Cinch said, offering her hand. "It's not the first time I've been wrong. Congratulations".

"Thank you" Sunset said, accepting her mother's firm hand shake.

"Congratulations, Sunset" said Cadance, hugging her lovingly.

"Look who's coming that way!" Cinch exclaimed upon seeing Twilight advancing towards them "The winner of the science award!".

Twilight finally caught up with the group, ready to hug Cadance.

"Here's our graduate" she said as she held her tight and smiled proudly "You were both so pretty up there..."

Cinch put her hand on Twilight's shoulder.

"I know you've had a very hard time" she said "If you ever need anything..."

"Thank you Mrs. Cinch" Twilight replied with a nod.

It wasn't the first time Sunset had the feeling that her mother was more fond of Twilight than she was. Averting her gaze from the emotional scene, she caught sight of Flash Sentry, shoving Trixie away, turning, and pushing his way through the crowd. Sunset looked back at Twilight and Cinch, then ran after Flash.





Back at home, Twilight walked up the stairs to her room. Cadance followed her, worried that once the day's celebrations were over, Twilight's sadness would be greater than ever.

Her door was ajar, so she knocked softly. He then he entered her room and sat next to her, on the edge of the bed.

"I've missed him so much today" Twilight said almost in a whisper, staring at the ground.

"I know" replied Cadance, taking Twilight's hand "I've missed him too. But he was there. I know. He would never have missed it".

Twilight raised her head and looked at the ceiling in exasperation.

"I wish I hadn't..."

"Twilight, don't start that again" Cadance cut her off.

"I can't stop thinking about the last thing I said to her" Twilight continued, her voice still haunted.

"Stop torturing yourself" Cadance said soothingly.

"He was trying to tell me something important and I ignored him" Twilight said, dropping her head back onto her chest.

"You loved him" said Cadance "And he loved you. He never doubted that you would become a great woman. He knew that great things are going to happen to you in life. You will not let him down" and then, squeezing his hand, she added "Not even me".

I got up gently and left Twilight lost in thought of her.





Left alone, Twilight opened the bottom drawer of her closet and pulled out the pink and purple suit and mask that she had been working on for days. The pink part of the suit (chest, shoulders, gloves, boots and mask) traversed by silver filaments, and in the center of the cobweb on the chest was a white spider. The mask had two white, oval-shaped pieces for the eyes, designed by Twilight to allow her to see without being recognized.

As she stared at the white spider on the suit, Twilight heard Shining Armor's voice in her mind:

"With great power comes great responsibility" said the warm and familiar voice "Remember, Twilight... Remember".
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the next several weeks, the city of Canterlot City bustled with news of a strange figure in pink and purple who thwarted the action of the criminals as if it were a harassment and takedown team made up of a single woman. The most incredible stories dotted the city's newspapers and ran from word of mouth among taxi drivers, construction workers, and other citizens who made up the city's urban fabric.

A thief about to shoot a shopkeeper saw the gun ripped from his hand with a sticky filament of cobweb fired by a mysterious being.

Police officers who arrived at the scene of a jewelery robbery found the three robbers neatly tied inside a sack made of cobweb, hanging from a lamp.

A woman who had just had her purse stolen saw a pink and purple silhouette carry the rogue through the air as she returned her purse with a note that read: "COURTESY OF YOU FRIEND NEIGHBORHOOD, SPIDER-GIRL".

The police did not know what to think of this masked crusade. Some thought she was a heroine, others an unwanted vigilante.





In the offices of Canterlot City's largest tabloid newspaper, Pony New Network, editor Filthy Rich knew exactly what he thought of the so-called Spider-Girl.

"She is a criminal!" Filthy yelled at Applejack, her longtime editor-in-chief "A public threat! What's she doing on my front page?".

Filthy Rich turned the edition of her newspaper on her desk, discovering the headline: "WHO IS SPIDER-GIRL? THE COSTUME WOMAN SAVES FIRE VICTIMS". Next to the headline was a photograph of a building on fire, with a blurred figure climbing up the side of the building.

"She's news, boss," Applejack explained "She saved six people from being burned to death".

"She was probably the one who started the fire!" snapped Filthy Rich "Something's up and this disgusting character is already there. What does that tell you, huh?".

"That she's a hero," Applejack replied.

"So... why is she wearing a mask?" shouted Filthy Rich "What does he have to hide?".

A wide smile appeared on Applejack's face. After so many years, he knew the reactions of his boss perfectly. She saved her best argument for last.

"We have sold out all four editions of today's newspaper, Filthy" she said.

"Sold out?" Filthy Rich asked.

"Not one left" Applejack replied, savoring the moment.

"I want Spider-Girl on the front page tomorrow!" yelled Filthy Rich "And this time with a decent photo!".

"That's our real problem" Applejack explained "We can't take a good photo. Starlight Glimmer has been trying for weeks to get a picture of that type, but nobody manages to do more than see it fleetingly".

"What's wrong? Is she shy?" yelled Filthy Rich, unloading her fist on the table "Don't you want to be famous? Put an ad: "Reward offered in exchange for Spider-Girl pictures!". Surely someone will get a picture".

"Maybe she doesn't want to be famous, boss" suggested Applejack.

"I think it's great!" Filthy Rich reproached him "Then I will make her famous!".





Twilight Sparkle was running around the Everfree University's campus in Manehattan. Since college, it seemed that he was always late for everything: classes, appointments, dinners... Trying to combine the life of a student and a superhero, without forgetting to try to earn money, gave him the feeling that the day did not have enough hours.

As she bolted into the university's science building, her fingers quickly buttoned her shirt to hide the pink and purple suit she wore underneath.

"Professor Luna!" Twilight yelled upon seeing the dark blue-headed teacher walking down the hall.

"You're an hour late, Sparkle" said Professor Luna, sighing and shaking her head "Class is over. You have missed another class".

"I'm sorry" Twilight apologized "It won't happen..."

"Look, Twilight" Professor Luna continued "You have a great scientific mind, but you don't seem to be able to put your priorities in order. You have been late six times this semester".

"Professor Luna, please let me explain..." Twilight pleaded.

"This internship is paid" Professor Luna continued, ignoring Twilight's plea "Do you know how many first-year students have applied for it? Do you know how many would even do it for free?"

"Professor Luna, please" Twilight tried one last time "I need this job!"

Professor Luna put her hand on Twilight's shoulder.

"I like you, Twilight" she said with real affection "Come see me when you have matured a little".

Twilight slowly exited the science building and past campus, walking aimlessly through the streets of Manehattan. She was counting on that interim. Now she would have to find another way to earn money, another way to pay Sunset her share of her rent.





As they passed a dirty-looking coffee shop, Twilight saw a man rushing out of there, followed by a trail of screaming. It was Flash Sentry.

"Hey!" she called out to him, running to catch up with him.

"Get lost!" Flash yelled at her, not even bothering to look at her.

"Flash, it's me, Twilight" he yelled at her.

Flash stopped and turned.

"Hi, Twilight!" he said "How are you?"

"I just lost my job" said Twilight "I have to find another one. What about you?"

"I, mmm..." Flash hesitated "I'm going to audition".

"So now you act" said Twilight enthusiastically "It's fantastic!"

The cafeteria door slammed open and a huge woman ran after them. She was wearing an apron and a bunch of restaurant bills clutched in her beefy fist.

"Hey, Mr. Actor!" she yelled at Flash "You have six dollars left. Next time I'll take it out of your pay!"

Then she turned and went back into the cafeteria.

"It's a temp job..." Flash explained, unable to hide his embarrassment "A few extra dollars".

"There's nothing to be ashamed of" Twilight responded quickly "I've been fired from worse jobs than these!"

"Please don't tell Sunset" said Flash.

"Sunset?" Twilight asked, puzzled at the mention of her roommate.

"We're dating together" said Flash, puzzled "Didn't he tell you? Don't you live in the same apartment?"

"Uh... yeah, well..." Twilight said, trying to hide her surprise.

"I think she doesn't like the idea of him serving tables" Flash explained "She thinks he's unworthy of me".

"Well, Sunset has never lived with her feet in that place I call Earth" Twilight joked.

Flash laughed.

"How do you always make her feel better to me?" he asked, squeezing Twilight's hand "See you later".

"See ya" Twilight said "And don't worry. I won't tell Sunset anything".

"Thanks" he replied, then turned the corner and disappeared down the next block.

Twilight stopped and looked up at the sky, shaking her head. "Sunset and Flash, wow!" she told herself. She lowered her head and walked home.





Upon entering the spacious apartment she shared with Sunset Shimmer, Twilight saw her partner sitting at her desk, studying. Meanwhile, Abacus Cinch paced around the house and spoke on his cell phone. She saw Twilight enter and nodded at her without leaving her conversation, and she, at the same time, returned her greeting.

"Typical" Sunset said as Twilight flopped down on the couch "Mom comes to visit me and is on the phone all the time".

She then she noticed Twilight's expression.

"What's wrong?"

"I was late and Professor Luna fired me" Twilight explained.

"Were you late again?" Sunset asked "Really, I don't know what's wrong with you, Twilight. Can you tell where you go all the time?"

Twilight shrugged.

"Over there" mumbled herself. Her biggest concern was keeping her life as Spider-Girl a secret from those she loved.

Abacus Cinch finished talking on the phone and turned to Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle" she said "Maybe you can tell me who that mystery boy is, the one who's dating Sunset. She wants me to meet him. This is new!"

"Mom!" Sunset protested.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Cinch" Twilight said, staring at her roommate "Sunset hasn't told me about him".

"Hey mom: Twilight is looking for a job" said Sunset, glad she could change the subject "Why don't you get her one?"

"No, it's not necessary, Mrs. Cinch" Twilight replied quickly "Thank you, but don't worry. I'll find something".

"What kind of job are you looking for, Twilight?" Cinch asked.

"Actually, I'm thinking of something to do with photography," Twilight replied as she picked up an edition of Pony New Networks, which was folded on the coffee table. She had intended to browse the job postings, but the image on the front page of the newspaper stopped her in her tracks.

A crude drawing of Spider-Girl's masked face stared at her from the front page of the newspaper. Above it was read: "PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF WANTED! IS IT REALLY EXISTS SPIDER-GIRL? SHOW US. REWARD GIVEN IN CASH!".
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Spider-Girl was hanging from the ledge of a window of the third floor of a downtown bank. Hidden in the dead of night above the street lamps, she worked quickly. She knew that a bank robbery was taking place and she also knew that she only had one chance to get her goal.

Moving the lenses to keep the entrance to the bench in focus, she attached the camera to the bottom of the window ledge using a glob of the sticky cobweb. Spider-Girl, listening carefully, waited for the robbers to come out of the bank.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard at the door. Spider-Girl triggered the self-timer camera to the view out the three robbers, and then jumped into action.

