Peter held the red mask up in the mirror, staring into the eyes he had needed to modify several times to be able to see out of the damn thing before turning it over in his hand and throwing it back into the wardrobe. He had been pacing the room for the better part of ten minutes as he waited for a call from Twilight. The doctors had said that she'd shown signs of waking up in the early hours of the morning and the family had been called in to be there when she woke up. Peter had explained to his Aunt May where he'd been the previous night and she'd been horrified about what had happened to Cadance, stating that she'd always been her favourite princess of the three, and that Peter needed to be honoured that he knew her.

"I never realized that my Aunt May was a Cadance fan girl" Peter chuckled, dropping down onto his front and beginning to do push-ups whilst talking to himself "I really hope she makes it through this alright... this kinda stuff can scar people for life" Peter held himself in a planking position for a brief second before using his heightened core strength lift push with his toes and lift himself up into a handstand. He held himself there while he continued to monologue.

"She was in really bad shape too... everyone just seemed wrecked that night" Peter sighed, doing handstand push-ups as he spoke "On the plus side, I got to meet Twilight's gorgeous mother" He lowered himself down into a push up position and crossed his ankles over whilst spreading his hands out further, training a different part of his torso.

"If Twilight ends up getting the same bust size as her mother then Harry's gonna be a lucky guy" Peter grunted, jumping and clapping his hands as he reached the apex of his push up "Though I never expected Twilight to be mixed race... I thought her parents were both black... I guess that explains why Shining's skin colour is the different from hers" Peter dropped to the floor and rolled over, using his feet to stick to the floor as he began to train his abdomen.

"Am I fucking stupid?" he asked himself in surprise "Twilight has a Caucasian body type but a darker skin tone, a mix from both of her mother and her father, while Shining is just a white guy... a huge white guy. I wonder what was going through everyone's heads when six-foot-four, two hundred and forty pound muscle man Shining Armour was strong-armed up a wall by five foot seven, hundred and ten pounds Peter Parker" He chuckled to himself for a brief second before groaning loudly.

"Am I really doing a poor-man's workout while discussing my friend's ethnicity?" he asked himself in amazement "And then complimenting myself on pushing around her older brother?" He looked in the mirror behind him and sighed.

"Yes Parker, yes you are" he muttered before restarting his sit-ups, a thought brewing in his head "Still, Twilight is a real treat to look at, and she's got a great personality to boot... maybe I should start searching for a girlfriend, after all, I'm sick of getting blisters and friction burns all the time" He rolled forward after completing one hundred sit ups and got to his feet. His workouts never lasted long and because of this he never built up much muscle. He was a skinny little rake with the faintest hint of a six-pack on his stomach and he hated this fact. He knew he'd have to start bulking up if he wanted to look impressive enough to get a girlfriend.

"Then again, what girl is gonna sacrifice her social... everything by going out with Puny Parker over here?" he asked himself.

"Well if you didn't spend all day locked away in your room and met some people maybe you would have a girlfriend Peter" May said. Peter had to activate his adhesive powers to stop himself from back flipping onto the ceiling out of sheer terror.

"Jesus!" Peter bellowed, whipping around to see his Aunt May standing in the doorway with a pile of laundry in her arms "Knock first will you?"

"Sorry, I forget you're at the age where the only thing you play with now is your games and yourself" she smirked.

"That's disgusting" Peter said with a point of his finger and a look of revulsion.

"Well don't tell me that, you're the one doing it" May countered.

"No I am not!" Peter snapped.

"Really?" May asked with a cocked eyebrow "Well the stains on your sheets tell me a different story"

"Leave now, I am not discussing this with you" Peter snapped, walking over to her and gently guiding her out of the room "Begone heathen!"

"Hey, I'm not judging you Peter" May laughed as Peter closed the door behind her "It's completely natural at your age" Peter made a gagging noise before walking back over to his computer and sitting down in his chair.

