The Amazing Spider-Mare: A Long Way From Home

by SuperPinkBrony12

Seeing Double

Breakfast came and went for the crime fighting couple without fanfare. They knew they couldn't publicly discuss anything they'd learned, not unless they wanted all of Manehattan to know their secret identities. Nevertheless, the knowledge that somepony (or perhaps something) was deliberately trying to destroy Spider Mare's reputation did not sit well with either of them.

And indeed, the rumors were true, the royal guard were being called to help aid the Manehattan police department with apprehending and capturing Spider Mare. J. Jeffry Jackson could probably be thanked for that. Even though he probably wasn't involved in the scheme to frame Spider Mare, he was still all too happy to fan the flames and turn public opinion against the wall crawler.

Neither hero knew how they would even begin to tackle the enormous task of clearing Spider Mare's name. After all, this imposter had found a way to imitate Spider Mare's web slinging abilities and had been doing so for at least a few months (if not longer).

Then, suddenly, as Spider Mare and Black Cat were patrolling Manehattan from the rooftops, it was their good fortune to hear an alarm sound. Looking down to a street corner, they soon heard the sound of breaking glass followed by an unmistakable silhouette that bore a striking similarity to Spider Mare herself. She was fleeing from the scene of another crime with her latest prize: A similar looking cylinder to the one that had been seen in the photograph.

"Look, that's me!" Spider Mare gasped as she saw the impostor begin to flee. "I mean, it's not actually me but it's also not not me, I mean... you know what I mean!"

Black Cat nodded. "Yes I do," And then he asked his wife. "So, what's the plan? How do we catch... well... you?"

Spider Mare tightened her hooves into fists. "Whoever this impostor is, they don't know about you yet. So let's keep it that way. Stay on the rooftops and don't lose track of them," She proceeded to jump down to street level. "I'll catch 'em and make 'em talk! Worse comes to worse, I'll have you to help me ambush them."

"Well, alright," Black Cat reluctantly agreed. "Just be careful. No telling what we're up against." And then he focused his eyes on the two Spider Mares, hoping he wouldn't get them confused somehow.

As for Spider Mare, she took a deep breath and steadied herself. She was anticipating a chase. There was little chance the impostor would surrender willingly.

---

When the impostor Spider Mare rounded a corner but a second later, she came face to face with the last pony she would've ever expected to encounter: The very pony she was currently impersonating for whatever reason.

"Nice costume, looks just like me," Spider Mare commented to the impostor. "I suppose I should be impressed that you've gone to such great lengths to copy me down to the smallest detail. But right now, all I feel is disgusted that somepony is trying to make me look bad."

The impostor Spider Mare just groaned and growled. "Do you ever shut up?!"

Spider Mare snickered. "Sorry, it's part of my charm. Which you would know if you actually wanted to pretend to be me," Then the laughter faded as she trotted forward. "But I think it's time we put an end to your little charade! This game isn't fun anymore. Whoever you are, you're coming with me!"

In response, the impostor immediately threw a punch that hit Spider Mare square in the muzzle! Said impostor then took advantage of having caught her double off guard, and turned and ran away!

The real Spider Mare slowly stumbled to her hooves while thinking to herself. "Why didn't my 'Pinkie Sense' warn me about that?" But she couldn't dwell on that thought for very long, the impostor was getting away! So the web slinger held out her hooves and with a stream of webbing, she gave chase!

The impostor quickly did the same when she saw the real Spider Mare starting to close in on her! "Stay away from me!" She shouted in desperation!

"You can run, but you can't hide!" Spider Mare shouted back! "If you want a race, you've got one!"

"Fine!" The impostor wall crawler snarled. "Keep up with me if you can!" And the two Spider Mares began an unprompted chase across the back alleys and side streets of Manehattan, with the impostor trying to get away and the real Spider Mare hoping to close the gap.

Block after block the chase went on with no end in sight. Web after web and thread after thread, the two web slingers kept an even pace with each other as neither one could truly open a commanding lead.

Occasionally, the real Spider Mare looked up to see Black Cat desperately leaping across rooftops in order to keep up. "Just need to find the right opportunity to lure the impostor into a dead end." She thought to herself. When she did, with a little luck the impostor would be cornered and the chase would end.

