Twilight, Spidey & Friends: Series 1, Ep. 1: In Your Hooves Part I

It was only a few minutes prior to the web-head’s dramatic entrance that Applejack broke her paralyzed gaze onto the menacing creature looming on top of them. It was when she noticed, through her peripheral vision, the seemingly battle-wearied, masked stallion make an astounding leap. It was so high, she had to shake her head so as to clear her daze completely, and confirm what seemed as impossible. She witnessed him land squarely onto one of the creature’s immense forearms, crouching as if he were waiting for its response. The stone beast raised its other ligament to smash him, Pam! the force of its blow coming at alarming speeds. However, the Unicorn managed to jump away, evading the swatting motion with incredible ease, landing onto its chest, and staying firmly onto the side of the stone’s smooth surface on all fours hooves, bent so lowly, as would an insect on a wall. AJ could only turn to see her Pegasi friends mirroring the same stupefied reaction as her own, then returned her focus back onto the spectacle before her.

However, it seemed the creature, itself was also confused by the Unicorn’s actions, even so far as to look around for him. Viewing the window of opportunity present, the impossible pony tilted his head up towards them, shouting, “Go! Get them to safety! I’ll distract it!”

“Just how in tarnation are yah even doin’ that?”

“Kind of a long story,” he quickly answered the orange Earth Pony, “But I’m afraid there’s no time for that!”

“Wha-just, wha-I mean…what the hay do you think you’re doing,” screamed the rainbow Pegasus hoarsely, with immeasurable befuddlement.

“Stallion’s work,” he quipped back with a smug grin, then sternly continued, “Now get the others out of here! Make sure they get help! Now! You can come back for me, later!”

“Bu-“

“Later!” Rainbow could not utter a response in turn, for the giant, at last, discovered the web-stallion’s location, sending its enormous limb onto the miniscule animal perching on its chest. The massive hand obstructed the mares’ respective viewpoints, as they heard and felt a massive Thud! emanating from there. They all cringed, and turned away, for fear of the horrid sight to come, but for only a moment. The three ponies became even more surprised by the swift motion of red, blue and beige flipping squarely on top of the colossus’ head. The stone monster was puzzled by the pony’s movements, yet again, allowing him enough time to banter further. “Okay. Fine. You know what? Never mind. Just sit back. Enjoy the show! Coming to a theatre near you: Your Friendly Neighborhood, Spider-” Pa’boom!

The beast was not as slow this time, deciding to slam its head against a building, cutting off his rant. It turned around to analyze its surroundings once more, searching for any squashed remains of the pesky creature. Even the Pegasi and Earth Pony were uncertain of his latest position, until its back was completely turned towards them. He stuck onto it, his chest, having some kind of spider icon, facing out toward them, and his hooves were placed firmly onto the creaseless surface, as he continued, “Uh, you know, on second thought: let me get back to you on that.”

Rainbow Dash simply stared with an even greater sense of astonishment, as she watched the masked Unicorn swinging his hind legs over his head, then pressing off of the giants back by his front hooves, and leaping upwards, once again, in a rapid response to the monster’s swift dive backward, causing the ground beneath it to rampantly quake, and AJ to lose her balance. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow, who have been hovering nearby the entire time, assisted their friend back onto her hooves. Then all three looked back up to see the web-masked Unicorn crouching on the creature’s grounded face by his hind hooves, with his forelegs hanging to the side, raised and bent to a certain degree in which he, indeed, seemed like a prowling arachnid.

Shaking her head at last, Applejack reined in her focus on the matter at hoof, and returned her hardened, green gaze onto the three unresponsive ponies before her. She bent down, and lifted the redhead mare onto her shoulders, then firmly said, “Come on, yah two! Y’all heard what he said! Let’s get his friends the help they need, and come back for ‘im as soon as we can!”

Fluttershy returned to raise the mare Pegasus, while Rainbow lifted the Zebra back up as well, both hesitantly looking on.

“Don’t worry,” she offered, sensing their concern, and sternly continued, “It’s quite plain clear as day he can look after himself. At least, for now anyway. Let’s just help him the way he asked, and on the double. And when this here fight’s all over, Ah definitely got my two bits worth of questions for that there stud.”

