Demon of the Deep Wood

by Argonaut44

01: Ambush

This was a terrible idea.

Merigold readied her horn, cautiously scanning the forest trail ahead of them. The Narrow Road lived up to its name, she had discovered. It was no wonder that they had been required to make this journey on hoof; no carriage could possibly fit.

The western edge of the Deep Wood was a second Eden, with its chattering critters and rustling leaves, whistling wisps of wind and the sound of acorns colliding with the detritus. Fallen leaves sailed the riverbeds. The trio crunched leaves beneath their hooves, and leapt across knobby roots in the path.

But the deeper they traveled the drearier the woods became. Dead things hung from broken branches, and all over there were insects and vermin churring and clicking and scavenging the forest floor. Merigold was less concerned about the grim scenery; she was ever on the lookout for the wildlings and bandits that she had been warned lived in these woods.

Splitting into four groups was foolish, Merigold thought. She had said as much back at the Inn at New Nightshade, when last the ten travelers had all been gathered together.

Merigold watched Princess Morgyn strut along ahead of her, clad in a white dress that hugged her hips so tightly it looked to be a part of her skin. A hapless noblemare who sauntered along without a hint of awareness, the princess was practically begging to be robbed or ponynapped. Luckily the princess was not alone. Merigold’s trio was in the middle of the pack; there were two groups ahead of them and one behind, each with about 500 meters between them.

Captain Merigold was a unicorn born to two wealthy parents in the city of Irwind. At a young age, her parents had forced her to attend the Sorceresses’ Academy of the Quiet Spring, despite her preferring to live a simpler life.

At first, she was skeptical of the Academy, or what she saw as a pretentious gaggle of wealthy brats claiming to serve a noble cause. Despite her reservations, she quickly gained respect from both her superiors and classmates, and developed into a prodigious sorceress. Merigold wore an enchanted, skin-tight black catsuit, had a gold coat and a lighter, long golden mane, and had pale green eyes.

They were making good time, she thought. They had only left New Nightshade around noon, and had reached the edge of the woods roughly forty minutes later. They had three hours left before they reached the other side. We can’t lose the sunlight. The further they traversed, the fewer animals they found, besides the overhead birdsongs and distant croaks of toads. But no foxes, no deer, only one or two squirrels. These woods are wicked, she recalled one of the taverngoers having said, just earlier that day, The long way is wiser. Slower, but wiser.

Merigold happened to agree, though Commander Valkyrie would hear nothing of it. Valkyrie thought it better to travel in smaller groups to scout out the dangers ahead, cover their tracks, and reduce attention, and so the team of ten split themselves up. Valkyrie knows best, Merigold would have to remind herself.

As long as the princess did not wander off alone, there was no cause for concern. Merigold had not spoken a word for most of the journey since entering the woods, focused only on their surroundings. Clair managed to talk enough for two, anyway.

Clair de Lune was a recent recruit, though she was considerably more competent than most of the upper-class students at the Academy, ignoring the bathing incident. Clair had taken point ahead of the princess, and her wing rested on the hilt of her sword, tucked away in her beltbound sheath. She wore a brown leather corset and brown leather boots and a white hooded cloak. She had a snow-white coat and a wavy, bluish-black mane, and a pair of blue-grey eyes.

Princess Morgyn had made little attempt to hide her disdain for Clair, who was unfortunately a social pariah at the Academy, on account of her being a pegasus, coming from a low-income background, and having had her first application rejected.

The Sorceresses’ Academy of the Quiet Spring was the most esteemed magical academy in all the land, second only to Celestia’s school in Canterlot. The Academy was the pride of the land called Augusta, which sat right beneath the proper land of Equestria, below the Macintosh Hills and the San Palomino Desert.

The Academy was a matriarchal order of spellcasters, swordsponies, and scientists, a branch of Star Swirl’s own Canterlot Mage Corps. The Academy was deeply involved with the internal and foreign affairs of Augusta, particularly in the areas of defense and political administration. Augusta had the allyship of the Equestrian monarchy, though other kingdoms resented the Augustans as an outlier and potential threat, considering their warlike past and the fact that many modern Augustans descended from those ponies who had rejected the Fire of Friendship all those moons ago.

