She winces as the unicorn at the front of the party blows apart the next hallway of very brightly flashing lights. She’d never been a fan of destruction- honestly, she’d been content to close her eyes and sit down when they first started; that flashing would very quickly blind anypony that looked on them for too long.
But fate would have it there’d been unicorns in the party. It had taken them what looks like a fairly easy spell to simply destroy the lights- then what she understands is one of the easiest spells in Equestria to light their way.
They had forced her to move again.
She flinches when the unicorn yanks on her lead rope again, but complies.
They had tied up her wings. They had muzzled her. They had tied a lead rope around her neck.
She walks forwards with the party.
They had grabbed her when she fell out of the air. When her wings stopped working. They had dragged her into Lyra’s house- and apparently, one of them found a basement.
Then another basement.
And a third. The door had closed behind them when the unicorn had smashed that whirring thing in the corner.
Then they’d discovered a fourth… Though she’s not so sure she’d call this a basement. They’d spotted- and destroyed- another of those whirring things on the way down.
Then they’d passed through the door- and the lights had started flashing.
She’d also, very suddenly, she remembers, felt extremely tired. That had been interesting- alongside how it had gone away just as quickly, whenever one of the unicorns raised what he called a ‘Cone of Silence’... She’s not sure what that is. Twilight probably would be, though. She thinks he lowered it a couple hallways ago.
They reach the next corner. The lights around this corner aren’t flashing; they’re simply off. Maybe he’d broken something more important during that last blast.
She hears a scream from down that hallway. She sees a glint in their leaders’ eyes as he starts galloping. The entire party follows- and she has no choice.
Right down this ominously dark hallway. It looks no different from the ones with all the blinking lights.
Also, why had they heard the scream at all? He must have seen whoever screamed- and given the general racket their hooves have been making on this metal flooring, the screamer must have been forewarned.
She slows slightly, dragging against the rope, as her eyes widen. It couldn’t be a trap, could it? Her eyes flicker across the hallway, at the solid metal walls. She doesn’t see any-!
The lights in here aren’t broken. They were just off.
Now they’re on. They’re all flashing crazy. She thinks there’s a pattern to it- but it’s not just the plain white anymore. It’s all just as bright- but there’s all sorts of different colors this time- fluctuating, changing, blinking.
The disco-ball effect is somewhat familiar to her, though; Discord likes doing that kind of thing. As such, she’s able to keep her head on straight… and see what’s going on around her. Unlike her captors. Which, she realizes, the light won’t be bothering for much longer. The noise won’t either- that deep, basso growl, vibrating in her very bones, like an army of dragons.
She hopes she won’t have to face one of those- that one in the cave was scary enough.
If only because rather large sections of the wall- oh, as big as her head- are bouncing off the Unicorn’s heads. With large, leg-covered shapes leaping after them.
The shapes make contact with the unicorn’s heads. She hears one muffled grunt before they all- save the one she thinks was knocked out by the walls- let out blood-curdling screams. She does notice one of those legs touching the base of one of the horns right before the unicorn in question starts screaming.
She finds herself distinctively glad she doesn’t have a horn. She curls up against the wall, lead rope falling loose. She prays they don’t have something like that waiting for pegasi as well.
The unicorns haven’t finished hitting the floor yet when the leg-covered objects rebound off of them, to the rest of the party.
She spots at least one arc of lightning- at least, she thinks that’s what it is- as the earth ponies of the party fall like twitching bricks.
The pegasi very quickly follow suit, then the unicorns stop screaming.
The lights stop flashing. The hallway goes both silent and dark for a second or so, before the lights all come back on again- a steady, dim amber glow. Like the ones in the entrance before they had started flashing.
She blinks. The shapes are very busy, it seems. She gets her first clear view of them.
Spiders. Giant, metallic spiders, about the size of a pony’s head.
She lets out a muffled squeak, pressing herself even harder against the wall.
The spiders are attaching things to the backs of the party’s necks. Whenever they do, the pony in question stops twitching.
She watches them work for a few seconds. She even glances up and down the hallway- but with how quickly these things are moving, she doesn’t think she could escape. Especially with this lead rope still tied around her neck.
She slowly shifts her weight, eyeing them as she inconspicuously lifts her forehooves to work at the knot.
The last pony stops twitching. None of the spiders have come close to her. They start picking ponies up, carrying them towards her.
