Spider in Equestria

by DarkSpider


Chapter 64

Around the throne room, the royals listened in silence, waiting for Dark to finish before speaking their mind. As his explanation came to a close, Luna sighed, “First that secret cabal, then that mad scientist, and now mercenaries and invaders?” She shook her head and growled. “At this rate, Equestria may end up in ruin with all these threats…"

"Well that's reassuring," Lightning Dust muttered sarcastically.

“We should send a warning all over Equestria about these Heartless, not to mention we’ll need to warn other prisons of a human running around pretending to be the Spider in case he tries the same thing again,” Celestia said.

"And according to that Tower guy, the faker doesn't even look like me," Dark said.

"There anything we can do?" Twilight asked her fellow rulers.

“For now, try to gather more information on all of these factions.” Celestia began. “If possible, try to find a way to prevent more of these Heartless attacks from happening. While we may have seen what these invaders are capable of, I fear that this is only the beginning, and their attacks will grow in ferocity and numbers.”

Luna turned towards Dark. “Dark, out of all of us, you have the biggest understanding of these new foes. And while I doubt that the mercenaries hold much of a candle to all the others, which one would you say is the biggest threat? If possible, I would like to shift our focus on the most pressing issue, rather than splitting it.”

Dark took a deep breath. "If I'm being honest, it's between Eggman and the Heartless. Those mercs may be strong but at the moment they sound like small fry compared to everything else. And while Hydra is dangerous, I can remember a number of major issues Eggman has caused. Trying to use the power of gods being among them. Unfortunately, I don't know too much on how he operates besides being a major enemy of nature." Dark then frowned for a second before he did a double-take. "Wait a minute!"

"What?" Twilight asked, confused by the sudden outburst.

"I may not know too much about Eggman, but I know someone who does."

"Really? Who?"

"Amy."

Luna frowned, “Amy? I don’t believe you’ve introduced us to anypony named that.”

Dark shook his head. "She isn't a pony. She's the character that Cece was Displaced as. Amy Rose."

“But if Cece is Amy Rose, then how can she help us?” Celestia asked, tilting her head slightly.

Dark exhaled. "Last night, Cece ended up exposed to some poison joke and woke up this morning with the memories and personality of Amy."

Luna frowned. “Poison Joke? If Poison Joke caused Amy Rose’s personality to manifest, then where is she, and who’s looking over her?” She asked, “I don’t think leaving someone alone in an entirely new environment is a wise decision.” 

Dark sighed. "She's back in Ponyville. I offered her to come with us, but she turned it down. Should still be in the castle."

"And when were you planning to share this information?" Twilight asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Dark cleared his throat. "Tonight. At the latest. With everything that's happened, it almost slipped my mind really. What with Lightning and Toxin, Gabby, learning about that prison break and those mercs, then the Heartless?"

Twilight sighed. "Fair enough…"

"Do you think she'll be willing to help us?" Celestia asked.

Dark nodded. "I believe so. Eggman is someone she hates after all."

Luna nodded before looking at everyone. "So is that all?"

After a few moments of silence, Dark said, "I guess so."

"Very well, we’ll be leaving that to you then." Luna nodded, “In the meantime, we have other matters to attend.”

Celestia sighed, “Indeed, just calming down the citizens will be a task in itself. Be sure to report any information Ms. Rose gives in a letter. We can’t guarantee a quick response however. I have the feeling we’ll be quite busy for the next few days.”

"Okay then," Twilight nodded as the Sisters exited the room. She then turned to her group. "Come on. We might be able to catch the next train." As she and most of the group began to leave, she noticed that Dark hadn't moved from his spot, staring at the golden ring in his hand. "Dark? You okay?"

Dark shook his head. "Sorry. Just… thinking."

"About?"

Dark closed his palm. "Your castle." He then threw the ring. A moment later, it stopped and expanded, a swirling mass of colors appearing in the gap. "Well, glad to know that it works…"

Twilight stepped back in shock. "What is that?"

Dark shrugged. "A portal. And if I'm right, it should lead us to your castle."

