• Published 3rd Jul 2016
  • 8,275 Views, 987 Comments

Spider in Equestria - DarkSpider



I just buy a mask and sword from some cloaked weirdo, and now I'm in a world of humanoid ponies in Equestria. Oh, and I have powers that are identical to Spider-Man. Well, this is my life now

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49. Dive Into The Heart Part 3: Trial Of Restraint

When the heroic duo stepped out of the Warp Ring, the two couldn’t help but gape at their surroundings. The floor beneath them seemed to made of a green gem-like material, every so often the walls around them would crumble and sink onto the floor before being replaced by an entirely new wall facing a different direction. The sky above them continued to shift colors every few seconds, looking around the pair spotted numerous floating platforms, blocks, spheres, and runways. Flying in the sky were a flock of purple gem like fish, the fish all shifted into green gem like birds every few seconds. Turning back, the two saw the giant ring shrink and disappear, leaving them stranded in the chaotic world.

After a few seconds, Dark looked at Venom. "So what were you talking about, knowing who that was?"

"I'm sure it'll come to you eventually," Venom replied, looking around.

Dark rolled his eyes before deciding to ask something else. "Was what Carnage said true? You guys see me as your dad or something?"

Venom shrugged. "More or less. We did come from your DNA after all. Though Carnage seems to view you like you view your own dad." After a few seconds, he said, "Okay, much worse, but still."

Dark tilted his head. "Why haven't you mentioned that before?"

Venom looked to him with a raised eyebrow. "Well with everything else going on with you, I figured the knowledge that 3 symbiotes see you as their dad wasn't important." He then turned around. "Come on. Let's see if we can finish the next trial." With that said, he started walking with Dark next to him.

After a few minutes of walking, Dark said, "Hey."

"Yes?"

"You remember a lot of things, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Do you remember the tutorial to the first Kingdom Hearts game? I felt like this was similar to it at first, but after the Lucario, I'm very confused…"

"Can't help you there. The only thing that happened in it was some basic tutorial stuff, picking an item, dismissing another, fighting Heartless, answer 3 questions, fight more Heartless, and fight a giant Heartless. Nothing about trials as far as I know."

Dark sighed until he remembered something. "Oh boy… You don't think we'll need to fight that boss, do you?"

Venom shrugged. "Who knows. This thing seems much different than the game. But even if we do, we should be fine. Besides, unlike Sora, you have help," he finished, lifting the shield in his arm for emphasis.

"Why did you pick that anyway?"

Venom shrugged again. "The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Felt right to get it."

Dark hummed in response.

The two continued to walk deeper into the gem like maze, being careful around the moving platforms, and ignoring all of the strange fauna around the chaotic maze. Suddenly feeling their spider-sense takeover, Dark and Venom jumped to the side, just barely avoiding a series of poisonous barbs being shot at them. The heroic duo quickly turned around to see one of the flowers they passed by slithering towards them, the petals of the flower seemed to be purely metal, on the center of the flower was a row of metal teeth. From behind the flower, more of the world’s strange fauna uprooted themselves from their position and started slithering towards the heroes, all of the cybernetic flowers were letting a series of hisses and clicks.

The flowers in the front hissed, pulling back their heads and spitting out a number of poisonous needles at the duo. The two heroes quickly jumped out of the way of the needles, Dark quickly raised his arm up and fired a series of webs at the flower’s mouth, preventing them from spitting anything out. From behind the cybernetic flowers crawled a giant mushroom, the fungus had two large bulging eyes, mechanical spider legs carried the mutated abomination towards the heroes. On the mushroom’s side were two mechanical arms, the arms ending with a pair of buzzsaws.

"Okay, this is complete bull…" Dark muttered.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t hurt my children’s feelings.” A calm feminine voice called out to them. From behind the group of cybernetic plants, a trio of giant vine-like tentacles crawled forward. Standing on top of the middle vine was what appeared to be an earth pony mare, she wore a heavy trench coat to cover most of her body. On top of her head was a gas mask, with a pair of red lenses, the gas mask was effective in covering every part of her head, not even letting her hair flow out. The mare’s hands were also covered by a pair of brown gloves, with pieces of metal scattered around them. “Hello heroes, it's a pleasure to meet you.” She gave a deep exaggerated bow.

"Who the hell are you?" Venom said with a growl.

"Children?" Dark asked, confused.

“Can’t you tell?” She let out a small giggle. “I’m a florist! And these flowers are all my children. I grew and raise them. I made sure to take really good care of my plants, so that they may grow and spread without anyone getting in their way.” The mare reached down to pet the mechanical mushroom. “So I would appreciate it if you didn’t cut down my plants.”

