//------------------------------// // Chapter 29: Arachnophobia // Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks // by TheColtTrio //------------------------------// The group trudged on through the darkness of the cave, their renewed spirits having faded many steps ago. While the cavern they had been following had taken a more noticeable upwards slant, it had also grown noticeably more constrained; Rainbow Dash having been forced by its decreased size to take to her hoofs rather than her wings. “You sure we’re still heading the right way?” the blue pegasus asked, trying to shake the feeling that the cavern had shrunk even more. “It’s still heading up, so that's gotta mean something,” Light Patch said, giving his mental golf score counter another click. “Don’t worry Dashie, I’m sure we’ll find the way out soon and then you can do all of the loopidy loopies you want,” Pinkie said, leaning against her friend for a few seconds. “I suppose now would be a bad time to bring up my mild claustrophobia?” Perfect Profit timidly asked, trying really hard to control her body’s shaking. “Don’t you worry a moment, Perfect Profit! We’ll get out of here just fine,” Pinkie said moments before the second to last torch died. “Really, Murphy? Now? Don’t you have some ponies elsewhere to bother?” the pink mare screeched, prompting a snort of amusement from the pegasus stallion. “Did I mention I never coped well with darkness either?” Perfect Profit squeaked out, looking at the final torch still fighting against the darkness. Light Patch, overwhelmed by the absurdity of the situation, burst out laughing, gaining him the ire of the three mares; However, his laughter combined with the lack of light caused him to miss the small cliff; with a yelp, he fell over the edge separating the small tunnel from the larger cavern. The three mares froze with fear, before suddenly his hoof shot back into view. “I’m okay,” he managed. “By the way, watch that first step; it’s a bit of a doozy.” As the rest of the mares caught up, he turned to observe the darkness of the new cavern. As he’d expected, only darkness greeted him, until just barely, for just a second, he thought he’d saw something. Wanting to be sure it wasn’t just some kind of strange dirt on his glasses, he gave them a quick clean before checking again. But again, the same ghostly sparkles just on the edge of observation. He gave a swift punch to Rainbow Dash, then quickly cut her exclamation off by throwing his hoof out into the darkness. “Is it just me, or do you see something out there?” With a lingering glare, the pegasus mare turned her head to peer into the darkness; her stronger eyesight quickly picking out what he’d spotted. “It’s light,” she hesitantly stated, squinting to try and make it out better. “I, I think it’s a town” she shouted. The ponies all glanced at each other before quickly setting off towards the light as fast as they could manage. Rainbow Dash was naturally the first one to the entrance of the strange town. Not that I’d really call it a town, she thought, looking at the strange architecture. Just peeking through the opening, she saw more cave entrances rather than actual doors. She approved of the blue flames on the torches. Those are almost as awesome as me. Whoever lives here, though, if anypony does, should really clean a little more, though, she considered, looking at the many webs hanging about, they should also look into spending a little more time fixing too. “Don’t tell me you pocketed the gate guards, Rainbow,” Light Patch quipped when he and the rest of the group caught up. “They can’t have been that handsome,” The stallion finished, earning a few giggles from the two earth pony mares, and a glare from Rainbow Dash. “There wasn’t anypony here,” she shot back with a snort. “Besides, I think this place is abandoned.” This prompted a small frown from the pegasus stallion, who peaked through the open gate for a few moments. “Yeah, the place does seem deserted. We still have to scavenge, but we’ll want to be smart about it. And we should grab as many of these torches as we can. I think their magic.” “There might even be a map of the cavern system we could use down here,” Pinkie said, tearing herself away from the torch she was looking at. With a gleeful step, she lead the group through the gates. Light Patch shook his head in amusement at the pink mare, and double timed to catch up. Before he knew what had happened, the stallion found himself pinned to the ground. Squeals of surprise were his only indication that the others had been caught too. He began to flail around, attempting to free himself from the sticky net pinning him. With luck, he managed to tear himself loose from the ground but could still feel his wings stuck to his sides. The grey pegasus turned, preparing