"And if you're not?"

Dark shrugged. "I'll find out in a minute." After that, he immediately jumped through, with Bri following him without hesitation.

Twilight paused for a second until she saw Lightning Dust and Mike approach it. "Are you sure it's safe?"

Lightning shrugged. "That fairy thing used it earlier and it brought us to the front gate. Pretty sure it's fine." With that said, the pair then jumped through as well. After another moment of hesitation, Twilight went through the portal herself.

When she stepped through, she saw that she was in the main entrance to her castle with the others standing around, waiting for her. She blinked in surprise. "It really worked?"

Dark nodded before walking behind her and picking up the shrunk ring from the floor. He looked at it for a moment before saying, "Reminds me of a certain pokemon. But Cheese recognizing it implies it's a Sonic thing. Hopefully, Amy can shed some light on it. Just need to find-"

The door slammed open, making everyone in the room jump as they turned to see the small fox pokemon running in with a cloak in its mouth. Dropping it on the floor in front of Dark, the Pokemon let out a series of panicked barks.

"What the…?" Lightning asked, confused about the strange fox as Mike stepped forward and tried to calm Emily down.

Dark ignored the pegasus and placed Peter on the ground before quickly grabbing Link's token, then shaking off his fur as he stood in his wolf form and looked at the small fire fox. "What's wrong Emily? I thought you were staying with Amy?"

“She’s gone!” She yelled out in complete panic, hopping around in place. “I took my eyes off of her for a few seconds and then I heard a crashing sound, when I looked back, all I saw was a busted window and an empty hallway!”

Dark immediately stiffened. Taking a quick breath, he asked, "Do you know where she went?"

She shook her head, “The window was too high for me to see where she went, but I brought this cloak if that helps.”

Dark nodded. He then came closer and lowered his head towards the cloak before smelling it. A moment later, a pink aura appeared, leaving a trail leading outside.

Before Dark could follow it, Lightning Dust spoke. "Okay, can anyone explain what's going on?"

Venom's mental avatar appeared next to Dark and said, "Amy made a break for it and we're about to go look for her. Do us a favor and watch over Brianna and Peter."

Immediately after that, a pair of tendrils came out of Dark's body and slammed the front doors open, with Dark taking that as his cue to follow the trail to the hedgehog.


It was the sight of a large lake that lifted the weight on Amy’s shoulders. The pink hedgehog couldn’t help but break into a sprint towards the body of water, a smile on her face. The halo around her head flickered for a few moments before disappearing.

“I did it.” She whispered to herself, “I can put this all behind me now…” Looking over the lake, she stared at her reflection, raising a gloved hand and touching her cheek. “I’m still me, and I’m real... Very soon, I’ll be back home with Sonic, and this will be nothing but a bad dream.” Psyching herself up, she smiled, and dived right in, swimming towards the sparkling center of the lake.

Under the water, Amy couldn’t help but be in awe of the lake’s beauty, the sparkling effect was all over the water, making it seem like she was swimming among the stars. Staring at the sparkles, her hand reached over, grabbing one of the small “stars”, she blinked in surprise when it turned out to be a gold ring, blinking, she looked around and saw that the stars were actually rings.

‘This is… this is the Lake of Rings!’

Swimming up to the surface, Amy took a lungful of air before looking down at the ring in her hand. “This isn’t an emerald…” She stared at the ring, frustration briefly fueling her as she clenched her hands around it. Raising her hand, she was about to fling the ring before she stopped herself. “No… it's not the emerald, but it can still get me home…” She muttered to herself, remembering about Knuckles’ favorite method of travel. “I just need to find a Warp Ring.”

With a heart filled with determination, Amy dove back down into the lake, collecting as many rings as she could, hoping that one of them could take her back home.


"So what exactly is the plan?" Dark heard Venom ask.

'What do you mean?'

"Well, she clearly ran away for a reason. Doubt jumping out a window and running into the Everfree was just something she thought would be fun. So what exactly do you plan to do when we find her? Ask her to come back?" After a couple of seconds, Venom sighed. "You didn't even think that far ahead, did you?"