Dark blinked before looking to Venom. "So we're seriously going to fight a Poison Ivy knock off?"

Venom shrugged. "Looks like it."

The mare hummed, frowning behind her mask. “Geek-Knight called me that once too. No idea what or who Poison Ivy is, but I don’t appreciate being called a knock-off.” She turned towards her flowers, and smiled. “Why don’t you darlings go and play. Don’t worry, Mama will make sure your meals don’t leave.” The two remaining giant vines rose up, and set themselves down around the two heroes, creating a makeshift ring for them.

The plants all hissed, charging towards the pair. Gripping his sword, Dark leapt forward and cut down the small metal flowers, killing them with a single swipe. Suddenly his spider-sense went off, turning around, Dark saw the giant mushroom’s buzzsaws come down on him. He was quickly pushed out of the way by Venom, blocking the saws with his shield.

Acting quickly, Dark leapt forward and cut down the mushroom beast in half. He quickly took a step back and covering his mouth when small cloud of spores exploded off of the monster.

Behind them, the disguised mare clicked her tongue, annoyed at the plant’s failure. Grinning behind her mask, the mare decided it was time to move to the second phase of the plan. “You know, you two put up a much better fight than all of those civilians.” She called out, getting their attention. “Yeah those ponies didn’t stand a chance against any of my kids, and unlike their foals, my children made sure not to leave behind a mess after they were done eating.” As she finished talking, more of her plant-cyborgs slithered and crawled their way into the battle, quickly surrounding the heroes.

Dark blinked before he started growling, his eyes turning red as a result. "What?"

She smirked at his reaction. “Gotcha.” She whispered to herself, making sure to not be heard. “Yeah, one of my greatest accomplishments! I created the perfect child, and sick him onto the city. In just a matter of hours, Manehatten fell and became a swamp, the perfect home for my kids and grandchildren, and they all feasted on the poor sods who were stuck there.” She let out a laugh. “Let me tell you, not even the city’s so called “heroes” were enough to stop my Kruzdu Hybrid Hydra!”

"Kruzdu?" Venom muttered. "Never heard of that."

"Don't care, taking her down," Dark replied.

As Dark darted towards her, he quickly cut down the plants that jumped in front of him, ignoring the attacks and shrieks. The villainous mare grinned as he got closer. As soon as Dark was in front of her, she laughed when he was suddenly pulled back by a pair of webs. She cupped her hands and brought in front of her, “Hey Geek-Knight! A little faster next time?”

Turning around, Dark saw what appeared to be a human inside an advanced suit of knight like armor. Scanning the suit, he realized the armor was exactly like Spyder-Knight’s, down to the last detail. The knight huffed, tossing Dark back at Venom and letting go of his webs. “Fie! I toldeth thee to stand ho calling me Geek-Knight! It's demeaning!”

“I will! As soon as you stop speaking like that!” The mare yelled back.

“But the director likes the way I talketh!” He yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

“Because she’s old enough to understand what you’re saying! I can barely understand you!” She yelled in frustration.

Dark and Venom stared at the 2 before looking at each other, Dark's eyes reverting back to normal due to his confusion. "I'm starting to feel like I'm being pranked," Dark said to which Venom nodded in agreement. Dark then looked at the newcomer. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"

The armored knight turned back towards the duo, as if he had forgotten they were there. Clearing his throat, the knight crossed his arms and chuckled darkly as he leaned back slightly as if to look down on them. “Whom am I?! So thee wishest to knoweth mine own name? Foolish! I am the dark knight who’s very nameth strikes feareth into the hearts of innocents! I am the black knight who slayest Kings and Queens for nothing more than a mere shiny coin! I am the Spyder-Knight!” He laughed out loud, putting his hands on his hips.

Dark just stared at the guy for a few moments before saying, "I'm pretty sure a lot of what you said weren't actual words. Plus you sound pretty freaking stupid talking like that."

The mare in the back laughed. “I told you! Everyone thinks the old Ponish sounds pretty stupid!”

"And exactly who are you supposed to be?" Venom asked her since she never answered him earlier.

The mare stood silent for a few seconds. “...I don’t have a name I can give.” The knight snorted. “Screw you Geek-Knight! Maybe you should actually try to learn old Ponish instead of making up words half the time!”

Dark then turned to Venom. "Is it me or does it feel like they would rather fight each other than us?" Dark asked.

"Looks like it to me," Venom replied with a shrug.

“Enough!” The Spyder-Knight yelled, raising his gauntlet. “We’ll never get anything done if we just argue! Let’s just agree that you’re wrong, I’m right, and finish the job!”

Dark looked at Venom. "Okay, you deal with Gloriosa over there, I'll deal with Lancelot," he suggested, to which Venom nodded in agreement.

