Spider-Girl was lying on an old train track, she had just come around from being knocked unconscious; she tried to get up, but she was in a lot of pain. And to top it all off, now she had a splitting headache; like her brain was being attacked by some form of illness.
Before the pain could get any worse, footsteps could be heard from the down the tunnel; Twilight had to be ready to fight, in case this was Tinkerer coming back to finish the job.
However, it wasn’t; Twilight fell back to the floor when she saw Sunset Shimmer running down the tunnel.
“Twilight!” the red-haired girl cried.
Sunset ran to her friend’s side and pulled her mask off, sweat was running down her forehead like a waterfall; something was not right. Sunset picked up Twilight, bridle style, and carried her out of the tunnel.
They made it outside, where the Mobile HQ was parked; Spike was waiting by the van for them. When he saw them coming, he ran to Twilight’s aid. The little dog began rubbing his head against her leg; Twilight sat in the car seat, allowing Spike to jump up into her lap.
“I’m gonna be okay Spike.” She said as she stroked his fur. But that was far from the truth, bags had formed under her eyes now, she was getting weaker.
Once Twilight was strapped in, the drove off to where that could be safe.
Sunset Shimmer was carrying Twilight back to her apartment, the spider-hero had sustained a lot of damage from her last few fights; and getting beaten up by the Tinkerer was the worst of it. Spike followed them, making sad dog noises while also praying that Twilight was going to be okay.
“Don’t worry Twilight, you’re gonna be okay.” Sunset assured her friend.
Suddenly, to their surprise; as they approached the front door, Timber Spruce was waiting outside it. He heard the heavy panting coming from Twilight; he turned to face them, and that’s when he saw her.
Timber started with, “Hey Twilight, I wanted to talk to you about somethin…” he stopped what he was saying when he saw what Twilight was wearing. He muttered, “What the…”
Before he could get another word out of his mouth, Sunset said to him, “Look, long story; but first, help me get her inside.”
The green-haired guy did as he was told and took one of Twilight’s arms, he helped Sunset carry her inside. After they got her through the front door, he laid her down on the couch; Sunset felt her friend’s forehead, she was burning up.
“Twilight, your temperature is through the roof; this is more than just you getting beat up.” Sunset explained. She then took one of her friend’s gloves off, the veins in her wrists had turned green; Sunset could not understand what had caused this.
“Wild Mandrake Toxin.”
Sunset turned to Timber’, he continued, “It’s a rare plant poison; lethal to all living creatures.”
Spider-Girl managed to say, “That plant in the Roxxon lab, the one that pricked me; I must have picked it up from there.” She concluded. Twilight then laid back down again; too weak to do anything else.
“Is there a cure?” Sunset asked Timber’.
To which he replied with, “All I know, is that the poison can be expelled from the victim’s body if their heart rate is raised.” He then thought of something else, “But if that doesn’t work, antibiotics should counted the poison.”
Now they had a plan, Sunset explained what they were going to do, “Okay, me and Spike will run down to the corner store and pick up the medicine. Timber’ stay here and make sure nothing happens to her.”
“I promise to take care of her.” Timber Spruce replied.
Before they could leave, Spike turned to him and stated, “If anything happens to her, you’ll have me to deal with.” He then growled slightly before following Sunset out the door.
While they were all talking, Twilight was thinking; she believed there was a way to raise her heart rate. She turned to Timber’ and asked him, “Timber’, what would raise someone’s heart rate?”
The green-haired boy replied, “Well, a large fright, a mild shock or….” He then looked her in the eyes. “Or an act of true love.”
“I know it sounds cheesy and weird, but what about a true love’s kiss?” the weak girl asked.
He nodded at her idea; so he reached for her face and caressed her cheek, Timber Spruce then leaned down to kiss Twilight on the lips. Their lips were millimetres apart, until Timber’ stopped.
“Oh Twilight, if only there was someone out there who loved you.” He moved away from her and rose to his feet. “Don’t get me wrong, I did like you; before I found out your secret.” He then pointed to her suit.
Weak from the poison, Twilight muttered, “What are you talking about Timber’?”
He turned away from her and explained, “Oh I don’t go by that name anymore; you know me by another name.” he then reached his hand over to a little bush plant on the shelf. Timber’ waved his hand past the plant and all the life drained out of it, until it was an old rotting root; when he moved his hand the other way, the plant grew to life again.
Twilight concluded only one thing, “You’re Plant Man.”
“Yeah. And you’ve stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong for the last time, Spider-Girl.” He replied.
“How did this happen to you?” Twilight demanded to know; she then coughed after saying that.
