Where did you come from?

by Jeweled Pen

Chapter 21: Where he came from

Cheerilee tried not to scream when she woke up. Why? Because she could feel something furry and... many legged on her face. Over her mouth. If she screamed, it might fall in. She knew what it was. Nipper. Oddly, that thought did not help. All it made her do was want to cry. Instead, she gave a pitiful whimper until, finally, the spider walked off. THEN she screamed and jumped off the bed, wiping her face frantically with her hooves.

“NO NO NO NO!” she shrieked, shaking her head before turning on Nipper and the wide eyed, staring Val. “Nipper, not, do no sleep on me! No no! Guhhhh!” Just the thought made her spine crawl as she gibbered unintelligibly.

“What? He was just being affectionate,” Val said defensively before hugging the giant spider to his chest. “See? He likes you, he just wanted to say hi.”

She took deep, calming breaths and tried to accept that. Just being friendly. Being nice. It wasn't a big, freaky spider latching onto her face. Just a... yeah, that wasn't working. “No, no no no. No. Nipper, if you want to sleep on my bed, you stay off me. Understand? Just... no.”

The spider had the sense to at least look sad at what it had done.

“I... am going to go make breakfast.” After she washed her face.

She heard Val as she walked out the door. “Don't worry, Nipper. She's probably just a bit of a neat freak about her face.

She gave a shudder and scrubbed at her face with the soap and towel. She could still feel it. Its little tiny legs crawling all over her face and just... no. So much no. There wasn't enough no in all the world to say no to that. Why was he even there? He should have been--

The previous night came back to her in a flash. What Twilight had said and what... Val had said. She shuddered and leaned against the counter, her breath quickening. Well... she supposed with such a situation she could forgive and...

Okay, no. Spider on the face when first waking off was not that easily forgiven. Or forgotten. She could still feel it and she gave a shudder, trotting down the stairs. Never. Ever. Ever again. If Val was okay with having that thing crawl all over him, that was his decision. But she was in so many ways NOT okay with it. Guhhhh. She gave another shiver.

She washed her face a second time when she got down to the kitchen. She swore no matter what she did, she just felt... unclean still. Still, she quickly got to work preparing breakfast, humming softly as she made up a delicious little fruit salad. It would give them a nice burst of energy in the morning, to help them through the day. She hoped the trip to the forest would be okay. Val was bound to--

She let out a scream as she turned around, jumping back and hitting the counter. “Princess! W-what? When did you get here?” Hadn't the mare ever heard of KNOCKING? Why was she in her living room? Knocking, it helped! Why was everypony so set on giving her a heart attack this morning?

“I did earlier but I guess you didn't hear me and so I just came inside and then you walked over to the fridge and started working so I thought I'd just watch and didn't want to bother you because you were so focused.” The princess was, for lack of a better word, excited. Almost to Pinkie Pie levels. Cheerilee was a little surprised she wasn't hopping up and-- okay, there she went. Kind of hopping in place.

“I... I see. Care to join us for breakfast?”

“No no not really hungry just super excited because we're finally going to figure all this out and afterwards all of my friends will be safe I can't believe it never occurred to me to just go to the forest where he came from, I mean really, Twilight what were you thinking? Princess of friendship, more like princess of being a scatterbrain. But now we'll go see the dimensional portal area and get everything settled and everypony is going to be happy and lucky and I can set up a ward and everything else and it will be wonderful!” She let out an excited little sqwee of delight, leaning forward.

Cheerilee nodded slowly. “I... see. Well... err... is it okay if Val and I eat?”

“Go right ahead I'll watch!”

The teacher stared at the mare. She struggled to remember that the mare was, in fact, a princess. And the many times savior of their world. So what if she was just a little... eccentric? Possibly crazy? Lots of ponies were.

Just not usually to that level. She glanced towards the stairs as more hoofsteps started trotting down it. Val stepped down and starred out, yawning softly. “What's going on?” he asked curiously.

“Goooood morning Val,” Twilight said with a big grin. “Are you ready to find the portal that brought you here and find out whatever we can to stop whatever is coming from it from getting here?”

“Oh BLEEP you're a morning person,” Val said with a groan.

“Nope, just never slept! Come on, eat up! It's going to be a glorious day!”

“... I wish very much to light you on fire,” Val grumbled as he walked to the counter. “I won't! But I want to,” he said quickly after the glare from Cheerilee.

“Val, she is helping so do try to be nice. I thought you said Rarity and the guards were coming as well?”

“Yes, and Claw!” Twilight said with a nod. “I already sent the guards to get her, they'll meet us on the edge of the forest.”

“Of... course,” Cheerilee mumbled before putting a plate of the fruit in front of Val. “A shame. Maybe you could have brought one or two.” Perhaps then she would have waited inside and not nearly given Cheerilee a heart attack. It was still pounding. She sat down and tried eating, though she found it hard with the princess sitting there. Just watching them. With her wings out. Like some kind of strange pony bird of prey. “Are you sure you don't want to join us?”

