With Great Power
Pinkie's eyes fluttered open and she woke with a start as a cold sweat worked its way down her body! Panting in horror, she quickly took in her surroundings. Something about them seemed off, they were too familiar. "Wait a minute! I know this place!" She thought to herself as her vision slowly expanded. She was sitting up in a bed, the sheets clumsily tossed halfway aside, various books and papers scattered about the floor with no rhyme or reason, and a closet that was halfway shut, to say nothing of a familiar mirror that lay at the other end of the room.
In short, Pinkie Pie found herself inside her bedroom from when she lived with her Uncle Al and Aunt Suzanne. But how did she end up back here? The last thing she could remember was finding out the true identity of Mr. Negative, and then it was if she'd gone to sleep. But a quick look at herself indicated that she wasn't wearing her spider costume and neither was it hung up in her closet. It seemed to have vanished, almost as if it had never existed before at all. "What's going on?! What am I doing here?!" Pinkie thought out loud. "This isn't right!"
Just then there came a knock at the bedroom door. A familiar voice called out from the other side. "Hey, kiddo. You awake yet? You've been sleeping for nearly half the day now. Your Aunt Suzanne and I are starting to worry."
Pinkie threw aside the covers completely and jumped up! "Uncle Al?!" She exclaimed, more in confusion than relief. Her Uncle Al was dead, wasn't he?
"Yup, that's me," The voice confirmed. "Sounds like you're awake. I'll tell your Aunt Suzanne to start cooking your favorite meal, a grilled cheese sandwich."
"But that's not my favorite meal. When did I ever consider that my favorite meal?" Pinkie thought to herself. "This has to be a dream or something. Maybe some kind of illusion or curse? But then, how come it all feels so real?" She shook her head, unable to think about those thoughts in great detail. She'd figure them out in due time. For right now, Uncle Al (or at least whoever was pretending to be him) clearly didn't want to be kept waiting.
Pinkie ate her meal in silence, taking in every detail of the stallion who appeared to her Uncle Al. It sure looked like him, even down to the thick black glasses, curly orange mane and tail, and bluish-green eyes. Not to mention a cutie mark depicting several playing cards.
When Pinkie had finished off the last bit of her sandwich and had swallowed, Uncle Al approached her. "Since it's a weekend and you don't have any homework to do, how's about challenging your favorite uncle to a game of cards? Crazy eights sound good? I got a feeling today's your lucky day."
"Did I travel back in time?! Crazy eights was the game Uncle Al wanted to play the last time I saw him alive!" Pinkie realized with shock. And she immediately blurted out. "Uncle Al, what's going on?! You're... you're dead! The robber... upstairs... he surprised you! You died! This... this isn't real!"
Uncle Al only laughed as he adjusted his glasses. "My my, sounds like you had quite the nightmare last night, kiddo. It's okay, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
"But... but I... Spider Mare... I couldn't save you!" Pinkie protested. "You're not really my Uncle Al! This is all a dream!"
Uncle Al let out a sigh. "Seems like somepony's been reading too many comics again," Then he adjusted his glasses once again. "I guess crazy eights isn't the right game to play. I think it's time I taught you a real game," He pulled out a deck of actual playing cards and not ones with goofy characters or colors on them. "Prepare yourself, because I'm going to teach you how to play gin."
The stallion proceeded to walk Pinkie through all the steps of playing, including how to knock and end the game. Pinkie reluctantly played along. It seemed like no one believed her. It was as if her Uncle Al's death and all that had transpired after it had been erased. Maybe she had just dreamt it all this whole time and not known it?
Uncle Al laughed as he put the playing cards back into the deck, shuffled it, and then dealt out a new hand. "Hey, come on, kiddo. Don't feel too bad about losing. Gin's my all time favorite game, I used to be really good at it. In fact, I almost made a career out of it."
The downtrodden party pony's ears perked up. "You did?!" When her Uncle Al nodded she was quick to ask. "Why didn't you?! You could've made a name for yourself, you could've been rich and famous!"
