I leapt from rooftop to rooftop, not wanting to think about what I'd seen. Blood in the gutter. Another day, another death in these harsh city streets. Was I becoming too used to it? Clearly not if I was this affected by it. I felt bile surge up my throat and lifted my mask long enough to throw up.

I was shaking. I wiped my mouth clean and pulled my mask back down and went back to patrolling the city. A skull's contents spilling out onto the ground. I...I needed someone to talk to, I had to get my mind off what I saw.

My attempt at calming my mind failed when I saw a group of adults surrounding a Griffin child, no older than eight, in an alley, laughing and kicking. With a snarl I dropped down into the alley and landed on the leader’s head, smashing his skull into the ground before letting out a roar and throwing a punch at the mook next to me. It was over in seconds, drunks didn't put up a good fight.

“Kid, get off the streets, it's a bad night.” I said, before leaping from wall to wall back up to the rooftops. I heard him yell his thanks as I went.

I could see these streets as others couldn't, I could see the corruption, the racism, the bloodshed that was layered upon this city. The filth and grime covered the entirety of this city, the only area where it was slightly cleaner was the areas where the non-ponies lived, ironically the police said such areas where filled with crime.

And yet, despite how used to it I was my mind kept flashing back to earlier in the night. The batons, the blood...the body… I heaved again.

I...I needed someone to talk to. I changed directions, moving towards a safe haven of mine. A friend's really.

It took another ten minutes of jumping across the rooftops and saving another two Griffins and a Minotaur child from being beaten by ponies before I reached The Kitten In Darkness. One of the best speakeasies in the city, disguised as a gentleman’s club.

I leapt up to the balcony at the top of the building and opened the doors before walking into the dark room. I approached the bed before noticing it was unoccupied. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." A voice purred behind me.

"Cat." I acknowledged. "How're tricks?"

"The girls' or mine?" She let out an actual purr, slipping her hooves over my shoulders and started nuzzling my cheek.

"Knock it off, Felicia." The words slipped out again. They always seemed to do so around her. Her, my Uncle Ben, Aunt May, the names just seemed to appear from nowhere and I was left alone, unable to explain them.

She paused and let out a smooth chuckle, "Felicia, that was the name. I like that, tell me, Spider, when did you start making pet names for me?"

I walked out of her grasp and turned to face her, "Cat, this isn't a good time. Not now. Please."

Her gaze softened to something more innocent, "What's wrong, Spider? What's got you so worked up?"

I closed my eyes. Blood in the gutter. Bloodied batons. Police grinning sadistically. A Griffin skull with its pink contents spilling onto the ground. "The cops beat a kid to death." I opened my eyes and looked away. "The look in her eyes...I can't get it out of my head. I failed her, Cat!"

Cat pulled me into a deep hug and I broke into sobs, "Spider, shh...It's a shit world we live in, we both have our ways of making it better." She paused. "I'm not the kind to truly believe in your dream, but...a world where we all treat each other the same, where there isn't any crime...Well, it's a nice dream, one I'll look forward to."

“I don’t believe in that anymore, Cat. You know that.” I mumbled between sobs.

She gave a sly grin, “But there is still someone who believes in that dream. Don’t give up that hope you had all those years ago.”

I pulled off my mask and wiped the last of the tears out of my eyes. I...I’d needed that. I had been a while since I’d last cried. As long as I cried it meant that this city hadn’t completely ruined me, it meant I still had my humanity. “It’s a fool’s dream, Cat. It’s not worth fighting for, it’s a pipe dream.” I grumbled as she walked over to the wall. “I was a naïve child, thinking I could just put on a costume and change the world. I was a stupid fool. Why do you still remember that? It was years ago.”

She turned on the lights and I winced as my eyes adjusted to the light. “Because, you idiot, it’s a good thing to wish for. Yes, it might not come to pass, but it’s nice to think about.” Her blue eyes stared into mine as she stood on her hind legs. She kicked the wall and jazz music began to drift up from downstairs. She started swaying and placed her forelegs on me. “Dance with me.” She grinned.

With a small smile I began dancing slowly with her. “You know...I could make this easier on us both.” I said after a few moments.

“Not on your life.” She smirked, gently stroking my cheek. As we swayed together, I could feel her breath on my cheek. “You know, Spider, you’ve always made my days more...exciting.”

