The small black arachnid scuttled over the earthy ground, its eight glass eyes shining red in the murky darkness. Its wire hair gleaming. The program it was running was simple, all it had to do was bite an intelligent being. The intelligent being part was important, after all, if it was a common rodent or such, it would die before passing on what the spider needed, and if it were a predator, then it would kill everything that the disease could manifest in. Of course, it had infected smaller prey to feed on, but no such luck in finding in intelligent being. The coding in its head had recently updated, describing how this Forest may not be the best place to look and instead gave it new coordinates. Soon, his computer-esque brain said, Soon we will truly live. Leave the life of a scavenger and join the higher ranks. You are the superior one. Long live the Aranatal!
The Aranatal spotted something yellow moving through the undergrowth and trees. It was a quadruped and had long pink hair coming out of its head. Its eyes shown with a strange happiness.
Biography Analysis Undergoing... 5% Complete... 30% Complete... 76% Complete... 99% Complete... 100% Complete!
This species is called a pony. They are a magical species that come in four main subspecies. These are the Earth Pony, which have extensive strength, the Pegasus, which have grown wings to fly with, and the Unicorn, which have a single spiral horn that allows them to perform direct magic. The fourth subspecies is the rarest, only pertaining to royalty. It is called the Alicorn and it features the strengths of the three other subspecies of pony. There are a few other beings deprived from ponies such as the Crystal Ponies, the Changelings, the Breezies and more. This creatures are the descendants of horses and are extremely intelligent.
Each pony comes with its own special talent which is represented by an icon on their flank. These vary between ponies and are not passed down genetically.
This particular is a female Pegasus whose icon is three butterflies. This represents the ability to communicate with animals. Scanning database for matches... scanning... scanning... results found. There is a 100% probability that this Pony is one that goes by the name of Fluttershy. Her magic is unique and she is the very embodiment of Kindness. This pony is a target.
The Aranatal locked in onto the Pony called Fluttershy and began to move towards her. It bared its fangs and shot a thin wire reminiscent of Spider Silk and attached to the Pony, sinking its silver fangs into her skin, injecting venom which contained the virus it needed to live. If all went as planned, the Pony would take it back to her colony and infect each and every member until the Aranatal had a feast to attend. The plan was near flawless. Excellent Job! According to my flawless calculations, there is a 75% chance that this plan will succeed.
“Oh, hello there, Mister Spider! How are you today?” The Aranatal looked up in alarm at the Pony whom had just spoken. He bared his fangs again at her. “No need to be rude! I’m Fluttershy, pleased to meet you!”
The Aranatal continued to stare at the Pony.
“I just want to cuddle and take you home with me! You’re so cute, but I must be getting back to Ponyville, it’s awfully late...” The Pony known as Fluttershy smiled, then picked up the Aranatal and placed into down on the grassy ground. The Pony began to walk away, but the Aranatal latched itself onto its pink tail and held on. This was not a buffet it was going to miss.
Fluttershy collapsed on her couch, tired from a long day of walking in the Everfree. Her legs felt stiff and she was plain exhausted, which was terribly unlike her. She noticed her back itching in a place she couldn’t reach, which annoyed her, but when she craned her neck to see it, she noticed a yucky green mark forming on her back. Alarm coursed through her bones as she noticed distinct bite marks. Not just any bite marks, Spider bite marks. It had bit her! She recovered treatment from her cupboard and applied it best she could. Maybe I should see Twilight about it, she might know what type of Spider it was, even if I can’t. Her legs felt even stiffer, however. Tomorrow...
Fluttershy awoke the next morning to find that, to her relief, the green welt had disappeared. She hopped out of bed and Plink!, there was a strange metallic sound. “Huh?” Fluttershy took a few steps. Plink! Plink! Plink! “What is that?” Fluttershy muttered aloud. She checked the bottom of her hooves and the sight made her blood run cold. The bottom of her hooves were steel. It wasn’t steel on her hooves, the bottoms of her hooves were literally metal. “I REALLY need to see, Twilight!”
