Shortly after the arrival, and subsequent arrest, of the Rhino and the Green Goblin, Peter finds himself in a lucrative position at the Daily Bugle and despite everything that has happened for him, things are going well. That is until a new villain is in town and this time not only threatens the safety of New York but of the fabric of reality itself! It's all Peter can do to don his mask and defend reality itself.
Meanwhile, Princess Twilight Sparkle is getting used to her new home after the destruction of her precious library. She decides to come to terms with her new position as the Princess of Friendship and tries to figure out what her duties are and what they mean to her life now. So, how can she cope when a stranger literally drops from the sky, causing trouble almost instantly?
The city of New York was always bustling with activity. It was the city that never slept. No matter where you were or what time it was, there was something always going on. It may be a bit overwhelming to the more timid folks, but to Peter Parker it was amazing.
He swung through downtown Manhattan at incredible, yet nauseating, speeds. As he made his morning commute, Spider-Man spun and flipped playfully when he could. Even this early in the morning there were plenty of people on their way to work, some would stop and watch Spider-Man swing by in awe, annoyance or disgust. Mostly it was the last two ones.
Someone from the crowd yelled out, “SPIDEY, I LOVE YOU!”
Spider-Man swung down a little lower than usual, shouting, “I love you too random citizen!”
The crowd cheered as he called out to them and with a smile on his face he continued making his way through Manhattan. He had made his way to Time Square, aware that a news helicopter was right behind him as they got an overhead shot of the square.
Spidey looked at the screens as they flashed to the local news channel which featured Spider-Man in real-time. It was a bit odd to have these many people look up to him and respect him as a hero. There were a minority of those who disagreed with Spidey’s vigilantism but while they were the most vocal they were tiny in comparison to those who adored him.
It was nice but at the same time worrying. After all, the last two times he interacted with fans, one of them tried to kill him and the other nearly got hurt or killed by a mechanized rhino (long story).
Still, Spidey loved his fans and loved interacting with them. He’s made it his job to show up at comic conventions in his outfit to surprise people when they find out that he’s actually Spider-Man.
Spidey’s earpiece buzzed with garbled transmissions from the NYPD. He had cleverly modified his iPhone to act as a police scanner so that he could get a jump-start on crime. There was an apparent bank robbery occurring a block from here. Spidey swung and stuck to a nearby building and checked the time.
He groaned. If he went to help, he’d be late to work… More police chatter in his ear, talking about cybernetic arms and officers being thrown around like ragdolls.
Without hesitation, Spider-Man leapt off the building and made a beeline to the bank.
Dr. Otto Octavius swung his cybernetic arms and threw the police car at the officer. It exploded in a fiery blaze and the mad scientist grinned evilly at the inferno. Police officers scattered and took aim and fired. His cybernetic arms piled up in front of him, acting as a shield, and expanded to properly cover his entire body. The bullets harmlessly bounced off him.
One of his spare arms reached over to the left and grabbed a police officer. She yelped and was immediately disarmed. The sergeant ordered his men to cease fire as Octavius pulled the officer in front of him as a shield.
“Now then,” he said smugly. “I think that concludes our meeting, wouldn’t you say?”
Two of his arms went and grabbed the large bags of money behind him and he began to walk away, successful… a web got his face, temporarily blinding him.
“You aren’t leaving now, are ya? I just got here!” Spider-Man called out as he clung to the opposite building. Octavius growled as he pulled the webbing from his eyes.
“Spider-Man!” he roared.
“That’s me.” Spidey said smugly, standing up slightly and leaning against the building casually. “Who are you supposed to be? Robo-freak?”
“I am Doctor Otto Octavius!” he announced defiantly.
“You look more like a Frank to me.”
Octavius threw a car door at Spidey but he just dodged it and it bounced off the building, crashing into the ground.
“Otto Octavius,” Spider-Man repeated. “I dunno, bit of a mouthful. How about Doctor Octopus!”
“My name is Otto Octavius!” he roared.
“Nah, I like Doc Ock better!”
Doc Ock held up the police officer, one of his arms sprouted a dagger-like weapon and pointed it to her neck. The officer whimpered, looking helplessly to Spider-Man. Spidey held up his hands in surrender.
“Whoa, whoa, let’s calm down there, Ocky,” he said, descending slowly from the building.
“You prattle on and continue these games, Spiderman, and she will be the one to suffer,” threatened the Doc.
Spider-Man made it to the ground and was slowly approaching him. “Now, now, I know you ain’t that type of person, Doc.”
“Do not call me that!”
“So, just put her down and we can talk it out. Animal-based hero to animal-based villain,” he continued. The police officer looked Spider-Man in the eyes, although he wore a mask, she somehow knew what he was planning. Spider-Man whipped his hand to fire off a web, Doc Ock responded by stabbing at the officer but she was quicker. She elbowed Doc Ock in the face, causing him to hesitate enough, his robotic arms fell off balance.
His web stuck to the officer’s chest and he yanked her away from Doc Ock, catching her. The police officer was safe and her comrades opened fire on the criminal. Spider-Man held on to the woman and looked at her nametag.
“You alright, Anne?” Spidey asked.
Anne breathlessly nodded, hoping she wasn’t as red as she felt. “Thank you,” she managed to say.
“Just doin’ my job!”
Doc Ock had retreated up the building and onto the rooftop. Those arms of his looked tough, the police would have a hard time catching him. Spidey glanced at Anne’s watch. Agh, he was super late now…
“Gotta go, stay outta trouble, ya hear?”
Spidey webbed and swung onto the bank, scaling it quickly and made it to the rooftop before the police helicopters even got there. Doc was in the midst of escaping with only two bags of money, oh, he ain’t getting away.
He sprinted across the rooftop, webbing the very edge of it and using it as a slingshot to cover the remaining length. He shot at Doc like a bullet, tackling him off the rooftop. The two fell through the air, Spidey tried to pummel him but his arms kept getting in the way, grabbing and restraining him.
Before they neared the ground, Doc turned and forced Spider-Man to the bottom so he took the brunt of the impact. They crashed on top of a speeding train. Spider-Man groaned as they bounced like ragdolls on the roof of the train.
Spidey had to web the side of the train so he wouldn’t slip off and awkwardly scrambled to his feet. But Doc was already alert and snatched Spidey, his arms gripped his waist and neck and pulled him closer to the villain.
“You shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” Otto growled.
“You’d be surprised how often I’m told that,” Spider-Man retorted.
Otto threw Spider-Man off the train but he webbed the arms and shot back at him. He slammed into his chest, Otto would’ve fallen off if it wasn’t for his arms. Spider-Man connected with a powerful right and a liver shot but his arms were insanely fast. If it wasn’t for his reflexes he would’ve been knocked off.
Spider-Man had to dodge the arms including Otto’s actual arms. But he had enough of that. He webbed one of his arms to the roof and leapt over him, webbing another one of his arms to his back and his last two to each other.
True to his name, Spider-Man crawled all over Doc Ock’s body and webbed him up so tightly that even his super-powered arms weren’t enough to break it. Spider-Man swung off the train with Doc Ock in tow like a spider with a fly.
“Hey!” he called to Doc. “You got the time pal?”
“RELEASE ME!”
Spider-Man left Doc Ock hanging on a traffic light on Columbus Avenue and swung straight down to the Daily Bugle.
Peter Parker burst into the Daily Bugle, bedraggled and completely exhausted. His messy brown hair was even messier if possible, his hoodie and shirt was completely disheveled as if he got dressed at 30 mph (which he did). He shouldered his backpack and sprinted up the stairs.
As he ran up the stairs he ran through a list of excuses through his mind to explain why he was so late today.
Peter had finally been given an official position at the Bugle after months of working there. Apparently there was some sort of bylaw that prohibited Peter from working there for a certain period of time and being underpaid and not given an actual job. So with great reluctance J.J gave him a job with his own little desk and everything.
It was nice considering he was bad-mouthed by J.J about his job performance and Spider-Man. Considering he’s the only photographer in the entire city able to get a single picture of the famed superhero, J.J counted on him to acquire as many discriminating photos as possible.
Peter wondered if there was some sort of karmic law against him badmouthing his own alter-ego.
He’d finally reached the top floor and crashed into Mary-Jane Watson. The two would’ve went tumbling if it weren’t for his superhuman reflexes. Peter instantly corrected his balance, wrapped his arm around her waist and kept her standing. With his spare arm he caught the folders and binders she had dropped.
“Whoa!” she gasped as Peter smiled awkwardly handing her stuff back. “Nice reflexes there, Tiger.”
Peter let her go and stepped back, chuckling nervously. “It’s the coffee, ah, you know it winds me up that’s all.”
Mary-Jane took her stuff and stepped in, lowering her voice as she kept an eye on J.J’s office. “Then why are you forty minutes late, Pete?”
Peter fiddled with his camera (a recent gift from Aunt May considering his last camera was destroyed by a giant lizard, long story) and couldn’t meet her eyes. “My, uh, train was delayed.”
“You don’t take the train to work,” she remarked.
“Which explains why it took me forever to get in!”
MJ laughed which made Peter feel one part happy and one part guilty but she didn’t notice his default puppy-dog expression. “I covered for you, alright? J.J thinks you’ve been here this whole time, I told him you were in the bathroom with explosive diarrhea.”
“Really?” Pete smiled derisively. “You couldn’t think of something more mortifying than that?”
“Well, I was gonna go with wetting your bed, but I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
Pete couldn’t help but chuckle at how helpful MJ was being even if she went out of her way to embarrass him constantly. Since he had started working here, MJ made a beeline to him and asked for his help on her piece on Spider-Man. As mentioned he’s the only photographer that can get a clear shot of the Web-Head and MJ quickly took advantage of that.
MJ was an intelligent, insightful and very ambitious young girl. Vying to become one of New York’s top investigative journalist. She’d explain that she’d began her career the first year of high school, running around, interviewing teachers and students. Once she had exposed the principal of her school of embezzling money to fund his recent remodeling ventures he’d taken on his house. Granted, since it was a school in New York he only was able to get enough money to remove the carpeting in one room but still he was fired as a result.
Peter admired her and yet had reason to be wary of her. MJ respected Spider-Man enough but her hyper-inquisitive nature drove her to an almost obsessive need to oust Spider-Man’s secret identity. In her own office (which was a corner office compared to Pete’s tiny janitor’s room turned office) she had a wall of crazy in which she tries to deduce his identity.
Despite that, Peter felt if he revealed his identity to her she’d probably burst out laughing in disbelief. She was funny that way. MJ was around the same age as Pete but nearly as tall as him which meant that whenever they spoke, MJ deliberately tried to make herself taller by standing on elevated ground or even wearing heels, just to establish dominance. With fiery red curly hair and bright green eyes, attractive yet perpetually single for some reason. Pete supposed guys were intimidated by strong women.
“Still you better get in there, J.J is fuming,” she continued. “Apparently, Spidey stopped a bank heist and he’s trying to find another angle to make it look like he planned the heist himself.”
Peter looked over at the corner into J.J’s office and he was yelling at a few poor interns. Probably he’s telling them to come up with synonyms for conniving, scheming, bug-eyed Web-head.
“Alright, that’ll be fun,” Peter said with an awkward smile. “Listen, thanks, I owe you one.”
MJ waved her hand, still smiling. “It’s no prob, just take me out to dinner and we’ll call it even.”
Peter hoped his face wasn’t as red as her hair. “Uh, well, I-I that sounds, I-I mean that’s—“ He took a step back and bumped into a desk, nearly tripping over his feet and dropping his stuff as he continued to stammer awkwardly.
MJ furrowed her eyebrows and placed a hand on his arm. “Pete, you alright you look like you’re about to be sick.”
Peter recoiled at her touch and couldn’t meet her eyes. He couldn’t look at MJ without seeing her…
“Listen, I-I gotta go, J.J is-is waiting to tear me a new one and I can’t miss that,” Peter said in a panicky and worried tone. “I’ll talk to you later, MJ.”
Without waiting for her response, Peter turned on his heel and walked into J.J’s office.
J Jonah Jameson wasn’t exactly an intimidating man. He was average height, which meant he was shorter than Peter, with short cropped black hair but the sides were perfectly gray. He had a thick salt-and-pepper colored mustache and a thick Cuban cigar in his mouth. Peter heard an intern once explain that he had an oral fixation because of his smoking habit, he never saw that guy again.
He was always glaring and spoke at 100 mph and apparently never heard of an inside voice. To be honest, he could probably scare drill instructors.
As soon as Peter entered, J.J glared frostily at him like he spat in his breakfast.
“Parker! Where have you been?” he asked in a voice that was slightly quieter than a lawnmower on full blast.
Peter brushed his hair back awkwardly and approached his desk. “I’m sorry, Mr. Jameson, but I was just—“
“I don’t wanna hear your life story, Parker! Where are the pictures you promised me?”
“I emailed them to you this morning—“
“Do I pay you to just stand around tellin’ me what I get in my emails?”
“No, but—“
“That’s my secretary’s job! And by the way, those pictures were crap.” To prove his point, J.J pulled out a folder of a dozen perfect pictures of Spider-Man and tossed them on his desk.
“Well, what about this one?” Peter pulled up a picture of Spider-Man saving a kitten from a tree. “I think that’s pretty nice of him, huh?”
J.J scrutinized the picture for a minute, puffing out smoke like a steam train. “Fine,” he decided, handing the picture to an editor. “Put it on the front page, headline: Spider-Man Terrorizes Local Cat, Children Everywhere Cry!”
Peter wanted to protest but J.J raised an eyebrow. “What’re you still doing here? I don’t pay you to just stand around.”
“Speaking of that,” Peter said. “I was hoping I could get paid a bit more considering what I get now isn’t enough for even a decent meal every day.”
J.J laughed uproariously, slamming his desk and knee from his raucous laughter but Peter just stood there and stared at him. He stopped abruptly and frowned. “Fine,” he said, taking out a check and scribbling on it. “Take this to the girl up front.”
“Thanks.” Peter was about to leave but J.J called out again.
“Oh, don’t forget the benefit tonight, Parker. You and Watson are supposed to be down there by eight.”
Peter blanched. He stood there by the door, staring out the glass at Mary-Jane who was talking to a coworker, Eddie something. After that horribly awkward display, Peter figured MJ didn’t want to be anywhere near him.
Princess Twilight Sparkle frowned as the workers finished setting up the last of her bookshelves in the Grand Library. It wasn’t perfectly perpendicular to the adjacent bookshelf and it nagged on Twilight’s mind but she didn’t want to bother them after working hard for hours and hours.
Instead, she smiled and thanked them, silently magically levitating the bookshelf to its proper place. Since the conflict with Tirek and the destruction of her beloved house she had spent weeks restocking her books into her recently made castle.
Still it wasn’t all bad. Her new library was much bigger than her first one so she had more space for more books!
Twilight sighed as she put up a few more books. It was a nice place, very flashy and very big but it was too big. The place felt big and empty and sad when there was nopony else here. Even with the company of Owlicious and Spike it wasn’t enough since they had their own bedrooms.
Speaking of the perpetually curious and intellectual owl, he swooped into the room and landed atop his newly formed perch of crystal and sapphire and hooted a greeting at Twilight.
“Hello, Owlicious,” she greeted back with a smile. “I’m just clearing things up. Thank goodness Princess Celestia allowed us access to the Canterlot Library for second editions of the books we had before.”
“Hoo,” he agreed.
“True. It is only possible thanks to my meticulous cataloging and memory that we were able to acquire everything back and more,” Twilight nodded with a perfectly humble grin.
“Hoo.”
“Spike? Uh, I think he’s over at Rarity’s. Now that he has his own room, I’m sure he’d try to get her ‘fashion opinion’ on decorating it.”
The massive castle doors opened. Twilight turned, expecting Rarity and Spike but it was Princess Cadance, her lovely sister-in-law and former foalsitter. Twilight beamed and ran to approach the alicorn, nuzzling her neck.
“Cadance! What’re you doing here?” Twilight asked as she smiled up at her.
Cadance couldn’t help but smile back. Twilight was a princess with her own kingdom and an alicorn yet she still looked at Cadance as if she were her hero.
“Do I need a reason to visit my favorite princess?” Cadance answered with a warm smile.
Twilight giggled, hiding her blush with her wings. She led Cadance into her library and explained her day. How she personally overlooked the reconstruction program of her castle and how her beloved workers needed to be micromanaged because they simply weren’t getting her instructions.
“I mean is it really hard to get that I want the chairs to be perfectly 40 degrees relative to the center of the room?” Twilight asked. “It’s really not that big of a request.”
“Of course not,” Cadance agreed with a wry smile. “Perfectly reasonable.”
“I know! I mean—wait, you’re being sarcastic again…”
Princess Cadance giggled humbly. “Perceptive as always, Princess Twilight.”
The two shared another laugh as they ventured into the main Chair Room. Twilight called it that because that’s all that was in this room, a bunch of chairs. It was intended for all of the former Elements of Harmony but when it wasn’t occupied it was just empty and sad.
Cadance couldn’t help but swell in pride as she looked around the wondrous place. It felt like yesterday Twilight was crawling up her leg, demanding games to sate her boredom, now she had her own kingdom. She turned to Twilight to congratulate her again but the purple alicorn was sitting in the center of the room sullenly.
“What’s wrong?” Princess Cadance asked, approaching Twilight and draping her wing around her.
“Nothing it’s just…” Twilight sighed as she looked at the empty chairs. “It's really quiet here, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“This new castle, this new role, and everything that’s been going on,” Twilight answered. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I have these new responsibilities and all. It’s everything I’ve asked for but… It’s quiet, isn’t it?
Twilight gestured at the empty chairs. “I just didn’t imagine me being the Princess of Friendship without my friends. I understand that everypony has lives and homes of their own and can’t be here all day but do I really have to be here by myself?”
A somber tone thickened over the Chair Room. Twilight, with her head still bowed, began to sing in a soberly manner. “Princess Cadance, I know this is my responsibility—“
“Twilight!” The grand doors burst open and Spike an in with a great big smile on his face. He was covered in glittery wallpaper that hung off his tiny body like robes but it didn’t stop his running gait. “You’ll never guess what just happened.”
“Then what’s the point in—“
“Rarity said she’d be over later to help me decorate!” Spike all but squeal. “Oh, I’ve got to clean up. Can’t have my room a mess before we fix it up, eh?”
Spike romped off a trail of rose-red wallpaper following closely behind him. Before Cadance could remark on that, the doors opened up again and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew on in. The pegasi were also carrying decorative materials. Rainbow had a bunch of war armor and Wonderbolt paraphernalia, including the actual uniform the Wonderbolts first used when they formed. While Fluttershy carried stuff for her birds and pets like bird houses and feeding stations.
Rainbow rolled her eyes at Fluttershy. “For the last time, I’m not putting in a bird-feeder! Tank needs his own living space and birds scare him!”
Tank the ever vigilant tortoise flew in on his magical copter and nodded very so slowly.
Fluttershy looked hurt but smiled warmly. “I’m sure Tank simply misunderstood Mr. Hummingbird’s intentions, he didn’t know Tank wasn’t a tree.”
Rainbow draped her foreleg over Tank and hugged him securely. “He still has scars from your bird!”
Fluttershy apologized and stopped for a moment before Twilight. “Oh, hello Twilight, Princess Cadance. We were just coming in to help with the decorations.”
“Twi, tell her that it’s a bad idea to keep birds here,” Rainbow said.
“Hoo!” hooted Owlicious indignantly.
“You don’t count, Owly.”
But Twilight never got a chance to answer. Fluttershy gently answered for her and the two flew of to their room continuing their discussion.
Princess Cadance smiled at Twilight. “See, Twily? You are never—“
“Ah’m telling ya Pinkie, Ah don’t think ya can fit a trampoline through these doors,” Applejack said, entering in with Pinkie at her side. The two Earth ponies dragged wagons behind them filled with paint cans and brushes. Pinkie was even helping except sitting on her back was another box of confetti, banners and rubber chickens (what for, Twilight didn’t know)
“Aw,” Pinkie groaned. “Well then there’s only one solution for that!”
“Abandon that idea an’ go fer somethin’ more practical-like, like drapes an’ a doggie door fer Winona?”
“We’ll have to make the doors BIGGER!” Pinkie proudly declared.
The two approached Twilight and Applejack smiled sheepishly. “Ah don’t think Twi would appreciate you wreckin’ her house after she just got it, Sugarcube.”
“Well, I—“ Twilight tried to say but Pinkie zipped to her side, draping her foreleg over Twilight’s neck and hugging her close.
“Oh come on, just think about it. Trampolines in every room! You’ll never have to walk again!”
“Yeah, an’ th’ frequency of us gettin’ concussions goes through th’ roof. Literally,” Applejack deadpanned.
“That’s why we’ll get helmets!” Pinkie insisted as the two ponies continued their discussions and going up the stairs. A few moments later, loud drilling and construction noises rang out from their rooms. Twilight was silently worried over what they had planned.
“Well, I don’t think this needs any saying,” Cadance said with a smile. “But even if you ever feel alone, Twily, you never are. You’ve got so many friends, so many ponies that love you here in Ponyville, in Canterlot, in the Crystal Empire… That won’t change.”
Twilight smiled and blushed, looking down and feeling a bit silly over her concerns. “Okay, I understand.”
“You’re the Princess of Friendship,” she continued, hugging her. “The best pony for the job, if you ask me.”
“But what does that mean, exactly?” Twilight asked. “I mean, do I just go around, door to door selling books about friendship. Like, have you accepted Friendship as your overlord and savior?”
Cadance laughed at Twilight’s silly voice. “It just means you do what you do best. Show everypony the magic of friendship. You’ve already done a good job of it so far.”
Twilight nodded, thinking back on the crazy adventures she went through with her friends; the adventures that made her the Element of Magic, then an alicorn princess, then the Princess of Friendship. There must be something she’s doing right if she has this position, right?
“You’re right,” Twilight said, stepping forward and approaching her chair that glinted in the light. “Everypony deserves a chance to experience the magic of friendship. It isn’t especially reserved for just me or my friends, it’s for everyone. And I hope I can show them that…”
“You’ll do brilliantly,” promised Cadance. “I just know it.”
Peter was on time for a change. He showed up half an hour early in a suit only an Aunt could love. Seriously, she’s the one who bought it. Thankfully, however, she has some good taste which was nice since he was considering a regular t-shirt and jeans. He was wearing a dark blue pinstripe blazer with matching pants with a white dress shirt and a dark green necktie that was on so tight he was beginning to hallucinate from the lack of blood circulation.