“Heh, yeah,” the colorful Pegasus stammered, “You can say that again.” The three mares trotted and hovered their way past the gates briskly, while also careful not to cause their passengers any form of discomfort should they ever regained consciousness. Fluttershy turned her head back once more, watching the stone monster rising from the ground, and roaring with great ferocity, and shakily muttered, “Oh, I do hope that we’ll make it back in time to help.”

So, spider sense is still fully functional. That's good. Or else I would've been crushed by this thing, along with MJ and Montana's benevolent, pony sister. And my wall-crawling's as good as ever. Odd, considering that I have hooves now, instead of hands and feet. What should I call myself here, anyway? Spider-Stallion? Spider-Stud? Spider-Bronc? Spider-'Stang? Spider-Pony and Spider-Colt sound too cheesy. You know, I probably shouldn't make too big a deal about it. I mean, it's not like I'm staying in the Land of Oz for that long, right?

The web-head kept with this trail of thought, as he continued to evade the colossus' multitude of attacks, many of which were turning the vibrantly built city to rubble. As the ferocious creature removed its rocky fist from one of the buildings it punched a hole through, Spider-Man perched onto the rooftop of another, observing the beast to furiously scan the area for him.

I definitely hope not. Besides, I've got bigger problems to worry about after this. There's the fact that I've still got New York to look after. Huhn, I don't want to imagine what all the baddies in my rogue gallery would do if I just went and disappeared like that, never to be seen again. Then there's Aunt May, Mary Jane, and Nick! How did we even end up here to begin with? And on that note, why are they all unconscious, while I'm not? At least…not yet? Maybe the effects of this whole multiverse, space travel and metamorphosis hasn't taking its toll on me just yet, due to my enhanced, spider endurance and agility. Delayed jetlag, in a sense. I just hope I don't find out before those evacuation ponies come back to fetch me. And now I'm starting to realize I'm talking about all of this as if this reality has finally sunk in, and not just a bad dream. Still not sure if it means I maintained whatever sanity I had left, though.

Before he could continue in further length, however, Peter witnessed the behemoth make an intense vertical leap, raising its balls of fists over its head, roaring as it neared the building upon which he currently crouched. He jumped horizontally in response, avoiding the loud thud and smash that came from behind him, and landed on the wall of another structure across the street. He turned to the side, sticking to his position with his right hooves, and shouted, "Hey, Rocky! Is that the best you got? Seriously, I think I'll stick to Sly, thank you very much!"

Okay, now I'm curious. Do these ponies have a version of him in this world by that name? Sly Stallion? That would be too weird, yet oh, so amus-

Spidey then noticed the beast swinging its arms in every direction, leveling the entire block to debris. The wall that he was on collapsed, as more of the damaged structure began to fall on top of him. Oh, when will I ever shut my big head up?

The wall-crawler released his grip from the falling fragment he held, jumped and leapt onto the next progressing colorful debris, each preceding the ones before it. He crawled on a flipping piece of yellow and pink bricks, then pushed off of it, running at a full gallop, upside down, on a collapsing green chimney. As soon as he reached its end, the web-head made a fantastic leap into the clear air, turning to face the titan once again. Instead, it jumped after him, clapping its colossal hands together, with him in between. However, not hopeless to make an evasive maneuver in midair, with his incredible flexibility, he glided passed the closing ensnarement of its fingers. But before he could somersault downward, the second hand reached for him, and pinched his left hind leg between its digits, to which Peter screamed in agony, along with the crack of his left hock.

He twisted his torso, extending his right foreleg, with the flick of his hoof's wrist, or pastern, in this case. Noticing the complete lack of web fluid ejecting from his wristbands, he mentally slapped himself in admonishment, cringing, "Right. No fingers. Spidey, you big idiot."

As he said this, he felt the great impact that was made by the monster's ungentle landing. It coiled the arm that held him, ready to spike him deeply into the pavement, but he extended his right hoof, once again, only to reach for his band with his other hoof. Sh’dew! Tapping it with another flick, he sent a swift patch of spider webs onto the monster's left eye, causing it to bellow vengefully, with pain and irritancy.

