//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: The Spider Princess. // Story: Monster-bumps // by Napalm monster //------------------------------// Everfree woods was not somewhere safe you wanted to be. Especially at night. Unlike its Equestrian counterpart, the woods during the day was safe on all accounts, except when night dawned. When the more nocturnal predators emerged: wolves, badgers, and coyotes. But regardless, it was the shortest route to Canterlot High. Sunset eyes darted back and forth as she saw a never ending swarm of trees around her, since it was fall all the leaves had broken off their branches and replaced the grass with leaves making their steps louder with crunchy noises against the leafs on the ground. The sound doubles thanks to everyone's combined footsteps. AppleJack looked back and forth, half expecting a bear or wolf to pounce out of nowhere on the group, but thankfully the only life forms in the area was just the eight of them. So they thought. They were currently unaware something was watching them from a nearby tree. It whole form was cascaded in darkness, as six red glowing eyes were the only thing that were illuminated. It watched as the group treaded forward into its woods. The wind began picking up, making leaves rustle and shift. And branches trembled lightly. Everyone's hair began slightly waving in the direction the wind was blowing. It didn't make the group less anxious after knowing there were zombies, a werewolf, and other monsters prowling across town, hunting them down under Deads order. Everyone shivered as the wind picked up. Rarity shivered erratically, she hugged herself for warmth, but nonetheless still felt incredibly cold in the autumn breeze, "Curse this weather, I'm freezing out here." AppleJack shook her head lightly, "Suck it up Rarity, we can't be too far from the school." "I know but I'm so terribly cold." Ralph looked at her and glanced down at his black hoodie. He didn't feel that cold, in fact the cold never really daunted him. He began feeling sympathy for the fashionista. He began unzipping his black hoodie and removed it from his body, leaving him only to wear a standard white t-shirt underneath. He approached Rarity, holding the jacket. "Here," Ralph offered, "You can use my jacket if your cold." "Oh thank you so kindly, but black really isn't my color," a strong rush of wind then hit Rarity making her shiver wildly, and her teeth clattered together of the sudden intensity of the cold, "On second thought, I heard black is in this fall." Rarity hastily grabbed the jacket and wrapped it around her form. Despite being made for Ralph's size, the jacket fitted her dainty curves. She then felt warm again, she smiled thankfully. "Much better," Rarity sighed, she then glanced down at Ralph in his white t-shirt, "Thank you darling, that was a most generous offer. Forgive me for misjudging you earlier." Ralph shrugged, "It's no big deal." Rarity's eyelids then lowered in an almost seductive manner, "Well allow me to give you my offer of gratitude." Ralph didn't seem to notice her expression, "It's fine, it just felt like the nice-" Ralph trailed off when he felt Rarity's soft lips pressed against his cheeks. His eyes widened, baffled, his jaw hung open once Rarity's lips left. She then leaned towards his ear and whispered. "I hope this mean you can accept my thanks." She smiled and leaned away, before walking back to the rest of the girls. Wearing Ralph's jacket. Ralph eyes remained widened, speechless is what you would descirbe the boy. Ralph's cheeks burned red, and soon his face was in a mad blush. Aiden noticed the whole thing and walked up, elbowing him playfully, snapping him out of his stupor. "Whoa! Check out you already playing Romeo." "I...I-I....I wasn't perpared for that." Ralph stammered out, rubbing his cheek where Rarity kissed him. Aiden giggled, "I can tell. But seriously, that was a nice thing you did for her. Giving her your jacket, and I know that's your favorite jacket." "It just felt like the nice thing to do." Ralph said. "Speaking of which, whatever happened: 'It's everyone for themselves in this world'? Huh?" Aiden raised an eyebrow, teasingly. Ralph cleared his throat, "It is! I don't know what came over me. I just felt like it, okay." Aiden giggled and shook her head, "Nah, I've noticed you've acted really different tonight." Ralph raised a brow and inquired, "What are you talking about?" "First it was Rainbow Dash, then Pinkie, then Fluttershy, and now Rarity. You've acted nice to other people for the first time in like forever." "You've been spying and eavesdropping on me!?" Ralph snapped, incredulously. Aiden giggled, "Only when you've actually been being nice instead of the usual jerk you are, seriously you-" "Uh guys?" Sunset said, cutting Aiden off her sentence. "Where's Rarity?" She asked looking around. "Wha?" Ralph raised an eyebrow, "She was here a second around." In truth the