Why does everyone fear spiders?
Cameron was a rather average guy. He wasn’t really a nerd, or a jock, or a rocker, or a fashion fanatic. He was good with technology, but he wasn’t lanky by any means. He was in decent shape, but not super built. He lived in the city on Manhattan, but he attended a school in a nearby town called Canterlot. The school was called Canterlot High School, and the whole reason he was there was… surprisingly simple. The other school he would have attended had a uniform policy, and they were all assholes. So, Cameron asked his mother if he could attend CHS instead.
After some legal paperwork, and relocation of his parents tax money, He was allowed to attend for his Sophomore year. This is his third year attending, and while everything is alright, it's been having some issues. For one, a queen bee by the name of Sunset Shimmer has been ruling the school since freshman year. The school was a bit divided, but people were still fairly nice. Cameron tried to help people with their tech when they needed it, though.
He was in the cafeteria, getting his lunch out, when he spilled his drink on the floor. He sighed, stood up, and grabbed some napkins to clean it up. His table was right next to the jocks, but he didn’t mind their loud demeanor's too much. As he was mopping up his drink, when he overheard someone complaining.
“Man, I hate this phone! The text is way too small!” A female voice said. Cameron knew the voice all too well, as she was known to gloat quite a bit. It was a particular young lady with multi chromatic hair, and blue colored skin. This was of course a girl by the name of Rainbow Dash. Cameron threw his garbage away and walked back to where Dash was sitting.
“I can help you with that if you want?” He said. Dash turned around to look at him.
“Oh, you heard me, huh?” She asked. Cameron nodded.
“I can hear you guys pretty well, since I’m sitting right next to your table. But anyway, I can help you with the image size.” He said. She furrowed her brow at me.
“How?” She asked.
“Go to your settings menu…” He said. She closed her current tab and went to her settings. “Scroll down to the bottom and you with find a tab with two small letters on it, one will look bigger than the other. You clock on that and it will give you a little slider to increase the size of whatever is on screen.” She scrolled down, clicked the icon and dragged the slider to be just the right size for her. She smirked.
“Thanks dude. Why did you help me with that, though? I’m one of the Jocks, and techies typically don’t like Jocks too much.” She asked. Cameron shrugged.
“I like technology, so I just help people when they have trouble with it. Plus, I’m not so caught up with technology that I neglect the importance of being in shape.” He said. Rainbow Dash chuckled.
“Get outa here! What do you do for exercise?” She asked. I sat down in an empty seat behind her, and leaned my back against the table.
“I do a bit of dancing. Like a whole bunch of styles, and a bunch of music like Michael Jackson.” Cameron said. Rainbow chuckled.
“You? Dancing like Mike? That I gotta see.” She said. Cameron chuckled.
“Maybe… sometime. I typically just do it alone in a vacant room of a local dance fitness center, so I’m not used to people watching.” He said with a smile. “Anyway, technology is kinda my forte. That’s why I’m excited for this family trip I have in a few weeks. I get to see all the cool things that we can do now with technology. Even if it’s something small, you can put a bunch of small things together to make something amazing.” Cameron he waved his hand at the air and chuckled.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble, but I get carried away sometimes.” He said. Rainbow smiled and shook her head.
“No, it’s ok. I’d never thought of it like that actually.” She said. “It’s kinda like sports. You learn a bunch of little skills to do great things.” Cameron snickered a bit.
“Yeah, that’s right.” He said. The bell rung and people started filing out. Cameron zipped his bag closed and threw his garbage out. He threw his bag over his shoulder and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “I guess I should get going.”
“Wait! When’s the next time you’re going to the dance fitness center?” Rainbow asked.
“Uh, after school today actually.” He said.
“Sweet, could I come with you?!” She asked. Cameron smiled and shrugged.
“Sure! But I’m gonna stop by my house first though. I like to bring a few things with me when I go.” He said. “Anyway, I gotta go, I’ll see ya around!” He said as he jogged off to his next class.
