"So thats why I believe that you should be the one to great this new creature and welcome her to Ponyville!" Twilight Sparkle explained happily to a very cross Starlight Glimmer.
Starlight had just woken up and was making herself a cup of coffee, when Twilight had burst down the kitchen door and dragged Starlight in to the library for an "Important Friendship Lesson". Of course it had taken Twilight the better part of an hour to actually get down to telling Starlight what the lesson was aboutn explaining that a new creature had just moved into town and was setting up shop in one of the empty stores.
According to the report sent by Pinkie Pie, the newcomer had moved in durring the night and very few ponies had actually seen what type of creature it was. From what Pinkie could guess, and from what she could find out from those who caught glimpses of the newcomer, was that it was no known creature anyone had seen before. When asked what it looked like, Pinkie claimed the creature had eight legs and had eyes as black as night, but Twilight wrote that off as Pinkie just being Pinkie and overreacting at the sight of a new friend.
Twilight continued to rant about the importance of making the right impression and that is was dire to make the newcomer feel welcome, while Starlight sighed tried her best to focus on her friend. Starlight gazed off into space and wished that Twilight would stop talking so she could get a nice cup of coffee before it got cold, when she realized that Twilight had asked a question. Trying to pretend like she was paying attention, she hastily responded.
"Uhh-yes?" She stammered nervously. Twilight beemed at her response, and pushed her student towards the entrance of the castle with her magic. Starlight desperately tried to struggle away and escape, but Twilight's magic would not relent its grip.
"Great! Now I know you may be nervous about meeting a new race for the first time, but think of all the research we can gain from this! You'd be going down in history! Oh! Just think of the report we can write to Celestia!" Twilight rammbled as she drug her confused student out the door and dropped her roughly on the castle steps. "Now the creature moved into the old sewing shop Rarity used to own before she bought the Carousel Boutique. Its right on Hoofington Lane just off of the Town Square. Good luck!" And with that, Twilight teleported inside the castle and slammed the doors shut.
Starlight sat on the crystal staircase, confusion etched into her face. She tentatively tried to open the large crystal doors of the castle and scowled.
The doors refused to budge.
She pushed harder with her hooves.
Still nothing.
Stomping her hooves in frustration, Starlight focused all of her magical energy, the air around her began to vibrate as powerful magic began to permeate the air.
"OOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN!" Starlight screamed at the door, throwing a large ball of magic at it. Unfortunately for Starlight, due to the reflective nature of the crystal the doors were made of, her magic was simply reflected back at her.
Yelping in surprise, Starlight dove out of the way and the ball of magic flew into the unsuspecting town of Ponyville. In a stoke of luck, a few worker ponies happened to be moving a large mirror right in the path of the magical ball of destruction it barrled down on the unaware ponies. Thankfully the magic was reflected up and away from the unsuspecting town, disappearing into the sky. Starlight peeked up from where she had landed and sighed both in relief and frustration. Resigning herself to the inevitable, Starlight trudged into town in search of the newcomer.
It was going to be one of those days.
A few minutes later, Starlight stood outside the shop that Twilight said the newcomer had moved into. From the outside, the little shop seemed pretty normal. Velvet red curtains covered the windows and showed a small display of books of various types. The metal sign hanging over the door read, The Spider's Web, and had a delicately crafted metal spider hanging from it reading a book. An open sign was on the door and the smell of freshly brewed coffee tempted Starlight to open the oak door. With a gentle tap of her hoof, she opened the door and stepped into a very cozy looking lounge. A few beanbag chairs sat in various corners of the room and a few books laid out on a few tables. Another velvet red curtain covered what Starlight could only assume led to the rest of the shop. Several large bookcases sat close to the walls and held a wide variety of books, ranging from brand new books on poetry to advanced spell books worn with age. A small table sat next to the door drew Starlight's attention and on it was the holy grail of morning ponies, a pot of freshly brewed coffee.
Sighing happily, Starlight levitated one of the mugs next to the steaming pot and poured herself a cup. Sighing in pure bliss, she took a long slow drink. Grinning happily, Starlight took notice of a small silver bell next to the pot of coffee. A silver sign above it read, Ring for Assistance. With a light push with her magic, the bell gave off a loud, yet present ring that seemed to fill the entire room. From behind the curtain in the back of the room a feminine voice called out, "One moment, please!"
Starlight could hear the sound of movement behind the curtain as whatever was behind it made its way to the front of the shop. As the sound moved closer, Starlight started to notice something quite...odd about the room. Almost invisible to the well trained eye unless somepony was actively looking for it, Starlight could see what apeared to be spiderwebs strung about the room as if preparing for a Nightmare Mare Night party. Starlight inspected one of the webs that was attached to to one of the empty cups on the table next to her, and was about to poke it with a hoof, when a slight cough behind her made her spin around in surprise. What Starlight saw before her made her body freeze with fear as the blood rushed from her face.
Before her stood a creature from her worst nightmares. It had the upper body of what Starlight could only assume was a Minotaur except it had no horns and six soulless black eyes that seemed to bore into Starlight's own. Its bottom half was of a spider's, eight long spindly black legs that tapered off into sharp points, its abdomen was equally black and Starlightcould see a blood red hourglass adorned on its body. When it oppened its mouth to speak, Starlight could see two sharp fangs, glinting in the rooms light.
"Umm miss? Are you all right?" The thing asked, its many eyes squinting at Starlight.
With it spoke, Starlight was snapped out of her paralysis as she let out a short scream, before her eyes rolled back in her head as she fainted and fell to the floor with a limp thump. A single thought raced through Starlight's mind before she faded into nothingness.
She really, really dislike spiders.