Still he looked endearing like a puppy dog wearing a bowler hat and a monocle. It looked like he made something of an attempt to fix his perpetually messy hair and his dress shoes may have been scuffed and scratched up but you could only see them from a mile away and if you didn’t focus on how nervous he looked. He fiddled with his camera like a security blanket and looked around nervously as if expecting someone to kick him out on the grounds of looking poor.
The benefit was some expansion on Oscorp on the scientific front which was impressive given that the last CEO was recently incarcerated for being insane and the company nearly crumbled after that. Peter didn’t feel very comfortable here and it was not just because he had the social grace of a walrus learning how to pilot a jet, but being here just felt wrong.
Everything reminded him of Gwen, especially the small memorial set up at the front of the room done in Gwen’s memory. There was a large picture of Gwen surrounded by flowers and handwritten notes that said nice things about her. Peter’s heart felt like it was being torn out and stung by a passive-aggressive wasp when he realized that the picture was the one he took on her 18th birthday.
She was smiling like everything was right in the world, looking off to the side with an expression that said, Really? You didn’t bring any ice cream?
It felt like a cruel joke to Peter and he didn’t realize he was glaring at the memorial until Mary-Jane said something. She walked up and touched Peter’s arm, making him jump back slightly. She frowned at him, “What’s wrong, Pete?”
Mary-Jane looked amazing. She was dressed in the way models do when they want to blow somebody’s mind. A glittery red dress hugged her body, accenting her curves and womanly features that turned some heads. Her fiery red hair draped over her shoulders in regal curls which was outdone by her bright green eyes. As is customary with Mary-Jane she wore black heels so that she could beat Peter’s height by a few inches.
Peter realized he was staring and looked away, brushing at his hair nervously and hoping that his fly was done correctly. “Nothing, nothing, I was just waiting for you. I tend to get, ah, gassy when I’m trying to be patient.”
Mary-Jane smiled, looking like she could light up the dark side of the moon. “Well then, that’s certainly an issue. I won’t force you to be patient then.”
She laughed which made Pete laugh. “Thank you, I and everyone in this room appreciate it.”
She took a step forward and Peter tried to focus on anything but her. Dozens of people in fancy suits and sparkly dresses milled about around them, they look so bored that if a monster truck drove into this building they’d regard it with the same warmth and emotion as they would to corporate logistics. Still despite all of these people, Peter couldn’t help but feel claustrophobic. He understands the irony of Spider-Man being claustrophobic but try as he might, Peter was never really good with crowds.
He felt as though the walls were closing in on him. Nervously he loosened his necktie even as MJ began to speak, she said, “You know, I didn’t think you’d want to be here, with me after this morning.”
MJ didn’t sound like she was teasing him, her eyes downcast and a frown tugging at her lips. Peter wanted to reassure her but wasn’t sure how.
“No, of course I did,” he said pathetically. “It’s just things in my life… they don’t exactly allow time for, you know, dinner with anyone.”
MJ nodded, keeping her eyes to the ground and appearing unconvinced. Peter scratched the back of his head, this was a lot harder than he remembered. “… You look good,” he said weakly.
She looked up and smiled sheepishly, her green eyes sparkling like the sea after a beautiful sunrise. MJ tugged at her dress nervously like she was just beginning to become self-conscious. “Even if I wasn’t being forced here under penalty of unemployment I’d tell you that, it’s only fair. Here come on.”
Peter raised his camera to take a picture of MJ but she blushed and held up her purse to her face. “No, no, Pete, don’t take a picture of me—“
“It’s only fair,” Peter laughed. “Otherwise how else will I embarrass you?”
MJ laughed, still covering her face and taking steps away from Peter and his malicious camera. “Peter, you’re supposed to take a picture of the event, not me.”
“I’m the photographer, I think it’s my decision what I want to take a picture of,” Peter insisted, still trying to get a good shot of her. “Listen, if you’re worried about how red you look I’ll buff that out when I’m home, I’d do that favor for you.”
By now she was a laughing mess, her face was just as red as her hair and not solely from embarrassment. She moved her purse from her face and to her side. “You’d do that favor for me?” she asked in-between gasps. “So nice, Tiger!”
Peter snapped a picture before she could do anything and gleefully held the camera out of reach as she lunged for it suddenly. “Peter, no, why did you—“
He looked at the display and smiled, showing it to her. “Aw, you look like a wittle cutie-patootie.”
The picture was modest. MJ was smiling in mid-laugh in front of a glittery starlight room. Most people look weird when they laughed but either MJ was absurdly photogenic or Peter was the best photographer in the universe because she just looked perfect in this. Mary-Jane was about to try to take his camera again when a gruff voice called out, “Parker, Watson!”
The two stood at attention, MJ went over to Peter’s side and stood ramrod straight as Jameson approached them. They were both biting their cheeks to keep from laughing but it didn’t help that MJ continued to try to steal Peter’s camera with their arms folded behind their backs.
Jameson was dressed in a nice black three-piece suit with a bright white bowtie that made Peter wonder if he was about to rattle off a game-show showcase with Drew Carey or bust out a song from Les Mis.
“Oh, hello, sir,” Mary-Jane greeted with a polite enough smile but had to cover her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
JJ grunted as he fixed his bowtie. “Me neither, it was last minute, that’s why I sent you two, so I wouldn’t have to be here. Speaking of which, what’re you doing? Shouldn’t you be working?”
Peter held his camera behind his back so JJ wouldn’t see the picture he took of Mary-Jane. He wasn’t sure what to say to placate him, but again Mary-Jane came to his rescue. “We were—are, sir. Clearly, I was just discussing to Peter here about how much I hate Spider-Man. You know, with his daring-do, devil may care attitude, such a stuck-up.”
Mary-Jane scoffed to prove her point and prodded Peter in the side to get him to agree. Peter nodded, scoffing for good measure and rolling his eyes. “Yeah, such a horrible guy for saving people without the prospect of reward or fame.”
If JJ noticed his sarcasm or stopped listening once Mary-Jane mentioned Spider-Man he didn’t let on. Merely nodding as if she’d said something smart. “Well then, keep up the good work!”
He sauntered off, taking two cups of wine from the passing server and walked off elsewhere. Mary-Jane sighed in relief once he was out of earshot. Peter pulled out his camera and stared at it for a bit, quietly enjoying her laughing expression.
“So, Spider-Man, hm?” Peter said with a forced expression. “A stuck-up?”
Mary-Jane turned around and brushed her hair behind her ear. She made a face but looked Peter straight in the eyes. “Probably, I dunno. So far all I know is that he’s out saving people, I said all that to calm Jameson.”
Peter nodded but held a sad look in his eyes as he glanced at the tribute for Gwen Stacy. “That’s what he does… save people.”
They made their way into the main room. Mary-Jane wanted to ask Peter what he meant by his last comment but he made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about it. He kept himself preoccupied by taking pictures of everyone there, every time she asked him something about Spider-Man he’d pretend to be interested in his camera.
It was that quality of Peter that intrigued Mary-Jane. On the outside he was this goofy, perpetually late, timid guy but if you looked hard enough and saw past his silly façade you could easily see the cracks in his armor. The way he’d just look out the window sadly, just staring at the horizon. Or the way he’d get defensive and panicky when people brought up relationships or even if girls got close to him.
Even though they’ve been getting close for a while, Mary-Jane felt like she was standing at the edge of a vast ocean and the only thing she knows about it is derived from a single cup of water. It would’ve been easy just to turn around and leave the ocean alone but she wanted to take the plunge, to jump into the scary, frozen abyss. Mary-Jane’s ears turned pink as she remembered Peter’s compliment.
Peter didn’t notice, thank goodness, and kept his scrutiny on his camera taking pictures seemingly at random. Mary-Jane never really understood the appeal of photography, to her it was just taking a still of life, frozen in time. It wasn’t introspective, it didn’t overtly teach anything. But even she could appreciate Peter’s photography skills.
Every picture she saw of Spider-Man easily painted him as this masked crusader for good. This selfless hero who throws himself between danger and innocent civilians because it was right. Ironically enough, it was Peter’s photos that gave her this near-obsessive drive to find out Spider-Man’s identity.
It wasn’t even to oust him to the public but just to sate her curiosity. Just so she could personally thank him for his work and apologize that the burden has to fall on his shoulders. It seems a bit strange considering she’s at some random fancy-pants party for something she barely cared about instead of investigating the Web-Head. Well, when she heard that Peter was going to be here, Mary-Jane couldn’t help but volunteer.
There were dozens and dozens of people here; people from big name companies or stockbrokers or just general science geeks excited at the prospect of the latest scientific innovation by Oscorp, which had the resources and technological advances equivalent of China. It was quite exciting but Mary-Jane couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
Three major super-criminals came from Oscorp in just a year. You’ve got the giant man-lizard formerly Doctor Connors, the man comprised entirely out of electricity which was recently revealed to have come from Oscorp as well, then you’ve got the former CEO of the company in a decked out suit of armor and horrifically mutated.
It was quite reasonable to be a little on edge since it seems that Oscorp is literally at the center of every crazy thing that’s happened here. Well, as far as Mary-Jane knows they weren’t the cause of the alien incursion a while back but she’s got a few theories! Even Peter seemed uneasy.
Every time he wasn’t looking down his camera he had an expression of worry on his face, looking around nervously at anyone who approached as if he was about to fight for his life in a few minutes. Mary-Jane’s stomach growled mutinously and the sensation of nausea hit her like a badly worded metaphor.
She was starving. Mary-Jane was so busy with all of her work she barely had time to eat then she had to squeeze herself into this dress (lovely, by the way) and now she’s on an impromptu date. That spelled bad news to Mary-Jane. She was about to turn to Peter to express these concerns but he was grinning at her, holding up a shish-kabob to her.
“You look a little flushed,” he said, handing her the stick. Mary-Jane took it gratefully, studying it. It wasn’t exactly what she was pining for, but it would suffice. “You feeling okay?’
Peter placed his hand on her forehead and she blushed even more. He frowned as he removed his hand. “No fever…”
“Just a bit hungry,” Mary-Jane said, chewing her shish-kabob. “No time to eat these days.”
Peter nodded but made a face like he couldn’t believe she wasn’t able to eat properly these days. It was endearing that he was so worried about her. “Well, after this… do you maybe want to get something to eat? Something better than that shish-kabob.”
Mary-Jane had a hard time swallowing her bite of food. A server passed with a tray of champagne and Mary-Jane grabbed one and took a swig of it. Peter stood awkwardly, fiddling with his camera. “If you want, ya know. I’m just concerned with your well-being, that’s all.”
She waved her hand and placed it on his arm, making him jump slightly. “No, no, of course. I-I would love to!”
Peter smiled in a way that made him seemed way too much like a puppy getting petted. Mary-Jane had to resist the urge the pat him on the head. “Good,” he said, shuffling around. “That’d be nice…”
She was going to say something else but the lights dimmed except for center stage. The stage was slightly so it looked over the room. A large red curtain flowed behind it and a podium sat in the very front of the stage. A man appeared from stage right and approached the podium.
Peter began taking pictures of the stage… but something felt wrong. The back of his head buzzed; his spider sense.
The man lifted up his notecard and began to speak but a crashing noise erupted from the behind the curtain. Then there was a bloodcurdling scream. Everyone’s attention was directed to the red curtain which tore open as a large metal door was thrown through it and aimed toward the podium. Luckily the man was smart enough to roll out of the way as it sliced the podium in two and tumbled into the crowd.
Peter growled as Doc Ock appeared from the stage with his robotic arms carrying him. In his hands he carried a few lead-lined canisters. The radioactive isotopes that the Rhino and his crew attempted to steal months ago!
Three police officers ran up and pulled out their guns but Doc’s arms shot out grabbed them by the waist and tossed them across the room.
Everyone screamed and ran for the exit. JJ, Peter and Mary-Jane were the only ones who didn’t run. JJ was yelling at Peter to snap a picture, throwing a few nasty words at Doc Ock which may have offended him.
“Oh, look,” Doc Ock said with a sneer. “The great J Jonah Jameson. I’ve heard the only prospect your newspaper can get are paper airplanes.”
JJ growled and began to roll up his sleeves. “I’ll show you a prospect…”
Doc Ock’s arm shot out and tried to grab him but Peter was quick to act. He lunged, tackling JJ down just as the arm whizzed past his head and missed entirely.
“Peter!” yelled Mary-Jane.
Doc Ock turned his attention to the redhead but Peter stood up in front of her, arms extended. “Don’t!” he warned. “You’ve got what you want… so leave!”
“Peter, what’re you—“ Mary-Jane started but stopped once Peter gave her a hard look.
“Leave,” he continued, turning back to Doc Ock. “We can’t do anything to stop you.”
“True,” Doc Ock mused. “But that doesn’t mean you need to be alive.”
His arm caught Peter by the throat, choking him and lifting him up slightly. If it wasn’t for his physically enhanced body, he would’ve passed out instantly. Mary-Jane yelled something that was lost in Peter’s blood-filled ears.
JJ tried to charge Doc Ock but he swiped at him, knocking him across the room and slamming into a table. Peter couldn’t tell if he was alright but he was still breathing.
“Let him go!” yelled Mary-Jane. She took a chair, hefted it over her head and charged Doc Ock. It was an insanely stupid and brave charge but she didn’t even get 3 steps forward. He disarmed her grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up.
“Gladly!”
He threw Peter hard against the back wall which collapsed on top of him as he crumbled to the floor. Mary-Jane screamed in horror, but Doc Ock didn’t listen and trudged his way upstairs with her as his hostage.
Princess Twilight Sparkle scrutinized the readings that blinked to life on her Magical Mass Spectrum Scanner and frowned. They were jumping all over the place, sporadically going out of control, the last time she saw magical readings like this Discord was waking up from his stone prison. In fact, it was so chaotic, Twilight thought Discord must be behind it.
She sighed, deciding on making a visit to her least favorite spirit of chaos when she heard, “Oh, Twilight, ye of little faith.”
Twilight looked around for the source of the voice and noticed it was coming from her machine. The display screen blinked and a digitalized miniature Discord appeared right above her readings, lounging on the number 203, eating the number 7 like it was a hay-fry.
“I thought we had gotten past this whole ‘Discord is evil’ part of our relationship,” he continued, his voice sounded tinny and echoey.
Twilight frowned, adjusting her crown on her head. “Yeah, that was before you betrayed us and all of Equestria for the all-powerful, megalomaniacal villain that nearly won!... And stop reading my mind!”
Discord materialized beside her, still floating and chewing on a large white number 7. “I don’t need to read your mind, your thoughts are written all over your face.”
He waved his claw over Twilight’s face and words appeared all over it, he waved it again and it disappeared. Twilight maintained her frown, unimpressed by his magic. “Happy that you have your magic back?”
Discord beamed, smashing his half-eaten number 7 in his bear paw and when he opened it a tiny blue bird flew off. “Oh yes, I really must thank you again for getting my magic back. I felt positively nude without it! Did you get my flowers?”
He snapped his claw and a few thousand bouquets appeared all over her basement. Twilight scoffed, blowing a few petals off her face. “Well, you’re welcome but shouldn’t you busy with your community service?”
Discord frowned like service was a curse word for him. He snapped his claw again and the flowers disappeared. Sighing he draped himself over Twilight’s back, thankfully he was as light as a feather. “Oh don’t remind me. Celestia and Luna have me bending over backwards for my little… altercation.”
To prove his point he wrapped himself around Twilight like a snake, bending impossibly for his figure. But Twilight didn’t pay him any attention, that’s a good way to annoy him. “You should’ve been punished more severely, in my opinion. Your little ‘altercation’ nearly destroyed everything.”
“It’s all semantics,” he said, poofing right in front of her.
“It really isn’t.”
“And I was charged with taking care of Cerberus at Tartarus originally, but sweet, forgiving, Fluttershy suggested community service.” A yellow flag with Fluttershy’s impression appeared in his claws and a golden hat with a pink mane cascading down his back materialized on his head. “I was hoping you would show just as much compassion as her.”
Twilight pushed past him, levitating the paper report from her scanner and holding it up so she could read while walking up the stairs. “Even if I thought you deserved it, I’m busy.”
“With work,” Discord said with a sour expression, floating right behind Twilight. “And, in case you’re interested, I am not the cause of this magical imbalance. I am much too busy giving back to the community.”
An orange and black jumpsuit appeared on him along with iron cuffs and an iron ball was anchored to his legs. Twilight ignored him and left the basement. “I’ve got a few theories, then, if it wasn’t you. None of them are really good, the one I’m betting on was due to Tirek and his odyssey to destroy everything threw the magical balance out of whack.”
“Right on the money!” Discord said, clapping as a studio audience echoed around her, cheering and applauding. “Now, Gary, tell Twilight what she’s won!”
Discord struck a pose in front of a large white curtain with a number 1 painted on it. He was dressed as a gameshow host, a black suit with a comically large red bowtie around his neck with a microphone in his claw. Twilight walked right through the curtain, completely ignoring Discord’s antics.
The spirit of chaos sighed as he glanced at the camera and made a slicing gesture across his neck and everything disappeared. “Really, you aren’t much fun, princess.”
“Is there any way to repair this imbalance that you helped cause, by the way,” Twilight asked, walking up the stairs and heading to her observatory. “Will there be any negative consequences because of this?”
“I’m not sure honestly,” he answered, floating alongside Twilight in a lounge chair sipping lemonade. “The magical balance corrects itself, through time. It is quite resilient in that manner, even I was never able to alter it permanently.”
“You say that as if it’s sentient,” Twilight scoffed.
“I would’ve thought you of all ponies would’ve realized that,” he retorted. “As for negative consequences, who knows! It could be as small as your horn not working or as something major as an interdimensional, reality-warping tear in the fabric of space itself!”
Twilight glared at him. “But you know, I’m betting on the former than the latter,” he added meekly.
She sighed, shook her head, and continued on. “If there is a magical disturbance, I should be able to see it.”
“Why must you concern yourself with this? Come on down to Fluttershy’s cottage, we have tea and biscuits! Besides, aren’t you the one who was worrying over losing your friends because of this royal promotion?”
“Because it’s my job to worry about it. It’s my responsibility to help everypony whether it be showing them the magic of friendship like I’ve experienced or by defending them from any threats and—wait, how did you know about… Discord, have you been reading my journal again?!”
Discord smiled smugly. “Oh, look at that, time to go!”
He snapped his claws and he folded up, like a playing card, and disappeared with a pop!
Twilight rolled her eyes and entered the observatory. It was easily one of the biggest rooms in the castle, it was domed shaped with sparkling silvery walls and constellations covering the domed roof that was magically enchanted to change into different shapes of stars every hour. A large violet telescope encompassed the center of the room and was pointed out of the slit created by the roof.
She approached the telescope and took a look through, occasionally glancing back at her paper for reference and magically adjusting the angle of the telescope until she found the spot she was looking for. To anypony else it would’ve looked like just another patch of starry sky, but Twilight recognized the constellation Coperneighcus and the outline for the Horsehead Nebula.
This is where the magical distortion was the strongest. Perhaps she could come up with physical evidence behind her claims.
Twilight looked and looked but found nothing. She was about to give up when she saw a blue streak in the stars. It looked like plasma the way it ignited and cooled instantly in the hard vacuum. Twilight looked closer and saw streaks of red and blue lightning that accompanied the strange blue aura.
“That wasn’t there before…” she muttered, magically noting it without removing her eyes from the sky.
Then it came. An explosion that lit up the sky briefly in a fiery blue haze but disappeared as quickly as it came. Twilight could feel the magical shockwave resonating within her horn, it felt like every molecule in her body was being pulled toward that explosion.
She waited, watching that region of space so closely and intensely she could’ve burned a hole into it if she tried hard enough. But for five minutes nothing happened. Twilight tore herself away from the telescope and documented that strange occurrence. It might’ve been nothing but… Twilight’s gut instinct told her it was something potentially dangerous.
Twilight would’ve liked to stay there and continue watching but the hours dwindled away and as much as she hated it, she needed her night’s sleep. She left the room, went down the stairs, and into her bedroom modified to resemble her personality.
It was painted purple with starbursts decorating each wall. Silver stars crafted from metal and hanging from her ceiling. She had her own personal bookshelf directly in line of sight from the door. Her bed was pushed to the side as if sleep didn’t matter much and on her desk was a mess of papers and scrolls. Home sweet home.
She yawned, levitating her crown off and to the side as she got into bed and under the covers while magically extinguishing her lamp. She lay on her side and tried to drift off to sleep but that explosion was still etched in her mind. She wanted to investigate but how? She didn’t exactly have a spaceship in her closet.
Ah well, she can deal with that issue in the morning.
“It’s the end of the world!” a nearby vagabond cried, running around in circles as the chaos outside only grew.
The police had already gathered outside but it was too late. Doc Ock was already scaling the building, holding up Mary-Jane to him as a protective shield so they weren’t able to fire. Even if they could scramble the police helicopter in time, he would be on the roof already. Mary-Jane struggled, pummeling the robot arms but she may as well have been hitting a rhino.
“Again with Oscorp!” she grumbled as they neared the rooftop. Mary-Jane gasped as she saw what was up there.
It was the skeletal frame of a weird mad-scientist device. It was arc-shaped about 10 ft tall with a control panel right in front of it. Lights blinked and the device seemed to be operational but it looked like it was missing one key ingredient, whatever Doc Ock just stole from Oscorp.
How did he have time to set all of this up?
“With this… it will be complete,” Doc Ock said with a malicious grin, holding up the radioactive canister.
“It won’t work, this freaky experiment of yours. The police will stop you, Spiderman will stop you,” Mary-Jane said.
Thankfully he turned as she had planned. A deep frown creasing his already unattractive features.
“That bug couldn’t stop a runaway train much less me,” he all but spat. “You will see, the whole world will see my genius!”
“I’m not sure the world is ready to see that,” Mary-Jane muttered. “But oh, trust me. Once I give Spidey a call, he’ll kick your—“
Doc’s spare arm lunged, spike protruding from its claw, and stabbed Mary-Jane’s phone as she pulled it out. “You know, I’m beginning to grow weary of you…”
“Join the club.”
Doc Ock growled, arm retracting as if ready to hit her but then a spider web caught him in the face. Mary-Jane turned with a smile to see Spiderman crouched at the edge of the roof in all of his grandeur, strangely enough he had a backpack slung over his shoulders but she didn’t focus on that.
“Come on, Doc, that ain’t no way to treat a girl!” he taunted.
Otto tore the web from his eyes. “Spiderman!”
