Chapter 29: Little Friends in my Walls
There was an uncomfortably squishy, wet noise as Cream Puff walked up the stairs that lead to the floor- the third floor to be precise, where the barely comfortable comfort that was her bed sat.
"Stupid Sweet Tooth Urchin... Stupid Ragga Muffin.." She muttered under her breath. "Makin' me do all the dishes after not doin' them for three whole days," she grumbled. "Be a whole good while before ma hooves stiffen up! Gonna be pruney all night!" She hissed.
Just then, the little filly's thoughts/grumblings were interrupted by a voice that was both terrifying and shrill.
"Little Filly!" Miss Hayneighan squawked from down below. "You best not be getting my stairs all damp!"
Cream Puff glanced down anxiously, gulping. There was the faintest of hoof-shaped water marks leading down the stairs in pairs. "N-no, M-miss Hayneighan!" she called back. 'Please dun't look at the stairs! Please dun't look at the stairs!' she thought fretfully.
"You better not be lying to me, little filly..." Miss Hayneighan said, her scolding taking a pause as the sound of a liquid being swallowed. "Or so help me, Ma'am Willow will be--"
That's the moment when the near glorious duel chiming off the front door made it to Cream Puff's ears.
"Humph! Those two are early..." Miss Hayneighan muttered. She momentarily turned to the direction of the door before letting out a hiccup and retracing her steps to the bottom of the stairs. "Get to mopping up any mess you've made, little filly!"
"B-but Miss Hayneighan!" Cream Puff called out in her cutest pleading voice.
"Oh, what is it?" Came the snapback.
"If ah mop the stairs now, water could drip through the cracks an' get on yer guests! An' it'd have an awfully long way ta go ta get there, so ya know it'd be really dirty!" Cream Puff held her breath for a moment. "An' besides, don't the rules say that Ah ough'ta be in bed by now?"
"Listen here you little-" the disgruntled sounding Hayneighan started, only to be once again interrupted by the door bell. "Fine. Alright, this time you were saved by the bell. But! First thing in the morning? I want those stairs mopped and shining so well I can see my reflection in them!"
"Ya dun't need ta do any moppin' fer that..." Cream Puff muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Miss Hayneighan shrilly asked.
"Ah'll be sure ta do that! Good night, Miss Hayneighan!" Cream Puff called out as sweetly as she could muster.
"Hol-" Yet again, the doorbell rang, this time sounding more than a touch impatient. "Goodnight, Cream Puff!" Miss Hayneighan sang through clenched teeth before turning her attention to the front door. "Cooooming!"
Cream Puff didn't waste any time in using that as a cue to dart as quickly up the remaining stairs as she could.
"Caaard Counter! Smooth Talker! Sooo glad to see you-" Miss Hayneighan's ever saccharine sweetening voice echoed cheerfully to her 'guests'.
Cream Puff sighed and felt a great deal of relief when she came to the door on the left and at the end of the hall marked '304'.
"Home sweet home..." she sadly remarked, her hoof reaching up and turning the door knob.
"Hel... lo…" came the exasperated breath of her room mate. "Cream... Puff..."
Cream Puff sighed and fell face first on her rather old, ratty, mattress that in protest to her conforming to the laws of gravity, squeaked, creaked, and whined. "Hey, Jeepers..." She sighed, more than a hint of bitterness to her tone.
"You're... not... still... mad... at... me?" Jeepers asked, his labored breath condensation on the class case of his busy ant farm.
Cream Puff huffed and turned away. "Nah..." she finally said after a little while. "Tain't all that fair ta ya. Raggy an Sweet Tooth gone an' tricked me inta doin' the dishes, again..."
"That... really... sucks..." Jeepers replied, carefully putting small cookie crumbs into the habitat upon which the ants happily began munching.
"Maybe you wouldn't get forced to do the dishes if you weren't such a pony pleasing pushover..." a voice interjected before the sharp sound of an apple being crunched into mush emanated from the door.
Cream Puff turned to the possessor of said voice and scowled. "Nopony asked fer yer opinion there, Olivine," she retorted to the tabby-cat orange filly with a curly jade green mane being held under an Eponaian-style cap.