The wall she’s leaning against shifts. Her eyes go wide just in time for it to split apart with a light whirring noise, revealing a door… Which slides open with a similar sound.
She hits the floor, glancing ‘up’, into the revealed room. It looks empty.
The first party of spiders passes her. Simply passes her, carrying a unicorn into the room. As it does, she feels the rope binding her wings go slack.
A second party passes on the other side, carrying a pegasus. The lead rope loses its choking hold, coming free in her hooves.
A third party carries one right over her, leaving space for two more parties on either side. As they go, she spots a few flashes of light over her face- and the muzzle falls off.
She blinks- and, once those pass, rolls upright, rising to her hooves and stepping to the side of the door. She looks over herself for a second. All of the bindings, all of the cords… Gone. Cut, if she’s seeing them correctly. She even checks the back of her neck… Nothing metal.
She watches the spiders carry the rest of the party past her, into the room- and even follows the last set in, looking around. Rather interesting; once they’d shown they had no intention of bothering her, they just… weren’t nearly so scary. It reminds her of that manticore, so long ago. It had definitely been angry- but it had been clear to her that it hadn’t been angry at her. So, she’d been completely unafraid to approach, and find out what had bothered it…
That had been a truly enormous thorn.
Not unlike now. These spiders are very clearly working towards a goal, probably defense- but not against her.
So she’s unafraid to approach and find out what’s bothering them so.
Not that there’s much room to wonder about that. One of the party is stirring again- but his hooves are somehow embedded in the metal floor. So are those of the earth pony next to him.
And the unicorn across from the earth pony… Well, she can see how they reached that state. She does wonder a little at how easily those spiders seem to be cutting- and welding, she’s pretty sure that’s the word- the metal with bare touches.
She notices a glint of metal on the awakening pegasus’ wings. Just a little bit, right on the joints in the wing. Is it some sort of joint reinforcement thing…? She chooses not to investigate.
She then looks at the unicorn, watching as the spiders return the panels her hooves are embedded inside to the floor. She looks up at her horn, remembering what had happened in that hallway. She walks slowly over, keeping her eyes and ears peeled for any kind of signal from the spiders; she doesn’t want to bother them, lest they do the same to her.
They let her walk right up. She touches the mare’s horn lightly with a hoof, shifting the head slightly to get a better view.
There! Right at the base, on the back, there’s a tiny hole. She gazes at it for a few seconds before letting out a gasp and recoiling, drawing all the way back to the door. That hole is positioned just right to go straight through the horn’s thaumic channel.
The kind of damage that completely- and permanently- disables a unicorn’s magic. That is incredibly painful, and will never stop hurting.
That only the finest doctors can repair.
The burnt orange pegasus awakens with a start. His head snaps up and his legs twitch, but his hooves don’t move. His wings also twitch outwards, but stop no further than an inch away from his sides.
He then gasps, head snapping to the sides as he looks at his wings- they seem to strain at going further… Oh, that’s what the metal must be doing.
He lets out a grunt of effort, but to no avail. He lets his wings fold back again, and turns to his hooves.
She flinches at his panicked scream. Honestly, she must admit, she would probably also scream if she woke up to find her hooves embedded in the floor.
Even Discord doesn’t do that.
He eventually calms himself down, though, breathing deeply with his eyes closed, before he opens them back up and rises to a standing position, searching the room. She watches his eyes widen as he spies all of his companions lying unconscious, the spiders working at installing their hooves in the floor. And those weird metal bits on their wings.
Then he spots her, standing completely free.
“You!” he screams. “You let me free this-!”
As she recoils from his outburst, the outburst is cut short by… something, converting it into a pained squeak. She’s not sure what’s doing it, but his head and tail both snap to stick straight out from his body, every muscle vibrating, for an entire second before he collapses to the ground.
He lies, breathing heavily, for several seconds, before lifting his head from the ground. “How…?” He looks around, and turns on her again, once again yelling. “How did you do-!”
Same thing. She vanishes out the open door while he’s still recovering, leaning against the wall outside while she closes her eyes and breathes deeply. Whatever is interrupting him, it looks very painful.
She shudders. It’s… Whatever those spiders are doing, she certainly can’t argue its effectiveness.
Her ear twitches. Is that…? Yes, it is. Somepony is trotting down that hallway… Towards her. She looks frantically up and down the hallway… Nope, nowhere to hide. She resolves to apologize, explain, and ask for forgiveness.