//------------------------------// // Chapter Two- Hidden Secrets // Story: Spiders and Magic: Infinity // by Pen Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter Two- Hidden Secrets After a failed attempt to retrieve the Orb, Lucian and his brothers received a message from The Other after messaging them of recent events. It wasn’t a very happy discussion to say the least for the trio as The Other glared at them in disappointment. “You mean to tell me that you failed to retrieve the Orb from some… Pony!” The Other asked, almost shouting at them, as Lucian did his best to explain the situation that had transpired from the previous night. “We were not expecting that much resistance from the inhabitants, and this Pony you speak of has similar abilities that resembles that of a deceased member of the Avengers.” He explained, earning a curious hum from the Chitauri, the Avengers have been the enemy of their master for quite sometime now and hearing that one of them resided in Equestria was frustrating to say the least. “Very well… I shall convince the master to… let this mistake pass, but you three will have only three month to retrieve the Orb or you shall be punished!” The Transmission soon ended and the trio sat in silence. It wasn’t until Lucian slammed his hoof against the ground in rage as he let out a terrible roar. “Damn it all!” He shouted. Both of his brothers looked at each other before looking back at Lucian, remaining quiet until he calmed down. He didn’t know why, but he felt rage and hatred towards Spider-mane. They had the Orb in their possession and it was taken away by him, but this was an opportunity to take the Orb and leave this planet, but the question is how? “Brother? What should we do?” Tidus asked, looking at Lucian as he stood up, looking at him with his red eyes with new found resolve from behind his mask. “We have another chance Tidus… and we’re going to take it,” He replied, trotting pass him to a doorway leading to the outside. “We’ll find the Orb and take it by force, and if Spider-mane shows up… just leave him to me.” “Not that I’m against that… but it took us two months… Two Months! Just to find the Orb… why don’t we head to the source? Because let’s face it… this tracker doesn’t do shit!” Solar said, placing it on a nearby table as he trotted to Lucian’s side, who looked more angry than pleased. “Tell me Solar? How are we supposed to get the Orb without the tracker?” He asked folding his arms as he glared at his little brother. “It’s simple we blend in with the crowd, find where Spider-mane is and pretend to be friends with him until we find the Orb-” Before he could finish Tidus could only groan, before turning towards Solar. “You know we only have three month right? Besides from what his profile states… he has a sixth sense and would immediately tell who we are.” Tidus explained, before Lucian began thinking over what Solar had said. “Tidus this may be hard to believe, but Solar may be onto something.” Solar could only grunt as Lucian went on. “From what we’ve learned it only acts to those who are threatening, so all we have to do is hang our suits for a while… and suppress our powers until the time is right. We gain the ponies trust and we’ll have the Orb before the month is up and our father will have to let us join the Black Order.” Lucian explained. “So are you two with me or not?” Without any second thoughts, all three brothers bumped each other's hooves together and smiled wickedly as Lucian removed his hood and mask, revealing a Zebra with dark purple eyes, Solar and Flare did the same as they all began to smirk. “In order to bring down Spider-mane, we’ll need to blend in with the crowd, learn more about who he is, what his weaknesses are… And how to put him down for good!” Ponyville Castle “How long until Luna shows up, Aunt Trixie?” Mayday asked, eating a bowl of cereal as she looked towards the azure unicorn. “I don’t know May… it could be a while and your father seems a bit… Impatient for who knows why?” Trixie answered, raising a brow as Peter stared at the Orb while tapping the table with his hoof. “You know for a Princess who could teleport anywhere she definitely knows how to take her time getting here!” Peter groaned only for Trixie to roll her eyes in response. “You do know that she had a meeting today right? So it’ll most likely be awhile until she gets here, but I’m curious Peter about that little ball you have with you? What’s so important about it that you have to call Princess Luna all the way from Canterlot?” Trixie asked as Mayday flew besides her father to look at the Orb. “A couple of guys tried to steal this thing last night and I know what you mean. Just look at it! I doubt they would steal it just to play some softball with the Yankees, but then again they were probably just stealing it to play some catch.” He answered, only for Trixie to groan. “Even when you're stressed, you always have to crack a joke, why must you always do that? It’s like you want me to kill with your awful jokes!” Trixie said, scowling at the stallion as his daughter giggled. “It’s part of my charm and you know it,” Peter said grinning at the unicorn. Mayday looked at the Orb curiously as she gripped it with her hooves, examining to try and find some sort of clue to it. “I think this thing opens, but- I can’t… open it!” She tried twisting it with her hooves as her father chuckled. “I already tried that Sweetie and even with Dream’s magic, we still couldn’t open it. All we can do now is wait for Luna to get here and