//------------------------------// // No Ordinary Trip // Story: The Amazing Spider-Blitz: The High School Chronicles // by KingYakko5991 //------------------------------// It was a typical day in Canterlot. Under the sunny blue sky stood a group of high school seniors, waiting for the bus to come pick them up. All but one lonely, pale figure stood close by the curb. The gentle breeze blowing through his messy yellow hair, he looked upon the rather talkative group of students through his sky blue eyes, longing for any form of social interaction. Unfortunately, even if he was able to speak with others without making a fool of himself, many wouldn't have found him all too interesting. Being the smartest student at Canterlot High had its downsides, and this was definitely one of them. Not many were interested in the complex nature of math and science, how despite the years and years of research, there is still so much to discover. The untapped potential was overwhelming, it was exciting to dive into and explore. Yet, not many people share this same level of enthusiasm over a required school topic. Letting out a deep sigh, the lone senior leaned back against the stop sign he was standing underneath, waiting out each passing moment until that iconic yellow bus rolled up the road to board him and all the other students. As if on queue, the silhouette of the bus began to emerge from the horizon. The senior left his relaxed position against the sign and prepared himself to board the bus when he heard a call from behind. "Hey! Lightning!" Being the only person with this name, he looked to where the call came from, a smile growing on his face as he recognized the voice. Adjusting the glasses on his face, Lightning turned behind him to meet a fiery haired girl running towards him, barely making it in time to catch the bus. "Hey Sunset," he said to the now out of breath girl. "Sleep through your alarm again?" "Yeah..." Sunset managed, exhaust apparent on her amber face and turquoise eyes. Chuckling, the two boarded the bus and took their seats in the back. Despite only knowing each other for a little over a month, the two had grown to become close friends. Prior to that month, Sunset was effectively the big bad school bully, ruling with an iron fist. But after a quite literal magic occurrence at a school dance, the Fall Formal, Sunset emerged a changed person. It turned out that a two had a few things in common, beside being generally disliked by the majority of their peers. Both had a love for math and science that they were able to bond over, forming a friendship that they both cherished dearly. Sunset however, was able to make friends with a few other students, and even tried on many occasions to get Lighting to meet or interact with them, only for him to decline each time. To him, the idea of interacting with a group a girls was terrifying and besides, being such good friends with Sunset was good enough for him. On most days. Lighting looked around at the unusually empty school bus. At least, it would be unusual if it weren't for today's circumstances. Instead of heading directly to school, all seniors were being directly transported to Canterlot University for the day, as a field trip. As a result, they didn't have to leave for school at the usual time, and instead were allowed to sleep in until the afternoon before they toured the campus. However, there was one thought that came across Lightning's that provoked him, causing him to frown. "Don't you think it's a little weird for us to have this trip on a Thursday?" He asked, turning to face Sunset. "I mean, given all the circumstances of this trip, it would have been nice to just have it a day later and have a nice, relaxed end to the week instead." "I guess so," Sunset replied. "But I guess in the end it doesn't make too big a difference anyway. What are you gonna do, complain to Principal Celestia about it?" She asked with a smirk and raised eyebrow. "No, I guess not." Lighting replied with a chuckle. The two friends sat the rest of the bus ride in silence, not really having much else to say. It wasn't long before the bus was fully in the most urban area of Canterlot City. Lightning then turned to the window, his eyes lighting up like that of a young child. Even as a 17 year old high school student, the sight of all the the tall buildings and the skyline just fascinated him. He especially loved the view at night with the whole city lighting up. Sure, all of the light pollution made it difficult to see the stars, but liveliness of the city lights more than made up for it. Lightning was so entranced by the city that he hadn't realized the bus reaching it's destination. "Come on Admiral Dreemur, this is our stop!" She quipped at him, shaking his shoulder gently. Coming out of his trance, Lightning got up and grabbed his back pack. The