TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Twilight sat down with the girls after Peter ate and washed up. He was rather hesitant when the food was brought to him, so Twilight figured he might still be on edge. “It isn’t poisoned,” she told him with a diplomatic smile. “It’s good! Veggie omelet with hay fires.”
But Peter just frowned and hesitantly took a bite. He conceded that it wasn’t as bad as he expected and ate the whole dinner and was still hungry so Spike whipped up some more food for him. Peter ate enough for six ponies until he was finally content. Then he went off for a bath and Fluttershy offered to help, he blushed and explained that he was perfectly fine but the pegasus insisted.
Fluttershy was a meek and quiet pony, sure, but most of the time she gets what she wants. After all of that, Peter thanked them for their hospitality and walked out of the door. Twilight assumed he was leaving but Rainbow explained that he just scaled the castle and was sitting at the very top of it, sullenly watching the sunset.
Twilight could sympathize. When she went into that alternative universe herself, she was so terrified that she would never be able to return home and even when she could she almost didn’t want to because it’d mean she would leave her new friends. Peter must be out of his mind with worry right now, so Twilight didn’t blame him for wanting some alone time.
“So, let’s talk ‘bout the elephant on th’ roof,” Applejack started, chewing a hay fire.
Pinkie Pie looked up from her bucket of cotton candy, her mouth pinker than usual. “There’s an elephant on the roof?!”
“She means Peter Parker,” Rarity explained, nibbling a piece of lettuce delicately. “And no, he isn’t an elephant either. Fluttershy checked.”
The fashionista winked at Fluttershy who blushed and hid behind her mane. “Oh, well, I just figured since he’s new to hooves that he might have trouble washing…”
“Enough about that,” Rainbow interrupted, scowling at Rarity. “Can we even be sure he isn’t lying? I mean come on, an alternative universe? That’s crazy even by our standards and we witness Pinkie Pie CLONE herself!”
“It was fun!” Pinkie Pie remarked. “Then it wasn’t so fun…”
“Ah for one believe ‘em, only cuz of Twi,” Applejack said, pointing to the princess. “Ya’ll remember her adventure, right?”
“Sure, but—“
“So, Pete bein’ part of another universe ain’t so difficult t’ buy.”
“Besides, he has strange abilities for a pony,” Fluttershy remarked. “When he woke up, he jumped nearly 7 meters and clung to the ceiling.”
“Like this?” Pinkie Pie jumped up to the ceiling, a total of at least 10 meters high, and stuck to it using her mane and tail as ropes.
Fluttershy nodded. “So, he’s either related to Pinkie or…” Rainbow trailed off.
“He was bitten by a genetically altered spider,” Twilight explained. “Which gave him those abilities, and explains the whole Spiderman deal.”
“What about the web?” Rarity asked. “In his tussle with the Hydra, the Wonderbolts explained that he used webbing to subdue the creature.”
“I’m not sure he can produce them naturally,” Twilight said. “The devices on his hooves, they might shoot them.”
“What do we do then?” Rainbow asked. “Send him to Celestia so she can deal with him?”
“We need to help him,” Fluttershy suggested.
“Ah agree,” said Applejack.
“Me too!” Pinkie cheered from the ceiling.
“Plus, his costume will need repairs..” muttered Rarity.
“I don’t know…” Rainbow said, rubbing her chin. “I don’t like that idea.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight said sternly.
“Seriously, think about it. Here’s a guy from another universe with strange abilities and no idea how he even got here and we’re supposed to believe him?” Rainbow asked. “Isn’t that exactly what Sunset Shimmer did to the universe you went to?”
“Well, yes, but—“
“He arrives just after Tirek is defeated, as a meteor and apparently short-circuited your magic, and on the first day he’s here he gets into a fight with a Hydra that nearly levels the town and gets Fluttershy hurt. Call me crazy, but that doesn’t sound like a coincidence.”
