• Published 4th Feb 2012
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Spiders and Magic: Rise of Spider-Mane - Maximus_Reborn



Spider-Man is brought to Equestria for a second chance at life, but his luck may ruin his opportunity before it can truly begin.

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Heroic Rivalry, Part II

Chapter Four "Heroic Rivalry, Part II"

"A what now?" Peter said, fidgeting underneath Rainbow Dash.

She placed her hoof against his chest. "A hero-off! It's when two ponies square off in a series of challenges to see who the superior hero, that being me, is. Do you accept?"

Peter furrowed his brow and rolled his eyes, hoping it would avert the pony's gaze to which it failed miserably. Her colorful mane fell over his snout, tickling his senses, but he dared not to move, hoping to avoid provoking Rainbow Dash in any form. Her glare sharpened, resembling the tip of a knife, and it caused a bead of sweat to roll down the side of Peter's face.

"I'm not too sure this is a good idea, Skittles," he said, stammering once Rainbow pressed her snout against his own. He chuckled nervously, unable to resist the fresh, clear scent that continued to pour into his senses. "You smell nice by the way," he honestly said, mentally slapping himself inwardly right after. 'For crying out loud, Parker. Stop complimenting a horse.'

Her eyes widened and cheeks burned to a shade of crimson. She shook her head, brushing the compliment away, and brought her glare back into form. "Don't try to flatter your way out of this." Her brow furrowed at a late realization. "Anddon'tcall me Skittles. What does that mean any way?"

"It's a candy back in my world. 'Taste the rainbow' was the slogan. You're just as sweet and awesome so I thought 'Skittles' was a fitting nickname for you."

Rainbow exhaled, unaware her blush had returned. "Well, whatever. Do you accept the challenge or not?"

Still on his back, Peter gave the Pegasus a confused expression. "I don't know. Is there a point?"

"You bet there is! I'm so sick of the Spider-Mane bandwagon!"

"There's a bandwagon?"

"The whole town's talking about how Spider-Mane is the greatest thing to ever happen to Ponyville. There are billboards and everything!"

Peter's eyes widened. "Seriously? They like me here?"

"Like? Theyloveyou, and I know you're just relishing it!"

He raised his hoof defensively. "I didn't even know about..."

"And now you're going to rub my face in it!"

"Boy, is she high-strung or what?"Peter scratched the side of his head. "I would never..."

"Well, no one messes with my pride and gets away with it! I'll show you and Ponyville that I'm actually the better hero!"

"I think you're looking at the hero game all wrong. It's about..."

Rainbow Dash placed her forehead against Peter's, cutting his protests short. "So do you accept my challenge?"

Peter groaned inwardly. This was too much like home. An angry girl was impossible to talk to, and Rainbow Dash was setting a perfect example of that. She was too frustrated to talk with rationally now, but if Peter played his cards right, she may be willing to listen later. Right now, he could humor her and accept the challenge. It'd be a great way to see how much of his power was still present. His test run earlier was a success, after all.

His eyes filled with dread. There were so many ways this could go wrong. His powers could disappear and leave him in a dire situation, or he could tick off Rainbow Dash so badly that any friendship they had would be crushed underneath the dirty hoof of his Parker Luck. Considering his track record, the worst was bound to happen, but Peter let out a defeated sigh, knowing the choice was never in his hooves to begin with.

"All right, Skittles. Where do you want to meet?"


"First is the Challenge of Strength," Rainbow Dash said, flying over to a punching bag. "This one's easy. We'll both take a turn to kick the bag as hard as we can."

Applejack emerged from behind the bag and gave the pair a wink. "And I'll be the judge of this here competition. If ya'll can help it, just a simple buck will suffice." She glared at Rainbow Dash. "No flying, breakneck speed kind of kick, please."

The Pegasus scoffed but held her confident smirk. "Just a simple kick? Fine. I don't need speed to beat Scrawny here anyway."