One nation that had particularly strong animosity with them was the city-state of Foaledo on the opposite shore of the continent; the two nations would frequently come at odds with one another over territory in the Deep Wood, Forbidden Jungle, and Bone Dry Desert, resulting in a modern-day territorial crisis.

Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friend, Rarity, had visited both the Academy and Foaledo to try and negotiate a peace deal, and succeeded, though this deal required emissaries of the Academy to visit Foaledo in the flesh to make the proper arrangements. A new train line was also planned to go into development to unite the two kingdoms together, as well as to Equestria.

The young princess Morgyn, whose family was one of the richest and most prominent in Augusta, found that she would have to be the one to initiate negotiations, as she was thought to be a fresh young face their enemy would be more eager to welcome. Morgyn was reluctant to leave the safety of the Academy, but was eventually convinced after much pressure from her parents and the Academy’s High Council.

Morgyn Vanderpool was a unicorn born to Prince Elegier and Princess Morwyn Vanderpool of Shimmering Spires, part of a dynastic line of sovereigns dating back at least two-hundred years. She had a very pale peach coat, reddish-brown wavy mane, and moss-green eyes.

She was never suited for combat, Merigold thought, rather, the girl preferred to wear expensive dresses and show herself off. Her parents understood that the girl would require 24/7 oversight on this journey, and nopony was more qualified for the job than their very own Captain of the Guards, an esteemed member of the Academy, Merigold.

“But I think the very strangest thing about Equestrians is that none of them wear clothes. Well, some do. But it’s more of an optional sort of thing, y’know?” Clair said in the midst of a long-winded rant, “They’re all so wonderful. And polite, too, considering everypony’s strutting around with everything out in the open.”

Merigold smiled. Clair was about one of the only things that could make Merigold smile anymore. She had never been able to stand all the teasing and hazing the poor girl had suffered the past year. Merigold frowned, remembering how Valkyrie had called it character building.

Merigold came alert when Morgyn gave a high-pitched squeal. Her horn came alight, as she watched Morgyn crouch down near the edge of the road.

“A chipmunk!” Morgyn exclaimed, scooping up the rodent in an aura of magic. The creature sniffed around the air, dangling in the air, “It’s positively adorable. Can I keep it, Captain?”

“You have enough pets already, don’t you think?” Merigold replied.

“Nonsense, one can never have enough,” Morgyn said, before setting the critter down, and encouraging it to scurry off, “But he belongs here, I suppose, which is not the case for myself. How much further are we, Captain?”

“We’re an hour off from the checkpoint,” Merigold answered, as the group began moving again, “If you need a rest, let us know.”

“Oh, please, I'm enough of a burden already,” Morgyn said, "Our god fashioned me for dancing in ballrooms and tittering at handsome stallions, not braving the wilderness or marching with military ponies.”

“It was your choice to be the ambassador, Princess,” Merigold said.

“Is that what you think?” Morgyn laughed, “My mother and father insisted upon it. The entire Academy insisted upon it. What choice did I have? But it’s not all bad. A few weeks free from classes … some fresh air … and some quality time with my loyal captain.”

Morgyn noticed Clair’s eyes fall to the floor for a moment.

“And my new friend as well,” Morgyn added, “Oh, the two of you simply must join me and my family for dinner at my castle when this is all over.”

“You’re very kind, Princess,” Clair said, “But I don’t think your folks would take kindly to that.”

“Nonsense,” Morgyn scoffed, “Your low birth is most unfortunate, but it is no fault of yours. I see that now. If I have treated you poorly in the past, I beg forgiveness. I want us to be friends.”

“I would like that very much, Princess,” Clair smiled.

“Call me Morgyn,” she smiled.

Merigold kept an eye on the sun above them. She sighed as the pain in her ribs gnawed at her, as if there was still a dagger lodged in her flesh. But that wound, what had been a training accident, had healed already, or at least she had thought so. The pain lingered on, and long treks made it sing. She said nothing of it to the others. She had to be strong for them. Clair was formidable in a fight, but young, and reckless too. Merigold considered her responsibilities, and kept on scanning her surroundings, itching for a chance to relieve her stress and blast something with her horn.