The girls remained quiet. Although they trusted Peter they couldn’t argue that Rainbow had a perfectly adequate point. There weren’t a lot of coincidences in the universe and this one couldn’t be one of them. “Spitfire and Soarin’ vouched for him,” Fluttershy remarked. “Isn’t that enough?”
Rainbow blushed and cleared her throat. “I’m just sayin’, staying on the cautious side seems to be the smarter solution.”
“Since when have you cared about the safer solution?” Rarity asked with a smile. “I believe your methodology involves hitting things really hard until the problem goes away.”
Rainbow Dash huffed and turned away from Rarity, pouting as she did so. Applejack raised her hoof. “Ah agree with Dash.”
“You do?” asked everpony, including Rainbow.
“While Ah sayin’ Pete’s a bad pony, or nothing like that, but she’s got a point about being careful. Clearly we’re dealin’ with somethin’ dangerous, and Ah’ll bet bits to apples that it’s got somethin’ to do with Tirek,” she explained. “But we ain’t treatin’ ‘em like a criminal. He saved Ponyville and that’s that.”
Twilight nodded in agreement and the other girls had as well, even Rainbow nodded reluctantly looking at Fluttershy’s cast with regret. They both had good points but Twilight found it difficult to see Peter as somepony bad, he seemed so genuine and kind, so depressed over his predicament.
“Then what are we going to do?” Pinkie asked, materializing beside Twilight, startling the princess.
“For now, he’ll need a place to stay,” Rarity said. “My place is more than available.”
“What about Sweetie Belle?” Rainbow asked.
Rarity wasn’t listening, she looked off into space with a dreamy expression but snapped out of it, shaking her head. “Wait, did you say something?”
“Ah’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Applejack said, chuckling.
“Then I suppose you’re going to suggest the farm?” Rarity asked. “For somepony as civilized as he is, I’m not sure that is wise either.”
“What’d ya mean by that?” Applejack growled.
“Ladies,” Twilight interrupted. “Is this really an appropriate time for that? Besides, my castle is more than enough for him, he’ll stay here.”
Rarity looked like she wanted to protest but she just nodded reluctantly. “I suppose that is the better solution…”
“Yeah! Now we can have another sleepover!” Pinkie suggested with a broad grin. “Peter is a grumpy gus, he needs to smile more!”
“Ah don’t think that’s what he needs, Sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Ah think a good’s night rest would be better.”
“Then it’s settled,” Twilight said, standing up. “Come on, Rainbow, let’s go talk to him.”
Rainbow stood but looked at Fluttershy. “Hmm. You go on ahead, I’m going to walk Fluttershy home, to make sure she’s alright.”
Fluttershy smiled and hid a blush but didn’t say anything. Rarity gave Rainbow an incredulous. “You. Walking? This I must see.”
“That’s fine then, I’ll see you guys tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have more for you,” Twilight said, adjourning the meeting.
Twilight found Peter where she had left him. He was sitting on the highest point of the castle, precariously perched on the point just calmly watching the sunset. Twilight figured he didn’t have much of a fear of heights given his activities back home. If Manhattan was anything like Manehattan, then he must have done a lot of swinging around high-rises and skyscrapers.
Gently, Twilight stood on the point right next to Peter and folded her wings so she wouldn’t knock him off accidentally. Like the Web-Head, she was precariously standing on the point with all four hooves, she’s had plenty of lessons on balance and agility from Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, you okay?” Twilight asked, realizing how lame the question sounded once she had said it.
Peter regarded her calmly. Despite what she thought before, his brown eyes were difficult to read. He looked back at the sunset, watching as it dipped below the horizon. “Am I in trouble or something?”
Twilight frowned and shook her head, her horn glowing to illuminate the now night sky. “No, of course not.”
Peter looked at her strangely, like the concept of him not being in trouble was foreign to him. “I’m not getting sent to the guillotine? You know, ‘off with his head!’”
Twilight laughed, mostly because of Peter’s poor impression of a princess issuing an execution. “No, no, I promise. It isn’t your fault you’re here. So, we’ve decided to help you.”
