Rockwood sighed internally as he overlooked the havoc, wishing that the ponies he and his sisters were terrorizing would at least make a pretense of fighting back. If they did then maybe he wouldn’t feel so guilty about what he was doing. But just like every other time, all they did was scream and try to run away.
Chanting a spell, Rockwood pointed one of his eight legs toward an area near the fountain at the center of the townsquare. Several ponies were lingering there, trying to help a pony that was wailing about being blind, something Rockwood knew was due to Shadowvine’s magic. The sight was pitiful enough that he changed where he was pointing just as he completed the incantation, causing the resulting rain of pebbles and dirt to rain down onto the fountain instead of on their heads.
The ponies yelped in terror at the unknown phenomenon happening right next to them, but none of them abandoned their fellow. Instead, they managed to lift the crying mare between them, and began carrying her off. The sight was enough to make Rockwood feel wretched about what they were doing…but what choice was there? Just like those ponies, he was trying hard to save someone else that he cared about.
Across the plaza, Breezyleaf was at the mouth of an alley, gesturing for them to fall back, and Rockwood scurried over to her. Shadowvine joined them a moment later, and Rockwood could see several ponies bound in webbing behind her, unconscious. He frowned at the sight, but didn’t say anything. A moment later, Breezyleaf cast her spell, and a thick fog descended over them. Confident that they were hidden from sight, they followed the plan they’d used each time so far and changed back into ponies before exiting the other side of the alley, just another group of terrified bystanders.
They galloped several blocks before coming to a halt. Glancing around to make sure that they were alone, Rockwood let out a breath. “Is everyone alright?” He knew the question was pointless, given that they’d faced no resistance at all, but he still had to ask.
Shadowvine’s snort was contemptuous. “Of course we’re alright. How could we not be? These ponies are all cowards.”
“That’s not fair!” snapped Breezyleaf. “Just because they couldn’t fight back doesn’t mean they weren’t brave!”
“I concur. I saw several of them trying to help another pony, even though they were clearly scared.” Although Rockwood’s voice was quiet, his eyes pinned Shadowvine in place, and she squirmed uncomfortably.
“Fine, they’re not cowards, okay? They ran away with loads of courage.” Sitting up and crossing her forelegs, Shadowvine frowned. Why was everyone suddenly picking on her?
Rockwood continued to glare at her, until she finally couldn’t take it anymore. “What?!”
“You left several bodies behind you.” Although Rockwood didn’t yell – it was extremely rare for him to ever raise his voice – Shadowvine still flinched at his accusatory tone.
“Shadowvine!” Breezyleaf’s voice was horrified. “What did you do?!”
“Nothing!” she yelled. Wincing at how loud her voice sounded, she glanced around again before she continued. “Look, none of them were seriously hurt. I just bit a few and trussed them up is all. They passed out on their own.”
“And that pony you blinded?” countered Rockwood.
“Why are you getting in my face about this?!” Shadowvine could feel herself starting to lose it. She hated that her eyes were watering but she couldn’t make it stop. “I’m trying to save Brightrose! We’re supposed to scare these ponies, so yes, I’m doing everything I can to act scary! That doesn’t mean I like it, but if we don’t do a good job with this, then we’re going to lose him too…” she broke off, stifling a sob.
Watery-eyed herself, Breezyleaf went over and threw a foreleg around her sister’s neck in a hug, the two of them sniffling. Off to the side, Rockwood sighed, realizing that he’d been taking his guilt out on her. Walking up to the girls, he put a hoof on Shadowvine’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he offered quietly.
Breaking her embrace with Breezyleaf, Shadowvine wiped her eyes. For a moment she wanted to berate her brother, but she let it go. “No, you were right. I just…I just want all of this to be over.”
“We all do,” offered Breezyleaf, her lips curling in a smile of support, albeit a small one. Rockwood nodded as well.
“Yeah…anyway, we should go. We’ve done enough for now.” Shadowvine gestured for her siblings to go ahead, and they began to trot, putting more distance between them and the mayhem they’d caused.
Spending a moment of silent concentration to cancel the blindness spell she’d put on that poor pony, Shadowvine also sent a silent apology before moving to follow.
Two minutes later, Fireflower and Sonata arrived on the scene.
Fireflower didn’t want to believe it at first.
At first glance, the town square didn’t seem like it had suffered an attack. There were benches and chairs that had been knocked over, papers and food and other trash that had been carelessly scattered around, and even some ponies laying about, but you’d find that after a wild party as much as you would a scene of violence.
But then he’d noticed several ponies tied up in silken threads, and he’d known that there was no denying it.
He approached them, three ponies lying on the ground in partial cocoons, and one that was stuck to a wall with sticky strands. The one against the wall was struggling hysterically, and two of the ones on the ground were wriggling weakly, with the last lying still. For a moment, Fireflower just stared, not hearing the panicked breathing or the cries for help.
Hunting wasn’t anything new for Fireflower. He and his siblings had learned from a very young age that they had to eat to survive, and that in order to do that they’d need to spin webs and catch prey. But they’d always limited themselves to the animals in their forest; even if they’d wanted to catch sentient creatures – and they never had – there simply hadn’t been any there to entrap. Moreover, hunting hadn’t been something they’d needed to do all that often. Usually they’d each just check their webs every so often, and whatever small game they’d caught would be enough for a day or two.
But now, seeing sentient creatures bound up in their webs…Fireflower felt sick at the sight.
