Chapter L
With the spiders hot on their trail and tail, the company of mares made their way through the cavern system. They didn’t know where they would be running towards, they didn’t even knew what would be laying around the next corner. All they knew for certain was that the danger was literally right behind them. The clacking of the jaws against each other and the thumping of the venomous fangs as well as the abdomens against the rock shocked through the whole of the cavern system.
None of the mares could been thinking about anything or everything. All they wanted to do was to stay alive and survive the encounter. Something for which they would be trying their utmost best at no matter what. Their legs carried them as fast as they were actually allowed as the fear was readable in their very eyes.
None of them had actually liked spiders in their lives and then they were chased by beasts many times bigger than they had ever thought to encounter one. It wasn’t just a run for their very lives, but also one to get them all straight out of their nightmares.
Yet what else could they be doing? Of course they could just zigzag from left to right through the caverns all they wanted. But the spiders seemed to have been a whole lot more agile to be doing such a thing. Their eight legs carried them over the walls like they didn’t even existed. The laws of nature seemed to have been defiled by them as they didn’t only walk on the floor, but also on the sides and the ceilings.
Nopony dared to even look behind them as it meant they would be one step closer to losing total control. Their weapons nor magic seemed to have had any effect on the exoskeleton of the creatures. Hundreds of not thousands of years of evolution had caused them to become their size. Not to mention that their armor had grown to be just too thick to be penetrated by anything.
So any plan of a counter attack was quickly laid to rest by the mares as their fight or flight reaction told the lot of them to run. Just run as fast as they could to a place of safety.
The lights of the torches were the only lights that could be seen through the cavern system and most likely the actual case of why the spiders were so eager to get them. Not only would they be getting a meal of different meat for a change, they didn’t had to do too much of actually getting it. It ran right in front of them with lights and all.
Despite the fact of their eyes only being used to near and absolute darkness, the spiders seemed to have been surprisingly resilient to the light of the torches. Almost as if they knew what it was. All of those thoughts also occurred within the mind of Twilight as the blood was pumped faster than ever through her body.
The blood rushed through her body which allowed her to not only run like crazy, but think like mad as well. Thousands of thoughts about the spiders and their species in general began to cross her mind, including manners to perhaps lose them.
Hundreds of spider repellents were thought up but those could only be used on the normal spiders they had in Canterlot. Not on massively oversized, cavern dwelling, literal monsters of spiders. So the thoughts had to be disposed of just as quickly as they had come. The unicorn soothsayer was running out of options, literally.
She knew that at any given moment in time, they could be making the wrong turn and became the mean for a couple dozen hungry spiders. The last thing they wanted to be end up with in each of their books. The mares continued to run down their own lit up path before Twilight made the decision to turn left.
If the cavern system was indeed connected in the way that it all seemed to be and she continued to run the same distance, they would run in a square. A square that should have brought them right back to the den of the spiders. Perhaps not the wisest place to return to, but at least they could be plotting a course from there.
Even if it meant they had to face the rest of the den at once…
The more they began to run in a straight line again after the first turn left had been made, the more each of the mare could be hearing something in their ears. Next to the sounds of a couple spiders crashing against one another, or into one another. It seemed they weren’t agile enough to make the really sharp turn that the company had made. No, there was another sound next to the crashing and screeching of the spiders. A sound that the company knew all too well. A sound that they really hadn’t been expecting to be heard down there.
“Running water,” the soothsayer whispered to herself. Her ears had begun to perk themselves into every possible direction. She wanted and she needed to know exactly where the place was as it might have been their only hope to get rid of the dreaded creatures.
"Y’all hearing what Ah’m hearing? Ah might be crazy, but that does sound like running water! Lots of it!” Applejack yelled to them while her steam powered leg was taking a constant beating. She wasn’t even running normal anymore at that point. Instead the joints inside of the leg had been locked and she ran like she was having an actual pegleg.
