//------------------------------// // The Clone Saga, Part III // Story: Spiders and Magic: Edge of Time // by MetalJrock //------------------------------// Snapping himself awake, the clone that was once Tarantula sat up. He felt his sides, noticing that he was on a bed. 'How did I get here?' he looked at his limbs and saw hooves, 'Hm. I guess I made it to the other world Warren spoke of.' he turned his head, 'He's nowhere in sight. Good. The less I need to see of him the better.' he hopped of the bed and started to trot out the room. "Hello?" he called out. Twilight turned her head at the sound, "Oh. I see you're awake." she said, walking next to the clone. "I'm sorry, but I have to get used to you both looking like Peter." she apologized, getting a closer look at the clone, who looked like her husband in every way except for the cutie mark, or lack thereof. "Oh, how can I be rude? I'm Twilight Sparkle." she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you Twilight. But you mentioned Peter. As in Peter Parker?" the clone asked. "That's right." said a voice nearby. He turned around and saw Peter and Kaine standing next to each other. "Surprised you woke up so soon." said Kaine. "Wait... You're the other clone. Kaine, was it?" The First Spider nodded, "That's right. I remember Warren giving you a name before you were forcibly changed into Tarantula. I can't for the life of me remember what the hell it was, though..." he trailed off, trying to recall what his creator had told him. "Ben." Peter raised a brow, "Hold on... Ben?" The clone, now revealed to be Ben, sighed, "Yes. Professor Warren believed that a name similar to your uncle would throw your mind into a loop. So that's what he called me: Ben Reilly." he explained to the best of his ability. Shaking his head, Peter groaned, "All these clones and time-travelling and Spider-Men. This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot!" "It gets worse." responded Ben. Twilight stood next to Ben, "What do you mean?" Ben elaborated, "When I was Tarantula... I overheard him and Sloan mention something about a rift in this dimension. A rift that he was sent to investigate. But I'm not sure of its whereabouts right now, but we should stay alert, just in case he does something to catch us off guard." he added. "Hm. I'll get the notes and see if Trixie, Sunset and I can find its location for you." Twilight said. "Thank you." replied Ben. Peter leaned on the wall, his hooves crossed, "So, Ben. Pleasure to meet you, I'm Peter Parker." he introduced, sticking a hoof out. Ben grabbed it with his own and shook it. "Nice to have another Spider join the battle against Sloan. So, this Professor Warren... Can you two explain why he went nuts?" "Sorry, kid. But he hasn't told us much of his uprising." Kaine revealed, much to Peter's disappointment. Ben looked around, "So, this is where you ended up? I like it. Seems peaceful." "Yeah. It's a shame you two were forced to come here while all of this hero business is happening." Peter apologized. "It's fine." Ben replied with a wave of his hoof. "We're just glad to be away from the Professor's lab. Is there anyone else in the house right now?" he wondered. "Well, it's me, Kaine, Twilight, Spike, Trixie, and my daughter, who should still be sleeping right now." Peter explained. Ben's eyes widened. "Y-You have a daughter?" a smile formed on his face, "Hm. Glad to see that the man I was based off got to live the life he always wanted." "That's why Miguel wanted you on our side. To help you get the life separate from my own." Peter added, "I just wanna help you both do that after we get this whole Sloan mess cleaned up." Ben raised a brow, "Well, thank you for that, Peter. But you mentioned Miguel. As in Miguel O'Hara? Kaine and I share some memories of you, but everything diverged after you stopped the Goblin." "Yeah, I know. Kaine already explained. He should be back right about-" "PARKER!" The three cringed at the sound of the door slamming open and the scream, "-Now." Miguel stepped into the Treebrary, appearing to be covered in drool. "That shocking bear." he shuddered, pointing at Peter, who gagged at the saliva trail now dripping down his chest, "Next time... You go check on Ursa... I've been licked like fifty shocking times today