fashionista had disappeared, everyone swiveled their heads around and darted their eyes in every direction to catch where the purple haired girl had went. "Rarity!" Called out Pinkie. "Rarity?" Sunset yelled. "Where is she?" Asked Fluttershy nervously. Rarity tried to stand up and get her bearings, and noticed she couldn’t move. She slowly opened her eyes and noticed some white threads sparkling in the moonlight forming a pattern. Rarity gulped and tried to move her legs again, noting how they were being tugged against something strong. She squirmed harder and tried to move but to no avail. She was snared against the sticky strands completely. Like a....fly....in....a..... Spiderweb. Rarity froze and confirmed she was indeed trapped in a spiderweb like a common fly. She let out a high pitch scream trying to alert her friends. "Girls! Ralph! Rainbow! Sunset! Anybody!!! Help!!" She screamed, squirming harder. "Oh well isn't this a pleasant surprise." Said a seductive female voice that made Rarity freeze. She glanced up to see a giant spider with the body of a teenage girl. Her torso was human, while her legs were replaced by the abdomen of a spider, a giant tarantual to be precise, with a coarse of small bristle hairs line up on its legs. Her skin was all black, her hair reached to her shoulders and seemed messy, with red stripes. She had two giant horn protruding out the top of her head, and finally six red eyes that piecered through the darkness. Two giant eyes, followed by four smaller ones lined up accordingly. Rarity squealed ever louder at the sight of the half-human, half-spider hybrid, making her incredibly unnerved. She began flailing violently trying to free herself. But the spider hybrid merely laughed at her attempt. "Give it up stupid child, my web is stronger than steel, you'd need fire to cut through." She jeered. "W-who are you?" Rarity stuttered, her anxiety becoming too much. "Please, adress me as Arachnida the spider princess, and I shall adress you as my lunch." She grinned "Please let me go." Rarity begged getting more scared. "And miss out? my children have been getting rather hungry." She replied, forebodingly. "Children?" Arachnida's grin spreaded across her cheeks. She then snapped her fingers. Soon giant tarantulas descended over the web, the tarantulas themselves where the size of dogs. Once they landed on the web, they skittered towards their mistress. Rarity groaned in disgust at their sheer size. "They're the ones that brought you to me. Your a little dainty for a full meal, but they are growing boys and need their lunch." Arachnida smirked, petting one of the spiders. All of Arachnida's eyes suddenly widened when she noticed the black jacket the fashionista was wearing. There was one person she knew who wore a jacket as black as that. She clambered forward and reached down and pulled Ralph's black jacket, inspecting it closer with each eye. She gazed up at Rarity and narrowed all her eyes. "Where did you get this jacket?" She asked, her voice dripping with malice. "A friend gave it to me." She replied. "Was it a lonely little boy with a stupid obsession over the color black?" She asked, raising a single brow. "I'm not telling you a thing." Arachnida simply hissed, before a smirk replaced her scowl. She began to chuckle. "Oh boys!" She sang. Two spiders skittered up to Rarity and used its spinnerets on her. With two legs they began to create a special line of silk out to cocoon the girl. Rarity screamed as she found herself wrapped and covered in silk. Soon a blob of silk was shoved in her mouth silencing her and stopping any chance she had of calling her friends to come to her aid. Now she let out muffled sounds and tried writhing and squirming once more. The webbing ran from her neck to her feet, capturing her inside a cocoon of web. Soon her entire body was wrapped in the thin layers of webbing, trapping her. The only parts of her free was her head, minus the web gag in her mouth, along with her eyes and nose which were the only thing supplying her with oxygen to her lungs. She then gazed up and saw Arachnida lean towards her with a snarky grin before whispering, "Time to set up the bait and lure the flies into my trap." "Rarity!" AppleJack called out. Everyone began calling her name , the group kept searching but they were no closer to finding their friend. It was beginning to seem hopeless. "Well this sucks." Ralph muttered. "Yeah," Rainbow nodded, "Where could she be?" "Oh dear," Shy trembled, "You don't think a monster got her?" "I think we would have noticed a giant monster rush over and steal our friend." Rainbow replied. "No, it has to be one of them who is clever enough and agile enough to swipe her from us." Aiden stated. "Someone smart and cunning....someone like...." Ralph trailed off, and began mulling over who was stealthy enough. Then it came to him, he jerked his head up and his eyes widened, "I think I know who took Rarity." Rarity