Moving with the help of a cobweb, she pounced on the thieves just as her camera's flash fired. During the short fight that followed, the camera continued to take a series of photos of Spider-Girl in action.

Finally, Spider-Girl tied the robbers in a sack of cobwebs (along with a note to the police) and she ascended the front of the building, retrieving her camera and then disappearing into the night.





The next day, at the Pony New Network offices, Twilight Sparkle handed Applejack a bunch of photos.

After taking a look at the snapshots of Spider-Girl weaving her webs and battling the thieves, Applejack nodded and smiled.

"They're good" she said to Twilight "They're very good. How did you get them?"

"If I tell you, you will send your own photographer" Twilight said smiling at Applejack "Will you hire me?"

"It's not up to me," Applejack explained, shrugging "Filthy Rich is personally in charge of hiring the squad".

At that moment, a young woman with a camera around her neck rushed out of Filthy Rich's office with tousled clothes, disheveled hair, and an expression that clearly reflected the horrors she must have suffered in the office she was now leaving.

Filthy Rich's voice boomed from the open door.

"I told you to get me a photo, Starlight!" he yelled, "Not an inkblot! Why can't anyone get me a decent picture of that puppet in disguise? Get out of here, Starlight!"

Applejack looked at Twilight as Starlight shuffled toward the exit.

"Filthy Rich is also personally in charge of firing the staff too" she said, raising her eyebrows.

Filthy Rich stormed out of his office, still screaming.

"And Starlight..." he blurted out "Do me a favor and buy you some good clothes!"

Starlight ran out of the newsroom, leaving Filthy Rich with his focus on Twilight.

"And who are you?" he yelled at the eager young woman before him.

"This girl has pictures of Spider-Girl, boss" Applejack explained.

"Okay, don't just stand there" Filthy Rich yelled at her "Bring them here".

Twilight and Applejack followed Filthy Rich into his office. The editor took the photos from Applejack's hands and glanced at them, dropping them onto his desk as he looked at them.

"Rubbish!" he muttered after looking at the first photo.

"Rubbish! Rubbish! Rubbish!" he repeated after seeing the second, third and fourth.

Twilight glanced at Applejack, who returned a knowing wink.

"They're very bad" said Filthy Rich when he finished seeing them. The last thing he wanted to do was cheer on a high-paying novice photographer. Especially one who brought her some great photos like those.

"I'll give you three hundred for all".

Twilight, emboldened by Applejack's gesture and knowing that no one could get photos like that, spoke calmly but firmly.

"It seems like little money to me" she said.

"Good" Filthy Rich snapped, "Then take them to someone else".

Twilight took the photos and started to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Filthy Rich ordered, annoyed that the rookie had discovered her game "Okay. I'll give you five hundred. That's the normal rate for a standard free-lance".

Twilight agreed and gave the photos back to Filthy Rich, who passed them on to Applejack.

"Tear up the first page" Filthy Rich whispered, pointing to one of the photos of Spider-Girl as he battled the robbers. "Put this photo".

"Wow!" Twilight thought "First page! I should have asked for more money!"

"Headline?" Applejack asked his boss.

"Spider-Girl:  Heroine or Menace?" Filthy Rich replied, without a moment's hesitation "Pony New Network exclusive photos!".

"Menace?" Twilight asked, shaking her head "Mr. Rich, she stopped the robbery and caught the robbers..."

"Who are you, her lawyer?" Filthy Rich yelled at him, furious "You take the pictures and I write the headlines. Ok?"

"Yes, Mr. Rich" Twilight replied, realizing that the discussion would get her nowhere. Then she added quickly: "I would like you to hire me, sir."

"Nothing of work!" snapped Filthy Rich "Being a free-lance is the best for a girl your age. Bring me more pictures of that newspaper-selling clown and I'll take them off your hands".

Twilight nodded, winked at Applejack in thanks, turned and left the office with a resolute air.





Over the next several weeks, Twilight got fantastic photos of Spider-Girl in action with her camera and self-timer. Filthy Rich was gladly buying them and publishing them on the cover of her newspapers.

But despite images of Spider-Girl foiling robberies, rescuing people from burning buildings and arresting robbers who robbed innocent victims, Filthy Rich continued his campaign of attacks on Spider-Girl. Headlines like: "CANTERLOT CITY FEARS THE COWARD IN DISGUISE! SPIDER-GIRL: SUPERHEROINE OR SUPERZERO?"  and  "THE BIG APPLE FEARS THE SPIDER BITE!" they drew attention on the front page of the newspaper, day after day, accompanied by photos of Twilight.

"Why is he so hard on her?" Twilight asked Filthy Rich one morning as she handed him the last batch of arachnid photos.

"She is believed to be law and order" answered Filthy Rich "In this society there is no room for self-righteous justice. Once a person takes the law for himself, there is only one step left for anarchy".

Unsatisfied with Filthy Rich's response, Twilight spoke up.

"Mr. Rich" she began cautiously "I would like you to commission me some other work that don't have to do with Spider-Girl".

"No!" Filthy Rich barked "You'll keep doing what you do".

"Filthy Rich" said Applejack, who was just peeking out the door. "Let's send Twilight to cover the CinchCorp's World Unity Festival. We have to send someone".

"The World Unity Festival..." mumble Filthy Rich "Wow grace! Another sign of the great ego of Abacus Cinch. Good. Send Sparkle. And you, get out and get me pictures!".

"Yes, Mr. Rich" Twilight replied smiling at Applejack, who had once again supported her in front of her angry boss.





CinchCorp Industries's headquarters in Manehattan stood like a great medieval tower in the jagged skyline of Canterlot City. In the boardroom on one of the upper floors of the building, Abacus Cinch addressed the members of the board of directors.

"I am pleased to announce" she began in her typical smug tone of superiority "that as of today, CinchCorp Industries has surpassed Crystal Aerospace as the leading supplier to the United States's army. Since Crystal Aerospace suffered that tragic incident, our costs have been reduced, our revenues have grown and our inventories have never been higher".

Mr. Balkan glanced at his fellow board members and, clearing his throat, turned to Cinch.

"Such good news!" he announced "In fact, that is the reason why we decided to sell the company".

Cinch went pale and swallowed hard.

"What!?" she screamed "I don't understand".

"Crystal Aerospace has obtained new financing after the attack that suffered" explained Balkan calmly "They are going to buy CinchCorp".

"They can't... do that..." Cinch stammered "I have built this company!"

Mr. Fargas was the next to speak, turning his wheelchair to face Cinch.

"As a matter of fact, Cinch" began "they want you out. This board expects you to present your resignation in thirty days."

"Please, Fargas ..." Cinch begged "Don't do it!"

"Sorry, Cinch" Balkan replied "The board has unanimously agreed. We will announce the sale right after the World Unity Festival. You're out".

"Out?" Cinch muttered to herself with a menacing tone in her voice "We'll see..."
> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Times Square there was a large crowd gathered, surrounded by brightly colored flags and posters announcing the World Unity Festival. Above them a big balloon, a symbol of the meeting organized by CinchCorp were. The official theme of the day was healing around the world and the union of peoples.

There were giant balloons floating above the crowd. The thousands and thousands of people who had left home on that beautiful morning were amused by music, jugglers and clowns, as well as enjoying cotton candy and other sweets.

Five floors up, in the balcony of an old building, had been turned into a special private place for authorities and people with the right connections in high places to sit and contemplate the events of the day.

Among the many peoples and guests in the balcony, were the nine members of the CinchCorp Industries directors's board. Near them were also Sunset Shimmer and her boyfriend Flash Sentry. Sunset hoped she could introduce Flash to her mother, but so far there was no trace of Abacus Cinch, the woman who had devised Unity Day.

Down in the streets, Twilight Sparkle was trying to push her way through the crowds, taking photos of the people, the balloons, the posters, anything she saw and showing the joyous celebration atmosphere of this event.

Watching through her camera, Twilight paced the balcony just as Sunset tried to kiss Flash. He pulled away to avoid the attempt. Twilight felt hopeful again. Maybe Sunset and Flash weren't as serious as she thought they were.





At that moment, Sunset turned her gaze in his direction and the two friends realized that they were looking at each other. Twilight felt embarrassed, as did Sunset. But suddenly something erased all thoughts from Twilight's head.

Her arachnid sense put her on alert. The overwhelming feeling that something terrible was going to happen displaced everything else. Twilight lowered the camera and scanned the area, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary among the merry congregation of people.

Upstairs in the box, Sunset approached Mr. Fargas and Mr. Balkan.

"Have they seen my mother?" Sunset asked the two members of the board of directors.

Balkan and Fargas exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"I'm not sure if she'll be joining us today" Fargas replied, pulling away from Sunset in her wheelchair.

Fargas stopped abruptly and looked up, searching the sky for the source of that loud, high-pitched sound.

"What's that?" he screamed as he spotted a fuzzy mass in the air.

Twilight also looked up and saw a trail of black smoke moving with astonishing speed, darting in and out of the clouds.

On the balcony, Mr. Balkan lifted his binoculars.

"It must be a new attraction for this year's festival" he commented "As if this didn't cost us enough money already!" but he changed her mind when she saw a figure approaching on a familiar shape "Isn't that our glider? The one that was stolen from us from the lab?"

The figure, dressed in black, descended in an arc and then stopped. She remained motionless in midair, just above the balcony. Balkan and Fargas looked at each other worriedly. This black character not only arrived mounted on his experimental glider, but was also wearing the special electronic suit that CinchCorp had developed to control it.

The strange-looking figure wore a grotesque mask that hid its face completely. The mask twisted into a hideous, demonic grin, as if it were a Halloween goblin with red eyes.

This Black Goblin, as the press would call her for days to come, pulled a small round pumpkin-shaped object from her belt. The crowd enthusiastically cheered for this new if somewhat rare addition to the festivities.

The Black Goblin moved his arm a little and the glider did the same instantly, making him fly in a small circle right in front of the balcony of people.

Laughter turned to screams of terror as the Black Goblin threw the strange pumpkin-shaped object onto the balcony.

BUUUM!

The pumpkin-bomb detonated, blowing up half the balcony. From above, large chunks of wood and concrete fell into the street, scattering over the toned crowd that ran along with the artists for cover. Panic took hold of people when they realized that the Black Duende formed no part of the show.

What was still left of the balcony swayed, knocking people down five stories below. Flash fell forward, to the edge of the balcony, while Sunset fell backwards, several feet from him.

On the street, Twilight pushed her way through the crowd, trying to get to a nearby alley.





