Undertown

When Rarity woke up, she felt like her horn had been viciously gnawed on while her head was bashed against a rock. Which, once she recalled what had happened before she fainted, she realized could very well be the case.

However, the dirt beneath her felt unusually warm and soft. It was very non-dirtlike. It took her several seconds after opening her eyes to realize that she was in fact not on a dirty forest floor, but in a soft, lavish bed. A thick blanket of black wool had been put over her.

The room she was in was unusually luxuriant as well. The carpet was plush and red, there was a large wooden wardrobe next to the bed that was in better condition than most of the houses in the village. There was even an unlit stone fireplace against the far wall. The only window was covered by metal bars, which stubbornly refused to budge when Rarity tested them. The door was locked as well, and Applejack was still nowhere to be seen. That was quite worrisome. Hopefully she was elsewhere in the house.

Thankfully, her saddlebags had been left near the bed. She took out a small compact mirror to check her appearance, and grimmaced. Her mane was a horrible mess, and her makeup was even worse. She put the mirror back in the bag, and continued digging through it to find some tool she could use to escape.

Through the wall with the fireplace, she suddenly heard a loud crash, then Applejack angrily yelling and banging on something. “I ain’t gonna tell ya again! Tell me where my friend is, or I’m gonna buck the door down!”

“And I’m telling you, I really don’t feel safe letting you out of there until you’ve calmed down!” A male voice replied. “And you couldn’t buck through this door if you tried! Please stop ramming it. You’re going to injure yourself!”

Rarity blinked. She knew that voice! It was the one that had called out to tell them to run back in the woods. “Um, excuse me?” She called out.

Both of them suddenly went quiet. “Rarity! You okay, Sugar Cube?”

“I’m a little roughed up, but I’ll survive. Where are we?”

“No idea!” Applejack called back. “Last thing I remember is gettin’ pounced on by one of those wolf ponies. I must have hit my head on a rock or somethin’. Next thing I knew, I woke up here!”

“I can answer that!” The male voice said quickly. “I watched you come into Undertown and meet Mayor Nail. The Lady knew what he was likely planning, so she came out in force to rescue you.”

She could hear the skepticism in Applejack’s voice even through the stone wall. “If you rescued us, why lock us up?”

“For my own safety and the safety of the house staff, we quarantined you to ensure you weren’t carrying any outside diseases. You’ll be happy to know that you are both perfectly healthy, other than a sprained muscle or two in Miss Yelly Pants, and some mild mana feedback in you, Miss Unicorn. I was coming to let you both out, when your friend here started threatening me.”

“Call me Rarity, dear.” Since this was still a captor for the moment, it didn’t hurt to try and lay on the charm. “But please, could you let us out? I would greatly appreciate it, and I promise my friend won’t hurt you.”

There was a long pause. “Are you sure?” he asked, sounding somewhat wary.

“I won’t do nothin’ if you don’t do nothin’,” Applejack promised.

There was what sounded like a jingling of keys from down the hall, followed by the creak of a door. “Alright… I’m trusting you here… The Lady wishes to meet you down in her laboratory, anyway. Don’t hurt me, and I’ll guide you down there.”

She heard Applejack yelp, followed by the voice doing the same. There was a loud scrabbling noise. “Applejack! Are you okay?” Rarity called with worry.

“I’m fine!” Applejack called back in a shaky voice. “Just a bit… surprised.”

“Sorry! Sorry!” said the voice. “I forgot that surface-dwellers tend to freak out easily. Come along. I’ll let your friend out, and we can get going. My name is Spindle, by the way. ”

“Alright. Rarity, you uh… might wanna get ready for this.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I’m sure he can’t look that bad.”

As the door opened, Rarity thought she was prepared for anything she might see.

She was not prepared for a black widow spider that was bigger than her. She suddenly remembered the leg she’d seen just before she’d passed out.

Her scream was stifled by one of Spindle’s front legs. His eight beady, black eyes seemed to show a lot of irritation for how simple they were. “Now now, none of that!”

