Chapter 6:
Souls and Spiders
“Daddy? Where are you going?”
Fluttershy rubbed her eye tiredly. The sun had only just peeked over the horizon, and the world had a bluish hue to it. A thick fog rested on the ground. Nary a pony was awake besides the tiny yellow Pegasus and her tall, burly father. Her father, Patchwork, was a light orange color, and his short mane was a very pale yellow. His eyes were a bright brown color. He wore shiny steel armor.
“I’m just heading out for a while,” he said quietly, adjusting a few straps on his armor. “I’ll be home by nightfall, lass.”
“Can I go with you this time?” Fluttershy asked quietly, fluttering her wings a bit.
“No, Fluttershy. This is stallion’s work,” Patchwork sighed. He fiddled with the sword that rested at his flank and a dagger sheathed on his foreleg.
“What is it that you do anyway?” the filly asked.
“I. . . Well,” Patchwork stuttered, “I take care of bad ponies. I make sure that they don’t do anymore bad things.”
“Like reforming them?” asked Fluttershy, tilting her head. Patchwork paused and shifted in his boots.
“. . . Yes, Fluttershy. Yes, I reform them. I help them see things our way.”
“Where do you go?”
“To a far off place beyond the forest. I’ll take you there when you’re older.”
“Why then?”
“You’ll understand someday. Just not today. I must be off. I’ll be home soon.” Patchwork leaned down and kissed his daughter, then made off for his adventure.
Whatever it was.
Fluttershy adjusted the helmet on her head. The stony walls seemed ready to crumble at any moment. Tiny spiders and roaches skittered about. The smell of moss was ever present, but it was mixed in with the scent of rotting corpses. The Pegasus couldn’t help but think of her father. He always went on adventures, and he always returned home more bloody and bruised than the last time. One day he returned home without a left eye. Another day he returned home with half his tail cleaved off. Another he had a burn on his face, and finally one day he returned home in a box. It was a dreadful day.
Fluttershy shook her head a bit and tried to expel the thoughts from her mind. Thinking of bruises and severed limbs wasn’t helping her when she knew it could very well be a few feet ahead of her. She looked to the books on Twilight’s back.
“Twilight?” the teenager muttered to her companion. Twilight looked back to her. “I think I’m ready to open another tome.”
“Good,” huffed Twilight, “These things are heavy. Which one would you like to open?”
“Maybe a Destruction spell? Frost. I’ll open Frost.” Twilight illuminated her horn and lifted the thick book from her saddlebag, relieved to shed a couple pounds from her back. Fluttershy took the book from Twilight’s magical grasp, lifting herself to her hind legs. Breathing out a readying stream of air (the cold allowed her to see it) and donned a determined expression. Opening Flame was scary, but she knew she could handle Frost. With her mind set, she opened the book about halfway through the pages. The symbols on the page glowed an icy blue, and flew off the page into Fluttershy’s hooves. Fluttershy’s heart leapt as fear coursed through her. But she held firm. She felt an icy grip course through her body and found she couldn’t feel any of her hooves. Her eyes flashed a bright blue as the icy magic took her over. Fluttershy fell to all four hooves as the book disappeared into her skin. Fluttershy shivered, and the feeling soon passed. The biting cold and freezing grip left her body, and she felt normal as ever. In fact, she felt a tad invigorated. The teenage Pegasus looked to her hooves and found the stone under her was covered in frost.
“Congratulations, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, relieved she didn’t have to cancel out her friend’s magic again, “You’ve learned Frost.” Fluttershy looked to her compatriot and smiled. This was nowhere near as bad as her last incident with a Spell Tome. The two ponies continued their walk through the Barrow, and soon came to a narrow hallway covered in thick webbing. The webbing was woven thickly throughout the hall.
“Ugh, Frostbite silk,” groaned Twilight. Fluttershy’s spirits dropped and her heart stopped moving for a moment.
“This is from Frostbite spiders?” she asked hastily.
“Looks like it. How sharp is your sword?” asked the Unicorn. Fluttershy unsheathed her weapon. Twilight examined the recently forged blade. “It’ll do.” Fluttershy eased her way to a thick cluster of webbing. She swung as hard as she could and cleaved right through it. Twilight urged her on and she hacked her way through the silk jungle. At the end of the hallway was a small altar, atop which held an urn and a candle holder. The candle holder held a small purple gemstone. The stone seemed to glow with an ethereal light and gave off a chilling aura. Fluttershy was perplexed by the gem but Twilight simply meandered up to it and lifted it with her magic.
“Just a lesser soul gem. Nothing special.”
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked with wide eyes. She eyed the so-called soul gem as she felt its magical energy hug her very skin.
