//------------------------------//
// Wolf-spider and the Fly 
// Story: Off The Grid 
// by MajorPaleFace 
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Underground in the catacombs the sounds of fighting couldn’t reach them, a small victory Twilight was willing to acknowledge. She was still shaking.
After attempting and failing to reach the east barricade, Olive had led them underground. On the promise of an uneventful, if long, escape route that would see them all the way to the other side of the mountain. And a long way from danger of any kind. 

She was wedged between Olive and Falco. The two winged soldiers stalked along the passages, coiled and ready for violence at the first sign of trouble.
Olive had assured her they were going in the right direction, but Twilight felt utterly lost.

Twilight had been trapped down here for almost an entire day as a Filly, during one of her exploratory adventures. Ever since having a slight fear of the dark and becoming a little claustrophobic. 
The dim notes of gem light they carried failed to penetrate very far into the darkness, but she trusted Olives Thestral eyesight to look out for them. 

They edged on for a while, minutes blurred into an hour. And then two or three. Olive was taking them away from what she called the 'tourist route'. 
Twilight couldn’t imagine wanting to tour the damp dark passages. Even now she considered turning them back to the surface. But her fear of the fighting above outweighed her fear of the tunnels, and so she stayed her tongue. 

Her ear twitched. Twilight slowed to a stop to listen. Sounded like dripping. 
Just some water, she decided and started moving again. 
As they continued the path started to droop, taking them deeper underground. Eventually the mortar and brickwork faded into natural stone. 
The walls opened into little pores, then into larger and larger pockets 

The roof rushed away from them, curving up as they descended. So high that it couldn’t be seen. 
The ramp downward levelled into a stone floor. The cave had precisely squared edges that blended into the natural environment. Drawings and pictographs decorated parts of the cavity. Stalactites and stalagmites were arrayed around, jutting out randomly. 

“What is this?” Falco asked. 
“Wolfspider cavern.” Olive explained.
“It runs for ever, supposedly you could spend a lifetime in here and never find your way out. That is unless the giant wolf spider doesn’t get you!”
Falco gulped, “I’m sorry – the what?!” 

Olive started walking, Twilight and Falco hurried after her. 
Twilight had head the rumours too, and while she was usually willing to credit myths and rumours to occasionally holding a little truth. As a scientist she knew it was impossible for a spider to grow above a certain size. 
But Falco didn’t need to know that. 

The cave seemed to span all around them. Darkness in every direction. Behind her she heard a scuffle, and turned to see Falco splayed out on the floor. 
Twilight helped her up, “you okay?” 
“Yeah – hey! Look at this!” 
After lighting her horn, she could see the reason for Falcos fall. 
Part of a suit of Canterlot guard armour. It had lost its golden sheen and had faded to a more dark earthly colour. 
There wasn’t a skeleton inside, thank Celestia. Yet there existed a pair of holes just below the collar – about a hoofs-width apart. 

Olive came to investigate. “Looks old.”
A shiver started to form at the base of Twilight’s neck as Olive spoke.
“When was the last time we wore un-plated steel? I think my great grandmother had a suit like that on display.” 
Far off in the darkness came a scuttling, scratching sound. The shiver in Twilights neck raced down her back and seemed to make her tail almost shoot off of her body.

Olive started moving at twice the speed. Twilight caught up and together all three mares practically ran. The scuttling sound came and went. Shifting in direction seemingly at will. 
The ground became ever rockier, with more stalagmites making the journey a tricky one. 
They leapt from flat patch to more even perches like mountain goats. 
The gems provided so little light that Olive leapt and fell down a shaft. 
A moment later reappearing in flight. Falco and Twilight took to the air as well, together they rushed over the spiky terrain. The scuttling sound faded . 

The cave wall at the end of this giant cavern had a single opening, wide enough for them to fly down together. 
The path broadened into another cave as light started to filter in. The trio landed. 
The cave stretched on for a long way, ending in smaller passages that visibly led to more underground chambers. 

It was an enormous underground lake. Too deep to see the bottom, and filled with bioluminescent plant life. Little silver fish flitted about from glowing coral to glittering weed. Hiding from the larger vertebrates. 
There were jellies and eels too, bands of purple squid-like creatures roved near the surface. Hunting down and devouring anything that wasn’t able to hide. 
The walls and much of the cave roof had large hanging crystals that emitted a dull blue light. 
Little insects flocked to the light source, and what looked like a species of giant bat clung to the crystals eating the fly’s gluttonously. 
There existed this entire hidden ecosystem beneath their hooves all this time, and she was only just now finding it. 

“Look at this place! Did you know this was here?” Twilight asked Olive.
The dark mare just shook her head, “I had no idea.”
Seemingly at a loss for words, Olive started walking again. Twilight and Falco tagging along as they gawked and awed at every new thing. 