Timber Spruce explained, “I suppose it all started with that little accident between your friend and that octopus man; the machine that exploded and had spread that energon stuff across the city, it reached all the way to Camp Everfree. I was just so happening to be working with our new rare plants when I got infected with the blue stuff.”
He sat down on a chair as he continued, “After some time of learning to control my new powers, I decided it was time for the plants to take back the planet. Especially after what people like Discord, Filthy Rich and the other meta-humans had put it through.”
“You’re insane.” Twilight stated.
“Am I?” Timber Spruce shouted back. “Buried beneath the Nuiform reactor is an age old root, one that has been forgotten by time. All it needs is a little power upgrade, like me.” He smiled at his own remark. “I stole the Nuiform to energise it and use the reactor to bring that root to life.”
His smile went away when the next part of the story was told, “But I had no way of doing that; I’ll admit, I didn’t really think my plan through. He turned back to Twilight, his smile back on his face, “But that’s when it hit me; I was trying to find a way to energise the Nuiform, I completely over looked the fact that the Tinkerer already had a way.”
“So I gave the Nuiform, she’s energising it as we speak.” The plant man explained. “She thinks that when she plugs the Nuiform into the reactor, it’ll destroy Roxxon. But instead, it will bring my plant army to life.”
Plant Man then walked over to the door, before he left, he said one last thing, “I just wish you could be there to watch my plan unfold. But the poison will take care of what’s left of you.”
Twilight crawled off the couch, trying to go after him; all she could say was, “You won’t get away with this.”
But the villain replied, “I already have, ‘my love’.” He then laughed like the villain he was; he left the apartment and left Twilight to the mercy of the poison.
It had been about twenty minutes since Timber Spruce had left; Twilight was lying in the middle of her floor, slowing dying. She couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, she passed out from the pain; not knowing if she was going to wake up.
Suddenly, Sunset forcefully opened the door and ran into the room, followed by the little purple dog; only to find her best friend lying on the ground.
“Twilight!” she shouted before falling to her knees as fell from her eyes; she was too late.
The green veins had spread to her face, and her pulse was very weak; hardly beating. Sunset Shimmer didn’t know what to do; so if this really was the end, she decided to do what she should have done before this whole thing started.
Sunset looked down at Twilight, and confessed her feelings, “Twilight, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I pray that you get this message. I know it’s not the most normal thing in the world, and I know some people in the world are against it, but I don’t care what they. All that matters is how I feel about you; I love you Twilight Sparkle, more than you can ever know.”
Without even thinking, Sunset moved closer to her a planted a strong kiss on Twilight’s lips; she ended the kiss by pulling away, seeing it had done nothing. All Sunset could do was cry over her friend’s body; Spike sat beside her, he let out a small howl in sorrow.
However, not all was lost; as she cried, something strange caught Sunset’s eye. Twilight began to glow a gold colour, she was shiny as crystals; this could only be one thing, Equestrian Magic.
The glow faded away, and the green veins on Twilight’s body had disappeared. As if by magic, Twilight opened her eyes; when she saw Sunset looking down at her, she threw her arms around her. “I heard everything.”
Sunset couldn’t believe this, all she could do was hug her back; when they pulled away from the hug, the red-haired girl asked, “You heard what I said?”
“Yep.” Twilight replied, “I love you too.” She then kissed Sunset on the lips, this time, the kiss lasted a lot longer. Sunset wrapped her arms around Twilight’s neck, and Twilight did the same.
The two of them were interrupted when they heard Spike muttered, “Excuse me?” They both stopped kissing and turned to Spike, “Where’s Timber Spruce?”
“I don’t know, but I need to get to Roxxon Plaza; I need to stop Tinkerer.” Twilight explained. Sunset reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out something that belonged to Twilight, her mask.
Twilight put her mask on and ran for the window; before she left, she said, “Get to the Mobile HQ, I’ll fill you in on the way.”
Sunset and Spike understood what they had to do, she they both ran for the door and went down to the van; as for Spider-Girl, she had her own mode of transportation.
As Spider-Girl was swinging down the road, she had told Sunset and Spike everything she had learned; Timber’ being Plant Man, his secret plan, the giant root under the reactor.
“If I can shut down the reactor; Jupiter won’t be able to overload it with the Nuiform.” Twilight explained into the comm.
She was seconds away from the plaza when something unexpected happened; out of nowhere, a blast of energy was shot at Twilight, stunning her. The spider-hero rolled onto a rooftop before she came to a stop at someone’s feet.
Her vision was blurry from the blast, she couldn’t make out who this figure was; all she heard him say was, “I’m sorry Twilight, but this is for your own good.”
After that was said, Twilight passed out, again.