to free the others from the trap when something larger dropped onto his back, nailing him to the floor again. The stallion forced one of his wings free, ignoring the pain of several feathers being ripped out. Light Patch quickly freed his second wing; before he could attempt to fly, however, two fuzzy pole-like objects savagely pinned them to the ground. Perfect Profit screamed, and Light Patch looked up in time to see the other mares being cocooned by the spider like beings that had ambushed them. He attempted to headbutt the one pinning him, but only succeeded in having his head forced to the ground. Before he could attempt anything else, fangs pierced his neck. the venom taking quick effect. All of his strength fled, and the creature quickly set about cocooning him. When he came to again, it was to the uncomfortable warmth of being enclosed in a small space, and the feeling of being carried. And the pain from where he’d been bitten. And while none of it was pleasant, for him it was all heaven as it all meant he was still alive. He tested opening his muzzle and found little give in the cocoon. He could breath, but his speech was severely impaired. Wish I’d taken some ventriloquism classes, he idly mused while testing other restrictions of the cocoon. An action that was brought to a screaming halt as he was dropped to the floor and, with a burst of cool air and light, the section of the cocoon covering his head was ripped away. “Augh! A little warning next time,” Light Patch said, blinking his eyes in pain from the sudden burst of light. After a few seconds, he was able to see normally again. They appeared to be in a throne room, judging by the ornate chair on a raised dais in front of them. Rainbow and Pinkie were dropped to his right, and Perfect Profit to his left. Dash glowered at the arachnid creatures flanking her and nopony else. But aside from the occasional wiggle—usually ended with a glare or quick poke with the butt of a guard’s spear—she stayed still. Perfect Profit seemed to be on the verge of a break down. Which is totally fair, really; trapped underground, captured by spider creatures, then cocooned up. Their eyes met, and Light Patch tried his best to give a reassuring smile. It seemed to help, although it might have also been the sounds of Pinkie Pie mumbling through her gag, or possibly the annoyed look of the guard closest to her. All four started when all of the guards in the room pounded the butts of their spears on the floor three times. Light Patch snapped his eyes to the throne in time to see a larger, more important looking arachnid-being sit down in the throne. Where as the guards all appeared to be more based on Daddy Long-legs’, the new being was much more strongly built, looking more like like a tarantula. But still surprisingly feminine, for a spider-like being. “Why did you bring these four before me?” the arachnid on the throne asked, her voice clearly identifying her gender. “We caught these four adventurers entering our town, queen,” one of the guards answered, scorn dripping from his emphasis as he entered the group’s view. “However, unlike normal, they seemed to think our town was abandoned,” the guard leader finished, glancing at the ponies. The queen gave a noncommittal noise while she studied the group. “Throw them into the deep caverns and be done with them,” the queen said after a few moments of thought. “We have more important things to deal with.” While the rest of the group reacted with despair, Light Patch frowned. That's number one hundred and twenty five on the evil overlords list, he thought before an idea suddenly blinked in his head. I really hope this works. I’m making a bluff check. He took a moment for a deep breath and then burst out laughing, surprising all of the rooms occupants. “That’s a bad move queeny,” he said. “Really bad. That just means that when we do eventually managed to get back to your town, we’ll have all of the really cool, extremely powerful deep relics,” the pegasus stallion said before making a couple of pew pew noises. “And seriously,” his voice started to mimic a females, “throw them into a hole over there somewhere,” he coughed when his impression gave out. The queen thrust herself from the throne and arced through the air to land in front of the cocooned stallion, their faces inches apart. “I suppose you could think of better?” she asked, only to reel back when Light Patch laughed again. “I already have. Ones much more horrible and bloody. Not that I’d use them, probably. I’ve read the evil overlord’s list,” prompting odd looks from the mares, and confusion from everything else in the room. “Then why don’t I just kill the lot of you right now?” the queen retorted, glaring at the fresh gales of laughter from the strange pony. “Seriously,” the stallion