“Who the fuck is Cadence?”

“That’s Princess Cadence to you, Arc.”

“Oh come on, Twi, you know I hardly abide by any of the rules you put in place.”

“I know… that’s what worries me sometimes…”

“I’m not going to add ‘princess’ to the beginning of everyone who lives in Canterlot. That’s just stupid.”

Twilight looked over the top of her book and frowned. “Not everyone in Canterlot, just the princesses; hence the term, ‘princess’.”

“Still seems stupid to me…”

“Well, be nice if you ever meet her. She’s married to my brother.”

Rob sat forward, almost choking on his lemonade. “You have a brother!? Since when!?”

“Since my mother and father… you know; ugh… ‘did it’. Now can we leave this subject alone?”

Rob walked over to her on the opposite sofa, back down in the main area of the library. “No, we cannot. You’re telling me that I’ve been winding you up all these weeks, and at some point, a stallion from god knows where, is gonna kick down that door Duke Nukem style and beat the living shit out of me!?”

“No, no. He wouldn’t do that. He’s captain of the royal guard, not some lowlife like you.” She smirked. “He’s above that.”

“You make me feel so good about myself…” He wrapped his arm around her in a condescending manner. “So, think you’ll be an auntie soon?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it…”

“Hey, come on, I presume this Cadence is hot? I just wanna know if your brother is giving it to her hot 'n hard every nigh-” He stopped as she hit him with a book and glared at him.

Things were mainly quiet in the library, save for the sound of a hairdryer being used upstairs by Moondancer, and the clinking of plates in the kitchen from Spike washing up.

Rob found himself trying to fend off the evils that Twilight was giving him, but eventually thought it better to simply change the subject.

“So, what’s on today’s agen-”

“Twilight!” Rob was cut off mid-sentence as the main door to the library was slammed open by a pony Rob quickly recognised as Rarity. “It’s my sister! She’s been taken!” She ran inside and up to her friend, “Please… you’ve got to help me rescue her!”

“Well… shit just escalated in a manner I have never seen before…”

Rarity looked a mess. She looked fine on the outside, just as pretty as ever, but both Rob and Twilight could tell that she was in pieces on the inside. Gently putting the book down, Twilight looked from her distraught friend to Rob.

“Grab Moondancer. We’re heading out.”

Rob had quickly established that Rarity had been approached earlier that day with news regarding her sister, by none other than the filly’s two friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. It seemed as though once again, the trio had gone too far, and attempted to get their cutie marks in a location deemed unsuitable for ponies by the rest of Equestria. Why they thought they were an exception to the unwritten rule, Rob couldn’t fathom. He put it down to them just being kids. And you can’t argue with such logic.

Despite the dreary atmosphere and the whimpers from Rarity, the weather by contrast was nice. Calm, blue skies were present, and made everything that was happening seem a little contrasting. It was easy to see why the fillies chose such a day to get into mischief. It was just a shame that they had been looking to find fun in all the wrong places, as they were informed of on the way out of Ponyville.

According to Rarity, the trio had come to her asking if she had needed any help. She believed that the reason her sister was in such a predicament was due to her mentioning a lack of silk being available for weaving. The three had gone north of Ponyville and into one of the abandoned mines at the foot of the Canterlot mountain range. Scootaloo had told Rarity that they went looking for Arachne silk, and figured that it was also possible to get a coal mining cutie mark at the same time.

Rarity’s reaction to it all was unknown, but luckily the girls had come straight home and informed the mare of their actions. Applejack was now looking after the girls back at Carousel Boutique, seeing as Rarity had come to Twilight for help.

Rob, Twilight, Rarity and Moondancer were now charging north of Ponyville, and towards the mine which the girls had gone into.

Rob watched as the landscape became more barren, and much more desolate in comparison to the usual Ponyville standards. In fact, even Canterlot in all its mountainous glory was lusher than where they were now headed. Rob hadn’t realised that scrub lands were so close to the border of his very home, after all, they had only been running for the best part of an hour so far.

It was nonstop, and a gruelling trip, but eventually they rounded the back of one small foothill and came face to face with a darkened tunnel bored into the ground, dug into the rockier side of an outcrop adjacent to a second foothill. Nestled in behind the outcrop was what looked to be a slag heap, made up of all the waste material from when the mine was active.

Rob looked at the ponies around him. Moondancer was tired and looked more confused than anything. To be fair, Rob had dragged her out of the library with haste as soon as Twilight had asked. The mare must have been pretty shaken. He then looked to the magical protégé in question. Twilight looked calm and collected as always. He could barely read her expression. She was clearly deep in thought and that in itself, made Rob feel a whole lot better about the situation.

The human then turned to Rarity, who was shaking and looking down at the floor. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her back, kneeling down. After a few strokes of her coat, she faced him and tried to smile, before breaking down into tears and crying. Rob lifted her forelegs off the ground and hugged her, placing her head on his shoulder and his arms around her back. He felt the top of his back become wet with the tears, before he eventually let her go.

“Moondancer, you stay with Rarity here. I’ll head into the mine and try and find her. Twi…” Rob turned to the stern faced mare. “Do ya fancy coming with me?” He tried his best to chuckle in light of the situation, “I could use a hand.”

After a second or so, she gently smiled back and walked up to him. “Yeah, you got it.” She looked back to the other remaining ponies. “Stay here and warn anyone else that might come here, not to come in. And look out for each other too, there’s no telling what might happen.”