Flexing his hands, a pair of swords shot out of the knight’s gauntlets, briefly raising them up to cross them, the knight let out a battle cry. “Have at thee!” Spyder-Knight rushed the pair, briefly swatting at Venom’s direction before he left. As soon as the symbiote left, the knight turned his full attention to Dark. “Oh this endues me backeth, I remember at which hour we hath used to doth battleth all the timeth dear rival.” The knight charged, briefly clashing his blades against Dark’s sword.

Dark raised an eyebrow. "Rival?"

The knight nodded. “Indeed! You were once my most fearsome rival, always coming to stop me and my merry band of knights!” He briefly paused. “Ugh… continuing talking in this accent is killing me, I’m running out of words.”

"Wait, so you two are more guys I'll eventually fight?" Dark asked with a surprised tone. He then realized a certain word the knight said. "Wait, once your most fearsome rival?"

The knight’s eyes widened, he quickly coughed and then let out a haughty laugh. “That’s right Spider! Haven't you been listening to what Ge-errrr… Ivy said? We are villains!” He jumped back, creating a distance between them. “Using her plant-cyborg monsters, Ivy took over Manehatten and dispose of all the heroes in the city! I on the other hand had grander schemes!” The knight spread out his arms and laughed. “I sought to make the entire world my own!”

Dark deadpanned. "Seriously? Take over the world? Talk about unoriginal."

The knight sputtered, seemingly offended. “Tis not unoriginal! Tis a time honored tradition amongst villains! Like kidnapping the princess! Which is something I also did.”

"Did, or will do?" Dark asked. "This whole thing is confusing enough as is to be honest."

He raised a finger to answer, but then quickly lowered it. “It is rather confusing isn’t it?” He said without the knightly accent. The knight spun around and raised a finger to the air, going back to using his old Ponish accent. “But to answer your question in the most simplest of manners! The answer is: YES!”

Dark narrowed his eyes. Looking at the knight’s helmet, Dark concentrated his magic on it and spun it around, blinding the knight and causing him to panic. Letting out a small stream of curses, the knight quickly grabbed the sides of his helmet and fixed it back to place. Before the knight could do anything else, Dark quickly rushed towards him and punched the knight across the face, causing him to fall backwards.

"Fricking smartass…" Dark muttered.

Suddenly four thin spider-like legs shot out from the back of the knight’s armor, the spider legs quickly crawled away from Dark, creating a big enough distance to allow the Knight to recover. Spyder-Knight rubbed his armored cheek and huffed. “Okay, first off, rude.” He grumbled, glaring at Dark from his helmet, the helmet then copied his expression, making it known that the Knight was glaring at him.

Dark shrugged. "Fighting smart."

“Fighting smart.” The knight scoffed, repeating the words to himself in a mocking tone, still feeling rather annoyed at the cheap trick. Using his new spider legs, he picked himself up from the ground and stared down at Dark. “For that Knave I shall have your head!” He shot towards Dark, his blades aimed at his chest. “On guard!” The knight cried out, clashing with Dark in another sword fight.

“I have to say, though you may be the same fool I knew before, you are nothing compared to the Spider of my timeline!” The Knight said, crossing his blades with his. “The Spider of the future fell trying to stop me.” He whispered to him, his voice no longer carrying the jovial tone, instead becoming much sinister. “With those gemstones I had collected, the Spider, and his allies all dropped like flies. And with their power, I flooded each and every city that refused to bow down to me!” He boasted, staring intently at Dark. “And I continued to flood the rest of the world, all of the countries that refused to bow down to me are all now deep in the ocean.” He chuckled. “ And one day, the me in your timeline will flood the world too.”

Dark blinked in confusion. "What?"

Spyder-Knight blinked behind his helmet, taken aback at his reaction, or rather lack of one. “Seriously, nothing?” He whispered to himself. “Maybe I overdid it with the ham…” Bringing his foot up, he kicked Dark away. “Alright think… need a new plan, bragging about the tsunami did nothing.” He growled to himself, staring intently at Dark. Suddenly his eyes lit up as a new plan formed in his head. “Eehhh, a bit scummy, but I’ve done worse.” Mentally commanding his spider-legs, Spyder-Knight raised himself up air. Clearing his throat, he quickly made sure to amplify the volume of his suit. “Kneel!” He shouted, his voice booming with how high the suit amplified his voice.

Suddenly Dark’s eyes went wide as his head practically exploded with pain. The hero was forced onto his knees by the sheer intensity of the sudden migraine that attacked him. He weakly raised his arms up to grab his head, as if it would help lessen the headache. The pain shot through him again, as if punishing him. The pain of the migraine being too much to allow him to form any proper thoughts.