Rarity coughed and sputtered when he removed his leg. The taste of spider foot was not at all pleasant. “Sorry…”

“Apology accepted. Now, come along. The Lady does not like to be kept waiting.”

As Spindle scuttled out of the doorway, into a hall that was every bit as lavish as the bedroom, Rarity turned to Applejack. “Pardon my Prench, but what the hay is going on?”

Applejack could only shrug.

Rarity was almost more unsettled by the decor than she was by the giant spider. The hallway was lined with paintings. Some were landscapes, others were portraits. The faces of each and every portrait had been violently scratched or ripped out. Along with the paintings were several empty frames. At first she thought they were just empty ones for paintings, but as she got closer, she saw little shards of glass in the inside borders. The realization hit her that they were shattered mirrors. I suppose someone in this place isn’t body-positive.

From other doors down the hall, other spiders like Spindle peeked out. Rarity could hear them whispering to each other. They sounded… excited? She really hoped that this wouldn’t end in them simply being eaten by something other than what they’d just been rescued from.

Spindle lead them through the main hall and downstairs to the first floor. “Are we in that big place on the other side of the woods?” Applejack asked curiously.

“Yes indeed!” Spindle replied with great enthusiasm. “This is the Lady’s manor. None of those ruffians from the town will dare come up here. The Lady would give them what for if they did.”

They reached a dead end at the end of a hallway, where Spindle reached down and turned a lamp on the wall, causing a hidden door to swing open. “Here we are! Watch your step!”

Spindle crawled up onto one of the side walls, giving Rarity and Applejack room on the narrow staircase to the basement. Instead of the blue mushrooms that had lit the village, the staircase was lit by lanterns that emitted an eerily normal white light.

The staircase emerged into a well-lit room with a high ceiling. The walls were made of smooth stone, A table stocked with bottles of the same glowing liquid that filled the lanterns sat against one wall, blocked by an enormous silhouette. Of in the corner was a tall shelf filled with various jars and bottles of opaque liquids and mysterious solids.

Rarity had subconsciously been expecting another giant spider after meeting Spindle, but not one this big. The red hourglass on her rear alone was about the size of a pony from nose to tail-tip, and was clearly visible even beneath the white silk shawl draped over the back half of her body. Eight pitch-black legs, each one three times as long as she was tall, impatiently tapped and stomped the floor.

When the Lady in Silks heard them, she turned. Rarity was bracing herself for the spider’s terrible visage, but where the head of a spider should have been was instead the front half of a unicorn mare. Her coat was the same pristine white as Rarity’s. Her mane, cut in a short but elegant style, was velvet red. The pony body fused grotesquely with the spider body around where her cutie mark should be, and her front hooves dangled in front of her, giving her a total of ten legs.

The Lady seemed to look at Rarity, even though her eyes were closed. Her face was covered in tiny little creases around her normal-looking pony eyes. They could have been more, smaller closed eyes, but for her own sanity Rarity pretended that they were scars.

“Hello there...” The Lady murmured in a low, smooth voice, almost akin to a purr. “It’s so good to meet you. Spindle tells me that you’re from the surface.”

Applejack managed to collect herself first. “Uh… yeah. I’m Applejack, this is Rarity. We’re here to solve some sorta problem here in Undertown. Somepony at the gate said you might be able to help us uh… ma’am? Is ma’am okay? Lady?”

“Silk or Lady Silk will suffice,” the Lady replied. “What’s this problem you need help with? Perhaps we can discuss it over dinner?”

As she said that, both of their stomachs grumbled. “I think that might be a good idea,” Applejack admitted.

Lady Silk smiled. Rarity gulped when she saw a pair of very non-pony fangs in her mouth. “Excellent! Spindle, is dinner prepared?”

“It is, milady.” Spindle replied, giving a very sharp salute for a spider.

“Very good. Show our guests to the dining room. I will be along in a moment. We have much to discuss.” She paused, then added with a tiny grin, “I am very much looking forward to it…”