Feed. The energy will make you happy. Feel what these Ponies feel everyday.
Fluttershy knocked on Twilight’s door, creating a strange metal-on-wood sound. Twilight opened the door, yawning “Fluttershy? What brings you here?”
Fluttershy raised her hoof to show her and Twilight’s eyes widened. “What the... hay? Come in, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy accepted the offer and entered Twilight’s house. She noticed that the frost of steel had traveled higher, almost covering the entirety of her hooves. “Twilight, it wasn’t like this before...”
Twilight turned her head, “What do you mean?”
“It only covered the bottom of my hoofs!”
Twilight gaped, “It’s spreading!?”
Fluttershy nodded, and averted her eyes from Twilight in shame. She blinked, her hair rolling in front of her face and she yelped.
“What’s wrong!” Twilight cried out.
“Oh, goodness! My hair!” Fluttershy pointed out. The bottom of her hair had fused together in a mass of silver.
“It’s changing too!” Twilight pointed out. “We don’t have much time. You're turning into metal! I need to do a full on analysis, stat!”
And with that, Twilight ushered Fluttershy downstairs into her lab, not noticing the silver arachnid that still rode in the pegasi’s tail or the stiffness of her own legs.
“That’s not good! Your legs are 100% metal and so are some of your inner organs! I don’t even know how you are alive!” Twilight explained, looking at the results.
Fluttershy looked down at her legs which were now completely metal. The strands of hair on her head were all fused together and the change to metal halfway done. A tear rolled down her cheek.
“I’ll be right back, I’ve got to go get some things.” Twilight said, making a mental note to take the least amount of time as she could.
The Aranatal scurried out of is hiding place and made its way onto Fluttershy’s snout. “I sorry. No mean harm. Need eating.”
“You can talk!?” Fluttershy gasped
“No good. Bad speaking.” It replied.
“Well, you have been bad! Turning me to steel like this!” Fluttershy glared.
The Aranatal held its ground, “I no like it. Want to help.” And with that, the Aranatal sunk its fangs into her snout and held them there as she whimpered in pain.
Twilight began walking towards her study when she felt the all-too-familiar hypnotic pull which lulled her... into... a deep... drowsy... sleeping state... She vaguely noticed herself pulling the sheet off of a familiar screen and spoke into a microphone. “You have won, feeding time is here.” The microphone distorted her voice so it was unrecognizable and sent the message to her client.
You have won, feeding time is here.
Twilight shook her head clear of the haze. What was she doing? Oh right! Her supplies that she had marked down! She barged out the door, heading straight to some shops.
She returned some time later with circuits and other electrical items. She had a lot of work to do and almost no time to do it.
“You contagious. Gived to purple... unicorn.” The Aranatal told Fluttershy.
Fluttershy whimpered, the Aranatal still attached to her muzzle.
“Purple Unicorn left. Gived to owners of shop. Spread soon. All Ponies infect. All Ponies metal.” It finally let go. What it wanted to do was done.
Twilight rushed downstairs, noticing how heavy her legs were. “Oh no! Am I too turning to metal?” She glanced down at her steel hooves. “Darn it! This isn’t good!”
She hurried to the lab, careful not to trip, “Fluttershy! I’ve- Fluttershy!?”
Twilight looked around, Fluttershy was gone.
Two Aranatals stood next to each other.
“Go. Bite Pony.” The black one said.
A yellow one cowered in fear. “But she’s my friend... why did y-you do this to me?”
“Me like you.” It explained.
The yellow one reluctantly scaled the Unicorns metal leg until it found flesh, and gave a sigh as it bit the flesh. It jumped off and watched as the steel process accelerated. “I’m so sorry, Twilight! But... it feels good. My hunger is gone...”
The black one watched with interest. “Job was excellent, Fluttershy. We go collect more Life Energy.”
Author's Note
Why did the Aranatal choose to spare Fluttershy's life? Simple. It had consumed a fair amount of her Kindness.