Spiderman leapt, dodging the first two arms and webbing them together as he flew toward them. “Yep, still me!” he yelled as he spun mid-air and kicked Doc in the chest. Doc Ock staggered back, dazed in pain, while Spiderman tried to pry Mary-Jane free to no avail.
His first two arms freed themselves and lunged at Spidey. Spiderman leapt, dodging the strikes but he wasn’t fast enough. It sliced at his side, creating a visible cut, he winced but kept going, charging the arm that held Mary-Jane to free her.
But Otto lifted Mary-Jane up in the air, she yelped and Spiderman leapt to reach her but he was pinned down by another arm. “Mary-Jane!” he yelled.
Spiderman shot another web at his eyes but one of his arms blocked it. He sneered at Spidey but he was already charging him. Spidey leapt and kicked the Doc right in the face and used his shoulders to jump-spring up to Mary-Jane but all three of his spare arms caught Spidey by the legs and arms and slammed him down at the floor.
Firing off two web-strings and caught Doc in the back and pulled him toward himself. The Doctor and Spidey tumbled and rolled, pummeling each other. During the chaos, Spiderman tried to tear off the arm that held Mary-Jane but was stopped at each attempt. Eventually, they tumbled off the roof.
Mary-Jane screamed as she was dragged along with them but Doc’s arms grabbed the side of the building, stopping their descent violently.
Spidey held on to his back and wrapped his arms around his neck, trying to choke him out but his arms grabbed him, pulled him away, and slammed him into the building. Before he could attempt another web-sling, his arms were pinned down.
“You think of yourself as a hero,” Doc said with a sneer.
“That would explain the skintight suit,” Spidey snapped sarcastically.
“Then watch as you fail!”
Mary-Jane was thrown by the arm and plummeting down to the earth. She screamed and Spiderman leapt to action. He headbutted Doc Ock so hard he fell off the building as well, only being saved by his robotic arms.
Spiderman braced and prepared to dive off the building after MJ… but he froze.
Time slowed down as he watched MJ fall. Spiderman’s heart pounded like crazy, his body felt numb, and he was paralyzed with fear. He looked at Mary-Jane’s face, she was so terrified… then he saw her. Gwen Stacy… the last moments of her life fading as Mary-Jane’s had.
Then he dove. He pushed off the building and shot straight down at Mary-Jane. His spidey sense slowed everything down, he could sense her velocity and how quickly she’d hit the ground. He could see where her muscles tensed and relaxed and he knew how dangerous his web-shooters would be.
With two hands, he shot out two web-lines that caught her at her waist and pulled himself toward her. He sensed how close the ground was at this point, he was running out of time. Embracing Mary-Jane in a tight bear hug, she yelped from the impact and hugged him back, bracing herself for the fall. But Spidey shot another web which connected with the building and it tensed, shooting Peter up violently and toward the building.
Protecting Mary-Jane, Spidey took the impact entirely and slammed with a thud on the ground with the redhead on top of him.
His entire body burned, his muscle lanced with intense pain, but he looked up at MJ. She had her face buried in his chest, half-sobbing, half-gasping. “You okay?” he asked weakly.
She shook her head. “T-thank you...”
She lifted herself up slightly, her eyes were red and tinged with tears. Spidey sighed, putting his head down, he wanted to just pass out there but he couldn’t. Doc Ock was still up there.
Spiderman stood up and helped Mary-Jane up. “You need to get out of here,” he told her, heading toward the window but Mary-Jane held his hand tightly, stopping him. Spidey turned around, she was frozen in place, tears ran down those sad eyes.
“The police are downstairs, they’ll be up here soon,” he told her calmly, placing his hands on her shoulders. “But you need to leave. Whatever Doc Ock is plannin’ it won’t be good.”
“Peter?”
Spiderman took a step back, recoiling in terror and fear. He wanted to argue and call her nuts but he realized she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the camera that was at his feet, the picture of Mary-Jane laughing clear on its display.
He shot a web at the camera and yanked it to his hand but it was too late. She knew.
“Peter is that you?” she took a step forward, her hand reaching his face but he backed up.
“Please, MJ. Get out of here,” he begged. “You can’t be here.”
“But you’re—“ she took another step forward but again he backed up, as if afraid if he touched her she would shatter.
Spiderman took off his mask, revealing the slightly bruised, crestfallen Peter Parker underneath. He held up his hands to her so she wouldn’t get any closer.
“Doc Ock is planning something big, I know it,” he said. “I need to stop him and you need to leave and get yourself to safety. Find JJ if he hasn’t already left.”
“But…” MJ said, eyes brimming with tears. “The police said Spiderman was with that girl, Gwen, when she died…”
Peter looked completely shattered, like if she pushed the issue he would shamelessly begin bawling in tears. “Oh my god,” she gasped, wiping her eyes. “Peter, I’m so—“
“If you want to apologize, do it outside,” he interrupted with a clipped tone. “I can’t let what happen to her happen again. So please, just leave.”
MJ looked conflicted and Peter thought she was going to continue arguing but then she did something surprising. She grabbed Peter and hugged him tightly, kissing him as much as she could in a 4 second span. She broke the hug, wiped her eyes and gave him a brave smile.
“Go get ‘em, Tiger.”
Peter would’ve stood there all day trying to remember his name but the building shook and the power went out and that snapped him back to reality. He slipped his mask on, gave MJ a nod and leapt out the window, webbing up the building.
It only took five minutes to get up to the roof but it looked like the sky was on fire. The clouds had darkened and gathered at the top, spinning like an axis, lightning flashed in streaks of red and blue and a pulsating tremor shook the building like a heartbeat.
Peter swung in from above and stared, awestruck, at the doctor’s creation. His little arc thing was activated and it pulsated with blue energy that sparked and arced electricity throughout the roof. Peter’s body ached as it remembered how painful it was fighting Electro.
Doc Ock stood in front of the arc and laughed maniacally. “I HAVE DONE IT!” he cackled. “THE TESSERACT WILL BE MINE!”
Peter webbed a piece of pipe and swung it at the doctor but his robot arm caught it. “Yeah, I made a potato clock in 5th grade, but I didn’t let it go to my head.”
Otto growled as he threw the pipe back which was easily dodged by the Web-Head. “This will be the last time you interfere bug!”
Peter swung and slammed into the doctor, knocking him back slightly. “Now that’s just rude. It’s arachnid to you, Octy!”
Two of his arms shot out like vipers and Peter jumped over them, webbing them together as he cleared it and landed on Otto’s back. “We’ve been through this before, honey. That evil stuff is a big no-no!”
His two free arms whipped around and tried to grab him but he dodged and web them to his back, like before he webbed his entire body and springboard leapt off him and toward the portal. He reached the control panel but nothing made sense to him.
“Haywire doomsday machine with a potentially hair trigger control mechanism that I have no idea to control,” he mumbled to himself. “Easy solution: Hulk smash!”
Peter slammed his fists down at the panel and destroyed it with one punch. It sparked and grumbled before finally powering down… but the evil portal was still on!
“Now what?” he asked.
Doc Ock roared as he broke through the webbing and slashed at Peter. His spidey-sense saved his life as he whipped around and dodged but he wasn’t fast enough. His arm slashed his chest but missed at grabbing him. Peter grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the Web-Head.
The two went tumbling over each other, fighting for dominance but Peter’s super-reflexes allowed him to perfectly pin him and web his arms again. “Tell me how to disable it!” he ordered.
“It’s too late!” Doc Ock cackled. “It is now self-sustaining!”
Peter webbed his mouth and sighed. “Well, that helps…”
The portal crackled and roared. Electricity arced from it and Peter felt ill standing so close to it. It felt like the portal had its own gravitational pull, like it was pulling every molecule of his body toward it. A rainbow spectrum of colors exploded from the portal and Peter’s spider-sense was telling him to run but it was too late.
With the force of a megaton bomb, the portal exploded. Heat washed over Peter as his vision exploded with rainbow colors. His body felt weak and he collapsed, like a giant hand grabbing his head and squeezed him unconscious.
The morning light spilled into the room through the thin, translucent, billowy curtains and onto Twilight’s face. She stirred in her sleep and woke up slowly but surely. Sitting up slightly, her mane stuck up in comical and ridiculous manner, flattened on one side like she lost a fight with her pillow. Her expression was dazed and sleepy, halfway between awake and asleep.
She blinked, looking around in confusion for a moment. Expecting to see the rustic, simplistic design of her bedroom set up on the second floor of the Golden Oak Library, she was thoroughly surprised to see the sleek, silver crystalline walls staring back at her. Her mind briefly fell into panic as the dreaded memory of that fight filled her mind.
The intense heat that blistered her skin, the shockwave that took all of the air in her lungs, and the adrenaline that pumped through her veins as she protectively wrapped herself around Owlowisicous’s tiny form and slammed into the ground. Since that day, she’s had that nightmare almost every single night. It was horrible.
Twilight caught her breath, trying to ignore how uncomfortable her damp coat felt. She felt embarrassed that she cried in her sleep. Twilight couldn’t even go back to where her house used to be anymore without bursting into tears. It wasn’t because she lost her home or anything; it was because she was so useless in protecting it.
Getting out of bed, Twilight wiped her forehead of sweat, brushing her wings off and stretching it to get rid of that icky feeling. The discomfort wasn’t enough to keep her in bed, she had gotten used to waking up after that nightmare after a few weeks. Granted, the very first time she had the nightmare she woke up in absolute tears. Thank Celestia there wasn’t anypony nearby who saw her.
“But I had, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight jumped as Princess Luna materialized from the shadows before her. Princess Luna appeared in her regal outfit and stately expression, usually it was hard to read her emotions but her eyes spoke volumes of concerns, as if she had experiences with nightmares.
“Pr-Princess Luna!” Twilight stammered, folding her wings back and magically fixing her bed, hoping that she didn’t look as bad as she felt.
“There is nary a need for worry, Twilight,” Luna assured her. “I have no concerns over your home’s present state, but merely have come here for a purely social visit.”
That didn’t exactly relax Twilight. Princess Luna radiated with power even without meaning to, it felt like standing next to an unstable nuclear chamber, that one wrong word would cause an apocalyptic meltdown. True, since her promotion to Princess, Twilight’s magical prowess has increased over time and since harnessing the powers of all three alicorns she has gotten a better grip on her own magic; but even still, she felt dwarfed by Princess Luna.
Princess Luna regarded Twilight kindly and sat down on her bed, patting the spot next to her. Hesitantly, Twilight took a seat beside her.
“It is quite a beautiful place,” Princess Luna remarked, looking around the castle. Twilight’s “room” was really a little attic area that overlooked the Grand Library. After years sleeping on top of bookshelves, Twilight only felt comfortable using a large tome as a pillow. “Certainly a place worthy for you.”
Twilight bowed her head, blushing. Whenever she got compliments like that, she always got embarrassed, it didn’t matter who it was from. Compliments like that just make her feel like she wasn’t worthy. Like, Wow, you stopped Tirek? That’s so cool! You’re awesome!
It’s like, well, Twilight was only doing what she thought was right, it wasn’t anything special and it wasn’t awesome. It was terrifying, every second during her fight with him she thought it might’ve been her last. But that’s why she did it. Because she’s the only one who could. If she had the power to do the right thing, then it’s her responsibility to do so.
Was that deserving of praise? Twilight didn’t think so. She looked up and noticed Luna was staring intently at her. Embarrassed she blushed again and was about to scoot away but then Luna wrapped her wing around her.
“I understand your concerns, Twilight,” Luna told her. “You feel you aren’t worthy of the praise and commendations you receive.”
Twilight nodded. “Because it isn’t anything special,” she said. “I was just doing the right thing. Anypony would’ve done the same.”
“Hmm.” Princess Luna looked across the room at Owlowisicous who slept in his little bed. “I do not agree, Twilight.”
Twilight frowned, raising an eyebrow. “What? Of course they would. Everpony understands basic morality, doing the good thing because it’s good. It’s really quite simple.”
“Then what of Discord?”
“That doesn’t—“
“Bravery in the face of danger is uncommon. The most natural reaction to danger is to flee,” Luna interrupted. “In fact, that reaction is perfectly fine. It protects everypony and keeps them safe.”
“Ponies aren’t cowardly,” Twilight argued. “They can fight and be brave, that’s their nature. Discord doesn’t count, he obviously isn’t a normal pony.”
Princess Luna fixed those dark eyes on Twilight. Her eyes were so motherly and so caring that Twilight had a stray thought that Princess Luna was a mother at one point. “To run, to flee like that, and to protect yourself isn’t cowardly,” she insisted. “It takes a certain kind of bravery to protect oneself, much like protecting others. Besides, your bravery against Tirek has underlying consequences, correct?”
Twilight looked down, ashamed and embarrassed. The Great Princess Twilight Sparkle has nightmares, it felt shameful. “Everypony has their nightmares. Their fears. Nopony is infallible, Twilight.”
“But it doesn’t make sense,” Twilight argued. “I… won. I beat Tirek. Why am I still scared?”
“You do not fear your victory, you fear your eventual loss,” Luna answered. “If one thing had gone wrong, just one thing, the outcome of your battle would’ve gone in another direction. That is what you fear.”
Twilight thought about it. She had a point. Those nightmares often ended with Tirek in complete victory, her friends captured and thrown into the endless primordial abyss of Tartarus while Twilight was forced to watch as the world she loves fell to chaos. Just thinking about it now sent shivers up her back.
“How do you know?” she asked.
Princess Luna looked at her straight in the face. Despite the magical glow that radiated from her, she looked so old and tired at that moment. “Because my nightmares are exactly the same.”
****
Twilight went downstairs and headed for the kitchen for a good breakfast to start off the day. She woke up relatively early today, an abhorrent fact for a librarian, and she wasn’t in the mood to go back to sleep. Princess Luna’s words still rang in Twilight’s ears. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel from Princess Luna’s confession. One on hoof it made her feel a little better that she wasn’t the only one who felt this way, but on the other hoof she felt completely guilty that she hadn’t considered it from Luna’s point of view.
Of course Luna would have those nightmares. She rebelled against her sister and was banished for a thousand years, something like that wasn’t going to go away so easily, even now. Twilight wanted to say something to encourage Luna but the words never came. Princess Luna seemed to understand Twilight’s predicament and stood, “This is not something you must endure by yourself, Twilight,” she had explained. “You have many friends. Though they may not understand completely, they are there. Do not forget as I once had.”
Twilight promised she would and Princess Luna disappeared in a mist of shadows. It felt like their entire conversation had been a dream but Twilight pinched herself, nope, she wasn’t dreaming. She considered Luna’s words but they still didn’t compute. The most default state for everypony was bravery, everypony had something they wanted to protect. Ponies were not inherently cowardly.
Still, Luna had been around for a very long time. Maybe there is some merit into what she said. But Twilight couldn’t accept that there were ponies who were fine with running away. She had more hope in ponies than that.
Twilight was so distracted from her thoughts, she didn’t even know her friends were in her kitchen cooking. Applejack looked at Twilight and a bright smile came to the farm pony’s face. “G’morning, Twi! Do ya fancy some—um…”
Twilight maintained her blank expression, like she was lost in a daydream, as she walked around the kitchen as if in autopilot. Magically grabbing a bowl and a box of cereal and pouring them, perfectly maneuvering around the girls as they were in the middle of cooking.
She walked around Rarity who stood by the oven with Pinkie wearing a jewel-encrusted apron, Twilight magically lifted Pinkie up and out of the way and the party pony giggled from the ticklish touch of her magical grip. Twilight walked in-between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash who were precariously carrying a bunch of cooking pans and pots without touching either of them. Finally, she approached Applejack, blinking slowly and deliberately as if she were in a trance.
“Twi?” Applejack asked, waving her hoof in front of the princess’s face but she didn’t respond. “TWI!”
Twilight jumped, eyes widened, and her wings popped to their full span, knocking Fluttershy off her hooves and into Rainbow who crashed into Rarity and Pinkie dropping pans and pots and causing all sorts of mayhem in their tumble. When the dust settled, the girls were sprawled on the floor, on top of one another, groaning in pain as icing had inexplicably caked their coats.
Twilight looked at her fallen friends and blinked in confusion. “How long have you guys been here?” she asked.
After they cleaned up the kitchen and redid their cooking efforts, the girls sat in the dining hall with their bountiful breakfast. Twilight sullenly chewed her pancakes.
“What’s wrong Sugarcube? Is a book character havin’ trouble?” Applejack asked.
Twilight shook her head.
“Yer lookin’ more down than Uncle Fritter when his chickens got into his brewin’ equipment,” Applejack continued.
Rainbow frowned at Applejack’s convoluted comparison. “Wait, what?”
“What Applejack is trying to say, darling, is you seem positively down in the dumps,” Rarity gently clarified.
“Yeah! I don’t think a ‘Let’s Cheer Up Twilight Sparkle and Welcome Her New Shiny Castle’ party would work!” exclaimed Pinkie, her face completely covered in maple syrup.
“I’m fine,” Twilight promised. “I’m just a bit tired from the moving.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Twi, half the stuff in the castle came with it. The other half was moved by mover-ponies.”
“She does look a bit tired,” Fluttershy quietly remarked. “Perhaps a nice nap is in order.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all morning,” Rainbow complained. “But you guys said—“
“Rainbow,” Rarity interrupted. “This is for Twilight, not to enable your languor.”
“Twi,” Applejack said, putting her hoof on Twilight’s. “What’s goin’ on, ya can tell us, ya know?”
Twilight’s cheeks warmed and a smile tugged at her lips. That warm, fuzzy sensation spread from her hooves to her chest. She saw the concern in her friends’ eyes, even Pinkie when she took a break from her pancakes. What Princess Cadance told her came to mind. That her friends won’t go anywhere, even with this grand promotion she would never lose them.
She smiled at Applejack and suddenly enveloped her in a warm hug. Applejack was initially confused but she was never one to refuse a hug, she squeezed Twilight gingerly. Rainbow crossed her forelegs and frowned. “Hey! Don’t leave us hanging!”
Rainbow took flight across the table and hugged both Twilight and Applejack. Fluttershy was the next to join, then Rarity and Pinkie, until an impromptu group hug was formed. The hug melted away all of Twilight’s worries and concerns, like the rest of the world didn’t matter at that moment.
After a few good seconds, they broke the hug and carefully watched Twilight for an explanation. She took a deep breath and counted to three. “I’ve been having these nightmares…”
Immediately, their expressions became more concerned and worried, Fluttershy looked like she was close to tears. “About my fight with Tirek. I can’t get it out of my head. I was so scared.”
Fluttershy fluttered in and gave Twilight a hug comparable to a vise-grip. “Aw, you poor little thing!” she squeaked into Twilight’s neck.
“How long have ye been havin’ them?” Applejack asked.
Twilight looked at her through Fluttershy’s mane but didn’t push the pegasus away. “Since I got this new castle.”
“Oh my,” gasped Rarity. “And here we were under the assumption that everything was alright.”
“Why didn’t you tell anypony?” asked Rainbow.
“I didn’t want you guys to worry,” Twilight admitted.
“So by tryin’ not t’ make us worry, you made us worry?” Applejack summed up.
Twilight nodded meekly and finally Fluttershy broke the hug and stared at her with those caring, loving eyes. “We’re your friends, Twilight. Whether you want us to or not, it’s our duty to worry about you and love you. You’d do the same for us, right?”
She looked at the girls and tried to protest but once she saw their sincere, kindly expressions she found that she couldn’t argue. Twilight nodded. “Of course.”
“We’re here to help!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “In any way possible!”
“Sweetie Belle once went through a period where she had chronic nightmares. My mother produced a lovely recipe for vanilla milk that helped her through it,” Rarity chimed in.
“We can sleep over if need be,” Applejack said. “Only hopefully, it won’t end like last time.”
She gave Rarity a knowing look and the fashionista blushed and nodded in agreement. Twilight felt a bit guilty about asking the girls to go out of their way for her but at the same time she really wanted to. So she grinned broadly and hugged Fluttershy again.
Spiderman’s entire body burned. Underneath his mask, his face was contorted in pain. One arm was outstretched and pinned down by Harry, his foot caught two shifting gears and kept them in place, Harry was tied up by the neck from his web and turning blue from the oxygen deprivation; finally, his other arm was pinned to the edge of the gear and gripped that spider web for dear life.
A number of scenarios ran through Spiderman’s mind. He was racking his mind trying to figure out another way to get out of this. There was always a way out! He could feel the structure they were standing on lose stability over time, it would only take a matter of seconds for the whole thing to collapse.
“Peter!” she gasped.
The web snapped. The gears exploded around him but miraculously it didn’t hit him. Harry was thrown back and slammed into the wall, unconscious, from the momentum. Peter got to his knees and watched as Gwen Stacy fell…
“So much misery in such a young soul.”
Peter opened his eyes but he couldn’t see anything.
Was he dead?
“Far from it, Spiderman.”
He tried to move his arms and legs but they didn’t respond. It seemed he could only control his eyes, which was good since if he got into a fight he could blink them to death.
“There will be no fighting here, young man.”
Okay, why can whatever this is read his mind?
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is you are here.”
And where is here?
“The Multiverse Betwixt.”
Right, that makes sense.
“You’re supposed to be clever, Peter. Really… This is the place between the universes. The beginning and the end.”
A light exploded in front of Spiderman that nearly blinded him. He blinked and squinted and what he saw was… really confusing. He was floating in-between a galaxy and a supernova, it seemed, but it felt like he was lying down. Images appeared like television screens around Peter. What he saw in there didn’t make much sense either.
One image he saw a pony wearing a bright red bowtie, white shirt, brown twee coat and a strange silver tube in his mouth with a green bulb on the end. Thing is, the pony wasn’t like a normal pony, other than the fact that it wore clothes. It was brightly colored in an almost cartoon manner. His curly mane was chocolate brown and his coat was a shade lighter than his hair. Strangely enough, there was golden hourglass tattooed on his flank.
He stood in front of a massive army of strange aliens and robots with a look of defiance on his face. The army marched forward like it was ready to execute him right there but hesitation rippled through the ranks. Even though they outnumbered him a million to one they still didn’t dare fire at him.
Peter looked at another image. Like the first it featured ponies but it wasn’t just one. The first pony was a costumed pegasus with a unicorn horn. The costume was pretty well-designed, to be honest, but it was really dark and depressing. It was prominently purple and navy blue with fancy cuffs on her (Peter decided her lithe figure indicated that she was a girl pony) hooves and a large purple hat on her head.
