Chapter 7: A Familiar Face
The four went down the stairs to find themselves immediately accosted by two zombie ponies and a snail. Spike swiftly unleashed a small barrage of rocks at the snail, striking both its eyes and rendering it blind. With the snail incapacitated, the group could focus on the the bigger threat. The zombies shambled slowly toward them down the wide corridor. The smell of rotting flesh washed over the prisoners like a flood, causing Twilight's eyes to water. Spike threw a knife at each of the approaching monsters, which buried deep in their chests but did not cause them to stumble. Twilight's horn flashed as fire engulfed the zombies, burning off their skin and only adding to the horrid stench that was already overpowering.
They drew closer, raising their knives for a strike. Big Macintosh swung at the left one, the iron weight of his horseshoe adding the force of the blow. His attack took the burnt zombie's jaw clean off, green slime dripping out from the open wound. The zombie retaliated with a swing from its knife, landing a glancing blow on Big Mac's unprotected neck, leaving a jagged, vertical slit that trickled red.
The monster on the right raised its knife high for a downward slash. Iron Will positioned his cudgel to parry the blow, but the knife cut right through the flimsy wooden handle, striking Iron Will on the shoulder. Luckily, most of the force was absorbed by the impact with the cudgel, but the zombies' serrated blades tended to leave nasty wounds with the slightest blows. His cudgel useless, Iron Will was now forced to fight unarmed. Thinking back to how Big Mac was able to kill the first zombie, he lowered his head in a fierce headbutt and gored the monster on his horns. He slid his head back to rip the monster's head clean off, coating his horns with ichor. The severed head rolled around for a few seconds, snapping its jaws furiously before suddenly becoming motionless. The headless corpse slumped to the floor in a pile.
Big Macintosh was having some difficulty with his zombie. This one seemed to have better reaction time, as it was dodging most of his blows. Twilight's horn flashed again, unleashing a huge firestorm that engulfed the zombie. The heat wave from the magical attack blasted against the prisoners, singeing the eyebrows of the two in front. When the smoke cleared, nothing was left of the zombie but a charred pile of bones and ash. Its rusty blade glistened in the faint torchlight from the wall as Twilight's light spell flickered and died.
“Holy guacamole, Twilight!” Spike exclaimed. “That was awesome!!”
Twilight blushed.
“Iron Will agrees. But why didn't you just do that from the start?”
Twilight sighed, “Because it is very magically draining. I don't think I'll be able to do any more spells for a while. Not even one as simple as a light spell.”
The four turned around to finish off the blinded snail. Big Macintosh jumped, using his enormous weight to crush its shell. Iron Will harvested the meat, handing two portions of the rather fat snail to each prisoner.
Finally taking a good look around, the four realized that this part of the dungeon had a new design. The walls were made of smooth limestone bricks rather than mossy cobblestone, and the floors were similarly made of neatly arranged tiles, albeit somewhat cracked. There were still remnants of shackles and chains in some places, and torches burning in their holders, but the ever present dripping from the upper levels was absent. It was dead silent, except for a light skittering sound. A search of their surroundings yielded two of the Grim Caps that Root Rum described and a note. Twilight read the note out loud, but Spike had to hold it for her as she was too exhausted to perform basic levitation.
Watch out for spiders ahead. They are venomous, speedy, and intelligent to boot. Especially watch out for their web attacks. If you get caught, you better have a knife handy to cut yourself out. Listen for the scratching of their legs on the floor.
-Root Rum
Suddenly, the skittering sound they were hearing made a lot more sense. Spike dropped the letter out of fear, but Twilight reassured him, “Don't worry, Spike, I've dealt with spiders before. Nothing too big to handle could fit in these tunnels.” She neglected to mention that she hadn't been able to fight off the spiders, and only Pinkie Pie's quick thinking was able to save them.
As the prisoners traveled down the dark hallway, lit only by the torches on the walls, they thought they could hear the sound of spiders getting louder. They decided to take a rest in the first small alcove they found. The four sat down in the darkness, with Iron Will and Spike pulling out snail slices and the ponies each taking one of the group's two Grim Caps out of their sacks. As they ate, they discussed their plan for the upcoming spider fights.
“Iron Will thinks we should attack the head,” Iron Will proposed. “If you want it dead, go for the head!”
“Uh, I dunno about ya'll,” said Big Macintosh, “but I ain't too keen about puttin' mah hooves anywhere near those poison fangs. We ain't even got a lick o' antivenom!”
“Um, guys,” Spike mumbled.
“I'm afraid I won't be able to do much,” Twilight admitted. “My magic probably won't come back for at least a day or so. All I could do is spear them with my horn. And only as a last resort.”
“Guys,” Spike spoke louder.
“I think we should try to immobilize them. They can't attack us if they can't move,” Twilight suggested.
“Guys!” Spike exclaimed
“We could blind 'em by throwin' some cloth over their heads. All them eyes can't see nothin' through a burlap sack!” Big Mac said.
Spike took a deep breath. “EVERYPONY SHUT THE BUCK UP AND LISTEN!!!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, echoing through the dungeon.
The other three stunned by the outburst, Spike continued. “There's stuff in the alcove on the wall behind Iron Will.”
Iron Will, too shocked to respond verbally, turned around. Indeed, there was a full bag of something behind him. It was so dark that only Spike had been able to spot it with his slitted dragon eyes. The minotaur reached up and grabbed a burlap sack identical to the ones they were carrying. Dumping it out on the floor, they found a mortar and pestle, a piece of paper with recipes scrawled on it, a few herbs, and, much to Iron Will's delight, a sharp double-edged battleaxe with a spear point on the end and a sturdy metal handle.