Consequently, it swung its arm in frustration, flinging the web-head skyward, shortly after Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack returned through the gates, having found paramedic ponies who luckily had been waiting for them. It was then, also, that Pinkie Pie and Rarity reached the end of the leveled buildings, witnessing the final moments of the masked stallion's confrontation with the brutal titan, as well. They all looked on in horror, as his flailing frame began to diminish in size, gaining distance further into the city, and away from them.

"Rainbow!" The rustic Earth Pony had no need to say anymore, for the colorful-mane Pegasus vanished out of sight, leaving her signature contrail behind. She raced through the sky, her forelegs outstretched, as she began to close the gap between herself and the whirling Unicorn.

"Come on. Come on," she grimaced, flapping her wings as strongly and as rapidly as she could. She then noticed the stallion connecting his two front hooves together, which somehow caused him to release some thin, white adhesive onto the top corner of a tall structure. It reduced his velocity greatly, but it stretched, and snapped to its breaking point. Before she could reach him, she quickly became aware of the oncoming tower in front of her. Seeing how he was closer to it than she was to him, she put her momentum to a grinding halt, watching horrifically as his body smashed through the immense window from behind. Psh’klang!

Fearing the worst of what she may find, Rainbow Dash glided over to the skyline, leaning her head towards the hole, and took a peak. Though she did not go through and over the jagged glass, not risking a hover that would damage her wings. What she witnessed, instead of a sprawled figure, at least severely injured to the point of immobility, was the web-themed stallion lying against a great bookshelf, groaning and moaning as he brushed books from off of him, and shakily rising back on all but one of his hooves. She watched him shake his head, in a daze, having his blank lenses staring widely downward, and half-mutter under his breath, "Anyone get the number of that rock?"

The simple fact that he was standing on his own would have been enough to satisfy the Pegasus' concern, but that he also made a wisecracking remark of something she could not comprehend as he recovered nearly elated her with relief, as well as surprise. Rainbow Dash huffed, wiping sweat from her brow, stifled a chuckle, and began to make a snide remark through the broken window in turn.

Suddenly she saw two flashes of light ejected towards his direction, one crimson, the other light blue. Boom! Poov! He brought his frame low enough to the ground to nearly prostrate, so as to evade the first projectile, then lifted his left hooves over, maneuvering away from the second. Once he was facing upward, he lifted his hind quarters, pressed off of the floor with his forelegs, then landed in a crouching position on the high ceiling. She noticed his muzzle cringe as he lifted his back left hoof with a shudder. Blam! A third beam of energy blasted near his position, but he did not budge. Instead he raised his front hooves up, or down from her perspective, making them intersect in front of his face, leaving only one hoof attached to the ceiling, as he shouted rapidly, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hey! Time out! Time out! Take it easy, I think I'm on your side!"

Twilight's bewilderment at the creature's ability to leap so high, as well as hanging onto the ceiling as Pinkie probably would do, caused her to misfire the second time. That fact that he shouted down to her in a rather frightened tone puzzled her even further. She and Starlight both shared a look of exasperation at the spectacle above them, of a web-masked stallion Unicorn with a single hoof to the ceiling, after dodging such well-aimed beams of magic that could instantly immobilize anypony with ease. Even Rainbow Dash could not have maneuvered so quickly, in Twilight's mind. Spike simply stood, mouth agape, after viewing the amazing feat that was so spontaneously performed.

"Who are you," Twilight firmly snapped her inquisition, "And how did you find us here?"

"Uh, okay. In answer to your first question," he replied keeping one hoof raised, while returning another to the ceiling he stuck onto, "For now, just call me…the Spider. Yeah, simple enough. Not too choppy, stuffy, or cheesy. As for your second question: didn't you just see me crash through your window? I mean, if that's no indication that I came here by mistake, then I don't know what is. Eh, sorry about the damages, by the way."

"But judging by the mask," Starlight inquired, "how do we know whose side you're really on? Or if you're not simply here to rob the place?"

