//------------------------------// // 65. City Escape // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------// Pressing her boot on the brakes, Valor slowly stopped in front of one of many of Canterlot City's alleyways. Around it were two other police vehicles, the officers  already taking notes as they surveyed the area. "Corporal Heart." An older looking officer called out to her, his gray, unkempt hair standing out amongst the younger officers. “Nice of you to join us.” Snapping to attention, she saluted. “Sergeant Garm!” He snorted, “At ease.” Jerking his head back towards the crime scene, she followed. “You remember that convenience store robbery that happened last week, right?” “Right, we kept hitting dead ends with it. Do you think this mugging has something to do with that case?” She couldn’t help but lean in closer, trying to see his face. He grunted, coming to a stop before pointing ahead. “You tell me.” Her eyes widening, Valor stopped, spotting the trio of masked men wrapped up in what looked to be webbing. “According to the victim, some costumed man showed up right when the mugging started, saved her before they could hurt her and webbed these clowns up before leaving.” Garm said, sighing as his shoulders drooped. “I just know the media is gonna eat this up.” Facing the aging man, she looked him in the eyes with a determined expression, “Can I speak to the victim?” Knowing her mind was made up, he shrugged, pointing towards one of the police cars; with a blue-haired girl. She wore a purple turtleneck sweater and had a purple beret on. “Excuse me miss,” She said, startling her from her thoughts. “I'm OfficerValor Heart, I was hoping I could ask you some questions.” “I already told the others everything that happened though?” She said in  a confused tone.  “I just want to see if you remembered any new details now that you had a moment to recollect your thoughts.” Pouting, she gave a small sigh., “I was walking home from work before these three masked guys pulled me into the alleyway from the streets. They were pointing knives at me and were taking my things, before suddenly this other guy showed up wearing a costume.” The young teen hummed, “He was wearing some skin tight black suit with large white eyes, I didn’t get to see too much though since he immediately went off on those three, he was jumping around and never staying still, it was all kind of a blur really. Afterwards he just webbed them up before he zipped up to the roof and disappeared." "Zipped up?" She repeated, tilting her head. The blue teen nodded, jerking her arm as she made an odd gesture. "Just did that, and zipped up to the rooftops. Didn't see him again so I figured he left." Valor sighed, "I see. Thank you for your time." Leaving the teen, she returned to the aging officer. "Well, it seems like your hunch is right. These two cases have to be connected. An athletic costume figure saving people, the webs being used, there's no way it's a coincidence." He nodded, "I figured they were when I got here, doesn't hurt to get a second opinion though."  "So what's the plan?" Garm grunted, "He may have done a good deed, but vigilantism is still illegal last I checked." Crossing his arms, he hummed to himself, "The mugging  happened not too long ago. We'll double the patrols tonight and be on the lookout for any costumed individuals. Hope you're up to the task." Valor saluted, giving him a grin. "I won't let you down sir!" "I'm still surprised how quick that was." Dark jumped across the rooftops with his daughter in his bag before stopping at a ledge and sitting down, letting the Riolu peek out as the symbiote retreated back inside Dark, leaving him in his casual clothes. With a deep breath, he said, "Why? Those guys weren't anything special." Venom's avatar appeared, sitting beside Dark. "I know. But you didn't even say anything to them. That's unlike you." Dark sighed. "V, after all of the insanity I've dealt with today, I'm exhausted. Even I have my limits. As you'd well know…" Venom shrugged. "True. It has been a very long day. The spar with Rainbow, all the way to the fight at the lake. If I wasn't attached to you, I'd be surprised how you still have the energy to move." Dark simply nodded before having Bri return to the bag and zipping it up. He then slid forward off the ledge and landed in the alley. "And my life isn't slowing down anytime soon…" After pulling his hood up, Dark immediately started to smell something. "What the…" Taking a few sniffs, he started to feel it was familiar. One smelled a bit like sea water, albeit faint, while the other smelled more strongly of fish. Going off on instinct, he left the alley and started following the smell as it got stronger. Barely paying attention to anything beyond his nose for a few moments, he took a turn and immediately bumped into someone. Letting out a groan, he placed a hand on his head. "Seriously?! Again?!" "Tito?" He heard an all too familiar voice say. Looking forward, Dark had seen that he had once again bumped into Sunset Shimmer, dressed in her winter clothes for the cold. And standing beside her was Sonata Dusk, her own hood being up and hiding her head. "Oh. Hey Sunset. Sorry about that…" Sunset waved him off. "It's fine. Though we really should stop meeting like this." "I agree." He then looked at the blue siren. "Hi Sonata." Sonata gave an unsure wave. "Um, hello." "So what brings you back into town?" Sunset asked Dark. Dark let out a deep sigh. "Let's just say a lot of stuff has been happening for me the past week. Especially today. I wanted some peace before I go to bed." "Wait, this city is peaceful for you?" Sonata asked, shocked. "What happens in your town that makes you think that?" Dark paused for a moment before saying, "Well today alone I had a spar with my friend, learned a new trick I need to figure out how to use more, lost my sister and got someone who looks exactly like her, met a new family member, learned a ring I have is more special than I had originally thought, got mistaken for a fugitive briefly, reunited with one of my cousins I haven't seen in almost a year, had a fight with that doppelganger from earlier, and got my ass kicked and was utterly soaked by her." Both the girls stared at him in both shock and confusion.  "That's… a lot…" Sunset said. "And you said that's today?" Sonata asked. Dark nodded. "Yeah. So you can see why I want some peace." They nodded before Sunset noticed Dark's bag shifting. "Hey, is something in your bag?" Dark nodded before unzipping his bag a bit and Bri's head immediately popped out. "This is Brianna." Sonata's head tilted in confusion while Sunset's eyes immediately widened in alarm. Before she could react however, the Riolu saw her and let out a quick yip before jumping out of the bag and hugginged her. While the 2 girls were shocked by the action, Dark simply chuckled. "Yeah, she does that a lot." "What is she?" Sonata asked. Before Dark could respond, Sunset immediately said, "Don't worry about it, Sonata. They aren't native to this country." She then chuckled nervously before grabbing the pup and gently giving her back to Dark. "Hey, how about you meet me at Sugarcube Corner?. I wanna talk to Tito for a second." "Are you sure?" Sunset nodded. "It's okay Sonata. I'll catch up." After a moment of hesitation, Sonata started to walk away. When she was out of earshot, Sunset looked at Dark in mild panic. "Are you crazy?!" She asked, in a barely contained whisper. "What?" Dark asked, completely confused. "Why did you bring a Riolu here?" "She wanted to- wait," Dark said with a blink. "How do you know what she is?" "Why wouldn't I know? Platinum was a pretty good game and Rainbow likes Maylene." Dark blinked a moment before shaking his head. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that Pokémon is a thing here?" "Not the creatures, but the franchise? Yeah." Dark blinked for a moment before placing Bri back into his bag and turning back to Sunset. "Why didn't you say anything when I first came here then?" He said in a stressed whisper. "I was a little distracted by the hooded figure who had just dropped from the ceiling and shot webs from his hands and told me and my friends we were characters from a cartoon," she stated with her arms crossed. "And Fluttershy not recognizing what Emily was?" "From what I heard, she hasn't played the games after Black & White," she answered. Dark sighed and placed his face into his hands. After a minute, he lifted his face. "Well guess I got to be careful with Bri or Mike…" He then looked at Sunset. "So, how have you been the past week?" Sunset shrugged. "Fine. Nowhere near as bad as you. Things have been slow lately." "Lucky you." Adjusting the straps on his bag, he looked at the night sky in silence. "Hey. You want anything from Sugarcube Corner?" Dark looked at her and stood silent for a moment before saying, "Anything chocolate I guess. We're fond of that." "We?" Dark gestured to his bag. "Ah. Okay." She looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot before saying, "So what exactly happened today?" Before Dark could say anything, he suddenly felt his hand grab Sunset's wrist and pressing her hand onto his forehead as her eyes suddenly turned white. After a couple of seconds, he felt himself let go of her wrist as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well. That really was insane." "Venom!" Dark barely stopped himself from actually shouting, looking at the mental projection of the symbiote. "Hey, that saved us several minutes of explaining." Dark sighed. "Sorry Sunset." Sunset waved him off. "Don't worry about it. A little warning would've been nice but I can understand why it happened." She then looked at him. "So Cece actually became Amy because of some plant?" "Unfortunately…" "I can see why you would want to take a breather after all of that…" After a minute of silence, she nodded to herself. "Come on." She then started to walk in the direction Sonata went. "Wait, where are you going?" He asked, walking to her side. "We're going to Sugarcube Corner. Think you need some snacks after all of that. And maybe some company." "Well that'd be appreciated," Dark said with a nod. After a minute of silent walking, Sunset suddenly said, "You might be wrong, you know." "Huh?" "She might not actually hate you." Dark's eyes widened under his hood. "How do you-" Sunset gestured to her necklace, with her geode in full view. "Oh. Right…" "I won't lie, it makes sense that she wouldn't like you right now. Especially with how you acted at first. But that doesn't necessarily mean that she actually hates you." Dark winced. "I told her to her face that she wasn't real and just the product of a plant to play a cruel joke on my sister. And almost forced her to go through something that would essentially erase her from existence, all without showing any sympathy." "Well, do you actually know her? Maybe she doesn't hold a grudge?" "She has a point there," Venom said. "Besides her crush on Sonic, and some abilities, we clearly knew nothing about Amy. And from what I've seen in her head after bonding to her, she is actually