//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: The Spectacular Spider-Girl // by Adamverse //------------------------------// Spider-Girl was swinging home after the great take down of Juggernaut, she felt really proud of herself; it was the first time she’d taken on a super-villain, that powerful, on her own. She looked down at the buildings below her and saw her apartment building was getting close. Waiting for her, on the roof of the building, was Twilight’s dog Spike; every time she had to do something spider-related that kept her out at night, he would wait on the roof for her. Twilight landed next her dog, he ran towards her and jumped up into her arms; the two enjoyed a quick nuzzle before Spike said, “Juggernaut, seriously?” “How do you even know about that?” Twilight asked as she took her mask off. Spike replied, “It was all over the news, an anchor helicopter caught the whole chase for the evening news.” Before Twilight could grab the bag that had her regular clothes in it, she noticed something down the road. Roxxon Plaza, the centre of the company; the billboards and lights seemed like they were malfunctioning. Twilight was praying it was just some technical problems, but on the off chance it wasn’t. She turned to Spike and he was looking in the same direction as she was, he then looked up at her and said, “Go on.” Twilight smiled as she put her mask back on and jumped off the roof, she then started swinging to Roxxon Plaza. Spider-Girl let go of the web and landed in the plaza; sitting in the very centre of square was a large machine. Twilight was wondering to herself what that thing was until something scared her from behind. She turned around and saw on a large video screen, it was an ad for the machine and a new power source. Twilight took a second to watch the ad. Phyllis Cloverleaf appeared on the screen, she began explaining what all this was. “What you are looking at it a state of the art energy generator; powered by Roxxon’s latest and most powerful creation, Nuiform.” The video showed a canister of glowing blue liquid. The ad continued, “With this device, our machine can power this entire city. Right now we’re only powering this building and plaza; but soon we’ll power everything. The state, the country, the world.” The ad finished with the company’s slogan, “Here’s to a world, powered by Nuiform.” While the ad was playing, Spider-Girl noticed something, “That Nuiform stuff, it looked kind of like Ener….” However, she was cut off when she heard a noise coming from nearby, the sound of a window being broken. Using her webs, she swung up to the source of the noise; there, she found a window had indeed been broken. Twilight went inside to try and find her culprit, the room was dark and quiet. The only source of light was from a computer that had been left on; Spider-Girl walked over to the computer to try and find some answers. “Man, one day as the one and only spider; and I already have some kind of mystery to solve.” Twilight said to herself. She then managed to find something, the last thing someone did a ‘search’ for. “Nuiform, they were trying to find out shipping schedules.” Suddenly, Twilight stepped in something; she looked down to see what was on the floor, she picked up some of it up and saw what it was, “Grass?” she asked herself. That’s when her spider-sense went off; she turned to the side and someone was charging at her. They crashed into Twilight and pushed her out the other window; they both landed on the ground of the plaza, Twilight could now get a good look at this person. The figure was wearing a mask, silver and purple; similar to the suit they were wearing. But the strangest thing about them, was that they had large purple and silver gauntlets. The masked figure shouted, “It’s Spider-Girl; attack formation.” Out of nowhere, a second mask wearing thug leaped in a landed on a roof; he held out his hand and a rifle materialized in his grasp, it looked like it was made from the same stuff as the other person’s gauntlets. “Look, I don’t know who you guys are; but we don’t have to fight if you don’t want to.” Spider-Girl explained. The one with the gauntlets replied, “We’re the Underground; and we do want to.” The thug then charged forward, trying to punch Twilight with their giant fists. Spider-Girl slid under his legs and kicked him in the back, pushing him away; she tried shooting webs at him, but he blocked it with his gauntlets. So when that didn’t work, Twilight had to get creative; she fired a web-line at the thug’s face and pulled him forward, she then kicked him in the chin and knocked him unconscious. She was about to celebrate her victory too early, when the thug from the roof began firing his rifle at her; the blasts looked like purple laser bolts. Twilight web-zipped to the roof he was on, and kicked him to the ground. After the small fight, Twilight dragged the two criminals together; she tied them in webs and contacted the police to come and get them. “The police should be able to handle things from here.” Before she left them, she took their masks; what surprised her, is that they looked her age. Around nine-teen to twenty year olds. “Huh, guess the street kids want a piece of the action.” That’s the only explanation for why these guys were attacking Roxxon. However, none of them looked like they had anything to do with grass; their tech looked pretty advanced. Spider-Girl swung back up to the computer where she found the grass; she took a sample of the grass grains, hoping she could analyse it at home. When Twilight heard police sirens outside, she knew that was her cue to leave; she jumped out the window and started swinging back to her apartment. When she crawled into her room, she quickly changed out of her suit and into her outfit; tonight, was a special night. Cadence was on her way over tonight