explain what this is?” Peter replied as he took the Orb in his hoof and set it back on the table. “Still why steal this?” “Well I’m pretty sure Luna can answer that-” Before Trixie could finish, Luna appeared beside the her in a flash, surprising the unicorn as she fell to the floor on her flank. “Forgive me for the intrusion, but you asked for me to meet you here for an old Equestrian artifact if I’m not mistaken?” She asked as Peter showed her the artifact in hoof, her horn began to glow, levitating the Orb towards her. “So could you explain what this is exactly? Because I’m pretty sure that it’s not the world’s oldest baseball.” Peter said, already irritating the alicorn. “Peter, you have no idea what you're dealing with… This is beyond you.” Luna stated, but that didn’t stop the stallion from pressing forward. “Luna, three guys with super enhanced powers tried to steal this. A little information never hurt anypony.” Peter persisted With a deep sigh Luna placed the artifact back on the table before turning towards her friends and family. “Before you came to Equestria my sister was visited by a being from beyond the stars. I know little of this since I was imprisoned during the time. This being gave her this artifact to protect it from a mad titan of some kind. But there’s a lot more to this relic than meets the eye my friends.” Luna’s horn began to glow once again, levitating the Orb off the table. Everypony in the room watched as she began to twist and pull it with her magic, revealing a purple stone that illuminated the room. “Woah, it’s really pretty,” Mayday said in awe as everypony stared at the beauty of the stone within. “What is it?” “This artifact has existed long before me and my sister were born and I shall be taking it back to Canterlot so I can prevent what has transpired from last night from happening again.” She said closing the Orb once again. “Luna you know I’m not going to drop this until you tell us about it. I honestly have no idea what this thing is and if it’s older than you then there’s a reason why those guys wanted it.” Peter explained as Luna blushed in embarrassment from being regarded as old. “Fine… just don’t regard me as old Parker-” She said pausing in mid-sentence, recollecting her thoughts. “There are relics… that predate the universe itself and this artifact is one of them. My sister explained to me that this stone is capable of granting infinite power, but no mortal could wield it. The only ones that could use it’s power is myself, Twilight, Cadance, Eris… and you Peter. Now that you’re the avatar for Order and Harmony you too could wield it’s power if you so wished, but I shall be taking it to Canterlot where it can be protected by myself and the guards.” Luna explained, for Peter. ‘What do you make of all of this Dream?’ Peter asked as the women in his head gave her response to him. ‘If what she says is true… then do those stallions at the museum know about it?’ That was the question. If they knew about the stone and what it was capable of then he’d have to find them and get the answers from them. ‘If we’re going to catch these guys then we’re going to need some help.’ Peter suggested as dream nodded in agreement with her partner. ‘Who’d you have in mind?’ ‘Trixie and Sonata,’ He suggested with a confident grin. ‘Why not Eris?’ She asked, only for Peter to blush. ‘Even though Eris’s magic would be helpful… I think we can manage just fine with those two. Besides she’s always trying flirt with me even if it is hot… Please don’t tell Twilight.’ He asked only for Dream to chuckle in response. ‘I won’t say a word Peter.’ She replied with a wink. The Crystal Empire Shining armor struggled in his sleep as he shifted in his bed, sweat dripping down his forehead as he groaned in his sleep. Within his mind he was alone in the Crystal halls of the Empire, but beyond the halls he hears screams and cries for help. Without any second thoughts he dashes down the hall, hoping that his family is safe, but by the time he reaches the end of the hall he sees the crystal ponies running in fear as ships from the sky fly over them, destroying the city. Out in the distance he saw his wife, Cadance being held by the neck by a large bipedal being, who wore a golden gauntlet. The two looked at one another before the gauntlet began to glow and the crystal Prince watched in horror as his loving wife was incinerated. Soon the ground below him began to falter as the large being stood over with a vile smirk. “I shall bathe the starways in blood!” Was all it said as a dark purple beam fired from the gauntlet. After that Shining Armor awoke with a yell, waking his wife in the process. “Shining? What’s wrong?” Cadance asked, but all he did was hug her. “I thought I lost you.” He said, squeezing her tightly as she wrapped her wings around him in a loving embrace. “It’s alright Honey. It was only a dream, I’m fine.” She replied as she kissed her husbands cheek, before nuzzling him. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you… it just felt so real.” “Don’t worry… we’re fine, we’re safe here.” She assured him. “What about Diamond Aegis? Is he okay?” He asked as Cadance rolled her eyes in response. “He’s fine Shining, I promise… We have a big day tomorrow since Twily and Peter invited us to meet with them tomorrow.” She reminded him. “Please try to get some rest please?” “Alright… I’ll try.” The two soon went to bed immediately only for a voice to whisper within his mind once more. ‘You must prepare for the worst… is yet to come.’ To Be Continued