Prologue: Responsibility and Consequences
Tired...
That's all I felt as I heard the sound of an alarm go off, I groggily opened my eyes, squinting at Celestia's sun glowing from the window. The alarm continued to go off as I rolled over to see my phone, its screen shattered in places. 'Need to replace that phone…' thought as I reached out for it, grabbing it carefully and looking to the screen, seeing my reflection in the shattered glass. The set of tired blue eyes looking back at me, my brown hair being an absolute mess.
"Casey, are you awake?" A muffled upbeat voice came from the door. Looking towards the door with a tired smile as I swung my legs over to the side of the bed.
"Yes mom, I'm awake…" I say tiredly, getting off the bed, standing up, and stretching with a satisfying pop.
"Good, the breakfast muffins are already done." She replied. "Change quickly, you don't want to also be late for school." I shortly heard her walk away as I walked over to my dresser. I grabbed dark grey slim shorts, a white t-shirt, and a red hoodie jacket. After getting out of my pj's and into my clothes, I walked over to the closet and grabbed a pair of grey tennis shoes.
With a smile and looking into my mirror, fixing up my hair a little. With the satisfying work done, I left my room and entered the upstairs hallway. I turned to see my little sister run by and down the stairs, looking just like mom. She had a pale purple coat of fur with a long blond mane and tail, with a pair of tailand yellow eyes. She wore a mint-colored t-shirt with 3 pink hearts on them, white short-shorts, and brown flip-flops.
"Excited for freshman year, Dinky?" I say as she turns around with a smile
"You bet, but come on and hurry up, I don't wanna be late!" Dinky says as she disappears around the corner. I can only shake my head as I make my way to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I looked into the mirror, grabbed my toothbrush, and cleaned my teeth until they were pearl white. After a minute or two, I spat into the sink and left the bathroom. I went down the stairs and into the small dining/kitchen to see mom and dad.
Dad was the first to spot me, a brown unicorn with a dark brown mane and tail that spiked up in places, and pale blue eyes. He wore a blue suit with light blue lines in it, a red tie that was tucked behind the jacket, blue dress pants, and red converse. He’s a scientist at Ponycorp, the leading scientific company in Equestria right now, right next to the Equestia's Scientific Committee. "Morning sport, sleep well?" He asks.
"It was alright, how's work at Unicorp, I forgot to ask last night." I asked as I walk over to the table. Mom came over with a plate with a blueberry muffin on it. Mom was a light grey pegasus with a blond mane and tail, the same as Dinky's with the same eye color, though her eyes deviated from each other. Everyone else seems to be bothered by it, except for me, dad, and Dinky. She wore a green long sleeve shirt with light green straps that went across it, slim blue jeans, and brown boots.
"Your father does stay very late, spending so much time on that silly ‘another universe thing’." Mom mocked, placing the plate of muffins in the middle of the table while waving her hands around like she was crazy.
"It's called the Multiverse Theory Ditzy! It's important work!" Dad replied, letting a small chuckle out as he grabbed a muffin. Taking a bite out of it and swallowing. "Think about it, there could be multiple universes out there that are identical to ours! It can't be that far-fetched."
“Don’t worry, I believe you Time,” Ditzy said with a smile, the two do a quick kiss before Ditzy sits down.
“Ewww, gross…” Dinky says with a mock disgusted face. Everyone laughs, me slightly chuckling as I grab a muffin. Taking a bite out of it, chewing the muffin before swallowing. I take out my phone to see a notification. Curiously I tap on it, the notification pulls up a news report by The Daily Hussle. The titles report with crime rates rising by 15%, with an arrow going diagonally across the paper.
It would be a few minutes before I finished the muffin, along with Dinky. I look at the time to see it read 8:34 am, school starts in 26 minutes. “Welp, it’s time to get to school, Dinky. Ready?” I asked, sparing a glance at my little sister. Her mouth was full, her cheeks puffed out with crumbs on them. She swallowed the muffin and grinned at me, resulting in me smiling.
“You bet!” Dinky exclaimed, full of energy she hopped off her seat and into the living room. She grabbed her backpack, it was full of school supplies. She looked at me with an eager smile, “Come on!”
