//------------------------------// // Chapter 36 // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------// (Third Person POV, Canterlot Station) "The train to Ponyville will be arriving in 2 minutes. I repeat, the train to Ponyville will be arriving soon!" As soon as it was announced, Dark immediately saw several ponies getting up from the station's benches and gathering their things. A family to the right of him picked up their bags and started forming a line were the train was to arrive. After some yawning, Dark got up from his seat and walked towards the tracks. He looked around the station while he waited, most of the others back at the castle. Not long after, the train finally arrive and Twilight stepped out of it and walked up to him. “Hey Dark,” Twilight said with a smile before giving him a hug. “Hope you're well.” “I'm fine,” Dark said, returning the hug before separating. “So why did you come today?” “Well, I finally figured out how to end this nonsense.” Dark did a double take. “Wait, really?” Twilight nodded. “It's rather simple, but after weeks of thinking, it's probably the best option we got. I'll explain it when we get to the castle. But first, someone else came with me.” “Really? Who?” “Hi Dark.” Looking to the voice, Dark saw Lyra walking up to him with a smile. With a nod, Dark gave a quick wave. “Hey Lyra. You doing okay?” “Decent,” Lyra said with a shrug. When she noticed his bag moving, she said, “Um, is something wrong?” Dark shook his head. “Follow me.” With that, he led his friends out of the station and to the nearest alley. “Uh Dark? Why are we here?” Lyra asked. After making sure no one else was around, Dark aimed his bag at Twilight, opened it, and Bri immediately jumped out and hugged her, causing Lyra to step back in shock. “What is that?!” Lyra said. “Her name is Brianna,” Twilight said with a smile as she hugged Bri back. “And my daughter,” Dark added. Lyra stared at him with wide eyes. “Your daughter? How? She is clearly not human, nor a pony. Not to mention you only been here a few months. Plus I doubt you and Rainbow got that far yet.” Dark and Twilight's eyes widened in shock. “WHAT?!” They said in unison, to the point Bri had to cover her ears. “What? Aren't you two a couple?” “What? No, we aren't,” Dark said in a quieter voice, happy his scarf covered his blushing face. “And know that Bri is only a month old.” Lyra immediately had a small blush on her face and covered her mouth. “Sorry.” “What even made you say that?” “Well you two are pretty close. So I just thought you two were dating. I mean, I almost always see you with her.” Dark pinched the bridge of his nose as Bri climbed his leg onto his shoulders. “Does everyone think we're dating?” “Pretty much,” Lyra said with a shrug. “At least everypony I personally know.” She looked at Bri as the pup gave a happy wave. “So...how is she your daughter? And what is she, some sort of dog?” “She's adopted. The day we met at the park. That night, Bri hatched in my hands.” Lyra rose an eyebrow. “Hatched? How-” “Brianna is a special creature called a pokemon,” Twilight explained. “All pokemon are hatched from eggs, no matter their species. Speaking of which, Brianna here is a rather rare pokemon known as a Riolu. Think of them like bipedal jackals that can sense emotions thanks to those sensors on her “mask” and they're fairly strong.” “Oh, okay. Wait, where did you get her egg?” Lyra asked Dark. Dark sighed. “You remember the thing about Displaced?” Lyra nodded. “Well a few days after Hearth's Warming, I was summoned to one of the other worlds for the first time with Twilight and Cece. We got some pokemon, and left. Then a little while after coming here to Canterlot, I went back there with Rainbow.” “Stuff like this is why everypony thinks you two are dating,” Lyra interrupted. “Stop,” Dark said, annoyed. “Anyway, while there we saved a few eggs and I kept one. A few days later, she hatched in my hands. And sees me as her dad.” Lyra nodded. “So you're the adopted father of a strong creature from another universe who can sense emotions?” “And loves giving hugs,” he added. “So...why was she in your bag?” Twilight blinked. “You know, that's a good question Dark.” Dark sighed. “I don't want any nobles to think she's some pet, something that belongs in a zoo, or something they can buy from me. So I keep her in the bag unless we're in the castle, at Joe's, or alone in alleys.” “Well considering what you been through and know, can't say I blame you,” Twilight said with a shrug. “But you should try leaving her out in public. Don't want her to get too used to this. Especially for when she evolves.” “Evolves?” Lyra asked. “Pokemon go through something called evolution,” Dark explained. “Basically the pokemon version of growing up. Bri will one day evolve into a Lucario. Stronger, more control over aura - that's how they can sense emotions - as well as learn more moves. And I'll keep what you said in mind Twi.” Twilight nodded. “Well with that out of the way, we should head over to the-” She immediately stopped as Dark immediately stood straight up, his spider sense going off again. He immediately grabbed Bri and shoved her into Twilight's arms