//------------------------------// // 21. A Shocking Encounter // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------// 'They never look up, do they?' I was on the ceiling, sneaking around in the middle of the night, in my costume. A few guards walked around, not noticing me at all. When they left, I silently dropped down and laughed silently to myself. 'Before I leave, I should tell Celestia about the importance of that.' I shrugged and jumped to a pillar and just jumped through the castle as silently as I can, none of the guards detecting me at all. A few minutes later, I was crawling on the wall of the room with the stained glass windows. 'Now, where to-' “What are you doing?” somepony said from behind me. 'Holy crap!' I turned around and saw Luna looking at me. “Oh...hi Princess. Funny seeing you right now…” “That doesn't answer my question.” I sighed before dropping down in front of her. “Honestly, I need something to do.” “Can't you just go to bed?” “Not tired. And I'm bored. So, I decided to train.” “What do you mean?” “Well, in case you haven't noticed, my sister’s been using a few guards as punching bags to train with lately.” “I heard. I was also informed that she broke the ribs of a couple who mocked her for her size.” I winced at that. “Yeah...pro tip, let your guards know never to do that unless they really wanna get hurt.” “I'll keep that in mind. Now, what does this have to do with you?” “Well, Cece mostly just uses her hammer and fists. She doesn't really know the techniques that the person she looks like has. She's sloppy. But she can still beat your guards with ease. I, on the other hand, have more than just punches and shooting webs. I have more ways to beat someone, and I need more of a challenge. And the only pony I know who can match me and NOT try to kill me is in Ponyville. So, I thought if I can't work on my technique or the like, I can work on my stealth. And I'm doing good on that. You're the only pony who've seen me all night.” “You can say it's one of the perks of being the Princess of the Night.” “So you can see in the dark? Okay... So why are you here anyway?” “What do you mean?” “Well, shouldn't you be in that night court or something?” She sighed. “That is a common misconception. I was preparing to monitor the dreams of everypony, when I was informed of some rather grim news and decided to take a walk.” “Seriously? What is it?” “A large crime spree has been happening in Manehatten for a couple of days now. A group of ponies have been attacking various areas, and are led by a certain criminal with strange abilities.” “Any idea who it is?” She shook her head. “All we have right now is a photo of their leader.” “Can I see it?” She nodded and gave me a photo. I took it and when I saw it, I did a double take. “Oh you GOTTA be kidding me.” What I saw was a stallion in a familiar red and yellow costume with a mask covering his face and gauntlets on his hands. “What's wrong? You know him?” “Well...yes and no.” She looked at me with a suspicious look. “Explain.” I sighed. “I don't know who the pony is, but I know that costume.” “How?” “You remember when I said this costume was inspired by someone with my abilities? Well, he fought a lot of villains, one of which was called Shocker, who this guy is dressed identical to.” “So you know how to fight him?” I shrugged. “Well, kinda. Not much.” “Then what do you know?” “Well all versions I know of are normal humans. The main problem is those gauntlets. If he IS like the original, then those things can shoot blasts of energy. Take those out, and you should be able to take him down.” “Hmm. Well hopefully we can put a stop to him with this information,” she said as she started walking away. I thought for a moment before saying, “How bout you leave him to me?” She stopped and turned around. “You? I don't mean to sound rude, but why should I trust the safety of my subjects to you?” “Well for one thing, I'm more powerful than a lot of ponies, and I'm more capable of dodging his hits, what with my speed and spider-sense.” She stayed silent for a moment before saying, “I will have to talk to my sister later about this before we can do that.” I shrugged. “Okay then.” “Oh, and you should really get some sleep. If you are going to Manehatten to fight this “Shocker”, it's best that you're well rested.” I sighed. “Fine. Though, before I go, I have to say, your guards really suck.” “What do you mean?” “Besides being easily beaten by a teenager with little to no combat experience, I was able to sneak past them much easier than when I snuck around Ponyville on my second day.” “And what do you think will help them with that?” “Well for the first part, they should train under harder conditions. For the second one, one way is having them remember to look up.” “What?” “One thing I learned over the years is that people never look up. And I noticed that your guards are