Moondancer stood next to Rarity and nodded, looking surprisingly serious for once. “Yeah, I will.”

Twilight nodded a faint sign of approval, before turning and walking into the darkness of the mine. Rob waved the two ponies outside goodbye, and headed in after her, feeling his skin shiver as the cold air of the deep underground threatened to chill his bones. The lack of sunlight was also proving to make the area deathly cold in comparison to the outside. The human pulled his hoodie tighter around his body.

“Can you throw some light up, Twi?” He asked as soon as he noticed his eyes not adjusting any further.

Within seconds, there was a brief bout of illumination, before a steady glow pulsed though the air; illuminating the shaft they were traversing down. Twilight looked back, taking note of the small speck of light back the way they’d came. She also looked further ahead into the darkness. “We should make sure we can find our way back.” She noted in barely more than a whisper.

Rob nodded, not that Twilight could see, and began to look for a rock on the floor, something which he quickly found. Picking it up, he turned it over, looking for the sharper sides. Eventually, he settled on one corner and pressed it into one of the smoother walls of the mine, dragging it along to carve out an arrow pointing back towards the surface. Twilight nodded and the two continued walking, taking whatever twist or turn they found themselves coming across, hoping that they would find the filly before too long. After all, how far could she be?

Rob noticed the walls of the mine taking on a ruddy colour. Aside from the clay drippings on the walls and the silt pooling on the bottoms of the indents, the majority of the mine was compressed sandstone by the looks of it, with the odd patch of more chalky material every so often alongside slate or granite. All in all though, Rob could tell by the strange colouration that at some point, iron was being mined there, despite the weird abundance of other minerals and rocks comprising the mine.

Pushing it all out of his mind, he looked up at the wooden struts holding the place up. Some looked rotten, and some looked no more than a day old. The human put the corrosion down to various airflows in the mine and oxidation that came of the stagnant air blowing up from below. It appeared to have weakened the wood somehow anyway. Rob didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out.

Aside from the odd chatter between the two, to ensure that they were going the right way, the pair was quiet. Something was oddly still about the mine, and they could both feel it.

Twilight stopped, causing Arc to almost walk into the back of her. “Arc, there’s something you need to know about these places…”

He marked another arrow on the wall next to her, “Yeah?”

“They’re said to have… spiders in them.” He could hear the slightest bit of fear in her voice. If there was any more, she was doing very well to hide it.

“Spiders?” He shrugged. “Spiders don’t bother me.”

“What about big ones. Very big ones.”

“How big?”

“Bigger than you or I.”

“Ok, that will freak me out, yeah. What are they?”

“I just said. They’re big spiders.”

Rob nudged the mare with the tip of his boot. “No, as in; what are they called? ‘Big spider’ is a pretty shit name…”

“Oh, we call them Arachne.” She thought for a moment. “They have all of a spider’s main body, but instead of having a normal head, they have a sort of… extension. Like another slimmer body coming out of it. Kinda like your torso actually, only… all of them are covered in a thick black skin. Not only do they have large and very sharp spinnerets, but they also have huge fangs and paralytic silk if they chose for it to be that way.” She looked up at Rob over her shoulder. “Understand?”

“I kinda wish I didn’t, but yeah… How do you know so much about them?”

“Just from reading books! I finished one on Equestrian wildlife only five or six weeks ago.” She paused again. “Are you scared of spiders?”

Rob smiled. “No. Not at all, in fact, I like the little buggers. They eat the things I actually do dislike; flies, wasps, bees. Buzzy things in general really. But when you tell me that they’re twice my size with giant fangs, yeah, I’m a little scared. Is that ok?”

He heard a small chuckle as Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I can let you off the hook on that one.”

With that, the two progressed further into the mine, descending into the darkness further than before. Many twists and turns passed them by, and with no sign of Sweetie Belle, they became ever more worried. All they wanted to do was find her safe, and get her back to Rarity before any more trouble occurred. The only problem was that they had been down there for a good half an hour, and there was no way the girls had gone that deep. Rob questioned what might have happened to Sweetie Belle; the thoughts of Twilight’s giant spiders permeating his mind.

Rob noticed Twilight stop. He looked ahead and noticed the cause of the halt. “Well, it looks like we have to make a choice then.” Twilight spoke calmly, her voice echoing off of the walls.

“Don’t give me some Scooby Doo speech, ya hear. No splitting up, ok?”

She turned to face him. “Sorry, but we might have to. We stand a better chance of finding her that way, and there’s no telling which way she went.”

“Fine. I get it… I don’t like it, but I get it.” He grunted and pointed down the left intersection. “But I get that tunnel, ok?”

“Fine by me. Just be careful, ok?” She leaned against his side.

“You got it.” He said, rubbing her head gently with the palm of his hand. “Don’t hesitate to scream if you need anything, with luck I’ll hear the echoes…”

She nodded and departed down her designated path, leaving Rob in the dark as the light quickly faded away. He sighed, “I should have thought this through…”

“I need light, I have fire. But… damn… I’m so nervous that I can’t focus. All that mediation was for nothing…”

“Unless…”

“The meditation was for times just like these. To calm myself and make the energy flow better.”

Although there was no visible difference for him, he closed his eyes and focussed on his breathing, something that was easy to do in the silence of the mine.

“Alright, now we’re getting somewhere. And then just look for the magic… which is… wow, I can feel it that well? Sweet!”