She was standing next to another mare who was tan colored with a black and gray mane. She was dressed like Indiana Jones with her green vest and archaeologist-like hard hat. Unlike her costumed friend, her flank was fully exposed and had a tattoo of what looked like an old-fashioned compass but the cardinal directions weren’t specifically named. The two of them stood on the street in a city much like Manhattan looking up at a solar eclipse.
No, that wasn’t the eclipse. A large thing was up in the sky, enveloping the sun like a snake curled up protectively. Peter instantly thought it was a snake but it just looked like one with its diamond shaped head with 3 horns protruding from the top. It opened up its infinite maw and swallowed the sun entirely, shrouding the world in perpetual darkness.
Another image had a pony like the first one except completely different, if that makes sense. The only similarity they had was their golden hourglass tattoo, other than that they didn’t look a thing alike. This one had chestnut colored hair that was spiked up in a crazy manner with bright blue eyes and a wild smile. He wore a red bowtie, like the first pony, but had a white shirt and a tight brown vest over it and goggles on top of his head. He was standing by a futuristic-looking console with a wide array of buttons and levers and switches and he threw them by random.
Peter didn’t understand what he was looking at much less why it seemed to consist entirely of ponies, but before he could ask the disembodied voice spoke again, “This is the Multiverse Hub Network,” he explained. “It connects the various parallel universes and keeps them in balance. Often times things can get a bit hairy and a few things can get… interwoven.”
Two images appeared in front of Peter. The first was of the first Hourglass pony he saw but this time he was standing in front of a city made of crystals and diamonds. The second was of an entirely new pony but he looked like a cross-between the two Hourglass ponies he saw before. Like the second Hourglass pony, he had a chestnut mane that was spiked up and a red bowtie but he was wearing a brown blazer and a white shirt that made him look like a professor.
The two images combined and brightened to the point where it was like staring into the sun. When the light faded the two images were there but were switched. The chestnut Hourglass pony was now standing in front of the crystal empire while the other was inside a dark corridor of mossy stone and cracked pavement.
“For some reason, you have entered here,” the voice continued and Peter felt an intense pressure wash over him. It felt like a million people were now staring at him. “This is unprecedented and frankly rude.”
Peter wanted to speak and say something smart like, Shut up, but he found his voice didn’t work. In fact, when he looked down at his body he didn’t see anything!
“Oh, no need to fret,” the voice told him calmly. “You are merely experiencing the sensation of being ripped apart in a million pieces so tiny that the only reason you aren’t being scattered throughout the cosmos is me.”
That was comforting.
“So, what to do…” he hummed playfully, like the prospect of someone being torn apart at the subatomic level was hilarious. “I’m not sure it would be wise to send you back, what with the magical balance thrown into whack. Hm…”
Just do it! Peter wanted to yell. He didn’t want to be in this crazy hub whatever-it-is, he wanted to be home with his crappy job and his less crappy college. He wanted to be with Mary-Jane and Aunt May… Oh god, Aunt May, what’s going through her mind now?
“Please, watch the language,” the voice chided. “This is a children’s program, after all.”
“Send me back!” Peter yelled, he recoiled back in surprise and even the voice paused from shock. He didn’t speak, per se, after all he didn’t actually have a mouth. It felt like thinking but it was more like yelling really loud in your head and it being projected out.
“Your mind is resilient,” the voice finally said in an approving tone. “Not as formidable as that cursed Time Lord, but strong enough.”
“What? What’re you—“
“There’s no way I can send you back without harm befalling these universes, including your own,” the voice continued. “There’s only thing I can do to ensure the safety of everything.”
“And what’s that?” Peter asked.
“Nothing you’d enjoy, I’m sure…” All of the other images disappeared and one was displayed prominently in front of him. It was the image of a simple village. Like the other things he saw, it was cartoony and cutesy like an over imaginative kid got a hold of a bunch of markers and went nuts on their white wall. The tiny houses and simplistic aesthetic felt foreign considering Peter was from the big city but one thing felt out of place.
A massive crystal-like structure loomed over the town protectively. It was beautiful as it glittered in the morning sun as the first rays of light caught the top of the structure and a rainbow bloomed, arcing over the village.
“Ponyville Prime,” the voice explained. “Ironically enough, this is the most stable of all the universes. You’ll fit in fine here.”
“No thanks,” Peter snapped, trying to sound brave. “Just send me—“
“I’ve already explained why I can’t,” he sighed. “Try to make friends here, Peter. I hope you like hay.”
Peter was going to ask what he meant by that but then his entire body burned. He could feel himself regaining a corporeal form and it felt like getting hit with 10,000 volts of electricity (trust him, he knows how that feels). Peter wanted to cry out in pain but it hurt so much he wasn’t able to, only letting out a weak yelp.
He opened his eyes and light blazed overhead with such intense heat he thought he would disintegrate. The last thought that entered his mind was the image of Gwen laughing.
The sleepover went as expected. Rainbow Dash and Applejack started a competition on who can build the best pillow fort only to be floored completely by Pinkie’s and Rarity’s pillow mansion. Fluttershy began on the s’mores and Rarity decided to help out. Applejack predicted that Rarity’s meticulous and perfection-driven nature would drive Fluttershy up a wall but oddly enough the two seemed to work well together. Within no time, they had produced immaculate treats that even Twilight had difficulty distinguishing which Fluttershy had created.
Once they had gotten around to the scary-stories portion of the sleepover, Twilight, once again, scared the living daylights out of everypony though she may have gone overboard. One particular story about a ghostly mare haunting the schoolponies who tormented her in school scared Fluttershy so badly she flew to the ceiling and took refuge up there only to be coaxed down by Spike at the suggestion of hide-and-go-seek. Pinkie and Rarity didn’t understand what a scary story was, weaving tales of running out of cake frosting and dresses spun completely out of proportions respectively.
Even Applejack’s scariest story was losing her precious apple crops to thieving vampire fruitbats to Fluttershy lament and embarrassment considering the last encounter she had with them. Rainbow was easily the most enthusiastic for telling stories but even she was unnerved by Twilight’s ghastly story-telling skills.
The cyan pegasus, however, wasn’t very enthusiastic for the make-over portion of the sleepover. Following her detailed checklist, Twilight suggested the make-overs as per the sleepover guidelines dictated by the authors of old. Naturally, they ganged up on Rainbow who insisted she was perfectly fine without all of that “junk” on her face.
Rarity, however, was adamant. “You have an enviable complexion, darling,” she said with the aristocratic air of a princess. “So, I shan’t disrupt that but rather emphasize and increase the effectiveness of your natural beauty.”
Rainbow eventually conceded to Rarity’s suggestion and the girls went at it. Within a few minutes of griping and complaining, Rainbow looked ready for a night on the town, they even fixed up her unruly mane. Rainbow wasn’t impressed but even as she frowned it was difficult not to appreciate her.
“You did it,” Rainbow grumbled. “You actually did it, you made me, me, look like a fool! Take it off.”
Rarity wanted to protest but one harsh glare from the pegasus and they eventually cleaned her up, ending the affair with loud, unadulterated laughter. Even Rainbow joined in on the laugh. They finally ended the night sitting beside a lantern, cuddled up in their sleeping bags, just talking and exchanging stories. It felt nice because it made Twilight feel normal for once. No doomsday monster threatening the whole of reality, no dangerous quest, just hanging out with her best friends.
“I still have no idea how Fluttershy managed to convince Princess Celestia not to sentence Discord,” Rarity said pointing to the esteemed pegasus who shyly bowed her head. “Personally, the scullion deserves whatever punishment the Princesses had in mind.”
“Exactly!” agreed Rainbow. “He did betray us, ya know.”
“Oh, I know—“ started Fluttershy.
“And nearly got Twilight hurt or WORSE!” chimed in Applejack. “Th’ little scoundrel deserved Tartarus.”
“I realize what he did was wrong,” interjected Fluttershy. “But if you really think about it. Without him, we wouldn’t have made it out okay. Twilight wouldn’t have achieved her key and this castle wouldn’t be here.”
“But it was his fault Twilight needed the key in the first place,” argued Rainbow. “If he had done his job like he was supposed to, none of this wouldn’t happen. Twilight would still have her house!”
“But perhaps this was meant to happen all along,” Fluttershy suggested.
“What do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy looked a bit uncomfortable being the center of attention but she took a deep breath and said. “Well, the reason we’re all together is almost like destiny, right? The chances of us getting our cutie marks at the same time and meeting up are astronomical.”
The girls looked to Twilight for confirmation. The princess nodded and sat up straight. “I’ve done the calculations myself. They are pretty much impossible.”
“I LIKE being impossible!” cheered Pinkie, running up and hugging Twilight. “Just call me the Impossible Mare!”
Fluttershy laughed softly but continued. “In a logical and just universe, we wouldn’t be friends, not like this. There is something connecting us all together, an unseen force, maybe, but definitely something. So, it isn’t too hard to suggest that that same force is responsible for Twilight getting her key and becoming the Princess of Friendship.”
“I do suppose you have a point,” confided Rarity. “The concept is a bit romantic, wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t like it,” decided Rainbow. “That just means that I don’t have any choice in the matter. That I have to let destiny decide everything for me.”
Fluttershy frowned slightly and looked down at her hooves to the count of three before looking back up. “I’m not sure it’s like that,” she said. “Perhaps destiny doesn’t decide everything, just the little things, like me falling from Cloudsdale and landing on a swarm of butterflies.”
“Or me encountering the boulder filled with jewels,” agreed Rarity.
“Or my nearly botched magic test that made me a student of Princess Celestia’s,” said Twilight.
“Or me seeing that sonic rainboom and deciding to throw a party!” cheered Pinkie.
“Or, hay, me seein’ the same rainboom that led me home,” Applejack said.
The girls turned and faced Rainbow who blushed from the sudden attention and smiled at her. “Your decision to race for my honor allowed all of us to acquire our cutie marks,” Fluttershy continued. “Destiny may not decide everything but it allowed us to become friends.”
Rainbow wanted to argue but the girls took the end of Fluttershy’s sentence as a cue to hug her suddenly. Rainbow was never one to refuse a hug but she hated when they would be all cutesy to defeat her argument, but she hugged them back anyways.
“Destiny brought us together,” Twilight said, nuzzling Rainbow. “And there’s nothing we can’t accomplish as friends!”
An explosion outside rocked the castle with such force the girls were jostled out of their group-hug and landed on their butts. It didn’t sound like a detonation, in fact, it reminded Twilight of a sonic boom. The Princess glanced at Rainbow who was shaking her head to get rid of her disorientation, nope, it wasn’t her.
“What was that?” Rarity asked, her face buried in Pinkie’s tail.
“I don’t know,” admitted Twilight as she got up and ran to the window. Looking up into the sky it was as starry and beautiful as ever, nothing really going on… Except that purple mass. It was a bright purple and blue thing in the sky. It reminded Twilight of the anomaly that occurred the other day, except this time it was opening up.
The purple mass stretched until it was shaped like a doughnut and in the center, where the hole was, absolute darkness remained. Not like starry night darkness, but it was more like a black hole. A burst of light erupted from that hole and shot down toward the planet.
“What in Equestria is that?” Applejack asked.
“A shooting star!” cried Pinkie.
“No, it isn’t,” Twilight muttered, feeling the same magical disturbance from the other day wash over her body only 100x stronger. Her horn glowed brightly and fizzled and popped, Rarity’s horn did the same thing and the fashionista yelped as her horn popped.
Twilight tried to conjure magic but nothing happened. She could feel the magic within her body rise up and prepare for the spell she wanted to cast but when it reached her horn it simply stopped. Panic rose in Twilight’s throat as the memory of her fight with Tirek popped into her mind.
“My magic!” complained Rarity, trying and failing to produce magic. “It’s gone!”
“Whatever that was, it ain’t good,” Rainbow muttered.
Twilight nodded slowly as the “shooting star” arced elliptically downward and slammed in the center of the Everfree Forest. The shockwave shook Ponyville but otherwise left it nearly intact. Twilight frowned, a celestial body crashing in the Everfree Forest would have a much more devastating impact, someone, or something, intervened so the collateral damage would be minimum.
“Come on girls,” Twilight said. “We have to check it out.”
It took them twenty minutes to run into the Everfree Forest, in spite of Fluttershy’s protests, and the girls sprinted right in. The enchanted forest was scary and creepy during the daytime but at night it was much worse. Twilight tried for a basic light spell but her magic was still down and she cursed under her breath.
“Why haven’t the Weather Patrol been deployed?” Rainbow asked, looking up at the skies in search of pegasi first-responders but nothing was up there.
“Whatever crashed disrupted unicorn magic,” Twilight answered, looking at Rarity. The fashionista nodded sadly as her horn sparked slightly. “The Towers must be down, they probably didn’t even sense that something breached the atmosphere.”
Rainbow looked disturbed by that news but kept her comments to herself. The Weather Patrol, while being the primary agency for meteorological activity in Equestria, monitored atmospheric disturbances not officially registered by any of their agents. Despite the amazing control the Weather Patrol had on the weather, deviations were expected. Freak storms and weather systems often drifted in Equestrian territory and it was up to them to either reverse it or stop it entirely.
But if they couldn’t see and intercept that meteorite… well, that didn’t exactly instill Twilight with confidence. They walked deep into the forest, Fluttershy was careful to warn the girls about the Poison Joke brush up ahead and then they found the crash site.
At first, Twilight thought it was just a small ravine but smoke plumed from the hole and stunk with sulfur. Twilight held her breath as she examined the crater. It was massive, easily bigger than her home, with the edges of the crater still smoking yet cooled quickly in the night air. The trees and foliage around the crater was slightly disturbed but the magical forest worked quickly to regenerate the damage.
Twilight looked over the edge, trying to see the bottom, but it was empty.
“There’s nothing here,” Twilight remarked.
“Really?!” asked Pinkie a bit too loudly. She zipped down to the bottom of the crater and yelled something back that was too difficult to hear.
“What?!” yelled Rainbow back.
Pinkie appeared right next to her, startling the poor pegasus. “I said, ‘She’s right, it’s empty!’”
“What could survive a crash like that and simply walk out?” asked Rarity, her voice quivering.
“Wh-who knows,” said Fluttershy, visibly shaking. “M-Maybe we should investigate in the morning. You know, when it isn’t so scary…”
“We need to keep going,” Twilight said to both Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s dismay. “Once we find out what it is, then we could go.”
“Th’ asteroid could’ve burnt up on impact,” suggested Applejack. “If it was small enough, the atmosphere would’ve whittled it down and the earth could’ve vaporized it.”
The girls stared at the farmpony, dumbfounded. “What?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Ah may not be a student of Princess Celestia, but Ah can read.”
“That’s entirely possible but I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling,” Twilight admitted.
The girls nodded, quick to learn that if Twilight has a bad feeling about something it’s best to follow that instinct. Twilight lead the girls away from the crater, continuing north and heading for Zecora’s cottage.
“Why there?” Rainbow asked.
“Firstly, to make sure she’s okay,” Twilight answered. “Secondly, the asteroid crashed scant meters away from her house. She might’ve heard or seen something.”
“Oh, I do hope Zecora is alright,” muttered Fluttershy.
“I do hope she took my advice on interior decorating,” chimed in Rarity.
They looked back and gave Rarity a look. “What?” she asked. “Her place could use more natural light.”
Finally, they came across Zecora’s cottage. It was virtually untouched from the last time Twilight visited. Nothing was wrong with the place yet Twilight couldn’t shake this feeling of dread. “Okay, we’ve seen the place,” Rarity whimpered. “Now can we go?”
“Let’s knock,” Twilight suggested, walking forward without waiting for an answer.
Approaching the door, Twilight was about to knock when she noticed something odd on the floor. There were hoof-prints but something else right next to it. It looked like something was being dragged inside by somepony, her Fetlock Holmes expertise drew her to that conclusion as dread filled her chest.
Twilight pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Zecora?” she called out.
Zecora was standing in the middle of the room, her cauldron bubbling in front of her and a confused expression on the zebra’s face.
“My, this feels like déjà vu,” Zecora said with a small smile. “Very reminiscent of when I first met you.”
Twilight blushed, feeling a bit self-conscious from her outburst and was about to apologize when Fluttershy gasped and floated forward. “Who is that?” she asked.
Twilight looked to where the pegasus was pointing to and she finally noticed the pony there. He was lying down, sprawled over Zecora’s couch and looked horrible. The stallion looked like he’d been in a fight for his life. He wore a red and blue form-fitting suit that was cut up and stained with dried blood. The parts where his fur was revealed were bandaged up. His mask was nearly intact except for the left side of his face where Twilight could see light brown fur and a chocolate mane poking through.
The princess’s eyes widened as she took a hesitant step forward. There was something drawing her to this pony, like he produced a gravitational force that she couldn’t disobey.
“I do not know, my dear Fluttershy,” Zecora admitted. “He is a strange pony, like rain, he fell from the sky.”
“Wait, he’s the asteroid?” Rainbow asked.
“Is he, uh…” Applejack trailed off.
“He is fine,” Zecora promised. “He is resilient and strong, he will be okay with time.”
“He don’t look so well,” Applejack remarked.
“That outfit has seen better days as well,” said Rarity.
Again, the girls paused to give Rarity an incredulous expression. “What? Somepony needed to point it out.”
The girls asked more questions about this strange stallion but Twilight wasn’t listening. She approached the stallion slowly, as if afraid he’d combust if she made the wrong move. That strange insignia of a spider on his barrel drew Twilight’s attention but it was mostly him. There’s something that felt off about him, like he shouldn’t be here…
She reached out to touch him.
“Twi?” Applejack asked, looking over in time to see her poke the stallion’s face.
Light exploded around Twilight and her eyes began glowing. Arcs of electricity shot out and zapped Rarity as well but it hadn’t harmed her. She yelped and soon her horn’s magical aura returned, her magic was restored!
Twilight squeaked as she shot across the room and crashed into Zecora’s kitchen. Zecora ran for the princess. Twilight was tangled up in a bunch of plates and pans, smoking still and her fur was singed but otherwise she looked fine. Even her horn glowed purple.
“Okay, I didn’t see that coming,” she babbled in a daze.
Peter’s head pounded. His mouth tasted like someone microwaved it and his entire body burned with pain. Other than that, he was feeling fine. He tried to open his eyes but sunlight streamed in through a window and blinded him, only adding to his massive headache. He kept them shut but he could hear voices softly speaking around him.
Where was he? The last thing he remembered was… Okay, that’s scary, he couldn’t remember anything from the last day. Did he hit his head? Well, given how bad his headache was, that was probably obvious. But there wasn’t much damage otherwise. He remembered who he was and his family and school and work, it was just yesterday that was fuzzy for him.
He only remembered a fuzzy image of a red-head…
“—Think we should move him,” a soft, gentle voice spoke.
“No harm will befall him here,” said another voice, female with a distinctive African accent. “And besides, Fluttershy, your home is quite near.”
Fluttershy? Peter thought, What a weird name.
“Still, I would like to look after him,” Fluttershy said, just as quiet and serene as before.
“Fluttershy, here he will not be lonely,” the other woman said. “Do not worry, my little pony.”
Pony?!
Peter’s eyes snapped open and he instinctively leapt high into the air, twisting so that his hands and feet adhered to the ceiling so he could get a good look at whoever was talking. The results… confused him. Bright, colorful ponies were staring back at him at awe. Well correction, one of them was a pony, her coat was honey-golden and her mane and tail were bubble-gum pink and wings sprouted from her back. On her flank looked like a tattoo of a bunch of butterflies.
The other was a zebra but she was only a little bigger than the pegasus. Her striped coat matched her large Mohawk and trimmed tail. She wore jewelry on her neck, bands of gold that stacked up to her head and some on her foreleg and earrings. Like the pegasus, she also had a tattoo of a Tribal Sun on her flank.
Great, Peter got hit so hard by Doc Ock he’s hallucinating now.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped. “Zecora… he’s…”
“I see,” Zecora muttered, staring curiously at Peter. “Please do not fear, colt, you can trust me.”
Colt?!!!
Peter looked down at his feet except… they weren’t feet. Instead stumpy little hooves replaced his hands and feet. Panic welled up in Peter’s chest, he must’ve been dreaming, yeah that’s it. Then why was he wearing his costume? Looking back at his body, his costume was still on him, it was torn up slightly and smelled like gasoline but otherwise it was fine.
“Oh God,” he muttered. “Please… tell me I’m not a pony!”
“You are,” Fluttershy said, suddenly appearing next to Peter. She was flying gently next to him, so silently even his spider-sense didn’t go off. “Come down from the ceiling, please. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Hurt myself—“ Peter’s hooves slipped off from the ceiling and he crashed in the middle of the room, destroying one of Zecora’s tables. Fluttershy winced as the stallion groaned in pain.
“Whoops, I’m sorry I didn’t catch you…”
Zecora was to his side, trying to help him up. “Did you think that was wise or cool?!” Zecora snapped, glaring angrily at him. “You could’ve hurt yourself you fool.”
Peter shook the zebra off and backed away. “Look… I don’t know where I am and who you are,” he said, trying to make his way to the entrance. “If you’re some kind of weird time-traveling alien, fine, but I… I just need to get home!”
“We could help,” Fluttershy said taking a step forward. Peter shot out his hoof to fire off a sling of web but nothing came out. He stared at his web-shooters which were still attached to him. They were charred black and sparked.
He took another step back but he winced as pain lanced up his right hind leg. Zecora stepped forward, one hoof up in surrender. “Please, you are hurt, your leg is lame. Let me help, what is your name?”
“J-just back off,” he said, trying to calm himself down but failing. Peter turned around and ran for the door.
It was only because of his super-reflexes that he hadn’t fallen over and face-planted yet. Peter ran awkwardly through the forest, stumbling and tripping over his legs like a baby giraffe walking for the first time, which, he supposed, was a surprisingly apt comparison.
Every time he threatened to fall over, his reflexes took over and instinctively protected him, preventing him from tripping. Despite his hooves and his horrific walking ability, Peter made it halfway through the forest before he could see the edge of a village.
“Wait!” Suddenly he was scooped up into the air, his hooves whipping around wildly. He struggled to get free but then he heard Fluttershy speak. “Stop… please.”
Peter looked up and noticed Fluttershy was carrying him, only barely able to fly with their combined weight. Her wings struggled to flap and they began to descend. “The… Poison… Joke,” she wheezed.
Suddenly a tingle on the back of his head caused him to swerve his body to the left. There was danger… somewhere. Left? Right? Up?