“Don’t worry, I’m coming,” I say as I stand up from my chair, looking at mom and dad. “I’ll see you after school, once Dinky expels her sun-powered energy,” I say with a light chuckle.
“I’ll be here,” Ditzy says, taking a bit out of her muffin.
“I’ll be at Unicorp, but I’ll leave early. We still have that parent conference at school.” Time reminded me. I nodded as I opened the front door, letting Ditzy through first before following behind her. I squint slightly as I’m briefly blinded by Celestia’s sun, only moments later I see Ditzy already down the street.
“Hey! Wait up sis!” I exclaim as I rush to her side.
Both I and Dinky had made it to school fine, catching the bus before it could leave. As we walked into the school, the overwhelming sound of chatter blasted into our ears. Dinky seemed fine, I would expect her to be, as she's used to this environment more than me.
"So, you know where you're going to class Dinky?" I asked her, pulling out our schedules and handing hers. She takes it from my grasp and looks it over quickly.
"Ugh… I've got algebra first." Dinky said with disappointment. I laugh at this as she gives me an annoyed glare.
"Sorry for laughing. I know you'll get through algebra easily." I assure her. I took one glance at my schedule and my first class made me smile. "Looks like I've got biology!"
"Oh you'll enjoy that, science is your field." Dinky said as she looked at the clock. It was currently 8:55 am. "Class starts in 5 minutes! We've gotta hurry!" Dinky exclaimed before taking off down the hallway.
"See you at lunch!" I shout, she gives me a thumbs up before turning down a corner. Looking at my schedule again, I found the room number for Biology and made my way to class.
Watching all the doors, I glance at the numbers till I find the one I'm looking for. Taking a deep breath, I grab the door handle and open it, walking into Biology class. I saw that most of the seats were taken, except for one in the front.
Walking over I took the seat and sat down, placing my bag next to me. I wait for class to start. As I waited for class, Professor Tinker Eye walked in front of the classroom with two ponies holding a box that was covered in tarp.
“Thank you all for coming on time, especially you, Turner.” This gained some chuckles from the class, I chuckled with them awkwardly. “All of you must be asking yourselves, what is inside the box? He’s going to tell you.” Professor Tinker said, pointing towards the door, and in came the lead scientist in Biology in Unicorp. Doctor Robert Adams, he was a human with brown hair, black nerd glasses and a science coat.
“Hello everyone, I’m Doctor Robert Adams of the Biology department, lead scientist in fact. And today I’m going to be showing you the latest discovery we found.” Doctor Adams signalled his friends to pull the tarp off. The ponies took the tarp off and there was a tank that had spiders crawling all over. Each a different color, one red and blue, one black and red, one white and pink, and finally one black and green.
I was in awe, I knew Biology was amazing but I never knew how cool it was. As more students gasped in surprise, Doctor Adams cleared his throat. “Now I know you all may be surprised, but these unique spiders aren’t just colorful. They’re magical, yeah, ponies and the other sentient creatures of Earth are not the only magical creatures. We infused magic into these creatures, as well as a little bit of chemistry, making them Super-Spiders. If one of these bites you, it’s going to hurt.” Doctor Adams said, as many people looked at him.
As Doctor Adams told the wonders of Arachnids, I noticed that the blue one lifted the lid and escaped. Crawling away, “Uh, Doctor Adams…” I tried to speak up, turning towards the Doctor.
“Please, hold your questions until the end of the lecture, now each of these spiders have a unique capability. The dark one can…” Doctor Adams trailed off, I then looked down to find the blue spider but I couldn’t spot it.
“Oh no,” I said to myself, I began to look frantically for the spider. “Where is that thing?” I then feel something crawling up my leg and I get shivers up and down my body. I see the spider under my leggings, I then feel a bite and I squeak in pain. I clench my fists and I bang on the desk, biting my tongue to not scream.
“Turner, is everything alright?” Professor Tinker asked me, I raised my hand, my hand was shaking.