"Because, Pinkie, I met my darling Suzanne. And I came to realize that there were more important things in life than cards and playing games," Uncle Al explained. "Why do you think I'm always so fond of saying 'With great power, comes great responsibility'? It's an old saying that's been passed down in my family for generations, a motto we always strive to live by no matter what. I came to realize in that case that my special talent, my power if you will, wasn't to play games for my sake but to use the game to bond with others. There's so much ponies won't talk about directly, but you challenge them to a game and get them to relax, and they'll open up like your textbooks. Of course, I only use my powers for good, never for evil. I don't use it to uncover secrets about other ponies. If they don't wanna tell me about certain things, I don't pry."
"I... can't believe you never told this before," Pinkie commented. "All these times we played crazy eights and just chatted, I thought nothing of them."
The glasses wearing stallion just grinned. "Well, there's always more to everypony than first meets the eye. Looks can be deceiving. I suspect there are things about you that even I don't know, things that may not even be my place to know."
Suddenly, however, the peaceful mood was shattered as a loud crash came from upstairs!
Pinkie felt her body twitch all over, she recognized the signal almost immediately! No, it couldn't be!
Uncle Al didn't appear to notice how troubled Pinkie suddenly became. He just got up from his comfy chair and sighed. "Probably another kid with nothing better to do with his time than throwing rocks at windows. Whatever are today's youth coming to? In my day, we threw rocks at tin cans or turned them into snowballs and you never heard us complain."
Pinkie immediately leaped up, throwing her hooves around Uncle Al! "Please, don't go up there! Trust me, something bad's gonna happen to you!"
"Kiddo, nothing bad is gonna happen to me. I'll be perfectly fine," Uncle Al tried to reassure his niece. "You can't go through life being afraid of everything. Otherwise you'll never do anything."
"Please, let me take care of it! You just stay here!" Pinkie pleaded. "I need to start taking responsibility anyway."
"Well... I don't know..." Uncle Al began.
But Pinkie didn't bother to wait for an answer, she just rushed right upstairs! "This time it's gonna be different! Dream or not, I'm not gonna let Uncle Al die! Not if I can help it!" She thought to herself. She dashed up to the source of the crash, fully prepared to confront the robber that was to take her Uncle Al's life.
However, when she entered the room where the crash had originated from, to her horror she found that instead of the robber there was a gigantic monster that looked like a cross between a pony and a spider! To make matters worse it looked just like her, it even bore her Spider Mare costume! The hot pink coated mare stumbled back, stricken with dread! "But... the robber..."
"-Has been dealt with..." The pony spider hissed. "Think about it. It's our fault Uncle Al died in the first place. Not only did we fail to stop the robber, but it was because we took up that superhero mantle that he was even there in the first place. You think he would've bothered with the stadium if we weren't the headlining attraction?"
"No... that can't be! You're lying!" Pinkie protested.
The pony spider simply hissed again. "Come now, don't kid yourself! Deep down you know the truth. It's because of us that those around us get hurt. Pokey Pierce died, that Gilda clone became the Green Griffon, Diamond Tiara lost her birth mother and got that awful step mother as a result, and Venom and Carnage were allowed to free those prisoners. When was the last time we ever stopped a bad guy that we didn't create?"
Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks as those words sank in. It was true, she had created so many villains during her time as a "hero". She'd even gotten Cheese Sandwich tangled up in all of it, intertwining her struggles with his life. To say nothing of what happened to Starlight, let alone all those ponies at Town Hall. What was the point of being a super hero if all it did was cause others to suffer?
The pony spider hissed again, extending a claw out towards Pinkie. "Yes, that's it. Close your eyes, relax. Let the darkness take you, forever!"
But at that moment, the door swung open and who should stumble upon the scene but Uncle Al?! "She's not going anywhere!" He firmly declared. "You step away from my niece this instant you... you... whatever you are!"
"And what are you gonna do if I don't?" The pony spider inquired, still stepping forward. "You think your words scare me, old stallion?"