"Okay. Fair enough. Uh…big, giant, stone monster. Friend of yours, by any chance?" Realizing what the stallion was describing to them, both mares share a brief glance of dread between themselves, before Twilight answered with a grunt, "No."

"Then yeah. Definitely the same side. That's the reason why I crashed in here. And she can vouch for me."

"Twilight? Spike? Starlight?" Rainbow exclaimed, after using the front door, so as to avoid going through the broken skyline, and joined in the conversation.

"Rainbow Dash," all three occupants of the room gasped, as they looked up toward the now-hovering Pegasus.

"Spider," the suspended stallion added to playfully join in.

"What are you doing here?" The three ponies and dragon all asked simultaneously.

"Didn't I answer that question, already," he sighed with feigned annoyance.

"I was flying over, trying to catch that muzzle-flapping idiot and stop him from falling here," the mare Pegasus answered.

"Aw, she called me idiot. I guess that means she really does care."

"I thought you three were over at the palace with Pinkie Pie and Rarity," Rainbow continued, "Never took you guys to be the sightseeing types during a big attack!"

"We were tasked with a great mission of the utmost importance and confidentiality, Rainbow Dash," Princess Twilight responded calmly, "We couldn't tell you, or the others, without jeopardizing everypony's safety, as well as keeping our objective discrete."

"So, why were you attacking the stallion? He just got thrown like crazy by that rock monster freak while helping us."

"Told you."

"We were unaware of his…your plight, I mean," the lavender Alicorn turned her attention to the stallion, "We thought he- I mean you were somepony who was trying to hinder us from completing our objective. We didn't even know you were trying to help my friends. But that should be no excuse for our sudden outburst. I sincerely hope that you accept my apology. Oh!" She yelped in surprise as she viewed him to be no longer on the ceiling, but now lowered to their level on a thin line of what seemed to be adhesive, remaining upside down.

"Hey, no hard feelings," he answered with a shrug, his front hooves maintaining a grip on the line with his hind legs bent inwardly, "What's a couple of blasts of glittering, violent energy between friends anyway? Besides, I have a knack for getting that kind of reaction. It's sort of my charm, really."

"If that's what you call it, then sure," Starlight flatly stated, with a roll of her eyes, "You certainly don't know when to stop talking, do you?"

"Yeah, I get that reaction a lot, too."

"Well, I'm sorry, also," the light violet, Unicorn mare continued, "I guess we should have asked first, before attacking you."

"No worries. I've actually taken worse hits. Believe me."

"Yeah, no kidding," exclaimed the raspy voice of the Pegasus, who began to hover directly near his face, "Getting caught like a little fly, and having your back hoof crushed by that thing's grip like that, then being tossed like a rag pony doll across Canterlot for your troubles, only to crash into an egghead's book-infested hideout, – no offense, Twilight – and somehow manage to not only get back up, but also keep jumping around and sticking to walls and ceilings like all that barely phased you! That's. Totally! Insane!"

"Is she always this…uh, impulsively intense?"

"Not always," the young Alicorn Princess replied with a roll of her eyes at Rainbow's remark, "Only if it's something that she thinks is worth her full energy, attention and effort, and-or it affects her to the point of actually thrilling or troubling her. Though that happens more often than you’d suppose."

"Huh," he muttered with a nod, "Then I guess I did quite a number on her psyche, didn't I?"

"Yeah, more or less," Spike chuckled, crossing his arms as he spoke. Such discourse prompted the Pegasus to pout with a snort, her fore hooves crossed, as well.

"Okay, so let me see if I've got everyone's names here right. Rainbow…Dash, I think it was. Mane and tail are dead giveaways. Um, I'm guessing Spike would be a more fitting name for a small reptile, such as yourself."

"I'm a baby dragon…still," the little fellow replied with a grunt, "And yeah, I'm Spike."

"Then that leaves me with the two lucky winners, standing over there. Let's give a hand for Twilight and Starlight!"

"Don't you mean hoof," Spike, Rainbow and Starlight asked, each with a certain level of irritation, as well as perplexity.

"Yeah, sure. That."

"Hand…" Twilight Sparkle had no time to complete her thought process concerning the matter, as everypony's attention returned to the tremors and distant roars projecting outward from the immense behemoth still roaming the streets of Canterlot.

