//------------------------------// // Peter the Tourist // Story: The Amazing Spider-Man: The Web of Friendship // by Time Pony Victorious //------------------------------// PETER Ponyville looked a lot better without the craters and gunk of poison on the roads, Peter decided. It was a small village, the tallest building around was Twilight’s castle, so it just looked puny compared to the monolith. It was so quiet Peter thought he would go nuts. New York was always bustling with activity even at night. It was truly the City That Never Sleeps, Ponyville was more like the Town That Always Sleeps. “And that’s Sugarcube Corner,” Spike continued, pointing at a particularly delicious looking building. Spike was a decent enough guide but he kept staring at Peter as if waiting for him to transform into some monster. Peter cleared his throat and kept looking around the village. Despite last night’s fiasco, there were ponies out setting up their stores and even some kids (fillies?) cleaning up some of the mess. These ponies were certainly resilient and, apparently, used to crazy stuff like this. It felt foreign but at the same time familiar. “So, are you the only dragon here?” Peter asked, looking around but only seeing ponies everywhere. Spike nodded. “Most dragons live in mountains or caves or volcanos, I’m a baby dragon in comparison plus I was raised by Twilight anyways, so I wouldn’t fit in.” Peter almost wanted to laugh, if there was anything he understood it was not being able to fit in. Spike led Peter through the town, occasionally saying hi to ponies as they walked by. It was when they reached the market that Peter felt a bit awkward. There were dozens of fillies and colts running around wearing Spiderman masks. A stage was set up in the middle of the market where a tan mare with a gray mane and tail spoke into a microphone about how brave that masked stallion was yesterday. The ponies cheered when the mare honored the pony (now officially named Spider-Colt) with the Ponyville Laurel Crest. “Wow, guess you’re a pretty big deal,” Spike said under his breath, making sure nopony could hear him despite how loud the crowd was. A little filly with a coat with gold and a red mane and a ribbon wearing a Spiderman—er, Spider-Colt, mask approached Spike. “Howdy Spike! Didya come ‘ere for th’ celebration too?” “What celebration?” he asked. “Th’ one fer Spider-Colt!” she answered, pulling up her mask revealing her bright, sunny smile. “He saved me yesterday!” “Did he?” Spike asked, crossing his arms and giving a sly look to Peter. “He sounds pretty brave.” “Oh, he is! When Ah grow up, Ah wanna be like him!” she looked over at Peter and gasped. “Hey, Mister, why are ya crying?” Peter wiped his eyes as best he could, trying to get rid of the tears but they wouldn’t stop. They accepted him, no, they loved him. The emotions were too overwhelming for Peter to simply stifle, never before had he been so rapidly accepted by someone… well, except for Gwen. “Sorry, it’s just allergies,” he lied, sniffling and wiping his eyes some more. “I’m allergic to, um, shellfish.” “But there ain’t no shellfish—“ “Okay, Applebloom!” Spike said quickly, forcing a grin on his face. “I’m gonna take Pete here to a doctor for his allergies, I’ll catch you later.” Applebloom asked another question that was lost in the wind as Spike dragged Peter away from the festivities. They walked for about half a block before Spike finally asked, “What was that about? Did Applebloom say something wrong?” Peter shook his head, still wiping his eyes. “No, no it wasn’t her. It was… well, everyone else.” “What do you mean?” Peter looked at Spike with a wary expression, as if worried if he continued on he might seem ridiculous. “Back where I’m from, they don’t take too lightly to Spiderman. In fact, most of New York hate him, there are a lot who love him and all but nothing like this. This whole village loves Spidey and… well, it usually takes me a lot longer for people to accept him.” “Well, you’re a hero,” Spike said, patting Pete. “It’s only natural. I mean, I saved the Crystal Empire twice and they’ve got a bunch of statues for me. I’m kinda a big deal over there.” Peter scoffed, “Yeah, they’d never do that for me. I’m the Web-Head menace.” “Menace?” Spike repeated. “But you don’t cause the trouble, you stop it.” “Sometimes I wonder…” Spike fiddled with his claws slightly, unsure of what to say to cheer him up. When he first met him, Peter was just some unassuming stallion with weird abilities but there was a lot of depth in him, a lot of sadness and grief. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sweetest voice in the universe. “Oh, there you are, Peter!” Spike looked over with a dazed expression to see Rarity approaching them. Despite the warm, sunny weather, Rarity wore a simple pink scarf that matched her sequin saddlebags. When she smiled, Spike’s heart almost burst. Peter took a step back and frowned, like he couldn’t remember the last time he was called by his name and nothing bad was happening. “Uh, Rarity, right?” Rarity smiled and nodded. “I’m so glad you’ve put the effort in to remember me.” “Uh…” Peter glanced over at her saddlebags which had the letter R stitched into it in fancy script. “Yeah, remembering you, that’s totally it.” “Anyways, I’m glad I caught you. I was looking over your old costume and thought of fixing it up for you,” Rarity said, levitating a few pieces of papers from her bags and showing them to Peter. “Unless of course you’re busy with your tour of Ponyville with Spikey-Wikey.” “No, it’s absolutely fine!” Spike answered a little too excitingly. “We’d love to see your designs.” Peter frowned at Spike then looked over her designs. “Thanks, Rarity. I appreciate it but I was just gonna patch up my suit myself and—“ “Balderdash!” Rarity cried. “Bald—what?” “I simply cannot allow you to trot around Equestria in patched up clothes,” she clarified. “It would be a crime against fashion!” “But—“ “Come now!” Rarity turned around and levitated Peter with