no exception, despite the fact that there are beings that can fly here.” “Hmm. I'll have to remember that.” I nodded. “Well, in that case, good night Princess.” And with that, I snuck to my room and felll asleep. “So why are we going to Manehatten, exactly?” Screwball asked me. I was on a train heading to the city with Cece and Screwball. It took a little convincing for Celestia to let me go to take on Shocker, but when she did, she gave me a two way train ticket. Cece and Screwball decided to tag along too, so Celestia gave them tickets as well. I shrugged. “Well I'm going there because I wanna help take care of a problem. Why did you come?” “Well I came to see Coco again,” Cece said. “What's your excuse?” she asked Screwball. The chaos spawn shrugged. “Well, my dad did tell me to stay with you, so that's what I'm doing.” “Still can't believe that Discord stuck us with babysitting duty for you.” Screwball’s ears folded. I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t feel too bad. Cece here is still a little on edge about Ponyville.” “Among other things,” the hedgehog muttered before putting on her headphones and listening to her music. Screwball looked towards me and said, “So what exactly is this problem you're supposed to help with?” I hesitated for a moment before taking out the photo of Shocker and showed her. “This is a guy causing trouble there. Long story short, I recognized the costume and decided to help out. Besides, helping put a stop to a crime spree is more entertaining than just swinging around the castle doing nothing.” “So you decided to fight a villain instead of stay in Canterlot?” She then shrugged. “Makes sense. Can't call yourself a hero if you're just going to just laze around instead of helping ponies.” I nodded, putting the picture away, before looking out the window and noticing we were arriving at the city. “Get ready. We're about to get off.” A few minutes later, Cece and I stepped out of the station with our cover on and Screwball close behind. Cece sighed. “Back in the city. Feels nice.” She then turned to me. “Coco’s place is a few blocks down. Let me know when you're done doing whatever, and we can meet back here.” With that said, she ran off down the street, dodging the civilians with ease. I looked at Screwball. “Go with her and don't cause any trouble. I'll swing around looking for Shocker for a little while. If I can't find him, I'll just find you guys and start again tomorrow. Okay?” She nodded. “Good luck Tito.” She then smiled and disappeared in a flash of light, causing a few bystanders to look around in confusion to where the earth pony went. I chuckled and walked to an alley. When I was hidden, I took off my cloak, put it in a web bag, and put on my mask before jumping onto a wall and climbing it to the roof of the building. 'Well then. Let's see how long this may take.' I put my foot on the edge, looking down to the ponies below, before taking a deep breath and shot a web towards a building and began swinging around the city. (A few hours later) I landed on the roof of a tall building and sighed. “Still nothing.” I've spent a couple hours swinging around the city, looking for Shocker as well as exploring Manehatten a bit more. So far, all I’ve seen was a bunch of nosy pegasi, a few places I can use as a hiding place, and a bunch of surprised ponies. I sat on a stone gargoyle and looked at the city. “This is getting tedious.” “What is?”  A familiar voice said behind me. I almost jumped from my surprise. I turned around and saw a certain turquoise pegasus leaning on a wall with her arms crossed. “Well, well, well,” I said as I got up. “Didn’t expect to see you, Dust.” “Then who did you expect to see?” “Honestly, no one. So, is there a reason you're here right now?” She shrugged. “You could say I'm getting used to the city. Why are YOU here?” I hesitated for a moment before saying, “I heard that there was a pony in a red and yellow costume causing havoc, and thought I could help.” I then noticed her wing wasn't as bad as when we met. “So how's the wing?” She looked at her wings and gave them a flap. “All healed up.” “That’s good to hear,” I said with a smile behind my mask. I thought for a moment before speaking again. “Hey, why are you here? Not here on this building, though that is another good question, but in Manehattan?” “Oh well, I’m here training to be a cop,” she answered me with a shrug. “The wing kinda put me back a few months but didn’t stop me from trying.” I blinked at that before simply saying, “Kay.” She tilted her head a bit in thought before she looked at me. “A pony wearing a yellow and red outfit causing trouble. I might know who you’re talking about,” she said. “Is that so?” I asked. “Every cop in the city is on high alert. Kinda hard to not hear about a pony wearing that and shooting energy beams around,” she informed me. “Touche… So, what can you tell me about him?” She didn’t say anything for a few minutes as she was thinking about it. “Well, from what we found out so far, he’s resistant to magic and his blasts are strong enough to destroy most walls with ease,” she informed me. “...what?