A hiss broke through the forest and a massive tail whipped up and crashed into Peter and Fluttershy. Peter screamed as they spun around erratically and fell toward the earth. Peter managed to look at Fluttershy as she fell, her eyes were closed, her body was limp and her right wing was twisted awkwardly, was it broken? A surge of protective instinct pumped through Peter’s body. He stretched his left hoof out but again the web didn’t come out. Cursing, he examined the web-shooter, unlike the other one this one was perfectly intact! But since he couldn’t do the gesture anymore to activate them it didn’t help much.
Peter slammed his free hoof into the webshooter’s manual extract button and a web shot out and stuck to Fluttershy’s body. He yanked her toward him, embraced her and turned around so she was on top and he’d absorb the impact.
The two broke through the trees, destroying them as they crashed down and down through what felt like a million branches until they stopped by a murky lake. Peter groaned and blinked the black spots from his vision. Fluttershy was still on top. Twigs and leaves were stuck in her once beautiful mane that was now just a rat’s nest, her coat was a mess as well and there was a cut on her right cheek, but she was breathing.
Gently, Peter set Fluttershy down, careful to mind her wing, and felt her heartbeat. Then he cursed as his hooves weren’t as sensitive as his own fingers were or maybe they were too sensitive, Peter’s own erratic heartbeat merely brought confusion to his senses. So, instead, Peter put his ear against Fluttershy’s chest to listen to her pulse.
A bit spikey but otherwise fine. Whew, she’ll be okay.
Peter looked around, what was the thing that knocked them out of the sky? It felt like a dinosaur’s tail but that wasn’t possible, right? Peter looked down at his hooves and scoffed, if he could turn into a pony, maybe these guys had dinosaurs wherever they are.
His spidey-sense buzzed, this time going absolutely nuts. Peter looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the danger but the trees around them were so thick and twisted and curved unnaturally that it was hard to tell where the town was.
Then the lake moved.
A massive brown structure the size of a small house rose from the lake… No, it wasn’t a lake. As it rose, the water rolled off its back and onto the trees, it was crystal blue. The water wasn’t dirty, it was reflecting this creature’s brown skin…
Peter watched with horror as something out of his nightmares rose from the ground and hissed at him with four heads. A Hydra blinked each head and shook itself off as if it had just woken up from a really good nap.
It fixed its red eyes on Peter and the masked hero whimpered heroically.
“Good Hydra…” he said cautiously. “Friendly Hydra…”
One of the Hydra’s head spat out toxic sludge at Peter. He grabbed Fluttershy and jumped to the right as far as he could. Good news is, he dodged the poison, bad news is he misjudged how powerful his new legs were and dove into the forest, slamming into a tree by accident. Worse news, he hurt his hind-leg even more and Fluttershy woke up and yelped in pain, grabbing her wing.
“O-ow!” she cried, tears welling up in her eyes. “M-my wing!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said, trying to stand up and calm her down so she could stop crying. “Just… shh! There’s a Hydra out there!”
“A Hydra?” Fluttershy repeated. “Oh no, if he woke up from his nap he’s going to be really grumpy. I prefer him when he’s not so grump.”
“What?” Peter asked, still whispering. He felt her forehead for a fever. Nope. Perfectly fine, but why is she talking about Game Grumps now?
The Hydra roared and with its massive claws it swiped at the forest. Peter leapt on top of Fluttershy and covered her with his body. “Watch out!” he yelled as broken pieces of trees and branches landed on top of him.
The destruction ceased and Peter broke through the debris that covered him. The Hydra was still there, all four of its heads looking for him. Suddenly, it spotted the village to the north and Peter cursed. “If that thing gets to the village…”
“There you are!” Zecora said, running toward them. She looked a bit angry but relieved that they were fine. “What happened? What have you done, Stranger, you are too dangerous; a wild card!”
Peter shook his head. “The Hydra just randomly attacked us!”
“If only you didn’t run,” Zecora hissed as venomously as the Hydra. “Now Fluttershy is hurt, look her wing might be done!”
Zecora pulled out a round canister from her bags. That’s when Peter realized she had saddlebags on her back, yep, things couldn’t get weirder. Zecora opened it up and dabbed the paste into her hooves and on Fluttershy’s busted wing. Fluttershy yelped and whimpered, tears running down her face but she didn’t cry out, which he thought was immensely brave for someone so shy.
“I-I was saving him from the Poison J-Joke,” Fluttershy tried to explain. “He would’ve w-walked into—“
“Be still my brave filly,” Zecora said, gently shushing her. “No more talk, don’t be silly.”
Peter looked down where the Hydra went, it was now lumbering toward the town probably would take a minute or so to reach there. Peter cursed under his breath. “Listen, Zecora, or whatever your name is, take care of Fluttershy. I’ll go try to stop that Hydra.”
Zecora scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. “You? You cannot stop a Hydra that size, little colt. Wait for help, I’ll call the Wonderbolts.”
Peter wondered if the Wonderbolts were like the police for these ponies but kept his comments to himself. He adjusted the mask on his face, making sure it wouldn’t slip off, and checked his functioning webshooter. His hind-leg still ached but it was healing now, so it should be fine.
Stretching out his hoof, he shot a web that perfectly connected with a nearby tree, then he leapt and charged toward the Hydra one web at a time.
Swinging around with hooves instead of hands made life pretty difficult for Peter. Still he gave it his best shot as he swung right out of the forest and into the village. The Hydra had already made it inside and there were ponies everywhere screaming their heads off, running away in panic. Peter’s eyes had trouble registering what he was seeing.
At first he thought Zecora and Fluttershy were just hallucinations by his addled mind, now he realized he really was on a world full of ponies. Pegasi and regular ponies like Zecora ran or flew around but there was another type of pony here as well. Unicorns.
Nope, you read that right. This place has freaking unicorns as well! Peter’s head swam, was this real? Was he sure he wasn’t just dreaming? His head throbbed and his hind-leg ached with pain, nope, this was reality.
Peter swung off a building shaped like a carousel and whipped around the Hydra, landing on top of a hay-covered house. “Hey! Big guy!” he called. The Hydra glared at him with four sets of eyes. “Hasn’t your mommy ever told you that it isn’t nice to destroy towns with poison?”
One of the Hydra’s head spat out poison at him and he dodged. Good thing too, the glob of phlegm began to melt the hay and the roof. “I’ll take that as a no,” he muttered, landing on another building and shooting a web at a wagon and throwing it at the Hydra.
The Hydra reared back as the wagon collided into him. It hissed indignantly and snapped at Peter. Peter jumped and dodged the heads, webbing two of them together and knocking them against each other. But that only just irritated it more.
It fired more poison gobs at him, forcing Peter to dodge like crazy. What was the myth behind the Hydra? Heracles fought him, if you slice off one head, two more would take its place, and the only way to stop it was to burn it. Peter really wished he was bitten by a radioactive flaming spider.
One of its head roared at Peter and he shot a web into its mouth. The head’s eyes widened as it gulped, trying to swallow the web but failing to. It recoiled back, making gagging sounds like a cat with a furball, the other heads tried to move forward but the choking one kept moving back.
Peter webbed directly to the left then, using the same hoof, directly to the right and pulled back slightly on the makeshift slingshot before launching himself right at the Hydra, kicking it right in the gut. The Hydra landed on its back, its three heads snapping wildly at Peter but they couldn’t touch him. He kept jumping around, dodging, and webbing the heads more and more as they missed him.
Soon within a minute or so, all three of the heads were stuck together and webbed to its belly.
Peter sighed. “Whew, all in a day’s—WHOA!” He backflipped as the fourth head finally swallowed the web in its throat and snapped at Peter. “Jiminy Christmas, that was close!”
His side burned with pain. Looking down, Peter noticed a gash that stained his fur a sickly shade of green mixed in with blood. Nausea washed over Peter as he fought the disorientation and focused on the Hydra.
It was back on its feet, the fourth head broke the webbing around his three other heads and they growled angrily at Peter. It lashed out with its right claw, smashing into a building causing it to collapse in on itself. Debris began to fall on a trio of ponies who screamed, paralyzed with fear.
Peter shot a web at the trio and pulled as hard as he could, throwing them all out of the way just as the debris landed. “Hey!” he complained, just in time to see a claw heading toward him.
He shot across town like a bullet and crumbled against some random vendor. Dazed, Peter lifted his head up weakly, “Two ninety-nine for a bushel of apples? Highway robbery!” he mumbled in a slurred voice.
Suddenly streaks in the sky snapped Peter back to reality. Contrails zipped high above the sky in a bunch of different colors and shapes, one contrail was just a series of black storm clouds with lightning arcing off it. The contrails followed several flying shapes that Peter thought were military jets but they were pegasi flying so fast they were just a blur of navy-blue to him.
The Wonderbolts, Peter guessed. There were half a dozen pegasi and they raced toward the Hydra, smacking into its chest making the monster stagger back. The Hydra wailed angrily and lashed out with its claws and many heads but the Wonderbolts were too fast. They dodged expertly, flying around the Hydra without crashing into each other or getting caught.
They weren’t only fast, Peter realized, they had insane dexterity and agility. Some of the Wonderbolts stopped midflight and turned right around to avoid teeth and claws without missing a beat! Peter now realized why Zecora was so eager to call them.
But he had to help. With great power, comes great—OH ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS!
Peter rolled out of the way as a bathtub slammed into the spot where he was a moment ago. The monster was now settling for throwing random stuff at the Wonderbolts instead of catching them but the elite pegasi couldn’t be touched.
They needed to drive the Hydra out of town because killing it would be too difficult plus Peter didn’t have the heart to. Fine, it was a rampaging monster but it wasn’t the Hydra’s fault. Peter had woken it up accidentally and pissed it off. Peter wouldn’t appreciate someone killing him after waking up.
Peter ran up to the Hydra and formulated a plan. First, he would tie up its arms then its neck then they just could drag the monster out of town and back into the forest, sounds great—
“GET DOWN!” A Wonderbolt tackled Peter just as the Hydra swiped its claw over him. “You idiot!” she cursed, glaring down at him. “What’re you doing anyways—um, what’s with the costume there, chief?”
Peter couldn’t see her face. She wore a full-body suit and a mask with goggles but her red mane poked out through her mask and her mouth was visible.
“Ugh, have you looked in the mirror lately, lady?” Peter snapped back.
The lady (Peter guessed the correct term is mare) scowled but kept Peter’s legs pinned down. “Listen hot-shot, get out of here. The Wonderbolts have got this covered.”
His spidey-sense went nuts. Peter overpowered the mare, wrapped his foreleg around her and pulled her sideways, rolling as the Hydra stomped where they were. Now Peter was on top, staring at the Hydra as it continued to fight off the pegasus.
“Have you now? I hadn’t noticed, how’s that going by the way?” Peter asked.
“We’re trying to detain the Hydra,” the mare snapped back.
“So was I!”
“Great work so far.”
“Hey, I did more than six of you guys did. That’s a win in my book, Goggles.”
“Goggles? Speak for yourself! What’re you supposed to be anyways? The Creeper of the Night?”
Peter growled as he got off the mare and helped her up. “It’s called a secret identity,” he answered, watching as she brushed herself off.
“Ooh, yeah, so secret from somepony dressed in bright red and blue.”
“Blue and yellow? Please, those colors are so last season.”
“Listen Arachnid,” the mare said, pushing her face up to his so they were snout to snout. “This is the traditional Wonderbolt outfit, not some homemade, shoddy piece of—“
“Spitfire!” one Wonderbolt yelled as he flew around the Hydra again, dodging poison and claws. “A little help!”
Spitfire nodded and looked back at Peter, still scowling. “We’ll settle this later.”
“It’s a date.”
The two of them charged the Hydra.
“Go help out Soarin’!” yelled Spitfire. Peter frowned and scrunched up his nose. “Who?!”
“The blue pegasus!”
Peter searched for the blue pegasus but since all of them were wearing the same costume it was difficult to distinguish which was which, it didn’t help that they all flew around at like 40 mph. “I can’t tell which one is Soarin’!”
“Seriously?!”
“You guys LOOK the same!”
“THAT’S RACIST!”
“NO! I meant your cos—watch out!”
Peter swung toward Spitfire and carried her out of the way of the Hydra’s swiping claw and landed on top of her. Spitfire grumbled a curse but still maintained her high-speed with Peter riding on her back. “Dude, for a scrawny guy you’re pretty heavy!”
“I had a big breakfast!” Peter argued but then he pointed at the Hydra’s necks. “Listen, just get me behind him so I can web his necks together and keep him pinned. You’re a fast flier, you’ll be able to do it way faster than I could.”
Spitfire nodded and circled around the Hydra. “Guys, alpha formation!”
The Wonderbolts understood and began flying right in front of the Hydra trying to distract it by taunting it or goading it to attack one of them only to immediately fly out of the way. The formation left the Hydra’s back fully exposed. Spitfire shot off like a rocket toward the Hydra but it must’ve sensed something was wrong.
The Hydra pinned down the Wonderbolts with both of its claws and turned around with its heads to attack Peter but it was too late. Peter shot the web already and Spitfire bucked him off sending him flying toward the monster. The heads opened their mouths and snapped… but missed completely.
By the time they realized they missed, Peter had already webbed their necks together, tightly this time, and pulled it down to the ground. His superstrength was enough to lift the Hydra off the ground and slam him, heads first, back down. The Wonderbolts were released and the Hydra groaned in pain but it didn’t move.
Peter rested to catch his breath, every muscle in his body ached, he felt like he wanted to go pass out into a coma for a month but managed to stay on his hooves. “Whoa, nice job squirt,” the pegasus Peter guessed was Soarin’ said, patting him on the back. Peter winced from the impact and Soarin’ pulled off his mask, expression apologetic.
“How did you do that?” asked another Wonderbolt. “With the… webs and your strength.”
“Ya know… three square meals, going to bed on time, drinking plenty of water,” Peter answered breathlessly.
“Hey, Web-Head,” Spitfire called, her mask was off and she was smiling. “Nice job.”
“Thanks—“
“But call me Goggles again, I’ll sonic rainboom you to the moon,” she finished with a scowl. “Right…” Peter didn’t know what a sonic rainboom was but he wasn’t keen on finding out.
“So, what’s your name, Web-Head?”
Peter was going to answer but then his spidey-sense tingled again. His eyes widened as he pushed Spitfire out of the way and turned around just in time to get caught by the Hydra. It had jumped to its feet and grabbed Peter in its claw. The four heads spat out blobs of poison at the Wonderbolts making them scatter to avoid it. Then the heads turned to Peter.
Peter’s legs were pinned down and this Hydra was insanely strong. On a good day he might’ve been able to overpower it but he was too weak. The heads grinned with its razor sharp teeth and opened wide. Peter’s last thought went, Well, this is how I die.
The Hydra yelped, its eyes going wide as a purple aura surrounded it. It wasn’t moving but Peter could see panic in its eyes as if it were trapped under a tractor beam. Peter then noticed the purple aura surrounded him as well but it separated him from the Hydra, which was nice.
The Hydra was levitated all the way back to the forest while Peter was safely deposited on the ground. He shuddered, shaking the residual effects of being carried around like that like some helpless cow against a flying saucer.
He turned around to thank the Wonderbolts for their assistance but noticed they were bowing formally to a new pony.
She stood in front of Peter, glaring daggers at him like, Why did you destroy my town? Her coat was magenta purple and so were her wings and horn. Her hair was dark with red streaks dyed into it and a pointy crown thingy sat just above the horn. She spread her wings apart and approached Peter.
“You,” she hissed. “What have you done?”
Peter said something really smart like, “I… uh.”
The mare sighed. “Never mind, come on, let’s get back to my castle. You look exhausted.”
Thank goodness her castle was pretty big, otherwise it would’ve been filled to the limits with how many ponies had joined her. The Wonderbolts had followed her along with an angry mob of villagers and Zecora and Fluttershy and Mayor Mare but she was kept outside because Twilight simply wasn’t in the mood.
They stood in the main room awkwardly awaiting Twilight’s next decision as she paced the room. She had hoped to talk to the strange stallion (or Web-Head as Spitfire named) alone but of course everypony had questions. First things first however.
Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and Zecora. Zecora was applying healing paste to Fluttershy’s injured wing which began to look better but Twilight suspected it may need a cast. She magically enchanted her wing, her purple aura flickering over Fluttershy’s form, as she scanned for any severe injuries. Fluttershy giggled from the sensation.
“Nothing too serious,” Twilight decreed. “But we’ll need a cast.”
Fluttershy didn’t seem too disappointed with that. She nodded with a small smile. Zecora was the only one who looked really miffed by that decision.
“Nonsense, with my magical brew, little Fluttershy’s wing will be good as new!” she said.
“We’ll deal with it later—“
“Though, that does sound wonderful,” admitted Fluttershy.
“Right now, I want to talk to this guy.” Twilight said, glaring at the Web-Head who shuffled nervously.
For some reason, he insisted upon keeping his costume on, especially his mask so Twilight couldn’t tell what expression he was making. Spitfire and Soarin’ stepped forward, standing stiffly at attention. “Ma’am, don’t punish him,” Soarin’ said. “He saved us.”
“And me,” Spitfire agreed only to mumble, “Though I could’ve handled it…”
“And us!” the Cutie Mark Crusaders spoke up.
“We would’ve been toast without him!” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah, he’s a hero!” agreed Sweetie Belle.
“Though, toast does sound mighty tasty right ‘bout now…” muttered Applebloom.
“Nothing is going to happen,” Twilight promised.
“Can I get that in writing?” the Web-Head asked.
Twilight scowled. “I just need to know a few things… I’ll talk to you guys later, okay?”
Reluctantly, everypony, save Twilight, the stallion, and Fluttershy, left the castle and locked the doors behind them. Twilight sighed and went over to her chair, sitting down. Fluttershy sat at her own chair, wincing as her wing began to hurt from the movement.
“Please, take a seat,” Twilight said, gesturing to Rainbow Dash’s chair.
He looked at it for a moment, as if wondering if it was a trap, then sat down awkwardly. He couldn’t stay still, he kept shifting his position like he didn’t know how to sit down. It took him a few tries but he finally got a position where it was somewhat comfortable.
“Who are you?” Twilight asked.
“I’m… Spiderman,” he answered.
“Spiderman?” Fluttershy echoed. “Why, you don’t look like a spider and… whatever a man is.”
Spiderman cursed under his breath. “Okay, that figures then…”
“What figures?” Twilight asked.
“Okay, this is going to sound completely crazy…”
“We’re fine with crazy.”
“I’m from another universe.”
Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged a look. Fluttershy just looked extremely concerned, like she thought Spiderman had a severe head injury or something. But Twilight considered it for a moment…
“That would explain the meteor…”
“What?”
“A few nights ago, a meteor fell from the sky,” Fluttershy explained. “Along with it, a large magical disturbance. It was so powerful, Twilight’s magic was lost for a while.”
“What’s that got to do with me?” he asked.
“You were that meteor,” Twilight answered. Spiderman recoiled in surprise then leaned forward as if in deep thought. “Zecora found you in the forest, in a giant crater, and brought you to her cottage to fix you up.”
Spiderman nodded, understanding. “So that means… this really is another universe…”
Twilight’s expression softened. Spiderman looked completely lost at the moment, he must be so scared to be so far from home. Twilight remembered the feeling she experienced when she went into that alternate universe to get her crown back.
The Princess stood up and headed for a desk. “I think I know what you mean by alternate universes, Spiderman,” she said, pulling out a sketchpad and some colored pencils. “A while back, I traveled to another universe with strange creatures there instead of ponies. I never understood what they were but you may be from the same place.”
While she spoke, she magically drew on her sketchpad in a hasty, abridged manner. When she was finished, she held up the sketchpad for Spiderman. There was a quick, yet surprisingly detailed and well produced, drawing of Sunset Shimmer in her alternate universe form. She was bipedal with long arms and hands and fingers, it still freaked Twilight out to have to use fingers and hands like that instead of hooves.
Spiderman nodded as he took the sketchpad, studying it. “Yeah, except we aren’t exactly… technicolored. It looks like its out of a cartoon.”
“What’s a… cartoon?” Fluttershy asked.
Spiderman tilted his head at her. “Never mind. Anyways, yeah, that’s a human, or at least a version of it. That’s what I am, or rather, what I was.” He looked down at his body like he couldn’t believe it was his.
“So, what happened to you?” Twilight asked. “Did you happen to cross any interdimensional portals or magical doorways by chance?”
Spiderman shook his head. “I honestly don’t remember. I can’t remember the last few days. All I know is that I woke up in Zecora’s place and bam, I’m… a pony.”
He explained about his life back home. He explained his job at the Daily Bugle, how he became Spiderman, the things he’s done and the people he’s saved, he talked on and on about New York and Manhattan that it hurt Twilight hearing to wistfulness in his tone.
“New York… That sounds like New Yoke,” Fluttershy remarked. “And Manehatten.”
Twilight nodded. “Probably alternative versions of places here. So you’re the only human… like you?”
“Yep,” he said. “I was bitten by a genetically modified spider which gave me my abilities. It was scary at first but I like it. No other human can do that apart from, like, the Avengers or something.”
“Who?”
“Nobody.”
“So, that’s why you wear the mask?” Fluttershy asked.
Spiderman instinctively touched his mask as if to make sure it was still there and nodded with trepidation. “To… protect the people I love from the enemies I’ll make. You… didn’t take it off, did you?”
“No,” Twilight answered. Even if they had, it wasn’t as if they could recognize him in pony form or human form. Twilight got the feeling it was more than a shield to protect his loved ones, it protected him as well. “But you don’t have to wear it… You’re amongst friends here.”
Spiderman hesitated, deeply considering it. He took a deep breath and pulled his mask off in one go. Twilight felt her heart go a relay in her chest. He was, well, handsome. Exceedingly attractive, Rarity might say. He had a youthful face, around Twilight’s age, and big, sad brown eyes. His coat was a light shade of brown, like custard, his mane was spiked up crazily and chocolate brown so Twilight was reminded of Pipsqueak, he looked like he could pass as his older brother.
“Well, how do I look?” he asked, smiling weakly.
Twilight reminded herself how to breathe.
“You look good,” Fluttershy answered with a smile.
Twilight nodded dumbly. “Now then, what’s your real name?”
He frowned which was a cute expression for Twilight since his brown eyes became fixed with concentration, so he looked like a puppy thinking of a trick to perform. “Peter Parker.”
“Nice to meet you, Peter,” Twilight said, extending her hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle—“
“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy corrected, pointing to her crown.
“Yeah, princess,” she agreed. “And you know Fluttershy.”
“Yeah, sorry about your wing again…” Peter apologized, it was really hard not to accept the apology with those sad eyes of his.