A little puff was heard, and Rob opened his eyes to see a dancing flame in the palm of his right hand, illuminating the cave a fairly good distance. He smiled and looked at the excited fire, jostling about busily in his hand.

It was easy, really easy; especially since the beginning. He looked down at his other hand and extended it, forcing a second flame to come into play. His grin grew wider.

“Well, it’s not a big flame or anything, but I am damn happy with the results.” Facing forward, he continued his walk down the tunnel, keeping his eye out for anything out of the ordinary. He was taken by surprise when all of a sudden; the fire in his hand jolted up towards the roof and spread out like a wave. The fire was still in his hand, but something else had ignited. He remained confused, but pressed on.

The second time it happened, he forced himself to inspect the area in a more detailed fashion. Stacking up some rocks at the side of the tunnel, he stood upon them and examined the roof of the shaft. What he found baffled him; sticky melted goo. He followed the trail of goo, until it started becoming more cohesive, taking on a snowy white colour. Poking at it, he knew exactly what it was, based on texture alone: Silk.

Instantly, he felt his heart jump. “Shit. Silk means spiders. And this much silk, means big spiders.” He looked all around, only to see nothing. He was grateful for that.

Kicking the rocks back to the sides, he advanced onwards down the tunnel in search of the small filly. He remembered the look on Rarity’s face and gritted his teeth, breaking into a run down the tunnel.

“I can’t enlist the aid of a princess right now by any chance, can I?”

He waited, but no response was given. “Figures… they’re always out when I need them…”

Diving around another corner, he stopped. “Whimpering?” He strained his ears a little more and could make out the faintest cry of something, with luck, Sweetie Belle. Creeping further down the tunnel, he marked another arrow on the wall, making sure to keep his attention on the cries from somewhere further in.

Passing more rubble and yet more dripping iron water, he ground to a halt. He was approaching a cave, and a large one at that. Silently moving closer, he crouched down and shifted to the edge of the tunnel, leaning out into the great expanse that was that cave. He kicked himself for trying to hide, seeing as he was the only light source for yards. If anything was there, it would have seen him already.

Stepping out into the cavern, he increased the input to the flames, trying his best to light up as much of the area as he could. The first thing he noticed was how high it was. His light didn’t even reach the top, and he could only imagine how far underground he was. The next thing his eyes focussed on creeped him out, and he recoiled a little upon seeing it. Sitting in the middle of the cavern, was a small pony, very resembling of the three fillies he was down there because of.

Stepping carefully closer, he brought his hands up defensively. As more light covered the pony form, he began to see it taking on a dark brown colour. Whatever it was, it was certainly not a pony. He got within feet of it before he noticed it peeling away at the sides. It looked as though something had burst out of it. Rob soon realised that he was looking at it from the back.

Slowly he circled around the object, and gasped as he looked into the face of the creature. Hollow black holes stared back at him from where eyes should be, and a limp husk of a mane hung over the front of its head. What stunned the human most was the big bow attached to the back of its mane. He quickly realised the pony as Apple Bloom, and stumbled back a little in shock. He froze as he felt his back brush up against something.

Turning, he came to face a dark bark-like texture, swaying in front of his eyes. In the dim light, and with his brain still reeling from the morbid Apple Bloom husk, he barely had time to dodge as a sharp spike swung forward from behind the bark-like texture, in an arc going straight for his head.

Ducking, he threw himself backwards, tripping over the dead pony shell behind him, which quickly crumbled to dusk upon impact. Rob looked up. The thing that attacked him turned out to be, as Twilight had put it, a very big spider. It was hanging down from way up in the darkness and inverted, which explained the human’s confusion, seeing as he only caught a close up glimpse of the lower part of its body.

Hissing, it spat out a thin layer of silk, which Rob managed to back away from before it reached him. He looked at the creature and brought his hands back up to cover himself, igniting the flames more.

“Well shit… the girl was right…” Stammering, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. “Come on Lulu, make sure that calm meditation isn’t for nothing, come on, come on, come on…” Although throughout his whole monologue, he couldn’t stop his legs from shaking.

The spider sank to the floor and faced him, bearing its sharp and ugly fangs in an intimidating way. Rob backed off a bit more, realising that there was nothing between the creature and himself aside from his fleshy arms, and they wouldn’t last long if they were damaged. Not only that, but they were his main offensive force too. Twilight had always told him, that much like a unicorn’s horn, magic needs to be channelled, and for him, his hands were those conduits.

“Ok, offensive magic 101, what do I know…?”

He glared at the spider, who appeared to be waiting for his move before making its own.

“Nothing…? Great. Well… there was that drunk pony. I set his hat on fire. Suppose my fire is stronger now.”

Reaching out, Rob drew more fire to his hand and retracted it, pulling the fireball back over his shoulder. “Come on, please work, I don’t wanna end up like Frodo…” Rob could clearly see a glimmer in the eyes of the humanesque body of the beast, rising up cruelly out of the main torso, situated atop eight long and hairy legs. Reflected fire marked the end of that beast, as Rob let loose the fire and threw it with all his might towards the spider.

In a flurry of flames and a loud ‘boom’, the monster was quickly engulfed and burned, wailing out in pain as the fire consumed its body. Rob looked away as the incineration continued, partly due to the flames being hot and partly due to the horrible sounds of the dying creature. It sounded in such pain.

