“Fascinating.”
It was all the Dr Otto Octavius could say in front of what he saw. This man should have died, no one can survive to an electrification of two thousand volts. But here he was, looking at that man, lying on the operating table. The first notable thing that Octavius could notice was that his skin has turned yellow, and was constantly releasing electric arcs.
“His body is constantly releasing electric waves around 2000 volts.” He said, taking notes. He approached his face and murmured “How are you still alive though?”
Just as he said that, the man lying on the table opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
“W-Where am I?” He asked, a hint of panic can be heard in his voice.
Dr Octavius just smiled at him and said “Don’t you worry my friend. I am here to help you.”
“Who are you?” He asked, looking at his hands and feet tied on the operating table, he began to really panic. “W-where are we and what do you want from me?” Then he looked closely at his hands and saw that his skin was yellow and he started to feel the electricity through his veins. “What happened to me?”
Dr Octavius could not help himself but smile. “That’s a lot of questions indeed. First things first. My name is Otto Octavius, but here, everyone calls me Doc Oc.” He said heading towards his desks, and he took a file from it. He opened it and show the content of it. “And you my friend, are Max Dillon… where at least, was. Officially, you’re dead.”
Max just looked at him with big eyes. “What?”
He looked at the pictures and saw what happened that night. A picture of him climbing a ladder, and a hooded man, standing there, clothed in a long brown cape discolored and patched. He was in front of the camera but it didn’t have good enough image quality to clearly see his face. He could only see a frightening mask covering only half of his face and two piercing red eyes, which, even through the camera, he had the impression that this man was scrutinizing his soul.
“I… I remember him.” Max said.
“Of course, you do, he gave you quite a thrill, didn’t he?”
“Who is he?”
Then, for the first time, Dr Octavius dropped his smile and frowned. “We don’t know actually. He gave us trouble for quite a while, we call him…”
Dr Octavius stopped when he heard the doors of his laboratory opened, he looked at who entered and his eyes were wide open.
“B-Boss!” He exclaimed.
Max lifted his head up to see who had just came in. It was a man, quite a tall man actually, he had a weird looking face and white hair.
“Max, let me introduce to you to the man who saved your life.” The doctor said as the man approached. “The CEO of Discord Corporation, Discord himself.”
The man was now standing next to them and smiled at them. “Well, you Doctor had done all the work. I just funded the operation.”
Max looked at him. “Y-you… Saved my life? Why?”
“Because my friend. I need you.” He said.
“You need me?”
Discord started to detach max from the table, Dr Octavius didn’t seem serene at this idea but to prevent his boss would bring him nothing more than trouble.
“Yes Max, I need you.”
Max was now sitting on the table, he was face to face with his interlocutor.
“But I have to inform you.” Discord said. “Your body will… stay like this forever. We can’t fix you.”
“And we tried.” Dr Octavius added.
Max seemed devastated, he’s going to stay like this for the rest of his life. And all of that because of…
“What’s his name?” Max asked.
Discord gave him a questioning look and said, “I beg your pardon?”
“The man, who chased me that night… What is his name?”
Max now looked at Dr Octavius, and Discord started to look at him too. He swallowed the saliva that was in his mouth and said “We call him… The Fiend.”
Looking at the ground, Max took a deep breath and stood up. “I want him.”
“What do you mean?” Asked a smirking Discord.
Max was now angry, filled with rage. “The Fiend. I want him. I want to make him suffer.”
Discord smiled at him, but not the kind of comforting and welcoming smile, but a dark a sadistic one.
“If I give you everything you need to defeat him, will you work for me?” Discord asked.
Max looked Discord right in the eyes and said “Deal.”
Discord’s smile couldn’t be more sinister.
Discorp’s offices were empty at this hour of the night, however, Dr. Conhorse was still working, accompanied by his young assistant.
She was busy entering data into the lab computer when she was surprised by a cry of despair from her boss.
She looked at him with a worried look.
“Doctor, Are you alright?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
The Doctor in question didn’t answer and let out a sigh before he collapsed on a desk chair.