After a creak, the balcony separated further from the building, descending several meters. Flash fell even closer to the end of the balcony; head of it protruded over the edge... Looking at the chaos beneath him, he saw the crowd made way with difficulty trying to reach safety.

With a simple flick of her right wrist, the Black Goblin flew up into the sky, laughing slyly. She flew in a circle to the frightened crowd, satisfied with the word that the work was causing her.

As she passed the balcony again, the Black Goblin threw another pumpkin-bomb, which landed at the feet of the board of directors.

BUUUMM!

The second pumpkin-bomb instantly volatilized the nine men and women who had called for the resignation of Abacus Cinch. The unstable balcony wobbled and fell a little further.

The Black Goblin dropped her left shoulder slightly and the front of the glider tilted, lifting it up until it was positioned just below the balcony.





On the battered balcony, Sunset crawled toward Flash, who was holding on tightly to the end of the sloping balcony to keep from falling. Before she could reach him, Sunset watched in horror as the Black Goblin slowly rose, hovering in the air and letting out a blood-curdling laugh as she tried to grab Flash's arm.

Suddenly, a pink and purple figure emerged from above, feet first, and struck the Black Goblin, knocking her off her glider.

"I don't know who you are, ma'am" Spider-Girl joked as he landed on the side of a building "But in this city there is only room for one weirdo in disguise... and that's me!"

"She's Spider-Girl!" the crowd yelled "You just gave that black monster what it deserved!"

"Yeah!" a spectator yelled "Spider-Girl! I've seen the picture of her in the newspaper!"

Spider-Girl looked around to assess the situation. She saw Flash on the edge of the balcony, inches from a safe fall to his death. She was about to head there to rescue him from that wobbly platform when the screams from the street caught her attention.

The Black Goblin landed on a large tent, which cushioned her fall. She pressed a button on the wrist of her electronic suit and pointed to the glider, which came flying towards her. However, before she reached the Black Goblin, the speedy glider slammed into the huge globe of the World Unity Festival, knocking it off the cables holding it down.

The huge sphere rolled down the middle of the street, crushing everything in its path. Completely out of control and unstoppable, the balloon was heading towards a boy of about six who, paralyzed with fear, was clinging to his cotton candy.

Shooting a web to a billboard near, Spider-Girl jumped hanging from the filament. She drew an arc with her movement, lifted the boy in her arms and saved him from danger just as the balloon rolled past her, demolishing a row of parking meters.

"Special delivery for you, ma'am" said Spider-Girl as he deposited the child safely next to his mother. Looking back, she saw five armed police officers surrounding the Black Goblin, already outside the collapsed tent.

"Don't shoot! I give up!" shouted the Black Goblin, raising her arms "It's not my fault. The violence of the media forced me to do it!" she then she threw herself at the policemen, who placated the Black Goblin until they held her on the ground.

Spider-Girl looked back at Flash, and as she was about to rise to rescue him from the balcony, she heard screams coming from the frightened policemen. She saw how, with an incredible outburst of strength, the Black Goblin shook the policemen off her like they were rag dolls.

Flash would have to wait a little longer...

Jumping into the air and cartwheeling over the crowd, Spider-Girl landed in front of the Black Goblin.

"How dare you get in my way?" the Black Goblin growled at the opponent disguised as her "What do you want?"

"World peace..." Spider-Girl replied "But I am satisfied with your jaw!"

ZAS!

Spider-Girl delivered such a powerful punch to the Black Goblin's jaw that she sent her flying against a nearby building.

With one leap, the weaver of webs was placed back with the Black Goblin, willing to release him another punch. But this time, a black-gloved hand stopped Spider-Girl's fist, parrying the blow.

"Nice try" said the Black Goblin mockingly, and then she struck.

Spider-Girl was thrown into the air, smashing an ice cream cart as she passed and slamming into a lamppost.

The Black Goblin pressed a small button on her wrist, and once again her glider went into motion. She jumped on him and flew off as Spider-girl is incorporated.

The Black Goblin swung sharply to the left, then turned back to Spider-Girl, which saw two small machine guns out of the bottom of the glider. Machine guns opened fire, hitting the ground surrounding Spider-Girl, and she was forced to jump on one of the nearby balloons while the Black Goblin disappeared into the clouds.

Subject only a few columns still stood firm, the balcony creaked loudly, moving closer to the ground. The sound caught the attention of Spider-Girl as she held the balance on the huge balloon. There were five other large balloons between her and the fallen balcony. Like a pink and purple ball, Spider-Girl jumped from balloon to balloon.

She jumped onto the balcony, but the Black Goblin appeared again out of nowhere, grabbed Spider-Girl by the waist and threw her against a wall on the battered platform.

Spider-Girl landed on the balcony, near Flash, as debris fell around her. A piece of wood hit Sunset's head, knocking her unconscious.

Spider-Girl approached Flash just as the Black Goblin rose on her glider and hovered over the balcony. From one side of the glider, a laser weapon came out that aimed directly at Spider-Girl.

At the speed of light, Spider-Girl fired a glob of sticky cobwebs at the Black Goblin that hit her in the face, rendering her blind.

"No!" howled the Black Goblin, firing the laser in turn. The sharp beam of light missed its target and slammed into the wall behind Spider-Girl. Using her incredible strength, Spider-Girl punched a hole in the bottom of the Black Goblin's glider, and reaching out her arm, she took away a handful of cables.

The glider fumed and sputtered, as he flew away with the Black Goblin desperately trying to blow away the cobwebs of the eyes, and shouting:


"WE'LL MEET AGAIN, SPIDER-GIRL!!"






Spider-Girl breathed in relief. But at that moment, what was left of the balcony snapped in two, causing Flash to fall over the edge of the platform.

Sunset's eyes snapped open. She was on the part of the balcony that was still attached to the building. She watched in utter amazement as Spider-Girl chased after Flash, diving headfirst into a free fall and leaving behind a strand of cobweb. She caught up with him a few feet from the pavement, holding him by her waist while her cobweb filament tightened to stop the hang of it.

Pulling away as the empty balcony smashed into the street, Spider-Girl and Flash soared above the scene of destruction.

Spider-Girl nimbly advanced between the skyscrapers with the help of her cobwebs, and realizing that they were finally out of danger, she glanced at Flash.

"Are you okay?" she asked as fired another filament.

"Who are you?" Flash asked, still affected by how close he had come to the end of him. That air trip through the tall buildings of the city seemed like a strange dream to him.

"You know me" Spider-Girl replied, landing delicately on the Rockefeller Center garden roof and releasing Flash's waist from his embrace.

"That I know you?" he replied, still perplexed by the whole experience.

Spider-Girl headed towards the edge of the building.

"Of course!" she said, as she shot a new web "Your friend and neighbor, Spider-Girl!" she then she jumped off the roof and disappeared between the concrete buildings of Manehattan.

"WOO-HOO!!"
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night at the apartment, Twilight calmly sipped a glass of milk while Sunset desperately called Flash, leaving message after message, hoping he was okay. Sunset had regained consciousness in time to see, along with the astonished crowd, how strange woman in pink and purple swooped in and saved Flash.

But, like many citizens of Canterlot City, Sunset read the Pony New Network and now wondered if this Spider-Girl was on the side of the good guys or was she just a crazy woman in disguise...  

A crazy who had escaped hanging from a spider web with her boyfriend!

"I hope Flash calls soon" Sunset said, pacing nervously from one side of the room to the other "I'm very worried".

"He'll call you" Twilight assured him calmly, taking a long drink of milk.

"How do you know?" Sunset asked.

"Intuition..." said Twilight "How is your head?"

"They looked at my wound" explained Sunset "It's nothing. Why aren't you worried about Flash?"

The phone rang and Sunset jumped towards him.

"Hello" said Flash in a soft and distracted voice.

"Are you okay?" Sunset yelled over the phone "Has she hurt you?"

"Of course not" Flash replied, laughing sweetly "It was wonderful, incredible!".

"What do you mean it was incredible?" Sunset snapped "Where did he take you?"

"To the roof garden of Rockefeller Center..." Flash said dreamily "Have you ever been there? It's so romantic!"

"No, I haven't been there" Sunset said dryly "Look, I'm going there".

"No" Flash replied quickly "I'm very tired. I'm going to sleep".

"Ok, call me when you get up" said Sunset "And we'll have breakfast together or something, okay?"

Sunset hung up the phone. Twilight had only heard half of the conversation, but it was enough to make her grin.

"Look, Twilight" began, uncomfortable, Sunset "About that picture you took of Flash and me..."

"Don't worry" Twilight took a deep breath "I didn't".

"I know I should have told you about this..." Sunset continued "I'm crazy about him."

"I'm your friend" said Twilight "You didn't have to lie to me".

"I've always known you wanted to go out with him" Sunset continued "But you never did anything, you never said anything to him..."

"I guess not" Twilight admitted, thinking of all the missed opportunities.

"Well I'm still shaking from what happened today" Sunset said heading to her room "What was it that attacked us?"

"I don't know" Twilight answered gravely "But whoever she is, someone has to stop her!"





Abacus Cinch stood in the open door of his apartment, a copy of the Pony New Network in his hands. It was the morning after the attack on the World Unity Festival and Cinch had been wandering the streets. His clothes were dislodged and his face showed the traces of having spent the night awake.

She glanced at the front page of the newspaper; she could read the headline over a photo of Spider-Girl fighting the Black Goblin: "SPIDER-GIRL AND BLACK GOBLIN THREATEN CANTERLOT CITY!".

Cinch shook her head, trying to understand the meaning of those words, as the images of horror during the festival came and went through her mind. As he looked at the newspaper again, another headline caught his eye: "CINCHCORP BOARD OF DIRECTORS KILLED!".

Cinch stumbled into her apartment and climbed the stairs to her study. From somewhere in the house she heard the sound of a weak laugh as sly as it was threatening.

"Anyone there?" she asked. Silence "No, of course not".

Entering the study, Cinch dropped the newspaper on his desk, then removed his suit jacket and slumped into the chair at his work table.

Was heard again chilling laughter that seemed to come from the other world, this time higher, and someone began to speak.

"Stop pretending, Cinch" the shocking yet familiar voice said.

"Who are you?" Cinch asked, looking around without seeing anyone "Where are you?"

"You just have to follow the icy chill that runs down your spine" replied the ghostly voice "Look, I'm right here...".

Even so, Cinch still didn't see anyone. Where could that voice come from? She moaned and clutched her head with her hands. Her voice seemed to surround her, and even to come from inside her mind.

"Did you think it was a coincidence that so many good things had happened to you, Cinch?" the shrill voice asked from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"What do you want?" Cinch yelled, throwing her head back, furious at the invisible intruder.