“It’s a magical stone that can hold the soul of a once living being. It’s not very big so maybe it holds a skeever or a rabbit or something. You want it?”
“Would I ever,” said Fluttershy as she took it from her partner. She looked over the beautiful gem. She could feel it. Not with her hooves, but with her own soul. It felt to her as a real living creature did. It felt alive, trapped within the sturdy jewel walls.
“The animal is inside this?” she asked, continuing to look at the jewel with awe,
“Not the animal. Its soul. Souls are interesting.”
“I thought they weren’t real,” stated Fluttershy, now looking up with a slightly cocked eyebrow.
“Oh souls are real alright. They make up everything we are. Magic itself is derived from our souls. When you read a spell tome, it binds to your soul, adding its power to you, so that you can manipulate it. When you manipulate magic, you manipulate your soul. Some are stronger than others, which explains why some ponies can cast more powerful magic. Thus they must be trapped within bigger soul gems.”
“That’s so fascinating,” whispered Fluttershy as she gazed back into the soul gem. She could see its essence glow and pulsate. “Am I holding this animal’s soul?”
“In a way, yes. Soul gems are a material conduit for souls. When broken, the soul gem will release the soul into the nearest object, and the soul will forever bind to it. That’s how things are enchanted. The enchanter binds the soul to the item and selects a piece of magic from their own soul, be it a Frost, Flame, or otherwise sort of magic. The magic binds to the soul, and the soul binds to the item.”
“I’ve seen my father enchant things before. He was always really focused when he did it.”
“Enchanting is a very taxing and focusing process. One little slip up and the soul goes somewhere it shouldn’t, like within another living person. That’s a devastating prospect,” spoke the mage with a hint of a shudder. Fluttershy looked at her new gem once more, then carefully placed it in her coin sack.
“How fragile are they?”
“Not fragile at all. Hardly anything can break a soul gem. That’s what an enchantment table is for.”
“Could I try sometime? Could you show me?” For some reason, the prospect of holding another creature’s soul, it’s very life essence; everything it is or ever was within her hooves was intriguing to say the least. She was enraptured with the idea. Binding one’s soul, the mystical energy which everything a creature is, to something of value. . . just the idea gave her a shiver up her spine. This helmet that Applejack gifted her; she could enchant it with the soul of one of her beloved animals. If a friend or family member died, she could simply collect the soul and keep it for later, to bind it to something of hers, so that they may never truly be lost. The thought was beautiful and disturbing. Poetic and morbid. Amazing, but horrible. Just, but wicked.
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt. I’m afraid Jarl Cadance may not be through with your services. She’s taken a liking to you.”
“Why?”
“I’ve no clue. Come on, we’re wasting time talking.” And with that the two ponies continued down the corridors and pathways. As the two walked, they noticed the scenery change little by little. The dusty, stony walls became shiny and glossy as they passed. The deep dark grey of the stone and tile turned to whitish blue. The cracked cobble and rock turned to stable, unyielding material, as if something had protected this part of the barrow from time. The feeling of the stone changed as well. No longer was it hard and coarse. It became softer, smoother. . . silkier. The two mares walked into an expansive room with a large cavity in the ceiling. The room had one doorway, and that was covered in thick webbing.
“Oh no,” spoke Twilight simply.
“What?” asked Fluttershy, deeply disturbed by the mage’s shift in tone. Twilight stood in place and looked at her hooves, and at the strands of white silk running through the floor.
“Oh no,” said Fluttershy, perfectly mirroring Twilight’s statement. Twilight lifted her hoof and the silk moved up with it. With a bit of force, it came apart from the hoof. The two mares looked to a room ahead. The door was covered in webbing and tiny spiders. They looked to each other grimly.
“This is the only way through,” warned Twilight.
“I know.”
Fluttershy, with all her strength, hacked at the web, but it did not give. It bit down on her sword and didn’t give it back. Fluttershy pulled and pulled but the sword was stuck. Twilight ushered Fluttershy to the side and channeled her magic through her horn, and let out a stream of fire, singing the webbing. After a moment, the web gave, and the sword fell to the stony ground with a loud CLANG!
And everything went silent.
The ponies’ fur stood on end as the barrow became silent. Deafeningly silent. The distant ambience and echoes ceased, and the whole world seemed to halt. Then, a noise. A quiet chitter, which evolved into a rapid pitter patter. The noise had no echo. It had no origin, no host. The noise belonged to nothing, at least that the perceptive eye of the Pegasus could see. The pitter patter turned to a sharp stabbing and scraping, as if something hard was attacking a stone.
Then the ponies looked up.