“Pointless…” He said in a whisper, taking his head in his hand.
“W-What is pointless Doctor?” Twilight asked.
Conhorse spread his arms to show the lab standing behind them. “This!” he said. “This is all pointless Twilight. We’ve been working on this for months. But we’ve only made progress in the first two months! We’ve been at a dead end for so long…”
Twilight gets up from her chair and puts her hand on the Doctor arms, trying to reassure him.
“But Doctor, this is the work of your life!” She exclaimed “You can’t just give up! Everyone here thought you were crazy when you showed your work, but not me! I know that a brilliant mind like yours can get us out of this dead end! I’m sure!”
She looked at him right in the eyes. Then, she became aware of how she had just spoken to her boss and she began to blush violently.
“S-sorry!” she apologized “I didn’t want to yell at you…”
Dr Conhorse started to laugh to death, which only made Twilight’s blush worse. He stood up, put his -only- hand on the head of his assistant and ruffled her hair.
“Ah, my little Twilight, if only you know how glad I am to have you here.” He said, smiling at her.
“R-really?” She said embarrassed, trying to avoid his look.
“Yes really, my previous assistant was…” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Not as smart and kind as you.”
Twilight was surprised, she only heard of her once, she knew that she was fired, but she didn’t know why.
“Your previous assistant was… Felicia Hardy, right?” She asked.
“Yes, it is her name.” He opened his eyes and looked at Twilight. “I fired her after she attempted to steal something from me.” He finished, a bit of anger in his voice.
Twilight was shocked, she didn’t know something like that happened here.
“W-what?” She asked. “What did she try to steal?”
Dr. Conhorse seemed to hesitate for a moment. “I can’t tell you Twilight.”
Twilight was disappointed but didn’t want to push it.
“Alright then,” She said “After all, I’m new here, I understand you can’t tell me about it.”
Conhorse smile and nod in approval.
“Enough chit chat, we’ve got work to do!” He said.
Twilight’s beam was the only response he needed.
Meanwhile…
‘Oookay, you’ve got it Sunset… Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t you DARE to look down!’
Sunset Shimmer, aka Spider-Girl, was busy climbing a wall, but not a simple wall, it was Discorp’s Building she was climbing on, just that.
She came here with a purpose, she wanted to know what exactly happened to her. After all, you weren’t supposed to gain strange abilities when you’re bitten by a spider. You’ll get sick, that’s all you’ll get.
She knew the answers that she was looking for were in this building, so she waited until it seems that everybody working there left, and the she decided to sneak inside the building.
‘Why am I doing this…’ she thought, still climbing on the wall.
After a moment, it seems that she found an open window and decided to sneak inside.
She arrived in a small office, and she immediately hide behind the desktop. The last thing she wanted was to being found by someone.
When she knew it was safe, she carefully walked toward the office’s door and opened it a little bit to see if there was nothing in the corridors.
“All clear.” She said to herself.
She snuck through the long corridors of the building. Every lights were off, so Sunset wandered through the long dark corridors hoping to find what she was looking for. Because of the grim atmosphere in this place, she almost felt like she was in a horror movie. She felt like a monster or a ghost would be waiting for her at every corner, and she cursed herself when, a few weeks ago, Rainbow Dash had offered her to watch a movie called “The Grudge” and that she’d agreed to watch it.
She still had nightmares from time to time, except that, in her nightmare, Kayako wasn’t the one who tortured her, but it was herself. Well, not exactly herself, but her demonic version that she had shown at the fall formal.
But it was totally because of this movie that she had nightmares.
Totally.
After crossing a few corridors and avoiding a few security cameras, she found herself in a hallway that seemed familiar to her.
‘Wait… It’s here!’
Sunset was now in the hallway she ended inadvertently when she came here in a school trip two weeks ago. She even manages to find the door that leads to the room were that spider bit her.
She stood in front of the door trying to remember the password needed to unlock it. She knew that if she failed it, an alarm will go crazy, so she didn’t have a choice.