alone!" he groaned, shaking the saliva off his body. "Get the hell away from me when you do that." Kaine stepped away, avoiding the mess. Ben gagged, "Ugh. Seriously? I just woke up!" Miguel felt himself, seeing that he was for the most part dry. "That's much better, jam that saliva." he faced Ben, "So, you also look like Parker? Son of a glitch! How many shocking clones are there of you?" Ben and Kaine shrugged, "Just the two of us." replied Ben, "My name is Ben Reilly. Thank you for helping me and my brother." "Brother?" "That's right, O'Hara." said Peter, wrapping his hooves around the two clones, Kaine trying to shove him away. "We're the three amigos! You can join in if you want." he offered, "We can form our very own barbershop quartet!" he and Ben chuckled, while the First Spider rolled his eyes at the joke. "Shock no, Parker." Kaine agreed, "Yeah, last thing I need is to be caught singing next to you guys." "Ah, lighten up, Kaine." Peter said. "We gotta have some levity during all this." "He's right you know." Ben noted. A female voice called out, "Well you can leave me out of this ordeal." she said. "Morning, Trixie." Peter greeted, "Meet Ben Reilly. The other clone." Ben smiled, "So you're Trixie? Pleasure to meet you." The unicorn smirked, "I'm sure it is. I'm not sure how Twilight can handle having so many Spiders in the same household at once. I can tell you're already having too much fun." "Well, I've been surrounded by estrogen for the past few years. It's about time we got some testosterone in this place!" he grunted, pretending to flex his muscles, earning a slap to the horn from Trixie, "Ow!" he rubbed the sore spot, "Why must you always do that..." he whined, looking at Trixie and Kaine chuckle. "Because we love you." replied the unicorn. "So, Ben. How does it feel to be back to your old self?" "Great!" cheered the second clone, "Now we can get back to stopping Sloan and Warren." "Ah yes. The Professor who created you. Parker mentioned that he used to be his college professor. Why is it that your mentors and figures always end up being nuts?" she asked Peter. "I'm not too sure. First was Norman, then Curt, now Warren. Good news is that I don't have to worry about you turning..." the words died in his mouth, a horrid vision creeping back into his head as he clenched his cranium. "Eh. Never mind." he said, pretending to feel indifferent. "Er. Right. Anyway, I must attend to Twilight. You four better not destroy the house." Trixie said, trotting away from the group of Spiders. Miguel nudged Peter, "What the shock happened, Parker?" "Nothing." the hero changed the subject, "By the way, Ben. Rarity offered to give that hoodie of yours a makeover. I offered to help, but she insisted that you two must have the perfect costumes for when we face Warren and Sloan. But there is something the three of you can do to help me in the meantime." "What is it?" asked Ben. "Watch the Cutie Mark Crusaders later on." "Uh, who the shock are they?" Miguel asked. "Apple Bloom, Applejack's little sister, Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister, and Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash's surrogate little sister." Peter explained to the three. "So... You want us to babysit?" Kaine corrected the hero. "Maybe?" "Well, I guess I'm in." Ben said, "It'll give us something to do until Twilight is ready." "Ugh. What the shock? At least we're not handling this alone." Miguel grunted. Peter smiled, "Come on, Kaine! This could be a bro bonding experience!" he said. Kaine rolled his eyes, "You owe me bigtime for this, Parker." Before they could say anything else, a yawn got the attention of the four Spiders. They looked behind them and spotted Mayday walking out of her room. "Good morning Daddy, Uncle Miguel..." she paused at the sight of the two clones, "And my daddies?" "Oh right. You were half-asleep when we picked you up." Peter rubbed his head. "Sorry about that. Mayday, meet my, uh, brothers. Your Uncle Kaine and Uncle Ben..." he introduced, 'Uncle Ben... Heh, now I see why Warren called him Ben. That's gonna take some getting used to hearing.' "Really?" she wrapped her hooves around the two clones, "I never heard of them!" "That's because your Uncle Miguel found them while we were out in the other