"I really wish I didn't have to have that talk" he sighed.

"It washes out well with cleaning tablets!" May called from downstairs.

Peter chose to ignore her.

Twilight watched as her sister in law gently moved the cup of coffee to her swollen lips, her hands bandaged and trembling. They'd tried their best to sort her hair out but since she couldn't stand just yet they couldn't get her into the shower to clean her off completely.

"How're you feeling?" Twilight asked, unable to stop smiling since her sister had woken up.

"I'm fine Twiley, you've asked me that four times in the past hour" Cadance chuckled, her voice sounding much rougher than her usual sweet, sing-song voice.

"I know... I'm just so glad you're OK, I don't know what I'd do without you" Twilight said, drumming on her knees "You're my big sister and I love you to pieces"

"I love you too Twilight, you're the best little sister I could've gotten" Cadance said, sipping from the coffee "Ugh... all I can taste is my own breath"

"It's not that bad Cadance" Twilight said, dismissively.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow "Shining nearly threw up when he kissed me this morning"

"Oh, fuck" Twilight blinked.

"Language" Cadance commented.

"Sorry" Twilight nodded "Do you want me to get you some gum or something?"

"I'd love that, but the doctors say they don't want me chewing anything solid because my jaw's weakened and might break" Cadance sighed "I'm eating nothing but soup and drinking nothing but mineral water"

"It's not that carbonated shit is it?" Twilight asked.

"Hey, stop swearing" Cadance tutted.

"Sorry" Twilight repeated.

"Twiley, you're not sorry about it so just stop apologizing" Cadance said with a quizzical look.

"You're right and I will" Twilight nodded, looking around the room.

"Where's your boyfriend anyway?" Cadance asked "He was outside when I woke up wasn't he?"

"His Dad called him back to Oscorp to close out a deal or some shit like that" Twilight shrugged. The two women locked eyes and a grin spread onto Twilight's face as Cadance stared at her with a bemused look in her eyes.

"Now you're just doing it to annoy me" she giggled.

"I know, I know" Twilight sniggered "I'll stop now" There came a knock at the door and Twilight parents stuck their heads in.

"You two alright?" Twilight's father asked with a smile.

"Yeah thanks, Dad" Twilight nodded.

"We're good Night" Cadance seconded.

"Do you need anything Dear?" Mrs Velvet asked.

"No thanks Mrs Velvet" Cadance said with a shake of her head "We're all set"

"Good to hear... where did Shining go?" Mrs Velvet asked.

"I managed to convince him to get some sleep in a spare bed, he's been awake for thirty five hours straight" Cadance said.

"Poor boy" Night Light chuckled "He never thinks about his own well being, no matter how much it'll badly affect him"

"He gets that from you" Mrs Velvet said with a smile, patting her husband on the cheek.

"Excuse me?" Harry's voice said from behind them.

"Oh, sorry Harry" Night Light said, moving aside and allowing the young man to get past him. He placed a vase of pink tulips on the table next to Cadance before sitting down next to Twilight.

"Awww, thanks Harry" Cadance said with a wide smile, showing off her thankfully-intact teeth and still beautiful smile.

"No problem, they're a gift from my mother and I" Harry nodded, returning the smile.

"You didn't call Peter on your way here did you?" Twilight asked.

"Oh crap, I forgot to" Harry said sheepishly, getting a glare from his girlfriend "I'll do that now" Harry took out his phone and called Peter. The ringer sound for a few brief seconds before Peter picked up.

"Hello?" Peter's voice asked.

"Hey dude, Cadance is up and grinning and the hospital staff are allowing visitors, we'll give them your name and they should let you see her, where are you?" Harry explained.

"Midtown" Peter asked "Just having a stroll along the tracks"

"You better not be on the train tracks Peter, do you know how many people die on those things a year?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Mr. Statistics I am aware, I'm also too good to be hit by a train, and besides, I'll hear one of them coming anyway" Peter said confidently.