“Dark!” Venom cried out, seeing the effect of the Knight’s shout. Acting quickly, the symbiote pushed the villainous mare away and slammed his arm into the ground. Under the knight, the ground broke apart as a large black tendril shot out from underneath to attack the armored human.

The Knight quickly dodged the attack, using the suit’s waldoes to skitter away from the collapsed ground. “Stay out of this parasite!” Spyder-Knight yelled, leaping forward and grabbing at the tendril that tried to attack him. Activating his suit’s defenses, he filled the tendril with electricity, shocking Venom who was at the other side of the battlefield.

Venom shouted in pain as he retracted the tendril. Seizing the opportunity, the villainous mare smirked as she let out a loud whistle, causing a fourth giant vine to appear off of the ground. The vine pulled back slightly before swatting the symbiote away from its mistress.

Dark slowly got up, gripping his sword tight as he was panting, his irises back to their red colors. "This is seriously starting to piss me off."

The Spyder-Knight grinned behind his helmet, using the waldoes, he slowly crawled closer. “Finally, now the real trial can start.” He chuckled to himself, flexing his arms to bring back his twin blades. “What’s the matter Spider? Feeling a bit under the weather? Count yourself lucky that you didn’t fall under the full effects of my brainwashing.” He called out to him, crossing his arms as the waldoes brought him closer. “That rainbow pegasus and Riolu, weren’t so lucky however.” He boasted loudly, retracting his waldoes as soon as he got close enough. “In the future they tried to resist my control, but I suppose the pain was too much for them to handle given how easily they fell under my control!” He laughed. “Once they accepted me as their master, it was fun to watch as you were forced to fight against your loved ones.”

Dark's eye twitched before he started glaring at the knight and growled in anger.

The ground below them started rumbling, around them the gem-like walls of the maze started sinking into the ground. One by one new walls rose in random locations and directions. Below the villainous knight, a wall started to rise, elevating his position and forcing Dark to look up at him. The knight smirked, briefly turning away to check on his partner.

Off in the distance, the female villain continued to fire off a barrage of energy bolts from her blasters at the symbiote, forcing him to stand still and crouch to defend himself with the shield. Behind the mare, giant vines lay limp, two of them being cut off from the main body while the third had a large hole in the middle of the vine.

“Got a lot of guts killing my babies freakshow, but if you think that's going to stop me then you’re dead wrong!” The gas mask wearing mare shouted, continuing her onslaught. “The heroes of my timeline killed tons of my babies during my attacks, but I never let that stop me! Not even that stupid pink bitch with the hammer! Idiot thought she could smash my pods and get away with it?!” She let out a short triumphant laugh. “No one messes with my plants! And that bitch learned that lesson the hard way! Let me tell you, the Kruzdu really enjoyed that meal, almost as much as he enjoyed eating that new princess!”

Venom simply rose an eyebrow. "Big talk. But if that thing is so special, where is it now?"

The villain clicked her tongue in annoyance, thinking quickly she smiled behind her mask. “Where else would he be? Left him back at home to take care of the rest of the sorry sods in Equestria. When he’s done, there won’t be a Equestria anymore, just one big mega-swamp for all of my plants and their babies.”

"And why are you here then?" Venom asked. "Sounds like you won where you're from. Why bother dealing with us here?"

“Isn’t it obvious?” She asked, laughing. “It's so I can do it all over again, this time affecting another timeline. My babies’ spores will spread all over! Not just the world, but every world, dimension, universe, and alternate timeline!” Her laughter started becoming more erratic, sounding practically maniacal. “I’ll turn every world into a paradise for my babies!”

Venom blinked. "I can't tell whether you're completely insane, or just straight up stupid."

The mare stood completely still, shocked. “Stupid?” She repeated, whispering the word as she paused her onslaught. “I’m not stupid…” She whispered, her arms shaking. “I’m not stupid you hear me…” She suddenly threw the two pistols away and flexed her hands, the metal bits of the glove started spreading until her entire hand was covered in metal. “DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME STUPID YOU LITTLE BODY JUMPING PARASITE!” The mare shot towards the symbiote, using her metal claws to grab the shield and yanked it out of his hands. Letting out a yell, she tossed the shield to the side and started slashing him with the newly formed claws. “DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!” She shouted, not pausing at all to take even a single breathe.

