Twilight Sparkle: The Amazing Spider-Girl

by Equestrian Defender


3: Tragedy

After grabbing a bouquet of white lilies, Twilight walked the remaining few blocks to where her parents were.

A graveyard behind a church, with a small sign in front of it reading Silver Woods Cemetery.

Twilight sighed as she walked down the path. She didn't visit as often as she used to, but when she was younger she used to come here at least once a week. Even now, she still knew the shortest route by memory.

Eventually she came to a large gravestone with two names inscribed upon it, placed in a small shady spot under a large oak tree.

Twilight Velvet Sparkle 1970-2011
Night Light Sparkle 1966-2011
Loving Parents
Good People
Gone Too Soon
"Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best thing.
And good things can never die."

She let out a sad sigh as she looked at it. Hard to believe it's almost been ten years since that night. When some drunk got behind the wheel of his car and- No. Not going to dwell on that. I'm hear to say hi to Mom and Dad. Not reminisce on one of the worst days of my life.

Gently laying the lilies in front of the stones, she said "Hey Mom. Hey Dad. It's me, obviously. I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while. Freshman year at Crystal Prep was kinda rough. Something I'm sure the two of you can agree with since you both survived there.

'Spike's doing good. Still misses you, though he's not alone in that department. We all miss you." She chuckled. "You'd be proud of your granddaughter. Flurry Heart managed to throw a baby bottle hard enough to wreck one of Spike's LEGO monsters. Wish I had bee there to see it.

'Cadance and Shining are both doing great. Though sometimes I think they both could use a vacation. Can't imagine it's easy having to be the legal guardians for me and Spike while also being parents to an energetic little baby like Flurry Heart. All that while Cadance has her duties as Dean of Students while Shining's doing his best to bring down the Storm King. Yeah, if anyone deserves a vacation, it's those two."

"I doubt we're gonna be getting that vacation anytime soon."

She turned to see the familiar form of her older brother, still in uniform. His two-toned blue hair was cut a bit shorter than he usually kept it, which definitely helped show his blue eyes. She immediately noticed that he was now only a foot taller than her, as opposed to his usual foot-and-a-half. "Wow. Cadance did say you seemed to have hit a growth spurt, but I didn't believe her."

Twilight rolled her eyes, silently thanking the spider-bite for giving that growth spurt. "Good to see you too, Shiny. Any luck with your investigation?"

Shining sighed. "Nothing concrete yet. But I do feel like we're about to catch a break." Looking down at the foot of the grave he said "White lilies. Mom's favorite."

Twilight nodded. "Exactly."

Both of them stood in silence for a few minutes, their minds flashing back to some of the good memories they had with their parents. Though admittedly Shining had a bunch more than Twilight, seeing as how she was only six when the accident happened. She did remember reading a chemistry textbook late at night with her father, and asking her mother questions about her new book. She smiled sadly at the memories.

Finally, tired of the silence, Twilight asked "How's Storm Sentry doing?"

"Bored out of her mind," Shining eventually replied. "On the plus side, the doctors say she's only got one more week of rehab before she can get back out in the field." He smiled. "I wouldn't worry about her, though. She's a tough girl."

"I'm sure," she replied with a smirk. "She'd have to be tough to put up with a partner like you."

"Hey, I resent that!"

They both laughed at that, before Twilight asked "Hey, Shining?"

"Yeah, Twily?"

Figuring out in her head the best way to put it, Twilight began "Well let's say, hypothetically speaking, you could do things. Things other people would think are impossible. Things that some people would think are amazing, but others might think are incredibly terrifying and possibly dangerous."

Shining nodded, before asking "Have you been reading Spike's comic books?"

Figuring it was the best way to keep the conversation going, she nodded. "A few of the Masked-Matter Girl comics are pretty good. Except for that one where she sells her marriage to a demon to save the life of her dying aunt. That one sucked."[1]

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah. So, you're basically asking me what I would do if I had superpowers?"

"Yeah. I just... I had a dream where I woke up with superpowers, really amazing ones too. I just... If it ever did happen, I don't think I'd make a good superhero."

"Why not?"

"Because, I'm a total nerd who's scared of just about everything. And because I don't really see myself able to do the whole gimmick of putting on spandex and going around fighting criminals."

Shining smirked. "Or you're just overthinking things like usual."

She rolled her eyes at that remark. "Seriously though, Shining?"

He chuckled. "Well, believe it or not, I actually had a similar talk with Dad."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Only instead of being a superhero, it was about me being a police officer." Seeing the disbelieving look on Twilight's face, he said "Believe it or not, I wasn't actually all that confident about being a cop: putting on the uniform every day, being responsible for the safety of the people of this city, and there being a very good chance of me getting shot and killed. All of that while living in a city with one of the highest crime rates in the United States, with a police department that's divided into complete rookies, total cowboys, corrupt cops taking bribes form crime bosses, and all while a bunch of lawyers and attorneys play obstructive bureaucrat and put as much red tape as possible in front of you to stop you from doing your job." He took a deep breath after getting all that out. "Don't let anyone tell you law enforcement is an easy job."

"Especially if you have a wife and kid to worry about. And me and Spike," she added.

"Exactly. I'm probably gonna end up going bald by the time I hit my forties.