to have dinner with Twilight and her parents; today was the one year anniversary of Shining Armour’s death, and they thought they’d just come together and have a small meal together. After she was finished getting ready, Twilight left her with Spike following her; she found her parents in the kitchen. Night Light was chopping up vegetables while Twilight Velvet was stirring the soup; they both smiled when they saw their beautiful daughter walk in. “Hi Mum, hi Dad.” Twilight greeted. “Hi honey, you’re a bit late.” Night Light stated. To which Twilight replied, “Yeah I couldn’t get a cab and the last bus had gone.” “Did you at least get the eggs I asked for?” Velvet asked. That’s when it hit her, after everything that happened today; she forgot to get the eggs. So quickly, she had to come up with an excuse, “I’m sorry Mum, I was going to the mall to get them; but then I heard the mall wasn’t safe because the super-heroes were chasing Juggernaut there.” Velvet replied, “Well then, it’s a good thing you didn’t go there; but that does mean I can’t make Spike’s favourite dog-biscuits.” “No!” they all heard Spike shouted, as he raised his paws in the air. Night Light said, “I’m still not one hundred percent used to you talking yet.” He then turned to Twilight, “It doesn’t matter; I’m just glad you were okay today.” Suddenly, there was a knock at the door; Twilight said, “I’ll get it.” Twilight answered the door and smiled, because standing on the other side of it, was her sister-in-law Cadence; and in her arms was her seven month old daughter, Flurryheart. The two sisters-in-law gave each other a quick hug; even though Cadence could only use one arm. “Hello Twilight.” Cadence greeted. “It’s good to see you again, Cadence.” Twilight replied, she then looked at her baby niece. “How’s the best little baby in the world?” she then gave Flurry’ a little tickle, making her giggle. The mother replied, “Flurryheart is fine; she’s been a bit of a handful, but she’s still the greatest thing to ever happen to me.” “Are you two going to talk by the door all night, or are you going to let her in, Twilight?” Night Light asked when he saw them talking. Twilight invited Cadence in, only for Twilight Velvet to come and see them, she wanted to see her granddaughter; she’d not seen her since her birth. Cadence handed Flurryheart to her grandmother, so she could talk with Night Light; but first, Night Light turned to his daughter and said, “Why don’t you go get a tape for the music box and we’ll listen to some tunes.” “Okay Dad.” Twilight replied. As she was walking away, she said back to him, “Where are the tapes?” “I think there in…. Shining Armours room.” He said back with some sighs in his voice. Twilight opened the door to Shining Armour’s old room, it hadn’t been disturbed in over a year; longer if you count the time he’d been living with Cadence. The science girl found a box on the floor next to the bed; she opened it, hoping to find the tapes. Instead, she found Shining Armours old case files; cases he was solving before he became a captain. The one that caught Twilight’s eye was one about an unusual suspect; she read the alias name, “Prowler.” She turned the file over and was shown a picture of him. “I wonder if Shining Armour ever caught this guy.” She put the file back and closed the box; she moved that box out of the way and found another one. She opened this new case and found what she was looking for. After looking through some of the options, she chose the track that would best suit the evening; a playlist of all Shining Armour’s favourite songs. Twilight took the tape to the living room and put it into the player; when the music began playing, the rest of the family agreed that this was the best music for the night. That’s when Velvet called them all to the table for dinner. Later that evening, the family had finished eating the food; Velvet took Cadence and Flurryheart over to the couch, while Night Light asked Twilight to help him with the dishes. That’s when the father decided to have a little talk with his daughter. “Twilight, before I tell you this; just know that I love you and you mean the world to me.” Night Light explained. “What is it, Dad?” she asked. Night Light was hesitant, but it had to be said, “I think it’s time you found a job.” Then Twilight replied, “But, me and my friends are in a band; we play gigs and that earns us money.” “I get that, sweetheart; but you need to start thinking about your future. Your brother was smart young lad when he was your age; he’d just joined the police academy and passed his tests in just under a year. You need to decide if you want to have a well-paying successful career like him; or are you just going to keep playing music for money at theatres and parties.” Night Light explained. Twilight was getting concerned about what he was saying, “Are you saying my music career will get me nowhere?” “No, it’s just; before I met your mother, it seemed like I was throwing my life away. And after I lost my job, I made some poor decisions in order to pay for Crystal Prep, for you.” Night Light sat down and continued, “A decision that almost cost me everything. I just don’t want you to have to do that.” Was he was done talking, Twilight walked over to her father and hugged him; she said, “Don’t worry Dad, I know what I’m doing.” She then yawned, causing him to move her off him. Night Light then told her, “I think it’s time you went to bed, little Miss Sparkle.” Twilight agreed and began walking to her bedroom. She waved goodnight to her mother, sister-in-law and niece before calling Spike to follow her. Twilight changed into her pyjamas and climbed into bed, she put her glasses on her night stand and was ready for some sleep; but before the slumber took her, she thought about something that Adam said to her, ‘Canterlot’s only Spider’.