“Y-yeah, just gotta go to the bathroom.” I got up and nearly fell over, the leg the spider bit had already begun to swell. I quickly hurried out of the room and ran to the bathroom. As soon as I got in there I ran to the stall. I hold my hands to the wall and I wince in pain.
“What’s going on with me?” I tried to move my hands to check my leg but they were stuck to the wall. "The hell?" I muttered as I tried to pull my hands off the wall, but they wouldn't budge. I frowned as I kept on pulling to no avail, I then began to use all my strength, but then the entire stall wall was pulled off its bolts.
I yelped as I fell down onto my back, falling onto the stall door. I looked to see I had gotten my hand free, noticing a little bit of paint stuck to my hands. I stumble to my feet, panic rushing through my head as I had just destroyed school property.
“You okay in there dude?” A female voice asked, realization hit and I looked under the stall. Yep, I was in the female bathroom. “You’re causing a lot of ruckus in there, Diarrhea sure hits you hard.” The female said.
'CRAP!' I yelled in my head. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this one? I'm in the girls bathroom for Celestia's sake! "I-i'm sorry for making a lot of noise!"
“Don’t worry man, diarrhea is a mother bucker.” The voice responded, “Here take this, it’ll cover your face up.” A hoodie went into my stall, “I’m out, make sure to wash your hands!”
I take the hoodie, "Thanks!" I say gratefully. I put the hoodie on quickly and flush the toilet. I open the stall door and close it slightly behind me. I wash my hands, frantically scrubbing the paint off my hand. After I had gotten most of it off, I walked out of the girls bathroom, making sure nobody was looking and walked back to class. But on the way there, things had started to act differently. When I walked I had to peel myself from the ground to move forward, I then made my way to the Biology class and came inside.
“S-sorry… Diarrhea is a… Well, it just stinks.” Some of the class chuckled at my little pun, Doctor Adams stared at me for a moment before continuing his talk. I peeled myself and dragged my feet to my chair, and when I got in, I saw the spider in the tank. Looking at me.
“You mother bucker.” I mouthed at the spider, who waved at me. I then saw the black and red spider disappear and reappear.
“Ah, here you see the X-13645B, the spider can turn invisible.” The Black and Red Spider then shocks the Black and Green one who punted the Black and Red across the tank. “X-13645B uses its electric shock to play with X-54189D, the spider didn’t really appreciate that so he used his super strength to throw him across the tank! These spiders are powerful, and I pray for the victim that was bitten by these goliaths.” Doctor Adams said.
'Only if you knew Doc,' I thought. Soon class had ended, I quickly grabbed my bag and walked out of class. I looked at my schedule, seeing I had Gym next. I groaned in annoyance, but I still couldn't get my mind off that Spider, the way it looked at me. Almost like it was laughing at me.
As I walked to my next class, I walked past a mare who was talking with her friends, her voice sounding familiar. We both shared a glance before I hurried to the Gym, sweat going down my face, that was the girl from before.
Before anything could happen, Coach Hoof, a muscular Minotaur walked into class with a hardened gaze. "Welcome to Gym class. Today we're gonna do a fitness test to see where you're at today!" He yelled to the whole class. "Grab a partner, the first thing we're doing is sit-ups!"
I look at my hands, “Oh boy… What if my hands get stuck again? What if- Eh? Who’s… Oh. Oh no." I looked at the girl from the stall, it was a pony with a green coat and an even greener mane.
“What’s up man? Are you that-” I cut the mare off by going down and grabbing her feet.
“Just get down already and get this over with.” I said, looking down, trying to avert my gaze from her. She sat down and got into the sit-up position.
“The name’s Clover Field, you’re Casey, right? One of the humans in the school.” Clover said, I just nod.
“UP!” Gallium Hoof shouted, and like that Clover went up. “And no talking too, it messes with my flow.” Coach Hoof said, earning some laughs.
Coach Hoof had instructed us to continue with the situps, watching us closely. When he wasn't looking, I whispered. "Thanks for the hoodie by the way."
“No prob bob, it’s what I do.” Clover Field said, as she went up, then down as per Coach Hoof’s orders.