"Not now you won't, Oscorp upgraded the materials and frames of all the trains in the city to make them more eco-friendly and quieter, you won't hear those things until they're right on top of you"

"Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on that, there's no way in hell a train can sneak-" Peter's voice said only to be drowned out by the sound of a train horn and the rushing sound of wind. A look of horror shot onto everyone's faces as they could hear nothing more than the wind rushing by.

"Peter... Peter!" Harry yelled.

"He didn't just get hit by one did he?" Cadance asked in horror, a hand over her mouth.

"I don't know" Harry said, his breathing increasing "Peter!?" There was a moment of silence before Peter's voice became audible once more.

"Well... that fuckin' hurt" he moaned. There was a loud groan from Peter, another thump and a bout of pained laughter.

"What the hell just happened Peter?" Harry asked slowly "We thought you just got hit by a train... did you jump off the tracks?"

"No..." Peter answered.

"Did... did you dodge out of the way?" Harry asked in a much slower voice.

"...No" Peter answered "Where'd the blood come from?... Oh shit, that's my blood"

"What are you doing!?" Twilight demanded, grabbing the phone from Harry and turning up the loud speaker so everyone could hear him.

"You know, just lying on the train tracks trying to figure out which way is up" Peter chuckled.

"Where, if it did, did it hit you?" Twilight asked, her temper dying down as Harry put a hand on her shoulder.

"It hit me in... just clipped me in the... everywhere" Peter gasped, groaning as he performed some kind of strenuous action.

"Are you bleeding seriously Peter?" Mrs Velvet asked, walking over to the chair next to Twilight and sitting down.

"No, just a cut on my forehead" he answered, seemingly moving faster than before by the sound of the wind picking up again "I'm OK I think, I'm just glad I found out that I'm superior to a train in terms of dexterity"

"Probably from that thick skull of yours" Twilight growled.

"Thanks Twilight Peter said, his breathing becoming heavy "Cadance?"

"Yes?" she asked, worry gleaming in her gorgeous eyes.

"Is there any room at the foot of your bed I can just lie down on?" Peter asked jokingly "I need a nap"

"Plenty Peter, just get here quickly and we'll see if you're OK" Cadance nodded "See you when you get here"

"You too, bye guys" Peter said before hanging up the phone. Twilight placed a hand to her forehead and sighed loudly.

"He's a fucking moron" she growled.

"Language" the adults scolded.

Twilight leaned against the window with her elbows, nursing an energy drink slowly as she waited for her food to be brought in. Cadance had become tired several minutes earlier and the nurses had suggested that she get some rest, asking everyone to leave her for a few hours. And since then she'd been standing around, waiting for Harry to bring back their food from the cafeteria. She was roused from her thoughts as a knock came at the window. She turned around to see Peter leaning against the fire escape outside, looking messy. His hair was falling down over his face instead of standing up and he appeared to be drenched in sweat, his jacket covered in oil and grime and a line of blood running down from the left side of his forehead.

"He looks... kinda hot" Twilight thought to herself before mentally slapping the idea out of her head "Down girl, you're already taken" Twilight opened the window and Peter leaped through, landing on his feet and dropping into a low crouch before standing up straight. Twilight looked over Peter's shoulder to see a backpack, fastened tightly around his chest and shoulders.

"Peter, why were you on the fire escape?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"To get up to this floor" Peter said in a matter-of-fact voice as if his answer was the obvious one.

"It's twenty stories up, why didn't you use the front door?" she asked.

"The doorman's intimidating" Peter shrugged, slinging his backpack off his back and opening it.

"What'd you bring?" she asked.

"Flowers" Peter answered, reaching into the bag.

"After parkouring twenty floors up and getting hit by a train, do you think they're going to be in any sort of presentable shape?" Twilight asked. Peter threw a long, black metal tube up out of the bag and caught it with his other hand.