quite… interesting." "What do you mean?" Dark asked. "For one thing, she lived through two lifetimes, as the result of Eggman and a certain other doctor trying to rewrite reality. Many people she knew, including family, ended up erased from existence." "That would explain why you said she's experienced with that…" "Also she was technically royalty." It took a second for Dark to process what his companion said, to which he immediately stopped his walking and did a double take. "She's what now?!" "Her cousin in the old world was apparently a king so technically she was part of a royal family," Venom said, completely unphased. "Since when was that a thing?" "Oh believe me, there's far more to Miss Rose than even that. For example, she was seriously holding back against you." "What do you mean?" "As her kicking your ass and placing some sort of curse on you already shows, Amy Rose, or at the very least the one you met, is quite different than what we've believed." Venom used his connection to Dark to get him to start moving again. "She's faced a good amount of enemies, not just Eggman and his forces. She's dealt with an evil wizard, a close friend turned evil robot, and many, many more." "Turned what now?" Dark said, not at all expecting that last one. "Long story. The point is that Amy isn't what we've come to expect. She truly is far more than just her crush and weapon. If things were different, I can see you two getting along quite well." "Doubt it…" Dark muttered. "You know, we're really lucky there aren't that many people out tonight," Sunset said, causing Dark to remember that only he can see and hear the symbiote. "Sorry about that." "Don't worry about it. Just be glad you stopped now," she said, as he just noticed they reached their destination. "Come on." The rhythmic chugging of the train reverberated through the cabin as the odd trio of creatures settled into their seats. Their bodies sagged as they felt the effects of the chaotic battle crashing down onto them. With a lazy groan, the sole human threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Why is it that breaking in and out of a prison and causing a riot was so much easier than that chaotic mess?” Stretching out his massive frame, the diamond dog’s thick fur shimmered in the soft light of the carriage. “Was it really that bad?” Garm asked, “There was a good number of those black creatures in the forest too, but they were kinda just pushovers.” Valor leaned back into her seat, closing her eyes as she savored the comforting motion of the train, “It was more that they just didn’t seem to have an end. We would destroy one, and two more would immediately replace them.” The dog snorted, “So like a hydra then?”  “Those exist here?!” Kaito nearly shouted, he then shook his head, raising his hand before they could answer him. “You know what, nevermind. So, Garm, how’d the fishing trip go?” Raising an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic, he shrugged. “I picked up a good haul, over a hundred rings, and kept some extras in here.” He said, patting the barrel next to him. “With no one picking them up, the lake was overflowing with them. I had to leave some behind too since I ran out of space in the barrel. Speaking of which…” Reaching inside the barrel he began pawing at the rings. “Catch.” With that, the diamond dog tossed the two of them a pair of rings. “Ain’t much, but even just one is enough to save your life.” Catching the thrown ring, the pegasus looked it over, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “And how does this work? Do we need to activate it, or just put it on?” Garm shook his head. “Nothing special to it, you can wear it if you want, I like to do so for the extra protection. But it also responds to thoughts, just by thinking it you can absorb it, and when you’re hit, it’ll protect you.” “Huh,” Kaito smiled, twirling the ring with his finger, “And when you’re hit, they scatter, right?” Clenching his fist, the ring in his hand sparkled before disappearing as it was absorbed into his body.  He nodded. “After that, you only have a few seconds to gather them before they disappear. They were the most useful tools for our tribe, saved the lives of many dogs, nothing can compare to the power of chaos.” Valor’s brow furrowed, “Chaos?” “The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power…” The diamond dog began, closing his eyes and joining his claws as if he was saying a prayer. “Power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos.”  Turning to stare at Garm, Kaito’s eyes widened as he took in the prayer. “That’s Tikal’s prayer...” He whispered, “Is that a prayer that’s always been with your people?” The diamond dog nodded, “For hundreds of years in fact. You seem familiar with it, have you heard of it before?” “Just once, a long time ago.” He hummed, “Chaos… if we had that kind of power, those black creatures wouldn’t be able to come near us… Let alone the ‘Spider’...” “What… other rings are there, Garm?” Valor asked. The dog hummed, stroking his graying chin. “Many. And I’m sure that there are some that even my tribe has yet to discover… But from what I recall, there are the Power Rings.” He gestured towards the golden rings covering his arms. “They protect, but they also empower. With them, your power increases, you become stronger and faster. But by far the most useful thing about them is that they can be used as fuel to tap into the powers of Chaos. “Space, time, reality, all of it can be molded should you have the energy needed.” He growled, closing his eyes. “The Red