Clair led Merigold and Morgyn down the Narrow Road, where they first came across the patches of stringy silk webbing stretching up from the dirt all the way up towards the canopy.

“Spiders,” Clair supposed, recognizing the substance instantly, “Some new breed, maybe. Big ones.”

“Stop, both of you,” Merigold said, and they both obeyed. Merigold stepped ahead of Morgyn to inspect the strange substance, and glanced around into the brush. Sunlight slipped through the treecover to shine off Merigold’s black catsuit, which was enchanted to strengthen her spellcasting abilities.

Something unsettled her. She had suffered her fair share of run-ins with the many breeds of giant spiders that roamed the wilderness, but had never come across something quite like this. These webs were arranged in a peculiar manner, growing thicker and thicker down the path until they formed a dense wall that blocked the beaten path entirely. There was some strange method to the process, and, even stranger, there was no sign of the other group having passed this way already.

Merigold stuck her hoof into a thick strand of the silk to test its strength. The material was thin and lightweight.

“Flagelliform,” Merigold deduced, “This is a rare strand. I didn’t think there were still living creatures producing this stuff.”

“There won’t be any left, when I’m through with them,” Clair declared, drawing her sword, “Stay behind me, Princess.”

Merigold squatted down beside some of the webbing, poking and prodding it. The researchers at the Academy would throw her a feast if she could return home with a sample.

Clair swung her shortsword at the wall of webbing further on. Her sword sliced through a few of the outer layers, before it got gummed up and rendered irretrievable.

Clair groaned in frustration and pulled at the sword hilt, desperately trying to wrench it free.

After a minute of futile attempts, Clair took a step back, catching her breath. She would have to wait for Valkyrie to catch up and help her. Valkyrie would not be happy, but better that than risk getting herself stuck again. Her face flushed red as the thought returned to her of the incident, when she had been caught bathing alone in the river by a giant spider, just a few weeks ago. The creature had managed to wrap her up to her waist in its vile silk before the Academy guards came to her rescue. Valkyrie brought out her whole platoon to bear witness to the ridicule, after personally slaying the spider. They left her there strung up in the courtyard for an entire day as punishment for leaving the grounds.

While Clair was daydreaming and Morgyn was rubbing her forelegs anxiously, Merigold was still picking at the silk on the ground, curious.

She touched it softly with her hoof, and then reeled her hoof back in shock, when she felt its heat. This is warm. This is fresh.

Merigold sprang up to her hooves, just as she heard a rustling in the brush behind where Clair was standing.

“Look out!”

Merigold was blinded in one eye when the liquid struck her face. The others must not have fared better, when she heard the screaming and the flailing of limbs. The great net of webbing had struck all three of them at once, having been propelled out from somewhere in the brush.

Merigold tried to ignite her horn, only to find the webbing had covered it entirely, blocking her ability to cast any spells.

Then she saw the thing, the six eyes that glowed and the pincers, and the teeth, those terrible terrible teeth.

It was not a spider that had revealed itself from the brush, but a pony-like creature instead, a muscled, equine beast with black fur and a monstrous, wooly head of a spider. He stood at nine feet or more, and must have weighed 600 lbs. at least.

The net had been cast at such a great speed that the three girls were immediately all tangled up together and stuck to one of the walls of webbing behind them, deeper into the queer labyrinth of silk.

The beast strode up to them, and towered over its web. Merigold again tried to cast a spell, only to suffer a mind-splitting headache as the silk solidified over her horn, rendering it useless.

The three of them struggled with all their strength, but as the silk hardened, escape became impossible.

“Fuck! Get it off!” Clair exclaimed, violently thrashing against the webbing. The more she struggled, the more stuck she became. Merigold, meanwhile, quickly got control of herself and stood still. Morgyn could only gaze up at the creature with wide unblinking eyes, trembling from head to toe.

When the beast was close enough, Merigold attempted to land a kick at the beast with her free foreleg, but the beast was as dense as a brick wall.

The beast laughed, as each pair of his six eyes glanced over at each girl. His ghastly grin was enough to make poor Morgyn shriek in terror.

“Do you know who I am?” the beast spoke.

Merigold’s mouth hung agape. Impossible.

“You can talk?” Merigold demanded, while the others were too scared to speak at all.

