Marvel Mares

by neorenamon

After her near run-in with the train, Pinkie's thoughts became much clearer. More normal... for Pinkie anyways. She became more and more aware of just how powerful she had become from the spider bite combined with the strange chemicals from the school lab. She moved from alley to alley looking for something she couldn't lift (when nopony was looking) or couldn't jump over, but she just couldn't do it. But eventually she made it back to the humble home of her Uncle Ben and Aunt May Cake. The sun was just beginning to set.

"Pinkie Parker!" scolded Aunt May, "Where in Equestria have you been?"

"Your friend Miss Stacey stopped by to tell us you had an accident in school," added Uncle Ben, "We were worried sick about you."

"Oh it wasn't anything too serious," she replied, "The nurse kept me around for observations until she was convinced there was nothing wrong. They can be a little over protective down at Canterlot High."

"Well get cleaned up for dinner," said May, "It's just about done."

"Awesome!" said Pinkie as she moved past her adopted parents. She rushed to the bathroom to clean up, and by the time she got to the dining room, three sets of plates and silverware were already set out. Dinner was already there. She hoped it didn't get cold waiting for her to show up.

Ben helped May sit down before he sat down himself, and then Pinkie joined them at the table.

"How's the bakery business going?" she asked as she looked from her Uncle to her Aunt.

"Oh things are just fine," he replied. Unfortunately, it wasn't going all that well and neither her Aunt or Uncle were all that convincing when they were trying to lie to Pinkie.

"Don't worry about us," added May, "Just focus on getting really good grades at school. The business will still be here when you graduate."

'Don't worry,' thought Pinkie, 'I swear I'll find a way to make enough money to keep the family business going before I graduate.'

"So Pinkie," asked her Uncle, "How was your first day at school?"

"Other than that accident," she replied, "It was great."

"Make any friends today?" asked May.

"Oh... no..." she replied, "I was just visiting with my old friends from Junior High." She paused before adding, "You remember Vinyl Stacey, don't you?"

"Such a nice young girl. I'm glad she's still your friend."

"I hope she got over that loud music phase of hers," added Uncle Ben.

"Nope," replied Pinkie, "She wants to be the school DJ and play records for all of the school."

"Well I hope that loud music won't interfere with your studies, Pinkie."

"Oh, I'm sure a little noise won't drag down my grades."

"We're both so proud of how high you grades were in previous schools my dear," said Aunt May.

"Have you heard from Maud and the others lately?"

"Oh," said Ben, "She and your older sisters are still running the rock farm after we moved away with you. We're too old to manage that thing any more, and we wanted to make sure that you got the best education we could afford."

Pinkie knew that Canterlot Schools were paid for by property taxes, but there was no other direct costs to enter Canterlot High as long as you passed the entrance exam. But still, the part of Canterlot they were living in wasn't cheap considering her Aunt and Uncle were living on a fixed income provided by Princess Celestia's Social Security program. The fact they were still getting payments from that system proved that their bakery wasn't making all that much money.

"Really," said Pinkie, "You two should be living out your retirement dreams in the Brahmamas Islands. Not spending your old age looking after me."

"Oh, that kind of cushy living would drive us both stir crazy in a few months," mused Ben, "That's not the kind of life either of us want."

They always did tell Pinkie they were both planning to work until the last days of their lives. She remembered one of his best lines was 'With great jobs comes great responsibility'... or something like that.

Dinner was over before she knew it, and was soon on her way to her bedroom. Early to bed and early to rise... and all that. But she did grab their copy of the Canterlot Bugle on the way by. Uncle Ben mainly got it for the daily crossword puzzle. She figured if she was going to make money, the newspaper was about the best place to start.

But when she got to her room, she set aside the paper and opened the window to let the air in. In that part of Canterlot, the air wasn't overly affected by the wood fires that burned in the hearths of the other houses. She looked out the window and watched the sun as it made it's way down below the horizon. About then however, there was a large explosion in the sky. She looked up in time to see a rainbow ring as it expanded across the Canterlot skies. The tingle through her body told her it was some kind of powerful magic that she had never seen before.

Watching that scene made something tingle inside her. She felt... different. Her first thought was, 'I gotta party!'

Then she went back to the paper and began to read it. Her body began to tremble all over as she got to around the seventh page.

"I have an idea!" she said, "This baking contest will give Uncle Ben and Aunt May enough money to run the bakery for a year! All I need is to rework one of my old Nightmare Night costumes!"

Hmm... A costume for a baking contest? must be Pinkie logic at work.

"What?!" replied Pinkie, "Do you think I want everypony to know I have super powers?!"

Fourth wall crumbles to dust. Wait, how does spider powers let you win a bake-off?