Even though the sight seemed to have been quite comical while she moved forwards, it surprised Rarity that she could maintain the speed they were running at. Yet the words were right, they all had heard the sounds of the running water. “Sounds like an underwater river to my ears!” Rarity replied when her eyes began to look both left and right.
They needed to cross that underground river, even if the currents would be dragging them along, they would be crossing it. “I think it’s coming from straight ahead!” Rainbow spoke up as she jumped into the air and wanted to take off. Only to have her head crash into the ceiling of the cavern.
The body of the pegasus was dropped down again before she rubbed her head. Yet one of the deadliest mistakes had been made. She had come to a standstill.
The other mares came to a screeching hold and turned themselves around as the spiders surprisingly enough had done the same. They too had come to a standstill before the pegasus. Hundreds of eyes suddenly were peeled upon Rainbow Dash. The major of the air force on the other end continued to rub the top of her head.
Her entire skull was just hurting like hell. Every last little bit just bonked its way into every possible direction. The contact between her head and the ceiling may not have been long, but the ceiling consisted out of a couple thousand tons of pure, unbroken rock. A fragile skull against that, the outcome was never really a doubt.
“Oh, I see pretty little stars,” chuckled Rainbow when she seemed to have been completely off of the world. Her hand reached out to a series of eyes from one of the spiders. Who in return extended its venomous fangs to bite her.
Seconds were playing in the matter while Twilight had to be doing something. She had to prevent that the rainbow haired major would become a little meal for the monsters. Which was in and of itself easier said than actually done. So in the heat of the moment did the mare charge up her horn and where Rainbow’s hand was almost touching the fang, suddenly there was only air.
The spider had just thrust its fang down to piece the hand when it realized there wasn’t anything anymore. Eight eyes suddenly turned back to a state of anger before they were focused on the massive orb of light. And in that orb of light, as blurry as it seemed to have been she laid. Its meal laid in the arms of the mulberry skinned being.
A screech was given off by the beast which caused the others to go over into a literal frenzy. Twilight looked over the events as another thought seemed to have been confirmed to her. “So you’re the leader of the little group, sorry to take your dinner,” she said in a whisper towards the giant arachnid and then just ran away again.
It was the only thing they could do, carry Rainbow and run once again. With the spiders hot in their trails as well. They had escaped once, they had escaped twice but the creatures would be making sure that the third time wouldn’t have been the charm.
Yet nopony would been having an infinite amount of stamina. While the little events of Rainbow’s crash certainly were a warm welcome to the team, the second run they were doing would have been a lot more exhausting than the mares had originally thought it was. Not to mention the little fact that twilight was carrying the still deluded major.
“Where do ya wanna have us heading to, Twilight?” questioned Applejack as they formed the rear of the company. Rarity had taken it upon herself to lead them while Fluttershy could be found right in the middle of them.
But the soothsayer was just clueless in the moment. She wanted to go to so many places, but only a select few of them were actually open for suggestion. Though there was one suggestion that would be dominating all of them. As they could still hear the water running within their ears. “If Rarity can be leading us towards or actually to the water, I’m going to be just happy enough. When we reach it, we’ll be seeing further what’s gonna happen,” replied Twilight replied in a frightful tone.
With the spiders hot on their tails were the caverns beginning to split themselves open even more. Even though it seemed to have been that was wonderful, it actually was a terrible something for the mares. Yes, they would be having more space to run around. Problem just was, so did the pursuers. While the caverns opened up, the hurdled ball of fur and terror began to spread itself.
When it was spreading itself, it would have been gaining more and more ground upon them all. The seconds were literally ticking away. In the corners of their eyes saw both Applejack and Twilight the front legs of two beasts upon the walls. The two of them didn’t even dare to be looking behind them. They were both too terrified about the fact that if they would, all they would be seeing would be a pair of razor-sharp fangs.
A fear that was very well and rightfully placed within the anthronies. For the distance between them and the monsters only seemed to be decreasing. “Rarity, anytime now would be nice!” Applejack shouted while the streams of sweat travelled down her face.
