//------------------------------// // The Capital // Story: Spiders and Magic: Edge of Time // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// "Welcome to Canterlot!" Peter introduced Miguel to the bustling captial of Equestria, "I don't need the theatrics, Parker." said O'Hara, who seemed unimpressed by the sights before him. 'Finally. I was getting shocking cramped in that train...' he thought, "Don't you find it just splendid, Miguel?" Rarity wondered, shaking O'Hara out of his thoughts. He looked around, and he responded with one simple word. "Eh." Rarity's eyes widened, "What do you mean, 'eh'? Are you not fascinated by all of this?" "Like I said, Eh. I don't know how else to put it." responded O'Hara with a shrug. "Wha-" the unicorn started fidgeting in her place, "B-But..." Peter shook his head, "Ease up, Rarity. Remember, he's from the future. It's a lot cooler looking than this or even New York in my time." he tried to explain. "Fine." grumbled the unicorn. Trixie smirked, "You managed to break Rarity with only one word... I'm impressed." she admitted. She and the others could still hear the fashionista's grumbling. "While Rarity calms down, The girls and I will meet the Princesses and Sunset Shimmer." Twilight said. Peter nodded, "Good idea, honey. Miguel, Spike, and I will meet up with Aunt May and surprise her for her vacation." he said, wrapping a hoof over his successor. "You ready, man?" he asked Spike. "Yeah." answered the dragon. "Uh... Sure. Whatever." Miguel said, 'Now I'm invited to a shocking family reunion. What a week.' "I'll tell Sunset you said hi." said the alicorn, planting a kiss on her husband's cheek before she and the others left. "Alright then, see ya soon." As the girls left, Spike turned to Peter, "So, how do you think Aunt May will react to Miguel?" he asked Parker. "I'm not one for family, Parker." Miguel reminded him. Peter grinned, "You're already part of the family, O'Hara. Any Spider-Man is welcome." "This is a disaster waiting to happen." groaned O'Hara. Peter raised a hoof, "I think you're just being cynical again, dude. Nothing can go wrong." he assured. "Uh..." Spike began, "I wouldn't say that." Groaning, Peter caught what he just said and slapped a hoof to his forehead, "Well then. The Parker Luck will probably kick in sooner rather than later." he said through gritted teeth. "Now you're the one being cynical." Miguel quipped. "Guess my personality is starting to rub off on you too." he added with a confident smirk. "...Shut up, O'Hara." grumbled Peter. Spike looked at the bickering Spider-Men with a dull expression, "Are you two always like this?" he asked with genuine curiousity. "He started it." the present Spider-Man pointed at his successor. Miguel rolled his eyes, "How childish, Parker." "What?" wondered the family man. "I'm only speaking the truth here, O'Hara. Wait... Nevermind, I did start it. Just forget I ever said anything alright?" he questioned the two, who merely shook their heads as a response. Miguel rolled his eyes, "Are we shocking done here? I'm feeling myself get old just be standing here." "Hey, to you, we're all history." Peter joked. "He's got a point, Miguel." Spike admitted. O'Hara sighed in annoyance, glaring at the two with a glare. When Spike noticed this, he spoke up again, "What did we do? We're only messing with you, dude." he told the time-traveller. Peter and the dragon looked at each other as Miguel started to walk away. "C'mon, O'Hara. We're just playing around." Peter told him as he stepped ahead, his tone sincere instead of playful, "Let's go. We promise we won't bug you anymore. Or as much as earlier." he added that last part with a slight inaudible whisper. "Fine. Let's just get this over with." Miguel replied in a slightly bitter tone. But the two brothers shrugged it off, knowing that he'd get over it sooner rather than later. Smiling, Peter and Spike nodded, "Great. I'm sure Aunt May will be surprised to see us, and especially you, O'Hara. Heck, I'm not even sure she knows that I'm a part-time time-traveller and knows that Spider-Man from the future." "In your dreams, Parker." Miguel mocked with a grin, "I'm not even a professional at this either. Luckily, we only have to worry about Sloan and his goons and not some entity that doesn't like the abuse of time travel." "What? You mean like a Time Cop or Time Wraith or some other time junk like that?" wondered Peter. "Because I know a guy who deals with actual Time Wraiths in his world when he travels or runs through time and that's the last thing we gotta deal with right now." "Exactly." Miguel noted. Spike rubbed his head, "Now that sounds confusing." Miguel looked at the dragon, "Well get used to it, kid. This stuff is seriously complex." "Now that's the O'Hara I know." Meanwhile, the girls finally made it to the castle. The guards took notice of the Elements of Harmony and stepped out of the way, allowing them entry. Being national heroes made things easier, as Rainbow Dash and Trixie would mention time and again, much to Peter's and everypony else's annoyance. The seven passed through the hallways and they spotted a familiar face. An orange unicorn with a yellow and red mane. She immediately stopped what she was doing and noticed the girls. "Twilight!" she called out to the alicorn. "Sunset!" replied Twilight, and Sunset wrapped her hooves around her friend, happy to see her again after what felt