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. She rolled her eyes at me. “Some ponies tried to use magic to stop him but he just shrugged it off, and have you seen the damage he dealt?” she ask. “Well I just got here earlier today, so not really.” She raised an eyebrow at me before shaking her head. “Anyway, other than that there's nothing to go by. Can't see his cutie mark since he’s wearing a suit and we can’t ask him because he’d just blast us with energy beams.” Dust finished explaining. “Well, that’s not really a lot to go by, but it’s something,” I said. She shrugged at me. “Hey, it’s what everypony knows,” Dust said. “No pony wants to get close because if they do, they get blasted.” I frowned at that. “Did… anypony get hurt?” Dusts face went a little grim. “Quite a bit, a lot in the hospital, some…” “I get it,” I said quickly. I looked down for a moment before looking back up to Dust. She shifted a bit uncomfortably in her clothes. The late afternoon sun slowly moved through the clear sky. “Hey, I know this is a bit off topic but… I been hearing this rumor lately,” Dust finally said. I tilted my head at her. “What rumor?” I asked. “Well, the rumor is that some time ago there was two demon like beings duking it out near Ponyville. Know anything about it?” My body tensed a bit from that as the memories flooded back to me. “So what?” “I’m just asking, kinda a big rumor that’s going around and some of the townsfolk from Ponyville were scared." “I don’t know anything about it,” I said firmly, not really in the mood to talk about what happen in the moment. She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something as my spider-sense went off. I immediately jerked my head to the side before running off the ledge and swinging to the place my spider-sense was telling me to go. “HEY!” I heard Lightning scream. I looked back to see her following me, quickly catching up to me. “Where you going?!” “Honestly? I have no idea,” I said as I just kept swinging. “So you randomly start swinging to places?” she asked. “Look, it's a long story, but basically it's the same thing that led me to you when you needed help.” “That sounds like something from a comic book,” she commented. “Oh you have no idea…” After some time I noticed that she was lagging behind. I looked back and saw that she was wobbling a bit. I landed on a rooftop and turned towards her. “You okay?” “Yeah…” she landed. “Wing just a little sore, but I'm fine.” I nodded before feeling my spider-sense go off again. “I'll have to go. Whatever's going on must be big. See you around Lightning.” I then web zipped north. I just kept web zipping and swinging for a few minutes until I landed on a wall and looked at the street. I saw civilians running away from somewhere up ahead. “I'm guessing something is happening,” a voice said. I jumped and saw that Dust kneeling beside me. She looked at me for a moment. “What?” I shook my head. “Just surprised that you can sneak up on me so effectively.” Immediately after that, I heard a loud crash. I looked at the direction it came from and saw the stallion I was looking for all day walk out of a hole on the side of a nearby building. “Okay boys,” he said, in a very familiar voice. “You gather the goods, I'll play with those assholes in blue.” A few moments later, some ponies in police uniform showed up and surrounded the building. One, a unicorn stallion with cobalt fur, grabbed a megaphone and said, “Okay Shocker, this is your final warning. Surrender now, or get ready to really face the consequences.” Shocker just laughed. “Like you can stop me! I'm surprised you still have some ponies that aren't in the hospital. Now here's YOUR only warning. Get out of my way, or I'll put you in a body bag.” “Like that's gonna happen,” the stallion said before putting away the megaphone and fired a magic blast at Shocker. When the blast connected, Shocker just stood there, the blast doing nothing. Shocker then cracked his knuckles and chuckled. “My turn.” He then pulled his right hand back before pushing it forward in a fist, a burst of concentrated energy coming out towards the stallion that hit him. Before the blast can connect, I immediately jumped off the building I was on and quickly pulled the cop out of the way. I then landed on a lamppost and looked at Shocker with my arms crossed. “So you mind telling me what's your deal, or am I just gonna kick your ass?” Shocker just looked at me, his hands closing into fists and shaking in anger. “You…” I tilted my head in confusion. “Do I know you?” “Oh, you don't remember? Let me refresh your memory. Several weeks ago, in an alleyway, you messed with a