After that, she kept going until she couldn't. Soon the whole class followed, the coach saw this. "Allright, switch with your partner!" He shouted. I did as instructed, taking my hands off her feet, thanking Celestia for not letting my hands be stuck.
“Alright, get down, my turn to be on top.” Clover said, I paused before looking at her, “Sit-ups of course.” I gave her a strange look as I got down on my back, placing my feet down. The mare put her hands on my feet and we got ready for Coach Hoof’s signal.
"UP!" Coach Hoof shouted, at which I began my sit-up. But to my surprise, I sat up more quickly than expected. This continued as other students began to get tired. I didn't, however, I wasn't even sweating.
“Wow, you’re really kicking it to maximum overdrive. You were never this fit before, last time I saw you, you were dying within the first twenty. It’s a shame that your friend had to move schools, you two were pretty good friends.” Clover said, I kept silent.
Harry, One of my closest friends had to move to Manehattan. His father, the head of Unicorp, was getting tired of having Harry travel hours to just stay in Ponyville's High School. I felt down after he moved as I had no friends here in Ponyville and didn't have Dinky at school till now. But I grown used to it as I wasn't really the social type.
I wasn't paying attention, until I saw Coach Hoof looking at me with a smile. "Nice job Casey, keep up the work!" Coach Hoof complemented. I looked around to see all the other students looking at me in awe. I look back to Clover.
"How long have I been doing Sit-ups?" I asked her nervously.
“Uh… We have five more minutes until class is over.” Clover remarked, Coach Hoof nodded.
“You know, back when I was a marine, we had to do these things to wake ourselves up. And if we go past twenty, we have to do them till we collapse.” Coach Hoof said, thinking back to his glory days.
“You were a marine?” I asked before I felt a sensation in my head, like a loud bell going off. It was then I heard gunshots.
“EVERYPONY GET DOWN!” Coach Hoof shouts, going down, everyone went down like water.
I had gotten down and looked around the room, everything had gone in slow-motion, I saw Coach Hoof reach for his pistol that was hidden under his desk. But then I remembered, my father was here. Ignoring Coach Hoofs yells, I run straight through the gym doors, knocking them off their hinges. I didn't care as I ran for the conference room. On the way there, I bump into the school officer.
"KID! Why aren't you hiding?" He asked me, I got up and looked at him gratefully.
"Thank Celestia you're here! I've gotta make sure my dad's ok!" I exclaim. Though I didn't notice it, the officer raised an eyebrow as he continued to look at me.
"I'll make sure he's fine, where's the conference room?" The officer asked carefully.
"It's in the front office and 2 rooms on the right." I told him. He grew a smile which creeped me out a bit.
"Thanks kid, now get somewhere safe." I parted ways with the officer and ran into the nearest classroom which was biology. As I went inside, it was abandoned, no one was inside, there was only the spiders. I walked into the center of the room, before I grunted in pain, I looked at my leg and it was swelling up pretty badly.
I then looked at the spider who bit me who was out of the tank with his spider friends next to him. “You! What did you do to me? Did you poison me? Because I’m hurting like Tatarus.” I said, glaring at the spider.
The spider stood there, saying nothing, it then pointed one of its arms behind me. Like the idiot that I am, I turned around and saw a giant web. It… It wrote something.
“Power.”
That’s what it read, “I don’t know what you mean, what do you…” I turned around and the spider was gone, except the black and green who crawled into the tank. “Hey, where are they? Answer me!” I then heard more gunshots and I dove to the ground, going into a dark corner where I hid myself. The gunshots getting louder, I began to hear the sound of bodies hitting the floor.
After a while, it had gotten quiet. Hesitant, I walked to the door and opened it slowly. In the hallway nobody was there as I walked out of Biology. Without a second thought, I ran towards the conference office. As I ran to the office, there was a crowd of people before it, I began to push past everyone and stumbled in the clearing, where I saw multiple ponies and humans on the floor. Including… Dad...