“It’s… it’s for the girl. Just… forget that…”

Soon enough, the flames died down, and Rob looked over to the embers and ash of what remained of the spider. He felt bad for it. Fire was a horrible way to die.

“Aaah, come on man! You’ve played numerous RPGs and killed hundreds of evil lookin’ creepy crawlies with fire and other magic! Don’t feel bad…”

But his words did nothing to stop the bad feelings within, aside from give him a little more confidence in his actions.

“Just remember, this is all for Sweetie Belle.”

Twilight marched on down the tunnel, but soon came to a blockage. Much like many of the other tunnels, a cave in was present and blocked her from going any further. She was just about to turn around and go back, when she noticed a thin layer of silk weaving in and out of the stonework above the blockage, slipping behind it further back.

Using her magic, she pulled a few stones out from the top, and then started working her way down, using gravity and leverage to her advantage to slowly dislodge the majority of the stones blocking her way. If others could travel this way, so could she.

Before too long, the path was clear and her light illuminated beyond the break. There were webs, lots and lots of webs. She sighed and scratched another arrow into the wall, using a small beam of magic from her horn, contemplating how to break through the web. Looking at the arrow in the wall, she glanced up at her horn, spying its tip at the edge of her sight. Smiling she faced the silk and let lose a torrent of purple magic which quickly blasted through the think tendons, clearing the way.

“I knew that learning such a thing would be useful.” She stepped around a boulder and carried on down the tunnel. “Only, I never thought I’d find myself using it like this…”

After another few minutes of walking down the tunnel, Twilight found herself entering a cave system, something far more natural than what the mine originally was. The spiders must have somehow got themselves into the mine when certain parts had collapsed, and since then, made it their home. That might even have been the reason it was abandoned. Twilight pieced things together as she wandered on.

The girls were in more danger than they could have possibly known, and to be honest, it was lucky that two of them managed to escape and spread the word. Twilight wondered how Rob was doing on his end, and darted around the next corner. What she didn’t expect was more web, although, part of her questioned why she hadn’t considered it. She started to understand why there were more webs. If she was in the caves where they had originated from, then she was also closer what they would perceive as home, and the silk was their way of keeping outsiders away. It made sense really; the only question was… where were they all? Shouldn’t there be some kind of guard?

After cutting her way thought more of the silk, she found herself in a chamber unlike the others. She felt a little sick from the smell. Lined up on the walls, floors and ceilings were eggs, some open, some closed, and some broken. She gasped as she realised she’d stumbled upon a breeding ground – probably one of many. Part of her was happy not to find Sweetie Belle. She knew that if she wasn’t here, then she had more chances of still being safe. She only hoped that Arc was having better luck.

Stepping out of the breeding chamber, she took a path that led downwards, further into the dark depths. Her spine shivered a little, making her fully aware of the potential danger she was in. Without warning, she found herself tripped. Frantically looking down, she noticed her forelegs caught up in yet more webbing, and then, there was an unfamiliar hissing sound.

A wet sensation coated Twilight’s rear hooves, and within seconds she felt a numbness passing up her hind legs. She was trapped. Rolling onto her back, she saw the reason for her submission upon the ceiling, suspended on globules of web.

“Spiders…”

As soon as she’d realised what it was, she sent another pulse of her magic right for it, knocking it off the ceiling as soon as the blast hit. Sighing, she was about to wriggle free, when a second spider fell down from behind the first and pinned her legs to the floor, crushing them under its weight.

Letting out a cry, Twilight arched back in pain as the sound of her own bones creaking reached her ears. Screaming out, she tried her best to focus on killing the monster, forcing a second wave of magic out of her horn as soon as the charge had built. A second shrill sound was heard as the spider fell limp off of Twilight, its face obliterated by the energy the unicorn had slammed into it.

Recovering her breath a little, Twilight tried to stand, but with the damage done to her forelegs and the paralysis afflicting her hind ones, there was no way she could move. She was a sitting duck, and prey to anything that might have the fortune to come upon her.

Silently, she waited, feeling sick from the smell of the burning spider and the look of its decimated face. There was nothing else she could do, she had to stay alive, and being vigil was now the only way. She could only pray that Rob came along soon. Silently, she dimmed her light and sat in the darkness, trying to make herself as small as possible.

“Well it’s just not my lucky day, is it?!” Rob found himself sprinting down yet another corridor, fleeing from what felt like an army of arachnids behind him. Dodging stones on the floor and webs in front of his face, he threw a glance behind him and managed to count seven of the beasts before turning back around to dart down another off passage to his left. “And there were even more than I had time to count! Fuck! Shit! Cock! Ass!”

Grasping as his magic once again, he summoned two unstable fireballs to his hands and turned around a second time, flinging them back towards the encroaching eight legged death-mob. A loud crack was heard as one of the fireballs hit the roof and caused it to crumble, crushing and submerging one of the spiders in the pack. Rob smirked as he realised that no more would be able to follow either. Unfortunately, he was running semi-blind, only occasionally getting a chance to see properly in-between firing off his magic behind him. He was making sure to try and keep one flame in his hand at all times.

Panting, he found himself quickly tiring; not only from the running, but from the magic too. Never before had he used so much energy under such stressful conditions, and now, it was taking its toll.

It had all happened so fast. On minute he was standing over the corpse of one spider, and the next, he was being ambushed by hundreds, all dropping from the ceiling just as the first had. Darting across the cavern from where he originally was, he took the only path left, being pursued by more arachnes than he dared to count.

