The Amazing Spider-Mare: A Long Way From Home

by SuperPinkBrony12

Sewer Surprises

The silence was broken up only when, at last, one police officer spoke up. "Well, I guess now we have no choice. We must issue an all points bulletin at once for a... lizard monster. No telling where it might have gotten to by now. Let's report our findings to the chief."

Another officer then tipped his hat as he said to Twilight. "Your majesty, we will do all we can to apprehend the monster. But you must understand that we may have to use lethal force. We cannot guarantee Starlight will remain unharmed. Our duty first and foremost is to protect the public," And he apologized. "I'm sorry to inform you of such a possibility. Rest assured, we'll do our best not to harm her unless absolutely necessary."

And with that, the police all left the scene one by one. Soon, only Twilight, Spider Mare and Black Cat were left behind in the wrecked lab. Alone with their thoughts and the wreckage left behind by Starlight's terrifying transformation.

Spider Mare could only shake her head from side to side. "I feared something like this would happen when Starlight told me about her research," Then she sighed. "Should've figured warning her wouldn't be enough to make her realize the danger. Now she's gone and turned herself into who knows what? Can't believe I'll have to fight another friend."

Twilight was quick to reassure her web slinging friend. "Pinkie, there's nothing you could've said or done to persuade Starlight not to go down the path she went down. She's a lot like me when it comes to science and research, especially when magic is involved. Once an idea gets into her head there's very little chance of stopping her. I've seen for myself how easily she can get carried away. Something like this was probably inevitable."

All the web slinger could do was hang her head. "Why do these things always have to affect the ones closest to me?"

Black Cat moved to put a hoof around his wife, offering her comfort and reassurance. "It's alright, honey. You mustn't take these things personally, it's not good for you," He soon added. "Right now, the best thing we can do is track down Starlight and see if we can't talk some sense into her still. Maybe we can get her to come back here, and together we can find a way to cure her."

"Guess it's worth a shot," Spider Mare firmly declared, before turning to Twilight. "By the way, Twilight. How are the repairs on the spidey armor coming along? Recent events in Manehattan showed me that I kind of need to have it on me at all times, just in case. I'm not sure how much use it'll be in this situation, but I'm not taking any chances."

Twilight frowned in response. "I'm afraid your spidey armor is still out of commission for the time being. Such is the price of cutting edge technology, when it breaks it takes a long time to fix."

Another long sigh escaped Spider Mare's lips. "Well, thanks anyway," Then she remembered something else. "Oh, I almost forgot! Could you maybe take a look at my web shooters? I think maybe that rapid fire option Starlight installed messed them up somehow. They jammed on me unexpectedly back in Manehattan, and I can't risk that happening again!"

The alicorn princess immediately trotted over, using her magic to pull back Spider Mare's gloves and inspect the mechanical, wrist mounted shooters that housed the canisters used to distribute the web fluid. She examined the shooters very carefully, even bringing up a magnifying glass to look at the intricate bolts and wiring that made the shooters what they were.

Spider Mare and Black Cat stood there in silence, waiting anxiously for news.

At last, the gloves were slipped back into their normal position as Twilight gave the results of her inspection. "I don't know what to say, Pinkie. Your web shooters look perfectly fine to me. I can't see anything wrong with them, inside or out."

"But that can't be!" Spider Mare protested with alarm and concern! "My web shooters couldn't have just jammed up for no good reason! They had to have been damaged somehow! There's gotta be something that explains why they stopped working when they did! I can't risk letting it happen again!"

The alicorn could only shake her head in reply. "I can see nothing wrong with your web shooters. Maybe it's all in your head. Just don't think about it and you'll be fine."

Reluctantly, Spider Mare tightened her wrists and curled up her hooves. Nothing seemed to feel off to her. "I... guess I'll have to take your word for it, Twilight," She agreed with a good degree of hesitancy. "Maybe I was just trying to look for an excuse not to have to go after Starlight, because deep down I don't wanna have to fight her. I don't wanna have to hurt a friend," She quickly and firmly declared. "But I've got no choice! I didn't become Spider Mare by not doing what needs to be done!"

Black Cat smiled. "That's the Spider Mare we all know and love! Glad to see you're all fired up," He trotted over to her. "Now come on! Let's stop talking and start doing! Reckon it'll be a while before the police get all the paperwork filed for that APB. Let's make the most of it."

Spider Mare nodded, and quickly got an idea. "I bet I know where Starlight went. There's only one place I can think of where she could've obtained lizard DNA," She grimaced and wrinkled her nose. "Can't believe I'll be going down there again."

"You don't mean..." Twilight began.

"-I'm afraid I do," Spider Mare ominously replied. "The sewers!"

---

Sure enough, Spider Mare and Black Cat found that the lizard tracks that started in the lab led all the way to a ponyhole cover, a cover that led down into the dark and murky depths of Ponyville's sewers. A place unfortunately familiar in more ways than one to both heroes.