'Anyway, I talked to him about it, and he said I was right. The job could be stressful. The job could put a lot of pressure on me. The job could probably come very close to breaking me. Probably would break me at one point in my life."

"But you still wanted to do it?"

Shining nodded. "Yeah, after Dad taught me a bit of his personal philosophy." Seeing he had Twilight's attention, he continued "Dad always believed that when you see someone who needs help, or if you know someone who needs help, and you have it in your power to help them, then you have a moral obligation to do it. Or to put it in much simpler terms: With Great Power, there must also come Great Responsibility.

'And he told me it was fine to be scared. Honestly, everyone feels fear. But what makes someone brave is that they don't let their fear stop them, and they keep moving in spite of it. And honestly, once I got over a few of my fears, I found they weren't really that scary to begin with."

Once she digested all of that, she asked "But... do you really think, hypothetically speaking of course, that I would have what it takes to be a superhero?"

Smiling, Shining put a hand on her shoulder and said "Twilight, you've always been the first person to put yourself down and doubt yourself. So for once, listen to your big brother. You are stronger than you think you are. Not only are you one of the smartest people I've ever met (Hell, Cadance and I haven't needed to help you with your homework since you were seven.) but whenever you're working on one of your projects you never give up on them. Even if they explode or you hit a roadblock, you just put it back together or you push right through. That is the truest strength of you, and by extension the truest strength of any comic book superhero; the will to never give up, and keep moving despite everything the world throws at them."2

She was shocked for a moment, before saying "Thanks, Shiny."

"Oh come on, you really have to use that old nickname?" They both laughed at that, before Shining said "Besides, if I did ever get superpowers, I'd be all for it. God knows this city needs a hero right now."

"I can imagine."

He was about to continue when there was a loud clap of thunder overhead. Twilight groaned. "Of course. The weatherman said it wasn't supposed to rain today, so what does it do?"

"Man, being a weatherman must be the best job in the world. You get to be wrong everyday and they can't fire you." Looking at Twilight he asked "Want me to give you a lift home?"

She shook her head. "I'll be fine. It's not that far to the nearest bus stop. Plus, you probably have other things to do, Lieutenant."

"Don't remind me. I just hope this lead ends up going somewhere. The sooner we get Storm King behind bars, the better off we'll all be." Looking back to the graves he said "Go on ahead. I'm gonna stay for a few minutes."

"Okay then. See you around, Shining."

"See you around, Twiley."

She managed to make it out of the graveyard in record time, and by that time the sky was really starting to get really dark. She could already tell that they were in for one hell of a storm.

As she passed Shining's squad car, she felt a slight tingle in her head. Her eyes were drawn to the other side of the street, wear an ordinary black car was parked.

The driver inside the car looked fairly unassuming; just a man with short brown hair and rather pale skin, talking on his cell phone. All in all, nothing that looked remotely dangerous. Granted his scorpion tattoo on his right arm kinda put her on edge, but that was just because she wasn't overly fond of bugs. Granted he might have a handgun or something in his car, but there were plenty of Manehattanites who had concealed carry permits. "Huh. Weird. Wonder if my spider-sense is just hypersensitive?"

Another clap of thunder rang out, and a few small drops of rain fell on her head. "And that's my cue to take cover."

She started walking quickly to the nearest bus stop, hoping to make it under cover before the deluge came down.

She was about a block away before her Spider-Sense flared up hard, enough to feel like a headache. "Ow! Okay, what is up with this? There's nothing-"

BOOM!!!!

She whirled around to look behind her, seeing a large fireball rising up from the street. "That came from the road by the cemetery. What's going-"

That's when she heard the gunshots.

And then she remembered that her brother was still there. "Oh God! SHINING!"

She wasn't sure what happened next. All she knew was that she was suddenly running back to the cemetery, her only thought being to make sure that Shining was okay. Any thoughts of the possibility of her being hurt or possibly killed were pushed down and/or completely ignored. She barely even registered the flashes of lightning in the sky, or the icy-cold rain lashing against her.

She was almost at the entrance when she heard one last gunshot, hearing it crystal clear despite the sounds of the storm around her.

And as she finally made it to the cemetery, she saw what had happened.

Shining Armor's squad car had been ground zero for the explosion, the vehicle now a smoldering wreck that was still spewing smoke and fire that the torrential rain didn't seem to be able to put out. Fortunately it looked like nobody had been caught in the blast.

But that was the only good news.

The gunshots had apparently come from the man she had seen talking on his phone in his car, now wearing a black coat and holding a large pistol. She ducked out of sight behind a mailbox, just to make sure he didn't see her. Not that she had much to worry about since he immediately put his gun away and moved to his car, driving away before the cops got there.

Feeling it was safe, she moved out of her hiding spot...

...and immediately felt her blood ran cold. And it wasn't from the rain.

No. Please no.

Slumped against the stone wall bordering the cemetery, blood dripping from five different bullet holes at various points on his body, was her brother.

She didn't remember running to him.

She didn't remember dialing 911 and screaming for help, screaming that her brother had been shot and was dying.

All she remembered was shaking Shining Armor, begging him desperately not to give up, to keep fighting and stay alive.

But it was all for naught.

On June 11th, 2019, Shining Armor passed away; fatally wounded by multiple gunshot wounds.

Another casualty in the war against the Storm King.