“Working on it, just, just gimme a tick!” Rarity snarled back as her eyes had constantly been going up and down to find some form of help to them.
“We don’t have a tick here!”
“Here goes nothing!” Rarity out of nowhere shouted. Finally she made another sharp turn to her left. The rest of the company could only barely follow her as they as well made the turn and began to follow her again.
Once again could the crashing sounds of the spiders colliding with one another be heard through the caverns as the ceiling seemed to be closing in upon them once more. Though Rarity had managed it, they had returned into a smaller cavern once more. Relief came to the mares but they weren’t out of trouble yet.
Though the spiders quickly managed to regroup themselves and continue the chase. While the mares were having a little head start on them, they just didn’t know of any quitting. There was only one way that would end the chase once and for all, and let each of the anthronies live.
The sapphire blue eyes of the pirate captain continued to scan every last single angle that was given to them as they ran past. With the lights of the torches all being centered again into a much more confined area, finding entrances of side caves and ways had become a whole lot easier. Not to forget the little fact that the sounds of the water seemed to have gotten louder.
“It’s somewhere around here. We must be close to the water. Just, just hold on for a little while longer!” Rarity shouted while she sounded confident in her words. Yet in reality she didn’t have a single clue about where she needed to be going. For the caves were messing with her head, the echo’s that were traveling through it could have gone from every direction and the threat behind them was a little bit too real in her eyes.
Running ahead was all they could be doing. Running ahead of the spiders and pray on their dear lives that nothing terrible would have happened. Though the latter part could already have been scratched from their papers. As being chased by the spiders in and of itself was actually pretty terrible already.
Rarity could have sworn to herself that she would have gotten crazier by the minute. The further she ran, the more the sounds of the running water seemed to have become louder. Taken in the moment, the unicorn slowed down her pace to a standstill. She glanced into a side cavern. Her eyes had gone wide as the light of her torch touched upon the end of the cave.
The other mares just rushed past her as they thought that she was actually crazy and Applejack hoped on the fact that she would sacrifice herself. Even though the admiral was sobered up and after all of the chances she had witnessed that completely shattered her thoughts about who Rarity actually was, old habits never seemed to die down.
“Girls, in here, quickly!” Rarity yelled only a second after they had ran passed her. She then disappeared into the side entrance just before the hesitation came to the rest of them. They had to run back for just a little bit in order to catch up with the pirate. But that little bit did mean they would be running towards the spiders.
There didn’t seem to be much choice of what they could be doing. The mares looked at one another and gave one powerful nod. With Rainbow still held in the arms of Twilight, they silently agreed upon the plan before they ran once more for their lives.
~~~~
Mere fractions of seconds later had the spiders sensed that the anthronies were actually heading straight into their directions. Which to them meant they could be readying their fangs for the charges to come. They had finally sealed the fates of their very preys. Finally would the hunting have been over and they could be eating all that they wanted from the fluids the mares carried within them, as well as feast upon their fresh flesh.
The only problem was that the mares didn’t seem to be running into their fangs nor did the hairs upon their legs sensed them anymore. The whole train of spiders came to a standstill before the abdomens were pounded against the ground again. At first it was one before the rest of the entire group had followed.
The mares had barely escaped the razor-sharp fangs of the creatures. They had barely escaped from a near certain death as the four of them stood panting in the side cavern. The distance between them and the spiders was great enough to catch their breath for a little moment. They were glad, they were glad to have been still alive.
“Thanks Rares, ya saved us all, for now,” panted Applejack before she realized something terrible. Something that they were all still carrying within their very hands. “Oh no…” Her eyes looked straight into the flames of the torch that Rarity was carrying.
The pirate captain wiped the sweat of her face as she just remained standing there. “It’s nothing, you would have done the same to save them all.” Rarity replied before she noticed the near hypnotic stare in which the admiral was looking. “What are you..? Oh no, no, no, no, no, how could I have been so stupid?!”