“I’m fine,” she promised. “Besides, I think somepony else will be a bit more upset over my wing than me—“
The doors crashed open. Everypony looked over to see Rainbow Dash in the front with a look of absolute fury on her face. She looked around the room until she zeroed in on Peter. Her wings revved up and she zipped across the room in a second. “Wait, Rainbow!” Twilight yelled but it was too late.
Rainbow tackled Peter and the two went rolling across the room until she pinned the elusive Web-Head. She held up a hoof to attack. “You hurt Fluttershy?! Why I outta—“
“Stop!” Twilight yelled, levitating Rainbow off Peter. “It wasn’t his fault, it was nopony’s fault, it was just an accident and besides, Fluttershy is fine.”
She turned Rainbow to face Fluttershy and the pegasus meekly waved at her. “Hi.”
The other girls came inside. Applejack was the first to hug Fluttershy, awkwardly apologizing for harming her wing in the process. “Ya okay, Sugarcube?” she asked. Even Pinkie had the grace to be sensitive, bouncing by the injured pegasus and asking questions gently.
Rarity was the last in and she took a breath in relief once she saw Fluttershy. “Thank goodness she’s alright,” she said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something had happened to her. Oh my stars! What happened to your outfit, darling?”
Peter frowned, looking down at his costume. It was torn up even worse than before with green stains from the Hydra poison covering it up, it left very little to the imagination but the girls, apparently, didn’t mind or care.
Twilight frowned as she noticed the gash on Peter’s side. “Peter,” she said, pointing to the injury. “What happened?”
Peter looked down. There was only a white scar left, some of the fur around the wound was green but he felt fine. “The Hydra bit me, I thought I dodged it but I—“
“He what?” Twilight cried. “We need to get you to the hospital, Hydra poison is very dangerous!”
“No, no, I’m fine,” he insisted. “It’s healed up. One of my powers is that I’m extra resilient and I have regenerative capabilities.”
Pinkie Pie tilted her head in confusion and Peter sighed. “I can heal faster than normal.”
“Darling, perhaps now would be the time for you to explain everything to us?” Rarity asked Twilight.
By the time Twilight was done explaining, Rainbow had already set a blue cast on Fluttershy’s wing (it was her favorite color, Rainbow didn’t complain) and everypony signed it except Peter who wasn’t able to write properly with his mouth.
The girls were seated around Peter, looking at him with awe, which Twilight must’ve imagined made him uncomfortable but he seemed fine. “So you’re from another world?” Rainbow asked.
Peter nodded. “Or another universe, I’m not really sure. Point is, I didn’t originally look like this.”
“And ya don’t know how ya got ‘ere?” Applejack asked.
“Not really no. But Twilight said it might be magic. She’s traveled to another world before, so maybe there’s a way to send me back?” Peter asked, looking at Twilight.
Twilight realized she preferred his mask because at least he couldn’t give her that heart-breaking expression of innocent hope. Twilight winced and frowned sadly. “Yes, there is the magic mirror that leads to the human world but… I don’t think it’ll work, it only led to that dimension and I’ve never heard of a universe like yours…”
Peter’s face fell. He looked so lost and sad that Twilight wished there was something more she could do. Some spell or something that could fix everything, but unfortunately nothing she knew could do that. “But, I’ll keep looking. I’ll ask Princesses Celestia and Luna, and even Cadance if they could do anything. You might not be stuck here, Peter, we’ll find a way.”
Twilight sat down with the girls after Peter ate and washed up. He was rather hesitant when the food was brought to him, so Twilight figured he might still be on edge. “It isn’t poisoned,” she told him with a diplomatic smile. “It’s good! Veggie omelet with hay fires.”
But Peter just frowned and hesitantly took a bite. He conceded that it wasn’t as bad as he expected and ate the whole dinner and was still hungry so Spike whipped up some more food for him. Peter ate enough for six ponies until he was finally content. Then he went off for a bath and Fluttershy offered to help, he blushed and explained that he was perfectly fine but the pegasus insisted.
Fluttershy was a meek and quiet pony, sure, but most of the time she gets what she wants. After all of that, Peter thanked them for their hospitality and walked out of the door. Twilight assumed he was leaving but Rainbow explained that he just scaled the castle and was sitting at the very top of it, sullenly watching the sunset.
Twilight could sympathize. When she went into that alternative universe herself, she was so terrified that she would never be able to return home and even when she could she almost didn’t want to because it’d mean she would leave her new friends. Peter must be out of his mind with worry right now, so Twilight didn’t blame him for wanting some alone time.
“So, let’s talk ‘bout the elephant on th’ roof,” Applejack started, chewing a hay fire.
Pinkie Pie looked up from her bucket of cotton candy, her mouth pinker than usual. “There’s an elephant on the roof?!”
“She means Peter Parker,” Rarity explained, nibbling a piece of lettuce delicately. “And no, he isn’t an elephant either. Fluttershy checked.”
The fashionista winked at Fluttershy who blushed and hid behind her mane. “Oh, well, I just figured since he’s new to hooves that he might have trouble washing…”
“Enough about that,” Rainbow interrupted, scowling at Rarity. “Can we even be sure he isn’t lying? I mean come on, an alternative universe? That’s crazy even by our standards and we witness Pinkie Pie CLONE herself!”
“It was fun!” Pinkie Pie remarked. “Then it wasn’t so fun…”
“Ah for one believe ‘em, only cuz of Twi,” Applejack said, pointing to the princess. “Ya’ll remember her adventure, right?”
“Sure, but—“
“So, Pete bein’ part of another universe ain’t so difficult t’ buy.”
“Besides, he has strange abilities for a pony,” Fluttershy remarked. “When he woke up, he jumped nearly 7 meters and clung to the ceiling.”
“Like this?” Pinkie Pie jumped up to the ceiling, a total of at least 10 meters high, and stuck to it using her mane and tail as ropes.
Fluttershy nodded. “So, he’s either related to Pinkie or…” Rainbow trailed off.
“He was bitten by a genetically altered spider,” Twilight explained. “Which gave him those abilities, and explains the whole Spiderman deal.”
“What about the web?” Rarity asked. “In his tussle with the Hydra, the Wonderbolts explained that he used webbing to subdue the creature.”
“I’m not sure he can produce them naturally,” Twilight said. “The devices on his hooves, they might shoot them.”
“What do we do then?” Rainbow asked. “Send him to Celestia so she can deal with him?”
“We need to help him,” Fluttershy suggested.
“Ah agree,” said Applejack.
“Me too!” Pinkie cheered from the ceiling.
“Plus, his costume will need repairs..” muttered Rarity.
“I don’t know…” Rainbow said, rubbing her chin. “I don’t like that idea.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight said sternly.
“Seriously, think about it. Here’s a guy from another universe with strange abilities and no idea how he even got here and we’re supposed to believe him?” Rainbow asked. “Isn’t that exactly what Sunset Shimmer did to the universe you went to?”
“Well, yes, but—“
“He arrives just after Tirek is defeated, as a meteor and apparently short-circuited your magic, and on the first day he’s here he gets into a fight with a Hydra that nearly levels the town and gets Fluttershy hurt. Call me crazy, but that doesn’t sound like a coincidence.”
The girls remained quiet. Although they trusted Peter they couldn’t argue that Rainbow had a perfectly adequate point. There weren’t a lot of coincidences in the universe and this one couldn’t be one of them. “Spitfire and Soarin’ vouched for him,” Fluttershy remarked. “Isn’t that enough?”
Rainbow blushed and cleared her throat. “I’m just sayin’, staying on the cautious side seems to be the smarter solution.”
“Since when have you cared about the safer solution?” Rarity asked with a smile. “I believe your methodology involves hitting things really hard until the problem goes away.”
Rainbow Dash huffed and turned away from Rarity, pouting as she did so. Applejack raised her hoof. “Ah agree with Dash.”
“You do?” asked everpony, including Rainbow.
“While Ah sayin’ Pete’s a bad pony, or nothing like that, but she’s got a point about being careful. Clearly we’re dealin’ with somethin’ dangerous, and Ah’ll bet bits to apples that it’s got somethin’ to do with Tirek,” she explained. “But we ain’t treatin’ ‘em like a criminal. He saved Ponyville and that’s that.”
Twilight nodded in agreement and the other girls had as well, even Rainbow nodded reluctantly looking at Fluttershy’s cast with regret. They both had good points but Twilight found it difficult to see Peter as somepony bad, he seemed so genuine and kind, so depressed over his predicament.
“Then what are we going to do?” Pinkie asked, materializing beside Twilight, startling the princess.
“For now, he’ll need a place to stay,” Rarity said. “My place is more than available.”
“What about Sweetie Belle?” Rainbow asked.
Rarity wasn’t listening, she looked off into space with a dreamy expression but snapped out of it, shaking her head. “Wait, did you say something?”
“Ah’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Applejack said, chuckling.
“Then I suppose you’re going to suggest the farm?” Rarity asked. “For somepony as civilized as he is, I’m not sure that is wise either.”
“What’d ya mean by that?” Applejack growled.
“Ladies,” Twilight interrupted. “Is this really an appropriate time for that? Besides, my castle is more than enough for him, he’ll stay here.”
Rarity looked like she wanted to protest but she just nodded reluctantly. “I suppose that is the better solution…”
“Yeah! Now we can have another sleepover!” Pinkie suggested with a broad grin. “Peter is a grumpy gus, he needs to smile more!”
“Ah don’t think that’s what he needs, Sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Ah think a good’s night rest would be better.”
“Then it’s settled,” Twilight said, standing up. “Come on, Rainbow, let’s go talk to him.”
Rainbow stood but looked at Fluttershy. “Hmm. You go on ahead, I’m going to walk Fluttershy home, to make sure she’s alright.”
Fluttershy smiled and hid a blush but didn’t say anything. Rarity gave Rainbow an incredulous. “You. Walking? This I must see.”
“That’s fine then, I’ll see you guys tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have more for you,” Twilight said, adjourning the meeting.
Twilight found Peter where she had left him. He was sitting on the highest point of the castle, precariously perched on the point just calmly watching the sunset. Twilight figured he didn’t have much of a fear of heights given his activities back home. If Manhattan was anything like Manehattan, then he must have done a lot of swinging around high-rises and skyscrapers.
Gently, Twilight stood on the point right next to Peter and folded her wings so she wouldn’t knock him off accidentally. Like the Web-Head, she was precariously standing on the point with all four hooves, she’s had plenty of lessons on balance and agility from Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, you okay?” Twilight asked, realizing how lame the question sounded once she had said it.
Peter regarded her calmly. Despite what she thought before, his brown eyes were difficult to read. He looked back at the sunset, watching as it dipped below the horizon. “Am I in trouble or something?”
Twilight frowned and shook her head, her horn glowing to illuminate the now night sky. “No, of course not.”
Peter looked at her strangely, like the concept of him not being in trouble was foreign to him. “I’m not getting sent to the guillotine? You know, ‘off with his head!’”
Twilight laughed, mostly because of Peter’s poor impression of a princess issuing an execution. “No, no, I promise. It isn’t your fault you’re here. So, we’ve decided to help you.”
Again, he gave her a strange expression that Twilight recognized as hope. Like he was begging her not to get his hopes up and then dash them away at the last moment, as if he were used to being treated that way.
“Help me how?” he asked tentatively.
“I’m the Princess of Friendship,” Twilight answered, pointing to her crown. “Before that I was the Element of Magic, so there must be something I can do to get you home."
Peter maintained his wary eye-contact then chuckled under his breath. “Princess of Friendship…” he muttered. “That’s new.”
“You don’t have princesses where you’re from?”
“No, we do,” he answered, nodding. “But mostly they’re just for show, they don’t actually do much from what I gathered. We have, like, mayors and presidents and prime ministers, people who are elected into power rather than given the right because you were born into it.”
Twilight’s wings buffeted nervously as she tried to shuffle closer to Peter. For some reason, despite having bathed, Peter insisted on wearing his raggedy costume so it obscured his cutie mark. “Well, I wasn’t born into this job. I told you, before I was a princess, I was the Element of Magic.”
“And what does that mean?”
Twilight almost wanted to laugh but she had to remind herself that while Peter looked like a pony, he was new to this gig. She explained everything that happened to her recently, the Elements of Harmony not being around anymore, her battle with Tirek and this fancy new castle, but then it spilled out. Her whole life story, it seems, as she talked about everything.
She talked about her magic test with Spike, her getting a cutie mark, then her explaining what a cutie mark was and its significance, her coming to Ponyville and fighting Nightmare Moon then Discord then Chrysalis then Sombra. It seemed pretty normal for her, in fact, Twilight had come to terms with her weird life but Peter whistled appreciatively.
“And here I thought I had it rough,” he remarked.
Twilight shrugged. “I don’t think of it as bad. I mean, it’s been scary, like, really scary a few times but I don’t regret it. Because of moments like these.”
Peter blushed and looked away. “What do you mean?”
“That.” Twilight pointed at the sleepy city being watched over by a beautiful starry night.
“I… don’t see anything.”
Twilight smiled, rolling her eyes. “The fact that everypony can sleep peacefully. They were this close to danger only a little while ago but they can still get into bed and sleep the night away. That’s what makes it worth it. The thought that I can help ponies get a good night’s rest.”
Peter was staring at her strangely, Twilight thought she said something weird but then he smiled and nodded. “That’s a great point, Twi. This is what it’s all about, huh.”
He said that as if he thought about it for a very long time. “Speaking of sleep, you should get some, Peter.”
“Where?” he asked miserably.
“Well, the castle has more than enough room…”
Peter looked as though he wanted to protest but maybe he was too tired to. He weakly nodded. “Show me to my room?”
Twilight showed Peter to one of the guest rooms. It was spacious enough with a princess-sized bed against the back wall and a walk-in closet off to the ride. It looked pretty homely to Twilight but Peter smiled as if this was a 5-star room at the Hotel Hoofton.
“Wow, nice bed,” he remarked, sitting on it to test it out. “Really soft…”
“The pillows have pegasi feathers, softest in all of Equestria,” Twilight explained.
Peter looked horrified. “P-pegasi feathers?”
Twilight laughed. “No pegasi were harmed in making it. It’s given voluntarily, pegasi feathers have magical properties and are powerful if used correctly.”
She expanded her own wings and showed them off to Peter. “Alicorn feathers are even stronger and rarer,” she continued. “I mean nopony is stupid enough to take a feather from an alicorn.”
Peter stood and scrutinized her wings, making Twilight feel a bit self-conscious at being so exposed. Then he leaned in and snatched a single feather from her right wing, making her blush and yelp. “H-hey!”
“You are right,” Peter said grinning as best he could with a feather in his mouth. “Nopony would be stupid enough to try.”
Twilight laughed and Peter laughed along with her which felt nice to cheer him up, even just a little bit. She folded her wings back and smiled. “Well then, unless you want to steal more feathers from me, have a good night, Peter. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yeah,” he said, looking around the room. “Thanks, you too…”
It was stormy that night. It felt appropriate to Peter because it felt like his world had been taken from him, all color and sound and light should’ve faded away but it hadn’t. The world just spun on and continued its revolution. He carried Gwen down the street and to the hospital in a mad stupor. Peter had had enough sense to don his mask again but he just kept muttering Gwen’s name over and over again in that hoarse voice.
He had practically blown out his throat screaming an hour ago. It ached and burned but he didn’t do anything to fix it, he knew his regenerative abilities would fix that up soon. It’d fix up every injury, except the one in his heart, that bullet-sized hole there that burned and sizzled, feeling like it was killing him from the inside out.
“Oh my God,” someone said, running up to him. Peter barely registered the voice, he kept his eyes fixed on Gwen this whole time, letting his body run on autopilot. “Spider-man, what—what happened? Can I get some help?!”
The nurse called for more help but Peter knew it was too late. It was way too late. It took a few minutes for the nurses and paramedics to coax him into letting them take care of Gwen and when he finally let her go, he thought he would collapse right there.
“Spider-man, what happened?” one of the nurses asked him repeatedly.
I did.
“I-it wasn’t your fault.”
How do you know?
“You’re a hero, Spidey. Please don’t let this get to you.”
Too late.
Spiderman left the hospital, swinging away as quickly as he could and headed back to the unremarkable alley. His boots hit the ground as the storm raged on overhead. The freezing rain weighed down on his costume like lead weights, his fist trembled with anger.
The Green Goblin, Harry Osborn, Pete’s “best friend”, was behind a dumpster tied up neatly with webbing, his mouth and eyes were covered as well. Spiderman knew that Goblin’s armor and serum injection would’ve been enough to break through the webbing, that’s why he dislocated his shoulders.
Bones can heal, but dislocated shoulders won’t.
Spiderman yanked Goblin to his feet, tearing the webbing from his eyes. Harry’s eyes widened as he looked around desperately to see where he was and when he focused on Spiderman’s… his eyes brightened and his cheeks curved up into a smile.
Spidey growled, grabbed him by the shoulders, and threw him against the brick wall so hard it cracked and nearly crumbled under the impact. Goblin cried out in pain against his webbing-gag from his shoulders but he could hear him laughing psychotically.
Goblin weakly stood up and Spidey spun and kicked him in the head, making him lurch into the dumpster and slam into it, causing the metal to bend and groan. Spidey reached down to grab him again but Goblin jumped up and kicked him in the chest. When Spidey recovered, he noticed that Goblin brandished a knife and cut through his bonds.
Goblin tore off the web from his mouth and hissed at Spidey. “Poor Peter…” he chuckled. “What’s wrong? Upset that your wittle girlfriend broke her neck?”
With a grunt, Goblin reset his shoulders back by himself, the psychotic madman. “Oh come on, Pete. What’s a joke between old friends?”
Spidey jumped up and kneed Goblin in the face, knocking him back. Goblin recovered and slashed wildly with his knife but Spidey dodged easily. He grabbed his hand, twisted his arm and slammed it forward at the elbow breaking it effortlessly. Goblin roared in pain, his face cherry-red and his expression contorted in agony.
But Spidey didn’t stop, he punched Goblin, sending the villain down to the ground and coughing up blood. Spidey turned him over and punched him repeatedly in the face. With each hit, Goblin lurched less and less, convulsing weakly, but he never let up. Spidey kept seeing Gwen’s face, her horrified expression as she fell, that look in her eyes that begged him to both save her… and to not blame himself for this.
It was only the rattling of a jawbone breaking that snapped Spidey out of his rage. He blinked and saw Goblin on the ground, bleeding and completely battered, his eyes swollen so much it was just a purple mass, and his jaw hanging at a strange angle.
Spidey’s hands were red with blood and cut at the knuckles. He stood up, gasping for air like he couldn’t breathe, as he hopelessly watched Goblin’s chest, silently praying that it would rise up for breath… Harry let out a shuddering breath and Spiderman’s heart relaxed.
Thunder rumbled through the city and Spiderman swallowed that lump in his throat, trying to ignore the white-hot pain in his chest…
Peter woke with a start. He was breathing heavily and his chest felt heavy as if an elephant slept on it last night. Sunlight drifted in through the window, illuminating the small room which should’ve made him feel warm but Peter couldn’t stop shivering. His fur was damp from sweat, he felt the outline of tears running down his face and—
Wait, fur?
Peter looked down and saw, yep, hooves. He looked around again and noticed that this wasn’t his room, it was one of the guest rooms at Princess Twilight’s castle. This wasn’t New York. He was a pony.
“So, yesterday wasn’t a dream,” he muttered to himself, running a hoof through his mane.
He looked down at his forelegs, forgetting that he went to sleep in his costume and feeling a bit silly about it now. When he revealed his face to the girls yesterday, he was scared they would somehow recognize him and toss him out of town for his crimes.
It was a bit ridiculous but the fear still weighed his shoulders, a deep part of him wanted to be punished for being Spiderman.
Weakly, he got out of bed and awkwardly stood on all four hooves. It wasn’t as weird as he expected, after all he scaled buildings with two hands and feet so this wasn’t too different, and walking felt a bit more natural. Weird.
Looking over to the closet, he wished he had something else to wear. None of the ponies (save the Wonderbolts) wore clothing regularly and that had embarrassed Peter, especially since pretty much everyone he’s met was a girl but they didn’t mind.
Over on the closet door was a little sticky note. Peter approached it and read:
Rarity brought some clothes for you this morning, if you want to wear them. Don’t ask me when she got your measurements.
-TS
Peter smiled and silently thanked Rarity for her consideration and opened the closet. Some clothes? The entire walk-in closet was filled with dozens of outfits. Peter was sure that the closet was empty when he checked last night, no way Rarity was able to make all of these clothes for him!
“A bit much…” he muttered to himself, walking in. “But, thanks.”
Spike was making pancakes, which was nice since he rarely cooked these days, or maybe he has and Twilight was simply too busy to notice. She was reading the Ponyville Gazella about last night’s incident. Apparently the ponies were taking the chaos in stride, having becoming accustomed to crazy disasters a minor Hydra attack was nothing for them.
They were, however, more interested in the costumed hero that stopped the monster (with an assist from the Princess) than anything. Witnesses talked him up, chattering over him, in fact the next few pages were just about him. There were about a dozen pictures of Peter up, looking all heroic and stuff (Twilight wondered where the photographers were that took the pictures) with commentary below. Hay, the Wonderbolts themselves were interviewed about him!
“Whoever this Web-Head is,” Spitfire said in the interview. “All I can say is: he’s Amazing.”
“So,” Spike said, flipping his flapjacks. “Now we’re harboring an interdimensional superhero in the castle after he crashed in the Everfree Forest like a meteor…”
“Yeah, and?” Twilight asked, sipping her apple juice.
“Well, nothing. I was just curious if this was our life now,” he said, turning around with a plate full of pancakes. “I was curious to see what would happen after Tirek. Gotta say, a little underwhelming.”
“Spike, this isn’t a game,” Twilight huffed. “Peter’s a good pony and—“
“And on that subject. Peter?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. “Peter Parker? Seriously? What a weird name! It’s like, Wow, I can alliterate.”
Twilight scoffed but couldn’t help but smile. Her word of the day calendar that she gave to Spike was paying off.
“He isn’t from this world, or from this universe! Of course he’s going to be a little different…”
“And while we’re on that subject,” Spike said as he sat down and handed a few pancakes to Twilight while keeping more than half for himself. “So, we’re okay with the knowledge that aliens exist?”
“Well… He’s not really an—“
“He’s the definition of an alien!” Spike argued. “He couldn’t be more alien if we tried and we’re just… accepting that? No debate or intrigue or even dissection?”
“Spike, we’re not dissecting him.”
“I’m just saying! It’s like, Oh, by the way, aliens are real. Cool. We’re not going to do anything with that knowledge?”