'In case you haven't noticed, I've been busy thinking about the chance of losing my sister because of Amy deciding to run off.'

"Don't you wonder why she ran off?"

Dark stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. "Why?"

Venom's avatar then appeared in front of Dark with his arms crossed. "Well if we understand why she ran, we might have a good idea on how to get her back. And I have a pretty good idea on why."

Dark tilted his head. "And that is?"

Venom rolled his eyes. "Maybe because the only 2 people she met, who she can understand at least, straight up called her fake and the product of a joke, and tried to tell her to essentially be erased in order to prove she's not real?"

Dark blinked, then lowered his ears and looked down before shaking his head and looking back at Venom. "Well, how else were we supposed to explain? If she really is a product of poison joke, then the only way to get Cece back is the cure. Did you want me to just lead her on and trick her into taking it?"

Venom shrugged. "Probably would've been better. At least she wouldn't think she'd essentially die. Not like you would've been lying about anything. Don't ask, don't tell, remember?"

Dark stood silent from that, unsure how to respond to that.

Venom sighed. "Come on. The scent is getting stronger. She can't be that much farther." With that said, his avatar vanished and Dark resumed his hunt.


With a loud gasp, Amy’s head popped out of the lake’s water. Swimming towards the lake’s edge, she pulled herself out of the water, and lazily tossed the rings in her hand onto the small pile she had. Sitting down next to the pile, Amy took a deep breath as she eyed the rings beside her. 

Sighing, she picked up one of the new rings she found, lazily turning it over as she eyed the golden piece of jewelry at every side. “This one doesn’t feel like the Warp Ring…” She mumbled, “Then again, they all look the same to me.” She huffed, tossing it back into the pile as she turned towards the glistening lake and stared. 

Seeing the reflection of the sun, she frowned, “It's already so late…” She mumbled, raising her head to look at the setting sun. “I guess even in a different dimension the sunsets are always the same…” Amy smiled, “And the reflection of the lake really makes things seem more romantic,” She gave a dreamy sigh, “If only Sonic was here.” She swayed for a moment, letting herself get lost in her thoughts.

“But… I won’t be able to get back to my Sonic if I don’t find that Warp Ring.” She said, pausing her swaying. “I already collected so many rings, one of these has got to be it.” Turning back to the pile of rings, she began to shift through them, picking them up one at a time and inspecting them before setting them aside.

Barely two seconds later, she heard a couple of loud barks before a large wolf with dark fur came to the lake, growling at her. A moment later, the wolf was surrounded by a dark cloud and when it faded, Dark was standing in its place.

"Rose…" the human said, his expression hidden behind his hood and scarf. "What are you doing?"

His words snapped her out of her shock, shaking her head, she took a step back and glared, “I’m heading home! Since all of you refuse to help, I’m going to find my own way back!”

Dark sighed. "And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

She looked back at the small pile of rings beside her and stepped in front of them. “I don’t have to tell you anything! Just go back to your castle, and leave me alone.”

"You know pretty well why I can't do that Amy," Dark said, crossing his arms.

Amy scowled, “And why’s that, cause I’m not real? Cause I’m just some product of a stupid plant? Well I know I’m real, and I’m not going to let you or that insane little girl get rid of me that easily!”

Dark started to growl. "Amy, I've had a very long day. Please just come with me peacefully and we can talk this out."

Amy snorted, “You’re not the only one. Ever since this day started, you and that girl have given me every single reason to not trust you two. I’m not going back, I’m going back home, to Mobius.”

A slight bit of red appeared under Dark's hood but too obscure for her to make out what it was. "And how are you gonna do that? Make a wish upon a star? Give it up Rose. There's no way for us to get home. Not me, not Cece, and certainly not you."

“But I could if I just had an emerald!” She blurts out, “Any one of them fueling a Warp Ring can take me back home!”

