Verve

“I can’t believe she’d charge in like this!” Tempest called, highly regretting her choice in weapon - without a sword or blade to chop through, she had to rely on Celestia’s bardiche to cleave any spare webbing Vee didn’t clear on her own. Within minutes of trudging and galloping, they caught up to Vee’s tail, just as they broke into a small, webless… nest, of sorts.

Far above them, in the silk-covered canopy, dozens of varying sized cocoons dangled helplessly in the air, still in the breezeless forest. The sight alone was enough to send Arin’s danger sense into a frenzy - the Princess on his right feeling much the same.

Vee stood in the center, her purple eyes locked to a massive, pony sized Spider before her. It hovered ominously in the air by a thin, silvery strand of web, just hooves away from the Purple.

“V-Vee?...” Pumpkin began, sticking close to Tempest’s side. Even now, the usually merlot mare had backed up against Celestia, shaking in her armor.

“Shhh, we’re talking, Smols.” Vee raised a hoof for silence, the Spider unmoving as it took in it’s prey.

And with a spinning slash of her lance, the Pegasus sliced cleanly through the massive beast - the carcass splitting in half as its gooey insides spilled in a small pool around it. Tempest heaved, covering her mouth as the once argumentative Princess blocked her sight with a hoof.

“D’ohoho! He wasn’t expecting that one!” the purple chirped, wiggling her weapon in the air to dislodge any gunk that remained.

“I thought you spoke Spider?” Celestia questioned, her Seraph checking the webbing for any more ‘guests’ in the scant sunlight.

“I do! I speak violence. It’s the only thing big ol’ spooders understand, d’ohoho~”

When the carcass finally bumped to the floor, it rattled a thin layer of sticky webs - the entire nest shaking around the weight. Those vibrations travelled onwards, the faint click of chittering fangs breaking through the windless silence.

“I don’t think killing it was the best idea,” Arin stated bluntly, walking to cover Celestia’s rear. Bow in hand, he started to search for the exit - but the sheer amount of webs, and the curve in the path they took made their entry hole impossible to spot.

“We should move. Now,” Celestia commanded, taking charge as she spun the bardiche in her ruby magic. Vee wiped the muck of the spider off onto it’s hair legs to clean her spear, Pumpkin stumbling over a rough root in the floor.

“Pumpkin, I know I’m not the bravest right now… but I don’t want you flying off on your own. Sit on my back, and hold on tight,” Tempest whispered, the little mare nodding. A swish of her hat, and she was seated on the taller mare.

With no formation behind, Arin fell back on his old Knight training now, more than ever. With all eyes facing the front, he turned and kept his gaze settled on their unprotected rear. Luckily, his arrows were returned to him by the Ticketmaster’s farewell - unluckily, they had an entire forest to go through.

And so, the group made their way quietly through the faint shadows of the sun, Tempest’s unsteady breathing scattered between long swishes of Celestia’s partial halberd, and Vee’s lance. The five members had little to say, other than the occasional call to check their steps, or hushed noise to steer their eyes elsewhere, and be wary of danger.

Arin had never felt so many near invisible eyes stalking him - and his charges - in the dark. The white strands let the thin light of day break through in sorrowful blue beams. More than once, the giant form of twitching legs disappeared into a dark nook of trees, the group steadying themselves to march ever west.

“If you didn’t already guess, we’ve been followed since the clearing,” Arin whispered, Tempest struggling to keep her legs from shaking out from beneath her.

“I really don’t need to know that right now,” she hissed, horn crackling in fear. On the very edge of panic, it took Celestia’s calm wing to settle her nerves.

“Just keep your head low, and spirits high. Spiders, like many predators, have an innate sense for hunting fear.”

Celestia’s words had the opposite effect of calming her down. They had hardly made it past a half league, before a massive split in the trees offered them the chance to take two paths. Neither were tempting, a small building sized arachnid spanning the path on the left; and a dozen smaller spiders lining hundreds of thick gosmer nets to their right. You could only faintly see either of them - the giant spider rested hundreds of yards away, nearly dormant in its sleep. But the smaller spiders seemed to be a slight bit more active - a spindly leg twitching up at the lantern's light.