Peter, in his Spider-Mane costume, walked over to Applejack and sighed. "Does she always get this worked up? I know I'm annoying, but I only managed to tick off the bad guys this badly back at home. Oh, and good old Jameson. The cops, too. I think I ticked off the Fantastic Four as well." A sense of dread washed over him suddenly. "Okay, scratch that."

Lifting her upper body and leaning it against the punching bag for support, Applejack gave Peter an open smile. "Don't worry about Rainbow. She's just not used to anyone stealing the spotlight from her."

"I wasn't trying to steal anyone's- I mean anypony'sspotlight. I was just..." Peter said before Rainbow Dash flew past him and knocked him over, cutting his protest short once again.

"Enough talk! Let's get this started!"

Peter forced himself back to his feet and let out a frustrated snort. He blankly glanced at Applejack, who offered an apologetic smile in return. "She's a sweet girl... honest."

"Skittles is about as sweet as a bag of lemons," he muttered in an unhappy trot.

Applejack raised her brow questionably. "Skittles? What in tarnation are those?"

"A candy back at home." Peter pointed his hoof at Rainbow Dash. "As well as her nickname."

"No! It's just a type of candy. Now focus!" Rainbow Dash yelled, causing Applejack and Peter to share a blank stare with each other. "It's about time I got this started."

"Okay... shedoeshave a sour side to her," Applejack giggled, resisting the urge to laugh out loud at Peter's stifled chuckling. She cleared her throat and gave Rainbow Dash a serious look. "All right,Skittles. Gimme your best shot!"

Her brow twitched involuntarily and her tail whipped to the side. Placing her front hooves on the ground, Rainbow Dash reared her body forward, raised her legs up, and threw the hardest kick she could muster. The bag pushed Applejack back, but she managed to hold it in place.

"The Applebuck system gives that an eight point two," she said, giving Rainbow Dash a friendly nod. "Ya'll must've been working out some. That's yer' new personal best, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Eight point two, huh? Let's see you top that, Spider!"

She flapped her wings and hovered over the bag, the confidence in her smile remaining firm. A simple kick seemed like a reasonable request, but apprehension took over Peter. In his human form, he knew he was strong, much more than the average person, and he knew how to pull his punches. To an extent, Peter even held back against the super villains he constantly fought against. He was not the Punisher, nor did he ever plan to be like him.

Rainbow Dash struck the punching bag with a nice kick, but Peter knew she did not have super strength. If he copied her action and kicked as hard as he could, even with his dwindling powers, chances are that poor Applejack may be sent past the horizon. He was still getting used to walking on all fours, so he couldn't perform a believable kick without using all of his strength. It was truly a lose-lose situation.

Peter walked over to Applejack and scratched the back of his head. "I'm not too sure about this. My powers are here one second and gone the next. If there's even a tiny chance that I can hurt you, I won't take it."

Much to his surprise, instead of hearing any ridicule, a smile formed on Applejack's face instead. "Aren't you the sweetest thing? I knew you were a considerate fella, but you still blew my mind with that one."

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was not nearly as pleased with his action. She folded her cannons and exhaled. "Oh, please. Just say you forfeit the strength challenge if you're afraid to embarrass yourself."

Applejack shook her head. "Now hold on, Rainbow..."

Peter raised his hoof to politely cut off the blonde's protest. "Fine, I forfeit."

In her brash manner, Rainbow Dash threw her hooves into the air and cheered wildly. As she proceeded to flex her muscles, Applejack walked over to Peter with a sad smile on her face.

"You didn't have to do that, partner."

"Sorry, but even though my powers are fading, I don't want to risk hurting you," he said, shaking his head. As the Pegasus danced in the sky, Peter felt a hint of somberness take over. "This is a matter of pride for her, but I'm hoping there's a way I can show her that heroics is more than strength and ego. It's more about-"

"Time for the next challenge!" Rainbow Dash yelled out, cutting Peter's sentence short (again).