~~~oOo~~~
Cameron inserted his house key into the lock of his front door, and pushed the door open. He looked behind him and smiled at Rainbow Dash.
“Feel free to come inside and look around. I should only be a few minutes.” He said. He dropped his bag by the door. Rainbow Dash gave followed him up the stairs and looked around.
“Where are your parents?” She asked.
“Oh, I live with my mom. My dad passed before I was born. Mom’s at work.” Cameron said. He stepped into his room and looked around. “Sorry for the mess, I forgot to clean it yesterday.” He opened his closet and opened up a duffel bag with backpack straps. He reached to grab something made of fabric, when something pinched his pinky finger. He flinched and pulled his hand away, only to see a small spider skitter away. He squished it between his thumb and the wall.
“You okay?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, it’s just a spider. The little bitch bit me.” Cameron said.
“You sure? Shouldn’t you get that checked out?” She asked.
“Nah, it’s probably just a common house spider.” He said. He placed the last item in the bag and zipped it shut. “Besides, we don’t have any deadly spiders in our area. I checked.” Closing his closet door and throwing the new bag over his shoulder, he turned to Rainbow Dash with a smile.
“Ready to roll?” he asked.
“You bet!” She said.
~~~oOo~~~
The two stepped into the dance fitness center, and were welcomed by some rather strong air conditioning. The lady at the front desk smiled at them and took off her reading glasses.
“Hello, Cameron. I see you’re letting someone watch you perform for once.” She said. Cameron smiled and sighed.
“Hi Mrs. Janet. She’s a friend from school so I figured I’d show her what I do.” He said. Mrs. Janet rolled her eyes.
“I happened to see him dancing once. He left the door open a crack and I watched. He’s quite good, more than he gives himself credit for.” She said. “I offered to let him work here and teach the others, but he said he’s fine with dancing on his own for right now. By the way, Cameron, that offer is always on the table.” She smiled. Cameron smiled and rolled his eyes.
“I’ll keep it in mind, Mrs. Janet.” He said. “Is my usual room open?”
“Yes. It will be open all night, so you just take as much time as you want.” She said.
“Alright. Thank you!” He said. The two walked down the hall and into a large white room. The room had no windows, but it had a large mirror for the wall opposite the door. “Make sure you lock the door when you shut it. I’d hate a repeat of what happened with Mrs. Janet.” He said. Rainbow closed and locked the door and stretched her back. Cameron put his stuff down on the floor by the door and opened the bag.
Rainbow sat down on the floor next to his bag and leaned her back against the wall.
“So, what’a ya got in the bag?” She asked. Cameron smiled.
“Just a few things. Like my phone, some speakers, one hat and two jackets.” He said. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.
“one hat and two jackets?” She said in a questioning tone.
“Uh, yeah. I like to dress accordingly when I dance to michael jackson.” He said.
“But why two?” She asked.
“Just a costume change. Can’t be dancing to Bad in a suit jacket.” He said.
“You have a suit jacket in there?” She asked. Cameron nodded.
“A white one, and I have a matching white hat.” He said. “Now hold on while I set these speakers up.”
~~~oOo~~~
After one hour and forty five minutes, Cameron decided to take a break. He took his hat off and sat next to Rainbow.
“So, what do you think?” Cameron asked.
“That was awesome! You know how to dance to all the good ones, like Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, and Beat It.” She said. “You should take up that offer to teach the others.”
“I don’t know. I don’t typically like large amounts of attention. I like helping people, but I don’t want people to feel like they owe me.” He said. Rainbow thought for a moment and looked back to Cameron.
“Say, If you live here in the city, why don’t you go to school here?” She asked.
“Crystal prep is full of assholes. That and people at my middle school were heavy drug users.” He said. “I remember one guy, he was stoned off his ass in school. I asked him if he was okay, and he responded with “I don’t know but I’m gonnaaa-, um, I’m, I’m gonna shove these pencils up my ass”.” Rainbow chuckled.