Shaking his head, Rob pushed the past out of his mind. To live, he was going to have to focus on the present, and the eradication of at least six-plus monsters. He cringed at the thought.

“I’d love to just turn and go all Goku on their asses but… I’m a wimpy white kid, and that’s just not gonna happen.”

“Come on… think. Think! Why is nothing in a giant iron mine flammable!? Where is a gas pocket when you need one…?”

Ducking around the next corner, Rob pushed himself flat to the wall and pressed his hands together. “Come on Lulu, Twilight… Celestia… let’s see what you’ve got.” Straining, Rob drew upon yet more energy, causing beads of sweat to roll down his face. He’d never felt this drained before while practising, but right at that moment, it didn’t concern him. All he wanted to do was get rid of the fear. He felt the heat rise as the fire in his hands grew larger. He looked down and realised that what was usually a glowing flame was this time, white hot.

Feeling his vision blur, he continued to be mesmerised by the fire, drawn in to the primal beauty. The spiders were almost upon him, and yet, the energy was just too beautiful to look away from. Hearing the scurrying of the first ones legs was the only thing that kicked the fear back in, prompting him to rip his gaze from the fire with a jerk of his head. Realising the situation, he brought the ball up above his head, using both hands to compress and fuel the fire.

Just as the arachne was about to round the corner, the human stepped out and swung the bowling ball sized tempest down upon the head of the first spider. His eyes widened as the flames licked up the monster as if it were nothing, and blew outwards in a cone of red rage, taking care of the spiders following the first.

The first thing Rob noticed after getting his vision back from the light of the flame was the sensation of flying backwards. The second thing he felt was the impact as his back hit the wall behind him. It hurt, but the backlash to his hands was worse, and without a care for anything else, he began scratching at the stone floor under his palms to get the sensation away. It felt like blood boiling under his skin, and gritting his teeth, he forced his hands to stay still, something that felt equally painful.

The only good thing he could think of, was that he wasn’t being eaten alive by any arachne in the dark. Tensing every muscle in his body, he thought of Sweetie Belle. He’d only met her a couple of times, but there was no way he was going to return to Rarity without bringing her sister back. There was just no way.

“Aaah… haha… this isn’t good…” Rob thumped the ground a few times as he forced his head to think straight. The pain was clouding things over, and he was fighting to not break under the pain from his hands, burning away under the surface.

And then there was Twilight. He needed to know if she was ok too. There were so many things he wanted to know, and all he could do was clutch at things, hoping the pain would go away. So without knowing what else to do, he forced himself to stand, rising up on shaky knees. The only other issue was light. Even the mere thought of using more magic made him want to cry, and after being in so much pain already, he shied away from the thought. Luckily enough, some of the clay from the hall the spiders were in was aglow, still pulsing with an orange hue, much like a sunset. Rob looked at it eerily, finding his eyes drawn to the beauty and comfort of the light.

It felt wrong to leave it, but he had to press on; there was more than just his personal feelings on the line. “Get it together, man.” He exhaled deeply. “Come on.”

Turning his back on the slowly fading glow, Rob pressed his shoulder up against the wall and slowly began to make his way down the corridor, fearing the worst, and hoping for no other spiders in the dark. He knew that if they found him, he was as good as dead. He didn’t know how Twilight was doing, but he hoped that she was faring better than he was.

She was persistent though, and he knew that. Even if something had happened, she wouldn’t give up. He smiled, giving himself confidence in the dark of the mine, the one metaphorical light he could hold close to himself while all else seemed rather bleak. “Rarity is going to kill me…”

“Hello?”

“I-is anyone there!?”

“Please…”

“…”

“I knew we shouldn’t have come down here…”

Lost in a network of tunnels, one sooty black filly gingerly stumbled around in the dark, scared, confused and sad. She wanted to cry, but knew that it would solve nothing. Besides, she had to be strong and keep on trying to find a way out.

After the initial attack, she’d managed to avoid the spiders and find out a weakness. For all the spiders’ vision in the dark, they had a poor sense of acoustics and smell. After falling into a coal deposit, she’d found herself covered in black, and as much as she couldn’t see anything, by hiding and staying still when she heard sounds, the arachne hadn’t found her.

She remembered hearing a scream and some loud noises, but in the tunnels, distance was hard to judge, and sound carried for miles. She had been making her way towards the noise for a while though, and with luck, whoever it was, was still there. Part of her hoped to see a friendly face; Apple Bloom, or maybe even Scootaloo. But then again… she also wished they were safe. The last thing she’d seen was them running away, back to the surface. With luck, it was somepony else who was friendly.

She heard the scurrying again, and made herself into a ball at the side of the tunnel, praying to Celestia that she wouldn’t be spotted. She found it weird, passing herself off as a rock.

It was an endless cycle; she feared that her very heart pounding in her small chest would give her away; after all, she could barely hear anything over the sound of it, thumping away in desperation. Screwing her eyes up tight, she waited.

Minutes passed and the sound had long gone. Uncurling, she looked around, not that it helped, and continued on her way. Without magic and the torches that they had initially brought, she was blind.

At first she thought she was hallucinating, but as she got closer, a dim light begin to peer through her cracked open eyelids. She hadn’t realised it, but she’d kept her eyes closed in the dark the whole time, the light, no matter how dim, now stung at her as she got closer. It also shone a glimmer of hope into her heart, and a smile dawned on her face as she crawled closer.