"I say what you do not want to say" answered the voice "What you could not do. Separate all those who stand in your way".

Cinch raised her head again, her mind clearer now.

"Did you kill the board of directors?" she asked, not caring where the intruder was.

"We both killed them" answered her voice, sounding closer than ever.

"No!" Cinch exclaimed, furious "I would never do that!"

"Oh, you make me sick with your weaknesses..." the sly voice pointed out.

"I'm not a murderer!" Cinch screeched, standing up "I'm a scientist, a respected business woman!"

"Shut up and hear the good news, Cinch!" bellowed the mysterious voice with a defiant cry "You are now in complete control of CinchCorp Industries. I have granted you your great wish. Just say thank you".

Cinch felt a strange calm. His mind was running fast, and things were falling into place.

"And what happens now?" she asked.

"We will eliminate your rivals" began the voice with a tone of self-sufficiency "CinchCorp will become the largest and most powerful supplier of the army. You will get what you have always wanted, Cinch:... power!".

Cinch put his jacket back on and walked over to a mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair and buttoned his shirt. There was the businesswoman again preparing for another meeting.

"We can get it together" she stated calmly, finally accepting the ghostly voice as a partner, and perhaps something more.

"Unfortunately... there is only one person who can stop us" said the creepy voice "Spider-Girl".

"Or she could be our great ally" Cinch replied, totally calm with the voice that she now knew emerged from her head.

"Bingo!" exclaimed the voice... the voice of the Black Goblin.

"We should maintain a little talk with Spider-Girl".

Cinch picked up the newspaper from her desk and looked again at the photo on the first page.

"And I think I know exactly how to find her!".
> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Black Goblin!" Filthy Rich proud announcement, holding the front page of the Pony New Network with his arm raised.

Filthy Rich sat in his office and bit into his cigar as she watched Twilight Sparkle pacing from one side of the office to the other.

"Do you like the name? I made it up myself. Since Spider-Girl appeared, everyone has to have a big name".

Twilight read the headline comparing Spider-Girl to the Black Goblin and shook her head.

"Spider-Girl wasn't terrorizing the city" she said "I was trying to save her! This is slander!"

"Slander is something to be said..." Filthy Rich corrected Twilight "When she printed it out is called "libel". So let her sue me as a person".

Twilight realized that continuing this discussion would get her nowhere, so she turned on her heel to leave the office. As she walked out, she heard a vaguely familiar high-pitched moan, muffled by the glass of the sealed office window.

CRASSS!

Like an explosion, the Black Goblin smashed through the window behind Filthy Rich, sending shards of glass falling everywhere. Her glider came to rest on her desk. The Black Goblin grabbed the Pony New Network editor by the throat with one hand, lifting him from his chair. Filthy Rich hung in midair, helplessly, trying to breathe.

"Filthy Rich! I have a question for you!" shouted the Black Goblin in her thin, ghostly voice "Who is the person taking the pictures of Spider-Girl?"

Twilight had already disappeared down the hall as the employees crawled across the floor to safety.

"She's free-lance!" Filthy Rich replied, his voice drowned out by the black-gloved hand that closed around his windpipe. "I don't know who he is in person. The photos come to us in the mail".

"You lie!" howled the Black Goblin "I'll give you one last chance to tell me".

"Please..." Filthy Rich gasps "Air... I can't breathe..."

"Hey!" yelled a voice behind the Black Goblin.

She turned to see Spider-Girl hanging upside down from the broken window.

"I run the reins of this city, friend" joked Spider-Girl.

"Speaking of the queen of Rome!" exclaimed the Black Goblin with an evil smile drawn on her hateful face. She released Filthy Rich, who collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"I knew it!" Filthy Rich exclaimed, wheezing and coughing "You two are in this together! I knew you were ..."

ZIP! SPLASH!

Spider-Girl released a glob of cobwebs that landed in Filthy Rich's mouth, sealing it.

"Hey baby, let the women talk for a minute, okay?" Spider-Girl said. For Twilight Sparkle, who was behind the mask, this was a very satisfying moment.

The Black Goblin raised an arm towards Spider-Girl and a black gas came out of her glove.

"Sleep a little".

Spider-Girl dizzy and blacked out, staggering on the edge of the raised window and falling onto the sidewalk.

"I hate fighting running, but I have to go!" the Black Goblin said, turning to Filthy Rich. She then she started the turbo on her glider and flew out the window.

She plummeted, leaving a trail of flames and smoke in her wake. The Black Goblin picked up Spider-Girl seconds before she hit the ground, and then she flew into the darkness.





Spider-Girl slowly regained consciousness. When she finally opened her eyes, the Black Goblin was staring at her, smiling. Spider-Girl tried to get up and sit up, but her body felt heavy and weak, and every movement was a great effort. Looking around her, she saw that they were on a deserted roof, high above the city.

"Relax" said the Black Goblin "My hallucinogenic gas has diminished the capacities of your central nervous system, but its effects will only last a few minutes. Long enough for you and I to talk".

"Who are you?" Spider-Girl groaned as she tried to find a comfortable position and shake off that feeling of torpor.

"Your soul mate" replied the Black Goblin "You have transformed, you are no longer what you were before, and now no one can understand what is happening to you. No one except me, of course. They call us monsters. But the truth is that we are something superior to humans, not something inferior".

"I'm not like you" said Spider-Girl "You are a murderer!"

"Well, everyone has their own...  You have chosen the path of the hero. But, how long will it be before the people of this city begin to hate you? Read the headlines" replied the Black Goblin "The day will come when you wonder why you risk your life for a bunch of ungrateful fools".

"Because it's the right thing to do" Spider-Girl replied, her mind a little more clear-headed. She was still too weak to risk fighting her powerful adversary. "It's the only thing to do".

"You and I are exceptional" continued the Black Goblin "I had problems, but I used my extraordinary powers and the problems have disappeared quickly".

Spider-Girl watched her silently. The Black Goblin continued:

"Imagine how much we can achieve if we work together. Think what we could create. On the other hand, if we continue this selfish and senseless battle, many innocents will die. And eventually, we will also die".

The Black Goblin leaped onto the waiting glider.

"Think about it... heroin" she said.

After her, with a slight movement of her shoulder, she was lost like lightning in the dark, and her mocking unearthly laughter faded behind her into the shadows.





The following night, fully recovered from the Black Goblin's gas attack, Twilight Sparkle leaned against a brick wall at the back of a downtown theater. Nearby, a door that read "ARTISTS ONLY" swung open quickly and Flash Sentry slammed the door behind him.

"Hey, how was your audition?" Twilight asked, catching up with him in one stride.

"How did you know?" Flash asked, glad to find her.

"By the official bulletin" Twilight replied "Your mother told Cadance".

"So you weren't just passing by?" Flash asked, flattered by the visit.

"Well... I was in the area" said Twilight "I needed to see a friendly face. I took two buses to get here, but..."

"They told me I needed acting classes" Flash sputtered "Can you believe it? They told me I need acting classes to act in a soap opera!".

"Come on, I'll buy you a hamburger" Twilight told him hopefully.

Flash smiled and took her hand.

"I'd love to, but I can't" he said "I'm going to have dinner with Sunset. Why don't you come over?"

"No, thanks" Twilight replied, shrugging "Well, how are you two doing?"

"Why are you so interested?" Flash asked.

"I'm not interested" Twilight replied, and she regretted saying those words right at the very moment she blurted them out.

"Aren't you?" Flash asked, a bit confused.

"Well, why should I be?" Twilight replied, screwing up each time.

"I don't know" he said "Why should you be?"

Twilight was getting more and more uncomfortable.

"I feel don't come with us" Flash said, breaking the silence, "I gotta go. I'm late".

Twilight, incredulous, watched Flash as he disappeared running down the street. Had he screwed it up again? Did Flash want her to confess her love for him right there, at that very moment?

Her thoughts were interrupted by four bullies who passed her by intentionally hitting her.

"Sorry" Twilight said sarcastically.

The thugs ignored her, and Twilight began to move in the opposite direction. But a few meters later, she turned in the direction of the four bullies walking away from her. Something told her that she should follow them.





As Flash rounded the corner, the four thugs caught up with him.

"Hey buddy..." said one, as the four surrounded him "Give us your money and we will let you go."

Another thug grabbed his backpack.

"Let it go!" Flash yelled, as he hit one of the thugs in the mirror, elbowed another in the face and sprayed the other two with a srpay that he carried on his keychain.

Having recovered from Flash's surprising acts of self-defense, the four now-furious thugs approached him threateningly. The robber who had spoken first reached into a pocket and produced a razor, which he slammed open with a sinister hiss.

"Alright loser" I grumble, raising the sharp blade to Flash's face "Game over!"

"Actually ..." said a voice emerging from the darkness "It just started!"

That voice was from Spider-Girl!

ZIP! ZAP!

With astonishing speed, a filament of cobweb descended from a nearby rooftop and coiled the four robbers like a lasso trapping a steer at a rodeo.

With a powerful pull from above, the web lifted the four hooligans off the ground.

Flash followed them with his eyes, stunned and looking for his savior. Then the assailants fell one by one. Flash saw two of them wedge themselves against a nearby window; another crashed into a wall, and the fourth landed on a dumpster. All four lay unconscious.

"You have the strange habit of always getting in trouble" Spider-Girl commented from the darkness.

"And you also have the strange mania of always saving me" Flash answered, walking towards her "I think I have a superhero hanging around me".

In the rush to save Flash, Twilight hadn't had time to put on her mask. She was hanging from the belt of her costume.

"I was in the zone" she said.

Flash stopped and squinted at the figure in the dark. Where had he heard someone say that same phrase?

"You're amazing" she murmured, advancing on Spider-Girl again.

Twilight managed to clumsily put on the mask just as Flash reached for her.

"Some don't think so" she said.

"But you really are" he replied.

"Thanks for thinking that" he said, and instantly leapt towards the wall behind her, sticking to it, feet up and head down.

Flash approached Spider-Girl. Her faces, although in different positions, were at the same height.

"Can I say thank you this time?" Flash asked, reaching for her mask and pulling her down from her chin.

"Are you going to remove my mask right here?" Spider-Girl wondered, unable to move.

But Flash only exposed Spider-Girl's lips. He kissed her firmly and then slowly pulled away from her.

"This is so you remember where your mouth is," he said softly, returning her mask to hers. 

Spider-Girl stared at him for a moment, and a million thoughts raced through her head at once. Twilight Sparkle had finally kissed the boy she had loved her entire life, even though he didn't know it. And he wasn't kissing Twilight, but Spider-Girl. Too complicated to understand...

She climbed the wall and disappeared over the edge of the roof.