However, without warning Spider Mare suddenly found that when she flicked her wrists to shoot a stream of webbing, nothing would come out! She tried again, and again, and again but nothing happened. "Uh-oh!" She said to herself as she had been in mid-swing when this had happened. And that was all she had time to say before she fell to the ground.

The impostor Spider Mare just laughed and taunted. "Slowpoke", she cried and then swung around a corner and disappeared from sight.

---

The web slinging superhero slowly picked herself up and dusted herself off. She was more dirty than hurt. Unfortunately, this unexpected crash had caused her to lose the race. Her doppelganger had gotten away.

There was little time to dwell upon this, however, as the sound of sirens in the distance alerted Spider Mare to something she'd been dreading: The police! She quickly ran to a nearby wall and scaled it, relieved to see that she hadn't lost her wall crawling abilities. So then, why had her other powers suddenly and inexplicably failed her?

Black Cat was waiting for Spider Mare when she reached the roof and pulled herself up onto it. By now, the sound of sirens was growing louder. It was only a matter of seconds until the police would show up to wherever Spider Mare had last been spotted.

But Black Cat was more concerned about what he'd witnessed during the chase between the two Spider Mares as he asked his wife. "What happened down there?"

"It was the weirdest thing," Spider Mare panted as she had to pause to catch her breath. "One moment I was swinging along like I always do, and the next my webbing just stopped coming out."

"Did you run out of webbing somehow?" Black Cat pondered.

Spider Mare looked down at her wrists and pulled back the gloves to inspect the web shooters more closely. "Unlikely. I made sure to top off all the cartridges before we left. And I didn't think I used up anywhere close to half dealing with that Mr. Jackson character. The shooters must've jammed somehow," After tinkering with the shooters for a bit, she let her gloves cover them up again and told her husband. "It's true though, a Spider Mare has been pulling off hi-tech thefts in the city. But not the Spider Mare, not me!"

"Who could possibly want to frame you?" Black Cat openly questioned with concern.

Spider Mare could only shake her head. "I don't know yet," She briefly looked down into the alleyway and added in an ominous tone of voice. "And if either the royal guard or Manehattan's finest get their hooves on me, I'll probably never find out."

Black Cat nodded. "Right, then we'd better split up again."

"Wait a minute, I can't believe this didn't occur to me sooner!" Spider Mare gasped as she then asked. "How do I know it's really you, Black Cat? How do I know you're not the impostor?"

"Honey, come on, did you hit your head or something?" Black Cat sweetly asked in reply.

Spider Mare breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry, just had to make sure. Can't be too careful."

Black Cat smiled and trotted forward, giving his wife a kiss. "I know, dear. I know," He then pulled out his baton. "Now, I'll try to spread the word about your innocence, not that I think it'll make much of a difference with the police. Good luck." Soon, he was swinging away over the horizon.

Spider Mare could only sigh and say to herself. "'Luck'? I'm gonna need a whole lot more than that. Never a dull moment in my life, it seems." Then, suddenly, she felt a tingling sensation in her head. And she knew instantly what that meant: Her 'Pinkie Sense' had flared back to life! The wall crawler quickly turned around as she heard the sound of propeller blades furiously spinning, and what she saw was enough to almost stop her heart!

Staring straight back at the web slinger was a heavily armored helicopter piloted not by the Manehattan police but by the royal guard!

"Uh-oh!" Was all Spider Mare could think to herself.

Author's Note:

The impostor's thefts and overall attempts to frame Spider Mare are drawn from the 2000 Spider-Man video game.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, really good job on the action, exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. So, Spider-Mare had her first encounter with her impostor (who is either this universe's version of Mysterio or this universe's version of the Chameleon [of course, if it's the latter, Chrysalis would be an extremely good candidate for that role because she already has the shape-shifting abilities and also as, even if she doesn't know Pinkie is Spider-Mare, Chrysalis would still love to ruin the reputation of one of Equestria's greatest heroes]). And, yeah, the impostor got away for the time being, but that's only for now. Now Spider-Mare and Black Cat are continuing the pursuit separately and Spider-Mare just had an encounter with a police helicopter.

And, onto the next chapter.

[Wild Stallion]

Staring straight back at the web slinger was a heavily armored helicopter piloted not by the Manehattan police but by the royal guard!

This whole chapter reminds of the PS4 game for some reason. It's distinct enough to still be interesting though.

Looking forward to reading the rest.