It took everything within Tempest not to faint or gallop for the path behind. The chitter of the eight legged creatures falling just within earshot from their rear.

“Arin. Eyes?” Celestia whispered, wondering how much time they had until things fell grim.

“Dozens and counting; but none that I see yet.” He tightened the string on his bow, awaiting orders.

“I’m going to need you to take the lead, Arin. As quietly as you can, pluck the spiders from these webs. And do not miss. A single lost arrow now could be the end of us.” Celestia whispered, “On my call, switch positions. I’ll guard the rear, you take the front. Ready?”

The Seraph gave his quiet reply. “Ready.”

A flick of her tail in the silent forest thwacked gently at his side - and they spun to the quiet order, the Princess taking the rear and the Seraph aiming his bow to the front.

With a small twang of the arrow, the first creature fell to the floor in a tussle. Its kicking legs stirring the net it was housed, the other spiders turning to the vibrations of its body. Another arrow twanged in the dim light, snapping through the carapace of a pony-sized arachnid.

Yet still, the click and chitter of hungry fangs pinching at the air grew ever louder. Vee standing at the ready; lance draped over her shoulder, her feathers tingling at the bubbling anxiety.

Another dead spider. The cackling noise growing loud, then settling to a quiet thrum. But yet nothing caught her eyes, as she scanned the floor with burning intensity.

Pumpkin winced, feeling something drip across her back. A pit of terror sloshed in her gut, as her eyes traced up the long husks of dead, dying, and struggling tree trunks, ignoring the black vines that settled there for far too long, sucking the life from the forest.

The spiders never followed them on the ground. Pumpkin screamed as four massive legs clenched around her and Tempest - the wine mare giving a panicked yelp as they were ripped up into web weaving legs. Celestia just managed to stagger out of the way as another terrifying arthropod swiped at where she just stood, her bardiche swinging to cleave at it.

Arin and Vee spun on their hooves and feet, stumbling back as several massive, twitching, clicking spiders fell to the web-draped floor below, panic welling within their chests. They looked just like the massive one from the cirus! Vee went to speak ‘spider’ with her heavy spear, darting forward in a lunge - but she was only met with the blast of a spinneret.

That was definitely not good for the feathers. Tempest and Pumpkin were hefted up just out of reach of Celestia, Pumpkin’s hat dangling from the thin fibers - but still within perfect range of Arin’s bow. He took aim, and let loose an arrow.

The bolt shot like lightning through the air, but another dropping spider - looking to seize Celestia in its legs - took the sharp point instead. It gave a screech, quickly retreating through a hole in the webbing.

Pumpkin and Tempest were gone. He shot forward to grab at Vee, but had to billow his wings out of the way to avoid another blast of web. This turned out to be a fatal mistake.

Falling into the spindly silk of the webbing behind, his wings instantly adhered to the gluey strands - the now cocooned Vee quickly being dragged towards another part of the forest.

“CELESTIA! RUN!” Arin called, as legs were soon upon him. In a moment, he was spun in the silken fabric - more white strands joining the mess binding him from a spinneret. The Knight’s struggles weakened as the layers piled on, and just like that - Celestia was alone.

Panic overtaking her, a blast of webbing caught her cloth armor - forcing her to strip and give up her bardiche. A kick of her legs saved her from the full-body hug of a hungry arachnid, as her horn shot piercing light for the clouds. Her wings flurried and pumped, blasting from the overrun floor as she took to the sky.

She breathed a gasp of fresh air, but it wasn’t a relieving one as she crested the treetops. They were in a sea of gossamer threads, no more than a dozen leagues wide in all directions.

Tempest was right. This place should burn. Her panicked eyes darted over the canopy, freezing as terror overwhelmed her. Stunned and shellshocked, she could only float and stare.

