//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Thingy's Halloween // by chucklefarts //------------------------------// Amber, Anon and the CMC all walked through the maze. It seemed like the maze was almost over. “Are we there yet?” Asked Scootaloo. “I dunno, are we?” Anon looked back at Amber annoyedly, he knew she was planning something. Amber smiled back at him with a somewhat evil looking smile. He had known her to subtly shapeshift different parts of her face depending on her mood like her eyes. The wide toothy grin he was given was full of sharp pointy teeth had no place on an herbivorous pony, her stare was a leer that hinted at a predatory and playful mischievousness. He hated it when she got that look. He knew that he would have to be extra careful, she loved her jump scare- “Hey look!” Applebloom interrupted his thoughts. “I think it’s the end of the maze!” Anon had been looking over his shoulder at Amber and snapped his head back to the front. Unfortunately, the rapid snapping of his head caused him to become slightly off balance as he ran face first into something springy and sticky. His stomach dropped as momentum caused him to press further into the mysterious springy net that had abruptly decelerated him. He felt himself bounce backwards and prepared himself to fall on his ass but the net seemed to have stuck to him preventing him from falling backwards or from moving much at all. For the first time since he entered the maze, Anon was scared. What in the world was this invisible silk that had so effectively immobilized him? Scootaloo turned around to look at Anon. From her point of view, he was standing upright. “Anon? Are you coming? Don’t tell me you’re scared of the exit. There aren’t any more ponies to scare you over here, it’s really the end!” “MMPH!” Anon couldn’t even talk properly, his lips were stuck, the silk’s adhesive was extremely powerful. “Just relax, Anon. Don’t be scared. It’s all part of the plan.” Amber whispered from behind him. She was on her hind legs with her forehooves on his back, whispering into his ear from behind. This only resulted in Anon becoming more afraid. Suddenly he put two and two together. There wasn’t any silk stuck to his knees or shins, Just tall enough so that the CMC would walk right under it. Anon began to struggle but the silk was incredibly strong and sticky. Very different from the easily breakable cobwebs. Of course. Thing would be using some sort of ridiculously advanced form of spider silk that her ancestors had assimilated in a planet far far away. “Hey, girls! Come over here, I think that Anon might be stuck!” said Amber. The crusaders galloped over. “Really?” said Sweetie. “I don’t see anything that would cause him to be stuck.” She lit up her horn and the glowing light revealed the web of silk that Anon was stuck upon. She gasped. “Woah.” “You girls didn’t get caught because you are short enough to just walk right under it.” said Amber. “But what is this stuff?” Applebloom took a close look at the threads in the air. “Usually spider webs are fragile, but this one caught Anon!” “I heard that there are large spiders deep in the Everfree,” Amber said. “They need larger prey so their silk is more sticky and strong to allow them to catch and eat larger prey. We need to get Anon unstuck from this web before the spider comes back and eats him! Help me pull, girls!” The cutie mark crusaders looked horrified at her explanation but quickly grabbed on to Anon’s legs to try and help Amber pull him free of the spider web. “One, two, three!” yelled Amber. They all pulled but suddenly the humongous upside-down face of a giant hairy spider appeared in front of Anon’s face, he saw it through the silk he was stuck to. The spider had huge fiddling mandibles and many beady black eyes. Anon’s heart stopped, his horror increased as he turned his eyes upwards to see the spider’s long legs clinging to the web and its huge abdomen behind it. The mandibles opened revealing a fleshy interior. “SKREEEEEEEEEEE” The hissing screech was horrifying. Spittle flung into Anon’s face as the spider screeched. The spider’s head swiveled sharply like a praying mantis to look at the fillies and Amber. “Run!” Amber yelled. The monster spider began to rapidly climb down its web. Despite its huge size, the spider moved quickly much like spiders that were tiny in comparison. It’s long legs made quick whipping noises as they quickly moved through the air. Common sense said that a larger creature would have to move more slowly than a tiny creature but this monster defied logic and common sense. Amber and the fillies backed away as the spider rapidly crawled under the bottom edge of the web and up to their side of the web, clinging vertically to its web while crouching on top of Anon’s trapped body. The spiders back four legs clung to the web while the front four legs grabbed Anon’s four limbs with pincers on the tips of its legs. Anon struggled but the spider was vastly stronger, quickly beginning to wrap him in a cocoon of silk that was excreted from the back of its abdomen. All throughout this process the spider stared at the CMC and Amber with uncaring, soulless eyes. “Thing?!? That’s enou-!” The silk wrapped over Anon’s mouth, he was briefly able to talk when the spider ripped him off of the sticky webbing but he was quickly silenced once more. “We gotta do something!” cried Applebloom. “Anon is gonna get eaten!” Thing put on a show using her Amber body. She looked brave with a hint of fear in her face. “Look, I’ll distract the spider and save Anon. You three need to run, you’re only fillies and you won’t stand a chance against it! You’ll