As Iron Will played around with his new weapon, feeling the weight of it in his hands and giving it a few practice swings, Twilight read the potion recipes.
Antivenom:
Grind the rind of one snake fruit together with an equal portion of raw snail meat. Mix with water before consuming. Cures most types of neurotoxic venom, including the weapon venom below.
Weapon venom:
Grind an entire snake fruit together with a half-portion of tar root. Should resemble a thick paste. Apply liberally to any bladed weapon.
Note: Because this is a venom, it is only dangerous when inside the bloodstream. Consuming it is harmless, although strongly discouraged.
Energy potion:
Grind one tar root into a thin paste. Apply directly to the affected area. Restores strength to tired muscles and magic to depleted horns.
Twilight immediately prepared an energy potion from one of the roots Spike had found. She dipped her hoof in the mortar and applied a coating to her horn. Immediately, she felt magic surge through her, allowing her to levitate the mortar and pestle into her sack along with the recipe list and remaining ingredients.
“Shouldn't we prepare some antivenom?” Big Macintosh asked. “Ya know, just in case.”
“And what do you propose we keep it in?” Twilight responded. “If we need it, we'll have to make it on the spot. I just hope we'll be able to find some kind of fountain or something nearby.”
The four were talking so loudly, they hardly noticed the skittering getting closer. Spike's yelling had alerted the the spiders to the presence of intruders. The dark shapes approached the group. Eight legs... sixteen... twenty four... thirty two...
There were four spiders in all. Spike was the first to notice the huge arachnids approaching them.
“SPIDERS!!!!” Spike screamed, immediately causing everyone to stand and prepare for battle. However, the spiders surprised them.
“PONIES!!!!” the spider in the front yelled. He was a light gray, with a tuft of yellow hair on his head, and, curiously, the spider equivalent of a cutie mark on his abdomen. His “cutie mark” appeared to be seven small circles of varying sizes. There also appeared to be something wrong with his eyes, as they all pointed in different directions.
Looking over the other spiders, they were all the same dark brownish black, with longer, skinnier legs, and a multitude of red eyes.
Twilight's eyes, however, remained fixed on the gray spider. She could have sworn she'd seen him before...
“Hey, I remember you!” exclaimed the spider in a loud, oddly cheerful voice. He turned to his fellow arachnids. “It's OK, everyspider, these guys are alright.”
More confused than relieved by the odd turn of events, Twilight scratched her head with a hoof.
The spider elaborated, “We briefly met when you were traveling through the Diamond Dog mine. Remember, you guys brought that troll to take away Errorgog?”
Twilight assumed Errorgog was the name of the enormous spider that had, along with many of his fellows, attacked her and her friends.
“Yeah, sorry about that...” Twilight apologized sheepishly.
“No need to be sorry!” the spider brightly replied. “He was a jerk! And after you got rid of him, I decided to travel and expand my horizons. Without your help, I wouldn't have found this awesome place! And these guys are alright. I'm Spidey, by the way.”
Gesturing to each of the other three spiders, Spidey introduced them as well through a series of unintelligible clicks and scratching sounds.
“I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike, Iron Will, and Big Macintosh,” Twilight said, pointing toward each of her fellow prisoners with a hoof. “It's nice to meet you, Spidey and... friends.”
“The pleasure's ours! We thought you were going to attack us!” Spidey said. Spike's jaw dropped.
“The last pony to come through here just attacked us with no provocation. I guess he just assumed we were monsters like all the other inhabitants of Mt. Grimrock. Of course, it doesn't help that he didn't speak Spider. Out of everyspider here, only I know Equestrian. In fact, I'm the only spider I've ever known that can speak it.”
“Really? And why is that?” Twilight asked.
“Funny story, actually, you see...”
“Iron Will hates to interrupt, but we are searching for a way out of this place.”
“You want to leave? Sure! Just go up three floors. You should find a large hole in the ceiling. Just climb up the wall and you'll be out!” Spidey beamed.
Iron Will and Big Macintosh facepalmed/hoofed, respectively.
“Um, Spidey, we can't climb walls... Is there a way out below?” Twilight responded.
Spidey's smile slid off his face. His walleyes rolled around, as if trying to think of an appropriate response. “Dunno... none of us have been down there. Too dangerous.”
Spike joined the facepalm party.
“So... you can't help us get out?” Twilight asked bluntly.
“Afraid not,” Spidey answered.
“I see... Well then... We'll just go on our way then and leave you be. Thanks for the hospitality,” Twilight said.
“No problem. We'll walk you to the door,” Spidey said.
The four prisoners followed the four spiders down the hall to a staircase.
“Well, this is goodbye,” Twilight remarked.
“I'll let the other spiders up ahead know to leave you guys alone. Good luck, everyone,” Spidey yelled as the prisoners descended the stairs.
Author's notes:
The gray walleyed spider (It was the spider version of Derpy Hooves; it even had her cutie mark on its abdomen) is from the MLP:FiM comic issue #2. I included the spider in here because I really like the comics but nopony seems to pay any attention to them.
I know it took a long time to get this chapter out, but I went on vacation, then classes started back up, and I haven't been able to make time for writing. Don't worry, this fan-fiction isn't going to die anytime soon.