her, despite his outcries, while Spike floated along with hearts in his eyes and a dazed, love-sick expression. Peter shuffled nervously as Rarity led him to the backroom. Give him monsters or evil supervillains any day, girls were still scary regardless if they were human. Spike was no help either, he was practically drooling over Rarity and whenever Peter tried to get his attention he’d just compliment the fashionista in that dazed voice. “Now, then, Peter,” Rarity said, turning around and facing him. The spotlight overhead blazed to life, illuminating the unicorn. “You will witness a never before seen line of fashion, the Superhero Collection! Feast your eyes on this!” With a dramatic flourish, Rarity levitated the covers over several manikins (ponikins?) as all of the lights in her shop turned on. “Oh, that’s actually really good,” Peter noted. There were only like six outfits but Peter was still overly impressed by them. He wasn’t exactly an expert on fashion but he could appreciate her talent and devotion. She had taken a few notes from Peter’s original design and produced her own interpretations. “I call this one, The Inverted Spider!” Rarity announced, professionally waving a hoof at the first outfit. It had his original color scheme but it was slightly different. The red and blue color scheme wasn’t touched but there was more emphasis on the blue part of it. It spilled into the red color, like an overflowing water bottle, but it was done so tastefully and expertly it just looked cool. Peter approached the ponikin and touched the face cautiously. The bug-eyes protruded a bit more and was dark silver instead of his traditionally lighter color. “What’s that fabric, spandex?” he asked, touching and manipulating the tough, yet malleable, fabric. “A concoction of mine,” Rarity admitted with a dismissive hoof. “It is actually the pulp from a particular tree in the Everfree Forest. It’s called Stygian Pulp.” Peter immediately backed up and looked at his hoof to make sure it wasn’t burning away. He didn’t know much about Greek mythology but he was pretty sure the River Styx wasn’t a place you should go to for a relaxing swim. But, lo and behold, his hoof was perfectly fine. Rarity raised an eyebrow at Peter’s sudden wariness but continued. “Toughest fabric around, it should be able to withstand your, ah, escapades.” Peter nodded, still mesmerized by the outfit. She had been able to do this in one night? He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or nervous. But the fabric would be helpful, since Peter’s original costume had to be military grade to not fall apart from his superhuman abilities. “The entire line is composed of the same fabric, save this one.” Rarity pointed at a ponikin at the far end. It was definitely the most flamboyant of them all. It was bright yellow, like the color of gold, and fiery-red on the shoulders and hooves. Peter immediately felt a bit nervous around this particular costume. For one thing, it reminded Peter of another superhero. “I call this, The Flash!” Rarity said with a bright smile. “Now, this fabric was actually—“ “It’s fine,” Peter said quickly, smiling nervously. “I’m not a fan of that one, not that it doesn’t look nice.” Rarity frowned, ready to protest but she looked over the costume once more and made a strange face. “Hm, perhaps you’re right. It doesn’t fit you…” “What about this one?” Peter asked, eager to change the subject. He pointed at the costume next to the Flash. Unlike the others, this one was perfectly black and white and looked like something the kids in the Goth clique would wear. The eyes were whiter than usual and stood out against the monochromatic scheme, even the spider emblem was black. Rarity looked at the costume with a slight frown, as if she barely remembered making it. “The Dark Spider, originally it had a predominately red color scheme and was called Black Widow but I changed it for some reason. Yes, same fabric and such, not exactly a favorite of mine. Doesn’t exactly scream ‘Good guy’ wouldn’t you say?” Peter nodded mutely, just looking at that costume made him feel unnerved, like that color scheme with his emblem simply didn’t match. Something about the costume felt fundamentally wrong as if it represented everything he wasn’t. Instead, he turned toward another costume he recognized. It looked like a cleaner version of the outfit he arrived in Ponyville with. His original design, with a few modifications from Gwen. Peter touched the white eyes tenderly, remembering the day Gwen suggested the costume change. “Less bug-eye, more superhero,” she said with a grin, showing him her sketches. “Looks good, doesn’t it?” Peter smiled, even as Rarity gestured to another costume. “I’ll take this one,” he said quietly. Rarity looked to where Peter was at and frowned slightly. “I took some liberties with the fabric, including a minor enchantment on the eyes to allow you to see in the dark but…” She looked over at the other costumes with a disappointed expression. “I suppose stick to what you know, it is rather dashing.” Peter nodded. “Thank you, Rarity. You really didn’t need to…” “Nonsense,” Rarity said with a dismissive hoof. “It is the very least I could do for Ponyville’s own superhero, well, aside from Twilight. But, if you are content with this one, I will make duplicates. One should always keep two extra copies, just in case.” Peter stepped back and watched Rarity levitate the other ponikins aside, possibly for storage or possibly to get rid of it, he wasn’t sure. It was a surreal act, watching a unicorn levitate things away with magic. Had his life really become this? Where magic was a thing and he was a pony? If he explained this to anyone, they’d lock him up! Even if he could get back home… No, he thought, Twilight can figure something out, she’s a princess after all and that carries a lot of weight here. Spike finally managed to pry his eyes from Rarity, and Peter took the opportunity. He cleared his throat and gave the little dragon a certain look. “So, where to next?”