Olivine looked over her nose at the angry yet deflated looking filly as she once more bit into her apple. "Just sayin' yer soft," her Manehatten accent retorted between loud mouthfuls of the fruit.
"Well, ya can be 'just sayin' back in yer own bunk, just saying!'" Cream Puff huffed, propping herself up on her little forehooves.
Olivine Twirl's eyes widened and she backed out of the door frame and turned down the hall. "Eeesh, just being honest. Maybe this is why that 'Heartthrob' pony won't adopt you..." she said, musingly finishing her apple to the core before tossing it half-heartedly into the room's waste basket.
Cream Puff's nostrils flared and she snorted angrily before quickly grabbing the very corner of the dingy pillow upon her bed and proceeded to send it spinning in the direction of Olivine's head!
"Hey!" Olivine whinnied, barely dodging the dirty pillow projectile. "I said that I was just being honest!" They exclaimed before darting down the hall as Cream Puff clambered out of her bed, face seething, eyes red.
"Ya can go be honest in yer own room!" she called out after the fleeing pony. "An' her name is Heartbreak!"
Upon Olivine dashing into said room, the door closing noisily behind them, all the anger and rage that Cream Puff had been feeling in the moment sublimated at the thought of all the commotion she had just stirred up.
"You little delights better be in beeed!" As if on cue called the sweetly caustic voice of Miss Hayneighan from a battered brass horn situated in a high corner of the room.
Jeepers pulled himself away from tending to his ants and wheeled over to a worn shiny brass button near the door frame. He looked over at Cream Puff, who despite staring despairingly forward, gave a small nod.
The wheelchair bound colt depressed the well worn button, and after an audible click both he and his roommate spoke into a black, tiny, shallow throated horn installed right next to its companion.
"Yes, Miss Hayneighan..." they said in resigned unison.
Jeepers slowly let go of that oppressive button while Cream Puff closed the door.
Every fiber in the small filly's being was screaming to slam the aged red door with the force of a raging hail storm. However, the only effort she could muster was likened to the breath coming off an only mildly disagreeable soft summer breeze.
This resulted in Cream Puff turn her back to the door, leaning against it, and slowly sliding down until her cruples came to rest on the floor, her hooves put out in front of her
There was a long moment of silence as the final dregs of twilight ground away and the room grew steadily darker.
"You... shouldn't... listen... to... Olivine..." Jeepers said, finally breaking the silence.
Cream Puff whipped her face and sniffed a little. "Ah know..." she whimpered, her left forehoof raised and looked as if it was going to collide with the door behind her, only to fall to her side at the last second. "Ah know..."
Once more, the quiet over took the room, and Jeepers was going to go back to tending his ants for the final time that night. Pondering on maybe giving them some more cookie crumbs from this night's meager two cookie dessert, that's when Cream Puff chose to speak again.
"Ah haven't even asked her about takin' me in ever since ah... gone an'... fetted up when Ah first met her..."
"Well..." Jeepers started, his breath in an extended sigh. "You... did... come... off... just... a... little...-"
"Strong?" Cream Puff interrupted.
Jeepers nodded and let out what air he had gathered in his lungs before pushing back any irritation he felt. 'After. All. You. Are. Kind. Of. Annoying. To. Be. Around.' "Maybe... just... a... little... bit..."
"Ah coudn't help maself!" Cream Puff started. "When she was there, readin' ta us all... With the sun shinin' in, her big blue eyes all sparklin'? It... I-it was l-like ma M-Ma... n-never..."
Jeepers put a hoof on his friend's shoulder and gave her a knowing look. "Sssh..." he managed to hush out. "It's... okay..." He said, attempting to quell any tears. "Didn't... H...B... say... that... she... wanted... to..."
"See me again tamarrow?" Cream Puff interjected, sheepishly looking away as an incredulous somewhat irritated look managed to slip past the thick glasses of the pony attempting to comfort her. "Sorreh..."
"It's... fine..." Jeepers said, trying not to roll his eyes, instead, opting to push his glasses up just a few centimeters. "For... cooking... right?"