Venom could do nothing as the mare continued tear apart his chest, his regeneration being the only thing that was keeping him okay as the mare tore pieces of his body off and flung them away. “DIE YOU LITTLE SHIT! STAY DOWN LIKE THE TRASH YOU ARE! YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME?! I’LL FEED YOUR CORPSE TO MY MUSHROOMS!” She spit at him, slashing him across the face. “BUCK THAT! YOU’RE NOT EVEN WORTH FEEDING TO MY CHILDREN, YOU’RE DIRT! LOWER THAN DIRT! WORM! NO, LOWER THAN WORM! YOU DON’T EVEN REGISTER AS SOMETHING THAT’S ALIVE YOU PARASITE!” The mare grabbed him by the throat, and with a yell tossed him across the battlefield. The symbiote crashed onto Dark, causing the duo to go through several walls as they flew. Around them the walls crumbled on top of them, covering the heroic duo in gem-like debris.

Spyder-Knight couldn’t help but gape at the destruction. Seeing his partner run up towards his direction, he gulped. “Holy shit Gen, what the hell was that?”

The mare slowly turned her head towards him. “He called me stupid… no one calls me stupid.”

The knight gulped, nodding slowly. “Right.” He turned back towards the pile of rubble, he decided to shift the topic as to not piss off his partner. “Let’s go, we still have a mission to finish.” The mare grunted, scowling behind her mask. The two villains slowly walked towards the rubble, stopping only when they were a few feet away from it. The two turned towards each other and nodded. Making sure that they had their weapons ready, the two villains walked to the front of the debris.

Suddenly a large black claw burst out of the debris and then another. A moment later, the large body of Venom and Dark bonded together rose from the rubble in the same form they were in when they first bonded.

"Our turn," Dark and Venom said simultaneously as they glared at their opponents with pure red eyes. Pulling back their arm, they launched their fist towards the villainous mare, catching her off guard as their arm extended far enough to hit her and toss her back a few yards. Once the earth pony was dealt with, they turned their full attention towards the armored knight. The bonded symbiote leapt out of the debris and towards Spyder-Knight, uppercutting the evil knight. Acting quickly, they shot out a web to grab the airborne knight.

The duo smiled, showing off Venom's elongated tongue. Using just a single hand, they slammed the webbed up knight onto the ground in front of him. Making sure he was still trapped in the web, they pulled the knight towards them and grabbed him by the legs, causing the knight’s eyes to widen in fear and panic.

“Please don’t.” He whispered.

They let out a roar as they picked him up and slammed him onto the ground behind him, not giving him a chance to recover as they quickly slammed him to the ground in front of them again. The bonded duo continued to slam him around for a few seconds longer before tossing the limp knight into a nearby wall. The wall crumbled around the knight, covering his entire body in the debris.

“Oh crap…” The villainous mare whispered, her eyes wide at the treatment the knight got. Shakingly getting off the ground, she grimaced. Her trench coat briefly shifted around, she quickly put a hand on her back and patted it. “Don’t use your tentacles, don’t use your tentacles.” She whispered to herself. Suddenly she heard a loud crash besides her, the floor underneath her shook briefly, causing her to flail and try to regain her balance. “Don’t use the tentacles! Don’t use the tentacles!” She yelled, flailing her arms around as she slowly regained balanced.

"Tentacles? Wait, forget it. We don't care."

The mare yelped, jumping away from the voice as she turned around to face the bonded pair. Looking up, she saw the monstrous face of the bonded symbiote. “Buck you! I’m not scared of you!” Flexing her hands, the metal claws suddenly began sparking with electricity. “Don’t screw with me parasite! I know you can’t handle a little spark!”

The duo quickly grabbed the yelling mare’s face, their claw being large enough to cover her entire head. Ignoring the shouting, they quickly slammed the villain’s head onto the ground beneath them, causing the gem-like structure to crack. The villain briefly stood rigid before falling limp, her chest rising and falling being the indicator that she’s still fine.

"You two talk way too much," the duo said before calming down, their eyes reverting back to normal. A moment later, they started shrinking until they were their normal size and ended up separating from each other before looking themselves over.

"Okay, didn't know that we can still do that here," Venom said.

"Sure would've been nice to know that 10 minutes ago," Dark muttered before picking up his sword as Venom went for his shield.

The duo’s attention was quickly stolen when they notice a small mound of rubble shift around. The rubble slowly parted, revealing the spider themed knight to still be conscious, his armor was full of cracks that sparkled with electricity, his helmet was dented and one of the lenses was cracked.. The knight briefly stood up before falling to his knees, he tried to mentally command his waldoes, only to notice that they were missing after not receiving any response. The knight looked up at the duo and grimaced. “Aanndd we lost… even against weaker versions of you guys…” The knight chuckled. “Seems like we messed around too much, and here we were hoping for another shot at conquering Equestria… At least the one in our timelines is still around, between my knights and her monsters, I’m sure that it will fall under our control in a-”

"Oh just shut up," Dark interrupted. "Why do you keep boasting when you clearly lost. You aren't really helping your case."