Peter let out an exasperated groan. He started to walk away, but a hoof made its way around his shoulder before he could progress. Applejack pulled him into a friendly embrace, causing his face to match the color of his mask. The ponies in this world were extremely friendly, something he had only experienced from a select few back at home, and the worst part of it was that he found himself enjoying the attention. He glanced over at Applejack's emerald eyes, noting the beauty within them, but he mentally kicked himself, bringing up the obvious fact.

'She's a horse, Parker. A horse. An unusually cute horse, but a horse nonetheless. Well, I am too, but that's beside the point. God, this is weird.'

"Hey, sugarcube," Applejack said, breaking his train of thought. "You'll get to her sooner or later."

"I hope so." Peter's stare went blank while his thoughts trailed off."Oh, God... this is the Human Torch all over again."


"Next is the Test of Bravery!" Rainbow Dash said, pointing to the inside of a large cave. "Inside there is a sleeping dragon. Both of us will go inside at the same time, but the first pony to run away is the loser."

Peter's skin grew pale at the mentioning of another dragon. He knew he had to fight Discord's dragon again in a number of weeks, but during his leisure time, he hoped to not hear of, let alone see, another one. Slamming his hoof over his forehead, Peter could not contain his groan. This wasn't a test of bravery, it was a test of stupidity. For his sake, and more importantly Rainbow Dash's, there was only one sane course of action he could take.

"Can I just forfeit this challenge, too?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head and glared at the colt. "Oh, no, you can't. You are not going to ignore me this time. We're taking this challenge!"

"Yeah, right!" Peter planted his flank on the ground and folded his cannons promptly. "You can't make me do anything that foolish. So how about we- Why are you going inside?" He blurted out, seeing Rainbow Dash trot into the cave.

Mentally kicking himself, Peter sat still, hoping Rainbow would come to her senses and return, but after her bright blue image disappeared within the dark abyss of the cave, he hopped to a vertical base and ran after the girl, cursing himself for his unwavering concern for the well-being of others. He caught up with her almost immediately, but the pair stopped in their tracks for the dragon's body took up a majority of the cave.

Rainbow Dash flew over to where the dragon's head rested and hovered over its snout. Peter's eyes widened before he raised his hooves, frantically yet quietly motioning for Rainbow Dash to move away, but his pleas were ignored in the form of a simple tail whip. The dragon murmured in its sleep, causing both ponies to stiffen their bodies, but it only yawned and rolled to its side, earning a sigh of relief from Peter.

"Rainbow!" Peter whispered. "For the love of Pete, you're going to get hurt! Come on! Let's get out of here!"

She gritted her teeth in frustration. The very next second, Rainbow Dash flew over to Peter until her face was a couple of inches away from his. "No! Not until I prove I'm a better hero than you!"

"It doesn't matter who's better, Rainbow. There's a good chance youarebetter than me. You're probably stronger, faster, and braver, too, but that's not what being a hero is about. It's about doing what's right, and the two of us fighting for popularity is wrong."

Her gaze softened, sobering from his honest statement. "So you don't care about the fame or glory?"

Peter shook his head and chuckled. "Dash, if I was in it for that, I would have quit a long time ago. Like, a really long time ago. Everyone hated Spider-Man- I mean me- and when I say hate, I mean loathe entirely."

"If that's the case, why do you still try to be a hero?"

"Because..." Peter said but paused due to the ringing going off inside of his head.

He shoved Rainbow Dash to the side before a large set of teeth slammed into the ground where she previously stood. Spitting out the rocks and dirt he accidentally chomped on, the dragon growled at the strangely garbed pony that saved the rainbow one, opened his mouth, and lunged to bite him this time. Peter planted his hooves into the ground, raised his legs up, and threw the hardest kick he could muster, striking the dragon right underneath the jaw. The impact sent his scaly head crashing into the rocky ceiling before falling over in an unconscious heap.

