//------------------------------// // A Nice Day // Story: Spiders and Magic: Edge of Time // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// Twilight laid the red-and-white checkered blanket on the grass. A purple aura surrounded it as she gently placed it on the ground. In her mouth was the handle of a basket filled with food and many other snacks and treats for her friends and family. The alicorn mare bent down and placed it on the center of the blanket. She looked behind to see her daughter Mayday, and her husband Peter Pony Parker. "I'm so excited!" Mayday exclaimed, the young filly practically bouncing with each step. Peter chuckled at his daughter's enthusiasm. "Calm down, sweetie." Peter told May. "You're like your Aunt Pinkie sometimes." he teased. "And that's not a bad thing at all." Nearby were Trixie and Spike, who were a part of the Parker-Sparkle family. Everypony in the family was getting ready for a small picnic with their friends, something they do every once in a while whenever the time was right and they could all meet up.  "Your father is right, May." Trixie laughed facing her niece. "Though, it's cute when you do it." Twilight looked at the sight with a smile. They really were for the most part one happy family. The mare watched Peter and Spike looked at the treats, their eyes widening and she even saw Spike try to grab something in the basket, but Peter despite his hunger, resisted the urge, pressuring Spike to do the same. "I gotta have just one!" Spike mumbled, his clawed hand slowly reaching inside the basket. Peter shook his head. "No, Spike! Once we start we'll never finish!" he jokingly pleaded, exaggerating the situation at hoof. "The cupcakes are just too good!" "That's why I gotta have a bite!" Spike told his brother. Both of their stomachs were rumbling. The dragon held his gut. "Oh man... Soon, Peter, soon." he grumbled. Peter laid on his stomach, slowly reaching for Spike. "I'll make sure your sacrifice wasn't in vain, Spike!" he declared, Spike pretending to pass out. Trixie and Mayday watched the scene in amusement. "Your father is an idiot sometimes." she sighed with a smirk to Mayday, who held in a laugh at the sight. "Alright, boys. You can have one!" Twilight told the hungry duo. Peter and Spike smiled and nodded as they each placed hand hoof in the basket and held a cupcake in their grasps. The sound of loud munching was heard with pleasant groans following it. 'Yep. Hunger satisfied.' Peter thought, taking another bite out of the cupcake. Spike smiled, "Man, Pinkie really outdid herself this time! They just keep getting better and better!" the dragon complimented before taking another bite. "Hey! Save some for us!" Peter looked up and saw Rainbow Dash hovering above the blanket, on top of a cloud she was lying on. "Hey, Skittles!" he greeted the pegasus with a wave. "Hi, Auntie Rainbow!" May squeaked. Dash smiled. "Hey, kid! Ya got bigger since the last time I saw ya!" the pegasus nuzzled the young filly. "Are you keeping those lovebirds in check?" she gestured to May's parents who were starting to eat. Mayday chuckled. "That's Aunt Trixie's job!" the filly joked. "And you saw me last week!" "You seem to share your father's annoying sense of humor." the unicorn playfully grumbled. "Aw, we're just messin' with you, Trixie!" Dash responded. Trixie replied, "Yes, Rainbow! Trixie knows how to take a joke. After all, I've lived with Peter for what feels like an eternity." "Hey, you love my jokes and you know it!" Peter told his roomate with a smile. "What would you do without my witty and charming sense of humor?" "Not go insane?" Trixie answered. Peter crossed his hooves and huffed, though the action was more childish than serious. "Though, we wouldn't change that for the world." Twilight added, hugging Peter. Trixie sat down. "Heh. Trixie knew that would annoy you." she jested to her roomate. "What is going on here?" The family and Rainbow Dash saw Rarity and Fluttershy walking. "Sorry we're late, Fluttershy and I were having quite the relaxing trip at the spa, weren't we darling?" Rarity said, and Fluttershy nodded in agreement with the unicorn's question. "You guys went to the spa, and you didn't invite me? You know how the superhero business twists my back," Peter teased, gesturing to his back before sitting back down. "And every other part of my body, actually. Very painfully I might add." he jested. Trixie shook her head. "You're probably the only stallion to be offended that they didn't go to the spa." she joked. "Hey, my job requires a lot of work, and my body parts start to tie themselves in knots. I never got the comfort of going to a spa to get rid of those aches with such good friends back on my world." Peter replied holding his back. "It is fun..." Fluttershy admitted. "Hi everypony!" a cheery voice shouted in the distance. Peter smiled. "Well. If it isn't Pinkie Pie and Applejack." he noted, seeing the two earth ponies. Pinkie hopped happily while Applejack simply walked. "Howdy there." Applejack greeted. "It sure has been a while since we got together like this, hasn't it?" she wondered, tipping her hat. "My word," Rarity realized. "It has been quite a while. I do hope we can make more time. I really do miss all of us getting together like this." "Yeah... It takes me back..." Fluttershy added. "Don't