Before Twilight or Fluttershy could react was there something else. The tapping of two forelegs against the ground could be heard loud and clearly. A spider had entered the side cavern and without a doubt had seen the light of the torches. If it hadn’t seen that, the sonic waves that it was sending through the earth gave away their position.
“Oh we’re dead… Everypony, run, run like the wind! The water isn’t far from here!” Rarity shouted while she then helped everypony getting back up on their hooves. She was guiding them to the other side of the cavern. She prayed to be right on the fact of it being close as the sounds had only gotten more and more intense.
“Keep on running!” Twilight spoke to them. Her eyes were lost in the darkness. Before them there was only a stretch of light as behind them Rarity formed the rearguard. They needed to have the water found and they needed it quickly.
Though fate wouldn’t be forgetting about those who had done a wish upon the lady of luck herself, the elusive Miss Fortune. Little sprinkles of hope were given to them as the wish of a certain somepony was given in. For whether Fluttershy liked it or not, she happened to be the first one to spot the water.
In a way that was less than controversial to begin with. For a huge splash could be heard as the torch suddenly had gone out. All of the mares gasped for air as the noticed it, but thankfully could the pegasus just rose back up from the liquids.
“Found it,” she said after she spat out the waters from her mouth. Her body then turned around to face the others. Her clothing was drenched in the liquids before the other mares then took a step into it. Oddly enough did it feel actually cool to them. Not cold, not hot, just perfect. Though drinking from the clear water was something highly advised against, even Fluttershy said so as the taste lingered in her mouth. A taste that wasn’t pleasant at all.
The mares walked as far into the little but powerful river as they could. It surprised them just with how much force the water was rushing past them. They could be speaking of luck that none of them had slipped yet into the deeper parts. Where Fluttershy had fallen face flat, the height was only up to their ankle. Past that, it came up to their knees. Meaning that it was shallow water.
The currents of the waters on the other end were strong and the mares all struggled to get a good footing. Then they heard the hissing sounds behind them. Immediately did they all just turn themselves around and noticed how the spiders just stood there. Finally was it time to see whether or not the theory of Twilight would have been a success or a massive failure.
“So, what do we now?” Applejack asked in desperation. Sshe seemingly was getting more and more nervous. Yet the spiders just remained standing there. They were all looking at the mares but they seemed to actually be afraid of the water. The tips of the legs were almost constantly placed in and outside of the river.
Yet none of the beasts seemed to be brave enough to cover it. None of the beasts were brave enough to drop themselves into the puddle of water. The forelegs of the creatures continued to pounce upon the watery surface as the abdomens were smashed against the rocky ground. They were pissed at the mares, they were pissed at them for the fact that they had managed to have gotten away.
“Yeah, come try and get us now!” Applejack spoke to them before she released a massive chuckle. Only to end up with a near cutting glare from Rarity’s side which she caught almost right away. “What? Did Ah say som’thing wrong in yar eyes?”
“Not in mine, but in theirs. Just, just keep silent, would you?” she asked of the admiral. Twilight wasn’t in the mood to see a swimming spider within the next few minutes. If even one of the beasts managed to get the bright idea to just jump into the water, everything would have been thrown out of balance.
“Suppose yar having a point there,” the earth anthrony said before they all saw how the horde of beasts began to turn themselves around. With screeches, roars and pounds they all left the cavern. They all just left their prey to be just dangling in the water. But they would return once the time was there. For within the second any of the mares showed herself in one of their neighborhoods, they would be knowing it.
The scents of each of the anthronies was buried deep inside of the senses of the spiders. They would be having their own little revenge when the anthronies would be making the mistake to meet them again, or to look them up.
Twilight on the other end couldn’t be more happy. Her theory seemed to have been working. “I knew it, thousands of years of wandering the rocky sides of the caves has made them afraid for something as simple as water, haha!”
“All fine and such, dear, but what direction are we going now? Up streams, or down streams?” Rarity asked while her attention had turned away from the cavern and towards the unicorn. A unicorn who was still holding the knocked out major and gestured with her head towards the side of where the currents came from.
