//------------------------------// // The Clone Saga, Part I // Story: Spiders and Magic: Edge of Time // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// The sound of the portal opening got the ponies attention. When they saw the rift, instead of seeing their friends, they all witnessed Walker Sloan falling out of the portal. "You!" hissed Rainbow Dash, pointing at the scientist, "Where are our friends?!" Sloan dusted himself off, "Dead, most likely. Where is Doctor Octopus?" he asked himself. "Gone. She ran off like a coward." Applejack responded, ready to attack Sloan. "Very well. I do not have time to quarrel with you. I will track her down myself." he said, pressing a few buttons on his device and he vanished before any of them could reach him. "Damn it." groaned Black Cat. "W-Was he lying?" wondered Fluttershy, "Are Peter, Twilight, Miguel and Sunset... Dead?" she gulped. "Very unlikely. Nothing could keep Parker and Twilight down. And I very much doubt those two would let anything happen to O'Hara and Sunset while they were there." Trixie assured the nervous pegasus, a hopeful smile on her face. Rarity nodded, "She's right. It would take a lot to stop them for good. They should be back soon." As if on cue, the portal opened again, revealing Spider-Mane, Twilight, Sunset, Spider-Mane 2099 and two new ponies that the group haven't seen before. The two landed, the new unicorn looking at the unfit red and black costume. "So... Why the hell am I a horse?" he asked, pulling the enlarged costume off his head. His appearance shocked the ponies, given his physical similaries to Peter. "Um..." said Spike. "You look like... Peter..." he said. "Who are you?" The unicorn sighed, 'A talking dragon. Great.' he cleared his throat. "I'm Kaine. You all must be Peter's friends..." he rubbed the back of his head, "Uh... It's a pleasure, I guess." "Nice to meet you, Kaine." Rarity greeted. "My name is-" Kaine cut her off, "I know who you all are: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, Trixie, and Felicia Hardy." his response earned a gasp from the others. "The reason for that and why I look like Peter is because... I'm a clone." "A clone!?" they all blurted out in shock at the same time. The clone nodded, "Yeah. My creator, Professor Warren made me sometime after Peter left Earth. I was made to be a killer, but I changed my ways for good. I'm here to stop him and Sloan like the rest of you are." he eased the ponies' worries with that statement. "And what about you, handsome? You look kind of familiar," Black Cat noted, observing the earth pony in front of her. "You're not from around here are ya?" "Felicia Hardy? The Black Cat? This is where you wound up? Huh, could'a sworn Kingpin got to you or something." the pony questioned thr burglar. Felicie raised a brow at his queries, "Uh, do we know each other? Because I don't recall seeing a man like you back on Earth." she said, putting a hoof unde her chin. The stallion sighed, "You're not going to believe me, but I am familiar. I am Eddie Brock and I am no longer Venom, but," a white substance began to morph around him, forcing Spike and the others to take cover while Trixie and Felicia stood in front, "I have become the cure to all crime and sins, Anti-Venom. I am not the sinister man you once knew." "He's not lying, Felicia. You can trust him. He's on the side of the angels. Probably literally at this point." Peter assured the cat burglar. Black Cat sighed, "Fine. If the Spider can trust you, I see no reason not to do the same. But if you do anything that will hurt any of us, and I'll take your symbiote." "Thank you..." hissed Anti-Venom. "I will not to harm any of you as long as I'm in control." "Well, ah'm all fine with this reunion, but Sloan got away and went to find that Octopus lady." Applejack cut them off, explaining what happened while they were gone. " "He did? Ah shock, that's just perfect..." Miguel groaned. 'Jam it. Now we'll have to chase after him. He left the lab for a reason back when were fighting Anti-Venom, but for what purpose?' Anti-Venom turned away, "I will find him. Once I do, I shall bring him back to this rift. He'll pay for using me as his puppet." he grunted, shooting a tendril at a tree, it wrapping around a branch as he tried to replicate web-swinging, and swinging away as much as he could. "I'm coming after ya, Sloan! Be ready to face me!" "Okay..." muttered Spike. The heroes looked up to see that the sky had become orange, meaning that Luna was about to raise the moon. "It's actually getting late out. Wow, that took a lot longer than I thought." he said. "Yeah. We should probably wait for Anti-Venom to come back before we return to Ponyville." Sunset said, the ponies nodding in agreement. "What happened while we were gone?" Rainbow Dash decided to speak up, "Oh, y'know. Doc Ock sent a bunch of killer robots after us, then I totally kicked their metallic flanks no problem and she ran away in fear, so just the usual." she boasted. "No... What happened was that we fought off her robot army together as a team." Rarity corrected, giving the cyan pegasus a scowl. "She and Sloan have to be meeting up soon to discuss whatever happened on your end as well as ours." Trixie said. "And that can't be good. What happened on your end?" "We ended up in 2099. Sloan had Anti-Venom fight us... Peter almost died, but with Kaine's help we managed to bring him back, and made allies