"Wow!" Flash exclaimed, sighing heavily as he followed her movements with glowing eyes.
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sirens blared and thick black smoke filled the afternoon sky as an apartment building on the downtown outskirts burned out of control. Police cars, fire engines, and ambulances came incessantly. Firefighters rushed into the building, searching for those still trapped in their flats.

A few minutes later, two firefighters were leading a desperate mother and hers of her two children out of the flames and bringing them to safety across the street. But she was reluctant to leave the building.

"Let me go!" she cried "My baby is still in there! Someone save my baby!"

The firefighters held her down.

"It's too late, ma'am!" said one "The ceiling is about to collapse!"

"No!" the woman screeched, struggling to free herself to get back into the building.

Another firefighter pointed to the sky.

"Look!" he yelled "It's her!"

All eyes darted up in time to see Spider-Girl swinging toward the burning building.

"She is crazy!" the first firefighter yelled "She won't make it!"

"Save my baby, Spider-Girl!" the terrified mother begged "Please!"

Spider-Girl disappeared like lightning into the burning building as part of the roof collapsed.

"No!" cried the heartbroken mother, now certain that she had lost her child.

Just below the roof, a huge ball of orange flame and black smoke erupted through the shattered windows. A few inches above that hell, Spider-Girl descended carrying a small package wrapped in a protective web.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed a firefighter "She is alive, and brings the child!"

The crowd there erupted into spontaneous applause as Spider-Girl landed next to the young mother.

"Don't worry, ma'am" she said, and she handed him the bundle wrapped in the cobweb "Her baby is not hurt".

"Oh bless you, Spider-Girl!" exclaimed the woman, her eyes brimming with tears of joy. After removing the soft cobweb blanket from the boy, she kissed his forehead and added, "Thank you!"

"Well remember this kids" Spider-Girl said sternly to the baby's two older brothers "Never play with matches!"

"Help me!" a scream of horror came from the burning building.

"Look!" exclaimed a young man pointing to a downstairs window "Someone is still up there!"

All the people turned to the building and saw an old man standing at the window, wrapped in a shawl, waving his hands and screaming desperately.

Jumping into the air, Spider-Girl released a web and swung back toward the burning structure. As she glanced out the adjacent window, she landed in a smoky room and saw the terrified man, huddled in the corner, covering himself with his shawl.

"Don't worry sir, everything will be fine" Spider-Girl announced "I'll get you out of here".

"Thank you, young lady" the old man said weakly "You are my heroine!"

Upon rising, the man removed his shawl to reveal that he was actually... the Black Goblin!

"What's wrong with turning something on from time to time?" she laughed mockingly, straightening up to her full height, and surrounded by lurking flames.

"Black Goblin!" Spider-Girl exclaimed "It was you who started this fire!"

"You are so pathetically predictable, Spider-Girl...!" the Black Goblin scoffed "Like the moths around the light..., I knew you would show up here. Well? What about my proposal to join forces? Do you accept it or decide to lose it?"

"It's you who has lost ...!" Spider-Girl responded, clenching her fists, ready for the fight "And forever!"

"Wrong answer!"

But before Spider-Girl could move, the Black Goblin threw a blade at her. Spider-Girl reacted instinctively, avoiding her sharp spinning blade with her right arm, but her dainty sharp weapon slashed his forearm deeply.

"Ahh!" Spider-Girl howled, clutching her aching right arm with his left hand. Looking at him, she saw a large wound from which she was oozing abundant blood. She quickly threw a strand of cobweb upward onto a beam that burned just above the Black Goblin's head. Pulling hard on the web, Spider-Girl caused the beam to fall on his opponent.

But she was fast and strong. She got rid of the burning beam and turned to face Spider-Girl ... even though she had already disappeared out the window leaving a trail of blood behind her.

"NO ONE GIVES ME A NO FOR AN ANSWER!!" shouted the Black Goblin fiercely, and jumped on her glider, to escape the blaze.





Thanksgiving was Twilight Sparkle's favorite holiday. Every year she eagerly looked forward to Cadance's meals, watching a soccer game with Shining Armor, and the cozy, family atmosphere that was especially felt in her home during big holidays.

This year, with the loss of Shining Armor, it all seemed inappropriate. Twilight wondered how she and Cadance would manage the party without her brother, and she almost felt reluctant to celebrate.

Twilight was relieved when Sunset and Flash suggested spending the day together in Sunset and Twilight's apartment. Twilight, Cadance, Sunset, and Flash would be joined by Abacus Cinch. Cadance would also make his famous turkey, Cinch would finally meet Flash, and the pain over the absence of Shining Armor would be somewhat mitigated by the pleasure of hosting that party with a group of close friends.

While Cadance was taking the sizzling paco out of the oven to poke with a fork, Flash handled the sweet potatoes. Sunset finished setting the table for five. Neither Cinch nor Twilight had arrived yet.

The doorbell rang and Sunset jumped uneasily.

"It has arrived!" she told everyone.

Flash ran out of the kitchen, untying his apron. He tossed it over a ledge, revealing an elegant blue suit.

"You are very handsome!" Sunset said, walking towards the door "That suit is beautiful!".

Flash smiled nervously. The woman he was about to meet was not only the mother of his girlfriend, but the great Abacus Cinch, an industry mogul, a real big shot.

Sunset opened the door and Cinch walked in, impeccably dressed in a black suit. She carried a pastry box tied with ribbons.

"Sorry I'm late. I had a lot of work to do" Cinch said. She quickly handed the box to Sunset and looked at Flash "I brought a fruit cake. Who is this young man?"

"Flash" began Sunset, breathing deeply "I would like you to meet my mother, Abacus Cinch. Mom, this is Flash Sentry".

Flash flashed a beaming smile that lit up his pretty face framed by a mop of blue hair. Cinch walked over to him and extended her right hand, addressing the young man who was occupying most of her daughter's time and attention.

"How are you?" she said she sweetly "I was looking forward to meeting you".

"Happy Thanksgiving ma'am" Flash replied, shaking his hand. Instantly, an inexplicable feeling of dread washed over him, and he discarded that hand when Cadance returned.

"Hi, Cinch" said Cadance affectionately, wiping her hands on her apron "We are so glad you came. Now the one that remains to come is Twilight. She asked me where she is. I hope she remembers the cranberry sauce!"

At that moment, a lightning bolt of pink and purple flashed past the dining room window, without anyone present being able to see it. Twilight, still dressed in her costume, slid out of her bedroom window and landed on the floor with a thud.

Everyone in the room turned to the door of Twilight's room.

"How weird..." said Sunset "I didn't know Twilight was here".

In her room, Twilight removed her mask and observed the cut on her arm. Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

"Twilight?" Sunset called "Are you there?"

The door opened and Sunset, Cadance, and Cinch entered. The room was empty.

"There is no one here" said Cadance "It's weird".

Clinging to the ceiling of the room, Twilight held her breath and stared at the trio of visitors. Sunset and Cadance returned to the dining room, but Cinch remained there for a moment. As she turned to leave, a drop of blood fell from Twilight's wound onto the carpet.

The heightened sense of hearing Cinch now enjoyed picked up on the almost imperceptible sound, and she turned quickly to see the red liquid spread across the carpet. She glanced quickly at the ceiling, but she found it empty. She then she ran to the window, and looked in all directions, but saw no one. Shrugging, she returned to the dining room.

Twilight was hanging under the windowsill. When Cinch left the room, she slipped back inside, she changed her clothes and crawled out the window. A few seconds later, she walked through the front door.





"Hi, everyone!" she exclaimed, pulling a small brown paper bag out of her jacket pocket "I'm sorry it took so long. It's like a jungle! I had to beat an old woman with a stick to get these blueberries".

Cadance raised his head and looked shocked at Twilight's joke. Teenagers!.

"Come on, everyone at the table" she announced "Let's sit down and say a prayer".

As they sat down, Cadance saw the blood on Twilight's arm.

"Twilight!" she screamed "You're hurt!"

"I tripped over a curb and a messenger hit me with her bike" said Twilight, who had made up the story just moments before.

"Well let me see" Cadance said, getting up and grabbing Twilight's arm. She rolled up his sleeve and everyone could see the deep cut diagonally "Oh my God! I'll get the medicine cabinet and clean that wound for you. Then we'll give thanks. It's the girls' first Thanksgiving in her own apartment, and we're going to get it right".

As Cadance walked away from the table, Cinch kept staring at Twilight's cut. Her eyes widened as she recognized the mark of the diaongal cut so familiar to her.

"How did you say you did that to yourself?" Cinch asked, looking at Twilight suspiciously.

"A messenger threw me to the ground" she replied, at the same time that her arachnid sense set off her alarms. She felt a tingling throughout her body as incessant warnings of danger came to her. But why?. She looked around the room. Who of those present could represent a danger?

Cinch stood up abruptly, stunned at the only possible explanation for Twilight's unmistakable injury.

"You will have to forgive me" she said, and advanced towards the door "I'm afraid I have to go".

Sunset jumped out of her seat and ran after her mother.

"What?" she exclaimed "Why?"

"Something has come up that requires my immediate attention," Cinch replied. Sweat trickled down her forehead and his heart was pounding.

"Are you okay, mom?" Sunset asked, overwhelmed with anger and confusion.

"I'm fine" she replied curtly. She then looked at Cadance, who was returning with the medicine cabinet "Thank you, Cadance. Goodbye, everyone".

"Wow," Cadance lamented "What's wrong?"

Cinch narrowed her eyes at Twilight and left the apartment.

"Mom!" Sunset yelled, chasing him down the hall. The apartment door was left open behind her "I had planned this party so you could meet Flash, and you barely looked at him!"

Cinch leaned against the hallway wall. His mind was racing.

"I have to leave".

Sunset grabbed her mother by her shoulders.

"Hey, I like that boy, mom!" she yelled "This is important to me!"

"Sunset, please" Cinch began, straightening up and regaining the tone of voice she used when she had to show her daughter who was in charge. "Look at him. Do you think he's with you because he likes your personality?"

"What are you saying, mom?" Sunset asked, amazed. Her mother had said nasty things to her before, but this was too much.

"He's with you for your money" Cinch snapped. She then she turned around and headed for the street.

"What?" Sunset yelled at her mother's back. Too late. Cinch was gone.

When Sunset returned to the apartment, Flash was taking her coat.

"Where are you going?" she asked her as he advanced toward the door.

"Thanks for standing up for me, Sunset" he said, pushing her past.

"You've heard?" Sunset asked, embarrassed.

"We've all heard that idiot!" yelled Flash.

Sunset's face flushed with rage.

"That idiot is my mother!" she exclaimed "If I'm lucky, I'll be able to become half of what she already is. So she shut up and don't say anything about things you don't understand".