students all filed off the bus, in a chaotic manner of course, with Lightning and Sunset being the last to get off. Lightning looked around at the college campus, just taking it all in. It won't be long before he would attend here as an actual student. He had a scholarship, after all. It was a massive campus, with buildings spanning out as far as the lensed eye could see. In the midst of admiring his soon to be university, Lightning's attention had been drawn towards another sight to behold. Walking just in front of him was the girl from his English class, Rarity. Her beautifully white tone glistening in the sunlight, the way her perfectly purple coifs bounced with her movement, and as she turned to face his direction, those beautiful sapphires looking in his direction. It was numbing, Lightning felt his legs turn to jelly as he stood completely immobilized by the beauty before him. His heart nearly skipped a beat when she waved in his direction. A smile on his face, Lighting slowly raised his hand in an attempt to wave back, only to realize that Rarity was in fact waving to Sunset, being one of the few friends she made after the Formal. Chuckling, Sunset grabbed Lighting by the arm, pulling him in the general direction of all the other students. "Come on, Romeo," she said with a giggle. Naturally, the students were split into groups to tour the campus. Each group got a teacher and a university student to serve as a tour guide. Luckily for Lighting, his group had both Sunset and Rarity. Not so luckily, it also had a certain blue haired guitar player, Flash Sentry. Flash used to be a cool, likeable student, at least up until the Fall Formal. At some point afterwards, he changed, but not in the same way as Sunset. Where Sunset changed for the better and became a lot nicer and friendlier, Flash seemed to have had the opposite effect, becoming a bully to just about everyone. No one had ever really understood why. Overall the tour was going pretty well, the architecture choice fascinated lightning, as some buildings included features like pillars while others took a more modern and sleek design. But what excited him most was the Physics department, which was saved for last. On top of touring the building, the students were being taken into the radiation facility to view a demonstration of the campus' training reactor! A working nuclear reactor! All on campus! Lightning could hardly contain his excitement. Before entering, a woman with a lab coat informed the students that their phones would not be allowed in the facility and that they would have to secure them in a storage area located directly outside, assuring them that everything would be secured for them. Lighting approached the woman. "Hey uh," he started, "I'm with the school paper and was wondering if it was okay if I took a couple of pictures?" He said, holding up his camera. The woman nodded at him and simply said "I will allow it." "Hey! Blitz!" an arrogant voice called out. Flash... Lightning thought to himself as the woman walked away. "The chick said no phones! That includes your geeky little camera too!" Not really knowing what to say or do, Lightning just slowly backed away from the approaching jock. "Hey knock it off, Flash!" Sunset called, stepping up next to Lightning. Flash just laughed in response. "Oh and what are you gonna do if I don't? Turn into your little demon again and mind control me?" Sunset then looked to the side and held her arm, clearly hurt by the comment. Flash turned his attention back to Lightning. "Ya know Blitz, one of these days your little girlfriend here ain't gonna be around to protect you. You're gonna have to stand up for yourself. Then what, huh?" Flash asked, giving Lightning a shove. "Mr. Sentry!" A blue woman took notice and came over. "Causing trouble over here?" "Of course not Vice Principal Luna!" Flash quickly replied. He then hurriedly went inside the facility to avoid any further trouble or potential punishment for his behavior. Vice Principal Luna then turned her attention to the two friends. "Ms. Shimmer, Mr. Blitz, is everything alright here?" The two merely nodded in response, following the rest of the crowd into the facility. "Man, what a jerk." Lightning commented. "Yeah," Sunset replied, still clearly hurt by what Flash had said to her. However, all of that slowly began to melt away as the two saw the contents of the room. There was a large, red, cylindrical structure in the center, most likely the reactor. Obviously the reactor. Off to it's left was some sort of display or exhibit of some kind, which spiked Lightning's curiosity. And off to the right was a flight of stairs leading upward to what was presumably the control and access areas for the reactor. Lightning quickly snapped a few photos of the whole scene. "It's so... big!" Sunset commented on the towering reactor