"Well, now I'm glad I didn't leave mine in the castle…" Dark muttered, not noticing the way Amy’s ear twitched as she took a step back.

Her eyes widened as she recalled the two emeralds Dark and Screwball took out earlier. She clenched her fist as she trembled, looking down, she steeled herself and yelled, “The Emerald!” She started, catching his attention, “Give it to me… now!”

Dark stepped back in shock and cursed under his breath. He then looked at her and said, "Sorry Amy, but that isn't an option…"

“If you won’t give it to me, then I’ll take it by force.” Amy gritted out, her hammer appearing in her hands.

Dark took a combat stance himself. "You can try."

Gritting her teeth, the pink hedgehog made the first move, darting towards him, she swung her mallet at Dark, causing him to sidestep away from the blow. Growling she continued to swing at him widely, her swings gradually getting faster and faster.

Seeing her momentum increase, Dark quickly kicked the hammer out of her hands, causing it to fly back, not giving her time to react, he quickly shot a string of webs at her, however, just before he could proceed to wrap her around them, the pink hedgehog started running at surprising speeds. Looking around, he saw the pink blur run around him in circles, and with a warning from his spider-sense, he jumped out of the circle when he noticed the hedgehog wrapping his legs in the thick webbing. Summoning Lycan Web, he cut the webbing that had trapped his legs together.

With another warning, Dark sidestepped an incoming spin dash, the rolling hedgehog quickly turned back around and proceeded to try to ram into him again. Planting his feet on the ground, Dark used the broadside of the blade to knock Amy back, the pinkette impacting a tree behind her and causing it to collapse onto the ground.

Waiting for her to come out, he raised an eyebrow when she didn’t. Lowering the blade, he carefully stepped towards where he had tossed Amy, only to quickly pull his head back when he felt his senses warn him. Feeling the displacement of air in front of him, his eyes widened as he dodged another invisible attack, being forced to continue to dodge, he noticed the shoe printsshoeprints on the ground in front of him, realizing that the hedgehog had turned invisible.

Seeing that her strategy was no longer working, Amy abruptly stopped, turning herself visible once again. Before Dark could do anything she jumped high in the air, her body twirling vertically as she came down. Smashing the ground in front of Dark with her mallet, a dome of pink energy exploded outwards, enveloping the two and blasting the human away.

Seeing the distance she created between the two, Amy closed her eyes, allowing her mind to drift towards Sonic. A small smile appeared on her face as she thought of the blue blur, the hammer in her hand also began emitting a pink glow as the air began to pick up, surrounding her hammer. Planting her feet firmly on the ground, she pulled the hammer back and swung it with all of her strength in Dark’s direction, summoning a pink tornado to fly towards him.

Amy smirked when Dark dodged the first tornado, focusing her thoughts, she swung the hammer two more times, sending two more tornadoes to the human. Satisfied with the distraction, she reached into her hammerspace and pulled out a deck of cards from it, shuffling the deck, Amy quickly drew the first three cards and pocketed the rest. Seeing Dark dart towards her, she threw the first card towards him, the tarot card began to emit a sinister purple aura as it flew.

Dark twisted his body to avoid the card, letting it fly by him, only for the sinister aura to shift and cling onto him anyways. Reaching the hedgehog, Dark swung the Lycan-Web, aiming to hit Amy with the broadside of the sword.

With a smirk, Amy allowed the magic of her prediction to take control, allowing her to dodge the swipe. Holding the second card between her fingers, she placed the card on Dark’s forehead, taking him by surprise at the seemingly harmless gesture. The card suddenly went ablaze with a sinister red aura, mixing with the purple one and disappearing. Grinning maliciously, Amy raised her hammer and smacked Dark on the side, launching towards the trees, and with a loud crash, the tree that Dark collided with splintered apart.