continued squirming as she was hanging by a tree near a clearing in the Everfree woods. Muffled noises were the only sounds made, as no proper verbal words could penetrate the thick silky strands. Arachnida was positioned over Rarity, with ten of her loyal giant spiders hiding around the clearing. She planned an ambush. Once they saw their friend in peril, they would run to her rescue and once they made it to the center, she would have them trapped. "Keep squirming!" Arachnida yelled, "Your only making me more anxious for my meal to arrive." Rarity kept protesting under the spider silk, but they came out once again as futile muffles. It was almost impossible to carry a proper word through the silk. "Rarity!" They both heard Sunsets voice cry out. A smirk curled its way up Arachnida face. She began chuckling silently. "Hehehe, right on time." She whispered to herself. Rarity then spotted Sunset and the rest of the group make their way towards the clearing. They then spotted Rartiy dangling helplessly. "Rarity!" Everyone one screamed in unison and ran towards her. Rarity shook her head frantically and writhe more violently. Trying to warn her friends of the impending trap only for her words to be translated as muffled gagging. Once the group made it to the center, Arachnida grinned again in anticipation before giving out the signal. "Now!" She yelled out before bursting out of the trees, along with her minions around the startled group. The group found themselves surrounded from all sides, the spiders began hissing and moving slowly towards. Rainbow furrowed her brow at Arachnida who was standing infront of them, with Rarity behind her, still squirming. "Let our friend go!" She demanded. Arachnida guffawed at her and began slowly sauntering towards them, making them slightly flinch as her huge form approached them on eight legs. "I'm sorry, but you don't seem to be in the position of making demands." Arachnida gaze landed on Ralph, who was slightly cowering. Even without his black jacket, and only wearing a white t-shirt, she recognized him, she sneered at the much smaller child. "Hello, daddy." She scowled, putting emphasis in that word the same way Dead would pronounce it. Filled with malice and hate. "A-A-A-A-A-Arachnida," Ralph stuttered anxiously, "It's been a while." Arachnida scowl seemed to deepen, "Like three years?" "Shoot, has it been that long?" Ralph muttered, pretending to be surprised. "I'm gonna enjoy sipping you like a milkshake," She growled, she turned to her eight-legged followers, "Take the others boys, Ralph will be my special snack for tonight." "Wait! Can't we talk this over?" Ralph asked cowardly. "Sure," she replied, "Over dinner." "Yippie!" Pinkie cheered, "What are we having to eat?" "You." "You?" Pinkie repeated, "Is that some special foreign dish." "I think she means us Pinkie." Sunset informed her. "Us........Oh!" Pinkie then paused, her eyes widened in realization and horror, "Oh!" The girls quickly got into defensive position, using the weapons they used before on the zombies. AppleJack looked at her broom and noticed it was close to breaking, she knew it wasn't going to be effective much against the spiders, she tossed it aside and pulled off her hat and took out her trusty lasso. A trio of spiders pounced from their positions at the group. AppleJack twirled her lasso and threw it at one of the spiders. The lasso was soon wrapped around the spiders waist, startling the large bug. Once the other two giant spiders were closer, AppleJack gripped the lasso and heaved the spider, swinging it like a battering ram against the other two, sending them flying across the clearing, knocking against a tree. Sunset swung her baseball to try and intimidate a few. But none of them looked swayed. One spider bared its fangs and lunged at her, she swung the bat in an arch motion. The spider didn't seem to appreciate their friend being knocked out. Another spider hissed at Sunset before turning around and flicking his abdomen, shooting web at Sunsets bat. With one swift motion it jerked the baseball bat out of her grasp. It rolled a few yards away before stopping. The others spiders took this as an invitation to strike. Another spider lunged at Sunset, tackling her to the ground. Sunset grabbed the forelegs as it bared its fangs and tried biting her. It would have successfully injected poison into her face, if it wasn't kicked on its underside and sent flying across the clearing. Sunset looked up to her savior and saw Rainbow extend a hand for her to grab. "Now we're even." Dash remarked, pulling up Sunset. "Thanks." "No problem." "Eh, girls," Fluttershy interrupted, "What about Rarity?" "I have a plan," Ralph declared, "Arachnida wants me, so I'll just lead her away from you guys while you get Rarity." "You're gonna use yourself as bait!?" Aiden said incredulously. "If I can lead them from Rarity, I know she'll follow." "Then I'm coming to." Aiden demanded, "I'm the