The still of the cave itself, shuddered, as one lone voice tentatively called out through the dark. “T-Twilight…?”

The startled pony jumped as she heard her name, and quickly rolled over to the best of her ability, the paralysis still present in her hind legs. “Arc!?” She stopped and stared for a moment as she was faced with two green orbs shimmering form underneath a thick layer of soot. “No… Sweetie Belle…?”

One sharp squeak and a large smile later, and Twilight found herself being hugged by the desperate looking filly, locked in a tight embrace. “Twilight!” She found it hard to breath with the girl clinging so tightly. “I’m so glad I found someone…” Taken slightly aback, she felt the filly begin to sob on her shoulder. “I’ve been lost and scared…”

“I know, I know…” Reassuring Sweetie was the only thing to do, Twilight knew that they were still in a lot of trouble, and she hadn’t even heard from Arc since they split up. For all she knew, he was… Clutching Sweetie tight, she pushed the thoughts out of her head. “Come on Arc… we need you…”

Cold, the two sat together in the dim light, holding each other close as they tried not to fear the worst. It felt like days passing, weeks counting. Minutes just seeped by, measured only by heartbeats and the gentle pitter-patter of droplets hitting the stone, filtering through the roof.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you back to your sister. Just… sit tight for the moment, ok?”

All Twilight got in response was a gentle nuzzle into her shoulder. She sighed and propped herself up against the wall as best she could, waiting for the time to pass.

“Marching on in deathly silence… Upon the shores we go… Crashing tides applaud the violence… Upon the shores we go…”

“Ok, this is bleak and depressing even for me. Singing songs about futility? Now? Come on dude… get it together.”

Leaning down, Rob had his hands submerged in a puddle that had formed on the tunnel floor. Being in natural caves was a good change from the mine, and fluid was more abundant. He didn’t know how good it was for him, but he’d been drinking it for a while, quenching his thirst as he saw fit. He’d also worked out that submerging his hands in water was extremely calming; it alleviated the pain just as if it was actually a burn, despite there being no visible damage to the skin.

Along the way, Rob had managed to both evade and kill more arachne. In the wetter parts of the tunnels, he’d managed to drown them, using horribly painful and intermittent bursts of magic. In the dark of the tunnels, he could hear them coming a mile off, and was quickly learning to anticipate their movements. Luckily, he’d come across no more than two at a time.

If he was happy about one thing, it was that the fear was masked by pain, and the pain was masked by numbness, and the numbness masked what was left of both the fear and pain. All in all, a bunch of detrimental effects were working together quite nicely to become an advantageous one. It wasn’t like he cared about more pain anymore, and after being caught on the elbow with some paralytic venom, he also knew to look out for that as well.

Weirdly enough, being forced to survive had made him far more at ease with doing so. He’d never liked pain, or fear, but… there was something exhilarating about it all. Being close to death, made him feel very alive.

“Alright, just a little more… come on.” Sinking his hands deeper into the pool, he heard the familiar scurry once again. Crouching still for a moment, he located the noise, and looked towards a tunnel off to his left, not that he could see it. “Hey, asshole!” For a moment he heard the noise stop, before it continued again and slowly became louder.

“That’s it, prime steak here! Get ya human shaped protein fix, shit for brains! Come on!” He called again, louder than before. Soon heard a single arachne round the corner, the echo finally became a singular sound. “Alright… here we go…” Feeling the pain swell in his hands once again, he lifted the water from the pool with a slow hand movement, and as if it were clay; moulded it into a thin sheet in front of his face.

He wasn’t sure it was good for his body, but he forced the burning into the back of his mind and ducked down further, whistling into the dark a small tune as he waited for the spider to come closer.

It was simple; spiders were stupid. They just charged right in, and when they did, you could catch them. It felt ironic using a web to catch a creature that specialised in setting traps and lying in wait. And yet, it worked.

Rob felt a small tug as the spider came into contact with the film of water, and he quickly focussed on the capture. The spider didn’t even have time to react as the net snapped closed around it and crept over its body, holding it suspended in the air. All Rob needed to do afterwards, was slowly feed the water to the arachnes head, depriving it of oxygen. Thanks to its vaguely human top-torso, this was easy to do, and within the minute, the whole ordeal was over.

Letting the body slump to the floor, Rob replaced the water, and sunk his hands back in, letting out a deep breath as the pain lessened. Smiling at the strange sense of triumph, he stood back up and continued down the cavern, in the direction the spider had come from. It was slow progress, but progress none the less.

Along the way, Rob had made sure to collect as much water as he could physically hold in his hands. The constant cooling helped a lot, and gave him something to work with in case of danger. He’d also worked out a nice trick, which involved him filtering the magic though the water nestled in his hands. Using that, he was able to create another flame to see with, only, at much less of a cost than before. The pain was manageable at that rate, and not overbearing.

The more Rob walked, the more he noticed things looking the same. Aside from people stupid enough to come down into the mine, Rob wondered what the arachne ate; there was literally nothing to eat. All he ever saw was rock, water, and occasionally the odd creepy giant cave with egg sacks lining the walls – all of which were empty. For all he knew, he was going in circles. He’d long ago forgotten to keep marking the walls with arrows, and he couldn’t find his way back to them even if he did retrace his steps, what with the darkness and the cave in.

