Undertown

The path out of the village was surprisingly complex. Nail lead them through dozens of winding twists and turns, on a path leading to a thick forest. Up above the treeline, Rarity could see a looming structure; perhaps it was some kind of mansion, or maybe a castle.

Thoughts on the local architecture helped keep Rarity’s thoughts off of her rising panic. The townsfolk of Undertown slowly pressed in on her and Applejack, forcing them closer together. Applejack roughly shoved one who started to physically lean against her, but he barely stumbled. The bandaged stallion growled angrily, but Nail shushed him with an irritated look.

As they reached the woods, any light from the mushrooms lining the path vanished. Only the weak glow of the lantern lit their way, and that was completely controlled by Nail. Rarity tried to light up her horn, but only received a sudden, pulsing headache for her troubles.

The woods were dark and deep, but certainly not lovely. Unsettling skittering noises could be heard behind almost every tree. On occasion, walls of spiderwebs stretched across the almost invisible dirt road, blocking the group’s way. Instead of just brushing through them, or clearing them away, Nail made sure to painstakingly make his way around them. At times they stretched several dozen yards into the trees on either side.

“Who exactly is this Lady?” Rarity asked Nail, unsure why she was whispering. “Why does she live all the way out here?”

“Eh? She keeps to ‘erself alright. Better ask her.”

This had been a running theme from Nail whenever either of them spoke up. Either their questions were dodged, or they were ignored outright. Escape wasn’t an option, what with the townsfolk pressed in on all sides. They couldn’t even come up with a plan without being overheard.

“Shape up, we’re almost there.”

Rarity squinted, trying to see some kind of structure ahead of them. The trees fell away on either side of them as they emerged into a circular clearing, once again lined by glowing mushrooms. There was even a small but beautifully clear pond in the exact center of the clearing. However, no structure stood anywhere that she could see. “Is this a place that the Lady in Silks comes often?” she asked, a small sense of hope attempting to overshadow her growing dread.

“She don’t come ‘ere at all,” Nail replied. “That’s the point.”

Then, pain exploded in Rarity’s nose, and she fell to the ground. It took her several seconds to realize that Nail had just turned and slugged her in the face. She heard Applejack yell, but wasn’t sure what she was saying. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other Townsfolk pounce on Applejack, pinning her down.

Nail loomed over Rarity. From this low angle, she could see up under his cloak. She could see how he was practically skin and bones, with each and every one of his ribs visible. She could see that even his tail looked more like that of a wolf than that of a pony.

She could see the fangs in his mouth as he leaned down towards her with a sneer.

“Sorry Miss, but the Townsfolk are ‘ungry. Ain’t no food ‘round ‘ere. You’re the first ponies we’ve seen in over a decade who got any meat on their bones. We gotta take advantage.”

Off to the side, Rarity heard Applejack scream. Nail’s head snapped in her direction, where one of the townsfolk had sunk his teeth into one of her front legs. “Oi! ‘Ave some bloody patience! We gotta bring this back to the village.”

Rarity finally managed to gather her wits after her head stopped spinning. She climbed to her hooves and started to run.

Sadly, Nail was much faster than he looked. After only a few rapid bounds he was able to pounce on her, bowling her over once again. “Sorry Miss. I wish we ‘ad another choice, I really do. But we don’t. We ain’t got no choice.” To her surprise, he sounded and even looked completely genuine. The look on his face was one of almost physical pain as he pinned her down. “I’ll make it quick. Just close yer- gurk!”

With a strangled gasp, Nail was suddenly yanked off of her. Rarity watched as he flew several dozen feet. Three of the five ponies pinning Applejack also went flying, allowing her to wriggle out of the grasp of the other two. “Run!” A very young male voice called from the treeline.

Neither Rarity nor Applejack needed further prompting. Both of them were up and running in seconds.

Of course, they were also hopelessly lost in seconds. The woods were so impossibly dense that the trees may as well have been the walls of a maze.

“Don’t just bloody sit there! After ‘em!” Nail yelled desperately from somewhere behind them.

Rarity galloped through any gap in the trees that she could find. She wasn’t sure when she lost track of Applejack, but as soon as she noticed, she looked around wildly.

Applejack was nowhere to be found.

Looking around wildly while running turned out to be a very bad idea, as Rarity ran through one of the walls of spider webs, and plowed head-first into a tree.

She struggled to get out, but her horn had stabbed into the trunk, and had gotten stuck.

In the several seconds it took her to pull her horn out, Rarity heard frantic hoofsteps approaching. “Wait! Come back!” she heard Nail call. “I can smell you! You’re only making this worse on yourselves!”

Once she’d gotten her horn free, Rarity tried to keep running. But after only a few more turns, she came to a dead end. A low cliff that was just too sheer to scale, with a ledge only slightly out of her reach.

The hoofsteps grew closer. She desperately tried to jump for the ledge, but the dirt crumbled beneath her hooves, sending her tumbling back down.

When she made it back to her feet, Nail stood between her and the only way back.

The stallion panted as if he’d run an entire marathon. His eyes held a strange mixture of sadness and determination. “Please, don’t try to run again. I don’t wanna make this any ‘arder than it ‘as to be.”

Rarity backed up until her back legs pressed against the wall of dirt. She tried to get her horn to light up again, but nothing happened except another headache. “N-now now! Surely we can work something out…”

He shook his head as he stalked closer. “I can’t. Village needs food… I’ve got to…” He froze mid-sentence, eyes widening. He was staring at something directly above her head.

“Good evening, Mayor,” a low, smooth voice purred from atop the cliff.

“Nonononononoooooo!” Nail tried to run away, but was yanked off his hooves. Rarity had just enough time to see the almost imperceptible net of spiderwebs wrapped around him before he was pulled screaming up on top of the cliff, dropping his lantern right next to Rarity.

There was no sickening crunch or brutal tear. His screams just stopped all of a sudden, leaving Rarity in absolute silence.

“Well well well... “ the voice greeted. “What do we have here? A newcomer in town?”

Rarity looked up. The speaker was just too far outside the light of the lantern for Rarity to see her face.

What she could see as it descended towards her, was a spider leg as thick as her barrel.

Rarity fainted.