fastest remember." "Are you two sure?" Sunset asked. Both Shiverribas nodded. Ralph and Aiden then took off in the small gap in the spider circle. The spiders hissed and attempted to lunge at them but they ducked the eight-legged creepy critters before bolting in a random direction. As Ralph predicted Arachnida took notice to the Shiverribas depart and focused her attention. "Cowards!" She hissed, then turned to her ravenous followers, "Forget those girls, bring me the Shiverribas!" The spiders halted their attacks on the Rainbooms and followed in the direction the siblings took off. Arachnida followed ignoring the girls. The Rainbooms soon rushed to Rarity and hastily began tugging. It took a group effort to pull the strong web off. But they managed to fee Rarity's mouth. "Oh," Rarity gasped for air through her lungs, "Thank you girls, that stuff tasted disgusting." It took a few minutes and a lot of struggling and a lot of strength from the girls, but Rarity was soon free from her bindings. "Okay let's go find Ralph and Aiden," Sunset declared, "I hope they haven't gone too far." "AHHHHH!" Ralph yelled, ducking squirts of webs fired at him and Aiden. "GET BACK HERE YOU SNIVELING EXCUSE OF A MONKEY!" Arachnida bellowed, skittering on all eight legs, her followers scurrying not far behind her. Ralph and Aiden continued running through the woods with Arachnida and the spiders still chasing after them. Unfortunately their cardio was not that great, and it became taxing on their lungs. "I'm not sure....how long.....I can't keep running!" Ralph said between breaths, his heart jackhammering. "Me too!" Aiden said, breathing wildly, never slowing down her pace. Ralph turned his head back, "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry!" It was obvious by their savage growling they didn't accept the half hearted apology, their expressions held bad intents setted on him. For all the years he imprisoned them all, they looked ready to chew his limbs off. And judging how angry they all looked, that may have been the idea. As the duo kept running deeper through the woods, they dared not turn for a second to see the savage princess and spiders trailing behind them. "How do we deal with them!?" Aiden yelled as she kept on running, "What's their weakness!?" "Give me a minute to remember it's been a while since I've read my own books!" Ralph exasperated, his breath thinning and his already taxed lungs worked overtime to ensure Ralph didn't die here tonight. "Shit! What was it?" Ralph muttered, "Uh-uh-uh-uh......" Ralph's mind was at a blank, he wrote a lot of books and each one kept interfering with his memory digging into: "The Spider princess " 'Let's see' Ralph thought hurriedly, residing the ending of the story, 'the guys rides off in a boat....boat sinks.....spiders drown!' "That's it!" Ralph yelled out loud this time, "they can't swim. They drown at the end of the story!" "Where are we going to find a lake here?" Aiden yelled, spiders still behind them all. Ralph felt his heart beat heavily, his brain was dwindling out of ideas, there wasn't a body of water anywhere in this forest. He did not wanna die this way. Arachnida began climbing up a tree nearby, in order to build up more momentum. She leaped from one branch after the other, pursuing the Shiverribas overhead. Ralph and Aiden jumped over a log as Arachnida came crashing down, over the log making it splinter under her weight. The shaft of the wood shattered, showering Ralph and Aide with chunks of wood. Ralph soon spotted a craggy slope, over a cave that was pretty close to the ground. Ralph and Aiden leaped over the slope and cave. He glanced back in time and had a crazy idea that might be crazy enough to work. He grabbed Aidens wrist and pulled his sister back into the cave, making her yelp in surprise. Ralph clasped his hand over her mouth and point his finger infront of his lips. Gesturing her to shut up. Soon enough Arachnida and her spiders leaped over the raised piece of land, completely missing the Shiverribas. They kept chasing unaware of the humans behind them. "Whoa, nice call." Aiden whispered. "Yeah," Ralph said, standing back up, "Let's go and find the others." After successfully evading the spider princess and her minions. The two Shiverribas ran back the way they were previously chased. It took a little aimless wandering but eventually the Rainbooms met up with the Shiverribas near another clearing in the woods. "Oh heavens, your alive!" Rarity said happily. She then wrapped her arms around Ralph neck and pecked his cheeks with kisses, repeatedly smooching the side of his face out of gratitude. Making Ralph blush wildly. "That was so brave and selfless how used your self as bait to ensure my safety. You truly are very generous darling. Thank you so much, if you ever need anything, new clothes. Never hesitate to ask me." Rarity said before giving Ralph one last kiss. "Ugh....uhm.....I-sure my-kisses