"Sunset Shimmer!" Cadance reproached him.

"I'm sorry, Cadance" said Flash, trying to hold back his tears, and slammed the door out.

"Sunset, go find him!" Twilight yelled at her.

"I'm not going to do it" Sunset replied coldly, shaking her head.

"Come on, Sunset, do it!" Twilight repeated.

"No, I can't!" he said, and turning to Cadance, added: "Welcome to my family's Thanksgiving Day" she hurried into her room and slammed the door.

Twilight turned to kiss her sister-in-law.

"I'm sorry, Cadance" she said as she bolted out of the apartment "Everything looked so good!"

The door closed behind Twilight. Cadance sat alone at the beautifully set table. All had made a great effort to decorate it. This was going to be difficult without Shining Armor, but even so, a happy meeting. Now, everything had gone wrong.

Steam was still coming out of the uncarved turkey. The candles sizzled gracefully in the dim light.

"We haven't even had a chance to say thank you" Cadance said, and she sighed sadly.
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight ran out to find Flash sitting on the steps of a nearby house. He was crying. Twilight sat next to him and handed him a tissue.

"I'm sorry I acted like that" said Flash, wiping his tears and blowing his nose "I couldn't go on there. That deal brings back very bad memories".

"I understand" said Twilight "I've never seen Sunset like this. But I know she really loves you".

"Sometimes I wonder why I started dating her" said Flash, shaking his head "I guess because she asked me to. She told me he was very handsome in this suit. I thought it would make a good impression on his mother! How funny!"

"Well, the truth is that you look handsome in this suit" Twilight stated before she had a chance to think about what she had said.

Flash looked at her and smiled fondly.

"Thank you" he replied putting an arm around her shoulders "You look pretty too".

Her eyes met. Twilight had never been more in love with Flash. This was her great opportunity ... But she looked away. Another wasted opportunity.





Abacus Cinch knelt on the floor of his study, staring at the Black Goblin mask he held in his hands. The room was dark except for the small spotlight that came from a desk lamp, illuminating Cinch and his mask.

The mask began to speak, though it made no move. His voice sounded in Cinch's head, as if the Black Goblin was standing next to her.

"This changes everything..." said the mask "Spider-Girl is invincible. But Twilight Sparkle is only flesh and blood. We must destroy Sparkle. Then we will get rid of Spider-Girl".

"I can't" Cinch whimpered, responding to the mask "I've been like a mother to her. And she's been like a good daughter to me".

"She came to you, Cinch" continued the mask "A greedy and scheming orphan who has been playing with your heart, with your affection, leaving no room for Sunset... your true daughter and heiress!".

Cinch fixed her gaze on the mask.

"It's true!" she exclaimed "You're right. What have I done to Sunset, to my own daughter?"

"After everything you've done for Sparkle, and look how she pays you for it" she continued the mask "Facing you as Spider-Girl".

"What I can do?" Cinch asked.

"Teach her the meaning of loss and pain" was the reply from the mask "Make her suffer. Make her wish for death. And then grant her that wish".

"Yes" Cinch said, and a twisted smile spread across her mouth "But how?"

"The cunning warrior does not attack the body and neither does the mind" said Mask.

"TELL ME HOW!!" Cinch yelled.

"The heart, Cinch!" replied the mask "First we will attack his heart!".





Cadance missed her husband terribly. Now that Twilight was living on her own, her house seemed very large and empty. The nights were the hardest. It was easy to find reletivamente occupations during the day, keep distracted mind, being with friends... But as the day ended, the pain became more intense, and the gap Shining Armor's death had left in her life seemed to grow with the passage of time.

She put on her flannel pajamas, kissed the photo of Shining Armor on her nightstand. She then she knelt beside her bed and prayed.

"Celestia ours, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name..." he began with his hands joined and his elbows resting on the bed "...the kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us our daily bread, forgive our offenses just as we forgive those who offend us. Do not let us fall into temptation and free us from..."

Without warning, the wall behind him was pulverized. Cadance fell to the ground, where she remained trembling.

Looking up, he saw the Black Goblin on his glider. A fine stream of foul black gas shot out, filling the room with a toxic cloud.

"Finish the sentence!" demanded the Black Goblin with his supernatural red eyes fixed on Cadance "Finish!!"

Cadance felt them pierce through her, burning her.

"Deliver us... from evil..." she stammered, praying. Then she passed out, overcome by the gas.

The Black Goblin laughed sarcastically, and her obnoxious laughter filled the house and flooded the quiet street of Ponyville.





Twilight ran down the hospital corridor, panicked, blocking any thoughts other than finding Cadance. When she got to her room, she stopped after a long skid.

Twilight watched as doctors and nurses fluttered around the bed. She worked her way through them all until she reached Cadance. She was asleep, hooked up to various machines, with tubes coming out of her nose and an intravenous line running into her arm.

"Cadance!" she yelled, and turning to a doctor, she asked "What happened? Will she be okay?"

"Please, miss" a nurse intervened, taking Twilight by the arm and leading her towards the door "Let the doctors work!"

Just before leaving the room, Twilight heard Cadance's wail. She turned to look at her, and he could hear her weakly muttering:

"Those eyes" she gasped "Those horrible red eyes!"

Later, a doctor covered her mouth with an oxygen mask.

Twilight came out into the lobby. The bedroom door closed behind her... and her eyes widened in terror as Cadance's words made sense to her.

"The Black Goblin" she murmured "She knows who I am! But how? How can she know?"

Thinking fast, unable to stay still in the hospital waiting room, Twilight came out to breathe the cold night air and began to walk at full speed. Barely noticing her, she was heading toward Cadance's house, the place she still considered her home.

She there she picked up a few things Cadance might need, and she headed back to the hospital.

This time when she entered the room, everything was quiet. Cadance was alone, sleeping peacefully, with the machines around her broadcasting her records at a constant rate. Twilight emptied the bag and placed Cadance's hairbrush, her pajamas, and other items in the drawers of the nightstand next to her bed. She also put one of her favorite photos, featuring herself, Cadance, and Shining Armor, on the nightstand next to Cadance's head.

Twilight dropped into an armchair next to the bed, and took Cadance's hand.

"I'm sorry" she said looking at the photo, thinking about the death of Shining Armor and that Cadance almost suffered the same fate, all because of her and for her life as Spider-Girl "I'm so sorry..."

She leaned down and kissed her forehead, brushing away a few tears.





The next afternoon, Flash was walking down the hospital corridor carrying a large bouquet of flowers. He found the right room, poked his head around the door, and saw Twilight, still sitting on the couch. She had a science book open on her lap, and there were several bags of fast food and empty coffee cups around the room. Flash smiled and knocked softly on the door. Twilight looked up.

"Can I enter?" he asked.

Twilight nodded. Flash approached her and put hers arms around her neck, hugging her tightly.

"I'm so sorry" he said looking at the photos that were next to the bed. He leaned down to gently touch Cadance's forehead "Will she be okay?"

"I think so" said Twilight, showing in her voice her suffering and the night spent awake "This morning she woke up for a while. Thanks for coming".

"Who would want to do something like that to him?" asked Flash incredulous "Cadance is so loving, so kind ... Who could want to hurt her?"

"The Black Goblin" Twilight explained, choking as she spoke.

"But, why?" Flash asked, even more surprised "Why would I want to hurt her? Sorry, Twilight. You must ask yourself the same thing".

"It's okay" she said, looking up at Flash's face "What about you? Are you okay after the other night?"

"I'm sorry about what happened" he apologized "It just made things worse for everyone".

"Of course, you have the right to be angry" Twilight said softly "Did you call Sunset?"

"She called me, but I haven't answered her yet" Flash replied, separating from Twilight "The truth is that... I'm in love with another girl".

"Oh yeah?" Twilight said, her heart pounding. It could be possible?.

"At least I think so" said Flash "It's funny. She has saved my life twice and I have never seen her face".

"Ah, she..." Twilight said, secretly sympathetic, but also a bit disappointed.

"Do you think those horrible things they say about her are true?" Flash asked.

"No way" replied Twilight "I know her a little. I'm like the unofficial photograph of her. And none of that is true".

"How do you manage to find her?" Flash inquired.

"Wrong place at the right time, I guess" Twilight replied, shrugging.

"Have you ever talked to her?" Flash asked.

"Mmm... yeah" Twilight hesitated "She asked me once what you looked like".

"Really?" Flash was surprised "And what did you tell him?"

"I told him..." Twilight started "I told him...: Spider-Girl, the thing about Flash is that when you look into his eyes and he looks back at you smiling, you feel stronger and weaker at the same time. You feel excited and terrified. And you know the kind of woman you want to be. When you are with him, it is as if you reach the unattainable and you are not ready for it".

Twilight looked up and saw the tears falling from Flash's eyes.

"Did you tell him that?" Flash asked him.

"Uh ... something like that, yeah" Twilight replied.

Neither Twilight nor Flash noticed Cadance waking up.

Flash reached out and squeezed Twilight's hand. Her eyes met and Flash approached her.

At that moment, Sunset entered the room, carrying a bouquet of flowers for Cadance.

"Hello" she said, while the three of them blushed at the same time.

Flash released Twilight's hand quickly. Sunset looked at them both coldly.

"I have to go" she said, handing flowers to Twilight "I hope Cadance get well".

She then she turned and fled.
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset was walking briskly down the street, her hands in her pockets, her shoulders forward, her eyes fixed on the few feet of sidewalk in front of her. She loved Flash and regretted the Thanksgiving incident. She hoped she could fix things. But when she came in she and she saw Flash and Twilight holding hands and looking at each other like that... What was she going to do now?

She entered the building her mother lived in and walked over to her apartment.

"Mom?" she called her.

She got no response, but she saw light above. She reached the stairs and heard voices from the study upstairs. Two voices, she thought, though she wasn't sure.

"What's the matter?" Cinch yelled at him, peeking out from the top of the stairs.

Sunset stopped at the bottom of the floor.

"You were right about Flash, mom" Sunset said looking up. Her mother continued in the shadows "He is in love with Twilight".

"Sparkle?" Cinch said, and began to walk slowly down the stairs "What about her? How does she feel?"

"Are you kidding?" Sunset replied with a smirk "Twilight has been in love with him since fourth grade!"

A malicious notch crept into Cinch's face. That was great information that she (they) could use. Cinch wiped the grin from his face as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm sorry" she said holding Sunset's shoulders firmly "I know you haven't always been able to count on me, Sunset"

Sunset wasn't ready for this. In addition to everything that was happening to her, she was not ready to rummage in her feelings toward her mother.

"I was busy" she said with a shrug, as if all the failed dates, the broken promises and the high expectations I had for her could be erased with this gesture "You are an important woman. I can understand it".