No. She mustn’t let it happen again - Umbra wasn’t here to slap sense into her, and her friends - her lover was in danger. What could she even do?! She hardly knew much about spiders! Except they were predators. Why were there so many here?! Pumpkin would know, she’s smart with - Pumpkin!

She could see the very same spider who ripped Tempest and Pumpkin from the forest floor, traveling on the underside of the thick canopy. Its spindly legs plucking the web like a violin, before twisting back down into its nest. It’s nest? Did they have nests? Wait - they did! When they first entered, the domed roof of a spider’s nest held a singular spider. It was taking them to feed!

She darted for where the tremors stopped, channeling precious magic to sear away fibers and make a hole - being careful not to start a fire, not yet. Fresh sunlight splashed over the gloomy abyss below, and she ducked down to face it.

Time was precious, and what was even more precious were the lives now trapped here. How many ponies have died in these woods before them? How many more would continue to die? This place was a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe Tempest WAS the only sane one!

She wasn’t directly inside of a nest, but the dark trees above gave her a path to follow, as spindly webs curved down to touch the dead grass. With careful steps, she trotted down - keeping her wings pinned to prevent unwanted fibers from marring them and binding her to a nearby web.

Eventually, the path ended - a dozen faint strings hanging loosely in front of her. Without thinking, she seared through them with another bolt of magic - galloping through into the domed nest.

The spider hanging above stopped, clutching its prize tight in it’s grasp - Pumpkin’s hat tumbling free of the bundle. The igloo-like web seeping cold and reeking a faint stench of spider waste, as its many eyes inspected the Princess prey now caught in its home.

Celestia came to the bleak realization that, save for scarce magic, she was defenseless. Unless she intended to throw the Feywild Leather pack, thankfully held beneath her gear and thus untouched by tugging webs, at the Spider - she had little choices before her.

The Arachnid slung the fibrous silken cocoon onto a thick web from the ceiling. Four fang-like holes poking free of the web, showing where a duo of venomous bites was laced. This gave little hope for the Princess, as the massive, carriage-sized beast crashed to the floor with a click of its drooling fangs.

It darted for the Princess - who smartly shot a searing blast of magic at its plated head. It screeched, but stampeded onwards regardless - its shrilling cry unnerving the elegant mare instantly.

Only the faint marks of a burn were left, the massive skittering beast howling as its spinner burst a web towards Its prey. Celestia narrowly dodged with a flap of mighty wings, but silken strands still managed to gunk her left most feathers. And that’s when she saw it.

From Pumpkin’s hat, the familiar pommel of a golden blade. The soft red leather grip leading up to the familiar, magenta ruby. Entrusted to her now deceased Knight, Sun Song shined with it’s solar magic beneath the webs. But how? Sun Song, like all Elite Knight Blades, couldn’t carry magic if the owner was dead. It was a magical failsafe to prevent theft.

These questions could be answered later. Cornered, she had no choice but to waste precious magic - a soft red flash of her horn, and she vanished in a beam of ruby light.

Reappearing beneath the swaying bundle above, Celestia seized the blade from Pumpkin’s hat without a moment to spare. The spider, having recovered from the stun - whirled around to face her.

Sun Song’s blade flashed with a deadly light, the sheath abandoned for now as her single useful wing blasted her body to the right - and out of the way of the pouncing arachnid. Spinning the blade in her magical grasp, she felt the power of solar flames spiraling along the edge of the sword, a gentle waft of heat soaking through her fur.

She wasn’t a Knight. She could hardly use a blade, or bardiche, or any bladed weapon - in fact, she was so used to carrying overwhelming magical might in her horn that a spider like this didn’t seem like a challenge. Her Sister was the martial one. She was not.

But with only a rough understanding of weight and swords, that challenge increased ten fold. The Feywild Bladed Stave had a heft to it, making her less than masterful attacks potent and deadly - similar to when she carried her luminous gold halberd, back in Canterlot. But Sun Song was feathery light; and required a finesse she was never trained to weild. Unlike her Sister, who in her jealousy - took to the blade like a moth to the flame. Her training and aptitude paid off in battle, both with her, and against the Seraph invasion.