of him and Brock." Twilight tried to abridge the events that occurred while on Earth, mostly to keep her frinds from being worried. Rarity looked down at Kaine's costume, "Is this yours, Kaine?" she held it up with her magic. Observing how different it was compared to Peter and Miguel's. "That? Yeah, it is..." replied the clone. "It was given to me when Warren created me to be his slave." Peter looked at his doppelganger, "Y'know, we need to give you a superhero name... I was thinking either the Scarlet Spider, or the First Spider. Since that's what you called yourself." "I don't need a superhero name, kid." Kaine mumbled. Pinkie chimed in to the conversation, "Ooh! Can we call you the First Spider while you're wearing your costume?" she asked, bouncing in front of the clone. "Wha- why?" Kaine questioned. Butting into the topic, Miguel decided to talk, "I'm not one for the names, either, but eventually they're just gonna stick. No use revealing your real name for everyone to see." he advised the clone, who exhaled a quiet sigh. "Just take it from me. If you head back to Earth to live a new life, you're gonna need a different name for your crime fighting identity to make things easier." "Fine. First Spider it is." Kaine relunctantly agreed. "Yay!" cheered the pink pony. "Welcome to the family, Kaine!" she higged him. 'Who knew that these ponies were so welcoming to me? Heh, if only they knew the truth. I'm sure it'd be different than Parker and O'Hara's reactions.' thought the clone, who gave her a smile, surprised to feel welcomed as fast as it was. "I-It's nice to meet you..." studdered Fluttershy, pink forming on her cheeks, "Y-You look..." she trailed off, 'Oh. Why must he look like Peter...?' she asked herself in her mind, ignoring the thoughts she abandoned long ago. "Thanks, Fluttershy." relied Kaine, 'I heard only the first part of what she said... She's really quiet.' Meanwhile, Peter held his head again, 'Of course. The second I get back to Equestria, my Spider-Sense starts going nuts! Wait... I think I know where it's coming from now! Is that what's been causing these migranes for the past few days?' "Guys." Peter began, putting on his mask, "I don't think we're alone." "W-What makes you say that, Peter?" Fluttershy gulped. "Yeah, dude. What is it?" Spike wondered. Spider-Mane screamed, "First Spider! Behind you!" he warned his clone hero. Kaine looked at Peter, feeling his own Spider-Sense go off, he hopped from his spot, barely missing getting hit by a large spider leg that came out from the shadows. A large hand held the side of the tree as it revealed itself. The monster wore a blue hoodie with a spider-emblem covering the chest. It roared at the heroes. "Tarantula!?" Miguel shouted. "That's Tarantula?!" Sunset asked in disbelief, "Where has he been this whole time?" Spider-Mane spoke, "He's what's been causing my Spider-Sense to go off this whole time! He was hiding from us, moving with us... But how did it know where we were at!?" "It's also a clone." revealed the First Spider. "Wait... That's a clone of Parker?" Rainbow Dash gulped. Kaine grunted at the sight, "Sort of. He used to be like me, but Warren enhanced him, turning him into that! It was from that moment where I doubted my loyalty to my creator! It must've used your Spider-Sense as a tracker, his enhanced senses helping him do the work. It's crazy, I know!" he shouted, explaining how Tarantula could have remained hidden all this time. "But that's how Warren explained it to me back when he was created." "Well, I'm not one for these kinds of reunions." Spider-Mane 2099 crouched down, "He and I are not on friendly terms, that's for sure. He kicked my shocking ass last time we fought. But I was unprepared, this time, all of us can take him down. But... How the shock are we going to cure this son of a glitch?" Spider-Mane and Twilight had an idea, "We have to hold him off until Brock comes back!" explained the wall-crawler. "Yeah! The Anti-Venom symbiote could revert him to normal like how he cured Peter's powers!" Twilight added. "He can do that?" Spike asked. Trixie shook her head, "That's... Insane. You lost your powers, Parker?" she wondered. "Yeah, but I'm all good. The regeneration tube brought them back." he assured the others. He turned back to Tarantula, "So. You're technically Kaine's brother. Making the two of you my brothers as well, very odd family reunion if I do say so myself. Granted, it's always nice to have some bros to hang with." "Do you just make lame jokes all the time? Ugh, can't believe we have the same DNA." grunted Kaine. "Hey! My fans expect a certain amount of quippage out of me, thank you very much." "Holy shock, you two are brothers!" Miguel sighed in annoyance, unfurling his wings and taking to the skies to lay the first blow on Tarantula with his forehooves, the monster roared in pain. "Just as annoying as the other." Kaine shot a strand of webbing, "Don't compare me to this clown." he jested, the web aimed for Tarantula. The monster roared as it ripped the webbing off. "I'm trying to be rational." "Ouch, bro." Peter said, pretending to be offended. "But I think you only made it angrier." he added, looking at the spider creature, who remaned silent. Tarantula hissed, charging after heroes. The countdown begins to save the clone, but Anti-Venom was too far. Leaving the heroes to fend against the monster. "Any ideas, bro?" Kaine asked sarcastically.