in front of them. "And to think that this is only a training reactor! I mean, this is dwarfed by what they use to power cities! Even the one we have powering parts of Canterlot!" "Attention Canterlot High students!" A voice called out from the observatory platform on the reactor. Atop stood a middle aged man wearing a lab coat, notably with only one arm. "My name is Dr. Curtis Connors! And yes, in case you were wondering, I am left handed," the doctor joked, earning a few chuckles from a couple of the students. "I am one of the professors here at Canterlot University and also do research over at Oscorp," he continued. "Today, it will be my pleasure to demonstrate our training reactor in action to you all! Please, make your way up the stairs, in an orderly fashion, of course!" The students quickly made their way up the stairs, to see the reactor in action. Once again, Lightning was hardly able to contain his excitement. "I've read a lot about this guy. He has a brilliant mind, unlike anything I've ever seen!" Lightning said, turning to Sunset. "Is that so?" She asked with a smirk. "Yeah! The work in the nuclear department he's lead here is unmatched! And his research on reptiles at Oscorp? Man! You think you know all there is to know about something, then a genius like Dr. Connors comes along and blows your pants off!" Sunset laughed at Lightning's excitement, but it was excitement well justified. The students passed through the control area, while Dr. Connors gave a brief explanation as to how nuclear fission works. Reaching the observatory platform, Lightning peered over the edge to take a look at the inside of the reactor. It was about 30 feet deep, filled nearly to the brim with clear water. Dr. Connors explained that while the water was necessary in cooling the rods during the reaction, it was also extremely important to be kept as clean as possible as to not interfere with the reaction itself. Makes sense, Lightning thought to himself. After reassuring the students that it was safe for them to stand close to the opening of the reactor, given they stayed behind the railing of course, Dr. Connors gave the control the "OK" to start the reaction. As it began to take place, the bottom of the reactor began to glow a bright, but deep blue. Once again fascinated by the experience, Lightning took out his camera and snapped another photo. After viewing the reaction, the students were lead by Dr. Connors to the left side of the room, where a couple of university students were prepared to talk about the exhibits. "Hello everyone!" One student called out, "Here we have on display some 'super spiders' that we have managed to engineer here." "Yes!" the second student continued. "You may be wondering why spiders specifically, and that's simply because they responded best to the reaction. We've tried all sorts of insects and arachnids and found that spiders gave us the most consistent results." "We started off this experiment with mouse heart cells, actually. Through studies, we were able to determine that if properly exposed to the radiation, we could theoretically create an army of super mice! In fact, our research was so groundbreaking that we even got official support from Oscrop!" "Yeah well, for now, we're sticking with spiders for the time being. As you can see, we have managed to develop 6 different super spiders, each of which has it's own enhanced abilities ranging from strength to agility and even-" "We made 7." "What? There's only 6 on display. What on Earth are you on about?" The first student asked, a confused look on her face. "We made 7! Just yesterday we successfully made a hybrid spider, combing multiple abilities!" "But it's not on display." "Well yeah, obviously because it's in solitary confinement." "Solitary confine... Are you even listening to yourself?" "Alright, that's enough from you two," a third student cut in. "Ignore these two goons, they're new here. This concludes your tour. Feel free to look around for a few extra minutes and ask us any questions you may have in regards to the nuclear department or the campus in general!" And with that, the Canterlot High students went off to their own devices. Lightning snapped a few pictures of the spiders on display and went to take a closer look at the exhibits. "It's amazing!" Lightning said to Sunset. "6 whole radiated super spiders! Each with it's own enhanced abilities!" "7 if you count that missing hybrid one," Sunset joked. "Those two were probably just joking around about that," Lightning replied. "There's no way they'd just lose a super spider like that." "Probably," Sunset agreed. "I just wonder how they did it. Without killing or harming them, I mean." "Probably Uranium 226..." Lightning thought aloud. "Impressive!" A voice said from behind. The two friends turned to see Dr. Connors himself standing right