Hesitant as she was, Spider Mare reluctantly pulled back the cover with her webbing and set it aside. "Really, the sewers," She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "You never hear about the Power Ponies wandering about in sewers, fighting giant lizard ponies," Then she added in a quiet, hurt tone of voice. "After the whole Venom ordeal, I'd hoped I'd never have to come back here."

Black Cat did his best to inject some humor into the situation. "Well, sometimes being a superhero means getting dirty. At least this time you're not taking the plunge alone."

The wall crawler slowly nodded. "Yeah, I guess that is one positive to all of this. Even so, we're really going to need a bath after this," Sighing and taking a deep breath, she steadied her nerves as she gazed down into the abyss. "No sense putting it off any longer. A Spider Mare's gotta do what a Spider Mare's gotta do." Then, slowly but surely she descended, using small bursts of webbing to keep from falling all the way down.

Black Cat followed close behind.

After what seemed like hours (but had probably only been a couple of minutes at best), the two heroes reached the bottom. Immediately, they felt their hooves touch the nasty, murky waters of the sewer as it flowed along without interruption. Already, the smell was overwhelming. And the only thing to take one's mind off it was the sound of dripping water coming from leaks in some of the pipes.

"Well, this place hasn't changed a bit," Spider Mare chuckled ever so slightly. "Don't know why I would've expected anything else."

"You really think Starlight would come down here in her current state?" Black Cat pondered. "Doesn't seem like there'd be much for her. The only company she'd have are the rats, and maybe an alligator or two."

Spider Mare couldn't help but giggle. "Oh please, not that old pony's tale again. Everypony knows alligators don't live in sewers," But then she noticed something odd on the ground in front of her. It appeared to be some kind of ball, and it was glowing a bright shade of green. She trotted closer to inspect it, which turned out to be a mistake when an insanely powerful odor assaulted her nostrils. "Ugh! Maybe I spoke too soon! Something left this behind, and I doubt it was a rat!"

"Never mind that," Black Cat commented as his eyes looked all around. "There seem to be markings of some kind on the wall. They look like..." He paused, trying to think of a good word. "Slime, or something."

At that, the wall crawler felt an ominous tingle crawling up her spine. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Cheese. I don't think we're alone down here. Starlight must've been doing other experiments while she was gathering that lizard DNA."

---

Just then, from the darkness emerged a trio of lizard creatures that appeared to be standing on two legs. They had sharp teeth, long tails and thick, brownish-green scales. Their eyes were almost a bloodshot red in color, and their tongues hung out of them as a green colored liquid seeped out from said tongues.

One of the creatures saw the two superheroes and let out a hiss! The other two lizard creatures promptly followed!

"Oh, I'm sorry, guys," Spider Mare apologized as she wrapped her hooves in webbing. "Am I late to the party? Guess my invitation got lost in the mail."

The lizards just snarled and roared in response.

Black Cat trotted forward, jumping in front of Spider Mare. "Sorry, guys. I don't speak lizard. Do you speak Equestrian?" He asked the lizards, and got nothing but hisses and snarls in reply. "Guess not. Then I guess that means talking things over is out of the question."

"Doesn't look like they're in the mood to chat!" Spider Mare replied. "Keep your guard up, these guys look nasty! No doubt, they're some kind of welcoming committee."

Black Cat nodded as he brandished his baton, swinging it around as one lizard creature suddenly tried to jump him! Black Cat swatted it back not unlike he was swatting down a fly!

As for Spider Mare, she soon found that her webbing couldn't do a thing against the lizards. Their thick scales and corrosive green drool dissolved her webs as soon as they made contact. "Guess I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." She realized as she brandished her hooves.

Together, the two heroes fended off the trio of lizard creatures, until eventually all three retreated back into the darkness from which they had emerged.

There was very little time to celebrate and get their bearings for Spider Mare and Black Cat, however. "There's gotta be more where those came from!" Spider Mare quickly concluded. "I'll bet my webs those lizards are trying to protect Starlight. They must think she's one of them."

"Boy do they have their wires crossed," Black Cat remarked. "Still, they were pretty nasty. Guess getting to Starlight won't be as easy as we thought."

"As if it ever is," Spider Mare frowned before she rushed ahead! "But nothing is going to get between us and Starlight! Nothing at all!"

"Spider Mare! Wait!" Black Cat shouted and rushed after his wife as fast as he could!

Author's Note:

And so it is that we now get into the second act, which primarily draws inspiration from the first episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series as well as much of the forth chapter of the 2000 Spider Man video game. Both feature The Lizard, and the latter involves mutant lizard men who are immune to Spider Man's webbing.

I specifically chose to publish the story with this chapter on this day because today is the official 60th anniversary of Amazing Fantasy #15. That comic was the comic in which Spider Man made his official debut, before he would go on to get his own comic series.

Comments

[Comickook]

Once more, the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up are well done. Appreciated Twilight looking over Pinkie's web-shooters before they went down into the sewers after Starlight, as well as Pinkie reflecting on the last time she was down in the sewers before Spider-Mare and Black Cat ran into that mutant in the sewers. Yeah, definitely getting pretty tense (very appropriately so).

Definitely going to be looking forward to more of this.