"Dad… DAD!" I shouted as I ran to his side, getting on my knees and looking over at him. He had multiple bullet wounds over his chest and stomach. "Dad! H-hang in there, everything's going to be fine!" I frantically put my hands onto the wounds and applied pressure in order to stop the bleeding. I look behind me to see Principle Edward behind him helping anyone who was hurt. "Who did this?"
“Casey… Casey is that you…?” Time asked, his eyes closed, as he was holding his wound. “Is Dinky okay…?"
I froze up, was Dinky okay? I didn't see her in the hallways, but I didn't know and didn't want to lie to dad if I was wrong. "Yes, she's fine, dad! You're gonna be fine, everyone will be fine." I say, tears begin to fall down my face as I lie to myself.
“That’s… G-good, t-take care of your mother for me,” Time coughs and wheezes, before opening his eyes and putting his hands on my face. “Casey, I want you to know that you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”
"Dad! Don't be saying that, save your strength, you're gonna be fine." I say, beginning to shake my father, dad grunted as he took his final breath, his hand falling from my cheek. He'd died right there in my arms. Everything stopped, officers filled the room and saw everything. One of the officers radio’s went off, it was muted for me as the officer nodded and looked to the others.
“The school shooter is making his way out of Ponyville, we’ve gotta close him off and prevent him from leaving. I’ll stay here and help as much as I can.” The other officers nodded and left the room. I knelt next to my fathers body, it being lifeless. A sudden feeling came over me, I wanted to hurt the person who did this.
Without a thought and anger plastered across my face. I stood up and left the room, my fists shaking as I ran out of the school. As I ran, I noticed that I was as fast as the cars, but then I ran into an alleyway and took out the hoodie that Clover got me. I put it on and I pull my shirt up to my nose to conceal my face. I look down at my hands and get a flashback to when I pull the wall from the stall. I look up and I place my hand on the wall, I then put my feet on the wall.
I pulled myself, climbing the wall like a spider, as I climbed I gained more confidence in my abilities and I pushed myself to the roof of the building. I then see police cars chasing a car, a couple of blocks away. I clenched my fists with rage and began to run, I ran from the building and I leaped off, my speed and strength giving me great height. I jumped to the next building and I continued the pace, I realized that there was no way I could catch them. I looked at the car and tripped from the building.
“WHOA-OA-AAAAAA!” I screamed as I began to fall down.I looked towards another building and held my hand towards it, trying to reach it but knowing it was far away. This was it, this is how I die. But then I stopped falling and moved forward, I noticed that I was swinging, I looked at my hand and noticed a web. I swung high, going higher than some buildings, as I fell down I tried to mimic how I made the web.
I failed to mimic it and I began to fall down, I frantically tried to find how I did it before I did it. I swung between the building and swung towards where the chase was happening. The car that the police were chasing shot at one of the cars, the Police car’s driver went limp and spun out of control. The car collided with several others, causing a crash.
“Looks like it’s up to me.” I told myself as I swung between buildings. I see the car go into a huge alleyway and go to the dark side of town. I then gently swung to the ground, and ran after the shooter. As I went into the alleyway I heard the car stop, and I halted, and kept to the side. I see the School Shooter come out from the car, and he was holding a hostage, it was Dinky. “Din-” I clutched my mouth, trying to hold back the urge to slam the Shooter into the ground. The School Shooter pulls Dinky into an abandoned warehouse and puts a gun up to her head.
I growl and wait until I run to the warehouse, I then hop onto the warehouse gently and get to the top floors where I slipped inside through a window. It was dark, with only streaks of light revealing some places.
“Let me go!” Dinky shouted, the School Shooter lugging her up the stairs. The Shooter threw Dinky on the ground and pointed a gun at her.
“I didn’t want this, all I wanted was to kill that bastard Edward for allowing the bullies to have free reign. I only wanted to kill one guy, but some FOOLS wanted to be the hero and oppose me, and now they’re dead. And since I have you, everyone will hold back on their little manhunt.” The School Shooter, I then look at him from afar and slowly move to the light. I knew who he was, he was the silent kid, Quiet Jack. We don’t know his real name, but right now, I could care less. I bumped into some wood and he spun around, my head rang and I jumped to the shadows.