Cream Puff could feel most of the sadness abating away with what images of what tomorrow could bring.
"H.B. an' me could bake cookies…" she said, sniffing.
"Yep..." Jeepers replied, offering a hoof to help Cream Puff away from the door.
"Or maybe muffins!" she exclaimed, not really pulling on the offered hoof, but instead taking it as a polite courtesy. "An' we’ll raid her pantry."
"That's... right..." Jeepers smiled, his friend standing up. She often had quite the stories in her head about things.
"Find them chocolate chips, see how old her brown sugar is!" Cream Puff giggled. "Betcha she dun't even have a properly stocked pantry! Ah bet Ah could help her come up with a list! Help her with the market too!"
Jeepers smiled as he led Cream Puff to her bed. She could be so generous with her time. 'That. Is. When. She's. Not. Trying. To. Get. The. Next. Mare. Or. Stallion. She. Sees. To. Be. Her. New. Mom. Or. Dad." he thought.
"An' then we might find a bag of flour up high, an' H.B. might an try ta get it down, but cause it's too high an' she's too stubborn, it'll topple down an' flour will spill everywhere!" Cream Puff said very runoff-ish. "An then we'll laugh just like that one time she an' Pinkie Pie were moving flour."
'Only. Down. Side. To. Bunking. With. Her. Some. Times. She. Can. Chat. Up. A. Storm.' Jeepers thought. 'Then. Again. She. Can. Sneak. In. The Best. Food.'
All things considered however, Jeepers Creepers was more than a little jealous with how much Cream Puff could actually talk.
"The, she'll have ta give me a bath." Cream Puff said, yawning as she began to get comfortable. "Then cause it's gotten late, maybe she'll finally let me stay the night!"
Jeepers could only click his tongue. He had to admire her determination in regard to this matter. "Cream... Puff..." he began to speak... only for something silvery on the filly's mane caught his eye.
"Ah know, Ah know," she replied, waggling her forehooves in the air and shimmying under her thinnish blanket. "Just cause Ah get ta agree fer me ta stay the night dun't mean-"
"It's. Not. That!" He said, approaching the bed, his eyes transfixed on a glimmer- a line of light that seemed to move back and forth on a single vector.
"T-then what is it?" Cream Puff asked uneasily.
"There's. Some. Thing. In. Your. Mane." Jeepers answered, tilting his head back and forth.
"It's not one of yer bugs, is it!?" Cream Puff nearly shrieked. "Cause Ah warned you-"
"No. It's. Not. A. Bug. But. I. Need. You. To. Hold. Still." Jeepers said, excitement in his usually labored voice, his hoof shaky, but steady as it was encroaching near the little filly's golden cream colored curls.
"Ooooh! Can't ya just tell me what it is already?!" Cream Puff whimpered, holding her forehooves tight to her chest and her eyes closed just as tight. "The suspense is worse than when ma Ma was making a soufflé in a hail storm!"
"Better. Just. To. Show. You..." Jeepers said, barely containing his excitement as both of his forehooves reached forward to delicately cluck the single foreign strand away and bridging it between his hooves. "There!" He gasped, pulling it taught a few times.
Cream Puff fretfully opened one eye to see what all the hullabaloo was about, only for a single shimmer to catch the moon light. Confusion now trickled onto her face. "Wha-... What in the buttermilk bisquick flapjacks is that?"
Jeepers' already wide eyes seem to grow even wider and sparkled in delight. "Spider... Silk!" he exclaimed, closely examining his find.
Cream Puff's face drooped and her left eye twitched as she found herself near death glaring at her roommate. "What. The..." She desperately sought out a word that encompassed the red rage that was passing over her eyes at that very moment. Only one word came to mind. "Fet!"
"Uhm... What? "Jeepers asked, eyes still transfixed on that one lone fiber as he pulled and moved it about.
"Ya nearly had me making ma bed in ta a froggy bottom swamp over sumtan' that comes otta a siders' butt!?" Cream Puff squeaked, throwing her hooves into the air.
"Spin. Er. Etts.." Jeepers corrected, frowning, and attempting to turn his wheelchair over to the direction of his desk.