"No excuse" Cinch said, putting her arm around Sunset's shoulders. "I'm proud of you, Sunset. Proud that you're my daughter. I'll make it up to you. I promise".

Then Cinch did something she hadn't done in years: give Sunset a hug.

The hug was beautiful, Sunset thought, though there was something creepy about it.





That night, in Cadance's room, Twilight was sitting on the couch next to the bed, with an open notebook, a pencil in her hand, and her eyes closed. She was fast asleep. Suddenly awakening from a strange dream with the Black Goblin, she looked around her, yawned, and rubbed her eyes.

"Twilight" said Cadance weakly.

"Mmm...?" she sighed, trying to focus "Oh, you're awake! Great. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" said Cadance "But I think you should go home and sleep".

"I don't like leaving you here alone" she replied.

"I'm safe here" added Cadance smiling.

"I should have been there, Cadance" Twilight told him, a guilty feeling that started from her stomach and stayed anchored in her throat "Maybe I could have helped you".

Cadance clicked his tongue softly at the thought of Twilight, the book-loving student, assuming the role of heroine.

"You do enough" she said "College, work, all the time you spend with me... You're not Supergirl! You know?"

Twilight laughed at the timeliness of the comment.

"Well, a smile..." said Cadance, more animated "I haven't seen one since Flash came".

Twilight gave him a comically exaggerated angry look.

"Hey!" she said, trying to show anger, but actually feeling blushing "You were supposed to be asleep! What did you hear?"

Cadance ignored the question and narrowed his lids as his mind went back in time.

"When you were six years old" she started "Flash's family moved next door. The first time you saw him, you said to Shining Armor: Little brother, is he an angel?"

"Did I really say that?" Twilight asked, unable to remember any of that.

"Of course I do" replied Cadance "I think you would like to know, don't you think?"

"Sunset has a crush on him" Twilight explained "And she's still dating him".

"That don't depend on him?" Cadance inquired.

"He barely knows me" Twilight said, making the excuse she had made to herself.

"Because you don't let him meet you" replied Cadance, to whom she had not been convinced by the answer "You are so mysterious... and lately much more. Don't be so complicated. And don't let any more time go by. Tell me, Twilight: would it be so dangerous to let Flash know how you feel? As if he didn't already know the whole world!"

Dangerous? The word echoed in Twilight's brain like an alarm. Yes, it would be dangerous, but not in the way Cadance thought.

"Thanks, Cadance!" Twilight said, getting up and kissing her "I have to think about all this. I'll be back soon. She made me glad you're better".





Twilight walked quickly to the phone booth in the hall. Dropping a coin into the slot, she quickly dialed the number. She then she waited. One ring, two, three ...

"Come on..." she muttered anxiously into the earpiece "Answer!".

Flash's answering machine jumped.

"Hi, it's me. Leave your message after the signal"

Bip

"Flash, I'm Twilight. Are you there?" she started, trying to hide her concern from her "I just wanted to know if you were safe and in one piece. I'm worried about you, you know? Give me a call and I'll give you the latest news from Cadance. Hey, where are you? How come you are not home? Well, take care of yourself. And don't go down dark alleys..."

As Twilight was about to hang up, she heard someone pick up the phone on the other end.

"Hi?" she said "Flash?"

But instead of Flash's sweet voice, Twilight heard a strange sound on the other end of the phone. She could recognize her voice as it grew in intensity and she froze with terror. The Black Goblin's sly laugh was unmistakable.

"Can Spider-Girl come play?" the Black Goblin asked with a mocking tone.

"Where is he?" Twilight demanded furiously.

"Be careful with love, Spider-Girl" recited the Black Goblin. She then she giggled chillingly and hung up.
> Chapter 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flash Sentry opened his eyes slowly, as if awakening from a long sleep. In reality he had been unconscious for less than an hour. He was the latest victim of the Black Goblin's hallucinogenic gas. As he focused his eyes, he got up holding his aching head. As he stepped back he felt himself lose his balance. Waving his hands to steady himself, he grabbed onto the steel beam next to him that kept him from falling.

Looking down, he saw cars moving up and down a road. The road from a bridge hundreds of meters below the foot of him. He recognized the place, having passed through it thousands of times. His mind finally cleared, and he was filled with true terror as he realized that he was standing... high on the west tower of the Queensboro Bridge!

"Don't look down! Don't look down! Don't look down!" Flash repeated himself, panicked.

He heard a loud, high-pitched sound and turned in time to see the Black Goblin flying over her glider heading for the Roosevelt Island streetcar station.

The red streetcar carried passengers from Manehattan to Roosevelt Island, a small residential island in the middle of the East River, halfway between Manehattan and Ponyville. He was making his way over the river attached to a cable that ran across the bridge. At the time, the tram was packed with children of about eight years old with their parents, returning from a school excursion.

As the Black Goblin approached the station, a missile launcher emerged from the underside of her glider.

"The little spider was walking on the roof..." the Black Goblin sang "And the Goblin has arrived and with one blow he has crushed it".

With a simple wave of the arm, the Black Goblin fired at the station.

BUUM!

The station exploded into a great inferno of flames and black smoke that lit up the night and threw burning debris in all directions.

Flaming chunks from the tram station were falling onto the bridge road, causing cars to collide with each other as they tried to avoid debris raining down from the air. On the river, the tram oscillated from side to side, since the cable that held it was affected by the explosion. The children screamed in terror.





A lightning-fast silhouette passed over the bridge and came to rest on a nearby building. Spider-Girl had been looking for the Black Goblin and Flash all night. It was obvious that the Black Goblin wanted to be found, since she had set the stage for her last show with the arachnid wonder in a place full of public.

Spider-Girl assessed the situation quickly: the Black Goblin had destroyed the tram station, Flash was trapped on the tower of the bridge, the crowded tram teetered... Everything was going to bring trouble, big trouble!

"Goblin, what have you done?" Spider-Girl said.

SNAP! ZAS!

Spider-Girl released a web and began to swing toward the bridge.





The tram's support cable snapped with a chilling sound, causing it to plummet, full of children with their parents, toward the river.

With an incredible display of speed and an impressive display of strength, the Black Goblin launched himself like a bullet towards the plummeting tram, grabbing the cable in midair. It tensed, with the quick and powerful movement of the Black Goblin. The tram bounced and hung over the choppy river.

The glider came to a stop in front of Flash and the Black Goblin jumped from the glider to land on the bridge tower. Without letting go of the wire from her hand, she grabbed Flash by the arm, hanging him over the river without him being able to do anything.

At that moment, Spider-Girl arrived, and saw the scene before her petrified.

"Spider-Girl! That's why only idiots are heroes!" shouted the Black Goblin to the figure dressed in pink and purple "Because you never know when a lunatic can come out with a sadistic offer!".

Spider-Girl's gaze went from Flash to the streetcar and from the streetcar to Flash. She was paralyzed. The Black Goblin had placed her in a dead end situation. It didn't matter what she did: someone would die.

"Let the boy you love die?" yelled the Black Goblin.

She reached out her arm and pushed Flash a little further over the river, as the crowd below gathered below.

"Or let the children suffer?" she laughed sarcastically, letting go of the cable car for a moment.

The cable slipped through her hand and the tram began to descend rapidly. Then the Black Goblin clenched her fist again, and the tram suddenly stopped again, knocking all its passengers down.

"You choose, Spider-Girl!" she ordered "And you will see how they reward the heroes!"

"Don't do it, Goblin!" yelled Spider-Girl.

"We are who we decided to be!" shouted the Black Goblin "And now... decide!".

And, saying this, the Black Goblin released both the cable car and Flash.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" yelled Spider-Girl.





Spider-Girl leapt off the bridge, grabbed Flash around the waist with one arm, and fired a strand of cobweb upward toward the bridge with the other.

"Hold on to me!" she screamed, swinging toward the falling tram. She broke free from the web and used her free hand to grasp the cable car. She shifted Flash onto her back and released another strand of cobweb from the freed wrist.

The cobweb stuck to the bottom of the bridge, tightening. The tram bounced hard. Spider-Girl felt as if her body was going to split in two. Her right hand clutched the web, while the other end of it was well adhered to the bridge. Her left hand held the cable of the tram. Her arms ached bearing the enormous weight. Flash clutched at her back to cling to life.

"Listen to me!" Spider-Girl yelled over her shoulder. Flash looked at her, confused "You have to go down the cable to the tram!"

"WHAT!? That's crazy!" he complained, his voice shaking.

"You have to do it!" Spider-Girl begged him "Flash, I know you can! Trust me!".

Flash finally nodded and started down, sliding from Spider-Girl's back to later down the thin metal cable.

When Flash was halfway up the wire, Spider-Girl heard the familiar howl of the Black Goblin glider behind her. Turning his head, Spider-Girl was met with the full force of the Black Goblin's fist. The powerful blow left her swaying from side to side. She now she struggled not only to hold the cable car, but also to stay awake.

Flash hung from the wire under Spider-Girl's feet, while the tram below swayed and spun, sending the people inside against the walls of it.

The Black Goblin spun her glider in a great arc and passed Spider-Girl again. She laughed uproariously as she encircled the helpless heroine. Spider-Girl extended her arm and the Black Goblin slashed her with the glider's built-in blades, causing some blood-stained chunks of the pink and purple suit to flutter into the river.

The impact of the Black Goblin's blow caused Spider-Girl to release the cable from the tram, which flew out of her hand.

Spider-Girl, in searing pain, stepped out after the cable and grabbed it when she was within reach of her, once again halting the fall of the tram.

This time, the jolt of the tram as the cable tightened caused the Flash to fall. He collapsed with a thud on the roof of the tram.

With an evil smile and the intention to end this, the Black Goblin launched herself at Spider-Girl, with the blades of the glider activated again.

"IT'S TIME TO DIE, SPIDER-GIRL!!" yelled the Black Goblin triumphantly.





Spider-Girl braced herself for the impact, knowing that she was not going to survive. The Black Goblin was approaching, readying her glider, when suddenly a stone struck the side of her head. She lost control of her spiraling around as she passed Spider-Girl.

The Black Goblin struggled to control her glider, and suddenly more things began to hit her. It turns out that, from above, on the bridge road, an enraged crowd threw everything they could find at hand at him, from pieces of wood to stones, bottles or hubcaps.

Spider-girl could hear the crowd yelling: 

"Come here you coward! We have something for you!"

"We're going to give you a good beating!"

"Leave Spider-Girl alone!. Are you going to mess with someone, who wants to save some children?"

"Get this in your head: who messes with Spider-Girl, messes with Canterlot City!"

"If you mess with her, you mess with all of us!"