The beast growled at her.

“Why have you come here, to my home?” he asked.

Merigold gulped down her fear, and stood up straight against the wall of webbing.

“...We didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said, “We only want to pass through.”

“You lie,” the beast said, “Your order came to finish me off.”

“What do you know of our order?” demanded Clair.

“It was you who turned me into this,” the beast said, “You took my body from me, but I will take far more from you.”

The princess’ cry drew his full attention.

“This one is royalty, I see. I’ve never tasted highborn before.”

The princess burst into tears, while Clair kept on fighting her restraints, now that the beast’s intentions were clear.

“There is no escape,” the beast said. His mouth opened wide, and from it came a slimy pink protrusion in the shape of a tube, that protracted out from his jaws, slithering out like some great horrible serpent. At the end of the protrusion was his second mouth, lined with small, sharpened teeth at its edges.

The horrible maw opened up into a funnel shape, and closed again, as if to stretch itself out.

“Morgyn!” cried Clair, “Morgyn, look at me, look at me, I’m going to get you out, I’m going to-”

The mouth lowered itself toward the princess’ face, and its foul breath was so overpowering Morgyn though she might have fainted right then and there. Glancing up into its interior, she could make out the spasming chasm of wet pink flesh, dripping liters of mucus. The mouth crackled and groaned and belched, and hovered up above her, while she whimpered and cried. When the maw began to open wider, her scream pierced the others’ ears, while the maw stuck itself overtop her head with a wet slap, before stretching down around her head. Drool ran down her head and onto her chest, and her screams were quickly muffled when the maw enveloped her down to her neck. It lingered there for a moment, while Clair cried out in despair.

“Please, let her go! Take us, but let her live! Please!” she begged. They could make out the impression of Morgyn’s face poking out against the flesh of the mouth. Then it spasmed some more before opening wider to take her in by the shoulders. The organ sucked and slid down over her chest and over her forelegs. The princess struggled uselessly as the organ picked her up from the webbing with its incredible strength, snapping strands of silk as it dragged her free.

With her foreleg, Clair grabbed a hold of Morgyn by her hind thigh, but she was powerless against the beast’s strength. Clair and Merigold both screamed and begged, but the beast’s organ kept spasming quicker and quicker, sucking Morgyn in deeper as she kicked frantically in the air. Drool ran down her rump and her legs, and with two more spasms, she was up to her waist. The beast lifted her up horizontally, and worked over her hips and her rump. And with two more gulps, only her hind legs below the knees were visible.

“Oh, god…” Merigold muttered, as the organ spasmed again, and the princess’ hooves waved mere inches from Merigold’s face.

With one final spasm, the princess has disappeared entirely into the organ. With a horrible gulping sound, the princess’ body began moving towards the beast’s proper mouth, slower than before. The organ wriggled in the air as Morgyn’s form traveled through it, stretching out the pink flesh. When she reached the proper mouth, the process paused again, waiting for the beast’s neck and jaws to stretch out to accommodate the oncoming meal. Clair cried silently with an outstretched hoof as they watched Morgyn’s horrified expression through the organ’s flesh.

With one last large gulp, Morgyn’s form disappeared down the beast’s throat, completely silencing her muffled screams with an awful slurping sound. The organ retracted back into its mouth, leaving a trail of drool on the ground.

The beast’s gut had grown swollen once the princess settled in his stomach, and her limbs and face occasionally revealed her form inside.

The beast turned back to the others, who had both gone pale, as they wondered which of them would be next.

“I suppose an introduction is in order,” the beast grinned, “I am Gorgo. You are mine now. Beg and plead as you wish, I care not. You are food for me. Nothing more.”

He roughly grabbed Clair with his forelegs and tore her free from the web, holding her firmly in his grasp.

“No!” Clair screamed, “Captain! Help!”

“Save your screams,” Gorgo said, “I don’t have room for you now. Your time will come. And until then, I like to keep my meals well-preserved.”

“W-What? Wait, y-” Clair stammered, before Gorgo could roughly slice through her leather corset and her cloak, which was left as tatters on the ground. He pulled her boots off, and tossed them aside, before holding her there for a moment, examining her body. He had left her in nothing but her white undergarments and stockings.