“And what are you going to do about it?” The knight challenged, glaring defiantly. “You can’t shut me up.” He smirked behind his helmet. “I’m already defeated, and you’re a hero, you can’t do anything to me anymore. So why shouldn’t I take this time to talk? Only way you can get me to be quiet is to kill me.” He said smugly. “But it's not like that would ever happen! Heck after I get out of here, I’ll just go back to wreaking havoc on my world!”

Dark rolled his eyes. "While I'll admit, the more you talk makes me tempted to end you more and more, especially with the stuff you told me, I do have a few rules of my own." He then shrugged. "Besides there is one way to shut you up." Before the knight could respond, both Dark and Venom punched him in the face, sending him flying. After landing, he went limp, finally knocking out. Dark shook his hand before sighing. "That felt good."

“You sure about leaving them alive?” A voice called from above them, the two looked up and saw a short flying figure looking down on them. Most of his features were obscured by the light of one of the chaotic world’s suns. “The two are very dangerous villains. You heard what they said didn’t you? Those weren’t empty boast, despite the way they act, they’re both very dangerous criminals.”

Dark rose an eyebrow. "And who are you to judge?"

The figure slowly floated down to meet them, revealing himself to not only be entirely mechanical, but also bore a striking resemblance to a certain robotic villain. His mechanical body was entirely black, save for the yellow stripes and highlights around his head. While his right arm was completely normal, his left arm ended with what appeared to be a laser cannon that reminded the pair of Mega-Man. The sclera of his eyes were completely black, both the iris and the pupil of the robot’s eyes were red. The robot surprisingly had a mouth on his metal muzzle. The robot’s yellow chest had a red gem sticking out of it. Giving the pair a two fingered salute, it smirked. “Yo. Name’s Shard, and I’m the trial giver of this challenge.”

"And you only show up now?" Venom asked.

The bot shrugged. “Eh, I thought it would be much more interesting this way. Certainly made the fight more interesting with the confusion.” He answered honestly. “Besides, had to do something unique from the other two. Couldn’t act like the wise cryptic, and didn’t want to show up at the beginning like the last gal did.”

"So what was the point of this trial?" Dark asked, feeling annoyed about all the fights he has been in from these trials.

Shard turned to him, his expression being serious. “Before I tell you, I’ll ask one more time…” The robot took out a yellow colored gemstone, the jewel glowed brightly, blinding them temporarily. When the duo opened their eyes, they saw the two villains laying down in front of them, the two were still unconscious and injured. “Are you sure you want to show these two mercy? After all, I’m sure they wouldn’t hesitate to finish you off. Wouldn’t it be best to just end them here and now instead of letting them go and terrorize their world?”

Dark looked at the two villains for a few moments before looking at Shard. "I'll tell you what I told Lancelot here. I have a few rules myself when it comes to killing. And as much as I want to hurt these guys, it's not my call whether or not they should die." He then shrugged. "Besides, I'm pretty sure they were bluffing. If they were really that difficult, I think they would've been much harder than they were. After all, if they are from future versions of my world, then that means they faced me when I was stronger and more experienced, and yet we beat them here."

From the black screen that made his eyes, the bot raised a digital eyebrow. “You are aware they held back right? It was part of the rules, if they win they’ll be allowed to travel into other Equestrias, however they have to fight you at your level.” He gestured at the knight with his cannon. “Spyder-Knight wasn’t allowed to use his minions, or even rely on his team of “knights”.” He turned to the other fallen villain. “...She wasn’t allowed to bring her strongest creations, like that Hydra Hybrid she mention or even the robot copies of you.”

"Sheesh, what's it matter to you anyway?"

“Juuust need to see something.” Shard said, narrowing his eyes at him. “Now, just need a final confirmation. You know now that they were holding back, and are much stronger than they showed today.”

"And I'm telling you one last time. I am not gonna kill them. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the Punisher. I don't play the part of executioner," Dark said, getting rather annoyed that the bot seemed to want him to kill the two villains. "If you want someone who kills on a whim, find someone else."

Shard hummed, digitally closing his eyes. “I see… In that case.” The robot tossed the emerald in the air, letting it glow brightly as it blinded the pair once again. Once the light died down, the two gaped when the once unconscious villains were suddenly healed and standing, the two criminals stood behind the robot with their arms crossed, seemingly glaring at them, causing Dark and Venom to ready their weapons. Suddenly both the knight and robot threw their arms up in the air, the robot seeming to be smiling. “Congrats you two! You’ve passed the trial!” The mare clicked her tongue in annoyance and turned away.

The pair blinked. "Huh?" They said together.

