The Kiss of Immortal Love

~ VII ~

Spider of a Lady

There was nothing in the darkness, no hints of light or sight, the immersion of death upon losing his breath. Nothingness wasn't without sounds—abet the marching of despair. The steps of the approaching wave daring ever near.

But in that darkness, would come a light, a flame instead, one born from the sword. Despite being unable to see, the dragon took its hilt into his raised foot. His claw pulled the bottom of his mask up, the few inches it spared until tightening, exposing unseen lips.

Then. In taking the blade into his palm, the foot jerked left and sliced an incision, one cutting through scales and skin and then flesh. Blood poured freely in a coolness rendering the arm into numbness. The bloodied palm swept across the blade, coating it, the oil needed for one torch not yet hidden nor destroyed.

And then Spike blew his flames.

A rippling of flames, green and neon, billowed in a gigantic cloud washing over the ground, setting webs aflame and spiders the same, the many hissing and rolling, stumbling around, their legs swinging through the air.

Those descending from above endured the snapping of their webs, the fire burnt through the silk, their bodies pelting across the ground. Parts of the webbing beneath his feet caught flame, slowly, scattered in spots, places lit from alight foes crashing in sections.

Circles of spiders had formed around the dragon and the mare, not daring to close the gap anymore, inflated with the sword burning emerald. Bringing the sword back into his claw, the dragon brought his foot to the princess, lightly tapping her, internally praying for a response.

"I'm... I'm... I'm okay..." Twilight mumbled from beneath his foot, the ground impressing around it, proof of her trying to rise. Seconds ticked on as the stalemate continued. Every time a creature dared a step forward, Spike dared the same, swinging his blade to scare them away. "Just... sick. N-Never felt this weak and bloated before. Here, allow me to help."

Two hooves wrapped around the muscular thickness of his thighs, which the mare draped herself from, unable to even raise her head. Mane covering her face, magic swirled over her horn, the dense ball discharging.

Its spread covered the whole of the cavern, little blue dots settling around the walls of the dome, tilting precisely over its curves. Over the webbing was where the colours changed. Yellow over weak patches and red over holes. Red' X's littered over the frames of the spiders, lighter shades over their body, darker over their heads and limbs—weak spots.

"B-Been worried about being useless... as the... useless usually do..." Twilight coughed. Tightly and the air forced to be squeezed out. Dust in the lungs and inflaming muscles of the throat? Maybe... but not to this extent. "I can cast a spell defining spaces and illuminating weaknesses on creatures. My magic targets what I k-know about them. But... you certainly have... better experience than me."

Spike didn't bother to fight. Maybe if the night was long, and his flames could keep, dousing his blade in the blood of himself and the spiders, he could stand a chance. But Twilight struggled even to hold to his hips. They needed to escape. Slice a path and make their way through.

Looking around the walls at the slope of blue dots across it, there wasn't anything, no cracks or peeks, only the frozen foes with empty eyes that feasted upon them. In the middle across the chasm, there was an outline of a cocoon-like shape and, around its bottom... laid an opening in the wall.

The dragon limped toward it, swinging his sword like a torch, forcing those clouded in front to clear a path. The ones behind doubled on their trail, still keeping away. His feet travelled over yellow dots, best keeping to the ones of blue, going slowly as Twilight struggled to keep along.

"I-I'm sorry... maybe it's the day... or perhaps I'm really scared... but..." Her voice was on the verge of collapsed. So much trauma in such a short span. Tense nerves give into exhaustion after time. Was that it? "I'm actually not sure if I'm scared anymore... it all feels like a distant nightmare... that I'm soon to wake up from..."

They reached the cocoon-like object but, as the dragon lowered the flame, the spiders did not move. Despite their fear and shivering, they did not stray away. Fires brushed over them, and they hissed their squeals. Yet they did not move. Flipping the handle downward, Spike held the flaming blade over the head of the monster.