“Upstream it is,” the soothsayer then said before she took the first step. “I know all rivers start out somewhere, a spring as small as only a couple of drops might be enough to create this river. Down streams I have no idea what we will face. Maybe we’re only a minute from a giant waterfall.”
Her words of worry were right, for the speed at which the water rushed past their legs could have meant a lot of things at once. Though even the water came to only their knees, it still troubled Fluttershy on the fact of why the spiders didn’t cross it. If their legs had only entered deep enough, they would have been able to cross it without much trouble.
A shudder went over her spine as she thought about the horrors of what could then happen next. Thoughts that were truly unpleasant came through her before she just locked everything up inside of her head. She needed to think about things that actually were a whole lot more pleasant.
Happy thoughts just needed to flow through her mind and one such thought was that their exoskeletons would have gotten weak within the liquids. Almost like their skin would ripple up would the exterior armor of the spider have become weak, brittle and even break off. Which then left a naked spider to roam over the ceilings.
It was the thought of a naked spider that caused her to giggle deeply to herself as it looked just plain out ridiculous. The other mares looked back for just a moment or two before they would be leaving the mare alone in her own little world again. Perhaps it was better to just not meddle themselves into the business that the pegasus was having.
~~~~
The more they walked up the stream of water, the weaker the currents seemed to have gotten in their eyes. Not only that though, the area seemed to become lighter as well. It was actually much to their own surprise that exterior light was traveling down that deep into the cavern system.
It also caused the lot of them to be righteously on their guards. The weapons were locked and loaded as the hands were taken on the hilts of the swords they carried. They weren’t out of danger yet. They wouldn’t have been for a long time.
“Light? This deep down? Something just doesn’t seem to be right. Extinguish your torches. If it is as bad as I think it is, we need to run without light. …Meaning, swim down streams as fast as possible. After those spiders, I’m not taking chances anymore,” reasoned Twilight in a whisper. Then the hissing sounds of flames dying could be caught in her ears.
All of the lights that the mares carried went out as not even the arcane lights would have been called upon. They knew they were getting close to the source of the underwater river, for the water became only less and less the more they travelled. Time would tell just what they would encounter. Good or bad, it all depended on what they saw as friend, and enemy.
Around the corner it then appeared before them all. The very spring of the river they had been walking up. The formation of rocks that stood almost in a symbolic pillar from which the waters ran. A water that seemed to be just so fresh that they could be drinking it.
It was enough to let a lot of moss cover the immediate area as some sort of grass as a ray of light was cast right over the rock. “Impossible, this can’t be true,” said Twilight just before she laid Rainbow down in the moss and took careful steps forward. “A shrine? This deep down? But, but where does, the light come from?” Twilight asked herself as she could be found scurrying all around the little spring.
"Twilight, take it easy will you? We’re all tired and beaten down. You mind if we just sit down for a little bit?” Rarity asked of her. The pirate did have a point though, a thing Twilight fought against. Without waiting for any actual answer did the mare just drop herself into the moss and leaned her back against the rocky side of the wall. Comfortable it wasn’t at all, but it was at least better than nothing.
“Yes, you all just take a break and try to get Rainbow back to normal. I need to, I need to be looking at a few things around here,” returned Twilight while she waved with one of her hands. The mares just shrugged it off as Applejack finally could be leaning against the wall and fix her leg. The first thing she did was to unhook the very hook that held the joints together.
Fluttershy took over the care of Rainbow and she began her normal procedures in the depths of the cavern. Even though there was nothing to work with, she would be finding a manner to be working with. “Just a simple bash to the head, bleeding very lightly, the moss should be spongy enough to soak it all up. Probably just ten minutes before you’re woken up again Rainbow,” she spoke towards the knocked out pegasus with a little smile.
In the meantime had Twilight continued her research and had fallen to an unlikely conclusion. “From the looks of it, we’re back in the Frozen North. This place most lay even more west than we have been going thus far, for right above here, what allows the light to enter is a thick sheet of ice. But I don’t get it how everything could grow here, I mean, it’s not like… Oh, but it is.” Suddenly did the soothsayer fell in silence before she shook her head with a calm.