‘What was that code again…’ She asked herself.
While she was still thinking, she stopped immediately and jumped on the ceiling when she heard voices in a nearby corridor, voices approaching her.
‘Snap! I thought everyone left by now!’ she thought.
She concentrated on listening the voices and she realized that she knew one of them.
“… and what about those, Doctor?” The voice of Twilight Sparkle echoed through Sunset’s hears.
‘Of course, she’s here! She HAD to be here!’
“No Twilight, it’ll be too risky, even for us.” Sunset heard the voice of Dr. Conhorse responding to Twilight.
They were now in her field of view, but luckily for her, sticking to the ceiling, they couldn’t see her because of the obscurity that the absence of light brought.
‘What am I supposed to do now?’ she thought, just when they both walked just below her.
She can’t take the risk to be seen by the Dr. Conhorse, or worse, by Twilight. Twilight thought of her like a hero, if she sees her sneaking around the building, her point of view towards Spider-Girl will drastically change. And Sunset wouldn’t want that. She liked the fact that Twilight loved Spider-Girl. It put her in a good mood every time she puts on that mask…
Wait.
That’s it! Twilight love Spider-Girl. She was a high-level fan. So, if Sunset asked for help. She’ll help her, right? She just needs to find the right words.
Then, an idea crossed her mind as she watched them disappearing in an elevator, at the end of the corridor. And if it’ll work, then, Sunset wouldn’t need to sneak around Discorp anymore.
‘I hope it’ll work…’
“NO FUCKING WAY!” Lyra Heartstring shouted.
“But Lyra she’s…” Tried Rainbow Dash.
“I SAID NO!” Lyra said, turning to Sunset. “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE YOU DEMON!”
Let’s put it in context.
Sunset joined the music club with the help of Celestia, Rainbow Dash, and she heard that Flash helped them too, so that was a good point. But it seems that the other members like Lyra Heartstrings, Thunderlane and Red Light weren’t aware that Sunset was going to join their little club.
Some were not against like Thunderlane, other didn’t seemed to care like Red Light.
But Lyra was against. Oh yes, she was against.
“Lyra listen, I’m really…” Sunset started to say.
“NO!” Lyra shouted vehemently “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR A WORD FROM YOU!”
Flash intervened between the two girls and sighed. “Lyra please, listen to what Sunset has to say.”
“I know what I did to you was wrong.” Sunset said, confidence in her voice. “But I’m here, standing in front of you, as a changed person. I know you won’t forgive me, but let me tell you that, I won’t forgive myself either. I’m not here to ask for your forgiveness…” She approached Lyra and held out her hand “But I’m here to show you that I’ve changed.” She finished smiling at her.
She was the only one of the two of them smiling.
“I SAID NO!” She said, pushing away the hand that Sunset was offering to her. “You dare to say that what you did to me was wrong ?!” She approached Sunset and stood just in front of her. “YOU DARE TO SAY THAT YOU’VE CHANGED?”
Sunset tried to take a step back but she found herself with her back facing the wall.
“Lyra please…” Flash tried.
But he didn’t have time to say a word that Lyra found herself pushed to the ground.
“Get away from my friend!” Shouted Rainbow Dash.
“Your friend?” Lyra asked, getting up on her feet. “How can you be friend with this… Monster?!”
Sunset winced at this word.
“She’s not a monster! She’s one of the most awesome girls in this school!”
Lyra’s face was now completely red. She walked towards Rainbow Dash, anger in her eyes.
“After all she’s done, you still call her your friend?” She asked. “Maybe she managed to brainwash you after all…”
Unable to even finish her sentence, Lyra found herself again on the floor.
“Stop insulting her!”
Sunset knew were it was going, and it wasn’t good. “Girls please, let’s just talk about…”
“Okay, now I’m sick of it!” Lyra shouted, she gets up on her feet, again, and walked towards Rainbow Dash. But when she was going to reach her, someone stood on her way. “You?” she asked.
“Can you please stop screaming? You’re giving me a headache.” Red Light said, a neutral expression on his face, standing between a ready-to-explode Lyra and a blushing Rainbow Dash.