“Yeah, they are the kind of stoners who put things in their buts when they are high. It could be pencils, batteries, a bouquet, men, it just-” He stopped as Rainbow started dying of laughter. “It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s going up there.”
“You got some wit on you, man.” Rainbow said.
“Yeah, I get that from my mother.” He said. He stood back up and immediately noticed something was off. He moved his arms around a bit and took a few steps forward.
“You alright?” Rainbow asked. Cameron shrugged.
“I don’t know. I feel… light. Like I dropped ninety percent of my body weight.” He said. He decided to perform a small hop, but instead, he jumped about five feet in the air. The room was about eight feet tall, giving him about three feet of clearance from the ceiling. He landed on all fours and looked over at Rainbow Dash.
“Dude… How did you do that?” She asked.
“I don’t know. I just wanted to do a small hop and I just friggin bounded five feet into the air.” Cameron said. Rainbow stood up and walked over to him.
“Let me see your arms and legs.” She said. She helped him take his jacket off and rolled the leg of his black jeans up. She looked at his leg first, then his arms, and she seemed surprised. He looked at his arms as well, and he found himself as shocked as her. While his body didn’t seem to be any bigger, he still looked decently lean, the bit of muscle he had seemed to be a lot more defined.
“Jesus, dude. How much can you lift?” She asked.
“I don’t know. Mind if I try to lift you?” He asked.
“Go ahead.” She said. He gently placed his hands on her waist, and hoisted her in the air with extreme ease. Most of Rainbow’s body was over his head. She seemed to be blushing, probably due to where he was lifting her from.
“Holy shit.” Cameron said. “You are really light. I know I shouldn’t ask you this, but I need to know, how much do you weigh?” He said, putting her back on the floor.
“I weigh about 112 pounds.” She said. Cameron’s eyes widened.
“You felt light as a feather. Here, I weigh 118 pounds, try to lift me.” He said. Rainbow tried to lift him the way he lifted her, but she couldn’t keep her grip so she just bent down, wrapped her arms around his waist and hoisted upward with a combination of her arms, legs and back. She was able to get him a few feet off the ground, but not anywhere near as easily as Cameron could.
“That’s so weird. You lifted me so easily.” Rainbow said. Cameron shook his head. “Anyway, dude, I gotta get going. It’s been nice hanging out with you. It would be awesome to do it again sometime. So yeah, I’ll see ya around.” She said grabbing her bag and started for the door. She grabbed the handle and turned to Cameron with a smile.
“Uh, yeah! I’ll see ya.” Cameron said.
~~~oOo~~~
Cameron stepped outside with his backpack/duffel bag on his back. He wanted to see what jumping at full strength would be like, so he walked into an alley and looked around. He made sure nothing was above him, since he did not want a concussion, and bent down low. When he shot his legs straight down, he threw himself into the air. He had launched himself about twenty feet in the air. This terrified him, so he stuck his hand out to the wall and closed his eyes, trying to grab anything he could find. But something else happened. His hand stuck to the surface.
He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. He took a breath and looked down. He was still about twenty feet in the air, but he was sticking to the wall. He scrunched his eyebrows and looked back to his hand. He placed his other hand and his feet upon the wall, and they stuck to the wall as well. He could remove them at will, but they’d stick when they touch the surface. He threw one of his arms higher up than the first one and stuck it to the wall. He repeated this process with his feet, and fairly quickly, he was climbing up the wall.
He finally reached the top of the wall, and he pulled himself up over the edge and onto the roof top. He smiled and looked at his hands.
“This is fuckin’ awesome!” He said. His smile threw a bit and he nodded. “This gives me an idea!”
~~~oOo~~~
Cameron threw his bag inside his room and ran his hand through his hair. He couldn’t stop smiling for the life of him, but no one would blame him if they knew what he had in mind.
“Alright. Materials! I need materials. I need circuits. I need wires. I need solder. I need parts!” Cameron said, bursting with energy. “I’ll get my wagon. People are always looking for places to get rid of their old technology. Take it off them.”