What the mares saw left them chilled to the bone. All color left their horror stricken faces as their rational thought and reason high-tailed out the door. Fluttershy could scream. Twilight could run. But neither found the willpower. They could only stare in distraught panic at the nightmare that crawled from its perch in the center cavity of the stone ceiling. Then came the shriek. The creature screamed a vile, high pitched deafening scream at the two paralyzed mares. The giant frostbite spider stared at them, its eight beady black eyes glaring deep into their souls.
The spider was taller than the two, and its black fangs were as long as kitchen knives. It’s spindly, needle-hair covered legs spasmed and shuddered as its enormous body fell to the floor in a heap of chitin and exoskeleton. The sheer horror coursing through the ponies’ veins was almost too much for either to bear. The spider inched toward them, and raised its front two legs threateningly. It shook its front half, dancing in an eon old ritual meant to ward off strange beings. With its dance it let out yet another high pitched shriek. This action sent poor Fluttershy over the boiling point, and she let out a hardy scream at the sight of this behemoth of a spider. Her voice was extraordinarily loud, radically different than any other time she had used it. The scream echoed throughout the halls of the barrow, and effectively snapped Twilight out of her stupor. Twilight quickly covered the Pegasus’s mouth.
“Fluttershy! You’ll wake the dead!” Twilight warned. The spider continued to stare emptily at the two ponies. Twilight looked at her Fluttershy, who had tears forming in her eyes and was shaking heavily in her boots. “Focus! It’s just a thing!” Almost instantly, the spider leapt at the ponies, tired of waiting for a retreat. Twilight had wits enough to roll away, but at the sight of meter long legs and teeth and chitin, Fluttershy collapsed into an unconscious mess on the ground. Her poor body wasn’t enough for all this excitement. The spider landed perfectly above her, its long thin legs narrowly avoiding crushing the Pegasus’s weak body. Twilight instantly smashed a ball of fire into the nightmare creature’s side, reminding it who the threat is. The spider turned to the mage, its cold, dead eyes staring into her. Twilight’s fur stood up yet again, but she ignored it. The spider rushed at Twilight, moving its spindly legs rapidly, creating a disturbing chirp as the tough hide rubbed against itself. Twilight brought a heavy ball of fire down onto the top of the spider’s head, and the spider’s weight sent it careening forward, and it flipped to its back. Twilight jumped out of the way to avoid being hit by the mass of chitin. However, the spider was on its legs soon enough and raised its legs again. Twilight felt a chill down her back as she saw a light green mucus form at the creature’s mouth. With a deathly gagging sound, the spider shot a small wad of poisonous liquid made of toxins and pus at the mage. Twilight ducked just in time, but the trail the ball of poison left behind it fell onto her back, leaving a trail from her neck to her flank. The strong magic robes she wore gave little to the toxin, but Twilight could definitely hear the sizzle of singeing fabric. Twilight looked up just in time to see the frostbite spider rushing her yet again. She jumped, but her agility failed her, and the spider hit her dead on, and rammed her into a nearby wall.
Fluttershy’s eyes opened a bit. Her head felt heavy and her eyes were sore. She had a searing pain in her head. Her helmet was crooked, so she adjusted it. She saw her web covered sword beside her, then realized once again where she was. She looked up a bit too quickly, causing a ring in her ears. What she saw through her moderately blurry vision was a giant spider pinning Twilight against a wall, trying to snap its poisonous fangs at her as she kicked and fidgeted. Fluttershy gasped at the sight of the spider, but more so at the fact that Twilight was pinned. Fluttershy immediately thought back to the day before this, when a smaller spider had Applejack pinned to the floor. That resulted in Applejack getting stabbed, and nearly killed. But that won’t happen again. Not to Twilight. They weren’t so near to the end of the mission. Twilight wasn’t going to suffer for Fluttershy’s cowardice like Applejack did. Fluttershy’s brow furrowed as she retrieved her sword. Not again. Not like this. Not like a coward.
Twilight tried desperately to channel a magic blast, but couldn’t focus enough. She couldn’t avoid the spider’s deadly fangs and channel her magic at the same time. She could only thrash and kick but the spider had the strength of a demon. A stab from a smaller frostbite spider would poison her quickly, but from one as large and powerful as this, it would kill her within minutes. The spider poked one of its legs into Twilight’s stomach, and another into her left hoof. Twilight continued to kick and fidget but could hardly avoid the spider’s fangs. The spider reared back, and Twilight’s hind legs fell back. The spider raised its deadly maw and sought to ram its fangs into Twilight’s stomach. Twilight felt a wave of fear course through her as the fang came closer and closer. She closed her eyes and waited.