behind them! "Dr. Connors," he said, extending his hand. Embarrassed that he instinctively went to shake with his right, Lightning then properly shook hands with Dr. Connors, stating his name as well. "So, tell me Mr. Blitz, how did you come to that conclusion?" "O-oh, uh well y-you see..." Lightning said, temporarily loosing the ability to speak. But as he commented more on the topic, his confidence increased as well. "I figured since spiders have such a short life span, it'd be most logical to use an isotope with a shorter half-life. And since Uranium 226 has a half-life of 269 milliseconds, it would be a more optimal option to use to give the spiders decent exposure to radiation without causing negative side effects." "Very impressive!" Dr. Connors praised. But just then, he got a beep from his watch. "Well, it would appear that I have to head out for the time being, but I do hope to encounter you again, Lightning! Your future is looking bright!" "Thank you!" Lightning called out. He then turned to Sunset. "How cool was that?!" He exclaimed. "Oh man! I should have gotten a picture!" Sunset just giggled at her friend, but then noticed her other friends waving at her over in the distance. "Hey, I'm gonna go catch up with the girls. You should come with!" "Oh, uh, t-that's okay... I'll stay here and uh, look at the s-spiders some more." Lightning replied, causing Sunset to pout a little. "Come on, Lightning! They won't bite! I promise." "It's okay, I insist." "Fine. See you in a bit then." As Sunset went to chat with her other friends, Lightning looked around the room again, but what caught his eye was a surprise to him. Just standing there, looking at the reactor was Rarity, all by herself! He gripped his camera, looking down at it. Come on Lightning. You can do this... Hopefully. Taking a deep breath, he went over to her. "Hey," he said. "Mind if take a few pictures?" He asked, holding up his camera again. "I need one with a student in it." "Oh, of course, darling!" Rarity replied in that beautiful transatlantic accent of hers. "Just don't make me look ugly!" "That's impossible," Lightning replied. And with that, Rarity began to pose in front of the reactor while Lightning took some pictures. Unbeknownst to him, a spider had started to make its decent from the ceiling, landing on Lightning's hand. He continued to take pictures of Rarity, complimenting her in the process, completely unaware of the spider now on his hand. Suddenly, one of Rarity's friends called out to her and she went to talk with them. Looking up from his camera, Lightning called out after Rarity. "Hey, thanks!" All of a sudden, he had felt a sharp pain on his right hand. "Ow..." he said, flicking his hand to the ground, only to notice a spider falling from it. Lightning gazed at the blue bodied, red legged spider as it crawled across the floor, not recognizing it as any breed of spider he had seen before. But before he could get to deep into thought, he heard Sunset calling out to him. "Hey! Come on Lightning, before we miss the bus!" Lightning took another look at the now apparent bite on his hand as he followed Sunset out of the radiation facility to retrieve their belongings and head back towards the bus... ... In their suburban home, an elderly couple was preparing to have dinner, waiting for one more person to arrive. "Would you like a glass of water, Growen?" The elderly woman in the kitchen called out to her husband. Growen was in the dining room, cautiously changing a light bulb while standing on a chair. "That would be nice, Hay!" He replied. "Just as soon as I change this damn bulb!" "Oh, do be careful, dear!" Hay called out, seeing her husband in an unsafe situation. "Aha!" The elderly man called out, watching with satisfaction as the bulb suddenly filled the room with light. "Let there be light!" He cracked up a bit at his own joke, carefully stepping down from the chair he was on. "Now! When will that boy get home?" Almost immediately, an exhausted and paler than usual Lightning burst through the front door. "Hey Aunt Hay. Hi Uncle Growen," he said, barely audible to his audience, dropping his bag on the floor. His hand on his head, he slowly made his way to the stairs to head up to his room. "I'm not feeling all to well, I think I'm gonna go get some sleep." "Oh?" His aunt replied. "You won't have a bite to eat?" "No thanks, already had a bite." "Well, take care, son!" His uncle called out. "Thanks," Lightning muttered. "My goodness, I hope he's alright." Aunt Hay said, looking towards her husband. Once in his room, Lightning closed the door behind him and placed his glasses on the dresser. His headache getting stronger by the second, he slowly made his way over to his bed. He had just barely made it to his bed as he passed out, loosing consciousness just before his face hit one of his pillows.