“You are very beautiful,” Gorgo decided, “Perhaps I will have you last.”

Clair squirmed against his grip and grunted, but he was too powerful. His mouth organ shot out and stuck onto her stomach, slithering up to her chest, leaving a slimy trail of thick drool dribbling down her body. Clair shuddered in disgust as the organ stopped at her neck, spasming once to cough up a huge wad of hot green phlegm that dribbled down her chest. She turned away in disgust and terror as the organ slid over an entire side of her face, hovering around her before the stench of its interior made her wrinkle her nose and break into a coughing fit.

“Please,” Clair managed, “We’ll do anything you want, just please don’t do this!”

Gorgo retracted his mouth organ, to her surprise.

“This is what I want,” he said, “Keep begging. Keep struggling. Or don’t. It’s the only decision you’ll have to make from now on.”

“Captain!” Clair said, breaking down into tears, “I’m sorry, Captain! I’m sorry I was never a good student, I’m sorry I let you down!”

“I let you down,” Merigold said, “We’re gonna be OK.” She winced when she spoke; she hardly believed her own words.

Gorgo lifted Clair up so that her legs were directly in front of his chest, which bore a wet, wrinkly opening, one that resembled a spider’s spinneret. A wide, thin stream of opaque cream-colored liquid silk sprayed out, sticking to Clair’s ankle. The material solidified within seconds, while Gorgo began spinning her around a couple of times, wrapping the wide band of silk tightly around her hind hooves. He pulled her away from him as he continued to spin her, tightening the pressure. She winced in discomfort as the silk began to stretch all over her body, snaking up her form.

“Captain,” Clair managed, weakly, as she fell slack in Gorgo’s grip, defeated.

The silk compressed her hind knees and thighs, and then over her rump in hips in only two revolutions. The cocoon was skintight, and in less than a minute, Gorgo had reached up to her waist.

“Oh god, please stop, it’s so tight!” Clair cried.

Merigold looked on in horror, still unable to free herself or cast any spells.

Gorgo forces Clair’s forelegs to her sides after the bands of silk had wrapped over her midsections, with her foreleg hooves flat against her hips. The silk sealed her forelegs and shoulders to her, while Clair cried and pleaded for him to stop.

The weave snaked back up, wrapping around her neck as he spun her around. Clair let out a final cry of “No, plea-” before the silk wrapped around her head several times, covering her mouth, eyes, and nose. The impression was so tight that Merigold could make out every feature of her friend’s face, stuck screaming in place.

Gorgo spent the next few minutes wrapping Clair in a second layer for good measure. She moaned and buckled, but soon enough she was left completely immobile.

When he was finished, he inspected his work. He threw poor Clair over his shoulder, and then turned his attention to Merigold.

“You think you’re so tough, huh?” Merigold challenged, “Try a fair fight with me, and we’ll see if you’re still smiling then.”

“You came to my home,” Gorgo countered, “So we play by my rules. You’ve already lost.”

He bent down to scoop up Merigold out of the web. He clawed up some strands of silk from the wall of webbing to subdue her horn some more, just in case.

Merigold screamed and kicked, but was no match for his strength. He roughly threw her over his other shoulder, as she punched and kicked at her foe. He ignored her, as he trudged off into the forest brush.

Merigold screamed for what felt like an entire hour, hoping that Valkyrie or any of her other companions would hear her somewhere in these cursed woods. But her voice became hoarse after a while, and she could scream no longer.

The beast carried them four miles’ distance deep into the woods, as the tree canopy thickened and the forest floor became darker.

Thick bands of silk could be seen stretching out between trees and rocks, and there seemed to be no way to navigate through the tangled sticky jungle of silk, but the beast found a way.

“Where are you taking us?” Merigold demanded.

“Someplace nopony will find you.”

Merigold thought of Morgyn, who could be dead already, digesting in that wretched beast’s stomach. She glanced at Clair, who was still squirming, relentlessly. The girl never did know when to quit.

“It’ll be OK, Clair,” Merigold said, “They’ll come for us.”

Clair could only managed a muffled “Mmmmphph” weakly through the silk.

Gorgo laughed.