"Whatever they're called, ya had me up in a tizzy over that?" Cream Puff once more angrily asked, as Jeepers lifted the silk strand to his tongue. "It's just webbing."
"No..." He replied, pressing it down onto his tongue. This caused a small indentation to appear on the appendage. " Ith... Dither... ent!"
Cream Puff took several deep breaths to calm herself down and her heart from going all fluttery. "Different? How? There's loads of spider silk all over the place here..."
"I've... Tasted... All... The... Silk... Here..." Jeepers said, getting to his desk and pressing the button that unleashed the fireflies in his little lamp. "This... Is... Different... Where... Do... You... Think... You... Picked... It... Up?"
"Ah dun't know..." Cream Puff replied, looking more than a little disturbed at Jeepers... unconventional means of gathering information. "Ah coulda' picked it up anywhere... H.B.'s house, the road near Sweet-'' She scratched her head before she covered her mouth as a yawn crept out. "-Sweet Apple Acres.. The path that goes through that park on the way ta the hospital... At the hospital..." she listed, rolling her eyes at the mention of the last place on her list before she snuggled her way back under her blanket. "Coulda' been anywhere." she repeated.
"Hmmm... Didn't... Heart... Bre-"
"H.B." Cream Puff corrected, a miffed tone in her voice as she momentarily turned over to glance at what Jeepers was doing. "She likes to be called 'H.B.'"
"Right..." Jeepers replied, taking out a special book from his desk. It looked like most any other book, except the pages were separated by flat wooden sticks that came from popsicles. "Didn't... She... Have... A... Rule... About... Not... Killing... spiders?"
"Yeah... What about it?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably.
"Nothing..." Jeepers replied sensing a bit of hesitancy. "Just... wondering... if... I... could... come... over... there... some... time..."
Cream Puff once again turned her head to glance at the colt. "Uhm, Ah dun't know... H.B. 's awfully particular 'bout the ponies that come over..." As she spoke this sorta-truth, she pulled an ornately needlepoint stitched pillow she kept on the corner of her bed close up to her barrel.
"It... would... only... be... to... look... for... spiders... " Jeepers said, carefully taping the lone strand of special silk into his collection book.
"Just ta look at spiders?" Cream Puff inquired the best she could as the sleep pulled on her eyelids and beckoned her to the dreamlands. The way that Jeepers stalked seemed to only hasten that journey.
"Yes... Just... to... look... at... spiders... " He replied, gingerly adjusting his handiwork.
"Well..." Cream Puff yawned and took a deep breath, her body warmth activated a scent pouch within her special pillow, a sleepy mix of lavender, chamomile, and winter heather. "Ah suppose Ah could ask about it come t-" She yawned once more. "Tamorrow..." she murmured, her eyelids finally falling closed.
"Thank... You..." Jeepers said, looking over, he realized that his friend had now surrendered to Luna's realm.
Smiling, and as stealthily as he could, he wheeled over to his bookshelf and with a hoof scanned the shelf till he came across one of his more well worn titles.
'An Equestrian Guide to Spiders and Arachnids: Our Creepy Crawly Friends.'
Opening to the books' index, he searched out several properties of the webbing that he had made mental notes of, things that Cream Puff wouldn't have the slightest understanding about.
'She. Knows. Her. Butter. Cream. From. Her Prench. But. She. Would. Be. Bored. With. Tensile. Strength. Shades. Of. Color. Or. What. Pitch. It. Vibrates. At. When. Plucked.'
As his mind thought of each property, his hoof went to highlight them.
'There. Are. Several. Species. And. Sub. Species. Some. Pretty. Safe.' Jeepers thought flipping through the pages and stopping at jumping spiders and orb weavers. 'Some. Not. So. Safe.' He paused at vagrant spiders and wolf spiders... 'But. All. Of. Them. I. Have. In. My. Collection.' He stopped and flipped to an article that was barely two pages long. "All.. Of... Them... But..."
He stared at the illustration of the large spindly spider with a velvety blue coat, eight red glowing eyes, and a pattern adoring its back that resembled a jaggid sad face. The one pictured differed from the rest of 'her' colony by the white silken dress that decorated her abdomen. Jeepers hoof lingered over the picture.