"Hello! Pinkie sense? Super strength? Super agility? Wall-crawling? The secret mane of extradimensional spaces?"

Oh my bad. Moving on then...

"Ooo, maybe I can invent some doohickey for shooting webs... and frosting... and sprinkles..."

Yeah, it's time to close down this little scene...

"Oki doki loki!" she exclaimed, "Good night to you!"

Ugh...

...

But the baking contest was a few days away and Pinkie still had to go to school. She met Vinyl walking to school and they both arrived at the gates just a little behind schedule when they bumped into Octavia waiting there. She was standing there in what appeared to be a brand new cheerleader's uniform showing her to be a member of the Wondercolts cheer-leading squad.

"Well well," she said as she looked them over, "It it isn't Pinkie and Vinyl. How are you?"

"Just great," muttered Vinyl, "Super jock stand you up again?"

"Oh, he's just a little late," she replied.

But as Flash came around the corner of the gate from the inside, her Pinkie Sense went off. She had a feeling something was about to happen in the bushes by the side of the road. So she pretended to trip and drag down Vinyl as she fell. A volley of water balloons sailed over their heads and exploded with satisfying splashes. They looked up in time to see both Flash and Octavia soaked to their hides.

While Pinkie pretended to be shocked (Shocked I tell you!), Vinyl immediately broke out laughing. Then she looked back to see half a dozen stallions from the school hoof-ball team standing around in the bushes.

"My dress!" yelled Octavia.

"You guys better toss hoof-balls better than you throw water balloons!" scowled Flash at them. Then he looked at the two of them on the ground as he added, "You're so lucky, Puny Parker! Next time you won't be so fortunate!" He took Octavia by the foreleg as he lead her onto the High School grounds.

"If I didn't know better," said Vinyl, "I'd say you did that on purpose."

"Who?" she replied, "Me?"

"Yes," she answered, "You."

"Perish the thought."

"Come on," she said as she helped Pinkie up, "We don't want to be late to class!"

Pinkie ran off after Vinyl. They had to run outside because running was clearly not allowed in the halls.

"Hey!" said Pinkie, "I was thinking I could get more business to my Uncle Cake's bakery by throwing private parties there. What do you think about it?"

"Can I be the DJ and spin the tunes?!" she asked back.

"Sure!"

"That would be awesome!" she replied, "I'm working on a stage persona I'm calling DJ Pon-3! What do you think of that?"

"I dunno... I guess that works."

"Maybe I should think of something else then. Whatever name I choose, it has to be totally catchy!"

"Well don't ask me," she replied, "You know I'm no good with cool names."

"It was so funny that Flash Sentry's ambush blew up in his own face," chuckled Vinyl as the approached the front doors.

"But OJ," replied Pinkie, "She didn't deserve that."

"OJ?"

"Octavia-Jane?" she replied.

"You're giving nicknames to somepony you've never even met formally?!" laughed Vinyl, "You're just too much Parker!"

"Oh I have this feeling we're going to become friends," she replied, "I'm going to make a whole lot of good friends this year. I plan to become... the ultimate party pony!"

"Well that's good to hear. Just don't forget an old friend like me."

"Perish the thought."

...

A few days later...

...

"Welcome to the Equestria National Baking Competition where Princess Celestia and a group of elite baking judges shall determine who can bake the best cake in all of the land!" announced the Earth pony stallion on the stage. Off to the side, Princess Celestia, Fleur dis Lee, Broken Leguizamo (noted actor and stand-up comedian), Filly-this Diller (really old noted comedian) and Rich Little (noted pony voice impersonator... what?! Isn't that ponified enough as it is?) all sat behind their table where they would taste test, judge and make various snide comments.

"For tonight's contestants," he announced as he glanced at the list in his hoof, "We have Gustav Le' Grand!"

There was a small round of hoofclaps for the griffon baker as he walked in from the other side of the stage.

"Next we have Mulia Mild!" There was more claps as she walked out.

"Now we have... uh... some pony named Joe!" Less hoofclaps than before as he walked out.

"And finally we have the... uh..." There was a pause. He looked backstage as he asked, "Is this for real?"

"Yes!" came the reply, "Just announce her already!"

"Very well," he said, "The last contestant is... the Spider-Mare."

The silence from the crowd was deafening as the Spider-Mare walked out in her homespun costume. Everyone but the Princess raised an eyebrow as she came in.

"Hey," said Broken Leguizamo, "What's the deal with the mask and the costume? If Filly-this Diller can show her wrinkled old prune-face in public..."

That earned him a killer glare from Filly-this.

"No!" announced the Princess regally, "There's no rule against anonymous contestants. It doesn't matter what her reasons are, she wouldn't have got in past security if she was a criminal or harboring ill intent. She shall compete with the others."