only get caught. Hurry, go!” “But-” “Go! I don’t have time!” The spider suddenly pounced from its perch, jumping the length of forty feet from the web to tackle Amber. Anon was cocooned and stuck to the web behind. The spider rapidly skittered past Amber to reach for the fillies only to be pulled back by what was apparently Amber’s magical earthpony strength. “Go! You’ll only get in the way!” The tussle continued. Thing put on a show, making it seem like Amber had the advantage over the spider due to her earth pony magic. The CMC reluctantly retreated seeing that Amber would probably win, they ran back into the maze. In reality, Thing had designed the spider to be very powerful, flexible, and agile. It had organic genetic designs from her home galaxy more advanced than anything in Equestria. It allowed the monster to move in a very frightening way and quicker than what would seem possible. Once the CMC had left, Thing quickly stopped hitting herself. The spider picked up Amber with its pincers and climbed up to where Anon was cocooned. The spider cut and peeled away the silk from Anon’s face with its pincers. Anon spat and blew away the spider silk from his eyes. He was still stuck vertically to the spider web. “Oh thank god, what the hell were you think- OH DEAR GOD WHY?” Anon opened his eyes to see the spider eating Amber whole. Amber rolled her eyes as the bottom half of her body was being swallowed. “Oh relax, Anon. I’m just merging back into one body. Do you realize how difficult it is to control two bodies at the same time without establishing the correct hivemind architecture? I was kind of in a rush when I did this and didn’t implement it correctly. Plus, I get to freak you out! Great, huh?” Amber smiled as the giant spider mandibles closed around her face and forced the skull down its flexible esophagus. Anon watched in mild disgust as he saw Amber’s body slide down its throat and into its stomach. Suddenly, the spider’s head began to transform. The exoskeleton began to change texture, becoming more like a bone and less like an insectoid exoskeleton. Red gooish flesh began to leak from the cracks forming in the exoskeleton and the living goo spread over the surface of its face. The bone underneath continued to morph until it began to resemble a pony skull. The eight eyes merged into two sockets and skin grew on top of the gooish flesh. Finally hair and mane grew out of the skin and Amber soon looked like her old self… Except for the rest of her body which was still in the form of a monstrous spider. Amber smiled adorably at Anon. But then she burped much more loudly than a small feminine pony was capable of doing. “Oops, excuse me! I’m still digesting myself down there!” She giggled. “Soooo, while I have you here all wrapped up, what did you think of my prank?” She fiddled with her front spider legs as she somewhat nervously waited for Anon’s opinion. Anon sighed and his eyes took on a helpless kind of acceptance. “Well, you certainly succeeded in scaring me, but wasn’t that a little too much for the fillies?” Amber rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out which slid out of her mouth like a snake and licked Anon on the nose in a retaliatory booping. “Oh, they’ll be fine! I made it seem like the spider was losing so they won’t be too worried, plus I can just reform my pony body and we can say we defeated the spider together! Imagine: ‘Just as Amber was losing hope and the spider was about to wrap her in its silk, Anon breaks free of the web and bashes the spider’s head in with a rock from behind!’ Wooo hoo!” Amber smiled and she raised her front spider legs in a cheer. “Plus, if anyone else asks, we’ll just tell them that the fillies have an overactive imagination for one of the maze’s scares, right? We’ll catch up to them soon enough, there’s no way they are getting all the way though that maze before we go to the exit.” Anon sighed once more and rolled his eyes while he blew a stray piece of silk out of his eyes. “Alright, alright. You have a point. Now, you think you can cut me down from here? I know you like to tease me and show me just how much more biologically superior to me you are but I think you have had your fun. It’s starting to get uncomfortable.” Anon grinned in an embarrassed and pleading sort of way, he was quite vulnerable before the eldritch abomination. Amber blushed slightly at the praise. She liked it when he admitted that she was biologically superior, it was flattery to the alpha predator. “Oh Anon, you’re so cute when you’re helpless. We’re all alone and there’s no one here to save you or stop me from teasing you. Why don’t I have a little more fun before it’s over?” The cuteness was almost uncharacteristic. She always tried to give Anon a hard time, teasing and toying with him endlessly, but here in the privacy of the maze and with Anon in such a vulnerable position, Thing showed another side of her that rarely surfaced. Thing nuzzled her pony muzzle into Anon’s nose and slipped her long tongue into Anon’s mouth before she closed the distance with her lips and gently caressed Anon’s cheeks and head with four spidery legs. -------- “Girls.” Scootaloo was panting. She had been running for the past few minutes. “Girls!” Scootaloo shouted. “I *gasp* need *gasp* to talk *gasp*” “What is it Scoots?” Applebloom was breathing deeply but her earth pony stamina seemed to have made her more resilient. “I think we should go back.” The two other fillies looked at Scootaloo as if she had grown a horn. “Are you crazy?” shouted Sweetie. “We’ll get trapped in that spider web too! Besides, I think Amber has it covered.” “But what if she doesn’t? We