Smiling victoriously, Amy glanced at the final tarot in her hand, the bright yellow star in the card seemingly to glisten. Planting a kiss on the card, it glowed with a soft yellow aura that covered her body and disappeared. Putting away the card, Amy sped towards Dark’s fallen form, raising a hammer and swinging it down on him. The human was only barely able to roll out of the way, and quickly jumping back up, the two swung their weapons at each other, only for Dark’s blade to be pushed back by Amy’s hammer every time. With one final swing coming from below, Amy knocked Lycan Web out of Dark’s hand. Pressing the advantage, Amy twisted her body and smacked Dark straight in the stomach, knocking all of the air inside him out and launching him towards the lake.

“Now.” She began, grinning at Dark’s soaked form as he was pulling himself out of the water. “Why don’t you surrender that Emerald now? It's obvious that you’re no match for me.”

Dark stood silent for a moment before chuckling to himself, seemingly having enough energy to keep going. "I might not be able to. But luckily for me, I'm not alone. And you gave us the opening we needed."

Before she could question what he meant, she saw a black substance go down her hammer and attach itself to her hand before immediately expanding and surrounding her body despite her efforts to pull it off. As it reached her face, she grabbed her head in slight pain as flashes of events went through her mind. Dark creatures attacking ponies, Cream and Cheese, and a human girl with long brown hair being the only things she can understand from the flashes.

"And with that, this fight is over," she heard a voice say in her head before her body was completely covered by the substance and she suddenly stopped moving. 

“Wha..? What did you do?” She muttered, feeling rather dazed before her eyes went wide with disbelief, “No. No no no no!” Amy said, panic building up as she tried trashing around. “NO! But- That- But that should be impossible! My curse would’ve warned me of anything you did!”

"Yes…" the voice said, its voice sounding much like Dark. "I must say, you're more skilled than we anticipated. Then again, my father never paid much attention to the games, much less the comics. Unfortunately for you, that curse of yours only affected him. I am a separate being. A wild card I guess you can say."

Her heart plummeted, “No… I” Her voice wavered as she began to struggle anew, “I can still fight! I faced worse than you two!” She gritted her teeth as she tried to will herself to move, “I have to go back!”

"Amy, you must understand that you've lost. But I can assure you that despite your fears, we're not gonna kill you."

She let out a sharp panicked laugh, “Right, you just want to ‘cure’ me to get that other girl back right?!” Amy’s panicked laughter became more strangled, as her eyes became misty behind the "mask". “Because I’m just a fake! So who cares if that cure you guys use makes me disappear right?” She tried shaking her head, trying to blink away the tears that were forming. “Well guess what? I’m not fake okay! I can’t be, I have all these memories, good and bad, I have so many things I need to do, things I never got to do!” Her throat felt tighter, “I-I can’t go yet…” She uttered, her heart hammering inside her chest.

Her thoughts drifted, she thought of Cream, the sweet rabbit girl that she thought of as a sister, and Big, the kind and loveable lug. She thought of Sally, and how she never did apologize for how much of a brat she was when she first joined. Of her cousin Rob and his family, all of which got erased from existence by Eggman’s Super Genesis Wave. And Sonic… her hero, her crush.

She wasn’t as strong as he was. “I… I don’t want to go yet.” Her voice cracked. Fighting Eggman, she knew that anything could happen… that she can die. But this… being erased? Like her family? Erased from existence like Julie? And being told that she didn’t matter because she wasn’t even real? It reminded her too much of the Genesis Waves. “I just want to go home…”

After a couple of seconds, Amy heard the voice say "I'm sorry Amy…" With that, her world went black.


Dark was looking away while he waited for Venom to handle the hedgehog. When Amy suddenly went silent, Dark looked over and saw her walking towards the shore. Once she reached the grass, the black substance on her started to leave as she collapsed onto the ground unconscious and Venom started heading towards Dark.

Dark reached a hand towards the symbiote and when it got close enough, it reached for Dark's hand and attached itself to him. As Dark felt the sensation of having Venom return to him, he quickly had to grab his head in shock as he saw flashes of images in his head of people, very few recognizable, but the rest completely foreign to him. But what truly shocked him was the wave of total fear and despair that came with it, causing Dark to tear up.

"What the hell was that?" Dark asked, shocked by the feeling.