But the pain never came. Twilight fell the floor and all pressure from the spider was released. Twilight rubbed her ribs and hoof gently as she opened her eyes. What she saw was Fluttershy backing away from the spider, sword extended outward threateningly. The spider and the Pegasus squared off. Fluttershy had a look that seemed like mix between utter fear and determination. The spider swung a leg at her, and she lifted her sword just enough to let the sharp leg scrape against it. However, the force of the blow knocked Fluttershy to her flank, and the spider hardly waited to attack again. Faster than Fluttershy could react, the spider bit down on her shoulder. Its poisonous fangs narrowly avoided skin contact, but its many sharp teeth within its jaws were able to break the skin, and Fluttershy began to bleed profusely. The spider was rent from Fluttershy’s shoulder as Twilight knocked it to its side. The spider’s legs splayed out as it hit the ground. Twilight rushed to Fluttershy, who was nursing her neck and shoulder. She was bleeding badly, and had a needle-like tooth stuck in her skin.
“Fluttershy, stay out of this. You’re not a warrior,” Twilight ordered, and turned to the spider. The spider remained on the ground for a moment. But Twilight’s advantage slipped away in the blink of an eye as the spider stumbled to a standing position. It screeched at Twilight and rushed yet again. Twilight focused her mind’s eye, and lifted herself to her hind legs. Her hooves illuminated with a violet light, and electricity coursed through her veins. Static echoed through the chamber as Twilight’s strongest destructive force came to fruition. Her hooves coursed with electricity and a sharp zap was heard every few milliseconds. The spider was now just a meter away. Twilight’s electricity charged, and she brought her hooves down as hard as she could. The spider’s head was wrenched to the floor as Twilight slammed her electrified hooves onto it. Lightning seized through the spider’s body as its muscles spasmed and shook. The room shook with electricity and Twilight could feel her hair standing up. The chamber was illuminated blue and violet as powerful volts of electricity rocketed throughout the creature’s body. It screamed and shrieked as static and lightning zapped through it, rending muscle from muscle, rending fiber from fiber, rending molecule from molecule. The spider, after just a few seconds of utter torture and pain, was dead.
Twilight huffed as her power cooled and the room dimmed. The spider’s body twitched a few times before lying motionless. Beads of sweat ran down Twilight’s face. Small volts of purple lightning appeared on Twilight’s hooves as her soul calmed. Using such a destructive force was rare for Twilight, and so, all of her energy was now depleted. Her peripheral vision turned to black and she fell to the ground, motionless as the spider. Fluttershy stumbled over to Twilight and held the mage in her bloody arms. Twilight’s breathing was rapid as her body struggled to re-maintain homeostasis. Fluttershy’s hooves began to glow an ethereal golden light and specks of light appeared from nothing as Fluttershy channeled her energy into Twilight. Fluttershy’s own wounds began to seal and the needle-tooth popped out from her skin and landed on the ground. The fur regrew in a matter of moments and only trails of red blood and matted fur were left. The golden glow faded and Twilight began to stir. Fluttershy, worried to death for her, hugged her tightly, throwing off her helmet.
“I’m so sorry, Twilight! I thought I could be a help but I’m just a failure!” Fluttershy cried into Twilight’s robed shoulder.
“Fluttershy. . . It’s fine. I didn’t expect that,” muttered Twilight tiredly. She lifted herself to sit on her flank as did Fluttershy. “Fluttershy,” began Twilight, “You did help. You got it off me and distracted it. And you’re only just starting out.”
“I’m not a warrior, like you said,” Fluttershy spoke in a quiet voice. She looked to her armor, which now had several holes punched into it.
“I didn’t mean that. I meant you’re just not ready to take on something like that. That thing was a monster,” said Twilight, looking at the dead creature. “You just need training.”
Fluttershy thought about that. Applejack told her about her cousin Braeburn in Whiterun. How he could offer training with a sword. Fluttershy sniffed, and wiped away her tears, unintentionally smearing blood on her face. Twilight began to mention it, but thought against it. No need for that right now.
“You’re right,” Fluttershy said quietly, trying to get her spirits up, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m just glad you didn’t soil yourself.” To both ponies’ surprise, Fluttershy giggled a bit at the thought.
“I don’t do that. Don’t worry,” she said, in higher spirits.
“Good,” chuckled Twilight, “The worst is over now. Let’s go.” And with that, they continued on their trek, and Fluttershy placed her helmet on her head, and her sword at her flank. However, as they left the webbed walls of the room, Twilight began to wonder. What use did the spider have for sealing the doorway? It seemed as if there was an oddly extreme amount of webbing barring the only entrance into the room, whereas the other entrance where they first came in wasn’t blocked at all. As if the spider knew what was beyond the doorway. Something it feared enough to put so much care in blocking out. Something that could potentially hurt the spider. And something that could hurt the spider was something to be feared.
Twilight had no idea how right she was.