"AAHH!" the Black Goblin yelled, covering her head with her hands as she escaped the rain of flying debris.

From below, listening to the cheering crowd, Spider-Girl felt an injection of renewing energy. It didn't matter what the newspapers said. These were true citizens of Canterlot City. No one had told them what to think. And right now, based on what was in front of them, they unanimously thought that Spider-Girl... was a heroine.

At that moment, Spider-Girl discovered a huge mound of rocks that stretched out next to the supporting pillar of the bridge. She wasn't sure it was big enough to hold the tram, but she had no other options. Carefully, she started down the tram, with Flash subject to the ceiling, to the huge rock.

After a few tense moments, the tram came to rest on the rock. Flash stood on the ceiling and, looking up, smiled raptly at Spider-Girl, who breathed in relief.

Unfortunately, that joy was short-lived.

"SPIDER-GIRL, WATCH OUT!!" yelled Flash.

A rope suddenly came out of nowhere, wrapping itself around Spider-Girl's waist. The Black Goblin, recovered from the attack of the crowd, held tightly to the other end. She then flew off with her glider, dragging Spider-Girl after her.

The crowd on the bridge let out an exclamation, as Flash stared in horror at the situation.





When the glider reached Roosevelt Island, the Black Goblin cut the rope and dropped Spider-Girl. She plummeted, crashing against the ruins of an abandoned hospital.

After flying at full speed towards the ruins, the Black Goblin landed her glider, jumped off it and stood next to Spider-Girl, savoring her victory.

On the ground, Spider-Girl was half dead, her costume tattered from the impacts, and part of her mask destroyed, revealing Twilight's face. She is trying to shoot another web, but the Black Goblin stepped on her wrist, stopping her.

"You have spun your last web, Spider-Girl. If you had not been so selfish, the death of your boyfriend would have been quick and painless" said the Black Goblin with feigned sympathy "But now that you've managed to piss me... I'll finish him off slowly and tortuously!".

Turning back to her glider, the Black Goblin took out some kind of pointed artifact. At the press of a button, three sharp blades appeared, forming a kind of triple dagger.

However, the Black Goblin herself was unaware that her words had made Spider-Girl start to get up, totally furious.

"Flash Sentry and I..." said the Black Goblin, returning to stand right in front of Spider-Girl "We are going to pass it... VERY WELL!!"

The Black Goblin aimed her triple dagger at Spider-Girl's heart, then delivered a savage stab at her.

However, before she reached the chest of her, Spider-Girl reached out her arms and grabbed her weapon, beginning to struggle against the Black Goblin.

The fury that simmered inside Spider-Girl gave her new strength. Freeing herself from her struggle, she grabbed hold of the Black Goblin and began punching her, until she crashed into the remains of a stone wall and then collapsed to the ground.

But then, just as she was about to deliver the final blow, Spider-Girl stopped after hearing supplicate the Black Goblin, a different voice... but familiar.

"Twilight! Stop!" begged the Black Goblin "It's me!"

At that moment, the Black Goblin slowly removed her mask and Spider-Girl met the face ... of Abacus Cinch.

"Mrs. Cinch!?" Spider-Girl said, surprised and confused at the same time.

"Thanks to Celestia" Cinch said relieved and somewhat hurt by the punches.

"It was you" said Twilight "You killed the people on the balcony!"

"It was the Black Goblin! I had nothing to do with it!" Cinch said, scared "Don't let him possess me again. I beg you! Help me!"

Spider-Girl stared at Cinch, trying to understand what terrible evil she had taken hold of that woman she had so respected. What she was unaware of was that Cinch was pressing a button on the control panel of her suit.

"But you wanted to kill Cadance, and also Flash!" Spider-Girl reminded him.

"But not you! I tried to stop him, but couldn't. I would never hurt you" Cinch said, feigning sympathy "From the beginning, I knew that if something happened to me, I could count on you. That you, Twilight Sparkle, would save me. And you have! Thanks to Celestia you're here, Twilight".

Very slowly and silently, Cinch got up and extended her right hand.

"Give me your hand, Twilight" begged Cinch "Believe in me as I have believed in you. I have been like a mother to you. Be a daughter to me now."

However, Spider-Girl took a step back, rejecting Cinch's hand.

"I had a father!" she said sternly "His name was Shining Armor!".

Suddenly, Spider-Girl noticed that Cinch showed an evil smile again.

"GO TO HELL, SPIDER-GIRL!!" Cinch yelled, in the Black Goblin's voice.

At that moment, Spider-Girl's spider sense soared. She felt a tingle on her head, and the impression that something behind her was threatening her pierced her entire body.

Turning her head, she saw the Black Goblin's glider rush in her direction, its blades activated again. Stepping out of her way, she flipped and landed, just in time to see the glider skewer Abacus Cinch and pin her to the stone wall.

"Twilight... Sparkle..." Cinch begged "Don't say anything... to Sunset..."

Then Cinch collapsed onto the glider, blood from her body spurting onto the Black Goblin's mask.

Abacus Cinch... the Black Goblin... was dead.
> Final Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The police reached the bridge and both the tram passengers and Flash were immediately brought to safety.

Meanwhile, Spider-Girl brought the lifeless body of Abacus Cinch to his family's apartment. She landed on a small balcony and entered the apartment through two large glass doors.

She took off the Black Goblin costume and dressed him in her usual clothes. Slowly, blood soaked Cinch's shirt.

As Spider-Girl gently placed the inert body on a sofa, the apartment door swung open and Sunset stepped inside, horrified to see Spider-Girl standing next to the lifeless body of her mother, and her shirt stained with blood...

"What have you done!?" Sunset yelled furiously "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

Then Sunset ran to a nearby table, opened a drawer, and pulled out a pistol. She turned back to Spider-Girl, but she had already disappeared into the night.

The curtains on the open glass doors swayed in the breeze as Sunset knelt beside her mother and cried.





Abacus Cinch's funeral was massive.

Important businessmen and the cream of the city were among the attendees, along with friends and family. Cadance, who had recently left the hospital, felt recovered enough to be there. While she was talking to Flash, Twilight accompanied Sunset to her family's Bentley.

"I'm so sorry Sunset" Twilight said "I know what it's like to lose a mother".

"I didn't lose it. They took it from me. And one day, Spider-Girl will pay for it" replied Sunset furiously "I swear on mother's grave that she will pay for it!"

At those words, Twilight silently reflected: Sunset Shimmer, her best friend, had become Spider-Girl's worst enemy.

When they got to the car, Sunset turned to Twilight.

"Look, regarding Flash..." she began "I tried to impress my mother by dating a handsome boy. I know he wasn't the one for me. I'm glad you're my friend, Twilight! And now... you are the only family I have left".

Sunset hugged Twilight warmly before getting into the Bentley to slowly drive away.





Twilight walked alone through the cemetery, lost in thought: "Whatever I do... and no matter how hard I try... the people I love... always end up suffering the consequences".

She stood before a grave and looked at the inscription on the tombstone: "SHINING ARMOR, BELOVED HUSBAND AND BROTHER".

"Hey!" said a voice behind her. Was Flash "Cadance told me I'd find you here".

"Little brother... Flash is here" Twilight said looking at the tombstone.

"You must miss him so much" said Flash, standing next to Twilight.

"He was a great man" Twilight replied "It was hard being without him."

They walked away from the grave, walking in silence. Finally, Flash decided to speak.

"Twilight, there is something I wanted to tell you" Flash began "When I was on the bridge and I thought I was going to die, I was only able to think of one person. Of you, Twilight. And I thought this: I wish I could see the face of Twilight Sparkle one more time".

"Seriously?" Twilight said, surprised.

"I know I've been an idiot for a long time..." Flash continued "There has only been one woman who has always been supporting me. Who has made me feel more than I imagined I would be. That I was... the way I am. Just that. And the truth is... I love you. I love you, Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight couldn't believe it: Flash Sentry telling her he loved her!

However, she couldn't tell him what she felt. She could not. Not while she was Spider-Girl. That was something she had already learned. She couldn't be intimate. She hurt the people she loved, and she wasn't going to let it happen again.

"I can't tell you everything" Twilight sputtered "I mean there's so much to tell you, the boy next door..."

"But is that all I am?" Flash asked.

"Of course not!" Twilight replied "You are the amazing boy next door. And I will always be there to take care of you. I wish I could give you more than this, but you should know that you will always be safe."

Flash looked up at Twilight, then closed his eyes and kissed her. It was a long and magical kiss. He had tasted one like it only once before, when Flash kissed Spider-Girl. But it was equally wonderful.

"I can't give him what he wants" Twilight thought when their lips parted "I can't". With the sweet glow of love still on Flash's face, Twilight turned and started walking, struggling with the decision she just made.

At that moment she heard Shining Armor's voice, and understood that she had made the right choice, the only choice that guaranteed that no one would ever hurt the people she loved again.

"Remember, Twilight" said the voice of Shining Armor "With great power comes great responsibility".





And from that day on, Twilight Sparkle would NEVER forget that advice again.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Filthy Rich banged on his desk with the latest issue of the Pony New Network. The bouquet of freshly cut flowers trembled in the vase on the desk.

"Spider-Girl! I don't get it..." he snapped at Applejack "First the city thinks she's trash, and now she's a celebrity!"

"She's a hero, boss" Applejack replied.

"Don't give me those again, AJ!" Filthy Rich yelled "I don't trust superheroes. They're just criminals in disguise".

Applejack shook her head and smiled. There was no way to argue with Filthy Rich, especially if the reason for the argument was Spider-Girl.

"And where is Sparkle?" Filthy Rich asked brusquely.

"She just left" Applejack explained "She's going to cover the hostage's news".

"Of course!" shouted Filthy Rich "Another hostage story. But where was she when the Black Goblin came through my window? We had that crazy woman and Spider-Girl right ahead our noses. A golden opportunity and ... where was my photographer? Eating!".

At that moment, a young editor walked into Filthy Rich's office with a skirt in hand.

"What's that?" Filthy Rich inquired.

"Twilight Sparkle's skirt, sir" replied the young man "It was in the closet, along with his shirt, his bow tie, his shoes and his socks".

"Who does she think she is? Tarzan's wife?" shouted Filthy Rich "What are you doing walking around the city naked? And who put these flowers on my table?"

"Me, sir" replied his secretary, Fluttershy, from the office next door "Today is his birthday. Congratulations, by the way".

"What are you up to, Fluttershy, to get a raise? I don't want flowers, I want Twilight Sparkle!" grumbled Filthy Rich "And I don't want her skirt, I want her photos! I want to sell newspapers!"

Then, he got up from his chair, totally furious.


"I WANT SPIDER-GIRL!!!!"