Venom's avatar appeared before him, with a confused expression. "What?"

"Those images. And that feeling…"

Venom looked at the sleeping Amy. "Those were the last memories and emotions she had before I knocked her out. Must've given it to you by accident."

"She was really that terrified…?"

"She thought we were gonna kill her. That we were gonna erase her from existence. Something she apparently has some experience with. I ask you, how would you react if you were in her shoes?"

Dark sighed and put his hand onto his face. "Well, what can we do then? Even I don't want to just cure her right now. Especially after all that. But I'm not exactly willing to leave my sister gone forever. Not yet at least…"

Venom stood silent for a few seconds before looking at Dark. "Separate them?"

Dark frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Separate them. Give one of them a new body. That way Amy can still "live" and Cece won't be trapped in her own mind."

"And how in the world are we going to do that? I doubt we can just open a book and find a way to cause split personalities to gain their own bodies."

"We're in a world full of magic and there might be stuff that Twilight or the Princesses know about that can help. And if they don't, we have another option to go to."

"And what's that?"

Venom raised an eyebrow before pointing at Dark's necklace. "Displaced. There are countless Displaced across the multiverse with different kinds of tech, magic, and abilities. There's bound to be at least one out there that can help us."

Dark considered the idea for a bit before sighing. "Fine. Hope this works… For both their sakes." Dark walked towards Amy when a flash of light caught his eye. Looking towards it, he saw a pile of rings nearby and walked towards it. "Where did these come from?"

"This place is known as the Lake of Rings," Venom explained.

"And how do you know that?"

Venom gestured towards the unconscious Mobian. "Got a look through Amy's mind when I bonded to her. Learned a good number of things." He then looked at the rings. "Take them."

"Huh?"

"Take the rings. They can be pretty useful for us. And remember this place. We can try to get more later."

Dark shrugged before grabbing the rings and putting a couple on his wrists and the rest in his bag. He then went to Amy and put her over his shoulder before he used his Warp Ring to make a portal to castle and went through it.


"I'm sorry, you want to what?!" Twilight asked Dark in the throne room.

He had placed Amy's unconscious form onto Cece's bed and left Emily to stay with her with Mike staying near the room in case she woke up and made another escape attempt. After that, Dark gathered the others he had been with and explained the fight and talk he had with both Amy and Venom.

"We want to separate Amy and Cece without the cure," Dark repeated, sitting on Rainbow's throne with Bri in his lap and Peter on his shoulder.

"You're serious?" Lightning asked, leaning against Pinkie's throne. "Won't it just be easier to just get the cure ready and dump her in it? I know you feel bad, but isn't it your sister that's on the line?"

Dark winced at that before taking a deep breath. "I know it'd be easy, but… it doesn't feel right to do that. I didn't know just how terrified she was of the whole thing. At the very least, I wanna try and help her if there's even a chance."

Twilight sighed. "I understand that Dark, but what you're asking is pretty big. I don't think I've seen anything capable of that in my books, outside of fictional stories. It's gonna take a while to look. Maybe ask the princesses if they're aware of anything that can help us. But you do know that we may not see Cece for a while as a result, right?"

Dark sighed. "Believe me, I'm aware. I'm willing to wait. But if we just went with curing her without even trying to help Amy, I think it'd haunt my mind for a long time."

Twilight nodded her head. "Okay. I'll look into it. But first, I need to go to City Hall. Spike told me of an attack that happened earlier before you came back."

"Sounded like Heartless attacked here at the same time as Canterlot," Lightning added. "Apparently Dash and two other ponies managed to take care of it."

Dark immediately stiffened. "Is everyone okay?"

"Rainbow and the ponies who helped her are," Twilight said. "I'm heading to City Hall to see if there were any… casualties…" she finished, looking away with her ears folded.

Dark clenched his fist before getting up and putting Bri on his shoulders, Peter moving a little to the side to fit. "I'm gonna go somewhere to clear my head."

"Where?" Lightning asked.

"Earth," Dark said, before leaving the room.