“And you’ve always added class to my day, Felicia.” I said quietly, bushing a strand of black hair out of her face. She was truly beautiful. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief and her soft pink coat was always covered with revealing, yet classy, outfits. “Cat.” I whispered, gently rubbing her cheek.

Her eyes lit up, “Oh, Spider…” She leaned towards me, our lips almost touching.

A loud scream rung out from across the street and I jerked away from Cat and slipped my mask back on before leaping onto the balcony and searching for the source of the scream. I quickly spotted a mare being cornered by two thuggish looking ponies in the alley across from The Kitten. “There’s always something.” Cat whispered.

I looked back towards her and saw her disappointed look. “Cat?” I asked, concerned for her.

She smiled, “Go, save her, break some bones for me, hm?”

I nodded, "Got it, Cat.” I leapt out over the street, free falling for a few seconds before grabbing a streetlamp and spinning around it, before using the momentum to spring through the air. I landed on the rooftop above the alley and jumped down onto a thug’s back, snapping the spine. As he screamed his buddy turned to me and got a look of fear in his eyes.

“S-Spider…” He gulped and dropped the knife he was wielding. “I...I surrender!”

I just glared at him before leaping towards him and introducing both my feet to his jaw, shattering his teeth. As he landed I brought a foot down on one of his legs and listened to him scream as his leg broke. I looked over to the mare and indicated to the alley’s exit with my head, “Get out of here.”

“Th-thank you, Spider!” She said, running off. With that done I leapt up onto the rooftops and looked back towards Felicia’s. The balcony doors were shut, she was busy working. I looked around before making my way on the rest of my patrol through the city.

I quickly found another thirty six cases of the police beating Griffins, ten of them being children, and two cases of them attacking a Minotaur. Then came the false accusations, the fifty two murdered Griffins, the Minotaur with the stab wound I rushed to a non-pony friendly hospital, the two burned down apartments, beating up the Griffins that had turned to crime as a means to put food on the table and pointing them towards the friendly food bank that I knew helped those in their position, talking things out with five Griffin teenagers who were vandalising property as an outlet because of the crap they had to put up with from the ponies, and having to deal with the aftermath of thirty seven rapes, all I could do was take the attackers details and then get the victims, male and female alike, to a hospital.

I made sure that when it came to that last crime I hunted down those responsible and broke every bone in their body. Repeatedly.

That was in a single night. A good night. That is the true face of the city, an ugly, corrupt monster hiding beneath a façade. I'd seen that true face all too well.

If those in charge of the nation have been corrupted by the very power we gave to them then it's our duty, our responsibility, as a nation of the free to remove them from that power. My Uncle Ben told me that. And I won't stop until I'm dead. That's what it'll come to in the end, my body laying in the gutter, rotting away. Just like all the innocent, true victims of this world. Speaking of victims, a scream rung out through the night as I was mid-leap. As I landed I spun on the spot and ran towards the source of the woman's scream.

It seemed that crime would always exist, no matter the number of punks I put in hospital. I'd never see that naïve dream come to pass, and that was fine. So long as I kept hospitalising punks and saving lives I was content. And despite the corruption that flows through this city there were people who were innocent and worthy of protection, like Cat and Aunt May. But to get rid of the corruption was a childish dream, but I'm perfectly content to protect people from the filth of this city. Perhaps that's the reason I was brought into this world. I might not be able to prevent more death, but the least I can do is avenge those killed. I'm no hero, I'm not Spider-Man, I'm too violent to be that, but I can protect my people, the non-ponies, from the racism that runs through this city. I am the Spider, a dark protector. That's my duty, and I'll break anyone who gets in my way.

Author's Note

Yeah, this was short, but the other chapters will be longer.

I've been toying with this story for about a year or so at this point and...just finally decided to get it out there. This will be a darker story, but there will be light moments and funny parts to it all.

As for the whole...rape...crime. Yeah, I'm not touching that part. Ever. I only put it in to show how bad the situation was. I really don't feel like I can do that subject right, so I'm not going to even thing about writing anything based on that for...at least a good few years. At least. Maybe never.

Anyway, this story isn't about your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He's even more jaded than the comic Noir Spidey. But he isn't going to be all mopey about it. This isn't an angst story by any measure.