"That creature's still out there," said the mare Unicorn, speaking for all present of the reality that they were reminded.

"Then what are we waiting for," snapped the Pegasus, "Let's go, already!"

"Yeah, as much as I enjoy making new friends during a heated conflict," the Spider offered, "We need to hurry back and take care of the situation."

"But it will take forever to get back-" Poof! Spike began to whine. However, he was interrupted by the light that encompassed all who were present. They all found themselves in the streets near the main gate, and without any ceiling to stick with his web, the Spider quickly responded to his sudden fall, flipping to land squarely on his four hooves. "-there. Right. Teleportation. If only we used that before."

Twilight simply rolled her eyes at her assistant's remark, then shifted her focus onto the masked stallion with concern.

"Yeah," he winced, raising his back hoof, "Fair warning next time, alright?" She observed him sitting down, lifting his left hind leg up to his chest, as if he were performing a highly sophisticated, flexible yoga pose, then pressing a pastern band from one of his two front hooves. Sh’dew! That emitted a long stretch of more adhesive onto his raised hock, which was swollen, and had a dark shade of colors matching his costume. He then wrapped the wet, sticky material around it, forming a makeshift bandage and cast. Recalling from Rainbow's rant about his encounter with the stone giant, her eyes widened in realization that he was, in fact, injured.

"Shouldn't you have a doctor look at that right away," she asked with apprehension.

"Nah. Just so long as I don't apply too much pressure on it, it'll heal as a whole within the next four to six hours. More, depending on, like I said, how much more mistreatment it takes."

Before she could refute that statement, or even ask how such healing properties for anypony, especially a Unicorn, was physically possible, the Alicorn Princess heard the shouts of familiar voices calling out to her and her friends. "Twilight! Spike! Starlight!"

She felt the sudden rush of air depleting from her lungs when Pinkie Pie zoomed over to her side, and offered an immense embrace, then the same to her assistant, and later to the Unicorn mare. "We were starting to get so worried, since we didn't see you when we were on our way over here. And then when we saw that poor stallion being tossed into the sky like that, and Rainbow Dash speeding over to catch him, then not seeing either of one them for so long, well, only a few minutes, but for Rainbow Dash, that's too long, we got really, really, really worried!"

"Indeed," Rarity spoke, sharing a look of great relief, "We could only imagine the worst may have befallen our daring friend and the pony she sought to rescue. Seeing you here now, and with them, offers far more than a welcoming comfort."

"Huh," chuckled Applejack, looking at the newcomers, eyeing the web-Unicorn's wrapped-up hoof in particular, "Just glad to see y'all in one piece, fur the most part."

"Oh, my goodness," Fluttershy weakly exclaimed, noticing the wound, as well, "Are you okay? Do you need somepony to take you to a-"

"Thanks, I really appreciate the offer, but don't worry, I'll be fine," he responded quickly, raising a hoof to politely cut her off, his false tone of assurance failed to go unnoticed, "Right now, I think we need to find that boulder with the nasty tune, and roll it out of next year's Rock Fest." Poom!

As soon as the masked figure completed his statement, a great rumble shook the foundations all around them, causing the dragon, Earth Ponies and Unicorns to lose their balance, except for the Spider, and the Pegasi to take to the air.

"As if on schedule, per usual, I spoke too soon." The moment they all looked up to face the cause they were all, too familiar with, the arachnid Unicorn raised his front hooves, ejecting a line of web-like substance in the giant's direction, F’dissh! springing into action, with Rainbow Dash closely behind.

"Oh, no you don't," she exclaimed, "If you think you're going to pull that same stunt like last time, think again!"

She had to quickly adjust her speed and course as one of the enormous limbs swung toward their direction. Seeing him twist into a flip and somersault onto the monster's gigantic shoulder, she heard him shout back, "Try to stop me!"

The Pegasus, shaking her head, zoomed over, and hovered near his crouching position, and firmly stated, "Look. If you're going to make a distraction, you should at least have a spotter. But don't think this means I'll try and save your pretty face next time you put yourself in another stupid situation. Got it?"

