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// Symbiotes? 
// Story: The Amazing Spider-Mare: A Long Way From Home 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
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Much to the surprise and shock of the two superheroes, the tracking device led them to the last place they wanted to be right now: The Daily Bugle.

"This must be a mistake or something!" Spider Mare insisted as they eyed the building from afar. "There's no way the impostor would come here. And even if they did, there's no way I'm going in there when the whole city wants to see me locked up."

Black Cat looked down at the tracking device again and eyed it carefully. "We're never gonna get to the bottom of things by just standing around here. I doubt very much that this could be a trap, it'd be way too obvious," He then looked to his troubled partner and told her. "Besides, since when do we ever use the front door? We'll sneak in, find out where this impostor is hiding and nab 'em!"

Reluctantly, Spider Mare found herself agreeing with Black Cat's statement. "Oh, alright. But let's be careful not to do anything else illegal. Breaking and entering's a serious offense on its own," Then she spoke up. "If nothing else though, maybe the archives will help us figure out how long this impostor's been at it and give us an idea of where they might strike next."

"Well, come on, then!" Black Cat encouraged. "Let's go around back and sneak in that way."

So the two superheroes made their way back up to the rooftops, but only for a brief minute or two. They then dropped down on the other side of the Daily Bugle's building, quickly spotting a window that looked ideal for shattering. A single web ball was all it took to shatter the glass. Surprisingly, no alarm sounded and neither did anypony seem to come rushing to the scene to investigate the disturbance.

"That's weird," Spider Mare thought out loud as she and Black Cat climbed in through the open window. "What kind of security detail are they running if a broken window isn't enough to raise an alarm?"

"Never mind that," Black Cat spoke up as he lifted his eyes from the tracking device for a brief moment. "Where is everypony? This place looks deserted." And sure enough, both heroes could clearly see that despite them being next to a bunch of offices, there wasn't a single pony to be seen behind any of the desks. The lights had been shut off, almost as if someone had intentionally cut the power. Most troubling of all, there seemed to be faint traces of some kind of pink slime on the floors.

The wall crawler began to shiver and shudder. "I don't like this. Something's definitely not right here. Someone or something's been here already." Then, suddenly, she let out an audible sneeze.

"Bless you!" Black Cat remarked and turned to his wife. "You feeling okay, honey?"

Spider Mare shivered a bit more. "I don't know. It's so cold in here!"

"Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit chilly," Black Cat commented with concern as he too started to shiver a little. "You think this is the work of some new super villain? Maybe something with ice powers?"

The web slinger shook her head from side to side. "Doubt it. Can't imagine a fiend like that keeping a low profile. With every super villain, they always find a way to make sure you know it's them. Some just make a bigger deal about it than others," Then she asked. "We can't worry about this right now. Let's find the impostor and get out of here! This place is giving me the creeps."

But when Black Cat looked down at the tracking device again, he saw a sight he'd hoped he wouldn't ever see. He gave it a firm whack, but nothing happened. "The tracker just shut off!" He complained. "Either this thing wasn't fully charged, or the impostor figured out we're onto them and destroyed the tracker."

Spider Mare groaned in frustration. "That's just great. Just what we need. We've hit a dead end at the worst possible moment," But before she could say anything further, she felt her entire body start to twitch and shake. She knew in an instant what that meant. "Uh-oh! The 'Pinkie Sense' is flaring up again!"

"Same with my 'Cheesie Sense'," Black Cat replied with a gulp. "That can't be a good sign."

Suddenly, a strange, almost alien like roaring sound filled the air. Spider Mare was the first to turn around, and she saw a sight that almost froze her stiff with fright! "Symbiotes!" She gasped, laying eyes on small, pink, slime like creatures that were emerging from a ceiling air duct.





Strangely enough, the symbiotes slithered right past the two superheroes even though they were right out in the open. That struck both as odd. "Who could possibly be behind this?" Black Cat pondered.

All Spider Mare could do in reply was shake her head again. "I don't know. But I think I know what these symbiotes are up to," She then explained in an ominous tone of voice. "They're looking for hosts. That must be why we haven't seen anypony. The symbiotes probably scared them away," She kicked at the ground. "It figures. I just had the Spidey Armor taken in for repairs. Didn't anticipate running into symbiotes again."

Seconds later, there came the sound of screams as an unfamiliar voice cried out! "Help! Monsters!"

Not one to ignore a cry for help (regardless of where it came from), the two web slinging heroes rushed to the source of distress! Sure enough, in one cubicle tucked into a corner were two earth pony stallions. One of them was a tan coated stallion with greenish-brown eyes, faint locks of brown for a mane and tail and a cutie mark depicting a pencil and a sketch-pad. The other was a sandy light brown coated stallion with eyes hidden behind thick sunglasses. He had a mustache that neatly complimented his grayish-white mane and tail that hung to the sides. And his cutie mark depicted a camera shutter.

The stallion with the sunglasses was currently being set upon by the symbiotes, one of which slithered over to him and tried to envelope him! "Help! Get this thing off me!" He cried as he struggled to avoid being overcome by the alien lifeform!

Black Cat quickly leaped into the fray, turning a knob on his baton as he shouted to everyone in the room! "Cover your ears, quick!" The two stallions obeyed, as did Spider Mare. And just in time too, because within seconds a powerful sonic vibration split the room!

