Chitter chitter.
Tiny, hairy legs skittered about the walls of the house, their weight and strength too minimal to cause any strain or damage to the aging, blackening wood that comprised the roof's insides.
Skitter skitter.
Webs were being spun and old, damaged strings torn down to make way for better traps. The blue sad-faced veneighzuelan spiders worked diligently every day to make sure their colony had enough food and shelter for their newborns. The spiders were currently wrapping an abnormal amount of flying insects that had been coming into their webs lately. When one of the arachnids brought one to their queen for feeding, she noticed something unusual. Said queen was four times the size of the other spiders, and her immensity sat in an impossibly concentrated central helix of white silk with countless stretching out to connect to every web in the attic and extension throughout the house out of sight of the scary thing.
"This insect smells weird," she noted.
"Don't know," her deliverer responded. "Lots of bugs being caught. More than usual. Don't need to hunt."
The queen jittered and looked at the webbings occupying the whole of the attic and started strumming the strings of her webs with her two rear legs, sending messages through the colony. 'Someone near. Sending bugs. Check for non-colony members'. There was a moment of quiet as the message flew throughout the musty home and spiders all throughout froze. Slowly but surely, as the message made its rounds, the liveliness returned. Spiders started scampering about to find the source of the queen's discomfort.
'Scary thing coming back. Pony with them. Other thing got into house.'
The Queen got up, pulled out some silk, attached it to one of the paths, and hopped off the silken road to land with gentle 'pof' on the wooden ground. She chased away some dust with a tarsus and peered through cracks in the musty wood until she found the right one that let her see the living room. The entrance was finally opening, and the scary thing came in, sniffling. It coughed a few times and cleared its throat before inviting something else inside. Both the queen and the spiders that snuck in peered closer through the crack to see the pony coming through. She had a strange aura to her. A weird gelatinous film that enveloped her form and gave off a mellow, golden glow.
'Pony from nearby. Many animals. Tamer. Taming scary thing?' the scout pondered through the silk.
The queen's chelicae waggled around, exposing the fangs they held. "That pony is dangerous. Weird taming power. Keep at distance. Not directly dangerous?" the queen both said and transferred through the webbing still attached to her abdomen.
She stilled herself to focus on what the thing and the pony were saying to each other.
HB huffed. "Recovering from a disease is almost as bad as having it," she muttered.
"Well, you did have almost every disease a foal could catch, He..." Fluttershy caught herself and cleared her throat. "HB. I suppose it will take a while longer to recover from everything than if you just had a cold or something like that." She watched the curly-maned mare remove her glasses, place them on a mini-table next to her couch, and then flop unceremoniously onto it then roll over, turning her back to the pegasus. "Besides, the doctor prepared all this medication for you to take."
HB shivered. So many disgusting, bitter pills. Even if she knew the value of medicine, it didn't stymie her disgust for it and hospitals. "Do I really have to take all of those?" the brown pony asked while rolling over. She realized that she hadn't closed the curtains of her home, letting the light outside in and giving a plain view of the Everfree forest surrounding her house.
She watched Fluttershy open the plain saddle bags she was carrying and dump their contents onto a small, albeit dirty wooden table, causing a nasty layer of dust to leave from its resting place. It didn't move without a fuss, seeing an opportunity to attack the pegasus' muzzle and cause her to sneeze a few times.
"Don't get sick too," HB worried.
Fluttershy wiped her muzzle with a wing and smiled back. "Just a bit of dust." She looked around the house while cleaning up the medication on the table. "This place is a mess. You haven't cleaned up?"
"Haven't had time," the grumpy mare responded. "Been a bit too sick, you see? Not really conducive to movement."
Fluttershy sighed. "Well, sarcasm won't help. You have any brooms?"
HB rubbed her chin. "I think there's one in the closet to the left of the kitchen entrance."
Fluttershy opened the door and coughed when a dust cloud fell upon her. Squinting, she only just briefly caught sight of three tiny blue spiders skittering away into the cracks of the closet's ceiling. "Oh no. I destroyed their home," she lamented. "Well, luckily spiders are stubborn and can rebuild their homes very quickly," she told herself. She wiped her muzzle again and pulled out three brooms and a single dustpan, all wrapped in cobwebs. "I'll need some wet hoof towels to wipe the dust off."
HB cleared some phlegm from her throat and stood up from the couch. "It's alright. I'll clean it up."
"No," the pegasus responded firmly. "You're going to get used to other ponies helping you, missy. It's a necessity. My animal friends help me every day, which allows me to get so much done at my home."