like so long ago. "I'm surprised to see you here. Where's Peter, Spike and Mayday?" she questioned. "Mayday is at Sweet Apple Acres, and Peter and Spike are with a new friend going to visit Aunt May on her vacation." explained Rarity with a gesture of her hoof. "You seem to be doing pretty well here. I'm rather jealous of your lesiure." Sunset shook her head, smiling she replied, "It's far from leisure in here, Rarity." Twilight looked at the orange unicorn, "How's magic school going for you?" she wondered. "It's great! I'm still surprised Celestia let me back in after what I did." answered Sunset. "With how well I'm doing, I should graduate sooner than expected." "You're rather talented with magic." noted Applejack, "Ah think ya at least deserve it." "So. You're talented with magic, huh?" Trixie asked Sunset, "Perhaps we should put that to the test one day." she teased with a smirk, "Nopony is better at magic than Trixie." boasted the blue unicorn, pointing at herself while gloating. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Oh here we go again." "What? Trixie felt the need to assert her place." she said, "We all know that I am the greatest user of illusions after all. Not to put you down, Sunset." the other unicorn nodded, understanding her little taunt. "Anyway... Where's Princess Celestia and Luna? We have to act quickly." Twilight asker Sunset. The orange unicorn pointed a hoof behind her, "They should be in the throne room, I'm done for the day, so I'll take you there." the seven, as well as Sunset continued walking. "By the way... Who is this 'new friend' you mentioned earlier?" "Oh, Miguel? It's... Kind of a long story." Twilight replied. Pinkie hopped in front of the group, "Miguel is actually the Spider-Man from the future that got stranded here and now we have to warn the Princesses that a supervillain from his world is bringing more bad guys and we have to stop them because they can be almost here right now." she explained. "Wow... Um, thanks for the explanation, Pinkie." Sunset took a minute to process everything the pink pony said. The party pony smiled, "You're welcome!" Peter knocked on the door to the small home. While he waited, he turned to Miguel and Spike. "Just act cool, O'Hara." he told his successor in a calming tone. "Why am I even shocking here, Parker?" Raising a hoof, the stallion answered, "Because I don't think you wanna meet the princesses just yet with only the girls with you. We're meeting up with them, but this won't take long. I promise." he assured O'Hara. "So, Aunt May will probably not know who you are, but she knows I'm Spider-Man, so it won't be too hard to explain." "It'll be fine, O'Hara." Spike also added, "You're with us. And she's cool. So, it won't be as awkward as you think it will be." the young drake eased the time-traveller. The door creaked open, revealing a brown pegasus with a white mane, "Peter? Spike? What are you two doing here?" she asked, surprised to see her nephews during her brief vacation in Canterlot. "I can't visit my favorite aunt?" Peter asked, feigning to be offended, but a smile still on his face, "I was in town, and I decided to come here for a minute and catch up with the girls later. It's just Spike and I... With a new friend." he explained to his aunt, gesturing to Miguel as he continued to speak. "Oh, come on in, And who might you be?" she asked as the trio stepped into the small house and sat down. "I'm May. May Parker." she introduced herself. Clearing his throat, Miguel answered, "My name is Miguel O'Hara." he began, 'What should I say? That I'm from the future? Ah shock it, Parker said she knows he's Spider-Man.' thought Miguel, "I'm the Spider-Man from the year 2099." "2099? The future?" May blurted in disbelief. Rubbing the back of his head, Miguel answered, "Uh... Yeah. It's kinda hard to explain." He got cut off by Peter, "That's kind of why we're in Canterlot to begin with. It's a long story that I don't want to bore you with, but to put it simply... Miguel was chasing after someone and he was followed here. That guy could be near Canterlot any minute and bring one of his villains here. We wanted to warn the princesses and you to make sure you're all safe." "I understand, Peter." May said, "I take it the girls are down there to speak to Princess Celestia and Luna?" He nodded, "Yes. While they went to do that, I decided to stop here with O'Hara and Spike." "Hi, Aunt May." waved Spike. "How's the Canterlot vacation?" "Rather well. I've managed to enjoy all the sights. But after this blows over, I may return to Ponyville." she answered. "Good to hear. That guest room for you may take a bit longer than anticipated because of all this happening right now." Peter admitted sheepishly. "How many shocking rooms do you have in that giant tree?" Miguel questioned. "A few. And language." Peter reprimanded. "Peter said that he was going to build an extra for guests and for me to stay in. He already has a lab." May explained. "Um. Are we just gonna ignore that Peter just said 'language'?" Spike asked, "Why did you even say that?" Peter shook his head, "Future swears are weird, Spike. Don't tell Twilight, though." he smirked, "Let's see if she figures it out." Smirking as well, Spike nodded. Miguel cleard his throat again, "Nice to meet you, May, but I think Parker and I should meet up with the others about this situation." "Miguel's right, Aunt May. We gotta get to