“No, no, no, that can’t be true? What else can be living down here outside of them? I mean, taking everything into consideration…” The soothsayer seemed to have gotten even more paranoid as Rarity was struggling with the thought about whether or not she should be standing up to help the mare.
Though mere seconds afterward she came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t have been worth the muscle power to do so. “What have you discovered now, Twilight?” she asked as if it was the most normal day of the week.
“Shush, shh, shh, shh, silent. Everypony, keep quiet,” the soothsayer then replied. Nopony knew what the mare was even wanting at the point anymore. She seemed to have lost her mind completely and they wouldn’t be surprised if she actually had to. But Twilight was having a good reason to silence them.
The prying eyes of something they still hadn’t seen were spying upon them, to be more specific, upon her. “You know that feeling when you know something is staring at you, but you have no idea where it is? …I’m having it now,” she whispered loud enough for them to hear it.
Then it happened, fractions after she had spoken her words was there something that sprung out of a dark hole and actually went over Rarity before it managed to coil itself around the body of Twilight. All of the mares screamed it out as they drew their weapons.
Whether they needed to fire upon the pink, scaled, something they didn’t know. They didn’t even know what it was doing to the soothsayer as the shape was actually recognizable. Terrified had Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy hurled themselves against the wall and just watched over the events unfolding before their eyes.
The eyes of Twilight looked at the creature that had coiled up around her and could only make one assuming as the air was squeezed out of her body. She was already making gasps for air as the eyes exchanged the looks with one another. Then the mouth of the creature decided to open and it spoke its words in a near perfect Equestrian tongue. “Oh I’m so, so, so, so super happy to finally meet new faces down here! You know, normally nopony comes to visit me, but now that you’re all here, can we be friends, friends, friends? Please? I promise I am good fun, fun, fun!”
Everything that Twilight could have thought was thrown right out of the window. For when the hands of the creature were placed upon her very shoulder, she knew exactly what it was and was once again smacked in the face. Legends spoke about such creatures as nopony alive had seen them. Only the tales of old spoke about them living above the ground before drawn beneath it.
There was only one word that could be describing the pink, scaled, snake like being that had coiled itself around the soothsayer and wasn’t squeezing her like a prey. Instead did the creature just seem to be hyper active and happy. How such a thing was possible, remained a question for all.
But the word that Twilight was looking for, was the word of, “lamia.” The creature coiled itself up even further around the mare who realized she had to do something. Either her friends would shoot it down, or she would end up with a broken rib cage.
With only mere seconds to spare had the mare charged up her horn quicker than ever. In a massive poof that had she vanished from their reality for the moment. The creature dropped down to the ground and almost confused began to look around to find Twilight. “H-Hello?! You still there? New friend? Hello!”
When Twilight appeared a mere second later and the eyes of the creature were turned around towards the soothsayer. A soothsayer who stood there, panting for her dear life as the horn lost its magical aura. “There you are!” it spoke before it then rushed back to the unicorn.
The eyes of Twilight went as wide as they possibly could, the pupils shrunk down to near nothing. She had to say something to make the charge stop in the moment. Though only one other word seemed to have gotten right into her mind. “Pinkie!”
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AND THERE SHE IS, PONKA! FINALLY THE GANG IS COMPLETE!!!
spoiler 'cause i can
7211139 About time I would say, hehehe, but now the million dollar question: was it worth the wait?
Ayy the gang's all here! The real adventure begins now!
7211861 The real adventure, you say? You're only partly right on that one.
7221665 What else can I say, other than the fact that I just love reading through these comments. It's my entertainment and I can't thank you enough for writing them all down, chapter after chapter.
FINALLY!!!! This is great! Do we get to see the rest of the family?
They sure are craving them cheeks ey
DAT leg Lol 😂
They are totally gonna come out of this fitter 😂
She has psychic powers