//------------------------------// // The Spider Queen // Story: The Completely Normal Pet of Spike the Dragon // by DauntedSuperior //------------------------------// After being pulled underground we must have only spent moments in darkness before we found ourselves coming out of a dirt trap door and into a beautiful underground cave. Despite being mostly covered up by Spike’s protective claws I could see and appreciate the grandiose nature of what was around us. The ceiling was as high as Twilight’s castle, covered in glowing, pointy crystals of a variety of cool colors. Protruding from the walls were veins of gems providing much less light, but still enough to draw the eye in the darkness. All colors of the rainbow showed as the many veins stretched from the ceiling to the floor in horizontal stripes. To top it off, and why I began to become excited like a kid on Christmas, was that between the walls, and connecting the crystals on the ceiling, was some of the silkiest looking webbing I’ve ever seen. A quick look confirmed who are kidnapper was. Both Spike and I were in the grasp of a large familiar spider, familiar in the sense it’s hard to forget your first quest giver... after only a day anyway, I think. We were held in the front leg of one of the giant spiders from our quest as he skittered quickly across the floor towards the closest end of the cavern. I felt a chill go through me as Spike shivered, “Wow...” he seemed more interested in the visuals than the situation. I can’t exactly fault him though, the dark rock just brings out and practically demands attention to the gems, crystals, and the ivory and gold spider web at the end... wait a minute. Looking back towards where we were going and there was in fact a giant, strikingly white, spider’s web. It’s strands seemed as thick as a buildings if not bigger with gold slowly twisting around every strand. Inside the web was all manner of things from armor and weapons to jewels and chests filled with gold and several large sparkling emeralds of multiple colors. The closer we got the more loot I could see within the web and the more my mouth began to water and the more I wondered how I didn't notice it right off the bat with how big it was. I heard a loud gulp and looked up to find Spike eyeing the same web with a little line of drool on the side of his mouth, ‘Spike, this, this right here, is why you always take your time and help out as many people and creatures as you can. That’s practically rule number one for us Adventurers.’ “This is amazing!” Spike shouted with a smile spread wide across his face, “Do you think we’ll get something from that web if we return whatever it is that was stolen from the Spider Queen?” ‘I hope so! I can’t even remember the last time I saw this much loot in one place! At least not without a dragon gua-’ Eight glowing, purple eyes opened up on the other side of the web cutting me off. Slowly the purple glow started to grow in strength until it illuminated the head and the giant teeth of their owner. Each eye was twice as large as the cart Big mac had taken to the market earlier and it’s teeth were the size of their apple trees. Every detail of the monster slowly became outlined in a vibrating purple haze of magic and the innards of every line were a swirling vortex of black and purple with hundreds of tiny white specs of light shining through briefly when it moved. Slowly two thick forelegs came into view and two narrow, sharp looking spider legs follow before it’s even thicker rear legs followed. Folded onto it’s back were two leathery wings that had white lines running through them in contrast to the rest of its body’s purplish void color. It looked like the void given the shape of a spider dragon and then woken up on the wrong side of the bed. And it was looking at us. ‘Spike?’ I asked looking at the towering behemoth on the other side of the web, ‘We’ve been thinking this is where we get our reward right? What if its not....’ We stopped and were released just short of the opening between two columns of webbing. I hopped up on Spike’s head and couldn’t help but notice all the little gems, weapons, and armor pieces for what looked like every race imaginable inside of the columns. My noticing that though was just my mind trying to come to terms with the fact we might have just walked into the den of an Old God or something equally as terrifying. “I suppose you could call me an Old God.” a silky smooth female voice spoke up from right next to us. I turned and next to us was not the Spider Queen we fought before. Where as before she was just a giant spider she now seemed like a hybrid between a pony and a spider. She stood on six long, black, chitinous covered spider legs that lead up to a spider-like torso. It was armored with more chitin showing almost none of the purple skin that showed beneath. Spread across her backside though was a mark I couldn’t quite make out because of the angle I was looking. Attached to that torso like a centaur though was the upper half of a pony. The pony half was covered in a royal purple fur with void marks running over it like webbing, but the black lines seemed to not move with her entirely. The black and purple swirl with the tiny dots of light that were on the dragon moved when it did. The marks on her fur though were like windows to a stationary part of the void. Looking into them kind of gave me a headache. “My eyes are up here you two.” she said in a teasing voice making Spike and I snap our heads up to look at her eyes. They seemed to jump out at me with how striking her irises were. They glowed with a golden hue as the seemed to sparkle in the darkness like a freshly polished golden coin in the sunlight. “H-hi...” Spike barely managed to get out while I was just now noticing my tail was tucked between my legs and my ears were splayed back to try and make myself look as small as possible. ‘Do you think she remembers what we did to her in our fight?’ I ask Spike quickly as she starts to chuckle. A truly haunting sound if ever there was one. “It’s comforting how the world has forgotten me so. To not even know the difference between myself and one of my avatars.” her voice was slow yet deliberate, like a demon who knows they're in control, “Because I am in control Little Phoenix.” ‘Phoenix?’ “Phoenix?” Spike said the same time as me. “Surely you know what you are Little Phoenix?” she smiled seductively. ‘Let’s say I’m not so good at the whole remembering stuff thing.’ I say trying to keep the monstrous beast in my peripheral vision to our left. “Then the least I can do for such heroes as yourselves is offer a bit of information.” her smile grew, “I am an avatar of the void as Celestia is avatar of the sun and her sister the moon. That makes our souls immortal, but that is not the requirements for having an immortal soul. Phoenix souls like yours are unique. While my soul is bound to this realm and those related to it yours is not. An unshackled soul, able to go wherever they wish.” I hadn’t noticed it until she reached out and caressed the side of my face with her hoof but she had been slowly closing the distance between us as she talked, “One day, in the far, far future, you’ll be on par with me in strength. Maybe even greater,” her eyes studied my kitten body, “but you have a little growing to do till then.” ‘I need an adult.’ “Scruffy, I’m pretty sure she’s an adult.” Spike added meekly. “I’m quite possibly the oldest adult on the planet.” she said with a smirk, “But if any other immortals ask, I’m only twenty-nine-hundred.” she winked at me and pulled away. I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding. Spike though was no less tense and I could see him shift his eyes over to the void, spider dragon in the middle of the spider web loot pillars. I hadn’t realized but Spike was actually crouched into a fighter’s stance, or what could pass as one. I shook off my nerves and got on my paws to at least look like I wasn't a scared little kitten in over his head. The Spider Queen though didn’t seem to care, “Now look upon my little, baby dragon.” she moved her right forehoof in a sweeping gesture which the her ‘little baby’ dragon took as an opportunity to growl almost as if it was purring. The entire cavern seemed to shake with the vibrations just it’s growl caused, “Without your intervention she would have been released onto Ponyville in my avatar's anger. You saved the lives of everyone in the town as well as her own. You have my deepest thanks for that alone as she’s one of the last of her kind. Though thanks to me her species is making a come back, how though is our secret. All I asked in return was loyalty. Not a bad bargain if you ask me.” ‘Oh I see where this is going.’ that last line of hers put things in perspective, ‘You’re a deal making sort aren’t you?’ “It could be oversimplified as such. I’ve never bother to give myself that title, but it is in my repertoire of skills.” she smiled and shifted her focus back to her ‘baby’ dragon, “In my long line of work, I’ve seen countless immortals fall because they only cared about personal power. But those who remain today are either very good at hiding, or learned the truth. True power lies in quantity as well as quality. Having allies everywhere and making them strong and loyal is the truest height of power.” “Is this the part where you make us a deal so good we can’t refuse?” Spike asked out of the blue, “I’ve read enough comics to know where this is going too.” “Not at all little drake. I’m telling you this to show I am as transparent as they come in the world of immortals. It makes little sense to take future powerhouses such as yourselves and make you my enemies.” she had on a small smile that seemed the opposite of transparent, but at the same time there was truth in her words, “Now then I believe you two are here about some quest reward? Giving rewards to heroes for services rendered is a practice older than me and I’ve got the perfect reward for two strapping, young, beginner heroes such as yourselves.” The Spider Queen moved towards the closest pillar of webbing and loot. She reached out her hoof and the webbing parted to reveal a battered backpack. It was a dark green and brown and relatively unimpressive. An outline of purple and white speckled energy outlined it as the Spider Queen levitated it over to us. It stopped just short and opened up. The first item floated out, “This is a hearthstone. Simply recite the phrase, ‘I wish to make this my home.’ and tap it on the ground three times and it will become bound to that spot. Able to teleport you from anywhere in the world right back to that spot. It takes a full minute of holding onto it and gradually feeding it magic to activate though so be warned.” Spike and I both stared at it with wide eyes, ‘I assume Twilight would freak out if we said we had something that could teleport us across the world.’ “That would be hilarious to watch though.” Spike said as the hearthstone was place back in the bag and the next item was levitated out. It was a towering, rectangle shield that had no right fitting inside of that bag. It was dark grey, twice the size of Spike, and had blunt but menacing looking spikes on the front of it. The various nicks and scratches told of it’s heavy use from it’s previous owner, “This shield belong to one of the bravest heroes in the world over a millennia ago. One of the strongest heroes I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. It has a few enchantments on it already, but for you two I added something a little, special.” she gave that same smirk I think I might as well let her trademark at this point, “Go on and touch it little drake.” As the shield levitated over Spike’s eyes grew wider. As it silently came to a rest in front of us I could see I was wrong about how big it was, it was three times Spike’s size, not two. The blunt spikes on it were arranged in three rows and three across. Each spike was like a little pyramid with a square base jutting out of the shield’s curved surface. Spike reached out with his right hand and touched the surface between two of the bottom most spikes. Instantly the shield had the tell tale spider web of void magic, or the Spider Queen’s magic, appear before disappearing again. The shield then rapidly shrunk before our eyes and stopped when it was just a little bit smaller than Spike was. He turned the shield around when it was done and found on the other side was a brown strap that looked like a belt and a metal bar. Spike seemed to know what he was doing as he excitedly grabbed the metal bar with his left hand and strapped his forearm into the brown belt. “This. Is. AWESOME!” Spike exclaimed, seeming to have forgotten about whatever he learned in his comics about deals and whatnot. While I was looking down at Spike though I saw something out of the corner of my eye. The Spider Queen was looking at us with a smile again, but this smile was different from the others somehow. It wasn’t the ‘smarter than you’ smile', or the seductive one, or her trademark smirk. It was the same smile a mother might have when seeing her children playing. It was gone in a flash though as soon as she saw me see it. “Now for the final reward for our two heroes.” she continued on as if I hadn’t seen that smile of hers. Out of the bag she pulled out a book, “This is for you Little Phoenix.” she held out the book like I was supposed to grab it from over four feet away. ‘You know I can’t reach that.’ I said through half lidded eyes. Spike looked up like he was about to say something but The Spider Queen started talking again. “And that is exactly why you need it.” she closed the distance between the us, “Your memory problem is atrocious.” she brought a hoof to my ear and disturbingly I felt something very small crawly out from behind it. She lowered her hoof to my eye level and on it was a little black spider, “If my little spy here is correct then you have an ability to make shadowy arms from anywhere on your body, do you not.” She smirked as I remained silent and embarrassed but Spike spoke up before she could this time, “That’s why Scruffy has me though. I’m there whenever he needs to remember something. I have a mental list of all his powers that I’ve seen so far.” “So you two really do complete each other don’t you?” she backed away just a step and held the book back out, “For whenever you’re separated though writing them down and trying to memorize them can’t hurt now can it?” I reached out with a shadow claw from my tail and took the book from her, ‘So Spike gets an awesome shield and I got a book?’ "For once it wasn't me." Spike added as he happily moved his shield around, getting used to it. “You both also get this lovely backpack.” she held up the battered backpack with a big grin on her face before hanging it over top of Spike’s shield, “And that book is plenty special, but I have no more time for you two I’m afraid. Thank you for your help in getting back my eggs and helping me catch the thief.” that surprised Spike and I. “But we haven’t gotten the eggs back yet, we only had a lead to where they were. We only just now were told it was eggs they stole in the first place.” Spike admitted with confusion written on his face. “Oh don't you worry your pretty, little head. You've helped me more than you know. I was practically there with you two all day thanks to my little spy here.” The Spider Queen brought the little spider that was on me up to her face and proceeded to nuzzle it, “My children confirmed the identity of the thief and we found the eggs in magical containers in the basement of the very house you two were outside of. We weren't about to sit on the sidelines and let you dish out our justice.” One of the larger spiders that we had seen the night before skittered on passed with a wound up bundle of webbing on its back, “Now if you excuse me I have a prisoner to interrogate, but rest assured he will be given back to Celestia without a scratch on him. Once I’ve gotten how he knew about this place out of him that is.” as she finished I saw the first sinister smile out of her, showing her fangs and shar teeth, and it chilled me to my core, “Enjoy your rewards my little adventurers.” She waved her hoof and we were surrounded by her purple and white speckled void energy before either of us could get a word in, “And since you’ve been wondering this whole time, my name is Nazarubi.” there was a blinding flash of light that forced Spike and I to close our eyes. When I opened my eyes again I could feel the setting sun’s warmth on my fur. I hadn’t realized how cold it was down in the caverns and I use ice powers so I know cold. A quick glance around showed we had spent more time down in the cavern than I had thought. Where as before the sun was high in the afternoon sky it had started it’s descent into the horizon, it was a few more hours the sun actually set but the change was noticeable. “Scruffy where are we?” Spike asked as he looked around at the few trees that were around us. I reared up on my hind paws and looked around, ‘I think I see the town clocktower way off in the distance. It would take us an hour or two to walk there.’ “Huh, do you think she meant to put us this far out of town?” Spike asked as we started walking. ‘You think she could mess up a teleport this badly?’ I asked before something clicked in my mind, ‘And how dumb was that guy to steal her eggs? I honestly feel bad for whatever he’s a about to go through.’ “I don’t feel bad for him he lied to Rarity about who he was.” Spike said as he tried to cross his arms and was reminded he had a giant shield attached to his left arm, “Wow this thing really is light.” ‘Hopefully that doesn’t make it weaker being that light.’ with the book I got for a reward still in my tail’s shadow claw I reached forward with my paw and made another to pick up the tattered backpack. It instantly glowed with the spider web of void magic just like the shield and shrunk in size and changing in color. Gone was the green and brown tattered backpack. It was replaced with a black pair of saddlebags that looked like they would fit my small frame perfectly. Looking closer the black on the packs subtly shifted the longer you looked at it, like it was made out of the shadows themselves. A smile broke out across my face as I almost started hopping in place on Spike's head, 'I did get something out of this!' “Scruffy open the book!” Spike said excitedly, “Let’s see what kind of magic spells it has in it! Or treasure maps! Or maybe a mint copy of Power Ponies issue 12 the first-” ‘I’m gonna stop ya right there Spike,’ I interrupted, ‘There isn’t a comic book in here, but let's see what is!’ I place my new bags on my rear end like I saw ponies do all the time and now used both claws to hold the book in front of us. To build suspense I slowly opened up the book to the first page and found... nothing. Slightly worried I flipped to the second page and it was also entirely blank. Same for pages three through the rest of the stupid thing, ‘Okay so the book is just a blank book. That’s a let down.’ “At least you got a cool pair of saddlebags out of it though.” Spike was quick to chime in and cheer me up, “A besides now we have a place to store larger stuff that won’t fit in my pocket space.” ‘So I’m going to be the little guy who follows you around and carries all your stuff for you? I’m no pack mule just for future reference.’ Spike started laughing as I opened up my bags. The book quickly found what would probably be it’s permanent resting spot as I easily stretched the rim of the fabric to easily allow the book to fall into the shadowy innards of the bag, ‘We got way off topic though, what was that you were saying about Narubi messing up her teleport?’ “Nazarubi was her name and Twilight told me when you get to Celestia and Luna’s magical strength precision becomes really difficult. Twilight practices teleporting all the time and the one time she got Celestia to do a demonstration of how she teleports and it required so many spell focuses that it was more wasteful and time consuming than blinking to her destination.” we started walking again as Spike talked. I waited a few seconds as Spike went back to his shield and it became apparent I had to ask, 'So what is blinking exactly?' Spike stopped and seemed to be in thought for a few seconds, "Well teleporting is for long distance and blinking is basically teleporting but where you can see the destination. Blinking is really easy for unicorns with a good sized mana pool but it's still very taxing." 'So I guess that makes the Hearthstone she gave us really powerful right?' I asked trying to grasp what I was bound to forget soon enough. "Yeah, I think I've heard of something like our Hearthstone once and it was in a book about legends. I wonder if we can find anything in the Crystal Treehouse's library about the rest of our gear." As Spike started to unstrap his shield to inspect the front of it I couldn’t help but feel as if we were forgetting something. Something important, ‘Spike hold the story for a sec.’ “Oh, what’s up?” ‘Are we forgetting anything? Something important. I feel like we are but I just can’t think of it.’ I brought a paw to my chin and tried my hardest to think of what it was we were forgetting. “Well we got our quest reward from Nazarubi. Before that we were stalking Ray after his meeting with Sleek about their Canterlot Plan.” Spike said casually, “No I don’t think we’re forgetting anything.” ‘The Canterlot Plan! We have to stop the rest of them tonight before they do whatever it is they’re going to do!’ I said with renewed and remembered resolve. “Uh Scruffy, we already spoiled that plan remember? They don’t have the eggs anymore and Ray is with Nazarubi. Whatever they had planned is probably sunk and when we tell the guards when we get back about it Sleek and Red will be off to the slammer with their leader!” Spike said excitedly, “That means no more Sleek to take my assistant spot and no more Ray to take my Rarity’s heart. That’s what I call a good day’s work.” ‘If I had a bit for every time I thought I had won in the past I think I would be rich.’ I shook my head, ‘Let’s just get back to the castle and report them as soon as possible then, okay?’ “Don’t gotta tell me twice. The faster we get there the faster Sleek is off to jail and I get to tell Twilight I told her so.” Spike started walking faster through the grass. ‘Don’t forget justice and all that Mr. Hero.’ I said with a chuckle. “Oh yeah, I wonder if Rarity is into heroes.” ‘Come on lover drake, I'm sure she is, but we won’t know until we get back to town.’ and maybe after that this sinking feeling in my gut will go away.