the castle." Peter agreed, getting up from his chair. Spike and O'Hara did so as well. "See you later, Aunt May!" he waved as they stepped out of the door. "Bye, dear! And good luck!" The three made it to the castle, where they saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and the girls together. "We are surprised to see you so soon, Peter." said Celestia, "How is your aunt?" "She's doing fine." he answered briefly, "Anyway, have you gotten the news?" "Yes, but there are still some blanks that they cannot fill." Luna replied, "Is this pony Miguel O'Hara? Nice to meet you, we are the princesses of Equestria." "Yeah, Parker told me about you guys." responded the time-traveller, "Some nutcase from my time called Walker Sloan is searching for a bunch of rifts and using them to bring some of my old foes. There could be some here as well. They're mostly from my time anyhow, so we can hope that Parker's enemies don't join his ranks." "Who should we be aware of?" Celestia questioned. Miguel crossed his hooves, "I haven't seen Sloan since before I got here. But he's sending my enemies here as well. We've taken care of the Vulture and a bounty hunter for the corrupt police force, Venture. But he could be sending creeps from across my time. Some of them not even natural creatures so it should be easier to distinguish them moreso than Sloan himself." "What? Like a robot?" Twilight asked. "No." replied O'Hara. "I'm mostly talking about Tarantula, someone I haven't seen since I left. He's a giant spider wearing a blue hood." he explained. "We haven't heard anything of such a creature, but we will be sure of that." Celestia said. Meanwhile, Peter started to clench his head, 'Stupid Spider-Sense! I thought you started to ease up when we left!' he thought, clenching his eyes shut in pain. Twilight and Sunset looked at him worridly. "Are you alright, Peter?" asked the orange unicorn. The others stopped to look at him. "It's not like the headache. Something's coming. I-I think I know where it's coming from. Follow me." the group then trailed behind Peter as he followed the source of his head pain. 'That rarely happens. My Spider-Sense is usually vague when it comes to where the danger actually is. This may come in handy. Heh, guess Madame Web's little upgrade never left me after all.' "Is he coming?" asked Sloan. "While you were there I brought the Professor and asked him to investigate the strange rift we found earlier." he revealed. The two scientists made their way to Canterlot by train and located the next rift within the town. Serena smirked, "He should be coming right now. He and the clones shouldn't be too long." "Excellent, the professor's research has done wonders for our cause. I take it the process wasn't as tedious as I assumed?" Walker wondered. Patel clenched a tentacle, "The professor's research has eased the cloning process for us, meaning that we can have an indisposable army at our hands. We can only hope that he can use our advanced technology to advance it as he already had it proved mostly successful in his own timeline." Sloan nodded, "I can only wonder how he got a hold of such cloning capabilites back in the Heroic Age." Meanwhile, the heroes finally arrived to where Peter's Spider-Sense warned him. The two at that point had changed into their Spider-Mane costumes to fight whatever it was. Spider-Mane 2099 immediately recognized the conversing ponies. The two Spiders nodded and hopped out of their cover. "Sloan!" shouted Miguel. The scientist stopped his speaking to face Spider-Mane 2099. "Ah, Spider-Man, we meet again. Who is this with you?" "Spider-Man. From the past." answered Spider-Mane. Sloan looked back at the rift, "I see. The Spider-Man from the professor's time. I never thought we'd meet." he said. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. We're the guys who're gonna stop your plans." Spider-Mane growled. "Not quite. Is he ready, Serena?" Peter looked at Serena, "Wow. Doc Ock fangirl much?" he taunted. Doc Ock 2099 pointed a holographic tentacle at him, "Shut up, Spider-Man." "Wow. You sound exactly like Twilight when she's mad." Spider-Mane mocked, earning a growl from his wife, snickers from his friends, and a slap to the head from Miguel. "Ow! I mean, you're not going anywhere while we're here!" "Doc Ock?" Miguel wondered quietly, 'Sloan's pulling out all the stops this time.' Suddenly, a claw appeared out of the rift. It appeared to be a green arachnid-like creature. But then, more beings that looked like it popped out as well. "Scorpion? Kron?" Spider-Man 2099 blurted out in shock. "Why the shock are you here?" "She... Promised... Cure..." Scorpion hissed. The masterminds tried to escape, but Spider-Mane shot a strand of webbing, which Serena ripped immediately when it made contact with her body and the two left. "Jam it, Parker. What good was that supposed to be?" "I planted a tracer on her. Meaning that once we finish with Scorpion 2099 and his boy band, we can immediately go after them." Spider-Mane explained. "Clever thinking, Peter." Rarity complimented, the other ponies all looking at the large green creature in front of them. "What the hay is that?!" Rainbow shouted. "The Scorpion from my time. And he brought his little scorpion army with him. I'll figure that part out later." Spider-Mane 2099 answered. Scorpion roared as the other scorpions all scattered, forcing the heroes to fight once more.