world." Peter explained. "That's so cool! What are you doing now?" Mayday asked in excitement. "Oh, um... We were going to meet the CMC. You want to come with us, sweetie?" Peter offered. "Yes!" she cheered, flying in her spot. Peter and Ben smiled, "We'll be heading out soon." said Ben. "Welcome to our humble abode! The pits of Tartarus!" "Tartarus? As in the mythical hell?" Sloan asked. Discord groaned, "No, as in the five-star restaurant. Yes, that place!" he replied sarcastically. Fascinating. Are you the only one residing in here?" Serena wondered, looking around, seeing nothing but darkness outside of the area they were in. "Not quite." said a figure wearing a hood, his voice seemingly gruff. Sloan raised a brow. "Who are you?" "I am Tirek. I was banished here a long time ago by my brother and the princesses. I'm awaiting Discord's plan to finally get my revenge on Celestia and Luna as well as Equestria." he clenched his fist. "More visitors?" said a female orange pony with a bushy mane of the same color. "Ooh! They look friendly." the blue mare said. "Eh." the purple mare shrugged. "Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Adagio Dazzle." the orange mare said. "I'm Sonata Dusk!" the blue pony cheered. "I'm Aria Blaze." the purple one rolled her eyes. "Why are you two here?" she asked. Sloan answered, "Refuge. Are you all the only ones here?" "Nope." a glowing blue pony revealed himself. He wore a black suit and his eyes were as blue as his glowing seemingly burnt fur. He had small lightning bolts glowing on his face. "And who might you be?" The blue stallion smirked, "Don't you know? I'm Electro." "Electro? No one has records of your whereabouts after you were launched into outer space and went missing. Everyone assumed you died." Sloan explained. "Well, they're wrong." replied Electro. "Oh boy! More ponies!" The masterminds faced the next pony. He had an appearance similar to Anti-Venom, but the symbiote was smaller, blood red and his face was that of a psychopath. "Heh heh." he laughed. "Name's Carnage. I'm gonna be the one to paint Equestria red with my victims' blood!" "Revolting..." muttered Sloan, "But you appeared to be a symbiote. Like Venom and the one Brock is bonded to." "Aw, so ya know my 'daddy'?" Carnage questioned, "Well, he better watch out if I show up!" "Hopefully that time is soon." The two looked at the green pegasus wearing a purple tunic. Sloan and Patel's eyes went wide at the sight. "Surprised to see me?" he asked, his voice sounding deep. "Norman Osborn. The Green Goblin. Everyone on Earth thought you had died by Twilight Sparkle and Spider-Man's hands." Sloan elaborated his surprise. Norman frowned, "Oh, I'll pay them back for that when we get put of this hellhole!" he faced Patel, "And it seems you took a few pages out of Otto Octavius's notebook. Better hope to not piss me off!" he said, earning a gulp from the future octopus. "Y-Yes..." Discord laughed, "Meet my aquaintences. The Sinister Six! Once the time comes, we'll be creating chaos all across Equestria! But I'm having too much fun watching you both run around and fight the Spider-Men!" he said. "What do you want with us?" asked Doc Ock 2099. "What do you have planned?" The draconequss spoke, "You see, because of you two, the rifts between your Earth and Equestria has gotten weaker. Ever since then, I learned of worlds beyond ours. I've been in contact with a certain Trickster God as well as a bald man genius from another world of heroes, a genius not unlike you Sloan." "What does that have to do with us?" Sloan asked. Sighing, Discord snapped his fingers, "So impatient... I learned that Warren has something that I can manipulate. I can enhance its abilities to wreak a little more chaos in the heroes' journey and perhaps break apart the barrier between the worlds more." "Very well." agreed Walker. "Who is this genius you spoke you?" "To give you a hint. He's from your Earth's 'Direct Counterpart' as I put it." he hinted. "But I'm saving this for when this time travel ordeal is swept under the rug. Then after that, my Sinister Six can initiate our little game for Spider-Man." "Once you find Warren's little creation. You may do as you please. As long as our Spider-Man is out of the picture." Doc Ock and Sloan agreed together.