"Yes" he nodded, unscrewing the top of the tube and revealing a bunch of closed flowers.

"Good job Peter, they're not even blooming yet" Twilight said sarcastically, applauding him quietly.

"That's the trick, flowers like this don't bloom when they're in darkness" he said, holding the tube out into the rays of sunshine, several seconds passing before they began to slowly open "But when they're exposed to sunlight they open" Twilight watched as the green stems opened widely into an array of beautiful petals that matched the colours of Cadance's hair.

"Wow Pete, what are they?" Twilight asked.

"They're an Oscorp-designed breed of flowers that can have their petal pigment altered by certain chemicals, I call them Dyeing Flowers" Peter said.

"You're gonna need to work on that name there chief" Twilight commented quickly.

"Yeah, I came up with a better one, Painted Petals" Peter nodded.

"Not as contradictory but still terrible nonetheless" Twilight shrugged.

"Thanks Twilight" Peter groaned "Do you think she'll like them?"

"We'll find out when she wakes up" Twilight said. Peter sighed loudly, rolling his head back and cursing under his breath.

"I'm too late?" he asked "Fuck"

"Pete, she's not dead, she'll be up in a few hours" Twilight chuckled.

"I know but I'll be gone by then... I think I'll give them to her now" Peter said.

"Well good luck getting past the security" Twilight said, jabbing her thumb towards the large security guard positioned outside the door to the room. Peter nodded slowly, allowing the flowers to close up again before putting the cap back on them and putting them back into his bag.

"I'll think of something" Peter said confidently.

"Or you could just wait for her to wake up!" Twilight snapped "You're gonna cause a problem when there doesn't need to be one!"

"You do know me right, that's what I'm known for" Peter chuckled "Hold tight, I'll be back soon" Twilight growled angrily as Peter walked out of the hallway and into a stairwell, wondering what he was going to do and how he was going to mess it up.

Peter's eyes locked on an air vent on the ceiling above him and, after making sure there were no cameras or nearby people, he leaped up the wall and over to the vent, pulling off the cover and crawling inside.

"Colonel Campbell... he thought to himself jokingly "I've infiltrated the Black Mesa stronghold, patch me to Naomi" He placed the vent back over the hole and used his webbing to hold it in place before crawling through the vents as quietly as possible. Using his photographic memory he mapped out the paths the air vent would take in its concealed place in the ceiling, taking turns that would guide him closer and closer to Cadance's room.

"I wonder if I'm going to run into Meryl doing sit ups in here?" he thought again, cracking a smile at his own terrible humour. He checked the grates in the vents for any sign of Cadance before finally spotting her lying asleep on her back with her hands on her stomach. Peter grinned triumphantly as he had located the room before freezing in place. The last thing he wanted to do right now was make a noise that could either wake Cadance up or alert the doorman outside. Thinking quickly he used the flat of his fingertip to unscrew the fastenings on the vent cover before slowly moving in in front of him, planning his next move. Jumping down was something he couldn't do because there was no way he could soften his landing enough to make no sound.

"Think Parker, how would Sam Fisher or Solid Snake do this? Peter thought. As he stared in front of him he noticed something in clinging to the roof of the vent. It was a little black spider with small legs and a large body. It was moving away from him, feeling threatened by his presence no doubt, and an idea came to him.

"How would you do it?" he mentally asked the spider, watching it for any hints on how to proceed. As he watched he saw the spider stick a web to the ceiling and begin to lower itself down using it legs and more webbing. A flash of inspiration illuminated Peter's mind as he used his web-shooter to attach a web to the roof of the vent. After shifting awkwardly into position he stuck his head out of the vent and began to slowly release more webbing to lower himself down. He surveyed the room quickly, the curtains drawn to make it darker and the cute sound of Cadance sleeping were the first thing he realized. He could then hear a clock ticking from the table and on the wall as well as the doorman tapping his foot outside. He could feel the vibrations coming through the webbing he held onto, the same way a real spider tracked the movements of its prey. A wide grin spread onto his face as he came closer and closer to assuming the identity of Spider-Man, so close now he could almost taste it. He slowly touched down on the floor and threw the web back into the vent, knowing that if Cadance woke up or anybody walked into the room and saw it his Spider-Man career would be over.