“What was that?!” Quiet Jack said, turning around and pointing a gun to where I was. He began to breathe heavily, he lowered his gun. “Must have been a rat.” Dinky lunged at Quiet Jack and bit his leg. “GAH YOU TWERP!” Quiet Jack kicked Dinky and she hit the floor. “That’s it, I’m going to skin you alive and make sure all of your family dies a gruesome death! Everyone wants to act like a hero when they see a few people die, but no one wants to when they see a kid getting bullied!”
“RAH!” I yelled as I swung from the ceiling, I then slammed my two feet into Quiet Jack, he went through a broken window and screamed. I then heard the car window shatter, I spared Dinky a glance before I jumped out the building and landed on my feet. There I saw Quiet Jack groaning in pain, he rolled from the roof of the car and hit the ground. He scrambled to his feet and got his gun.
“Stay back you freak! I’ll shoot!” Quiet Jack yelled, I clenched my fists, my eyes seeing nothing but red as I approached the murderer. Quiet Jack fired off a bullet and my head rang, telling me to move. I tilted my head right, avoiding the bullet. Quiet Jack gasped in fear and tried to fire his gun only for it to be out of ammo. Quiet Jack yelled and threw the gun at me. I didn’t have to dodge, it missed, he ran at me with his fists ready to fly. When he threw the first punch, everything went into slow motion and I leaned my head back, avoiding the attack. I moved to the left and tripped Quiet Jack.
Quiet Jack stood up and ran at me trying to punch me, I kept on avoiding the punches before I caught his punch. I began to squeeze his fist, Quiet Jack began to scream in pain as I put more pressure. I then slammed my fist into his gut, sending him into the warehouse, he slammed into the wall and slid down. I fired two webs at the adjacent build and jumped before pulling myself towards him, slamming my feet into his gut and sending him into the warehouse. Quiet Jack flew like a fly, and hit one of the supports, some wood fell and hit his body, knocking him unconscious.
I jumped into the warehouse, landing a few feet from Quiet Jack. Filled with rage, I wanted to kill him, I wanted to end him right there and then and be done with it. I wanted to avenge dad. I pulled back my fist as I walked up to Jack, ready to end him right there. “Stop! You're gonna kill him!” Dinky yelled. I stopped, covered in a dark shadow. I glance behind me to see a terrified Dinky. Stopping to think, I looked back to Quiet Jack as my head became clear. What the hell am I doing? It's… it’s not right to take a life… even if what they did was wrong… I stood for a few moments in complete silence before running out of the warehouse and climbed up to the roof. The sound of sirens coming closer gave me relief as I knew Dinky would be alright.
Looking down the roof, I saw officers running into the warehouse, minutes later walking out with an unconscious Jack and Dinky. I heard them talking, leaning closer. “Did you see who stopped the shooter?” The officer asked, Dinky however shook her head. The cop sighed as he went to his radio and spoke, “Put out a look out for a vigilante.” Knowing Dinky would be ok, I stood up and ran the other direction, jumping from building to building to get away. I jumped off, swinging away into the afternoon air.
By the time I had grown tired of swinging, I was sitting atop of town hall, looking down into the streets below. Tears streamed down my face as I realized I almost became dad's killer. I would’ve been just as bad as Quiet Jack… A large empty hole was all that remained in my heart, I had just lost my dad. ‘I probably won’t even see Princess Luna tonight if I get nightmares.’ I thought. I looked to the horizon to see the sun setting, it’s golden glow shining down upon Ponyville.
I felt my phone ping, grabbing it out of my pocket, I looked to see I’ve gotten multiple missed calls and text messages from Mom. ‘Great, now I’m making mom worried. Some good son I am…’ Wiping away my tears with my shirt, I pull it up to my face to cover it up. Before taking a deep breath and jumping off the building, swinging back home.
Author's Note
Oh boy, a brand new story!
Me and The Chill Author are gonna be writing this story and hopefully this will work! Feedback would be highly appreciated and would improve this story significantly.
Me and Chill both hope that ya'll enjoyed the beginning, and that's all from me.
I'll catch all ya'll later!"