Her lack of experience began to show, as the mismatched swings of the blade were narrowly avoided by the enraged arachnid. A thin leg from the creature darted forward in a jab, seeking to knock her to the nets of fibers behind. All it did was gash into her now unprotected torso, and stagger her.

Wounded and bleeding, Celestia cried out - giving a desperate lash at the beast as she fell once more to the right. The tang of the sword caught on the hairy offending appendage, the blunt base sizzling and shattering the exoskeleton of the beast.

When it darted that very same leg down to stabilize - it split in twain, the Spider losing balance as it skittered back for distance. Panting and whimpering, the Princess’s blood spilled across the white webs below in a splatter. The deep wound refusing to knit without proper magical care, the battling creatures were at an impasse.

The Spider weighed its options, considering abandoning its hunt and leaving its nest - but at the cost of labor and food, the stakes were simply too high. Perhaps from the loss of its foul ichor, the Arachnid treaded slowly to the fiery maned mare.

Groaning, Celestia clasped a hoof over her gash, crimson essence spilling down her leg in a rush. She couldn’t keep fighting like this. She needed a plan. Or… perhaps an idea.

Celestia never learned how to shoot a bow. She didn’t have one on hoof, but what she did have was a long, pointed, flame infused sword, and the magical might to launch it hard like an arrow. Dropping her blood-smothered hoof to the floor with a groan, she tilted the point forward.

Steadying herself, the spider approached cautiously - unsure of her plan. With a flare of her horn, and a blast of gleaming Solar flare - the blade rocketted forward like an arrow, singing in a deadly note as it pierced the beast through its many, many eyes.

Sizzling, crackling heat seared into the now dead creature, as she ripped the blade limply from its now thoroughly dead carcass.

She would never, ever again, take an exterminator for granted. Heaving breaths through her blood-starved chest, she looked up to the now eerily still cocoon. Levitating the blade up, she gave a solid swipe - cleaving the support strand down. It fell to the floor with a soft, cushioned thump, giving a faint wiggle.

Carefully, she used the sharpness of the blade to slice through the hundreds of layers of choking twine, two desperate gasps coughing up to reach her.

“Princess?...” Tempest spoke first. Before they had been fully captured, Tempest made to grab Pumpkin in her hooves - the weak mare struggling against Tempest’s faint warmth.

“The one and only! I believe you… said something about ‘Princess Syndrome’?” She gave a weak smile, before quickly tossing the blade to her side. She offered a hoof to Tempest, who gingerly took her offer and made it to her shaky hooves.

“I think we’re done for, Princess,” Tempest whispered, stumbling. “You shouldn’t have come back for us. We’re as good as dead.”

Celestia helped the little mare up from her prison, Pumpkin in much the same boat - though her smaller size came at a great cost. She had more venom in her body than Tempest, and without treatment, she would surely die first, and soon.

“N-No… we’re not. I need it’s venom. I can… I can save us,” the little mare whispered hoarsely. Her hoof numbly scraped at her hat, Celestia dragging it towards her. She reached inside, withdrawing several small vials of brew. “I am… I pack for disaster.”

Stumbling forward, the little mare collapsed - her breathing slow and weak. Not more than seconds later, Celestia was grounded from the blood loss. Her front now oozing red, it was clear that she, too, would pass if left unattended.

All at once, Tempest found herself the last one standing. Weak as she was from the venom, she could still move - and still breathe.

“Pumpkin, s-stay with me dear… what do you need? What do I have to do? I can fetch it, just stay with me!...” Tempest began, looking over the rapidly fading lives before her. “Speak with me sweetie, you’re still there, right?”

“It’s paralysis… the first bite is paralysis. The second dose is digestion. T-Tempest… gland. You have to drain their… its gland.” The little mare spoke quietly; the very same venom catching up with her lover above.

If she didn’t move soon, Pumpkin would asphyxiate - and Celestia would bleed out. She shuffled through Pumpkin’s hat in exhaustion, grunting. She couldn’t use Sun Song - it would destroy the carcass further. Looking for a blade, or tool to cut with - and there, she found it.