The symbiote did not take kindly to the loud noise! It screamed out as though in great pain and slithered away, and the other symbiotes surrounding it followed suit. But before they could get far, Spider Mare swung at them and with a single swift punch, shattered them all into pools of slime (traces of which got on her suit)!

When at last the vibration had faded and it was safe to unplug their ears, the two stallions immediately rushed up to their saviors and showered them with praise! "Oh, thanks a ton, Spider Mare! And you too, Black Cat! I thought for sure we were goners!"

"Who are you?" Black Cat questioned the stallions.

The mustached stallion quickly dusted himself off and cleared his throat. "Where are my manners? I'm Stan," He gestured a hoof to the stallion to the left of him. "And this is my partner, Steve. We've been big fans of your exploits ever since that big battle you had here in Manehattan. You know, the one against those crazy supervillains?"

Spider Mare's happy mood soon faded. "But you guys are the ones running those stories that make me look bad, claiming that I'm behind those hi-tech thefts. You guys sure have a strange way of showing your appreciation."

At that Steve stuttered. "No, no, no. You've got it all wrong! We just take the pictures, we don't write the headlines. That's Jack's job, and we all have to do what Mr. Jackson wants. He pays well, so we can't complain too much," He then added. "We've wanted to print articles saying you're innocent, that you wouldn't steal from ponies for no good reason. But the boss, he doesn't think the same way. He has it out for you."

Spider Mare rolled her eyes. "Got that impression from the moment I met him."

Black Cat, meanwhile, asked the two earth ponies. "What happened here? Did you see anything strange?"

Stan explained as best he could. "Not really. Steve and I, we were just having a coffee break. We were about to call it a day when the lights suddenly went out. And the next thing we knew, ponies were screaming and running for the exits!" He shuddered. "I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks!"

"Why didn't you guys leave? Was there no order to evacuate?" Spider Mare questioned the stallions.

Steve confessed. "We were going to leave, but we weren't sure if Jack made it out. He works on the floor above us, right by the elevators. He probably took one when those... whatever they were started attacking. We didn't hear any alarms or anything, it all happened so fast," He then gasped! "Jack's probably still trapped in the elevator! You have to save him!"

Black Cat was quick to promise. "We'll do everything we can, but you guys better get out of here before those symbiotes come back."

"Oh, is that what those alien looking things are called?" Stan commented. "Almost sounds like it would make for a good comic book," Then as he and Steve fled the building he called out. "I promise, Spider Mare. We're only printing the truth about you from now on."





Spider Mare briefly breathed a small sigh of relief. "Well, at least that's one problem hopefully taken care of. Now we just gotta take care of a bigger one."

Black Cat nodded. "Come on! We'd better hurry! We wouldn't be who we are if we didn't do everything in our power to help the innocent."

The two heroes immediately rushed to the back of the room to where the elevators were. With the electricity out, there was no way the elevator could be called down if it was on another floor. So there was only one solution.

Using her incredible strength, Spider Mare forced open the elevator doors. Sure enough, she could see above her that the elevator rested on the floor above. And it looked like some kind of pink slime substance had attached itself to the elevator floor. "The symbiotes must be coming from below," She thought out loud as she grabbed the elevator cables, then shout out a stream of webbing. "Once this rescue operation is over, we need to get to the bottom of whoever or whatever's producing all these symbiotes."

"I'm right behind you, Spider Mare!" Black Cat encouraged! "Now go!"

Spider Mare obeyed, quickly swinging up to the bottom of the elevator even though she knew the slimy substance awaited her. It took a good deal of effort to work her around it, but thankfully she managed without much difficulty. Then, when she was level with the elevator itself, she forced the doors open!

Inside was an exhausted looking unicorn stallion of the same build as Stan and Steve. He had a ghostly white coat, a jet black mane and tail styled very loosely, black eyes and a cutie mark depicting three colored pencils. "Spider Mare!" The stallion exclaimed despite his exhaustion!

"Are you Jack?" The wall crawler asked the unicorn.

The unicorn firmly nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Just my luck I got stuck in the elevator just as I was going to leave work. It all happened so fast."

"Are you hurt?" Spider Mare asked him as she helped him to stand and guided him out of the elevator.

Jack shook his head in protest. "No. At least, nothing I can't heal at home," He then recalled. "But it was the strangest thing: When the elevator stopped working, this alien slime monster showed up out of nowhere! It tried to take over my body, but I managed to scare it off with a fire spell! It didn't seem to like that," He proceeded to ask. "What about Steve and Stan? Are they okay too?"

"Yes they are," The wall crawler reassured him. "Is there anypony else still trapped somewhere?"

"No," Jack quickly declared. "Last thing I heard, the boss had already gone home and left us to work on next morning's paper. And then, as soon as I stepped into the elevator I heard a noise. And then the power went out and I was stuck here," He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his brows. "Thanks a ton, Spider Mare! You're a life saver! And I'm gonna make sure all of Manehattan knows it! Steve, Stan and I, we're all gonna find work at a more respectable newspaper. No amount of money is worth the lies we're printing."

"Worry about that later," Spider Mare firmly replied to him. "You just get out of here. Black Cat and I have some unfinished business to take care of." And she watched as the stallion headed for the staircase at the other end of the floor he was on.