My little Pony:Spider And Magic

Chapter Thirty-Three "Trial By Fire

Chapter Thirty-Three "Trial By Fire"

Nineteen Days Remain

The setting sun touched the horizon, leaving the sky stained a dark shade of orange. The land looked as if it had been set ablaze, the bright alicorn burning at its center. The stallion stood in the courtyard, his blank lenses staying locked on the princess. The crowd continued to gather, joining the herd after word spread of Luna's defeat and Celestia's challenge. Above the castle, a pegasus soared over until she reached a good vantage point, her bright orange irises and mane matching the fiery sky perfectly.

Smirking, Spitfire perched herself on one of the castle's rooftops, folded her limbs and watched the fight ready to unfold. "Looks like I made it just in time," she said, pulling her goggles back behind her ears. "Let's see what you got... Peter."

The nobles and guards went into an uproar, cheering wildly for the two adversaries as Princess Celestia engaged Spider-Mane in combat. Her horn emitted a bright light before firing several beams at the costumed stallion, who quickly charged the alicorn in an upright, two-hooved sprint. Increasing his speed, Peter ducked underneath the first beam, dashed to the side to avoid the second, and spun his body to dodge the rest, all in smooth, rapid succession.

Princess Celestia huffed, vanishing instantaneously in a bright flash, but she returned a few hoof-lengths away from Spider-Mane and brought her flaming glaive to bear with authority, threatening to impale the stallion. His spider sense blared profusely, forcing Peter to skid to an immediate halt and launch himself away with a backflip before the weapon could meet with his body. The glaive melted through the stone, flames erupting from underneath upon impact and creating a blazing shockwave.

The force pushed the stallion further into the air than he would have liked, but Spider-Mane shot a strand of webbing from his hoof and yanked hard, shifting his momentum toward the side of the arena. Breaking away from his webbing, he flipped with his limbs stretched out with the grace of an acrobat and landed perfectly on his hind hooves on the magical barrier where a group of nobles stood.

"Such grace!" a blue mare gasped, pressing herself further against the shield the Canterlot guards held.

Her brow furrowed behind her pair of rose-tinted shades as she kept the stallion locked in her crosshairs. It was easy for the snow-white maned mare to grow so enamored with the specimen. His movements were fluid, resembling pure poetry in motion. Spider-Mane's body was not bulky in the slightest, but underneath the colorful attire was a slender, perfectly athletic figure, the details of his ripped muscle structure easy to spot thanks to his skin-tight Spandex.

As Spider-Mane leapt from his position, closing the distance between himself and Princess Celestia, the mare slid her hoof into her jet-black dress and retrieved a handkerchief. She dabbed the cloth against her forehead, wiping away the perspiration that formed due to her heightened body temperature and the flaming armament of Princess Celestia, before pressing the button on the side of the large camera next to her. Imbedded on a golden tag above the lens was the name 'Photo Finish,' and before long, the mare found herself taking what seemed like dozens of pictures of Spider-Mane.

"You astonishing arachnophile! Allow me to capture your magnificence!" she exclaimed (much to the annoyance of the ponies around her), begging that this asset be as marvelous as she hoped.

Flipping high into the air, Spider-Mane landed directly behind Princess Celestia and dove forward to deliver a straight punch to her seemingly vulnerable side, but the alicorn's glaive spun around and parried the attack, shifting Peter's momentum until he completely rolled past his opponent's body. The stallion managed to cartwheel his way from the ground, spinning around to throw a wide kick aimed for Celestia's neck.