"Quite the manners you dragons have, don't you, murdering children before their weak mother." Spike tensed and drew his elbow backward and up, gazing around, coming to look up at the dim shape before him. "Slaughtered the ones here before. Return to kill us now without a good reason. Vanity should be shamed in its every definition!"

Through the faint illumination cast from the pointed sword, the giant raccoon turned around, it was lightly-green with a slit down its center. Inside the crevice branched out a dozen arms, long and strong and thick, slamming and indenting into the towering shape. Out from the divot, the colossal monster emerged, spreading the lips of the home.

Spike prepared his stance and lightly shook the mare from his side. Glancing around, all the spiders retreated, entering a bow. A severance to their queen. Glancing around the bottom of her recesses, multiple yellow dots covered it. Slash those, set flame to her home, and cut through her heart.

A spider was a spider, after all, weakened after becoming known.

"I can see from your eyes that all you dragons are alike, aren't you? Murder me and my children will flee?" The queen pushed out from the recesses, the massive body of a spider, though... at its head... something was different. "Let me say those other dragons were bigger than you are now. My silk can be burned but never snapped! Not even the strongest claws nor the greatest jaw can save that."

The queen hung from the side of the towering pillar, the normal body of a spider throughout, blown to gigantic size but, at its front... the shape of a mare jutted out. It connected to the beast in harmony at the belly. But it bore an alabaster chest, snowy hooves and eyes as blue as an arctic sky.

Twilight had collapsed beside him, but this time, his focus was less stolen by her. Action had developed that focus on the essential. One mind to one deed. Readying his feet, he prepared for the fight.

"Those dragons so surprised at their claws unable to slice through mere webbing, knowing their flames would burn through... only for their snouts to be wrapped shut." The queen laughed to the bounces of her curled mane. Violet. "You were smarter to douse that blade in fire. But darling? All fires run out eventually!"

Without a cue, something shot from her, three different webs glinting in arches from her back, each shooting toward him like tendrils. Seconds before contact, he swiped through each, striking flames across their length. The queen panicked and cut the stream before it reached her, the flaming strands falling into the ground. Flames doubled as it followed around the weak grounding around her cocoon.

"Those reflexes! Dragons are slow... but make up for that lack of agility with raw strength!" The queen shook her and stuck out a hoof. "Is this why you've kept small? To use a sword sharper than fangs?"

Spike tentatively turned his hips, dipping his blade to the webs around Twilight, setting them aflame. Those near backed further away. Knowing her to be safe, the dragon approached the giant, readying his sword.

"A one-armed dragon wielding the sharpest weapon to exist? What use do you have in a steel capable of slicing through scales? Forget it!" The giant descended down the pillar and onto the webbing. Despite the enormous size of her legs, their tips balanced perfectly on the webs. "Your darling corpse will be interesting to dissect! You will have your clash since that is the desire of your and her kind. But note this!"

Spike tilted his head to the side as the white mare leaned forward, not a sense of a trick about her. Her neck showed as her face turned to the side, one slash and it would be done, but found himself entranced with the mane before him. "See this hair? This is all I have going for me personally. I understand you brutes will do as needed to win. That blade of yours appeared to cut through the legs of my children easily. You may do the same to mine."

It wasn't often the dragon narrowed his eyebrows. In all his adventures, it was adversary and arrogance blocking his way. Never strangeness that caused him to act differently. Travelling with the mare, for whatever reason, evoked a weirdness in the world.

"Strike me how you please, sword or claw or fangs or whatever, but the mane is not to be touched." The queen nodded. "Setting me on fire is the exception because you must do what needs to be done. But I am in your debt if you can render me a corpse with her mane intact." She then backed and returned to her considerable height. "Do you have a desire in reverse? You are allowed one. Unless I may have another."

Spike shook his head and lifted his sword again, clearing his mind and readying his focus. Bait the queen out. Wait for the strikes of her legs and cut them on approach. Disable her. Once grounded, pierce her heart. Light it aflame and toss it to the children. Escape. Set the place on fire upon departure.

He was ready.