shouted, “what kind of bargain bin evil queen are you? Have you even fought heroes before?” he asked, wishing he actually felt half the bravado that he was putting into his words. “You don’t know heroes do you?” the stallion asked, a musical tone creeping into his voice. “Oh no, here he goes again,” Rainbow Dash muttered, rolling her eyes. “For heroes gather momentum, on the brink of Armageddon!” he sang out. “You put us in death traps, but we manage to keep coming back, like a really bad itch!” “Hussa, like a really bad itch!” Pinkie cheered along with him. “And what makes you so sure you could escape right now?” The arachnid queen asked, the spider guards closing in spears, at the ready. Light Patch gave his next burst of laughter everything he had. “You don’t know who you’re talking to.” He paused to emphasize his next words, “I’m. A. Hero,” The pegasus said, laying it on as thick as he could. “I’m the hero who drank a water elemental to death.” He admired the gasp of surprise from the arachnid beings, and also Perfect Profit. “I’ve caused the most fearless scum to jump out windows in fear. And those are just my exploits.” He nodded to the others. “These mares are with me, and if you have had any experience with heros or adventurers, then you know they travel in groups of similar experience. So stop and ask yourself; if those were my exploits, then just how impressive are theirs?” He snorted derisively. “And besides, the question isn’t could you kill us. It was never could you kill us. I’m sure you’ve got the numbers, the magic and the equipment to do it.” He ignored the glares from the other ponies and carried on. “That was never the question. The question is: how much damage could these adventurers do to us if we attempted to kill them, and how vulnerable would that leave us?” The queen froze locked in thought. Light Patch took it as a chance to carry on. “And once you’re done answering that, then you have to think of this: do we even need to fight them?” The queen glanced at him, curiosity burning in all eight of her eyes. “As your guards noted, we thought the town was abandoned. That means we aren’t here for you. We’re just trying to find our way out.” “Yeah, so, if you just show us the way out and maybe lend us a couple of torches, we won’t have to squash you like we did that golem,” Rainbow Dash threw in. The arachnid queen looked thoughtfully at the group for a few seconds before she made her mind up. With three strides, she closed the distance between Light Patch. She lowered her head down, angling her mandibles towards the stallion’s neck. His eyes snapped shut as he felt her mandibles touch, causing him to miss the experience wisp transfer itself from the queen to him. With the snipping sound of cloth, he found himself lose. The Queen moved over quickly releasing the others before striding back to her throne to sit once more. “You have changed my mind. We will assist you in taking your leave of the caverns. As for the question of why, it’s because we,” she paused, “I owe you adventurers. The golem moved in and blocked our access to the temple. Our inability to properly give thanks to the Mother has been troubling my children,” the Queen said as the guards helped the ponies to their feet and to clear the webbing still stuck to them. “Thank you, your majesty,” Perfect Profit said. “If I may ask a question,” she wavered uncertainly until the queen nodded her assent. “Would you have a place where we’d be able to sell some of our remaining trade goods and gear to purchase equipment and supplies for the travel ahead of us.” She stumbled backwards when the queen suddenly leaped from her throne again. “You mention trade goods. One of you is a merchant?” “I am, your majesty,” the earth pony merchant responded with, forcing herself to not shiver when the queen’s gaze locked to her, and the sound her mandibles made clicking together. “I have a proposition for you, merchant. We have much Arachcolsid silk—it is a natural product of our bodies, you see—but produce more than we actually need. We also have stores of many other things we don’t need; things that are hard to make into what we actually require. Perhaps we can come to a profitable arrangement between us?” the queen suggested, looking at the merchant. “That will come later, however. For now, I can see fatigue haunts you four. Go rest, and we will talk when the specters of fatigue shade you no more,” the queen said, waving them away as she sat in her throne. “The guards will show you to the guest quarters of the palace.” With bows or nods of gratitude, the group turned to follow the guards. After a much needed rest, they roused themselves and began preparing for their return to the surface. They were surprised when the queen joined them as they explored the markets; explaining her