don't....w-wait....Eh-What!?" Ralph muttered, still blushing. "Oh thank Celestia, you two are okay." Sunset said, relived to see the two alive. "Celestia?" Aiden titled her head, arching a brow. "Uh, pony world thing." Sunset explained, "Different ideology." "Ah!" Aiden uttered, understandingly. "Okay let's go," AppleJack waved them eagerly to get out of the woods, "The exit shouldn't be too far." The group eventually made it to a bridge connecting to the other side, high over a river. The bridge was made mostly of planks and ropes, it looked incredibly rocky and unstable but it was the only way out of the forest with angry giant spiders. They were almost across the rope bridge, until a familiar voice yelled out. "You sneaky little trick!" Everyone turned to see Arachnida and her spiders scurrying their way. Angrier than ever. "What!? You thought I would be too stupid to know about your little trick? Did you think I was going to let you leave the woods so easy? Do you think your clever!? Huh? Punk!" She roared, angry. "You are right on all accounts." Ralph smirked before running towards the end of the bridge along with the girls. Arachnida snarled, "Well if i can't eat you, I'll destroy you!!" "Some other time!" Ralph yelled over his shoulders as he reached the end of the rope bridge. Arachnida only hissed as she reach the bridge. Some of her spiders clambered up on the guide rope and scurried on it while Arachnida was crawling on the planks. Ralph turned to look at the support beam, and had a another idea to stop the vicious spider girl. He turned to AppleJack. "Quick! help me pull these things out of the ground!" AppleJack nodded she went to the left support beam, while Ralph took the right. By now Arachnida was three quarters from reaching the end of the bridge. AppleJack used her developed muscles, while Ralph struggled a bit to pull out the wooden beams. The spider princess was already halfway across the bridge, her spiders either behind or on the edge guide rope. Soon all the girls assisted both Ralph and AJ as they kept struggling. With a powerful jerk backwards, they pulled the heavy beams out of the ground and heaved it towards, shoving to the river below. The planks knots then undid themselves, the planks and boards slowly unraveled, free from the knots. The guide rope and support ropes followed. Arachnida lunged forwards before the ropes and planks fell to the water along with her spiders. Arachnida used her eights legs and heaved herself far enough. She managed to successfully grab on to Ralph by his collar pulling him down with her. Aiden gasped and rushed forward, grabbing the back of his collar. "Ralph!" Aiden cried out, before grabbing her brother. But Arachnida's was more powerful then all of them combined. She pulled both Shiverribas down with her. The Rainbooms saw this and quickly grabbed Aiden. One by one, the girls created a chain to keep Ralph and Aiden to plunging into a river with spiders after them, along with their angry princess. "You little runt!" Arachnida cried, her legs dangling over the river still clutching Ralph's white shirt collar, which was the only thing keeping her from falling, "I'm going down, I'm Atleast gonna take you with me!" "No....he's....NOT!" Aiden cried, she then raised her boot and stomped it against her face, her heel rammed against Arachnida's smaller eye, making her screech in pain. Arachnida accidentally released him, falling to the river and screamed as she fell, making a huge splash against the river as she joined her followers in the water. The Rainboom began pulling both Shiverribas up. They panted once they were secure back on the ground. "I....." Ralph paused, inhaling deeply before exhaling, "Thank......you....." "Anything darling." Rarity smiled, "Oh, this is yours. As much as I look good in any color. Black looks better on you than me." She then gave him his jacket before securely putting it back where it belonged. Back to its owner. "Okay, this'll definitely make an interesting story." Ralph muttered, pulling up the zipper. Sunset gazed over the cliff into the water, where Arachnida fell, "Do you thinks she's dead?" "Nope," Ralph stated, "My monsters can survive anything in real life." "Then let's go so we can end this." AJ declared, earning full nods from everyone before they departed to the school. Arachnida coughed violently out water, as she crawled on the ground. The bristles on her legs matted with water as she weakly pulled herself back to the ground along with her spiders. Drenched in water. She inhaled and exhaled, letting air fill her lungs as she hung her head in defeat. She stayed their panting softly and sulking. Then a giant shadow loomed over her, along with a loud buzzing sound. Arachnida lifted her head and her multiple eyes gazed up to see the glowing Mutant Mantis and the Queen Bee. She looked down to see Dead with the other monsters behind him intently, grinning at her. "Hello Arachnida. Seen Ralph lately?"