“No no, I've already eaten. Flash insisted,” Twilight said with just a hint of a blush. “They were very insistent and actually barred the doorway. I can't imagine why they were making such a big deal about it.”

“Uh... huh. And you didn't get any sleep last night?”

“Too excited! I have everything we'll need outside,” the princess said with a wide grin.

“Out... side?” Cheerilee felt a fresh influx of horror. “Just... how much are you bringing?”

“Oh, just a few odds and ends. I couldn't fit the wagons in so I just left them there,” the princess said with great enthusiasm.

The teacher gulped and then rubbed her hoof against her temple. It was going to be one of those days, she could feel it. “I... I see. Well... let's eat and then we can go.” She quickly walked to the kitchen and made herself a mug of coffee. A very, very big mug. It was the only way she'd survive this, she knew.

When breakfast was finally finished, she took a deep breath and steeled herself. She could do this. She would do this. As... wild as the princess was, there had to be limits to what she'd do. This was the Everfree Forest. Whatever the alicorn brought, had to be necessary. With that comforting thought, she pushed open the door.

She was not prepared. There were three wagons strapped to each other so they formed a sort of wagon train. Each one was filled so high that their supplies teetered into the air precariously and Cheerilee suspected that they were held aloft more through the use of magic than through any sort of balancing act. “Princess... you... gathered all this in one night?”

“It was a very productive night! Now, there's no telling what we'll need or what kind of things will be in this other dimension, so I gathered a bit of everything. We--”

“Wait, IN this dimension? We're not going into it!” Cheerilee said quickly, her eyes wide with horror.

“Oh, of course we're not, silly. I have magical drones for that. They'll go in, explore, meet the natives and--”

“That would be a bad, bad idea,” Val said quickly.

“What? But we--”

“You will bring war down on your people,” the colt said softly as he stared at the wagons. “If she realizes you've sent anything into her kingdom, she will do everything in her power to destroy you.”

“B-but the research and the--”

“Princess, please,” Cheerilee said with a sigh. “Listen to Val. There can be later times. Just... bring whatever you need to examine the portal itself, not to send things through it.”

The princess sighed and her horn glowed before she pulled out one smaller wagon from the wagons. Wait, why did she have smaller wagons in the wagons? Why did she even think she'd need extra wagons? Was this mare crazy?

Cheerilee glanced over to the princess before sighing. Well, maybe a little. The carts disappeared in a burst of magic a moment later.

Val stared. “Wait, what? If you could just... teleport them places, why did you bring them at all?”

“It's far easier to send them someplace than call them to me,” Twilight said matter of factually.

“Then why not just send them to where we're going?”

“Because...” Twilight blinked a few times. “Huh. I didn't really think about that.”

“Princess, perhaps after this you should get some more sleep,” Cheerilee mumbled before she started walking. She mentally reminded herself that even if the princess was a bit... wonky, she was still quite brilliant and their best hope of survival. Probably.

Why did that not comfort her in the slightest?

------

She let out a sigh of relief as the forest came into view and she saw six ponies waiting for them. Rarity, Claw and the four guards. At least with this many of them the princess probably wouldn't be able to do anything too crazy. She hoped. She looked back to let Val know they were almost there.

The colt was laying on his back in the wagon, Nipper resting on his stomach. Twilight didn't even seem to notice as she hauled the wagon behind herself. She measured the pros and cons for a few moments before shrugging. She could let him sleep, just a little longer. At least until they joined with the others.

Claw, on the other hoof, had a different idea. As they came closer, the little dragon pony galloped forward, leaped over Twilight and pounced on Val's stomach, narrowly missing Nipper. The force still sent the spider spinning through the air, flailing its legs around as Val's eyes widened and he shot up. But he couldn't defend himself as Claw went into full lick mode, making the little colt shriek.

“CLAW BLEEPING GET OFF ME!” he shrieked as he tried to defend his face with his hooves. “Stop, STOOOOOOOP! Gahhhhh! CHERRILEEEEEE!”

The teacher hummed for a moment, before shaking her head. She trotted off to join with the others. “Good morning, Rarity. Are you ready for this?”

“Not particularly, no,” the mare said with a shake of her head. “But we must do what we must do and I surely wouldn't want to be left home for this.” She looked towards the forest. “But are you certain you'll be able to find your way back to where you found the child?”

Cheerilee nodded. “Of course. It shouldn't be too hard. I didn't go too far in since... well... I try not to, when it comes to the Everfree Forest. Shall we?”

She glanced back and smiled. Val had finally managed to roll onto his stomach, though that did little to deter the dragon pony as he snuggled and licked the colt affectionately. Cheerilee chuckled softly and shook her head. “It's not far in, so it shouldn't take long. Come along.” She turned and started walking in.