presence as there to negotiate a deal with Perfect Profit, as well as extending credit when their funds ran short. Only Perfect Profit noticed the appraising looks the queen frequently cast towards the party, especially the ones towards Light Patch. Eventually the group was once again ready to depart; a deal had been struck between Perfect Profit and the queen. She would add the Arachcolsid town to her trade route, and in return the queen would gift them carts along with some other objects. They also had a load of the Arachcolsid silk to sell; the money for that, however, was for use to purchase things the queen had demanded. The group left the town feeling a lot better knowing that the Arachcolsid guides would lead them to the surface. The guides help made the trip back up swift, and with a quick thanks and goodbye, they set off towards the capital once more. “It’s really nice to be out of the cavern’s,” the pinto merchant said when they’d stopped for a quick break. Rainbow Dash rose from the cart she’d been napping in and yawned. “It sure is! It’s really nice to be able to just bounce around without having to worry about accidentally slamming into a stalactite,” Pinkie said, bouncing around the area. “Stalagmite,” Rainbow Dash chimed in sleepily while pulling herself from the cart “Stalactites hang from the roof of a cavern, stalagmites sprout from the ground. Also, Twilight just checked in so everyone else is probably okay.” “Awesome sauce. I guess we should get this merchant convoy going again then,” Light Patch said. He turned to start hooking himself back up to a cart, but was surprised by the sudden feeling of being hugged. He jerked his head around to see it was Perfect Profit hugging him. After a couple more seconds, she let go. “Thank you, thank you so much!” she said trying to hold back tears. “Thanks to you and your actions, not only am I not ruined, but I’m probably in an even better position now than I was at the start of all of this.” She paused, looking as if there was more she wanted to say, but wasn’t sure if she should. Pinkie smiled and threw a look of ‘I told you so’ towards Rainbow Dash, only to whip her head around when she heard Light Patch sigh. “Look, there’s something I need to say,” the stallion spoke, looking at the ground. Pinkie’s face took on a confused look. “Because of... reasons I’m not comfortable with sharing.” Like not being a pony by birth, he mentally added. “It won’t work between the two of us. I’m sorry.” He looked up at the last line and watched as Perfect Profit’s face contorted into a look of pain. He also noticed, and immediately began to ignore, of the look of anger that Pinkie aimed at him. Oh boy, here comes the waterworks, he thought, noticing a couple of tears slip through the earth ponies scrunched eyes, and her frame shuddered. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted when a snort echoed through the silence. Before he could glare at Rainbow Dash, Perfect Profit burst into howling gales of laughter. She fell to the ground, still howling as Light Patch took a step back. Do I feel bad... or worried that she’s about to go psycho and kill me? The grey pegasus glanced first towards the other pegasus of the group, then at the pink earth pony, both showing the same amount of surprise as he was. After a while though, his surprise faded to annoyance, eventually the mare managed to breath in some air. “I can’t believe you thought-” A lingering snicker interrupted her again, “I mean, you’re certainly good eye candy, but,” she paused, trying to pick her words carefully, “well, you’ve got... you’re... well, to be honest, you’re not really my type. You’re a little to...” She paused again, once again searching for words. “Crazy?” Rainbow Dash yelped when Pinkie kicked her and gave her a quick glare. “Yeah,” Perfect Profit quietly agreed, digging at the ground with a hoof slightly before she suddenly glanced up, “Where did you get the idea that I was interested anyway?” the mare asked. She noted it was now the stallions turn to paw at the ground. “I uh, guess I misread some glances,” he replied sheepishly. “Sorry.” Prompting Perfect Profit to give a small laugh. Pinkie sighed and turned to help the blue pegasus hook up to a cart. “It’s not a problem. And don’t worry loverboy; it’s not totally hopeless,” the merchant noted, hooking up to a cart herself. “After all, I think that boast you made had an effect on that Arachcolsid queen, unless I misread them myself.” Pinkie and Rainbow glanced at each other, fighting to keep the grins from their face. Light Patch froze in surprise for a few seconds, then with a mighty sigh he facehoofed, muttering something under his breath; prompting another giggle fit from the merchant. After a couple more minutes, they once again set out towards the capital.