"As the Princess wishes," said Rich as he impersonated the Princess herself.

That got a good giggle from most of the audience.

"Very well," she said as she grinned back at Rich, then she looked ahead again as she said, "As per the rules, each of you shall work from your own kitchen. You cannot have any help. All ingredients shall be provided. You have to make due with what we give you. All of you have one hour to bake this cake. Tonight's secret cake ingredient is... *Zap Apples*."

The contestants blanched. Zap Apples were one of the most difficult apples to make into a cake known because of their powerful and distinctive flavor. That and the fact their shelf life was extremely limited. The apples must have been shipped express right to the contest site. The curtains opened to reveal for sets of kitchens complete with counters, a gas over, a stocked refrigerator, stocked cupboards and a whole mess of utensils.

...

One hour and 15 minutes later...

...

"Well, every cake so far has been really delicious," said the Princess as an attendant wiped the last cake from her chin.

"You know you're just supposed to sample the cakes," said Broken, "Not finish them off."

"What?!" said the Princess, "They're really good and I've been waiting all day to eat these."

"It's good to be the Princess," said Rich.

"Well some of us have to watch our figures," mutter Filly-this.

"When you find the pony that stole your figure," replied Broken, "Make them give it back."

Another killer glare was made at him.

"Now it's time to sample the last cake of the evening," announced the Princess, "The cake baked by the Spider-Mate. Before we start, I have to say that was some of the best showmanship I've ever seen."

"Oh yes," said Broken, "the acrobatic feats, the flipping, the tumbling and the FLAVEN!! I don't know how... or why... you have frosting shooters on your wrists... but it was totally amazing to see!"

'Hmm...' thought Pinkie, 'The Amazing Spider-Mare!'

"It was just astounding!" added Fleur dis Lee.

'Hmm...' thought Pinkie, 'The Astounding Spider-Mare!'

"I'm sure if we were judging gymnastics, you'd get the gold medal for sure," added Rich.

"While we do give extra points for showmanship," agreed the Princess, "It won't make up for a bad cake."

But Pinkie looked out into the air and whispered, "We all know my cake is going to be awesome, right?"

Pinkie! Stahp it!

"What? I can't help what kind of pony I am."

Oh this is going to be so much fun... Anyways, one small slice of Spider-Mare's cake was passed out to each judge on a Chineight plate and a small solid silver fork. Except Celestia, who got a large fork and all the cake that was left. What?! She really really really loves cake! Each judge delicately tasted the cake and the small slice of Zap Apple perched on top... while Celestia tore into the rest like a starving sheep.

"NOM NOM NOM NOM!" muttered Celestia as she pigged out. It's really lucky this isn't the Astonishing Spider-Ham, is it? Oh I am such a baaad commentator, ain't I?

There was a really long pause as Celestia ate and the other wrote down there scores. They waited and waited until she was asked, "Are you ready to present your scores?"

"No need to figure out anything for me!" proclaimed the Princess, "I give this cake a PERFECT 10!"

The others showed their scores, and the final score averaged out to 9.8! It left Spider-Mare as the clear winner by far.

...

After the contest, Spider-Mare went back to collect her winnings, but soon was let down...

...

"Hay!" she exclaimed as she looked in the bag of bits, "This isn't the Prize Money I was promised!"

"Well we had to make deductions for Equestrian taxes," said the Sleazy Promoter, "shipping and handling fees and of course your share of your cost to use the show's cooking equipment."

"What a rip off!" she said as she scowled (under the mask of course).

"Hey, if you don't like it, you can give back..."

"Forget it!" she snapped, "I'll take this even if I don't like it!"

She ran the figures in her head and figured it was just enough to keep the shop open for a meager three months. So she took the bag of bits and stormed out the door. She would simply tell her Aunt and Uncle she made some money doing a side job at school. As she stomped down the hall making the floor crack alarmingly, she heard a commotion behind her.

"Stop that thief!" called Sleazy Promoter, "That stallion just cleaned out the ticket cash box!"

But she just watched the thief run by without lifting a hood to stop him. For some reason, the two looked into each other's eyes and she saw almost relief in his green eyes that the costumed mare was doing nothing to stop him. He vanished down the stairs quickly.

"Hey!" shouted Sleazy Promoter as he caught up to the Spider-Mare, "Why didn't you stop him?!"

"Why should I?!" she sneered, "I'm not your paid security lackey!"

"Hey!" protested Paid Security Lackey as he ran up behind them.

"One day," promised Sleazy, "Karma will get even with you!"

"Oh you're a fine one to talk about Karma," she hissed back. She casually walked to the interior stairs and began her way down to the street in front of the theatre.