It wasn't long before a frown graced her face. Something just felt... wrong. The forest seemed so... strange. Well, it was always strange. But somehow it seemed... stranger. The trees seemed darker, all the colors muted. The wind seemed extra loud and it was cold. Far colder than she remembered it.

“There aren't any animal sounds,” one of the guards whispered and she shivered. That was it. The Everfree Forest was a strange, magical place. The animals here were all kinds of different from the normal ones. The plants were weird too. But there was no doubt that they were all alive. Everything was alive here. But now it all seemed dead. Empty. Void of life.

She frowned as they came closer. Already she could hear the stream where she had once found him. But things were getting worse. There were strange, thin wisps of something white dangling from some of the trees and a few of the trees were dead, their bark having turned black and their branches drooping. She looked back and noticed that Claw was now huddled up against his mother's side and Val was sitting up, his hooves wrapped tightly around Nipper.

Something was so very wrong here. Unfortunately, one pony in their group didn't seem to notice. Twilight walked right behind her, a big grin on her face. “So how much further?”

“Not much. It's the stream up ahead, can you hear it?”

“Yep!” the alicorn said before running off ahead, taking Val and the wagon with her.

“Princess!” Flash yelled before flying off ahead after her.

Cheerilee shook her head and galloped after the princess, well, more Val. They broke through the tree line and she froze in place.

The stream had once been beautiful and serene, with grass and clear water. Now the water was black and murky, the trees around it were covered in the same thin, white wispy stuff. Webbing. It was webbing. Like none she'd ever seen. It criss crossed over them, partially blocking out the sky. Even worse, the air was chilled and every plant around the area was dead and decaying, the grass practically molding under their hooves.

“What happened here?” Cheerilee asked, only realizing a moment later she was whispering.

“I don't know,” Twilight whispered as she stepped forward.

“RUN!” Val screamed.

“What? Why?” the princess asked. A moment later the ground rumbled and she got her answer. The... creature burst from the ground. It was a spider, there was no doubt of that, but it was like none she'd ever seen. For one, it was bigger even than Celestia. It was completely white and covered in thick fur. Worst of all, it had fangs and a face the like of a horror story. The kind of face that would make a pony turn off the television at the first sight before running out of the room.

And it was wrapping its legs around Twilight.

The princess' horn flashed and she disappeared across the river, in time for a second to burst from the ground. Then a third and a fourth. The alicorn looked around, her eyes wide. “I-I should have brought Fluttershy.”

The spider that had tried to grab Twilight turned towards Cheerilee and the mare locked up. However, before it could move it reeled back as Flash slammed down, all four of his hooves kicking it in the face. “Run! Get the civilians out of here!”

Before she could react, a pair of hooves wrapped around her and she realized one of the guards had scooped her up, carrying her into the air. They nimbly flew through the air, avoiding the webbing blocking the sky.

A moment later a second guard joined them, holding Val. Below they could see the princess, teleporting around as the spiders moved at her. “Please, there's no need for us to fight,” the alicorn said.

“THEY'RE DEAD!” Val screamed.

“Val, there's no need for talk like that!” Twilight said, before yelping. Her horn glowed as a purple bubble formed around her, a moment before the spider could latch onto her.

“No! I mean they are actually dead! They're spider golems! They don't think, they just do what they're told!”

“W-what?”

Cheerilee shivered as she stared at the spiders. Now that she looked closely, she realized the creatures did seem a bit... odd. Some of them had eight legs, others had more or less. They weren't all the same size and their bodies seemed to... vary. Patches of the fur were missing on some and she was pretty sure she was going to be sick.

There was a shriek of pain from below as one of the spiders fell on Flash, the fangs digging into him.

“FLASH!” Twilight screamed. Her horn flashed with a brilliant light a moment before the shield expanded. It sent the spiders and all of the webbing flying back, clearing out a wide area in the center of the clearing. She galloped to Flash's side.

He was on the ground, his skin pale and shivering as the wound in his shoulder bled.

“The stones in their web sacks!” Val screamed. “Rune stones! If you destroy them, the spiders will stop!”

Another scream brought Cheerilee's gaze towards the way they'd come from.

Wait. There were three other guards. Two were holding Val and her. What about Rarity and Claw?

------

Rarity let out an ear piercing scream as suddenly the massive white spider was sent hurtling over their heads. The guard with them took position, blocking the spider from charging them as it rolled around and got to its feet.

Claw hugged her side, staring at the monster and shivering.

“It's going to be alright, dear. It's going to be alright,” Rarity whispered, hugging him. It was just one massive spider, they'd be fine. She was sure. The guard would--

There was the sound of crashing branches behind them and she turned to see the second spider making its way towards the new prey. “No no no,” she whispered softly, shaking her head. Such... horrifying, tacky creatures. What could they be? How could such monsters exist?