worry, girls." Twilight slowly assured. "No matter what, we'll always have each other. It's just that Peter and I have been busy with Mayday and my business as a princess and him as a diplomat..." she trailed off. "It's just not as easy to take a break..." "As if I'd leave any of ya behind." Rainbow added. "We've been friends for years, and despite everything that's happened, we're still sitting here together, aren't we?" "Rainbow and Twilight are right, Rarity. Ah don't think we'll be goin' our separate ways anytime soon." Applejack responded to the fasionista unicorn. "Yep. Mayday and I will make sure of that," Peter said before dropping the topic altogether. "By the way, Pinkie. You really went all out with these cupcakes. It's like everytime I eat one, they just keep getting better. How do you do it?" the stallion asked the pink party pony. "Well, Twilight told me we were getting together for a nice picnic, and then I was like 'Really?' and then I hopped into the kitchen, grabbed all the nice ingredients and made them because I wanted them to be really super duper special for this occassion!" Pinkie explained in what sounded like a single breath with no breaks. "Thank you, Pinkie." Twilight said. "I love them, Auntie Pinkie!" Mayday exclaimed, the young filly eating a cupcake of her own. "I knew you would love them, Mayday!" Pinkie said to the pegasus, smiling at her happiness. Pinkie grabbed a treat and threw it into her mouth, swallowing it in one gulp without chewing at all, confusing everypony there. "I'm glad you all love them!" "So what do you gals wanna talk about?" Applejack pondered to her friends. "I've been busy with a new line of dresses for a special customer that lives in Canterlot." Rarity revealed. "It's been very busy for the past week, what with me trying to make the deadline, but I always have time for old friends." Rainbow Dash decided to speak up. "I'm top of the class at Wonderbolt Academy! Hopefully I'll become a member soon!" the rainbow-maned pegasus bragged. "What about you, AJ?" "Apple harvest season is beginnin' soon, and ah was hoping y'all could lend a hoof." Applejack said, the earth pony a little hesitant to ask. "I promised that we'd help. Last thing we need is a repeat of what happened last time you did it on your own." Twilight told Applejack. "You were really sleep deprived the first one you did when I started to live here..." "Ugh... Baked bads..." Pinkie groaned, resisting the urge to gag. Fluttershy quietly began, "Um... The animals have been doing very well. When did you want me to check on Ursa?" "Oh that's right. How about next week?" Parker suggested. "Oh, okay..." Gasping, Pinkie started to speak. "Well, the bakery has been busy for a long while and then I just kept working, luckily Mr. And Mrs. Cake were helping me otherwise I wouldn't know what to do about all the hungry ponies and then Twilight walked in earlier today and told me about the picnic then I made the cupcakes and now we're here!" "Well. That pretty much sums it up... I mean, things have been quiet lately back at home for us, so we have nothing special." Peter said "Ooh! Daddy can you tell us about one of your hero adventures?" Mayday asked. Rainbow smiled, "Yeah, Pete. Those are always awesome!" she told the stallion. Peter rubbed the back of his head, looking at the ground with a nervous smile. "What haven't I told you about anyway? I would like to keep these stories 'kid-friendly' since I have a young daughter anyway." Peter told the ponies. He put a hoof on his muzzle, wondering what he should talk about. For the most part, he's pretty much gone through most of his history, but then an idea popped into his head. "Is it okay, honey?" Peter asked his wife. Twilight nodded, "As long as it doesn't scar May for life, Peter. I trust you, after all, everypony sitting here, myself included, loves your stories." the mare reminded him. "Though, after what happened with your memories..." the alicorn trailed off. "Alright then, because you all may have known about this one, I'm not really sure." "Yay!" Mayday shouted in glee. "So, sometime before I got here, I found my old foe Mysterio stealing something in Empire State University late one night. Obviously, I came to foil his plans. Unfortunately, he wanted an ancient powerful artifact called the Tablet of Order and Chaos and sell it on the market and use it for his own nefarious purposes." Peter began catching everypony's attention. "That sounds awful..." Fluttershy said. "So, as I was getting ready to stop him, he holds the tablet in front of him, causing me to accidentally punch and shatter it. Mysterio got away and Madame Web contacted me. Turned out that each of the fragments that broke were lost in three other dimensions besides my own." "Three other worlds?" Applejack questioned. "Ya mean there's more worlds that ours and yours?" "Yep. Some vastly different and some almost similar." Parker briefly explained, trailing off. "But obviously, out of all the Spider-Men, I'm the best." he pointed to himself. "Who is Mysterio?" Trixie asked. Peter raised a hoof, "An old special effects artist who grew bitter because he couldn't get an acting career. He decided to use his genius as a criminal. He used his effects to create near-lifelike illusions to mess with me and other vigilantes that got in his way, like