Star Rings are incredibly rare, to the point where I have never seen one before. But I’ve heard stories, they have much more potential for power, but I’ve also heard that those who cling onto the power for too long end up at risk of destroying themselves. Warp Rings can allow for instantaneous travel so long as you have an idea of where it is you want to go. I’ve even heard legends of rings that grant wishes, but no records of it exist in our people’s history, so it's likely just that, legends.” Kaito clung onto every word from the elder’s mouth, closing his eyes as he thought deeply about the variations. “These rings… they aren’t the only source of Chaos are they?” With a blank expression, the dog raised his head to look at him. “I’m not sure what you mean?” “The prayer you just said, the seven servers are the seven chaos, those refer to the emeralds.” He sat upright from his seat, staring straight into the dog’s eyes. “Do the Chaos Emeralds exist?” Garm’s eyes widened, wordlessly opening his mouth a few times, he then sighed, his shoulders sagging before he stared at Kaito. Letting out a small sigh, he nodded. “The Chaos Emeralds are sacred to my kind, their existence a well guarded secret. I would not tell you if you were anyone else, but yes, the Chaos Emeralds do exist.” His eyes lighting up, Kaito jumped off his seat. “Well then that settles it.” He started with an excited grin, “We have our next mission team, we’re going after the Chaos Emeralds!” Landing on the rooftop, Dark sighed, walking towards the edge of the building as he peered down to the empty alleyway between two buildings, inside his bag, a furry blue head poked out to look down below as well. Letting out a hum, Dark watched as the last patrol car drove off, the group of muggers he had left webbed up for them being nowhere in sight. “Guess there’s nothing to worry about here…” He muttered, absentmindedly stroking Bri’s furry head when she let out a small yip of agreement. Craning his head to look around the street, he didn’t spot the blue-skinned teen either, “She must be home by now too… still…” Taking a few steps back, he then ran forward, leaping towards the next building as Bri ducked back inside the bag. Firing a web, he swung from the side of the building to the next as he looked around the surrounding area before coming to a stop again on top of another lone rooftop. “It's getting pretty late, shouldn’t we have headed back by now?” Venom’s voice echoed in his head. “Just want to get the layout of the city, who knows how often we’ll be coming back here,” Dark answered, peering off the rooftop to look around. “Well, you're probably going to be needing a lot of “quiet time”,” Venom stated, his mental avatar standing on the edge. “Especially with Heartless on the list. So it makes sense you'd come back more.” Dark sighed before sitting down on the roof and letting Bri out of his bag as she quickly laid on his lap. “Be honest. You think I'm in over my head?” Venom shrugged. “Probably. You have all kinds of enemies gunning for ya, and you barely know what you can do. I'd say if you were fighting alone, you'd have no chance.” “So you're saying I do have a chance?” “Only because you have help. Twilight, Rainbow, Lightning, Mike, plus me and Toxin. We can watch your back. Alone? You'd have died from that Hydra guy the night we met.” Dark looked down. “And now I'm without one of my allies…” Venom rolled his eyes. “Oh calm down. If anything, Amy is a far better ally in a fight than Cece. As her actually being able to beat you proves. Despite her beef with you, I'm certain she won't just stand by and let people be hurt. So think of it as her, unknowingly, protecting Cece until we separate them.” Before Dark could respond, Bri hugged him to try to comfort her father. He just sighed again and returned her hug. “Thanks Bri.” Bri let out a small smile towards him before letting out a yawn. Seeing that, Dark yawned himself before he grabbed her and placed her back in the bag. “I guess we might as well go to bed. Come on, it shouldn't take too long to swing back to CHS.” “Or, you can use your new tool,” Venom suggested. “New tool?” “The Warp Ring. Use that to go back.” Dark blinked behind his hood. “Wait, will it even work? It's another universe.” “Well, you could try it just in case. If it works, we can come and go with total ease without needing to be seen near the highschool. If it doesn't, who cares.” With that said, the symbiote’s avatar vanished.  Dark hesitated for a moment before reaching to his wrist and pulling the ring off. He then closed his eyes and pictured his room back in Twilight's castle, and then threw the ring. It immediately grew and opened a portal. Dark stepped through it, and saw he truly was back in his room, with both Shoto and Peter sound asleep in their respective beds. The ring shrunk down and Dark caught it before it hit the ground. “Well, that's good to know,” Dark thought to himself. He let out another yawn as he took Bri out of his bag and placed her on the bed as she soon fell asleep. He then quickly changed his clothes and laid down before drifting off to sleep himself. A few minutes after Dark was unconscious, and making sure nobody would notice, the symbiote emerged from his chest, removed itself from him and made its way to the hallway, squeezing under the door. After a couple of minutes, it found its destination, with a resting Mike just across the hall from the room he was headed. Venom squeezed through the gap of the door and made his way to the unconscious Amy, before attaching to her.