Again, he gave her a strange expression that Twilight recognized as hope. Like he was begging her not to get his hopes up and then dash them away at the last moment, as if he were used to being treated that way.
“Help me how?” he asked tentatively.
“I’m the Princess of Friendship,” Twilight answered, pointing to her crown. “Before that I was the Element of Magic, so there must be something I can do to get you home."
Peter maintained his wary eye-contact then chuckled under his breath. “Princess of Friendship…” he muttered. “That’s new.”
“You don’t have princesses where you’re from?”
“No, we do,” he answered, nodding. “But mostly they’re just for show, they don’t actually do much from what I gathered. We have, like, mayors and presidents and prime ministers, people who are elected into power rather than given the right because you were born into it.”
Twilight’s wings buffeted nervously as she tried to shuffle closer to Peter. For some reason, despite having bathed, Peter insisted on wearing his raggedy costume so it obscured his cutie mark. “Well, I wasn’t born into this job. I told you, before I was a princess, I was the Element of Magic.”
“And what does that mean?”
Twilight almost wanted to laugh but she had to remind herself that while Peter looked like a pony, he was new to this gig. She explained everything that happened to her recently, the Elements of Harmony not being around anymore, her battle with Tirek and this fancy new castle, but then it spilled out. Her whole life story, it seems, as she talked about everything.
She talked about her magic test with Spike, her getting a cutie mark, then her explaining what a cutie mark was and its significance, her coming to Ponyville and fighting Nightmare Moon then Discord then Chrysalis then Sombra. It seemed pretty normal for her, in fact, Twilight had come to terms with her weird life but Peter whistled appreciatively.
“And here I thought I had it rough,” he remarked.
Twilight shrugged. “I don’t think of it as bad. I mean, it’s been scary, like, really scary a few times but I don’t regret it. Because of moments like these.”
Peter blushed and looked away. “What do you mean?”
“That.” Twilight pointed at the sleepy city being watched over by a beautiful starry night.
“I… don’t see anything.”
Twilight smiled, rolling her eyes. “The fact that everypony can sleep peacefully. They were this close to danger only a little while ago but they can still get into bed and sleep the night away. That’s what makes it worth it. The thought that I can help ponies get a good night’s rest.”
Peter was staring at her strangely, Twilight thought she said something weird but then he smiled and nodded. “That’s a great point, Twi. This is what it’s all about, huh.”
He said that as if he thought about it for a very long time. “Speaking of sleep, you should get some, Peter.”
“Where?” he asked miserably.
“Well, the castle has more than enough room…”
Peter looked as though he wanted to protest but maybe he was too tired to. He weakly nodded. “Show me to my room?”
Twilight showed Peter to one of the guest rooms. It was spacious enough with a princess-sized bed against the back wall and a walk-in closet off to the ride. It looked pretty homely to Twilight but Peter smiled as if this was a 5-star room at the Hotel Hoofton.
“Wow, nice bed,” he remarked, sitting on it to test it out. “Really soft…”
“The pillows have pegasi feathers, softest in all of Equestria,” Twilight explained.
Peter looked horrified. “P-pegasi feathers?”
Twilight laughed. “No pegasi were harmed in making it. It’s given voluntarily, pegasi feathers have magical properties and are powerful if used correctly.”
She expanded her own wings and showed them off to Peter. “Alicorn feathers are even stronger and rarer,” she continued. “I mean nopony is stupid enough to take a feather from an alicorn.”
Peter stood and scrutinized her wings, making Twilight feel a bit self-conscious at being so exposed. Then he leaned in and snatched a single feather from her right wing, making her blush and yelp. “H-hey!”
“You are right,” Peter said grinning as best he could with a feather in his mouth. “Nopony would be stupid enough to try.”
Twilight laughed and Peter laughed along with her which felt nice to cheer him up, even just a little bit. She folded her wings back and smiled. “Well then, unless you want to steal more feathers from me, have a good night, Peter. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yeah,” he said, looking around the room. “Thanks, you too…”