Spyder-Knight coughed, catching their attention. “Alloweth me! Thee seeth, the two of us aren't actually ne'er-do-wells! Thou see, we are actually-”

"Hold it right there," Dark interrupted, lifting a hand up. "If you are gonna talk, talk normal or else I'm punching you again."

The knight slouched, seeming to be disappointed. “How rude… Why is everyone always so against me speaking old Ponish?” He asked, seeming to be actually confused.

The mare snorted. “It's cause it makes it hard for us to understand you, Dork-Knight!” She said harshly, glaring at the knight behind the gas mask. “Not only that but it's pretty annoying.”

“Nay! Tis not annoying!” Spyder-Knight yelled, turning back towards his partner. “Princess Luna and the children love my old Ponish!” He sniffed. “The children always laugh and are so happy to see me, and Luna always smiles whenever I speak like this.”

“Pretty sure it's a pity smile.” The earth pony said, smirking at him. “And I’m also sure that those kids are laughing at you and your stupid accent.” The knight recoiled, as if he was struck.

Dark pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is getting ridiculous…"

“Surely you’re jesting!” The knight yelled, ignoring the other three. “I’ve hath spent hours in those public relations classes and it turns out everyone hates the voice?! But it's mine whole image! I'm a gallant knight! The dashing rogue! The hero who is going to one day surpass the Spider in terms of popularity!”

Getting annoyed, Dark used his magic to flip the knight's helmet again. While he was distracted with that, Dark pointed to the mare. "Okay, you explain."

She snorted, laughing at knight’s struggling. Turning towards Dark, she nodded. “It's like what Lame-celot said. We’re both heroes from the future, not actually villains.” She then gritted her teeth. “Weeeelll… it’d be more accurate to say we’re Ex-Villains. The three of us are reformed now.”

"Seriously?" Dark asked, shocked while Venom simply crossed his arms.

The mare nodded. “Yeah, we were chosen for this task because we have experience in the whole villainly thing. Not only that, but experience fighting against you too.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Have to say though, I wish I was brought here with my white knight instead of this loser.”

“I heard that!” The knight cried out. “And for once I agree! I wish I was brought here with the Spears! Or at least Black Widow! We would’ve done a much better job together!”

"White knight? And wait, there's a Black Widow in this world too?" Dark asked, confused.

Fixing his helmet, the knight nodded. “Yup! There’s a Black Widow here too, and she’s the best partner you can ever have! We’ve been through everything together!” The knight sighed longingly, staring off in the distance. “She’s stuck with me through thick and thin, even was my partner during our villain days.”

Dark raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "Well good to know your girlfriend is loyal to ya."

Spyder-Knight sputtered, “Wha-! Hey! She’s not my girlfriend! We’re just best friends! That’s all!”

The mare snorted. “Riiiight. Come on, even he knows you’re head over heels for her.” She pointed at him and chuckled. “Dork-Knight here doesn’t have it in him to confess.”

"Oh, so that's something he shares with Dark," Venom said with a smirk.

"Oh shut up," Dark said with a glare. He then looked at the mare. "And what do you mean even I know?"

Shard decided to speak up. “A lot of people in the agency know about Spyder-Knight’s “secret” crush on Widow. It's pretty obvious to us all.”

Before Dark can respond, Venom asked Shard, "If they're good guys, why the stuff about winning against us and you wanting us to kill them?

“I made that up.” Shard answered honestly. “That thing about them going to your Equestria and wrecking it if they win was just something I said to provoke you.” The robot crossed his arms. “The whole point of this trial is to see if you have the capacity to show mercy, restraint, and kindness to a fallen foe, no matter how annoying or bad they may seem. Now this doesn’t mean you should show mercy to everyone, but like these two,” He gestured at the heroes. “There are some people who are just misguided and need help. I needed to see if when push comes to shove, you would have it in you to show some kindness and have mercy on them.”

"Well considering I'm already friends with 5 former villains, I would think so," Dark said with a shrug.

Shard smiled. “That's good, means you have it in you to look past other’s mistakes and have the capacity to help another.” Shard turned towards the other and decided to clear up any lingering doubts. “Now about what these two told you… A lot of the villainous acts they boasted about were exaggerations or simply falsehoods. These two don’t have a body count…” Shard frowned, turning towards the mare as he narrowed his eyes. “I think.”

She shrugged. “It wasn’t me, and it wasn’t like they attacked innocents… well… none of them but the Kruzdu…” She admitted with a hiss.

"Need to remember to nip that in the bud…" Dark muttered. He then blinked. "No pun intended."

“Right! And that whole thing about flooding the world was also false!” The knight said, crossing his arms and nodding. “...Mostly false… it was greatly exaggerated.” He laughed nervously, “On the plus side, I don’t actually have a brainwashing power!”