Daredevil or even the Punisher. Quentin Beck became the man with the fishbowl on his head himself, 'The Master of Illusion', Mysterio." explained Peter. "What a narcissist." Trixie huffed, each of her friends glaring at her after saying that. "What? Is there something in Trixie's teeth?" she poked her hoof in her mouth, wondering if that was such the case. "Anyway..." Peter continued and ended the silence. "Madame Web got into contact with the Spider-Men of those worlds. The first was a version of me from a darker time on Earth in the past, which I won't expand on because it was a very grim era in our history and that's something I don't wanna get into today. Another was a version of me still a teenager in high school, but I wore the black suit..." "Black suit..." Rarity paused, as though she was trying to figure something out. "Oh..." she recalled seeing that in Peter's memories, how it changed him and created one of the most vile creatures she had ever witness. "Why on Equestria would he take it back?" "I'm not too sure on Venom's status in that universe, but Madame Web made sure that he stayed in complete control of the suit while he wore it for that time. He really needed it too, but from what he told me and the other spiders it became a near pain because of what he was up against while wearing it. I kinda felt sorry for him." "Venom..." Twilight hissed. "Luckily there are no other symbiotes like that one, right honey?" "Yeah..." Peter hesitated to answer, not wanting to see Twilight worried right now. "He also had gotten stuck fighting Deadpool. Poor kid..." he lightly laughed at the thought of fighting someone as loony as Wade again. "That crazy assassin..." Twilight groaned. "Hey! Wade's awesome!" Pinkie defended. "How do you two...?" Peter started to say something, but shook it off realizing that he was better off not knowing anything about this, lest he lost his sanity. "Never mind." "What about the third one?" Fluttershy wondered. "Well, the third Spider-Man wasn't a different Peter Parker, but my successor from the future. Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man from the year 2099." "Woah! The future!? That's awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Yeah. He is pretty much one of the only heroes of that time, long after the 'Heroic Age'." he told his friends and family and emphasized the last words. "Did he get bit by a spider too?" Spike inquired. "No. Gene splicer merged his DNA with that of a spider. He's more of a spider than me. He has sensitive eyes and talons on his fingers for example." "Ouch." Twilight and May cringed. "Together the four of us fought our enemies, got the fragments and defeated a full powered Mysterio, who had the Tablet of Order and Chaos in his possession. After that, we all went our separate ways." the stallion finished the story. But then his mouth opened, remembering something.  "Oh that's right, sometime after we went our separate ways, I remember Madame Web telling me that a cartoon pig version of myself showed up, wondering what was going on. Spider-Ham was a little bit late in that regard." the stallion chuckled. "Do you think you'll ever meet them again?" Rarity asked. Sighing, Peter shook his head. "Not likely. As much as I want to, the rift between our worlds for the most part stayed closed after Twilight and I got back after stopping Osborn, it would take a lot for anypony or thing to come here or to go back to Earth." he reminded everypony, recalling his last adventure as a human before living the rest his life in Equestria with Twilight and their evergrowing family. Suddenly, dark clouds covered Ponyville, "Uh... Skittles? Is there supposed to be a storm?" Dash raised a brow, looking up. "What the hay?! There weren't supposed to be clouds today! This is what happens when I go on vacation?" the pegasus crossed her hooves in frustration. "Um... Maybe it's a cloud from the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy suggested. "She could be right. It's not like the first time something like this happened. Maybe it just made its way over here." Twilight added. After saying that, a strange vortex opened up above everypony and the picnic basket. Peter held Twilight and Mayday close while standing in front of his friends, keeping them back from whatever that vortex was. "What the hay is that!?" Rainbow practically shouted. "I don't know!" Peter answered. Something fell out of the portal. 'Not something. Someone.' he looked at the figure. It was a human. He wore a glowing blue costume of sorts, a red emblem covering his chest connecting to the back of his arms with spikes protruding off the wrists, and strange eyes that mimic the chest symbol. The man reached a hand out, his vision blurry and unable to see where he landed. The hand nearly touched Peter's muzzle, to which the stallion backed away slowly, the figure's hand dropping onto the ground in exhaustion. "No way..." Peter mumbled. "Parker... I need to f-find..." the man groaned before slipping into unconsciousness. A white aura lifted the man transforming him into someing else, his costume unable to fit his new body. The magic of the world changed him. They could see a pony underneath the now baggy costume. "Uh, Peter? Who is that?" Gulping, Peter answered with wide eyes. "That's Miguel O'Hara... The Spider-Man of 2099!"