"Alright, quietly now" he thought to himself, taking off his backpack and taking out the vase of flowers, unscrewing the lid as quietly as possible before placing the vase on the table next to somebody else's flowers. With a sigh of relief he stood up and backed away from the table, preparing to find a way to get back into the vent when he heard a muffled yawning sound from behind him.

"Oh... fuck" he mentally groaned, clenching his fists as he heard the princess begin to stir.

"Huh..." her faint, sweet voice said from behind him "Peter?" Peter slowly pivoted and looked at her with a weak smile, his eyes downcast as he looked at her injured form.

"Hey... Cadance" he said softly, whispering as quietly as possible. Cadance rubbed her eyes, wincing briefly as she forgot how sore they were, before she sat up in bed.

"When did you get in?" Cadance asked, inclining her head to the side and smiling sweetly. Peter felt sweat begin to grease his palms as his heart-rate increased, finding himself unable to speak.

"Are, you OK Peter?" she asked, looking down for a second before remembering what had happened to him "Oh, the train!" Peter's ears flinched at the sudden decibel increase Cadance made that no doubt alerted the doorman outside. Which it did. The doorman swung the door open, pointing a gun at Peter.

"Freeze!" he yelled. If Peter had kept his cool the situation might have been diffused quickly with a sentence or two from Cadance. Instead, Peter reached for his pocket, which the guard took as a threat, and he pulled the trigger. The gunshot sent off an alarm throughout the whole floor, getting everyone's attention. For Peter, time seemed to slow down as he saw the bullet slowly emerge from the gun. He strode forward and bent his furthest leg, dropping to his knee as the bullet whizzed over his head. He stood up and lung forward, his hand being a millimetre away from the gun as a second shot was fired. Time then rocketed forward as Peter slapped the gun aside, lunged forward and caught the doorman's throat with his elbow before pivoting on his left heel and slamming the flat of his foot into the doorman. The force of the attack launched him out of the room and down the hallway. Peter dropped down onto one knee, suddenly out of breath. People surveyed the scene before rushing over to them, some checking the doorman and others checking Peter.

"Peter!" Twilight yelled as he climbed up to his feet, wrapping his arms around his own waist to give himself a sense of security before he had a panic attack. Shining and his family came sprinting around the corner while Cadance looked out of the door. Peter quickly whipped around and ran back into the room.

"Did he hit you?" Peter asked frantically, looking her up and down, still gripping his waist as he tried to steady his breath.

"N-No... holy fuck" she panted, her eyes wide with adrenaline.

"What the fuck just happened!?" Shining demanded, grabbing Peter and pulling him away from Cadance.

"I snuck in to give Cadance some flowers but when she woke up the guy came in and started fucking shooting!" Peter exclaimed "Cadance didn't get hit, she's fine"

"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Shining demanded, grabbing Peter's arm and dragging him outside the room "He probably thought you were trying to kill her!"

"Look, I didn't mean it!" Peter screamed placing his fingers to his head "He just started shooting and I had to stop-" Peter's voice trailed off as he looked as his right hand, his blood-soaked right hand. He began to panic as he looked at his hand with terrified eyes.

"What?" Shining demanded, glaring a Peter's face "What's wrong?" Shining grabbed Peter's hand and looked at the blood for a brief second before cursing under his breath.

"Get a medic!" he yelled over his shoulder "We've got a gunshot wound" Twilight's hand fell over her mouth and Peter looked at the bloody hole on his grey Ramones shirt, his expression completely blank as Shining guided him over a chair where a team of nurses ran over to him. Next Chapter: Out of Your League Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 47 Minutes