“It's still a mind based power though.” The mare responded.

“Yes, but not a brainwashing one.”

"Gave me one hell of a headache though…" Dark said, glaring at him.

The knight raised a finger. “Ah! But notice how you still have full control over your body!” He flinched when the glare didn’t lessen. “Err… sorry, but I couldn’t really go too easy on you, you know?”

The mare sighed and turned towards Venom. “And I’m sorry for trying to kill you. I shouldn’t have gone that far.” She then glared at him behind her mask. “But if you ever call me stupid again, I will not stop until you’re six feet under! Got it?”

Venom shrugged. "We'll see."

Dark looked around. "So...now what?"

Shard coughed. “Now I just need to ask you a question. I should’ve done this at the beginning of the trial, buuut things are more interesting this way.” The robot smirked, rubbing the back of his head with the cannon arm. “Now… Mercy or Kill?” The bot asked quickly, grinning at the confused expressions.

"Don't you mean mercy or genocide?" Venom asked with a smirk, to which Dark sighed.

"When I have the choice, I'll pick mercy. Though that doesn't mean I won't beat someone within an inch of their life if they mess with my family," he added.

Shard nodded. “Alright, I accept your answer.” He then smirked. “Though I actually already knew it before the trial even started… part of the reason why I decided to start with a fight.”

Spyder-Knight stared at the robot confused. “...Weren’t you going to quote Undertale for the question?”

“I still don’t know what that is!” Shard answered.

The mare tsked. “You know how most humans are, they like to reference things that only other humans get.” She then smiled under her mask. “Not like my white knight.”

Shard clapped. “Alright enough chit-chat. We’ve kept them waiting long enough.” Taking out a small ring, the robot tossed it casually besides him. The ring expanded and created a portal. “Unless you have any questions, feel free to step on through the Warp Ring. It’ll take you to your next destination. You have just one last person to talk to… They’re the reason why we’re here and why you’re doing these trials.”

Dark nodded before he and Venom ran through the ring together.

The ring shrunk down and the portal disappeared. Taking a few steps forward, Shard picked up the ring and stored it.

“Soo… are we done now?” Spyder-Knight asked, taking off his helmet.

Pulling off the gas mask, the mare ran her hand through her messy green curly mane. “Man I hope so! I’m beat, even though we were fighting a younger version of him, Dark still packs quite the punch!” She tossed the gas mask over her head, letting it fall to the floor.

The knight hummed. “I’m pretty tired too.” He said stretching his arms. Mid-stretch, he turned towards the robot. “What about you Shard? Think we’re done here now?”

The robot stared at the wall, watching as it begun to fade away. His two partners took a step back in surprise before sighing dejectedly. Shard sighed, turning back towards them. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that we aren’t really needed here anymore.”

“Yeah… likely we’ll never be called up again…” The mare grumbled, glaring as the light engulfed her fallen plants.

The human frowned. “That's a good thing though right? Means we did our job, and it probably means that the world doesn’t need more wielders to combat the darkness.”

She scoffed. “Yeah I guess you’re right.” She crossed her arms and turned towards the bot. “Well, it was nice meeting you bucket-head.” Turning towards the knight, she flashed him a smile. “You too Dork-Knight, hope our real selves are all able to meet under friendly terms.”

Shard frowned at the name, before letting out a small chuckle. “Yeah, I hope so too. Maybe our real selves will be able to interact and form a team like we did.”

“I too desire that our real selves all meeteth! It was most exciting to be around thee all, even if one of us did possess quiet the sharp tongue…” He grumbled, ignoring the mare’s smirk. “I'm sure your true selves will all has't a most wondrous timeth together!” The knight said, pulling the other two heroes into a hug. “To the future!” The knight said, letting the bot go to raise his fist high up in the air. He laughed, ignoring the mare’s protest as the three of them faded away. The bright light engulfed everything, leaving nothing behind.

Author's Note:

And now this is posted. Not much to add to this besides more spoilers for Dark and Venom. Though I wonder if anyone will be able to figure out who those 3 really were.

Good morrow dear followers! Tis I, the noble Star709, co-Author of SiE! Here with another chapter, and the third part of this mini-arc! I doth desire that thee did enjoy the latest chapter. Please bid us thy thoughts on it, what parts did thee enjoy and what thee didn't so yond we can learneth from it and improveth! Also I really enjoyed writing for Spyder-Knight, and for some reason "Bonetrousle" kept playing in my head while writing his dialogue. Also I would love to know what you all think of the three new heroes, please don't be afraid to be honest.

Yeah, Star really enjoyed writing those three. Especially their interactions with each other. Welp, the fourth and final part will be posted by tonight. Hopefully you enjoy it.

-Dark

Star

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