~~~oOo~~~
Cameron decided to try the neighborhood around his school Instead of the city. The people in his area weren’t too nice. He stopped by a rather colorful looking house for his first attempt, and for some reason this house looked familiar. He strolled up the walkway, up the front porch stairs, and stood right before the door. He raised his finger to the doorbell and pushed it. As soon as the bell rung, the door flew open and a pink haired girl stood in the doorway. He now knew why this house seemed familiar.
The woman gasped and smiled “Cameron?! O! M! G! I haven’t seen you in, like, forever!” She drew Cameron into a big hug. He was always fond of Pinkie, and he even considered her a close friend. She’d helped him out many times with his various ups and downs.
“Hi, Pinkie!” He said with a smile. “How are you?”
“I’ve been great! I had a science test two days ago and I passed it! Things have been pretty slow at the sweetshop though.” She said. “So, what brings you around here?”
“Well, I’m working on a project right now, and I was wondering if you had any old tech you needed to get rid of. It can be anything, big or small. Like a tv, an old video game machine, or even a watch. If you need to get rid of it, I’ll take it off you.” Cameron said.
“Ooo, What kind of project?” She asked. Cameron sighed.
“Can I come inside? It’s top secret.” Cameron said.
“Oh, okay! Come on in.” She said. He stepped inside and looked around, while Pinkie closed the door behind me.
“There’s no one else here, is there?” He asked. Pinkie shook her head.
“Nope. My sister Maud is out with my parents for the day. So you can breath easy.” She said. Cameron sighed and smiled.
“Well, some weird stuff has been happening lately. I… I think I have… some rather incredible abilities.” Cameron said. Pinkie gasped.
“Like what? Can you fly?!” She said excitedly.
“Well, no, but…” He walked over to Pinkie, Placed his hands on her waist, and picked her up.
“Weeh! Haha!” She said. Cameron put her down and smiled.
“I’m really strong. And-and, watch this!” Cameron turned around jumped up and stuck his hands to the ceiling. Once his hands were stuck, he pulled his feet up onto the ceiling. He smiled and looked down at her. Pinkie smiled in awe and stared up at him. Cameron crawled forward a bit and squatted down on the ceiling.
“I can stick to things at will. And all this happened after I was bitten by this weird looking spider.” He said. Pinkie reached his hand out and touched Cameron's face, confirming he was real. “I realized that I can used these abilities to help others. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do with my technology, but now I can help people myself.” Cameron shifted a bit to sit cross legged on the ceiling.
“Wow.” Pinkie said with a smile. “When did you decide you wanted to help people for a living?”
“Well, I witnessed a mugging when I was nine. My mother told me to just keep walking and said I shouldn’t stare at them. I knew what was going on was wrong, and ever since I’ve wanted to help people. I figured with my affinity for technology, I could change the world. I guess this is a start.” Cameron said.
“I gotta say, your abilities are amazing!” Pinkie said.
“Spectacular, even.” Cameron said. “So, I figured, since I can stick to things and lift heavy objects like a spider, I would become a spider themed hero. Just helping people, you know?”
“That sounds fantastic! How can I help?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, I need help making a costume, and I need some tech. I can’t shoot webs myself, so I’d like to make something to do that for me. Something I can wear that dispenses webs. I can use as a multi-tool to help me stop criminals, or even help move heavy objects.” He said.
“Oh, I think I can help with the costume!” Pinkie said. “We can go to a local sporting goods store and get you a flexible spandex suit. We should at least be able to get the body and gloves for the suit!” Cameron dropped down from the ceiling and landed on all fours.
“That’s a great Idea! I can make a mask and boots fairly easily at home, and we can just build off that! Pinkamena Diana Pie, together we are gonna clean up the city.” Cameron said. Pinkie grabbed Cameron’s wrist and chuckled.
“Come on. Let’s go get that costume started!” She said. Then she dragged him off with a smile on her face.