"But this isn't--" HB was interrupted by Fluttershy raising a wing and giving her a stern glare. "Fiiiine!" she groaned. "Where do we start?"
"We can start with the floors, then move on to the furniture." The yellow pegasus looked around pensively. "I'll start with the kitchen. You can clean here in the living room."
"Alright. It's still my home so I might as well."
HB coughed a few times then grabbed a broom. At least, she tried to.
The spiders watched the object slip from the scary thing's hooves several times. Eventually, the yellow pony came by and wrapped a sticky band around the scary thing's hooves, allowing it to carry the long object and scrape it along the floor.
The web strings shook again. 'Found intruder' it said. The queen spun around. 'At queen's nest. Sneaky'. The spider's hair rose up in frustration. She skittered on the walls and jumped back onto the silky road to her spot. Several of her own colony were at the border, staring at the tiny intruder she could just barely make out doing something to her monstrous amalgamation of silk. It was another blue spider attaching red things to her nest.
"What is this?" the queen growled.
The intruder spun around and twitched erratically, quickly changing position as it moved from side to side in a flash. "Future mate for queen. Tracked from homeland," he said. "Sent offerings to colony." The queen looked at the red objects. They looked like low-quality silk meshed together. Cloth? The courter pointed to all the insects trapped in the webs closest to the ceiling. "Have much to offer colony. New trappings. Redirecting of flying prey. Less energy expenditure."
"Why not just eat you after mating if I accept?"
The potential mate did not flinch at the threat and raised its first two legs. "Then colony will get more mouths to feed. More prey needed. More energy lost. Will die out quickly after saturation."
While the queen mulled over the potential, another message came through the webs. 'Another pony at door'. It sure was a busy day today. The veneighzuelan spider preferred the scary thing when it was sick. At least it was mostly quiet and immobile. Maybe they could make them sick again?
Back at the crack, the queen watched the door open at the same time the scout sent the message. It was the most generic looking pony the queen had ever laid her multitude of eyes upon, and it was one of those with the horn on their head. There wasn't even the faintest trace of light coming from it. They were an off-orange color, like their fur couldn't decide whether it was orange or brown. Its green mane and tail were unkempt and going all over the place, matching the absent look the equine had.
"Can we help you?" Fluttershy asked.
The newcomer looked around HB's home, its face absent of any emotion. "Cown...lost," the pony slurred.
Fluttershy became perplexed. "What? Are you okay? Why are you shivering so much?" The pegasus was taken aback by the sheer 'emptiness' in the unicorn's eyes. It wasn't so much seeing the emptiness that she could feel it, and it was very disturbing.
HB leaned over the edge of her entryway's frame and looked at her snapdragons Fighty and Bitey trying to bite this newcomer. "Hey! Stop that! We don't eat ponies!" She squinted at them and looked back at the unicorn. "Uh, they don't do that, usually," she thought to herself. "Although I wish they did," she whispered to herself.
The two stopped trying to chomp away at the unicorns, but they didn't let up on their aggression. Their leaves were puffed out aggressively in an attempt at intimidation, and the few corners said leaves had jutted out like venomous needles. Fluttershy brought the pony inside HB's home, aggravating the grumpy mare further.
"HB, we can't just leave this poor pony outside," Fluttershy said.
"Pon...ee," the unicorn repeated.
"But it's my home, not a shelter!"
The pegasus pondered a moment and nodded. "You're right, but I want to keep her here for just a bit until she calms down enough to tell me what happened. Then I can take her to the hospital."
"Why not just take her now?" HB asked.
Fluttershy fidgeted in place, looking between the unicorn and HB. "I'm scared something will happen to them on the way. With my animals it's better to let them relax first before I give them any treatment. Maybe the same works for ponies?"
HB slow-blinked at the pegasus. "Sure. Let's go with that. As long as they leave as quickly as possible and you don't leave her here." She watched the unicorn wander past Fluttershy and slowly move about. "Oh, and just come in without me inviting you. Sure. Fine!"
Erring about haphazardly seemed to be the modus operandi of this newcomer. Their movements were stiff at one point, then they twisted around like they were made of gelatin.
"Um..." HB muttered.
"I admit she's...strange," Fluttershy noted.
The brown pony moved through her living room to cut off the uninvited guest before they could move into the kitchen. "What's your name?" When she received no response, she tried again. "I asked you your name!"
The unicorn looked to the ground and hit the floorboards several times. "Crumbrum...cinl...blumntum..." the pony babbled.
HB raised a brow and leaned towards Fluttershy without taking her eyes off the unicorn. "Pretty sure this one has a screw loose."
Fluttershy huffed. "I thought that maybe they went into the Everfree and saw something horrifying or almost died, but...yeah...Or maybe..."