Uncle Al's eyes narrowed. "I may be old, but I still know a few moves! And I said step away from my niece!" At that he charged forward, tackling the pony spider head on!
The pony spider grabbed hold of Uncle Al, trying to halt his advance! "You weak minded fool! You don't know what you're doing! Pinkie Pie doesn't need your help!"
"Oh, I'd say she does," Uncle Al declared. And then he turned to face Pinkie. "Listen, I don't have much time. But this isn't real, none of it is. I was created as part of an illusion to trap you."
Pinkie gasped! "Then, Uncle Al's still dead! But, why are you telling me this? Why are you helping?"
"I guess I was created too well," Uncle Al replied to Pinkie. "In fact, I'll bet this is him trying to speak through me," And then he added. "You must always remember what I taught you. About the importance of great power. As long as you remember that, nothing can ever truly keep you down."
"Ah, such touching words!" The pony spider teased. "But they'll do you no good! Prepare to die!"
Uncle Al started pushing the pony spider back, getting closer and closer to the shattered window that led to the outside (and a long fall). "Come on, true believer! You need to get out of here while you can! Defeat Mr. Negative, and put an end to this before he can carry out his true plans!"
"But if I do, you'll be gone forever again! I don't want to lose you, even if you're just a projection!" Pinkie desperately pleaded. "Please, don't go! I feel like I just got to know you again!"
But Uncle Al shook his head. "You can't worry about that. Know that if any part of me was real, it was my love for you. If your real Uncle Al were here, he'd want you to continue the fight. And he'd tell you that a part of him will always live on inside your memories, and in your legacy as a crime fighter." And with that, he and the pony spider plunged over the edge, falling toward the ground! But they never made it, they simply vanished without a trace as the illusion faded completely.
For a moment there was nothing but blackness. And then Pinkie felt herself fall, as if the floor had dropped out from under her!
When Pinkie opened her eyes again, she found herself in her Spider Mare costume and back in Martin Lee's office. Quick as a flash she shot up, just in time to see Black Cat struggling against Mr. Negative!
"You have a high tolerance, it seems," Mr. Negative commented as he shot beams of energy at Black Cat. "But even you must succumb to the negative influences eventually, Cheese. Not even your wife could resist them."
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Mr. Negative!" Spider Mare declared as she stood up and struck Mr. Negative hard in the back, causing him to lose his focus!
Black Cat smiled as he slowly stumbled to his hooves. "Thanks for the assist. Looks like your hunch was more right than you knew."
"Hey, even I didn't know Mr. Negative and Martin Lee were two sides of the same coin," Spider Mare declared as she joined her husband. "But he's not the only one with a double life. And you know what they say about two heads."
Mr. Negative growled as he recovered, his eyes narrowing as they cast their glare on Spider Mare. "Impossible! No one has ever been able to escape the negative zone! You should've succumbed to your worst instincts, just as I did!"
"Sorry, Mr. Negative, but I'm far too positive for your powers to affect me. Light will always triumph over darkness in the end!" Spider Mare vowed as she clutched her hooves. "And now I'm going to save Martin Lee from you!"
"You fool! Martin Lee is nomore! Mr. Negative is all that remains!" Mr. Negative firmly declared. "You can't stop me! Any attempts to fight me are futile!" He proceeded to shoot energy blasts at Spider Mare.
This time, Spider Mare embraced them head on and started pushing them back even as she strained against the pain! "You're right, Mr. Negative. I can't fight you, not like this. Fortunately, I know of a way to force the battle onto my terms!" Just before she had pushed the blasts right into Mr. Negative she declared. "Hold on, Martin Lee! I'll save you no matter what it takes!"
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Excellent work on this chapter. The Papa Wolf moment by Uncle Al's projection was downright great and I greatly enjoyed seeing Pinkie escape the darkness Mister Negative tried to create and then help Cheese against Mister Negative in the physical realm.
All in all very good work on the action, exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places.
It's Pizza Time! e.e
9566036 Wrong franchise.