A small dagger, undoubtedly used for harvesting herbs. Regardless, it will have to do.

Stumbling, and finding it hard to draw breath - Tempest struggled her way to the Spider’s corpse. While defiled by a fiery blade, its fangs were mostly left untouched.

She hated this. But she had two lives on the line, and no time to waste. With a shaky stab of her hoof, the chitinous plate cracked and the spider’s insides were revealed. While the brain… did it have a brain? If it did, it was long gone.

She hardly knew what she was looking for. And the head was definitely clear. Gods above, she’d have to touch it to roll it over. And she’d have to cut into the things chest, too, to search. She stifled a gag at the thought, but it had to be done.

Using her head and digging into the floor with her hooves, the mare grunted and heaved. She was strong, but this… thing was huge. It wasn’t a spider. Don’t call it a spider. Pretend it’s… it’s a big beetle. That’s what it was. It wasn’t a spider, with eight, crawling, skittering, twitching legs…

With the deceased arachnid's chest facing skyward, the remaining seven legs curled up. Occasional twitches making her want to scream, the terror coursing through her bones chilling her very soul. It had to be done. If not for her savior, then for the little mare she loved.

She slammed the knife into it’s hard torso - grunting as it skittered off the shell-like surface. Hardly a gash. She needed leverage, she… she’d have to lean over it, underneath its twitching legs, and press down on the blade with her full weight.

‘They weren’t legs, Tempest! They were branches. You’re just thinking too much!’ Her mind reeled, as her weight sunk onto the blade in full force. The cracking, splittering husk seized at the pressure - the legs shooting outwards much to the terror of the Wine Mare. She fell on her flank, dizzy with coursing venom.

Celestia’s head fell to the floor in the distance; losing consciousness and fading fast. With the torso open, she finally found what she thought she was looking for.

A small sack, with two parting strands running up the spider’s chest to the fangs in front. She clasped it with her hooves, but… it was much, much too slick.

No. She didn’t have to use her teeth to pull it out, did she? Please no. Oh Gods above no.

A second attempt never brought her so much relief - she clenched her prize tightly, the venom sack held aloft in her hooves. Stumbling and swaying her way to Pumpkin’s side, she had less than minutes to figure out the instructions from here.

“Pumpkin, sweetie, please… talk to me, what do I do now?... Do I just… squeeze it into a vial? Am… Do I have to dice it up?”

No response. Her eyes gazed petrified forward at the small, clear potions spilled from the hat. Tempest had once prided herself as an alchemist, able to determine the magical and physical formula to create explosives, petrifying gasses, and other deadly things. All of these talents now, all of this training - useless. Because they didn’t need weapons of war. They needed tools for recovery. And these skills were in short supply.

Finding it hard for her own hooves to move, she propped up a now open vial, squeezing a few scant drops of the venom inside. It tingled on her hooves, and made her want to heave - but it had to be done.

After the third drop, the small flask flashed a subtle white - before slowly seeping green. If this wasn’t the cure, Celestia would die from blood loss. She would faint and stop breathing, much like the much too silent Pumpkin. Seeing her like this made her want to cry, but hopefully - this would change that.

A quick shake of the vial, and thin chunks of.. Something floated within. Was it supposed to be chunky? Wait - yes! Vee said so, back before the Carnival! She remembered heaving at the thought of swallowing spider goop.

The Unicorn quietly heaved her small ray of light onto her lap. Tempest popped the cork off after several attempts with her unmoving teeth, easing several drops inside of her marefriend’s muzzle. Her hoof rubbed over Pumpkin’s esophagus, forcing her to gulp it down. Thank the Gods she at one point had to feed truth serum to prisoners, which taught her this skill.

From that point on, things became a blur. Her body turned stony, as her eyes grew unfocused. Her breath fell thin, as her lungs struggled to find air. It was all up to Pumpkin now, and sheer, dumb luck.