Not a pony.
Not a pony.
Not a pony.
Every spider in the colony was repeating this same sentence with a level of alarm that only the potential mate was familiar with.
"Is the intruder a threat?" the queen asked out loud and through her web. The tiny spiders looked to the potential mate and the queen ground her chelicera together in frustration. "Not the dessert. The other intruder. Threat to the scary thing?"
The potential mate scooched in next to the queen and other spiders and peered through the hole. His sudden shake upon witnessing the 'scary thing' was felt by the queen. "What is that?" he asked.
"Don't know, but scary thing leaves colony alone," the queen responded. "Also keeps predators away. Colony safe."
They watched as Fluttershy offered a glass to the unicorn. She stared at the offering and tried extending a hoof to it, but retracted it immediately before touching the glass. She did that several times before Fluttershy stopped her with a wing and brought the glass to the unicorn's mouth. It was obvious that she felt uncomfortable about the whole affair.
"Very bad at being pony," the male commented. "They don't see? Saw something like it at home. Don't know the name. Like us."
The queen chittered. "Like us?"
"Hunting. Looking for food. Something hiding here it wants."
The queen pondered the new knowledge and started tugging on the silk attached to her. "What was other thing mentioned in home? Intruder before the scary thing and yellow pony arrived?" She waited impatiently for an answer.
"Don't know. Hiding in metal room," a scout responded through the webbing.
This was aggravating to the giant spider. First an intruder, then the male that stalked her and her colony, and then another intruder! She didn't even know what either of them were, and she needed to get them both out. This was the best place she could have ever dreamed for her colony, and to see it jeopardized by some braindead creature that tricked the ponies into having pity for it was out of the question!
The giant spider climbed back onto the web and started sending signals through its silken limbs. 'Distract the ponies. Show them the true nature of the intruder. Potential threat to colony. Find first intruder also.'
"Will help," the potential mate said. He followed the others of the colony before the queen had a chance to protest.
HB and Fluttershy stared silently -but flabbergasted- at the unicorn. She was wandering about, gently moving what furniture she could then placing them back with utmost precision. All this under the scrutiny of the two who took her in, behaving like they weren't there.
"Well, at least she isn't destroying anything," HB noted calmly. There was a hint of barely suppressed anger in her voice. She turned to Fluttershy. "If you don't get her out of here I'll do it myself! It's my home and I don't need someooo-pony snooping around it. They're looking to steal something!" She didn't let the pegasus respond before yelling loudly whilst stomping towards the unicorn. "Alright, get out of m--" Fluttershy had stopped her with a foreleg past her barrel, prompting HB to cough. "What are you doing?!"
Fluttershy was staring at the pony with an expression the brown pony didn't recognize at first. She looked concerned and suspicious all at the same time, like she recognized what the pony was doing but needed more proof to confirm her suspicions.
"They...look like they're hunting..." she realized quietly.
HB raised a brow. "For what? Daffodils?"
"Maybe she's a savage pony?" Fluttershy pondered. "I heard that, sometimes, foals are lost in places and they come back like savages."
"Like Tarzan?" HB asked.
Fluttershy seemed taken aback. "Who?"
HB sighed and shook her head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."
While the unicorn resumed searching about the living room, something caught Fluttershy's eye. Something blue. Several tiny blue spiders were crawling all over the ceiling, apparently dancing in strange patterns as if trying to garner attention.
"Oh my. HB, you seem to have a spider...cohabitation problem." She smiled sheepishly at the grumpy pony.
HB grimaced at her then looked to the ceiling. "Oh. Them. Yeah. There's a lot of them in the attic," she said dismissively.
"Wh-You knew?!" Fluttershy asked in shock.
"Well, yeah, and they're not bothering me..." The brown pony stared off into the distance. "And also I didn't want to go up there anyways."
She was met with pursed lips from Fluttershy. "I think they're going to the kitchen."
"So? They're spiders! And they aren't doing anything."
"But...I think they want to show me something."
Gathering her courage, the yellow pegasus followed the little blue spiders while HB tried to handle the unicorn. She peered over her shoulder to make sure neither were getting hurt, but ultimately focused on what she perceived as guidance from the tiny arachnids.
There wasn't much aside from dirty dishes sitting in the sink and on the nearby stove. Empty boxes of food sat on a foldable table built into the wall, but Fluttershy couldn't figure out what it was the spiders were trying to show her. They were gathering above a dilapidated fireplace sitting opposite the entrance. Its red bricks were discolored black and gray from frequent use by the past inhabitants. The spiders were approaching the brickwork arc crowning the fireplace then backing away immediately, rousing Fluttershy's curiousity.
