Ultimate Spider-Colt

Power and Responsibility

Chapter Eight

I loom over the edge, staring at the dead body of that stallion who took my Uncle. At first, I didn’t know who he was, but now that the moonlight is shining over him.... He’s that pony named Noteworthy. I didn’t know him personally, but I’ve seen him around town before. Guess I won’t be anymore.

The police ponies shine a magical light on the body, and then onto the ledge where I stand. They see me. One runs over to the body, still looking up at me, and fires a spell at me. “W-whoa!” I dodge the blast, ducking behind a crate. “I just did half their job for them, and this is how I get repaid?! This is so unfair!” I jump out from my hiding spot and shoot a web on the ground, and Zip my way down, kicking a cop in the face on the way down.

I land, and look at the wounded cop on the ground. “Why isn’t he at a hospital, yet?!” I yell at them. They ignore me, and continue trying to blast at me, but I dodge every single one of them. “Would you stop that?! Those spells are making my head hurt!” Of course, I’m ignored again. “Okay, then. See ya.” I pick up the wounded cop, and swing into Ponyville.

A quick stop at the Ponyville Hospital later, I swing back towards my house. The night is beginning to waver into the daylight, making it a little easier to see where I’m swinging. I land on the City Hall again, and look around. Ponies are beginning to rise out of their homes and into the streets, so I need to cut down on the web.

I glance around, and notice that any strands of web I left behind disappeared. “Huh. That might be useful.” I mumble, and hop off the building, slowing my descent with my wings. I land, and make a dash for home.

A few hours later...

I sit on the edge of my bed, staring out of the window. A few cops had come by to inform us that the stallion who murdered Uncle Lucky had committed suicide by jumping out of a building, but I knew the truth, obviously. Nopony had been any the wiser to my disappearance, so no questions were directed towards me. Which is good. I don’t wanna talk to anypony.

I lay down, and stare at the ceiling. The night’s events replay in my mind, to the discovery of my powers to Uncle Lucky’s death...

“I should have been here...” I mutter. A single tear threatens to escape my eye, but I blink it away. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, trying to fall asleep.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Lucky...”

Realizing that it was too late for sleep, I sit up again.

”I’m sorry, kid. No colt your age should have to go through this. Take care of your Aunt.” The officer had said. And he was right. No pony my age should have to go through what Aunt Shoeshine and I are. No pony, period.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

“Are you sure you want to go to school, Featherweight?”

“I’m sure.”

“Because you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I can tell Ms. Cheerilee that you’re not well.”

“I’m fine, Aunt Shoeshine. I have Scootaloo to talk to if I need to. And the other Crusaders, too. I’ll be fine.”

Shoeshine sighs, and walks from the kitchen into the living, where I sit on the couch. “Okay, you win. I don’t know why you love school so much. Most colts your age would jump at the chance to stay home.”

“Those colts didn’t get their Uncle murdered last night.” I say, but instantly regret it. What was  I thinking? “A-Aunt Shoeshine, I-”

She raises a hoof and puts a smile on her face, but the hurt in her eyes is unmistakable. “It’s fine, Feather. You didn’t mean it.” She leans in and kisses me on my head, and embraces me in a warm hug. “I’m sure Lucky would want you to go to school. No reason to dwell on it...” She sighs, and flashes a welcoming smile. “Now, off, you. Don’t want to be late. Scootaloo might be waiting for you, too.”

I smile. “Yeah. Thanks. I love you.”

She smiles again. “I love you, too, Featherweight.”

I walk out of the front door, and take flight. My destination? Scootaloo’s usual route.

I spy with my little eye: A wild Scootaloo!

The orange filly is riding her scooter fast down the street, dodging ponies and doing various tricks whenever she gets any air time. She spots my shadow, and looks up, waving for me to come down. I do so, flying next to her as she rides.

“Hey, Featherweight. I um... I heard what happened.”

I slow a little, “Uh... It’s fine.... The guy’s dead. Can... Can we not talk about this?”

She sighs. “Sorry, Feather. I’m not very good at comforting ponies.”

“Neither am I.” I reply. We soon make it to the school, where we stop to chat. “School has a few more minutes to start.” I say. “You wanna talk about something?”

She shakes her head. “Nah. I need to catch up with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. You don’t mind, do you?”

Yes, I do. But I’m not going to say that. “No, you go ahead. I don’t mind.” I sigh. “You go catch up with the other Crusaders. I’ll see ya at lunch time.”

She nods, getting back on her scooter and riding off.

Leaving me alone.

I watch the leaving filly until she leaves my eye sight, and turn around to find nopony other than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

And their noses are bandaged. Go figure.

“Hello, Featherweight.” Diamond snarls. Silver Spoon just looks slightly annoyed.

“Diamond Tiara.” I reply simply.

“I heard your Uncle died last night.”

Silver Spoon’s eyes widen, and puts a hoof over Tiara’s mouth. “Diamond! Don’t go that far!”

Diamond Tiara smacks her hoof away, glaring daggers at the both of us. “He’s the one that hurt us! If you ask me, his Uncle got what was coming to him, raising such a barbarian!”