“Move.” Lyra said.
“No.”
Lyra clenched her teeth, and turned toward the remaining member of the club. “Thunderlane! Are you really okay with this?”
Thunderlane shrugged his shoulder and smiled at her. “Well, Rainbow and her are friends, she can’t be all that bad now…”
If a human being could explode out of anger, Lyra should have exploded three times already.
“YOU MUST BE KIDING ME!” She shouted. She grabbed her bag and walked toward the exit. “This isn’t over!” She said to Sunset before leaving.
After an awkward silence, Flash rose to speak. “Sunset are you okay?” He asked walking toward her.
“Yes.” She said, sadness in her eyes. “I knew she was going to act like that, after what I did to her…”
Everyone seemed to be uncomfortable when she said that. Well, everyone except one person.
“What did you do to her anyway?” Red Light asked.
Rainbow Dash lets out an awkward laugh and laid her hand on Sunset's shoulder. “Maybe it’s better that we don’t talk about that.”
“No…” Sunset said with a sigh. “I think it’s better you hear it from me anyway.”
Red raised his eyebrow.
“I…” She started. “Well, a couple of month ago, Lyra started dating this girl named Bonbon. But they were ashamed of that, so they’ve hid it. But of course, I knew, and I’ve spread the rumors…”
Red looked at her, unimpressed. “I guess that’s bad, but was that really a reason for her to explode like that? I mean, who cares she’s lesbian?”
“I’m not finished.” She said, looking at the ground. “Of course, students didn’t care but… Bonbon’s parents finally found out… And they weren’t happy about this.”
“I see.” Red said.
Sunset sighed, and looked at everyone. “Guys, thanks for everything but, I don’t think that’s a good idea after all. Lyra’s right… I’m a mons…”
“Don’t you dare say that!” Rainbow said, taking Sunset’s face in her hands. “You’re not a monster!”
“Rainbow…”
“I’m with RD on this.” Flash said, to Sunset’s surprise. “When we used to date, I’ve seen that you were capable to show kindness, that you weren’t just some cold-hearted bully.”
“And,” Thunderlane followed “You really have to be blind not to see all the efforts you’re making.”
Sunset looked at them, they were all giving her various degree of smile, except for Red, he just shrugged his shoulders.
“Your gorgeous hair is annoying me,” He started, grabbing his bag and walking toward the exit “But I guess you’re fine.” He finished a smile on his face.
The first real smile Sunset sees of him.
When he exited the room, the bell started to ring through the halls of CHS, marking the end of the break.
“Let’s go to class okay?” Rainbow said to Sunset. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Yeah…”
What was better than a good bath after a long day of work?
Well, watching your favorite anime in a good bath after a long day of work. And that was exactly what Twilight Sparkle was doing right now.
After that she headed to her room with a cup of tea she just made in the kitchen. She still had a little work to do before going to bed. No rest for the weary.
She took a sit on her desk chair, but she felt a cold breeze in her back, when she turn her chair to see where it came from, she saw that her window was open.
“That’s strange… I’m sure I closed it…” she said to herself getting up to close her window.
“Hello Twilight Sparkle.”
“GAH!” Twilight screamed, stumbling on her foot. She watched her ceiling, where the voice came from and screamed again when she saw who it was.
“I do that effect to a lot of people don’t worry.” Said a joking Spider-Girl.
“S-s-s-Spider-Girl?” Twilight asked, agape.
“That’s my name.” Said the masked girl, landing on the floor.
“W-What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.
Spider-Girl sighed and helped Twilight to get up. “I need your help Twilight.”
Twilight watched her, her mouth wide open. “M-My help?”
“You see, I need something, and you might be able to get it for me.”
“You need me…” Twilight watched her with stars in her eyes. “To get something for you?” She said excited.
It only made Spider-Girl laugh. “Yes Twilight.”
“What do you need?” Twilight asked, all the shyness now gone.
“A file… From Discorp.”