"Wouldn't... That... Be... Ironic...?" He asked, his sleeping companion who quietly snored. "Veneighsian... Sad... Faced... Spider..."
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/Click-Clack-click/
The sounds of spider legs as they crawled upon the eves of the house's front porch.
/tick-tickety-tick/
There were many red eyes perched on the 'mailbox' for signs of the return of any ponies and the creature that the spider Queen had been calling 'The Webless One' among other labels.
"Growing dark," one spider commented, their mandibles twitching before they made a flying jump to the edge of the mailbox.
"Protector thing-thing has been gone all day." shook another spider, who resembled an or weaver from its large web in the mostly dead tree.
"The air coming from the direction fruit flies breed feels of hibernation time," vibrated another from a juniper tree in front of the house.
"Cannot be time for hibernating. Still very hot!" Twitched a spider in the grass who was setting up funnel blankets. "Much prey! Ants! Hoppers in the grass! Loud noise makers!"
"For now, but how long without Protector Thing?" Tapped out a rather flattened blue spider attempting to camouflage around a tree limb.
"Without the Protector Thing, things from nearby Deep Forest could come!" plucked another spider as it began to pace back and forth on a leaf.
"Might be deterred by Thing's scent!" suggested another.
"How long does the scent last?? Could Be gone by now..."
"Lasts long! Protector Thing Stank! Remember they said... said.. to stand in house rain?"
"What if it doesn't last long??"
"What if Protector was harmed??"
"What if Protector turned more sick?! What if ... gained... the fungus?"
The Colony of spiders collectively shuttered in all their webs.
"What if-” Began several dozen spiders all at once, only for a single, clear, concise, and powerful vibration to travel through all the webs simultaneously!
"SILENCE!" Commanded The Queen. "You are all not only cluttering your webs with pointless conjecture, you are wasting energy doing so! More energy requires more resources!"
"But what if-" came the tiniest of vibrations.
"I. COMMAND. IT." Came the series of powerful pulses that seemed to override every one of the members of the colony's thoughts.
"OUR. QUEEN. COMMANDS. IT." The Colony entombed reply came to her from all webs and strands.
"Good. Now. If it would serve the Colony, I will attempt to see if any of the Long Range Webs have anything to tell us about the position of the Webless One," the Queen tapped out before taking a wrapped noise-maker insect and puncturing it to drain it of its delicious liquified body fluids.
There was a murmuring of approval to this idea along with the feelings of some of the hungrier members also satisfying their appetites.
"Very well," the Queen replied, stretching herself out in her centralized web, she reached out to the old webs that the colony had used to travel to this place, the ones that line the road. The ones that just barely breached the pony-hive, the place the ponies called 'Ponyville'.
That was easy. Filtering out the noise was the hard part.
Random leaves, feathers, prey, horrible birds, even a passing breeze caused more than a bit of static, but her species was practically built for this. Or, at the very least, Queens like her were built for it.
'Hmmm, narrow split hoof near primal forest... not pony... Another split hoof traveling with them. Smaller, makes repetitive noise... still not the Webless One...' she thought. 'Longer this takes, the more restless the Colony grows... Not as if we could just go out among the pon-'
Just then eight hooves caused the deep far webs to vibrate. One was soft and light- barely whispering a vibration in the webs. The other...
The way the ground sounded under those odd hooves, as if there was ice cracking or twigs snapping under each step. There was no mistaking it.
"The Kindness pony and the Webless One are returning," the Queen announced through the webs.
Almost instantly the return vibrations were that of relief and muted celebration.
"How far?"
"Growing closer?"
"Is it unharmed?"
"Still having difficulty with respiration?"
The Queen made several tappings on the strands that if translated would come out as a 'sush'.
"Nearing the junipers. So yes. growing closer." She paused and counted the steps and felt the pattern of the Webless one... it felt... out of sync. Then again, The Webless One always seemed to walk oddly. Like a spiderling still not quite sure on how to cast an anchor point. Or a spider who had lost two of their legs and they had forgotten that they hadn't grown back before a soon molt.