before running down the alley. “Dark, where are you going?” Twilight asked while he was shedding his cover, put on his mask, and webbed his clothes to the top of a nearby wall. “No idea,” he said as he web zipped over a building and swing away. Twilight and Lyra blinked. After a few seconds of silence, Lyra said, “So that's his costume?” “Yup.” “Not really a good idea for a guy who wants to have a secret identity to have a completely concealing suit in both personas and they are both the same colors.” Twilight shrugged. “You'd think that, but nopony seems to noti-” She was then interrupted when they heard a loud crash. “What was that?” Lyra asked, scared. Twilight didn't respond as she simply teleported the three of them to where she believed the noise came from. After opening their eyes, they saw a large building that looked like it belonged in Manehatten, with some of the higher floors being on fire with broken windows. Not far from the building, high above the ground, was a being in a green and silver clothes with large metallic wings of matching colors on his back, twice of the size of Celestia's own. The final noticeable feature was something similar to a flight helmet on his head, completely covering his face. “Show yourself, coward,” the figure shouted, his voice augmented through the helmet. He then waved one of his hands back, one of his wings following it, before swinging it forward, a few of his “feathers” flying out of his wing and towards the building. “I'll make sure you pay for what you did.” Before he can attack again, a strange white substance was launched into his face. While he was pulling it off, he heard a voice say not too far below him. “Okay Vulture, calm down.” After successfully getting the substance off of his helmet, the “Vulture” looked at the voice and saw Dark perched on one of the intact windows. “Who are you?” Vulture asked. “And what did you call me?” Dark shrugged. “Spider, and Vulture. The latter is because you reminded me of a guy named that. Now either you stop now, or I kick your butt.” Vulture blinked behind his helmet before throwing his head back and laughed. “Oh, so you wanna play hero huh? Well then hero, let's see how easily you break.” He then launched some of his feathers at Dark, to which he dodged the first few but the last one scratched his leg, cutting deep enough to draw blood. “You're out of your league “Spider”. Leave now and I'll let you-” Vulture immediately stopped when Dark shot another web at his face and pulled Vulture to him before punching him, sending the stallion a few feet back. After ripping the web off again, Vulture growled. “Fine. If that's how you wanna play it…” Vulture then immediately grabbed Dark by the leg and flew up a few meters. “Such a shame, having to ruin the street below with your corpse,” he said before letting go. He smirked for a second before he felt a small tug at his legs. Looking down, he saw Dark hanging onto him with a web. “Hey, let go you stupid inse-” he was interrupted again with another web to the face. With a growl, he said, “So you wanna have a ride? Then let's go for a ride.” He then flared up his wings and dived, Dark holding on. When he was close to the ground, he lifted himself up and flew over the streets, narrowly dodging various buildings and signs so his passenger can hit them. Unbeknownst to him, Dark avoided each of them by webbing one of the opposite buildings and pulling himself towards them. After a couple of minutes, Vulture lowered his head and widened his eyes in shock when he saw that Dark was still holding on. “Persistent, eh?” He was then immediately webbed in the face again again. “GAH! Stop that!” Dark immediately shook his head and shot a web to the ground, causing him and Vulture to stop. Dark then let go of the 2 webs and landed on the ground. Vulture shook his head as he looked down at Dark. “What's your deal, kid? You work for that bat and his fat pet?” “Actually I work for someone else. But I'm taking you on because you were causing trouble.” “Why do you care?” Dark shrugged. “I can't just stand by and let you hurt others.” “So you really do wanna play hero? Fine.” Vulture shook his head before flaring up his wings. He then launched several feathers at Dark, to which the human dodged with greater ease than on the building. With the last one, Dark webbed the feather and swung it back at Vulture. The attack sent Vulture back a few feet, but his armor protected him from any real damage. “GAH! You are so annoying.” Vulture screamed in rage. He then looked around and saw several civilians, none of whom were pegasi. With a smirk, he then flew to one, a pink earth pony mare with a green mane, and grabbed her by the arm. “So hero, let's see if you share the same weaknesses as so many others.” He then flew up several meters before dropping her. “Save her, or follow me.” He then flew off. Dark briefly watched Vulture fly off before focusing on the mare. Thinking quickly, he shot a web to two buildings opposite of each other before he slingshot towards the mare. He caught her as she was panicking and said, “Calm down, or this'll hurt a lot more.” He then wrapped one arm around her and used another one to shoot a