As the sun peeked over the horizon and spilled into the web-filled room, Angel hopped up the steps. He peeked over the top step and looked around, scowling at the webs covering everything. Fluttershy had let herself go over the past few days. You kill one spider and suddenly she overcompensates and lets everything in her room get covered in spiders. It’s not like it was an actual friend. It was a spider. Gross, crawly, and they make a mess. Like this. Webs everywhere. It was nasty. She’d also stopped bathing and her room smelled like blood. She really needed to take better care of herself. Maybe tomorrow he’d tell her she smelled, then she’d actually wash.

Angel looked around at the floor and noticed the hundreds of creepy spiders were missing. He looked up at the ceiling and saw that the webs up there were empty too. Was it true, had she actually told them to leave like she promised but never did? Angel’s ears perked up as he scanned more of the room, finding not a single spider. He hopped up the last step, but stopped short. Maybe they were hiding. He slowly made his way closer to the bed, peeking under the bed from a distance, trying to catch a glimpse of any hairy legs. If he were a creepy nasty spider, that’s where he would hide. Finding nothing, Angel chanced sticking his head under, but still saw absolutely no spiders.

Angel looked up at the blankets on the bed. They were dirty, covered in blood splatter from that injury she’d caused him to make on her, and little bits of spider silk were everywhere. Gross. Grimacing, Angel grabbed hold of it and tugged, trying to get Fluttershy’s attention. She didn’t respond so he tugged harder, still getting no reaction.

He sighed and leaped up onto the bed. She’d gotten so fucking lazy since that eye injury. It’s not like it was her hooves that were ruined. She could still cook, and clean, and go shopping, so this was completely unreasonable of her. He crawled up the blankets, keeping an eye out for disgusting spiders. He got some silk stuck on his paw and he shook it loose, sticking his tongue out in disgust. Absolutely disgusting that she would let these things live in the house. He supposed she’d lied to him about how she wouldn’t let any spiders inside. It’s no wonder he’d had to get mad at her about it if she was going to be a filthy liar.

He made his way up to near her head, and stamped the bed, trying to wake her up. She didn’t respond, so he stamped harder. Still nothing. There was no glass of water this time, so he couldn’t toss that. He stamped rapidly, but she didn’t even so much as stir. Frustrated, he jumped on top of her chest and up to her face. She wasn’t dead because she was still breathing, so she needed to make him some goddamn breakfast. He stamped on her chest, making her cough slightly, but she still didn’t wake up. He climbed up onto her face, and made a face at that disgusting spider silk eyepatch. How she could let something so nasty on her face he didn’t know. He climbed up to her nose and pinched it shut. Surely she’d wake up if she couldn’t breathe. Her mouth opened and she started breathing through there instead, but he used his hind legs to keep her lips shut. Angel was so focused on suffocating Fluttershy awake, he didn’t notice her eyepatch swing open.

Before Angel could react, a huge spider, about half the size of Angel himself, swung open her eyepatch and dashed out of her now empty eye socket at him. Angel had barely a second to react, but his paws were busy, and the spider was on him before he could even make a sound. Angel felt fangs sink into him as he kicked and punched back at the beast holding him. He felt a satisfying rip as he pulled one of its legs off, but his strength was swiftly fading. He felt a coldness seeping into him from where the spider had bit him, and slowly his paws stopped swinging with as much force. He swatted at it with the leg he’d ripped off, but Angel ultimately succumbed to the venom. His last thought was how right he’d been about deceitful, nasty, disgusting spiders.

Silently, on skittering legs spiders began pouring back in the windows. They crowded around Fluttershy where she slept heavily on the bed. Some of them checked on her to make sure the venom they’d injected her with hadn’t killed her. Once they were sure she was okay, they all turned to Angel and the trap door spider who had killed him. They bandaged the injured spider up with silk, and carried his leg over to where Louie still lay on the bedside table, dessicated and forgotten. Once the living were cared for, the swarm of spiders descended on Angel. Hundreds of fangs bit, ripped, and tore at the deceased rabbit. Blood was drained, fur was torn, and soon there was nothing left but bones of the much-maligned bunny. These, they wrapped up in silk, and as a group carried out the window, and off into the distance, never to be seen again. Spiders returned to their places in Fluttershy’s room, watching over her until she awoke.