His magic was already far past its limits, and he didn’t know any communication spells anyway; the mental link in his head was all Celestia’s doing, and not his own. He couldn’t think of any way to find Twilight, aside from dumb luck, and that was looking like a bad option to follow. The down side was; that was the only option to follow. He was lost, and in a bad way. The only good thing, was that the spiders didn’t know that.

He sighed and jogged on, cradling the water in his hands, complete with dancing flame, gently; as he moved on through the caverns. “This day has become really shit, really quickly…” He moaned as some of the water sloshed over his hands. “Well, gotta keep the spirits up…” He took a deep breath and continued singing to himself; happier tunes this time.

“I would give you the stars in the sky, but they're too far away… If you were a hooker, you'd know, I'd be happy to pay…” He smiled as he looked forward to brighter things.

“Much better.”

“I know you feel scared and tired right now, but we really have to find Arc and get out of here, Sweetie.” Twilight said as she continued to cradle Sweetie Belle in her forehooves. “My legs are feeling a little bit better, and the paralysis is wearing off too… I think I can stand…” She looked down at the filly. “Can you walk?”

After some internal debate, a nod was given back, and Twilight released her to the floor, checking for anything dangerous down the tunnels. “How are we going to get out of here?” The little sooty unicorn asked. “I- I don’t know how to get back out. Apple Bloom had the map… and she’s gone.”

Twilight smiled, “It’s ok. I told you, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are safe and back in Ponyville.” Reassuring the filly, she pointed back the way she’d come. “Wanna try walking a little bit?”

Once again all she got was a nod, and so, they began walking, following the arrows back the way Twilight had come. Everything was silent until Sweetie piped up. “Are you sure it was Apple Bloom and Scootaloo…?”

Twilight stopped mid-stride and looked at the filly. “What do you mean?”

“They looked like us. The spiders! They made more of… us!” The end of the sentence was punctuated by another squeak as Sweetie’s voice broke, prompting Twilight to look around and check that it was only them nearby. She knew how sound carried in the depths.

“They made more of you?” She calmly turned back to the filly.

Her small head nodded eagerly. “The silk! It made copies of itself with the silk!”

“Then… I’m surprised we haven’t seen any others around… Maybe Arc found some.” She continued walking, and looked back at Sweetie, “No, I’m sure that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are fine, and more than that, I’m sure that they’re themselves. After all, they did come as fast as they could to warn us about you.”

“I suppose so…” She began to bounce along after Twilight, looking happier than before. “I just wanted to make sure!”

“Yeah,” The purple unicorn giggled, “That’s a good idea.”

Eventually, and with minimal hiding, the duo made it back to the original entrance to the cave system, separating it from the mine; the collapse which Twilight had managed to navigate only a few hours before. She felt like they were in the clear, only… without Arc.

Sighing and scraping her hoof on the cold floor, Twilight looked down at Sweetie Belle, who was absentmindedly starring back down the mine shaft. “Hey… if you follow this tunnel back up there,” She pointed towards the surface with her hoof. “You’ll get back, and find your sister waiting outside.” She thought for a moment as Sweetie looked up at her. “I’m going to go and get Arc back.”

The filly just watched for a moment, torn between leaving Twilight and traversing the dark tunnel, and finding her sister again. “But… I don’t want to leave you…”

Feigning a smile, Twilight nudged Sweetie back towards the passage out. “You’re going to have to. I need to save Arc. And I know it’s dark up there, but if you trace yourself along the wall, you’ll see the light in no time.” She chuckled, “Rarity is going to have a heart attack when she sees you covered in that mess…”

“Yeah…” Sweetie giggled back. “Her face will look really funny!”

“Yeah, it will.” She laughed alongside the girl. “So will you go back for me? Brave, and by yourself?”

For the third time, a nod was given in response, only, this time; accompanied by a smile. “Yes!”

Relief washed over Twilight, and she watched as the small pony slowly faded out of sight behind her, heading off back to her sister. She was happy that something good had come out of the escapade. Now all she had to do was get Arc back in one piece, and they could all go home and rest.

“I can’t believe that I think this is going to work…” She moaned as she headed back into the mine, heading down the path that Arc took when they split up. “More than that, I can’t believe that this was the best plan I could come up with…”

“Ok, so… most of this cave is granite and iron. There is a level of coal embedded within the rock, and a lot of clay keeping it all together, nice and cohesive.” She closed her eyes in thought once more. “Spiders have a strong sense of touch, but not much else going for them.” Pausing, she waited. “Ok…”

Drawing in a deep breath, Twilight bowed her head and pointed her horn back into the depths of the mine, gently lighting her horn as she prepared to cast her spell. Alongside the white glow of her light, she also began emitting a purple aura as her magic grew stronger.

Firmly planting her hooves on the ground and gritting her teeth, Twilight sent out a vibration into the rock, one powerful enough to alert anything within the mine and the caves to her presence. With luck, her idea would work. All she needed to do was maintain the vibration for as long as possible.

“Well that’s new.”

Rob stopped walking and listened as a rumble shook through the cave. “I certainly did not hear this before.” He continued walking. “I do so hope that this is not a sign of my impending demise…”

The sound was loud, a deep and bass filled throb; it shook the cave in its entirety. “I have no idea what’s going on.” The human sighed. “It does make a change from the silence though, that’s kinda nice.”

Part of him was worried about cave-ins, but from what he could see; everything was remaining intact, it was quite amazing.