“Remind me to take away your Doctor Whooves comics…”
“Uh, morning?”
Twilight and Spike turned toward the entrance as Peter walked in. He looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but his mane stuck up like he rolled out of his bed. It seemed he had taken Twilight’s note seriously and put on one of Rarity’s outfits.
It was a simple design yet complimented Peter. He wore a simple hoodie colored navy blue over his back and bright red over his barrel, the sleeves that covered his forelegs was red in the front and blue in the back and his hood was colored red as well. There was a simple blue shirt underneath as well but none of it obscured his cutie mark which was a red and blue double helical structure of a DNA molecule. He looked good considering last night.
“Morning!” Spike greeted, approaching Peter and poking him in the side as if wanting him to explode in green goop. “There are some… pancakes for you. Unless your species can’t eat them!”
Twilight sighed and levitated Spike away from Peter. “Sorry about that, he reads a lot of comics.”
“Oh really?” Peter’s face brightened. “I can relate.”
Peter sat down for breakfast, or rather, tried the whole breakfast part of it and failed miserably. It seemed that despite amazing agility, dexterity and those web-shooters, Peter could not use a fork to save his life. After the billionth time, Peter just sighed and slammed his face into his plate, eating the pancakes just like that.
Twilight laughed, but it was apologetic, like she felt bad for making fun of him. Peter smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I need to learn how to use my hooves, huh?”
“I shouldn’t be laughing,” Twilight said, stifling giggles. “Don’t worry, I can show you how to use your hooves, Pete.”
“Cool. So, uh, what’s the plan for today?” he asked, picking up another pancake with his mouth and chewing it slowly.
“I’ll be heading to Canterlot to talk to Princesses Celestia and Luna,” Twilight answered. “I’m going to try to see if there’s a way to send you home.”
“I’ll come with,” Peter offered.
Twilight shook her head. “Maybe it’ll be better for you to get, ah, comfortable here. Maybe go around town or something, get to know everypony.”
“But—“ Peter frowned but decided not to argue. Maybe he knew why Twilight didn’t want to take him, she couldn’t bear for him to be there if he hears the bad news.
“Okay, around town then,” Peter nodded. “That sounds good…”
“Spike can show you around,” Twilight agreed. “It’ll be fun.”
Ponyville looked a lot better without the craters and gunk of poison on the roads, Peter decided. It was a small village, the tallest building around was Twilight’s castle, so it just looked puny compared to the monolith. It was so quiet Peter thought he would go nuts. New York was always bustling with activity even at night. It was truly the City That Never Sleeps, Ponyville was more like the Town That Always Sleeps.
“And that’s Sugarcube Corner,” Spike continued, pointing at a particularly delicious looking building. Spike was a decent enough guide but he kept staring at Peter as if waiting for him to transform into some monster.
Peter cleared his throat and kept looking around the village. Despite last night’s fiasco, there were ponies out setting up their stores and even some kids (fillies?) cleaning up some of the mess. These ponies were certainly resilient and, apparently, used to crazy stuff like this. It felt foreign but at the same time familiar.
“So, are you the only dragon here?” Peter asked, looking around but only seeing ponies everywhere.
Spike nodded. “Most dragons live in mountains or caves or volcanos, I’m a baby dragon in comparison plus I was raised by Twilight anyways, so I wouldn’t fit in.”
Peter almost wanted to laugh, if there was anything he understood it was not being able to fit in. Spike led Peter through the town, occasionally saying hi to ponies as they walked by. It was when they reached the market that Peter felt a bit awkward. There were dozens of fillies and colts running around wearing Spiderman masks.
A stage was set up in the middle of the market where a tan mare with a gray mane and tail spoke into a microphone about how brave that masked stallion was yesterday. The ponies cheered when the mare honored the pony (now officially named Spider-Colt) with the Ponyville Laurel Crest.
“Wow, guess you’re a pretty big deal,” Spike said under his breath, making sure nopony could hear him despite how loud the crowd was.
A little filly with a coat with gold and a red mane and a ribbon wearing a Spiderman—er, Spider-Colt, mask approached Spike. “Howdy Spike! Didya come ‘ere for th’ celebration too?”
“What celebration?” he asked.
“Th’ one fer Spider-Colt!” she answered, pulling up her mask revealing her bright, sunny smile. “He saved me yesterday!”
“Did he?” Spike asked, crossing his arms and giving a sly look to Peter. “He sounds pretty brave.”
“Oh, he is! When Ah grow up, Ah wanna be like him!” she looked over at Peter and gasped. “Hey, Mister, why are ya crying?”
Peter wiped his eyes as best he could, trying to get rid of the tears but they wouldn’t stop. They accepted him, no, they loved him. The emotions were too overwhelming for Peter to simply stifle, never before had he been so rapidly accepted by someone… well, except for Gwen.
“Sorry, it’s just allergies,” he lied, sniffling and wiping his eyes some more. “I’m allergic to, um, shellfish.”
“But there ain’t no shellfish—“
“Okay, Applebloom!” Spike said quickly, forcing a grin on his face. “I’m gonna take Pete here to a doctor for his allergies, I’ll catch you later.”
Applebloom asked another question that was lost in the wind as Spike dragged Peter away from the festivities. They walked for about half a block before Spike finally asked, “What was that about? Did Applebloom say something wrong?”
Peter shook his head, still wiping his eyes. “No, no it wasn’t her. It was… well, everyone else.”
“What do you mean?”
Peter looked at Spike with a wary expression, as if worried if he continued on he might seem ridiculous. “Back where I’m from, they don’t take too lightly to Spiderman. In fact, most of New York hate him, there are a lot who love him and all but nothing like this. This whole village loves Spidey and… well, it usually takes me a lot longer for people to accept him.”
“Well, you’re a hero,” Spike said, patting Pete. “It’s only natural. I mean, I saved the Crystal Empire twice and they’ve got a bunch of statues for me. I’m kinda a big deal over there.”
Peter scoffed, “Yeah, they’d never do that for me. I’m the Web-Head menace.”
“Menace?” Spike repeated. “But you don’t cause the trouble, you stop it.”
“Sometimes I wonder…”
Spike fiddled with his claws slightly, unsure of what to say to cheer him up. When he first met him, Peter was just some unassuming stallion with weird abilities but there was a lot of depth in him, a lot of sadness and grief.
He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sweetest voice in the universe. “Oh, there you are, Peter!” Spike looked over with a dazed expression to see Rarity approaching them. Despite the warm, sunny weather, Rarity wore a simple pink scarf that matched her sequin saddlebags. When she smiled, Spike’s heart almost burst.
Peter took a step back and frowned, like he couldn’t remember the last time he was called by his name and nothing bad was happening. “Uh, Rarity, right?”
Rarity smiled and nodded. “I’m so glad you’ve put the effort in to remember me.”
“Uh…” Peter glanced over at her saddlebags which had the letter R stitched into it in fancy script. “Yeah, remembering you, that’s totally it.”
“Anyways, I’m glad I caught you. I was looking over your old costume and thought of fixing it up for you,” Rarity said, levitating a few pieces of papers from her bags and showing them to Peter. “Unless of course you’re busy with your tour of Ponyville with Spikey-Wikey.”
“No, it’s absolutely fine!” Spike answered a little too excitingly. “We’d love to see your designs.”
Peter frowned at Spike then looked over her designs. “Thanks, Rarity. I appreciate it but I was just gonna patch up my suit myself and—“
“Balderdash!” Rarity cried.
“Bald—what?”
“I simply cannot allow you to trot around Equestria in patched up clothes,” she clarified. “It would be a crime against fashion!”
“But—“
“Come now!” Rarity turned around and levitated Peter with her, despite his outcries, while Spike floated along with hearts in his eyes and a dazed, love-sick expression.
Peter shuffled nervously as Rarity led him to the backroom. Give him monsters or evil supervillains any day, girls were still scary regardless if they were human. Spike was no help either, he was practically drooling over Rarity and whenever Peter tried to get his attention he’d just compliment the fashionista in that dazed voice.
“Now, then, Peter,” Rarity said, turning around and facing him. The spotlight overhead blazed to life, illuminating the unicorn. “You will witness a never before seen line of fashion, the Superhero Collection! Feast your eyes on this!”
With a dramatic flourish, Rarity levitated the covers over several manikins (ponikins?) as all of the lights in her shop turned on. “Oh, that’s actually really good,” Peter noted.
There were only like six outfits but Peter was still overly impressed by them. He wasn’t exactly an expert on fashion but he could appreciate her talent and devotion. She had taken a few notes from Peter’s original design and produced her own interpretations.
“I call this one, The Inverted Spider!” Rarity announced, professionally waving a hoof at the first outfit. It had his original color scheme but it was slightly different. The red and blue color scheme wasn’t touched but there was more emphasis on the blue part of it. It spilled into the red color, like an overflowing water bottle, but it was done so tastefully and expertly it just looked cool.
Peter approached the ponikin and touched the face cautiously. The bug-eyes protruded a bit more and was dark silver instead of his traditionally lighter color. “What’s that fabric, spandex?” he asked, touching and manipulating the tough, yet malleable, fabric.
“A concoction of mine,” Rarity admitted with a dismissive hoof. “It is actually the pulp from a particular tree in the Everfree Forest. It’s called Stygian Pulp.”
Peter immediately backed up and looked at his hoof to make sure it wasn’t burning away. He didn’t know much about Greek mythology but he was pretty sure the River Styx wasn’t a place you should go to for a relaxing swim. But, lo and behold, his hoof was perfectly fine.
Rarity raised an eyebrow at Peter’s sudden wariness but continued. “Toughest fabric around, it should be able to withstand your, ah, escapades.”
Peter nodded, still mesmerized by the outfit. She had been able to do this in one night? He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or nervous.
But the fabric would be helpful, since Peter’s original costume had to be military grade to not fall apart from his superhuman abilities.
“The entire line is composed of the same fabric, save this one.” Rarity pointed at a ponikin at the far end. It was definitely the most flamboyant of them all. It was bright yellow, like the color of gold, and fiery-red on the shoulders and hooves. Peter immediately felt a bit nervous around this particular costume.
For one thing, it reminded Peter of another superhero.
“I call this, The Flash!” Rarity said with a bright smile. “Now, this fabric was actually—“
“It’s fine,” Peter said quickly, smiling nervously. “I’m not a fan of that one, not that it doesn’t look nice.”
Rarity frowned, ready to protest but she looked over the costume once more and made a strange face. “Hm, perhaps you’re right. It doesn’t fit you…”
“What about this one?” Peter asked, eager to change the subject. He pointed at the costume next to the Flash.
Unlike the others, this one was perfectly black and white and looked like something the kids in the Goth clique would wear. The eyes were whiter than usual and stood out against the monochromatic scheme, even the spider emblem was black.
Rarity looked at the costume with a slight frown, as if she barely remembered making it. “The Dark Spider, originally it had a predominately red color scheme and was called Black Widow but I changed it for some reason. Yes, same fabric and such, not exactly a favorite of mine. Doesn’t exactly scream ‘Good guy’ wouldn’t you say?”
Peter nodded mutely, just looking at that costume made him feel unnerved, like that color scheme with his emblem simply didn’t match. Something about the costume felt fundamentally wrong as if it represented everything he wasn’t.
Instead, he turned toward another costume he recognized. It looked like a cleaner version of the outfit he arrived in Ponyville with. His original design, with a few modifications from Gwen. Peter touched the white eyes tenderly, remembering the day Gwen suggested the costume change.
“Less bug-eye, more superhero,” she said with a grin, showing him her sketches. “Looks good, doesn’t it?”
Peter smiled, even as Rarity gestured to another costume. “I’ll take this one,” he said quietly.
Rarity looked to where Peter was at and frowned slightly. “I took some liberties with the fabric, including a minor enchantment on the eyes to allow you to see in the dark but…” She looked over at the other costumes with a disappointed expression. “I suppose stick to what you know, it is rather dashing.”
Peter nodded. “Thank you, Rarity. You really didn’t need to…”
“Nonsense,” Rarity said with a dismissive hoof. “It is the very least I could do for Ponyville’s own superhero, well, aside from Twilight. But, if you are content with this one, I will make duplicates. One should always keep two extra copies, just in case.”
Peter stepped back and watched Rarity levitate the other ponikins aside, possibly for storage or possibly to get rid of it, he wasn’t sure. It was a surreal act, watching a unicorn levitate things away with magic.
Had his life really become this? Where magic was a thing and he was a pony? If he explained this to anyone, they’d lock him up! Even if he could get back home…
No, he thought, Twilight can figure something out, she’s a princess after all and that carries a lot of weight here.
Spike finally managed to pry his eyes from Rarity, and Peter took the opportunity. He cleared his throat and gave the little dragon a certain look. “So, where to next?”
Twilight stared at the empty scroll for twenty minutes before deciding to write something on it. She started with something simple: Dear Princess Celestia, before frowning and crumpling the paper up and tossing it aside.
How was she supposed to explain it to Princess Celestia? Explain Peter Parker and the whole mess of interdimensional travel? Twilight wouldn’t be sure if she could believe Peter’s story if she hadn’t seen it for herself.
Guilt gnawed at the back of her mind, she was incredibly presumptuous for promising to find a solution to Peter’s problem. Traveling between dimensions had proven difficult last time, how could she possibly replicate it now, to a place she had never even seen?
Twilight sighed as her quill hovered above the scroll, hesitantly deciding her words but they never came to her. In desperation, Twilight slammed her head against the tabletop, in an effort to force the words into her mind.
How presumptuous of her to decide she knows what to do. Telling Peter that she would have the answers when in harsh reality she knew just as much as he did. But something felt horrible about being brutally honest to Peter. How on Equis could she just tell Peter, “Hey! Remember when I said I could get you home? Total lie!”
“Ugh, what am I supposed to do?” Twilight grumbled. She sat up at her desk, looking over the crumbled up letters and thought long and hard about Peter’s situation. Let’s see. He is something called a human from another universe that fell through to this universe by unknown circumstances. For some reason, despite being a human, his physiology was perfectly transmogrified into an Earth Pony but he retained his super abilities.
“Yeah, that sounds crazy,” Twilight concluded. But then again, if Twilight traveled back in time to only a few years ago and told her younger self that she would become an alicorn and eventually the Princess of Friendship with her own castle and everything she would’ve said the same thing.
Twilight looked over to the side of her desk to the destroyed devices Peter brought. What did he call them, web-shooters? Levitating the devices to her face, Twilight scrutinized them. They were incredibly sophisticated but were clearly not designed for hooves, the activation sensor seems to be designed for longer, thinner appendages.
Well, if she can’t write a letter, she’ll do the next best thing.
Levitating a pair of safety goggles on her head, Twilight took the web-shooters down to the basement, to her laboratory.
“Time for science!”
Twilight didn’t realize how long she was downstairs until somepony knocked on the basement door. “Busy!” Twilight shouted back, not taking her eyes off her vacuum-sealed magic-resistant container. “If you want to rob me, the money’s under my bed!”
“What?” answered Peter from behind the door. “No, Twilight, it’s Peter! I was looking all over for you.”
“Oh!” Twilight raised her goggles up and glanced at the clock. “Oh pony-feathers…” It was 8! She’d be down here all day!
Opening the door with her magic, Twilight tried to straighten her no-doubt messy mane, and smiled as Peter stepped in. He looked around with an impressed expression. Twilight’s laboratory was twice the size of her library and contained rows of scientific equipment. Supercomputers the size of bookshelves lined the back row along with a few dozen magical related equipment.
“Whoa, big lab,” Peter muttered as he looked around. “Almost as big as the one at Oscorp.”
“What’s that?”
“Long story.”
“Speaking of long stories, how was your day?”
Peter looked at her, his big brown eyes twinkling with delight. “Pretty good, I mean, as good as it can be being in a universe filled with muticolored talking ponies, but still. Rarity fixed up my duds though I’m not sure how much superheroing I can be doing here. Ponyville is kinda… quiet.”
Twilight shrugged. “It’s always been like this, but when it gets loud it’s pretty intense.”
“I can imagine…” Peter said, his eyes drifting off to the table behind Twilight. “Um, what’re you working on?”
“Oh!” Twilight turned, released the seal of her container and removed the object inside and presented it to Peter. “Look, I fixed your webshooters!”
Excitingly, Twilight tied one of the webshooters to his left hoof. Aesthetically speaking it looked exactly the same, well, except less charred and broken. But Twilight explained all of the modifications she’d done while appropriating it to Peter’s hoof.
“It took a while, but I figured out the firing mechanism. Pretty ingenious, if I should say so. It’s designed to activate from pressure but not just pressure, right? Accompanying how your limb stretches and tenses you can control the degree of webbing and the amount, preeetty smart. I had to increase the sensitivity since my hooves won’t activate it entirely and I modified it so you don’t have to directly touch the sensor. Just flex and tense your hoof and it’ll work.”
Peter stared at the webshooter which felt incredibly light-weight. Raising his foreleg, he experimentally tensed his leg inward and a strand of web fired off, slamming into the wall opposite of him. “Whoa!” Peter exclaimed, chuckling. “It worked!”
It felt weird not doing the finger gesture to fire the web but it’ll be something he’d have to get used to.
“I’ve magically warded the webshooters as well,” Twilight explained, her horn lighting up and wrapping the webshooter in her purple aura. “It is resistant to alicorn level magic (though I’m not sure you’ll be fighting alicorns) and properly grounded so it can’t be fired by electromagnetism. There’s also a panic button installed.”
She removed the webshooter and presented it to Peter, showing off an emblem on top of it that looked like her cutie mark. “If you press it and think of, um, me it’ll send off this magical flare that’ll let me know where you are.”
Peter scrutinized the webshooter, wishing he had his glasses (for some reason his contacts didn’t come with him to this universe). “What’d you use for the web?”
“Easy, actual spider web.”
“What?”
Twilight gestured over to a loom-like device to the side of the lab which stretch and spun tons of web around. “Well, the spider it came from is a bit more magical in nature. Giant Spiders are common in the Everfree Forest and they produce a lot of web that can be used for fabric and stuff. It’s really tough and, like the webshooter, protected against magic. Not even my magic can tear it, but it’ll deteriorate after a few hours.”
“Wow,” Peter muttered, incredibly impressed by Twilight’s resources and skills. “Thanks, Twilight, I really appreciate it… but…”
“But?”
“Well, not for nothing, but this is making it seem like… my staying here isn’t very temporary.”
Twilight bit her lip and glanced at the floor. “Dimensional magic is tough,” she admitted. “It’s even tougher if the universe you came from isn’t inherently compatible to magic.”
“You said you could do it.”
“I said I’d try,” Twilight corrected. “And I have been.”
She gestured to another table which were filled with magic spell books and creepy ritualistic symbols drawn into a leather-bound book and a vial that was filled with something that looked suspiciously like blood.
“It isn’t that it’s impossible to create a portal,” Twilight explained. “It’s just without a proper frame and dimensional-trajectory calculations, even if I could make a portal, I have no clue where and when you’ll end up. And that’s not even taking the spatial-lensing effect into consideration.”
Peter deflated. Staring at his hooves, wondering if this will be like this for the rest of his life. Twilight draped her forearm around Peter and pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay, I’m not giving up, Peter,” Twilight muttered gently. “But if it doesn’t work out… you’ve got friends here, okay?”
Peter swallowed the lump in his throat and could only manage a nod, for fear his voice would break.
… … …
The cave was damp and freezing. The wind howled like the souls of the damned outside and the blizzard raged on. The cave was not formed naturally, evident by the still smoking sides, like the searing flesh afflicted by a gunshot wound. The stench of smoke and something inhumanly disgusting filled the cave, like a desiccated body.
Snow and ice crackled under the weight of his heavy boots. Clad in a smokey black shroud, the stranger entered the cave without fear or trepidation. Following the wound against the side of the mountain deeper and deeper until he found what he came for. The cause of the newly formed cave.
Doctor Otto Octavius lay in a broken heap. The Stranger wasn’t sure if he was still alive. Nudging Doctor Octavius’s leg with his foot, the esteemed doctor flinched in his comatose state. At his side lay the most perfect object in this universe… and the others.
A blue cube, glowing and filling the cave in an unnatural blue hue.
Kneeling, he removed the garb around his head to get a better look at the cube. Revealing the skin on his head had thinned and been stretched tight, so it resembled more of a skull than anything. That and his unnatural red skin collaborated into a perfectly sinister visage.
“Well, well,” he muttered in a German accent. “Never have I thought I would see this again. The tesseract…”
A magical burst of lightning exploded in the middle of the bank, obliterating a chandelier, sending it crashing to the ground. Ponies everywhere scattered but before anypony could attempt an escape, another bolt of magic fired, taking out a large round table in the middle of the room and everyone went still.
Three ponies and a griffin, stood at the entrance of the bank. They wore black cotton outfits which obscured their cutie marks and masks over their faces and covering their tails. The griffin, however, was the only one outfitted from head to claw as to obscure every single feature of her body. There were two unicorns and a peagsus in the group, the leader, a male and the other three female.
“Nopony move!” the leader barked, aiming his horn at a security pony and blasting him backwards with magic. “Now, we ain’t got any plans on hurting you folks, so long as you cooperate.”
“Wrench,” the pegasus, Swift, muttered beside him. “You’re causing too much of a scene, simmer down or the cops will be on us!”
“I know what I’m doing,” Wrench snapped back. He turned to the other unicorn. “Silver, go with Fox to the vault.”
Fox grumbled, flexing her wings. “Of course I get stuck with Silver.”
“Not like I’m too happy to be with you either!”
“Shut it!” Wrench snapped. “Just do your jobs and we’ll make a mint!”
Grumbling in discontent, Silver and Fox trudged off behind the counters and towards the back of the bank. “Alright, now the rest of yoose,” Wrench announced to the cowering crowd. “Line up against the entrance, NOW!”
The ponies did so immediately and without question. Swift and Wrench occasionally berated and kicked anyponies that lagged behind but eventually the entirety of the bank were sprawled against the doors of the bank. “Now just to make sure none of you have any funny ideas on heroics.” Wrench said, levitating various furniture and metal fixtures, pinning them against the wall of ponies to keep them there. “There, all nice and snuggly.”
“Kinda like how you’ll be behind bars.”
Wrench and Swift, along with the rest of the ponies in the bank, turned their heads towards the new voice. Spidercolt was leaning up against the wall, 20 feet off the ground, calmly watching the bank robbery take place.
“Who are you supposed to be?” Wrench asked, his horn lighting up.