"In the name of Celestia!" Rainbow Dash's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

The last time Rainbow kicked a dragon with all of her strength, she only barely annoyed it and was clobbered in return, but Peter, despite his scrawny figure, managed to deliver a single knock out shot. Her mind reflected back to Sweet Apple Acres. If he had done the same thing to the punching bag that he just did to the dragon, Applejack would have been literally knocked beyond the farm.

"Dash, can we get out of here? I don't want to be around when he wakes up," Peter said in a tone low with plea.

Snapping out of her daydream, Rainbow Dash nodded slightly.


A sense of peace filled the abode, but Rainbow could not bring herself to enjoy it. She sat at the top of the stairs right outside of Twilight's bedroom and watched Peter downstairs trying to place his costume in a backpack. Though the events of the day had passed, her heart still carried a twinge of guilt.

Rainbow Dash turned away while sadness filled her violet eyes. "Pete... sorry about earlier."

Peter pulled his head from the backpack with his costume still in his mouth. "Don' worr' abou..." he paused, spitting the costume away. "I mean, don't worry about it."

His frustration grew while he tried his hardest to zip the backpack with his teeth, but it would not budge, forcing him to find an easier solution and kick the bag underneath the couch. He glanced up at the Pegasus, who had not smiled since the incident in the cave, and sighed softly.

"Come on, Skittles. It's no big deal."

Her ear twitched at the name that was used, but when she turned to glare at Peter, her body betrayed her intentions, and she replied with a defeated smile. "You know what? Fine. You can call me 'Skittles' but only on one condition."

He raised his brow questionably. "What would that be?"

Rainbow flew from her spot and hovered over Peter. "You have to tell me the truth. Did people really hate you back in your world?"

"If I'm lying, I'm dying. I was declared a menace."

"I don't get it. Twilight told me you were the greatest hero in your world, but why would anypony hate a guy that helps them?" She pointed her hoof at Peter. "Why would you keep helping them knowing they'd only hate you for it?"

"Because I can't ignore anyone that's in trouble. The last time I did, something terrible happened, and I've never been able to live it down."

Rainbow flinched. For the first time, the brightness in Peter's eyes vanished, now filled with a darkness she had seen rarely- sadness.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

Peter shook his head, as if he realized he droned off. The light in his eyes returned, but he shot Rainbow a stern look.

"That's not important. There's a saying I live by, 'With great power, comes great responsibility.' That's why I try my best when it comes to heroics. It's not for the fame, glory, or pride, but because it's the right thing to do."

His words were simple at best, but Rainbow Dash could not contain her smile. At first, she feared Peter was egotistical, but after what had transpired today, she was open to admit that he was a humble individual. He went to great lengths to reason with her, even losing for the sake of protecting her well-being. Growing up, no colt had ever considered doing that for her, but Peter did it without a second guess.

"You know, I thought you were an ego-maniac. Now," she said, unaware her cheeks were a shade of crimson, "I know you're not. I even think you're kinda... cool."

Her eyes widened. Why was she acting so sappy all of a sudden? Rainbow shook her head madly and playfully punched Peter's shoulder, earning a smile from the colt.

"I need to go write a letter. After I'm done, we should have a race to see who's faster." She trotted over to the door and glanced back at Peter. His mane fell perfectly over his matching eyes, causing Rainbow's heart to skip a beat. She giggled. "This time... for fun."

However, before she ventured too far, a thought occurred to Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Pete. You said your old name was Spider-Man, right?" Peter simply nodded, causing the mare to give him a questionable glare. "That means you're a... human, right?"

Peter shrugged. "Well, Iusedto be... Why?"

Rainbow Dash gave no response. Instead, Lyra's eccentric face appeared in her thoughts, sending a sense of dread to wash over her.

"No reason..."


Dear Princess Celestia,

I've learned that being a hero is not all about strength, bravery, and glory. Somepony can have these traits, but they can just be a glory hound. A real hero is somepony who does what's right, even if they'll never be recognized for it.

As Peter told me... With great power, comes great responsibility.

I'm going to try to be a little more responsible from now on.

Yours truly,

Rainbow Dash.

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