"Walking may or may not be impaired and-" The harsh sound that the Webless One had been making for the past week traveled through the webs, causing her to pull her leg back in disgust. "Yes, also still having difficulty with respiration."
"I feel them!" Shook an orb weaver in the junipers.
"Same! Can feel it! Now on rocky path!"
"Near the entrance!"
"Good! Good!" The Queen said, reeling because with her deep web sense still active, it felt as if her spiderlings were tapping right next to at full volume! "Make scarce! Hide! Now! You!" she shook a newly spun set of strings. "Spider now named Lucas!"
"Y-yes, my Queen?" Lucas' shaky reply came reverberating back.
"I want you positioned near the door near the Webless One. Stay out of view."
"My Queen?"
"...Yes...Lucas?"
"This one wishes to know... why?"
"The Webless one has been gone longer than usual. After the Kindness pony leaves...if they leave, if you approach the Webless One may be willing to explain." The Queen tapped out.
There was a delay in Lucas' movements and reply.
"Lucas..."
"Yes, My Queen. This one understands, My Queen. However, this One-"
“Lucas."
"...This one, Lucas, wishes to know if they can maybe be at a greater distance this time? And not make touching contact?"
"Only if they are not speaking first," the Queen responded. "Now go. The vine beasts are interacting with them."
"Yes, My Queen," Lucas replied, little legs leaving the web they occupied.
Leaping through the spaces between the walls of the house, the little jumping spider bounded and flew.
Sensing the low muffled vocalizations emanating from outside, Lucas made an anchor point and slowly dangled down through this dark narrow space that was only lit by a small knot hole opening at a ledge.
Along the many pairs of tiny red eyes of their siblings.
As they reached that illuminated perch, they could sense the vibrations and murmuring conversations the Kindness pony and the Webless One were having.
"Touched the Protector...Saw the hole-mutilation...Lost their spinners, we felt them shaking irrationally... named them! Not even her Queens have...vocal names! ...More flying prey from the slight right of the great shining spinner...Big thing! Had to be big! Big as a pony crashing in nearby many trees!"
It did not sit well with so much twitching about them, so the small snippets that did not focus on them caused fewer twitching in their mandibles.
Filling their book lungs, they crawled out of the knothole and into the moonlit frame above the inside of the door that led outside.'
Just then, Lucas braced themselves as the front door shook and rattled upon its opening.
"Whelp..." the Webless One began. "I guess this is my stop..." They said with an uneasy repetitive sound.
"Oh.. Oh, right... I'm sorry," the Kindness pony said. "It's just that your snapdragons are so friendly... Oh... Oh yes you are!"
"Heh... Yeah... Like a couple of... bug eating puppies they are..." The Webless One replied.
'Why does our Queen call this creature 'Webless'?' Lucas pondered, crawling just over the edge. 'Or why is the bird pony labeled as 'kindness pony', or why was the white horned pony labeled as... labeled as...' The spider tried to search their memory for what the Queen had called that one.
A spider such as themselves had never needed to retain information for so long, let alone recall it!
"Sooo!" The Webless One abruptly exclaimed.
"So!" the Kindness pony repeated.
"IIIIII guess I'll be seeing you again, come tomorrow. Well, you and Rainbow Dash..." the Webless One said, tap-tapping on the doorframe distorting their voice. "For.. the lesson in kindness you two will be.. giving me."
'Giving.' That was the label. The giving pony. 'Still why are there so many labels? Maybe the Queen sees things that a spiderling such as this one does not.'
"Oh yes!" The kindness pony replied, practically chirping, wings fluttering.
Lucas felt themselves needing to fight the urge to bungy away at the sound of a feathered wing entering the web. Usually such sounds were the harbingers of many deaths.
"Yeah, uhm... so... any idea when that'll be? Morning, afternoon? Or just whenever you two get there?" the Webless One asked, rubbing its front hoof against its leg.
"Oh, well, I suppose that it'll depend on when the hospital discharges Rainbow Dash," the Kindness pony replied, her words seemingly creating less dissonance to the webs than the creature she was speaking to.