Rainbow flipped over another blow from the creature's second ligament, which landed onto the stallion's position, but not before he jumped and landed on top of it. "Couldn't have said it better, myself."

Both then moved rapidly around the rocky behemoth, with Rainbow zipping and gliding near, around, and directly at its face, while the Spider galloped, leapt, and swung several intervals around its lower frame. As the monster vainly attempted to swat the irritating Pegasus away from its stone cold, venomous sneer, the stallion Unicorn continued to wrap multiple strands of adhesive in great lengths around its legs and waist. However, much to everypony's dismay, some of its layers were beginning to snap free.

"I so need to make this stuff stronger again," he uttered under his breath, as he held one of them firmly together.

This inspired Rarity to offer her input on the two ponies' efforts as well. Analyzing the chaotic destruction around her, she found exactly what she was looking for. Igniting her horn, she sent a trail of her blue, arcane energy to engulf all sorts of fabric and textures from the damaged goods. Removing from her violet, well-kept mane her emergency needle and threat once again, she went straight to work, without delay, sewing the multiple pieces together, while also conserving her short supply as much as possible. Once her work was complete, the white Unicorn casted the accumulated materials unto the stone titan's direction, sending it into several layers of enfoldments around the monstrosity's lower limbs, as soon as she saw the Spider leap away, having apparently dispensed the entirety of his supply.

Upon viewing the fruits of their friends' and stranger's labor, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and a shaking Fluttershy moved in to push against the ensnared creature's legs, with their bucks and shoves, heaving with all their combined, pony might. The timid Pegasus pushed, using her wings to gain some momentum and energy to support her pressing hooves. AJ channeled all her farm pony's strength and endurance onto the base of their target with her hind legs, using such skills that she attained through years of apple bucking. The pink Earth Pony was more rapid and frequent in her blows, though she still maintained the same amount of force with each, and every place she struck. Such efforts seemed to only hinder and madden the colossus even further, but they eventually weakened the integrity of its willpower to maintain its own balance, causing it to collapse onto its knees and hands, and growl with great anger and frustration.

Taking this window of opportunity before them, and calling for everypony to back away, Twilight and Starlight sparked their own horns, combining their energies as one streak of bright purple, aiming at the creature's center mass. The blast that made contact with it sent the ferocious landmass onto the ground, landing violently onto its spine.

Right. Of course. Mare ponies, from this world included, have a great amount of physical strength, stamina and endurance. And if they're combined efforts can do that, then imagine what a stallion with the proportionate strength of a spider can do.

Before the dust could even settle, Spider-Man leapt into the air, arching his zenith next to the rainbow Pegasus, then made his descent. Raising his bent hoof to the level of his determined, furrowed lenses, he sent as much force as he was willing to muster onto the sprawled beast.

The ground shook one final time, splaying rocks, pebbles and dust in every direction. After clearing their throats and vision, the ponies and dragon faced the aftermath of their battle, finding the Spider warily standing over the creature, its lower jaw reduced to rubble.

"Oh, dear goodness," gasped the yellow Pegasus, after everypony regained their bearings, then she snapped gently, "Was that really necessary?"

"Believe me," he stammered, rubbing his hoof behind his head, "I held back!"

"Wait," Twilight stated, gathering the attention of all present, "I don't even think it was ever alive. Look."

They all faced the same spot she pointed, looking to find, deeply embedded in the upper portion of the stone giant's mouth, was an emerald crystal of remarkable size. Its shade of green glow matched that of the monster's eyes, both of which seemed to flicker and fade in synchronization.

"Well, that looks important," the Spider commented.

"It's an animation spell, stored inside the crystal," the young Princess somberly continued, "It harvests a certain type of energy from its surroundings, based on whoever casts it, as its source. It's been casted by dark magic. This creature's a perversion of nature. It shouldn't be existing in this state. In fact, I'm sensing its very structure disintegrating at an atomic level."

"Yeah, uh, and for some of us ponies who aren't book smart," asked Rainbow Dash, with a tilted brow.

"Basically, it's just a puppet," replied the stallion sternly, "being destroyed from the inside out, and its puppeteer was using that chunk of rock in there as the strings." Just then, the piles of rubble around them began to reassemble near the creature, as the jade gem began to retain its radiant glow.