Within seconds, a second rumble filled the air, a much more physical one that the original. This one felt real, and Rob could feel it getting closer. He was just in time to press himself to the side of the tunnel, as a stray spider darted past him, paying him no mind. A bewildered look crossed his face as a second spider flew past. And then a third.

Five minutes later, and the human had begun to walk alongside the torrent of spiders. He even got used to them being there, despite being greatly confused by the whole ordeal. With luck, the noise he could hear was drawing them out. If it was a threat, the only logical cause for survival was safety, and safety meant out, or risking a cave collapse. Rob hoped the spiders were choosing to live.

After maybe half an hour of walking, he found himself re-entering the mine, and leaving the natural caverns behind. It was a welcome sight, even if the arachne underfoot were creeping him out a little. The commotion and sound did keep his mind off of his hands though, and that was a good thing.

“-rc,-s-th----o…”

“Ok, did I just hear that?”

“A---an--u he-r me?”

“Twilight!?” He called back up the tunnel. “Please scream unfathomable things again if it’s you!”

“Th-t--ot--unny!”

“Hell yeah! Just wait, I’m coming! Be with you in a sec.”

Rounding the next corner, Rob managed to see a strange white light, one that he instantly recognised as Twilight’s. Happy was an understatement, he felt amazing to see her again. Something about her face, and not being trapped in an arachnid filled tunnel, made his heart soar.

Soon enough, he made his way through the swarm to stand next to her. For a moment, they both looked at each other, before Rob fell to his knees and hugged the purple mare tightly. “I am so glad I found you, Twilight. I was running out of songs to sing…” He heard her giggle a little before falling limp onto him. Pushing her up, he looked into her now lucid eyes. “H-hey, Twi…? Twi!?”

Looking up at him, she smiled. “Don’t worry, I just need to finish this spell…”

“You did all this!?”

“It’s just a small vibration spell masked with an illusion to send them back…”

Rob looked back towards the spiders, and noticed that none of them were heading to the surface. In fact, they were all going down the tunnel that Twilight had originally gone down. He turned back to her. “We need to get out of here.”

“I can’t… the magic will wear off and they’ll come after us…” Rob watched the feeble pony struggle.

“Leave that to me…”

“Great time for a ‘cool guy’ act you idiot, this is going to hurt hella-bad…”

Laying Twilight on the floor, Rob stood back up and faced the stream of spiders running past them down the offshoot. “I think we could all do for a little cave in right about here…” Raising his arms, he once again forced the magic into his hands. “I gotta stop doing this…”

Making the energy form and take shape, he pulled the oxygen in and brought life to another flame, holding it under his arm like a child. As soon as he had his breath and balance back, he rammed the flaming sphere into the highest point of the wall he could reach; slamming his arm up in an arc.

Embers and dust burst forth from the wall and ceiling, creating a large crack through the rock. At first Rob was annoyed with the results, and thought he’d have to try again, but luckily, Twilight’s vibrations carried the job on for him, and the roof soon collapsed under its own weight. Rob dodged the rubble just in time.

Slumping down, he reached out and grasped Twilight’s left forehoof, “You can stop now. The route is blocked…” He lifted his head up to check, as a stray stone rolled forward and tapped his boot. “Yeah… we’re good.”

All of a sudden, the deep hum that had been permeating everything for so long, came to a stop, and Rob instead heard the mare heave and gasp in air next to him. He rolled towards her, and found her writhing and moaning. It was like a fever, only, more pain and less ache; her whole body was clenching.

Quickly, he sat up and scrabbled over to her. Picking her up and cradling her in his arms, he held her tight. Tucking her in to his stomach, he rested his head on hers as she continued to twitch and gasp from pain. “Twi…” He shakily spoke. “T-Twilight… It’s going to be ok… I’m here.” He whispered his words in her ear, as he found himself beginning to tear up. “Don’t cry… please Twilight… Just bear with it. I know it hurts...”

And then she stopped; falling limp in his arms.

Shakily, he placed his hand on her chest, and let out a deep breath and a relieved chuckle at his own stupidity as he felt her breathing. “I- I thought…”

He shook his head and stood. “No, no… that’s ridiculous. She’s fine. You’ve felt the same pain. She’ll be fine.” He paused. “But… not if we don’t get her back.”

Gingerly, Rob began traipsing back up to the surface, leaning against the wall as both support and a method of guidance. It was hard carrying Twilight in his weakened state, and the pain in his hands didn’t help. He couldn’t tell how much pressure he was exerting or how well he was balancing her. Over all, he felt awful.

Eventually though, a speck of light marking the end of the mine was visible, and called out to him like an angel. He didn’t remember how long it took before he collapsed outside the mine, exhausted, and with a hazy blur obscuring his vision. All he knew was that he was happy to be out.

Lying on the grass outside, he slowly stared at the sky and let his eyes adjust to the new light. At some point, he noticed a purple mane dangling down over his face and figured that it must have been Rarity. He was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t Moondancer.

It was only with his last fading vision that he tilted to the side and saw an unconscious Twilight with a sooty Sweetie Belle watching over her. He smiled, understanding that everything was ok, and drifted off to sleep, feeling like he deserved a well-earned rest.

Author's Note

I have author notes! I'm damn well going to use them!

Well, dunno how a more fast-pace writing style feels... so far? It feels weird.

I have to confess. This chapter was major new territory for me. I'm still getting to grips with the action-y stuff, so... I consider this practise!