A massive web as big as a pony stretched between a pair of stalagmites. The apple-sized spider inside was grey and furred, with two yellow slits on its back with a dark line inside each.
Olive paused, “see how its back has those marks? Like a wolf’s eyes.”
She held a little compass, it’s direction pointing them east. She pulled out a map and made a series of marks. Quickly jotting down a rough layout of the cave, their journey here, and estimated time between points using compass bearings to write up a pretty decent map. 
She spoke after Twilight nodded with a look of approval, “I used to be a cave bat. A little club to get the pups out and learning about the world. We’d camp, learn to read a map, build a fire. You know, useful survivalist stuff.” 

Twilight smiled, she knew that. She’d read Falcos file. 
“Nice work. What now?” 
“We keep going, I keep drawing this map. We’ll stop for a rest every four hours. But it’s important we go quickly.”
They followed a path East, the lake was expansive. Probably the size of a small ocean. Along the waterline at the back, all the way across the water lay low level openings. Inside the lake continued into another ginormous cavern.
The path was natural, but short. It ended at the lakeside and acted as their first pitstop after three and a half hours. 
Twilight’s hooves ached. She massaged her ankles as she sat in the dirt. A few years ago she could march all day and night. More recently being cooped up with her research in the palace. She wasn’t afraid to admit to getting a little soft. She vowed to exercise more often if things ever got back to normal. 

Along the final patch of path were vines that creeped from the water’s edge and up the cave wall. The place was teeming with life, and little lizards chased insects of all kind. 
And now as she looked into the small spawning pools around their resting place she could see a variety of aquatic biodiversity.
Under a teal and grey coral spring, two eyes appeared in the matching coloured wall of the pool. 
Twilight leaned close in wonder, she could just make out a textured body. And realised it was a little octopus, it’s camouflaged skin shifted to a slimey dark red and it flourished into view. It looked as curious about Twilight as she was of it. 

While she held her staring contest, Falco had begun scrounging up dead vines and little bits of flammable dried moss. Olive helped by digging a little pit and using loose rocks as a fire barrier. 
The pair arranged the pile of twigs and vines together, and Olive moved to look hungrily at the Octopus. 
“Dinner.” 
“What?!” Twilight exclaimed.
“You’re not going to eat him!” 
Olives amber eyes took on a cautionary note, “why not? They’re delicious!” 

Twilight glared at her. 
“Ok, it can be the back-up dinner. It’s looking a bit small anyway.”
Twilight watched the Thestral edge back to the firepit, which Falco was attending and slowing building. 
The Thestral began removing her armour. Laying it carefully on a patch of flat rock higher up the slope. 
She stowed her weapons and almost everything else, trotting to the waterside and removing a small dagger from its sheath. 

Twilight refrained from asking what she was doing, but got up with a surprised gasp as Olive dived into the lake. Quickly swimming to the mid-level corals. Twilight watched her through the crystal clear water. 
Olive moved slowly and deliberately over the rocky coral, peering into crevices and checking the sparse sand. 
The smaller fish avoided her, and several schools of larger swimmers took little notice. But always remained out of range. 

Falco had the fire crackling nicely, as it burned into the vines and moss rapidly. 
Twilight could only shake her head as Olive drifted to the surface and sank again after a big breath.
“Princess,” Twilight moved closer to the warm fire and a nervous looking Falco. 
“I’m getting more firewood. Just keep an eye on it.”

“No need, just watch.”
Twilight steadied herself, focused on bringing to life her inner magical power. The familiar build up burst from her horn into a purple sparking light.
The energy absorbed into the ground, mashing up the dirt and rocks. The stirring stopped, and the earth began changing into aridly dry logs. 
Falco looked fully dumbfounded, with Twilight stoking the flames with the newly acquired timber. Smiling a little all the while. 

They hadn’t been sat for very long. Falco was trying to break the ice, talking about her ex-coltfriend who chastised her for becoming a guard. And then cheated on her. 
“No pony deserves to have their feelings played with like that,” Falco finished. 
Twilight agreed. However, before she could say anything, the water surface broke and a soaking wet ruddy Thestral burst onto the shoreline. 
She gasped for air. Her brain went berserk, had she been attacked by a cave-shark? Were sentient amphibians looking for their dinner? 

The multiple stupidly unlikely scenarios were shot down as Olive began cheering. 
“I got that bastard!” 
Twilight and Falco had to walk further along the shoreline back the way they’d come, Olive began coming toward them with quite the catch. 
A giant Octopus, it squirmed and struggled in vain. 

“Falco, go get the pan and the butter.” 
Olive hefted it up, it clung to her. Twilight didn’t know what to say, Thestrals and Pegasi typically ate seafood to bolster their diet. With Earth ponies and Unicorns traditionally sticking to grains, fruits and vegetables.  
“Im not going to tell you not to eat it, even if I think it’s wrong. But don’t offer me any, please.” 
Olive heaved her last breath, breathing normally again. “Well, alright Princess.”
The Thestral slipped passed her. She watched the fish in the water while Falco and Olive killed, prepared and ate the octopus. She would never admit it, but the smell was appetising. 
She busied herself with the few grapes in Falcos food ration. If they were down here for much longer she would have to eat some octopus or another water dweller. She hoped not.