"IIII guess we'll just have to wait and see and play things by ear when that time comes, eh?" the Webless One asked, hoof dragging irritatingly across the grain of the wooden door frame.
"I suppose so..." the Kindness Pony paused. "I know this is not the most important question, we have had a long day after all but..."
"But..." the Webless One repeated back.
'My Queen?' Lucas tapped as quietly as they could.
'Yes, Lucas?'
'Are all communications important?' the little blue spider asked with some disbelief that they were even asking such a question.
'... Yes. All details are important," came the reply.
"But are you going to sleep in your bed tonight or" The Kindness Pony became hesitant. "Are-are you going to sleep on your couch again?"
The Webless One once more made a crackling repetitive noise. "Probs gonna sleep on the couch. Cause, there's just something comforting about sleeping on a couch, for me... guess that's why they call it a 'comforter', right?"
"Uhm... I don't know..." came the awkward response.
"Oh.."
"I-it's not because today was too hard on you, is it? Because if you need help getting to your room-"
"No, no, it's fine, Fluttershy. Like I said before, the couch is just fine and besides, you need to get back to your animal fffriends?"
"I do, it's just... I really want you to get a good night's sleep. I-I worry..."
"Well, if it'll make you feel any better... I'll... just make believe that Equestria's kindest pony has tucked me in before I fall asleep?" the Webless One asked, their voice almost harmonizing with the strands that Lucas had sat upon.
"Uhm... W-what?" the Kindness Pony asked, her hooves clattering slightly on the ground.
"Nothing... Don't think about it..." the Weblesss One replied, opening their mouth for an inhalation, one hoof being raised in front of it. "I'm tired and don't quite know what I'm saying."
"Oh... Ok then..." the Kindness Pony replied, her wings making another terrifying gust of wind pass the strands. "Are you sure that you don't-"
"I'm sure, Fluttershy. Now..." the Webless One backed into the door and entered the dwelling. "Maybe you should take your own advice and get some sleep? I'll be-" Suddenly, there was a harsh, loud, distressed wet sound and the creature once again covered its mouth. "Fine!" they squeaked out.
"Are you sure?" the Kindness pony asked in a firm, but gentle manner.
"Yeah, just swallowed some saliva the wrong way is all," they explained. "Now, as I was saying, you also need your sleep."
"Are you sure, I could make you your tea and--"
"I've already had my tea this morning, remember?"
"Oh... Right... Maybe-"
"I'll be fine, Fluttershy. If I need anything, I'll send you a message via my fireplace. M'kay?"
"Are you-"
The Webless One raised their hoof over the Kindness Pony's mouth. "Yes. I'm sure. Now, goodnight, Fluttershy..."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's fine. Go home, you need to sleep," the Webless One repeated.
"Alright... If you insist, goodnight, H.B," they said, trotting away before leaving the range of the webs to most likely take to the skies.
"Yep. Goodnight, Fluttershy..." they said, before pulling the door closed.
The Webless One let out an exasperated sigh before turning around and walking down the hall towards the living room.
“Lucas, make your presence known," the Queen commanded.
Lucas found themselves jolted back to activity. “Yes, My Queen."
The little spider catapulted themselves across the ceiling beams and past hanging portraits before making an anchor point right above the hallway before making an anchor point right above the desk lamp and dangling down just in time for the Webless One to turn in on with a loud 'click!'
"Ope!" They yelped, before focusing on the space in front of their muzzle. "Oh, hey, is that you, Lucas?" the Creature asked.
'Respond to the affirmative.' The Queen told Lucas.
Lucas turned to face them before waving their forelegs at them. They in return lifted their forehoof- their perforated forehoof- the one with the dizzying spiraled hole drilled through it.
"Awww," The Webless One lamented as Lucas dove back up their line. "No touching, that's fine... I guess... Hope you don't mind me just talking away then... Good fetting Gaia, so much happened today and I just wanna get it off my chest... back... barrel? Whatever...I just need to talk, methinks..." They said looking up as they walked into the living room. "Especially about what happened with Twilight's fetting owl..."