group of stallions trying to have some fun.” I nodded. “Yeah? What's that have to do with-oh…” I then realized where I heard that voice before. “You're that earth pony that tried to hit me with a pipe.” “Yeah. And thanks to you, I was thrown into the slammer. But now, it's payback time.” He then launched a blast at me, but I immediately web-zipped to a nearby building to dodge it. “Hey! Hold still and let me hit ya!” He then launched another blast, but I just jumped away and landed on the street. “You know, you're really slow at that,” I commented. “Shut up!” He yelled before throwing another blast, which I redirected to the building he came out of by webbing his arm towards it, having the blast hit one of his mooks. Shocker shook with anger before turning to his goons. “All of you, get him!” They immediately put the bags of loot down and came after me while I was rubbing my hands. Two earth ponies came close and I just shot a web to them and pulled them towards me, grabbed them by the collars and slammed them to the ground before webbing them. I immediately backflipped over another earth pony before landing with my hand on top of his head and falling to the ground before throwing him at a wall and webbing him there. I then dusted my gloves and looked at Shocker. “These are the best you can get? Come one, I know a single pegasus from a small town that put up much more of a challenge, and that's before she learned new tricks.” Shocker growled before yelling, “Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!” while throwing a blast each sentence, with me jumping out of the way each time. I then had an idea and jumped in front of one of his goons and yelled at Shocker, “I thought you were supposed to be tough, but I know kids more destructive than you.” He then fired another blast and I just dodged it, with the blast hitting the pony behind me, but Shocker just kept his eyes on me and didn't notice his friendly fire. I jumped to another lamppost and was about to jump to another wall when one of his blasts finally hit me and sent me crashing into a building. “Finally!” Shocker exclaimed. He then walked towards me and aimed his gauntlet right at my face. “Any last words, freak?” “Yeah, how bout you tell me where you got that tech?” I asked. He laughed. “Sorry, but I don't actually know myself. I just know somepony bailed me out and gave me this stuff, and told me to do whatever I want. And right now, I want nothing more than to get rid of you.” Before he can blast me, we heard somepony yell, “Hey!” Before he was hit in the back of the head with a 2x4. He grabbed the back of his head in pain and I kicked him outside before getting back up. I then saw Lightning was close with a broken piece of wood in her hands before saying, “Thanks.” I then walked outside and looked at Shocker. “So you done yet?” He just growled before screaming and pointed both his fists at me, preparing to launch a big blast. I then immediately webbed his hands together, and the blasts hit him and the gauntlets, sending him flying. I walked to his body and knelt down, checking to see if he was still conscious. When I made sure he wasn't, I dismissed my webs and removed the broken gauntlets from his hands before putting it in a satchel made of my webs and slung it over my shoulder. I then turned towards the police and said, “Well, they're all yours.” I was just about to leave when I heard one of them say, “Wait.” When I looked to the speaker, I saw the stallion that stood up to Shocker. “Who are you, and why did you help us?” I chuckled. “I helped because I was told you needed it, and I couldn't live with myself knowing somepony like that was hurting others and no one could stop him. As for my name, just call me Spider.” I then gave a bow and web swung away. A few minutes later, I was on the roof of Rarity’s store and looked around the city. After a few minutes, I heard the sound of wings behind me. “Hey,” Lightning's voice said behind me. “Nice work with the shocker dude.” I smiled behind my mask. “I knew you'd come talk to me. And thanks. Also, thanks again for distracting him long enough for me to finish him.” “Hey, couldn’t let you have all the fun,” she said. “So, what are you going to do now?” I shrugged. “Get my...friends, and go back to where we're staying.” “Well then, best not keep you then,” she said, walking over to my side. “I have my own things to take care of. See you later?” “Sure. Hell, maybe one day you can meet me without the mask.” I heard her laugh. “Maybe,” she said before taking off and flying away. I watched her until she was out of sight, then I jumped down into alley and took my cloak out of my web bag and put it on, then put my mask in my pocket. I took out my phone and sent Cece a text, telling her to meet me in the train station. After that, I put my phone away and exited the alley. 'The girls are not going to believe this…'