can’t just leave her there! If she loses she’ll get eaten!” Scootaloo groaned. “Look, you two get through the maze and try to get some help. I’ll go back and help Amber. Time’s wasting, every second is a second she could be getting eaten. Hurry, go!” “No, Scootaloo.” Said sweetie. “We’re coming with you. If you want to go back and help Amber then we are coming too.” “But-” Applebloom put a hoof to Scootaloo’s mouth. “No buts, Scoots. We’re coming.” Scootaloo teared up. “Thanks, girls.” ---- Amber released Anon from her kiss and hugged his head close to her face and hairy spider body with her legs. “I love you, Anon. One of these days, before you die I’m going to assimilate you. You know that, right? I’m not going to let you die. We’ll be equals, I’ll trust you completely and you’ll have access to all of me and my, no, OUR hivemind. Maybe you don’t want to today but one day I’m sure you’ll see the light.” Anon was a bit speechless. He stuttered. “I-I don’t know what to-” “Oh no! The spider is about to eat Anon!” cried Scootaloo. “The plan, Scoot, the plan!” yelled Sweetie. “It’s too late, we need to help-” Scootaloo stood dumbstruck as she saw Amber’s face swivel to face her, perched on top of the monstrous spider body. The spider was crouched on top of Anon with its abdomen facing down and Amber’s pony head on top with its legs grasping Anon’s exposed head. Amber looked surprised and fearful. “Uh, oh.” Amber muttered. Thing scuttled her spider body rapidly around on the vertical web and hung upside down with her head on the bottom but still high above, looking down at the CMC nervously. Scootaloo looked horrified. “Amber! What’s happening, are you being eaten? I’m sorry I couldn’t get here in time!” Scootaloo began to cry. She had failed. “Wait! Don’t cry! Uhm, ah.” Amber’s eyes darted back and forth desperately. “Yes! I’m not Amber! I’m the face stealing creature Koh! I stole Amber’s face but I’ll give it back to her if you solve a riddle!” Anon groaned loudly from his cocoon. “Thing, just tell them the truth. This was not a good prank. It went to far. It’s time for you to own up. You can’t always hide behind your shapeshifting. I think it’s time you put your trust in someone other than me. Besides, who would believe these foals anyway? You really don’t have anything to lose.” Thing wearing Amber’s face looked flustered. She twitched her legs in a decidedly annoyed and insect like manner. “But- but!” Amber stuttered. Anon smirked. “Now who’s the vulnerable one?” Amber’s face screwed up in annoyed frustration but Anon’s logic was sound and she couldn’t argue. “I guess even a biologically superior being like me can’t always have superior logic. You win this time, Anon. Don’t let it get to your head!” She reached out one of her hind spider legs and poked him on the nose with it. Anon rolled his eyes. He was still wrapped in his uncomfortable cocoon. Thing clung to her web with four legs and raised the other four in a mildly menacing but lecturing posture. “Alright, listen up fillies. I’m who you know as Amber. I’m a shapeshifting alien that decided to bunk with this other alien over here because we were both aliens and I wanted to make him my toy to play with. I am much more biologically advanced than you can possibly comprehend so don’t go telling anyone about me or I’ll come to your bed at night and I’ll eat you! And don’t think you can hide from me! I’m much worse than the monster under your bed! The monster under the bed fears ME! I can slither though the smallest cracks, I can split myself into different parts and control all my bodies at the same time with ease! I can become anyone at any time! You see that fly on the wall while you are in bed? That could be me! I am watching at all times! I am the monster and the only reason I am revealing myself to you is because Anon here guilt tripped me into not assimilating you after my prank went bad! Assimilation? What is that you might ask? I’m glad you asked! I can fuse my body to yours and absorb your very flesh into myself! Are you scared yet? You should be!” Amber’s neck lengthened as she talked. Biomass from within her spider body slipped into her neck, creating new vertebrae, skin and muscle and her neck lengthened like an anaconda, her face getting closer and closer to the fillies as she talked. For effect she slitted her eyes like a snake or a cat’s and made her teeth sharp and menacing. The fillies were shivering close together in fear at the shapeshifter’s menacing posture, displaying her ability to change her body. “Amber...” Anon had a warning tone to his voice. Thing winced and sighed. Her eyes and teeth went back to normal. She retracted her neck a little. “Also, I’m sorry for the mean prank.” Amber muttered. “Can we be friends, maybe?” Thing winced at her own words. The only friend she ever had was Anon. She feared getting close to anyone else. But perhaps she could be friends with these foals with minimal risk. Amber looked down at these foals, crouched prone with frightened but curious looks on their faces. Their eyes were wide and shimmering, the cuteness was horrible. “Uhg, I’m sorry for scaring you, ok? Can you forgive me and stop making those faces?” Scootaloo slowly sat up with wide eyes. “So, you can shapeshift into anything?” Amber smirked. She loved bragging, it was getting really old bragging about herself to Anon all the time. “Why yes I can! I can transform my flesh into any biological structure I have assimilated or sufficiently analyzed. I am the most advanced species in my entire home galaxy and probably this galaxy as well. I-” “Thing, you better cut me down right now or I’m going to get mad.” FIN