“Hey,” came Sonata’s voice. “You okay?”
He jumped at the contact, suddenly feeling ashamed that she was seeing this. After she had defended him from her overzealous boyfriend, to see that the rest of his kind had done something like this made him want to curl up and die. “I…yeah. I’m fine.” He could tell from the look on her face that she didn’t believe him, and he quickly returned his attention to the ponies that were tied up. “C’mon, let’s get them out of there.”
Sonata almost protested, seeing that he was clearly upset, but let it go, instead starting to tear at the sticky webbing with her teeth. The material didn’t tear easily, but by the time other ponies started cautiously returning to the area, they had pretty much gotten the victims free. One of them had a hard time keeping his hooves under him, and Fireflower was quick to note the bite marks on his neck. “You’ve been bitten. More than once. You’re going to need to rest for a few days until the poison runs its course.”
“Why are those…those monsters doing this to us?” sniffled one mare. She had been the pony that had passed out in terror, and she was still shaking all over. “We didn’t do anything to them.”
Fireflower’s ears folded back, and he kept his eyes on the ground. Sonata tried to think of something to say that would cheer him up without revealing too much, when a new voice rang out. “Aw! I missed it!”
Sonata, Fireflower, and the remaining ponies looked up as a new mare trotted over to them from the growing crowd, her body language making it clear that she regarded the situation as having as much gravity as a helium balloon. Her coat was a mixture of dark grey and black, and her mane and tail were blonde. With her glasses and her newspaper-and-magnifying-glass cutie mark, it would have been obvious what her occupation was even if she hadn’t immediately whipped out a pencil and notepad as she approached the group.
“I can’t believe this is the third attack there’s been and I still wasn’t on the scene for it!” she groused. “I’m so jealous of you guys, getting to witness news in the making like that!” Sonata and Fireflower shared a glance, neither being sure what to make of this new development. Sonata started to talk, but the mare cut her off. “Oh, where are my manners? I’m Nosey Newsy, and I’m a reporter with the Canterlot Chronicle. Now, please tell me about the monsters.”
“They weren’t monsters,” muttered Fireflower in a low voice, still keeping his eyes on the ground.
Nosey’s hearing was quite good, however, and she turned in his direction. “I’m sorry, would ‘creatures’ be a better term?” She scribbled something quickly. “Nevermind. Now, can you tell me what they wanted? Did they seem like rampaging beasts, or did they actually try and target ponies specifically, or-, hey! Is that a web?!” She peered behind Fireflower, eyes widened as she beheld some of the torn thread on the ground. “Were they trying to eat the ponies here?!”
Fireflower shook his head, and Sonata could see that he was gritting his teeth, but Nosey was on a roll now and there was no stopping her. “Oh my gosh! Bite marks!” She pointed at the shaking mare, who seemed to be even more upset for Nosey’s attention, looking like she was about to burst into tears. “They were trying to eat the ponies here! Oh wow, I can just see the headlines now! ‘Don’t Step Into Their Parlor! Giant Spiders Attack Tall Tale!’”
“STOP IT!” yelled Fireflower, whirling to confront Nosey and drawing all eyes to him in the process. “You don’t know anything, so stop pretending like you do! Maybe…maybe they were scared and just trying to reach out or…or maybe they were under some sort of spell that forced them to attack the ponies here, or…” he faltered, realizing that everyone was staring at him incredulously.
“Is he defending those things?” came an outraged voice from the ponies gathered around them.
“Must have a screw loose,” said another pony.
“I bet it’s not his friends or family that have been hurt, if he can talk like that,” snorted a third.
That was all Fireflower could stand. He knew he had to get out of there immediately, or he’d do something he’d regret. Not looking around, he charged through the crowd, pushing protesting ponies out of the way until he was through. He heard Sonata call his name, but he couldn’t bring himself to face her, running blindly down the streets until he finally stopped in an alley somewhere, letting out choked sobs.
A minute later, he heard soft hoofsteps approaching. He didn’t look up to see who it was. He didn’t need to. “I’m sorry about that,” he said in a strangled voice, struggling to maintain what little composure he had. “I just…I had to get out of there, you know? With what they were saying…I couldn’t listen to it anymore.”
Sonata didn’t answer, instead going up and throwing her hooves around him. Fireflower bit his lip in response, but didn’t push her away. Why was it always like this, with her being the one comforting him? Just once he wanted to be able to do something for her!
“I know how you feel,” said Sonata softly, not realizing the other source of Fireflower’s discontent. “It’s the same way I feel whenever someone says something bad about Lex. I just want to yell at them, to tell them that they don’t really know him the way I do, that if they did they’d realize that he’s not really so bad.”
Fireflower couldn’t help but hiccup in laughter at that, struck by the irony of her sympathizing with him by way of the pony in her heart, whom he desperately wanted to replace. Pushing that thought away, he instead focused only on right now, on how good it felt to be embraced by her.
Sonata let him go a few seconds later. “Listen, how about we talk to those ponies who saw what happened later, after that awful reporter is gone? I saw a doctor in the crowd, so they’re probably going to take them to a hospital. We can talk to them there in a little while, okay?”
Fireflower nodded, giving her a small smile. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“I think so too. In the meantime, how about you go find someplace to rest while I do some more checking. The mayor’s going to give a speech soon and I think Lex might go there too. He usually tries to talk to whoever’s in charge.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather stay with you,” replied Fireflower. Silently he vowed that someday – someday soon – she’d know just how much he meant that.