"Is anypony there?" Fluttershy called out. As she got closer to the fireplace, she noticed little bits of dried, burnt wood shiver with movement. "Hello?" she called out quietly again. She squeaked in surprise when she saw a tiny newt, no bigger than her hoof pop out. Its tiny, beady eyes started straight at her. "Oh, you poor thing!" she cooed. "What are you doing in HB's home? You shouldn't be in here. It's not good for you."
The spiders quickly scampered back into the ceiling when Fluttershy backed away with newt in tow. They didn't even let her talk to them. Were they that scared of a newt barely their size? The animal kingdom could be cruel, so the mare shrugged it off. It could be a predator of sorts. There were plenty of explanations, but, for now, she needed to take care of the newt, then the unicorn, and finally HB. Preferably as quickly as possible.
"HB, the spiders guided me to a newt. I'm going to take it outside, then I'll bring that unicorn to the hospital, okay?" she called out.
HB was wrestling with the unicorn to pull it away from the couch, but they wouldn't budge. She had a coughing fit before she could respond. "Fine," she said as she let go of the pony and turned her back to it. "Just hurry up. I can't stand this weirdo here anymore! Fffffffet, they're annoying! Why didn't you just go to the hospital to bring the staff back here?!"
"Because I don't know their state of mind. You can't exactly leave the house with your health in shambles, a-and I was worried that they might do something violent if they were reminded of whatever put them in the state they're in." She raised a wing and pretended to flex it. "I have experience handling large animals in a panic, so I could have helped subdue her if it got that bad."
During her explanation, Fluttershy and HB hadn't noticed that the unicorn was no longer searching around the living room and was staring at the newt who stared back. It had nested itself against Fluttershy's neck, but as the realization that it was being observed slowly crept upon it, its own neck slowly rose by itself. It squeed in panic and jumped off Fluttershy's body to land hard on the wooden floor and skitter to the door and back into the forest.
"Wait!" Fluttershy called out.
She was about to chase after it when a series of loud, disgusting snaps started to resonate. She turned to HB who had frozen in place, staring at her 'guest'. The unicorn's eyes were solid, black forms
"Uuuh...H-HB...m-move towards me."
"I can't. I'm scared. I feel like my paralysis demon is behind me. What is she doing?" the stiff brown pony asked.
Fluttershy managed to force her body forward and pull HB closer to her. When she got close enough, the sight of the pony's mouth breaking apart into mandibles dripping with venom filled her sight. They both watched the pony slowly grow in size while her four legs split into two very long, hairy ones. Her tail started swelling into the familiar shape of an arachnid abdomen. Ears and horn folded back into the carapace and several more eyes appeared through the now-receding fur.
"She was...a giant spider..." HB muttered. "Oh come on. That's cliché!" she complained.
The spider reached a bit past the eyes of its two observers, but it completely ignored them and rushed after the newt, knocking furniture over, throwing the table to the side, and breaking a few old pots left behind by the previous owners. It skid to a halt at the doorway by a hovering, yellow figure.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Fluttershy berated it. "You invade my friend's house, hunting something far too small for you, and you think you can leave just like that?! No! That's very rude of you!" While Fluttershy yelled at the giant, pony-sized spider, the creature swayed impatiently from side to side while rubbing its fangs against each other. "Now I want you to sit down and t-hey!"
The giant arachnid pushed Fluttershy and vaulted over to chase after the newt who seemed to have just avoided death by plant and was catching its breath. The yellow mare turned her head to watch it run off past the foliage leading into the forest, but just before the newt disappeared, Fluttershy caught glimpse of it becoming engulfed in green flames.
Fluttershy stood up and wiped herself clean as best she could, but she couldn't take her eyes off where the pony-sized spider ran off to. "It ignored me."
"Giant, monstrous, ffffetting spiders tend to do that," HB stated sarcastically.
The whole spider colony was in an uproar at what the intruder was. Giant! Huge! And then other one as well!
'Changeling!'
'Changeling!'
'Hive nearby? Threaten home?'
'Hunts big creatures!'
'But predator is here!'
'One not enough!'
'Throos! Throos!'
'Throos eat giant pony bugs!'
'Scary giant throos!'
'Throos came here too? Throos never here!'
'Followed colony?'
'No! Already here!'
'Is it same one?'
'More than one in same place? Impossible!'
"Enough!" the queen bellowed angrily through the webs. "Threats gone. Throos not direct threat to scary thing. Might protect scary thing indirectly. Keep close watch on it." She turned to face her potential mate. "As for you, I will..."