"Ah, great. Just like the Sandman, too." After removing small containers from a belt concealed within his costume, he sharply placed them into the metallic bands wrapped around his pasterns after removing another pair, with which they were exchanged. As soon as the task was finished, the web-masked stallion lifted his fore hooves, and ejected a fresh line of adhesive onto the emerald. He gave it a firm tug, departing the stone from the confines of its host, before the now-fallen rocks could gather. The eyes permanently faded from their aura, and the rumble emanating from the creature's throat diminished, as its entire frame suddenly reduced to merely a pile of rocks in their natural state.

"You know you can use your horn for that, right," Starlight questioned with a tilted brow and head.

"Sure," he shrugged in turn, "As soon as I know how." The stone flew over the ponies' heads, landing behind them, as two sets of hooves stood in its skidded path.

"Twilight!" "Twilie!" The lavender Alicorn recognized the voices instantly, turning with such vibrant enthusiasm as she exclaimed in kind, "Shining! Cadence!"

The white coated, armored, stallion Unicorn, alongside a bright rose Alicorn with lavender mane and yellow, pink and purple strands, went forward to meet her, both carrying warm smiles of relief.

"The moment we arrived," the Alicorn mare began, "Celestia and Luna told us all about your situation, and feared the worst."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. We all are. But I don't understand. Why are you both here?"

"We sort of thought we'd surprise you with a visit on your special day," the stallion replied.

"Huh," she uttered inquisitively, as everypony else gathered around them.

"Can you imagine," the armored Unicorn stifled a laugh, "My little sister forgetting her own birthday? Some things never change."

"Wait, what?"

"Pinkie had an entire surprise party arranged for you," answered the mare known as Cadence, "And she thought it would be a great idea if we came down, and brought little Flurry Heart to visit you all in Ponyville for the first time. Have our most trusted generals keep an eye on things for a day."

"Flurry's safe in the palace, right now," joined in Shining, "As soon as we saw the smoke, and felt the shakes from Canterlot all the way in Ponyville, we teleported there as quickly as possible. What happened?"

"Oh, the usual," Twilight smirked sheepishly, "You know. Giant monster threatening to stomp everything in its path, and causing mayhem throughout the most immediate vicinity of civilization. No big deal. He-heh. Yeah, some things just don't change."

"Yes, I see you now have everything under control," her sister-in-law stated, shifting her eyes onto Twilight's glittering satchel momentarily, "and safely stowed away in case of emergencies, as expected."

"Yes. I do," she firmly replied with a confident smile.

"And who in Equestria is he," Shining spoke up again, raising his hoof in gesture of his slightly suspicious curiosity towards the battle-worn, masked stallion. He stood a few inches below his own height, and whose blank lenses squinted downward at the crystal reflecting off them.

"Well, actually," Twilight sheepishly chuckled again, "He's partly the reason we're all fine."

"But more to the point," the Spider inquired, walking closer between the two parties, and to the stone lying before them, lifting it with his left hoof, "Who the heck's responsible for this?"

As he raised it, immediately a blinding flash of green light emanated from within, as well as a great shockwave onto everypony in its path. Poom! Unbeknownst to all, the blast disrupted the crimson energy that surrounded Twilight's satchel, who rose to find the stallion's mask caught alight, as he dropped the stone with an agonizing grimace. On instinct, he quickly removed the covering off his face, and pressed his burnt hoof firmly onto the ground, along with the mask, smothering the flame off of both.

Realization hit, as his soft, brown orbs shakily examined the reactions of everypony present. The burnt cheek from the mask was not too noticeable, allowing them to fully see the smooth, simple, yet firm features of the young stallion's countenance, a single mole under his left eye. The brown mane was a shade lighter than that of his eyes, and, by Rarity's standards, it was not too long to be considered disorderly, but also not short enough to be left unchecked, as is. At first, he cringed, and heaved an exasperated sigh and moan. But shortly afterward, he offered an awkward grin, as he chuckled, "That bad, huh? Man, I knew I shouldn't have left my spare at home, today."