Fluttershy woke up feeling groggy and weak, and it took some effort for her to get her limbs to respond to her commands. When she finally sat up, she blearily looked about the room, her eyes going to the top of the stairs, expecting to see Angel impatiently waiting for her. When she saw nothing, she sighed and fell back down into bed, closing her eyes again. She slept for several more hours. She awoke again, feeling worse than ever. Her head was pounding, her mouth was dry, and her stomach growled angrily at her. Weakly, she dragged herself into the bathroom where she retched into the toilet, nothing coming up except some bile, burning her mouth and throat. She turned on the sink, rinsing out her mouth, and greedily sucked down some water. It helped, but she was still starving. Literally starving, she thought faintly. She stepped out of the bathroom and looked to the top of the stairs. There was still no Angel. She walked over and slowly descended, peeking down until she could see the couch where he usually sat. There was nopony there.

Feeling a bit more brave, she stepped out into the living room, gazing around. It was a mess. Angel had left scraps of food and dishes everywhere. The cats needed their litterbox changed, and the birds their bedding. Her stomach growled, reminding her what she needed to do first. She made Angel’s breakfast first, placing it down on the floor as she looked for him.

“Angel Bunny? Your food is ready!” She called.

She got no response.

She left his food there, a little confused, but emboldened by his absence. She made herself a proper meal. Hashbrowns, eggs, fruit, and juice. Out of habit, she took it upstairs to eat, sitting on the edge of her bed.

The spiders were awfully quiet while she ate, only a couple even waved at her asking her how she felt.

“Oh, I’m fine, thank you. It has been a while since I last treated myself to a nice breakfast.” She said.

They went silent after that, but Fluttershy thought nothing of it. Once she was done, she looked at her blankets and noticed they were still the same ones from last week; filthy, and covered with blood and silk. They needed cleaned!

Fluttershy stood up, took her dishes back downstairs, and finished her chores, making sure the animals were all fed. She looked around at how neglected everything was, and decided she would start with taking care of the animals, since they depended on her. She started with the chicken pen, giving them fresh bedding. She cleaned out the litterboxes and cages, checking the animals for any illnesses or sores from her regretful neglect. Once they were taken care of, she came back inside and cleaned the living room. She picked up all the dishes and food scraps, swept the floor and beat the rugs after hanging them outside to air out. When she got to her bedroom she tossed out her old bedding, replacing them with clean and fresh sheets and blankets. There was sadly no saving them after letting the blood set for so long. Finally, after a long day of cleaning, working, and refreshing everything, she felt satisfied and accomplished. Finally, she went in the bathroom and looked at herself.

She was a lot skinnier than before. Her cheekbones were sunken and she had bags under her good eye. Her bad eye was still discolored, but it looked like it was healing well. At least on the outside. She started tugging on the patch, peeling it off in order to have a look underneath. The spiders in her bedroom waved frantically, but she didn’t notice. It finally came off and she gasped in surprise.

“Oh, my!”

Twilight and Rarity made their way up to Fluttershy’s front door and knocked. Fluttershy had missed their weekly tea. They thought she might just be sick, so they’d brought her some homemade soup and tea in case she was feeling good enough to have it at her cottage.

“Just a moment!” Fluttershy called from inside.

There was a rustling and the tapping of hooves getting closer and Fluttershy opened the door cheerfully. She was looking thinner than usual, but her face was vibrant and smiling, her hair was shimmering and clean, and her fur was bright and lively. The only odd thing was that her left eye was slightly bruised and closed.

“Hello Fluttershy. You missed tea yesterday so we thought you might be sick and came to check on you. We brought soup and tea if you’re feeling okay to have it today.” Twilight said.

“Oh, thank you Twilight. Please, come in, I’m feeling fine.” Fluttershy said.

The two mares stepped inside and Fluttershy pulled some chairs out for them next to the coffee table.

“Make yourselves comfortable you two. We can try that tea I forgot last week!” Fluttershy called from the kitchen as she prepared the kettle.

“Thank you dear. But whatever happened to your eye?” Rarity asked in concern.

“Oh, just a small accident with one of the animals. It’s nothing to worry about.” Fluttershy answered. She hummed to herself as she pulled out the tea leaves and the infuser. She finished boiling the water and brought it out to the table, pouring each of them a cup. They all chatted quietly for a while, Twilight nor Rarity bringing up her eye again.

“By the way Fluttershy, where’s Angel? He’s usually here demanding biscuits or cake?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy was silent, but smiled wide. Twilight noticed spider webs on the stairwell leading up to Fluttershy’s room and was about to ask about it, when a single long and black hairy leg poked out from under Fluttershy’s eyelid, creeping down her cheek.

THE END.

Author's Note

Alicorndrawings made fanart of the ending here.