“I’m counting on that,” Gorgo said, “Your friends will make lovely meals as well, I expect. I have even discovered from one of your fellow students that Valkyrie is with you.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Merigold said, “Valkyrie will cut you to bloody bits, you monster.”

“Mmph!” Clair added in support.

“Perhaps,” Gorgo smiled, “Perhaps not. She may prevail. But you will not.”

They arrived at the entrance of a cave, carved into the side of a rocky hill. There were no animals anywhere to be found, only more of the webbing that seemed to cover every direction. Pony and animal bones littered the entrance.

Gorgo sliced a hole through a sheet of silk with his claw and entered the cave.

Merigold’s eyes adjusted slowly to the dark of the lair, which was dimly lit only by silk-covered holes in parts of the ceiling. Great pillars and sheets of silk stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and bones were stuck in the floor. Everything was covered in silk, a sticky white horror.

Gorgo lifted Clair off his shoulder and stuck her on the sticky cave floor. She bucked and kicked, but soon enough she was anchored in place.

“Now, it’s your turn,” Gorgo said, dropping Merigold to the cave floor. Before she could stand up, he grabbed her by the foreleg.

“Please, don’t, I won’t go anywhere,” Merigold said, falling to her knees.

“I know you won’t,” Gorgo replied, before launching a band of silk at her hooves. The liquid splashed against her, before cooling and contracting. Merigold began crying, and stopped struggling, hoping he would be gentler if she didn’t fight back.

She was wrong. Gorgo picked her up and began to wrap her up, much in the same way as he did Clair. The silk wound up her body. She sobbed as he spun her, forcing her forelegs behind her back before the silk could seal them, and crossed over to wrap around her chest. As she spun, she caught glimpses of Morgyn’s face and hands impressing out from Gorgo’s gut. Gorgo stopped wrapping at her shoulders, before forcing her face up against his gut. She was face-to-face with Morgyn, separated only by the beast’s hairy flesh.

“You will join her, soon.”

“Please,” Merigold said, “I have a rich family, I’m the princess’ Captain of the Guards, I could get you whatever you want.”

Gorgo grunted.

“You ponies always say the same things.”

He moved her from his gut, and finished wrapping her head and neck several times, before wrapping her squirming body with another layer. Her strength gave out when he was done spinning her, and it was clear that there was no escape.

All she could do was wait for rescue. The silk was tight, but not anymore uncomfortable than some of the tight clothes she sometimes wore. She could not speak and could hardly see anything at all, but could still hear relatively clearly.

Gorgo placed both of the mares in an upright web, taking a moment to admire his work.

He grunted, satisfied with himself, before his ears perked up.

“Princess Vanderpool?” came a voice from somewhere outside the cave, “Captain Merigold? Are you in there?”

Gorgo glanced down at his two most recent prizes, and smiled down at them, as they thrashed about helplessly. He slipped away into the shadows of the cave, as hoofsteps began to sound out from the entrance of the cave.

Author's Note:

Quick story I wrote, nine more chapters written that need to be edited, the rest should be out soon!

Thanks for reading! Feedback always welcome

Comments

[Slightly Dazed Bystander]

Good work, especially if as you say this was a spur of the moment idea quickly assembled.

I was really getting into the whole devouring sequence. That was horrific (which I presume was the intended response). It was kind of weakened by some unfortunate choice of vocabulary; I don't think 'ass' really works in a horror story. 'Hindquarters' or even the more laconic 'hind' might help maintain the atmosphere better. The villain's fixation on beauty made my skin crawl a bit, but that's not really a bad thing; villains are supposed to be horrific.

One thing that struck me as I wrote this that might be an idea for future stories is something that I think has always pulled me out of situations where a character gets stuck in webbing or similar glue traps. Once a character is established to be completely immobilised and helpless, the reader is tempted to switch off. After all, they're either going to die right there and then or get rescued, right? It might be worth establishing a quick plan made by the trapped character to get free. Even if it doesn't work, the reader is invested in the plan, meaning they'll keep paying attention instead of just waiting for the villain to finish gloating and the text to move onto characters that aren't incapacitated. Just a thought.

[Starlight Nova]

Why isn’t there a tragedy tag?

[Argonaut44]

11881312
It maxes out at three genre tags