Twilight’s face became livid. “From Discorp?” She almost screamed. “I-I can’t! I’ll be fired if I get caught!”
“I don’t want to force you do to anything Twilight.” Spider-Girl said calmly, “But, I really need this file, and only you can get it for me.”
“I…” Twilight started, then she looked at the ground, sighing in defeat. “I can’t.”
But Twilight felt her hands getting grabbed by Spider-Girl’s hands.
“Twilight, I’m…”
Spider-Girl couldn’t finish what she had to say because of Twilight Sparkle’s phone ringing on the desk behind her.
Both girls looked at each other before Spider-Girl said “Take it.”
Twilight nodded and did what she was asked. She looked at the number appearing on her screen and smiled before she picked up. “Shining! When are you going home? It’s eleve…”
Spider-Girl saw the expression of the girl drastically change. “What?” She screamed, excitement in her voice. “Where? I need to see this!”
Okay, now Spider-Girl was completely lost.
“But please I-… B-But I-“ She tried to say, but every time her interlocutor cut her off. “Okay Shining, I’ll stay here. Be careful. I love you too.” She finished before hanging up.
“What was that?” The heroine asked.
“My brother said that a new crazy meta was ravaging the town right now!” She said, excited “I want to see this so bad! But he’ll know if I go there…”
“Wait, wait, wait, what’s a meta?”
“Well, you are a meta.” Twilight said.
“I’m sorry?”
“Meta stands for ‘meta-humans’, people with super powers.” Twilight explained.
Spider-Girl was taken aback. “Y-You mean there is other like me?”
Twilight watched her with a curious look. “You thought you were the only one?”
“Well I…” She started. “Wait. Didn’t you said that he was ravaging the city?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Then, they just looked at each other for, like a minute, before Spider-Girl became aware of the situation.
“Snap! I’ve got to go!” She rushed to the window but Twilight called her.
“Wait!” Spider-Girl turned to face the teenage girl who was offering some kind off bracelets. “Those are web-shooters, it’s not finished yet but… No time to explain, you’ll figure out how they works!”
Spider-Girls put them on and jumped through the window.
But behind her mask, she smiled to herself.
‘Thanks Twilight.’ Sunset thought.
“SWEET CELESTIA, THIS IS SO AWESOME!” Sunset shouted.
Thanks to Twilight’s web-shooters, Sunset was now swinging from web to web between the huge buildings of the city. It was way faster than jumping from roof to roof like she used to.
She had no problem understanding how the web-shooters worked, and she was swinging around like she’d been doing this her whole life.
She aimed, shoots from the right, then swing, then aimed again, shoots from the left, and swing.
She felt so alive.
But the police sirens brought her back to reality. She noticed, in the distance in the middle of the city, an immense light.
‘It must be here…’ She thought.
When she arrived, she landed on a roof and she took a look at what was happening.
She never saw something like that.
Police cars were surrounding a man in the middle of the street, but this wasn’t a… man. His skin was like pure electricity, and he was shooting thunderbolts in the direction of the police cars which resulted in a series of deafening explosions.
“WHERE ARE YOU?” The man shouted. “WHERE ARE YOU, FIEND?”
Sunset jumped from the roof and landed halfway between the policemen and him.
“I’m right here you big yellow bully!” She shouted to him.
He looked at her with an interrogating glare. “And who are you supposed to be?”
“I’m Spider-Girl, dummy!” She shoots a web on his right, and one on his left. She took a few steps back and she propelled herself towards him, her foots forward.
He took the hit and was send flying about ten meters, right in a wall.
“And who are you supposed to be?” She asked, getting ready for a fight. “Duracell-man?”
The man stood up in the wreckage of the wall he just landed in, anger in his eyes, however, a smile on his face.
“I. AM. ELECTRO!”
Sunset stood there and facepalmed.
“Seriously, that’s lame.”
Electro shoot a lightning bolt toward Sunset but she dodges it when she jumped on the nearest wall.
A grin appeared on her face behind her mask.
‘No rest for the brave.’ She thought.