web at the closest building and swung from it to reach the ground safer. When they landed, Dark looked at the mare. “You okay?” She just gave a shocked nod in response. “Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a cranky old bird to catch.” He then web zipped to one of the lamp posts and used the momentum to launch himself further before swinging at top speed. After a couple of minutes of swinging, jumping, and zipping, Dark caught up with Vulture. Deciding to finish things, Dark landed on Vulture's back. “Hey!” Vulture shouted. He looked over his shoulder and shook his head in shock. “What? How did you… you are a real pain, you know that?” Dark shrugged. “Guess you didn't know I have my own means of transport. Say, this looks important,” he said, looking at the harness the wings were attached to. “Wonder what happens when I do this.” He immediately punched into the harness and ripped out a few wires. “You stupid motherbu-” Vulture started before his wings immediately went crazy and he was launched forward, with Dark falling off of his back and saving himself by webbing to a building. Looking at Vulture, he saw the villain flying wildly in the air, unable to control himself. He then heard Vulture say, “I'll kill with you next time we meet, you annoying Spider!” Soon after that, he couldn't be seen anymore. After taking a few deep breaths, Dark perched himself on the building. “My second villain based on a Marvel character. Definitely more of a challenge than Shocker.” He then touched the cut on his leg before wincing. “And definitely more of a pain than Shocker.” With a sigh, he swung back to where he left his cloak and bag and put them on. When that was done, he immediately went back to the building Vulture attacked. Looking at a nearby sign, he saw the name of the company it was part of. “Bio-Corp huh?” Dark muttered to himself as he read it. He immediately heard a small noise behind him. He had enough time to turn around before being tackled. Looking down, he saw the familiar sight of Bri hugging his chest and nuzzling, except she had a concerned look on her face when she looked up him. “There you are.” Turning to the voice after getting up, he saw Twilight approaching him with some ash on her. “What happened to you?” Dark asked before putting Bri on her usual spot. “I spent my afternoon evacuating the building and putting out most of the fires. What about you? Last we saw of you, you were attached to some weird pony.” After looking around, Dark whispered. “He's the one responsible for the chaos and I took care of him. Though don't be surprised if he ever comes back.” “Well good job driving him away at least.” “So mind telling me about this place?” Twilight shrugged. “Bio-Corp. One of the most successful companies in Equestria. Even has a building in a few different cities, including Manehatten and Las Pegasus. They usually focus on biological studies, hence the name, but I heard lately that they're expanding to technology. You don't know about it?” “Never heard of them before now. Not in the show.” “Huh. Strange…” “So where's Lyra?” Dark asked. “She decided to help comfort some of the ponies who I got out. Once they all calmed down, she said she'll meet us at the castle.” “So we're heading there now?” Twilight nodded. “And when we get there, I'll tell you the idea we had to fix everything in Ponyville. And I think today might actually help.” “Seriously? Well then come on. And if we hurry, we might be able to see Lyra meet Screwball.” With a chuckle, Twilight's horn glowed before she teleported the three of them to the castle. (An hour later, Canterlot Station) A peach colored pegasus with a blue mane and goggles sat in the train, tapping a hoof to the ground impatiently with her arms folded as she waited for her friend. “Where is she…” she asked to nobody in particular. “Indy!” She immediately heard. “Finally.” Turning the the voice, Indigo Zap saw her friend. “Hey Zest. What took so long?” Lemon Zest sighed. “Sorry. I was kinda busy freaking out.” “What happened?” “Well you know that spider guy that been showing up back home lately?” “The same guy Dust talked about?” “Yeah, him. The one who stopped that Shocker guy.” “What about him?” “He was here.” “Seriously?” Lemon frowned. “Come on Indy, you're telling me you didn't see a green guy with giant wings flying around and a guy in blue and black following him?” “No, I didn't. Why do you care all of a sudden anyway.” “He saved my life,” Lemon said. Indigo did a double take. “Wait what?” Lemon then explained the event of what happened earlier. When she was done, Indigo looked at her in shock. “You're serious?” She asked. “Very.” Indigo shook her head. “That is insane. And you're excited about that?” “A real life superhero just saved my life. Why wouldn't I be excited?” “Almost dying from being dropped high in the air?” “But I didn't. So no need to worry about that.” Indigo rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just wake me up when we're back.” With that, Indigo got herself comfortable before falling asleep. Lemon shrugged before looking out the window, thinking about what happened and hoping to meet the Spider again one day to properly thank him.