Oh, that seriously did it. “You take that back.” I growl.

Diamond smirks at my reaction. “Why? Are you going to make him stop us? Is he going to rise from the dead and scold us?”

“Diamond! Stop it!”

“No, Silver Spoon! He hurt us! He deserves every single bad thing that ever happens to him!”

“Diamond, it’s one thing to tease somepony for not having a Cutie Mark, but insulting a dead family member is going too far!”

The pink filly glares at the silver one, turning away from me. “And what are you going to do about it?”

Silver Spoon stares at the ground, and takes a shaky breath. “We’re not friends any more. We’re both mean fillies, and I don’t want to be that any more.” With that, Silver Spoon walks away, not looking back.

I look at the ground, and spot a small spider climbing up a wall. “Diamond Tiara, I’m really sorry that I hurt you. I didn’t mean to. But you are a real mean filly. Keep acting the way you are, somepony’s going to have to shut you up eventually.”

She turns back to me, tears slowly streaming down her face. “Is that a threat?!”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Just don’t insult my Uncle again, or it will be a threat.”

With that, I walk into the school house, the bell ringing after I walk through the door.

I walk in the front door, hanging my backpack up on the holder on the back of the door and walk straight ahead into the kitchen, opening the fridge to grab some orange juice.

Diamond Tiara. At least Silver Spoon has some decency. I take out the carton of juice and begin the chug it, continuing to think to myself.

My powers seem to have fully developed. I wonder what other traits I inherited from the bite, if there are any.

I finish the carton and throw it away, walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my room, where I sit down on the bed. I’ve let my room get insanely messy ever since I was bitten, and Lucky’s death didn’t help things. The bed sits on the left hand side of the room, behind it sat a window and to the left of that was a dresser. In the right wall is a closet, which holds basic clothes and the like.

I look around the room, out the window and door, and, confident that nobody could see me, ducked under my bed and grabbed a medium sized cardboard box.

I get back up onto my legs, and hurriedly open the box, throwing the top across the room. "Okay, let's get started." I mumble to myself. I'm not exactly the world's best sewer, but I shouldn't be having that much trouble with this.

I grab a needle, and stick a strand of red thread through it. I then grab one piece of red cloth and another piece of blue cloth.

The Next Day

“Alright, class, today we are going to learn about triangles.” Ms. Cheerilee began. “There are three types, isosceles, equilateral, and scalene.”

I sigh. I love school, a lot, actually, but I just can’t focus. As Ms. Cheerilee talks, I start twirling a hoof through my hair, making sure to keep my two-sizes-too-big jacket covering my hoof. I take a glance at the clock and inwardly groan. Still two hours of school.

“Hang in there, Featherweight. Just get through the lesson and then I can go out and swing.”

Can you blame me for wanting to get out of here? What kind of a colt with superpowers would not want to play around with them?

Cheerilee erases the board of the three types of triangles and turns back to the class. “Now, I want you all to turn to chapter 3 of your textbook, page 374. We’ll do some problems, then-”

A green hoof pounds on the ground as its owner charges through the streets of Ponyville, her steps causing a giant crash as they impact the cobblestone roads.

“Featherweight Clover!” The monstrous Twilight Sparkle shouts. She jumps, her green form leaping high into the sky, out of the town and lands near the base of a hill.

Ms. Cheerilee is cut off by a loud crash from outside that make the very foundations of the school shake. “W-what?” She stammers, her breathing becoming steadily more erratic. “Stay calm, class. I’m sure it was... one of the town pegasi having a flying accident...” She shook her head. “Anyway, triangles. Who can tell me-”

I bring a hoof to my head as pain starts to course through it. I let out a small groan, and raise my other hoof to get her attention. “Ms Cheerilee, may I go to the nurse?” I mutter loudly enough for her to hear.

Her eyes snap from the window to me. “O-Oh, yes, Featherweight, go-”

I move to get up, but instead find myself leaping to the other side of the room just in time to see the wall next to where I was sitting previously to explode in a ball of fire and children’s screams.

“Featherweight! Come out and play!” A monstrous feminine voice booms as a green blur rushes through the spot where the wall used to be, stopping in the middle of the class room, her eyes looking for me. Just before her gaze lands on me, I hop over her head, and over to Ms. Cheerilee’s desk, and cower behind it.

“My head...” I think to myself. I hear my classmates screams, only making my headache worse, echoing through the chaotic air. I peek my head up from the desk, to see the green, giant pony holding Scootaloo.

“Oh, heck no.” I mumble. I unzip my hoodie and toss it aside, revealing my red and blue attire. In the center of my chest is a black spider, my sides are blue, and nearly everything else is red. The entire costume is covered by a thin metal lining in the pattern of a spider’s web

Time for Spider-Colt to make one heck of a test run.

I reach for my discarded jacket and dig around the pockets and pull out my mask. It has the same webbed pattern as the rest of the costume, and two eyes made out of sunglass lenses make the bulk of it.

I pull it over my head, and take a breath. Watch out Ponyville, here comes the Spider-Colt.