“The costume doesn’t give it away?” Peter asked sarcastically. “I’m the good guy, you’re the bad guys, so you know what’s gonna happen next?”
Wrench’s horn flared in light and a blast of magic fired off… destroying the spot where Spidercolt was. He leapt into the air, firing off webbing that slammed into Wrench’s horn, the momentum throwing the robber off balance.
“Naughty pony!” Spidercolt taunted as he leapt from wall to wall. “Now just stay still and—“
His spidey-sense wasn’t nearly as fast enough to keep up with the pegasi . Swift crashed into Spidercolt, flying across the bank so quickly he nearly got whiplash. Spidercolt shook his head to regain his senses and twisted under Swift’s forelegs. They spun in the air and Spidercolt kicked Swift sending her crashing into the ground. Bad news, he couldn’t stop his momentum. He slammed into the ceiling and fell to the ground dazed.
Shaking his head as he stood back up, Spidercolt grumbled, “Ugh, this seemed a lot easier in the comics.”
There was a learning curve, sure. Pegasi aren’t as fast as bullets, at least Swift wasn’t, but they can trip up his spidey-sense slightly. It was like being a swimmer your entire life then suddenly becoming a rock-climber, the mechanics were different and it took some time getting used to the different muscles being used.
“Not so tough are ya?” Wrench asked, approaching him. Spidercolt cursed under his breath for allowing himself to be caught off-guard.
He lashed out, his webshooter activating but magic was infinitely quicker. A dull purple aura appeared over the strand of web and quickly spread throughout Spidercolt’s body. He stiffened and was immediately immobilized. It was the levitation spell he used earlier, it felt like he was trapped under a block of jell-o made of iron.
“Don’t know what the big deal is,” Wrench chuckled. The pegasi that tackled him, Swift, appeared behind him, looking perfectly fine despite taking a hit that would knock out most humans. Spidercolt mentally noted that these ponies are way tougher than they look… so that means he doesn’t have to hold back as much.
“Let’s see who’s behind that mask.”
Spidercolt flexed his forelegs and his magic-immune webshooters activated going to the far left and right. They caught on tables and using his super-strength, he pulled them towards himself. Wrench yelped, dropping Spidercolt from his magical grip and turned to stop one of the tables… but the other one slammed into both ponies and they went flying off to the side.
Before they could stand up, however, webbing held them down and before Wrench could react with another magical spell, Spidercolt walked up to him and tapped his horn right at the base. Wrench recoiled back completely dazed and crying out in pain. Twilight told him that unicorn horns were very tough but that a certain spot at the base would leave them magically impaired for a few hours, he didn’t realize how sensitive it was however.
“There, stay like the pretty pony that you are,” Spidercolt said. “Now then, for the rest—“
This time his spider-sense reacted properly. Spidercolt leapt several feet into the air and flipped just as the griffin, Fox, charged him. He managed to land perfectly on Fox’s back which caused her to buck not unlike a horse but Spidercolt held on tight to her neck, dodging her wings which seemed a lot more dangerous than pegasi wings.
“Whoa, whoa! Easy Debbie!” Spidercolt cried, trying to hold on.
“GET OFF!” Fox snapped.
“If I had a dime for every time I heard that… I’d have a dime, do you guys have dimes here? Whoa!” Spidercolt dodged a magical bolt as it flew overhead.
“Hold still, Fox!” The other unicorn cried, charging up for another blast. She fired off two more shots but Spidercolt nimbly dodged. He jumped off Fox’s back, quickly webbing her wings together, and dodged another magical bolt. Firing off another web aimed at Silver’s horn, but she dodged and it landed on the ground.
“Ha! Missed!” Silver cried, turning in time to see Spidercolt flying toward her. He kicked her right in the face, expecting it to knock her out but it just left her dazed. Spidercolt leapt over Fox, webbing her as he did so, first the horn then the eyes. He tapped the base of her horn and she cried out, immediately falling prone on the ground.
“One down—“
Fox broke the webbing around her wings and charged Spidercolt, her claws slashing and threatening to turn him into ground beef. Actually, that probably doesn’t work since everypony is vegetarian, maybe diced salad?
Spidercolt dodged perfectly, staying far away from those razor sharp claws that sliced up the furniture around them as they fought. Kneeling slightly, Spidercolt jumped up and bucked Fox right in the jaw, webbing her forelegs as he descended and keeping them held against the floor. He landed feeling pretty smug but Fox growled and flexed her claws which cut through his webbing like it was paper.
“I’m sorry!” Spidercolt squeaked as he backflipped away from another onslaught. Fox charged forward and lashed out, Spidercolt tried to dodge but she was too fast. She grabbed him, her claw was big enough to fully encase him in a vise grip.
Fox took off, dragging Spidercolt against the floor and ceiling as she flew. “Owowowowowowowowow!” Spidercolt cried, trying to free himself.
Instead, he bucked her claw so hard she was forced to release him. Spidercolt pushed himself off the wall and slammed into Fox’s chest hurtling toward the floor. The griffin tried to slice him to pieces but he was smart this time, webbing her claws shut, then he webbed the ground and pulled hard speeding their descent from a speeding car to a missile’s.
They slammed into the ground and Fox was perfectly out cold. Spidercolt paused for a moment to catch his breath. “Well, that’s one way to… skin a…” He sighed explosively. “I got nothing.”
The crowd of ponies awkwardly encircled Spidercolt and for a moment he inwardly winced, bracing himself for the no-doubt ‘Let’s all attack the superhero for messing up the bank!’ parade that would commence. But instead they cheered and hoisted Spidercolt up, proudly chanting his name and thanking them with so much sincerity he almost didn’t have a wisecrack to snap.
“Please, please, no autographs!” Spidercolt said with a laugh. “Can’t use these hooves anyways.”
Peter made sure not to stick around when the police arrived, he knew better because they’d ask all sorts of questions like, “Who are you?” and “Why’d you eat all the cereal?” So, he just didn’t want to deal with the hassle.
“Thank you, um, mares and germs!” Spidercolt said, disentangling himself from the crowd. “Your friendly neighborhood Spidercolt has done yet another job well done.”
The overhead chandelier snapped from its chain and fell silently behind Spidercolt, exploding in a million pieces of glass and debris. Spidercolt’s elation dropped and he waved a hoof dismissively. “Well, job nearly well done.”
With that, he webbed-swung away and out of the bank.
“Ouch!” Peter cursed as Fluttershy applied her healing salve on his forelegs. “Gently!”
“I am gentle,” Fluttershy whispered back.
“You’re just a wimp,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, enjoying watching Peter wince and curse. “I thought you healed fast.”
Peter rolled his eyes and tried to keep still as Fluttershy bandaged him. “I do, I guess I’m just not used to… what’d you call it, Twi?”
“Magic Burns,” Twilight answered, rapidly flipping through five books as well. “It occurs after a magical discharge causing severe flesh burns, reduced nerve sensitivity, and bone fractures sometimes.”
“It’s the equivalent of a freezer burn,” Rarity summed up, looking through Peter’s costumes, examining the burns caused by magical attacks. “I’ll have to reinforce your fabric…”
“Well, your webshooters worked like they should,” Peter said, grinning, gesturing to the devices.
“I’m glad,” Twilight said, smiling back, then realizing she was holding his gaze for longer than she should and looked away. “I didn’t think you’d find trouble so quickly, and at Manehatten First Bank.”
“Mighty fine job, by th’ way,” Applejack remarked, pulling out a newspaper that depicted Peter heroically web-swinging away with the robbers in tow. “Everypony loves ya!”
“Thanks,” Peter said, trying not to wince from Fluttershy’s first-aid. “Things were a bit easier back home, I’ll admit. Mostly petty thieves and car-jacking situations, so, magic is a bit of a first to me.”
“A world without magic,” Rarity mused. “Must be dreadfully boring.”
“I guess,” Peter thought about the situation in New York a little while back and shuddered. He wasn’t sure if he preferred aliens to magic.
“I haven’t got a chance to study your biology,” Twilight said, approaching him and studied his forelegs which remarkably healed. “Are you sure, I can’t study you?”
Peter immediately thought of an operating table, lots of large, loud saws, scalpels and a crazed look in Twilight’s eyes. “No, I’m good!”
Twilight frowned but nodded. “Alright, but I won’t be able to tell your capabilities and limits unless I thoroughly—“
“I’m perfectly good,” Peter said quickly with a forced smile. “Um, thanks Fluttershy. Sorry again, you know, for the wing.”
Fluttershy smiled perfectly sincerely and nodded. “It’s fine, it’s healing up well.”
“No thanks to you,” Rainbow Dash snapped, flying to Fluttershy’s side.
Peter rolled his eyes and flexed his forelegs, it felt a bit stiff but it didn’t hurt. By tomorrow he should be perfectly fine. “Whew, you’re a miracle worker, Fluttershy.”
“Hopefully by tomorrow you’ll be fine for our visit,” Twilight said, snapping shut all of her books.
“Uh, visit? Who we visiting? It’s a bit early to be meeting the parents.”
“The Princesses of course.”
“Oh. Cool.”
Peter looked at the faces of the other girls, expecting them to be excited or elated but they looked… worried there was even pity in their eyes.
Something told Peter this visit may not be as fun as it sounds.
I’m Star Swirl the Bearded! Father of the amniomorphic spell? But Truth is merely the fabrication of what has occurred
Star Swirl the Bearded is only the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era
Would you even accept the Truth?
You think you know the Eclipsed Warlock, the Greatest Wizard in 10,000 Years.
But
I am Here to inform you that you may know absolutely nothing at all.
~==~
Upon a Barren wasteland stood a solitary figure. The Hellish landscape was the color of rust and obsidian. Dusty winds with debris as sharp as glass cut through the environment. Sitting in an unassuming spot was a massive circular devise of almost alien origin. Perfectly round save the jagged circumference, the structure seemed perfectly finished centuries ago but only to fall apart and collapse under the weight of Time. The Figure approached the object, wrapped in elaborate if homely rags that covered his entire body save his golden eyes that burned with a fierce intellect.
He stepped forward, finding his wayward, if loyal, assistant at the helm of the structure, welding it together with a Cryotex apparatus.
“Any progress?” the figure asked in a voice wizened with time and sorely in need of a cool drink of water.
The young colt, no older than ten, with rags similar to the elder unicorn pulled off his goggles and stared at the pony. “Yes, if we can stabilize the Calculating Matrix, this thing is ready to go with the right power source.”
The Figure reached into his rags and pulled out a strange object. It was perfectly cubical and glowed with a dim neon-blue light. The revered Cosmic Cube sat perfectly in his hoof. “I am certain this power source will suffice.”
“What is it?”
“None of your concern, continue your work.”
“Of course, sir,” the boy said dutifully. “But… if it works, where will you go?”
“Where do all wayward souls go?” the Figure asked, stepping forward and pushing the Tesseract into the structure. Instantly light exploded around the device and a massive portal erupted in the middle. “Home. After all, it has been centuries since I have seen my Equestria, I shall like to see how it is.”
It stood as an obsidian monolith dominating the landscape with its gothic and eerie façade and solitary environment. It was built at the end of a peninsula and under the cover of night it was like an inky shadow in an otherwise lovely tropical place. Transylmania was a town lost in time, the buildings were old-fashioned, lacking a contemporary touch and other modern improvements such as a Magic Irrigation system or even a Weather Control.
A blotchy black storm front rolled in from the west, freezing winds blew through the town and the night sky was intermittently illuminated by lightning. Standing by the gates of Castle Frankenstein, the Mysterious Mare Do Well observed her magic scanner as it buzzed and glowed like crazy.
“I was almost hoping there wouldn’t be anypony here,” Mare Do Well grumbled, turning off her scanner and scrutinizing the castle. She pressed the side of her head and her eyelids in her mask glowed a dull green as it zoomed in and enhanced the image.
Mare Do Well was dressed in her traditional navy blue and purple outfit complete with her black hat and cape. Her unicorn’s horn glowed a dull blue and her wings flickered nervously on her back.
“I won’t be able to pick up any heat signatures with this,” Mare Do Well grumbled into her mic piece in her mask. “Especially if they’re bat-ponies.”
A garbled response buzzed in her earpiece but was drowned out by thunder. “Whoa!” Mare Do Well gasped, zooming in further and noticing two distinct heat signatures. “What’s that?”
A lankly unicorn flanked by a hulking horse was pacing around what appeared to be a laboratory. The unicorn was gesturing animatedly while the hulk figure stood stoic by the wall. “Okay… so this won’t be very easy…” Mare Do Well said looking at the horse and noticing the absurd amounts of blood flowing in its body. “A Monster…”
Still. Mare Do Well was a hero by any other name. She deactivated her binoculars and slunk into the night.
~==~
“You told me you would yield results!” the unicorn screeched, knocking over a table filled with books and apparatuses with her magic, a distinct yellow sickly glow of magic burned at her horn. “Yet you have done nothing! You wait like cowards in the corners whilst this… this abomination continues to exist unabated!”
The emphasize her point, she levitated a Ponyville Times newspaper upward, showing off the captured image of Spidercolt capturing a couple of bank robbers looking all heroic and stuff. Very Shelly glared at the soulless, undead creatures before her. Five bat-ponies stood before her, stoic and indifferent to the mad scientist’s rantings. They all had skeleton gray fur, firefly yellow eyes, and pointed fangs, along with black outfits that matched their purple wings.
The tallest one stepped forward, casually observing his hoof as he spoke indignantly, “The, ah, Spidercolt is under the custody of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Any efforts in… extracting him will garner unwanted attention. You understand, Miss Frankenstein.”
“Don’t call me that,” Shelly growled. “We will need him if Creature shall rise to his full potential.”
She gestured to the gargantuan horse to the side. He was easily three times the height of the average pony and twice as large as Princess Celestia. His fur was translucent yellow and marred with scorch marks and raw patches so that underneath his skin was near perfectly see-through, revealing glowing sigils and wards along with neon-blue arteries and capillaries. His face could perhaps pass as beautiful if it wasn’t for the lifeless tin-color eyes and taut skin.
Very Shelly only barely passed as presentable compared to the Creature. Her lab coat was ragged and messy with various chemical spills on it and painted magical sigils as products of experimentation that peeled off the coat occasionally, morphed into whatever the sigil represented, and plastered itself back on her coat. Her fur was the color of ink and her mane and tail a tangled corn-colored mess. Thick rimmed glasses sat in front of her red eyes that burned with intense curiosity and intelligence.
“What makes you think he is what you need,” the batpony, Bran Stoker, asked, raising an eyebrow to the Creature which stood immobile. Completely inanimate.
“He is under the influence of some form of serum,” Shelly insisted. “His abilities exceed those of an average pony, even you batponies. Minotaurs, Hydras, dragons, whatever, they pale in comparison. Something modified his physiology, which is what my Creature requires.”
Shelly walked over to a far desk where a massive biomechanical mystic heart sat. Spells and charms were written on the organ’s surface but it was decidedly as inanimate as the Creature. “If your Count wishes for my assistance then perhaps you shall do as I instructed and acquire Spidercolt’s blood.”
The batponies stirred, hissing angrily as Shelly’s indigence but Bran held his foreleg up, stopping them. Barn grinned, amused by the scientist’s attitude. “How can you expect us to trust you? Without viable results, all you have are theories and conspiracies. This Monster of yours has done nothing of note—“
“He is not a Monster!” Shelly barked, shutting the batpony up. “Imperfect, sure, but that does not a monster make. You are the real monsters, glorified leeches.”
“Hm. Before we continue, shall we dispose of our unwanted guest?” Bran suggested.
Shelly raised an eyebrow. “Wha—“
Bran hissed, his fangs fully extended and the blood drained from his face as he turned and lunged toward the ceiling where Mare Do Well was cleverly concealed. Yelping, Mare Do Well dropped from the ceiling, avoiding Bran but the other two batponies charged as well. Her horn glowed brightly and she exploded in a flash of light, teleporting away. Disorientated, the batponies crashed into each other.
“Fools!” Bran cursed, pointing at Mare Do Well now charging at the Creature’s heart. “Get her!”
All three batponies charged Mare Do Well, she turned, braced herself, and fired off a blast of magic that collided within the group and sent them all flying. “Ha!” Mare Do Well cried. “Blind as a bat, not exactly an advantage.”
She turned, ready to grab the heart but Shelly had already put it into the Creature. “Aw, pony-feathers…”
The Creature’s eyes lit up a bright, unnatural blue and he moved from his rigid state. Blinking, the glow faded to a faint dim and he calmly assessed the situation at hoof… before beholding his own hoof.
But the batponies were not a patient ilk, they charged and rushed Mare Do Well. The masked hero turned, grabbing something from her belt, and threw it at the monsters. It exploded with the burning intensity of five suns, scorching and vaporizing the nearby area. The batponies screeched and hissed from the violent sunlight and evaporated into the shadows. The Creature was quick in his movements despite his heft, he jumped over Shelly and shielded her from the blast causing his back to blister and burn.
When the light died, Mare Do Well shook her head and rubbed her face. “Note to self: make the sunlight grenade easier on the eyes…”
“My Creature…” Shelly gasped as she watched the lumbering giant stand at attention. “You are injured!”
“Injuries best befit a monster,” he answered in a deep resonating voice rich with intelligence and a serenity betraying his constitution. “Of which my Lady and Queen is undeserving of such scars and marks.”
He turned, looking at Mare Do Well and his deep voice morphed into an animalistic growl. “Masked Villainess, why have you sought my Creator with such ill-intent?”
“Whoa, whoa, I wasn’t trying to hurt her,” Mare Do Well said, backing up from the giant now stalking toward her. “Well, I guess I was. She was talking about hunting down and hurting Spidercolt, so—“
“Whatever crimes thy wish to prosecute my Creator for should be done to me,” he responded, growling as his body glowed from the magical currents coursing through his veins. “For her I shall be a Guardian, a Promethean creation, a Daemon.”
He charged with unnatural speed. Mare Do Well leapt, kicking him in the face but it merely glanced off his visage. Flipping in the air, Mare Do Well landed behind him and charged a spell. Lightning shot from her horn, crashing into the Creature and he slammed into an adjacent bookshelf.
“No!” Shelly cried. “My First editions!”
That’s what you’re worried about? Mare Do Well thought but instead charged another spell. With a mighty roar, Creature shot out of the wall like a cannon and slammed into Mare Do Well. She crashed through a metal table, snapping it in town and crumbled in the corner.
Creature lumbered toward Mare Do Well, stretching his neck. Despite the perceived damage he should’ve taken, he seemed perfectly fine. “Now, the Masked Villainess shall fall, we shall see who is behind the mask.”
Before the Creature could grab Mare Do Well, however, she lashed out with a bolt of magic. It collided into Creature’s chest and from it sparked fire. The Creature was sent flying backwards while the fire collected around the room, spreading at alarming rates.
Mare Do Well seized this opportunity, ran to the window and jumped out. Spreading her wings and flying off at incredible speeds
~==~
Mare Do Well headed for her secret abode. By that, she went into an abandoned theatre and down toward the basement. Embarrassed and bruised, Mare Do Well gripped her side as pain flared up her rib cage, threatening to send her into shock.
“Not a fun night,” Mare Do Well grumbled as she pressed an inconspicuous button on a control panel. The entire section of wall lifted up and revealed a secret corridor of which Mare Do Well all but limped down and into her hideout.
“At least the wings held up,” another voice called out. As Mare Do Well stepped off the last step, a gray, blonde-maned pegasus with wayward eyes approached her, helping Mare Do Well steady herself. Her bubbly cutie mark matched her innocuous expression. “I’m surprised they didn’t break apart.”
“Don’t be too surprised,” Mare Do Well retorted, removing her hat and mask to reveal sky blue fur, a silvery mane and purple eyes. Trixie Lulamoon looked to her walleyed assistant, Ditzy Do, with an impressed, if impatient, expression. “The Great and Powerful Trixie won’t be felled by an eldritch abomination.”
“But.. you lost,” Ditzy reminded her.
Trixie ignored her, removing her outfit entirely including the cybernetic pegasus wings harnessed to her back. Combining magic and biomechanical constructs, Trixie was able to fabricate pegasus wings powerful enough to lift her off the ground and nimble enough for elaborate maneuvers.
She headed toward her wall of monitors while Ditzy complained under her breath as she applied a healing salve to Trixie’s side as she worked.
“The batponies won’t be stopped so easily,” Trixie said, pulling up images of newspaper clippings depicting vampiristic attacks on ponies recently. “But Frankenstein and his monster, I didn’t see that coming.”
“They said they wanted Spidercolt, why?” Ditzy asked, bandaging Trixie’s stomach.
“They think he’s the product of genetic engineering and that there must be something in his blood that makes him, well, him,” Trixie answered.
“That’s a crazy assumption!”
“Well for a scientist, Very Shelly didn’t seem in the right mind,” Trixie grumbled. “Either way, I think we need to pay a visit to Spidercolt and warn him.”
By the time the cows were done with their stampede, Twilight didn’t think this day could go any worse. Then Discord showed up.
Materializing in a puff of smoke, Discord guffawed relentlessly, practically doubling over, in fact that’s exactly what he did. He spun around, holding his stomach, as he laughed. Twilight pushed the wet mane from her eyes and glared at the Spirit of Chaos but he wasn’t very fazed. After all, it was difficult being intimidating covered in chicken feathers.
Peter didn’t look any better. His SpiderColt costume was torn so his fur stuck out oddly, like Twilight he was covered from head to hooves in tar and chicken feathers. It was difficult to tell from behind his mask, but Twilight knew he was glaring at Discord as well.
“Hilarious!” Discord cried, wiping a tear from his eyes.
Peter tilted his head and took a step forward, not many ponies would ever think about getting closer to Discord they mostly would rather run away screaming.
“Wait, that voice…” he muttered.
“And who says Canterlot lacks culture!” Discord continued, ignoring Peter. “I must say in 20,000 years, this is the most fun I’ve had here!”
“Discord, did you cause all of this?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the chaotic town square. Sparsely throughout the square lay chickens running rampant and wayward cows grazing wherever they could.
“Of course not!” Discord said, grinning broadly. He sounded genuine but he was a Spirit of Disharmony therefore the Prince of Liars.
Twilight huffed, rolling her eyes and looked over to Peter who, for some reason, was angrily pacing. “Peter, what’s--”
“It’s him!” Peter yelled, hysterically, pointing accusingly at Discord. “He’s the reason I’m here!”
“What? I don’t--”
Peter marched up to Discord, either bravely, or stupidly, staring down the draconequus. “YOU brought me here, right?!”
Perhaps it’d be better to start at the beginning, no?