The one in front charged forward, but the royal guard was ready. He turned and bucked, both hooves narrowly avoiding the face to give a firm kick to its shoulders. Well, whatever it was that spiders had in place of shoulders. She'd have to remember to ask Fluttershy that if they managed to survive this. It sent the creature toppling back a few feet, but it didn't deter it. The guard might be able to hold it off, but the second one was their problem.

Rarity whimpered as she stared at the creature. It slowly moved forward, fangs dripping with thin white webbing. They were going to die, she knew it. She hugged her baby boy and--

She let out a yelp of pain as Claw suddenly began to burn up. She pulled back, startled. His eyes had gone wide, turning to narrow slits as his entire body went rigid. His spines were on end, steam rising up from them as he slowly stood up. His tail stood on end and his claws lengthened, digging into the ground.

“Claw, d-don't!” Rarity shrieked. “We need to run and--”

Her vision was filled with flame as Claw, for lack of a better word, exploded.

------

Twilight gently shook Flash, staring down in horror at the guard as he struggled to move. “P-princess... y-you need... t-to run,” he said with a groan.

“I'm not leaving anypony behind,” the alicorn said, shaking her head. “You're going to be okay. I promise. I'll get all of us out of this.”

Two of the spiders were already advancing on her, though. She didn't know where the other two were, either. She'd heard Rarity scream and hoped the other guards would be able to help, but if she left Flash now they'd be on him in seconds, he'd die. She couldn't just leave the wounded pony.

“Go! I--”

“Holy BUCK!” a startled voice rang out from the tree line and then, suddenly, the other two spiders came sailing through the air, landing in the clearing.

Followed by a tree that landed on top of them. A whole tree, roots and all. A moment later something wrapped in red flames landed on the tree, crushing the two spiders into the ground.

There was a loud crack followed by a fine black mist filling the air from under the tree, flowing up and evaporating. Twilight's eyes widened. Magic. Her eyes were then drawn up to what was on top of the trees.

Claw. But she'd never seen him like this. His horn was glowing and his body was wrapped in flames. His eyes were glimmering like rubies, but thin slits even compared to how thin they normally were. His claws were fully extended, digging into the wood and his mouth was open, revealing a row of thick, angry fangs. She never thought she'd call teeth angry, but they looked positively furious.

The eyes looked past her towards the other spiders and some how those eyes turned even narrower. He jumped from the tree and Twilight shrieked as he landed on the nearer spider, sending it crashing to the ground. The fire around him grew red hot as he tore into the creature. As his powerful hooves cut through the spider, there was a sound of something cracking and a big, black stone was sent crumbling across the ground, the same black mist rising from it. The spider dropped instantly.

Twilight's eyes turned towards the last one. She imagined there was something in what Val said after all, all they had to do was break the stones. The spider didn't hesitate, didn't show even an ounce of fear as it charged. She took a deep breath before her horn glowed.

Well, if it wasn't living, there wasn't any harm in this...

------

Twilight wiped the sweat from her brow as the ponies regathered. Claw was panting, the flames having finally died from around him as he wobbled slightly from side to side. Cheerilee stared at the destruction, there was no other word for it, that took place here. As she drifted towards the ground, she tried to avoid feeling exasperated as she knew what was coming next.

That had been a fight, there was no doubt about it. So Val was bound to be all riled up. It was not the time for it. Rarity broke through the tree line and, to her surprise, was supporting the other guard. He was turning pale as well.

“Flash? Come on, wake up,” Twilight whispered, shaking him. “It's just a shallow bite, wake up, come on!”

“It's poison,” Val said softly. “You need to... you need to draw it out.”

“Poison? But I thought you said they weren't... living?” Twilight asked before looking towards the remains.

“It's a mix of necromancy and golemology. The poison would be strong. Very, very strong,” Val whispered, moving over towards Cheerilee. “The only reason he's likely alive still is because some of its power has probably... probably faded with time. They... they've probably b-been here a-a while,” his voice cracked with the words. There was a thump as the guard Rarity had been helping collapsed.

“Errr, Twilight. I think he was nicked by it, too. We need to get them both to doctors,” Rarity said quickly.

The princess nodded, before putting her horn to Flash. There was a flicker and the stallion lost much of his color. She then picked him up in her magic before looking to the other guard. “Can one of you carry him?” she asked the other guards. She received a nod. Finally she turned to the last guard. “Please get everypony back out of here. Okay?” She cringed as she heard another thump and looked over to Claw who had collapsed. Her horn glowed as she picked him up as well, cringing as his added weight struggled in her grasp. She'd have preferred to have one pony carrying each, but she didn't feel comfortable leaving her friend's without at least one guard. It would slow them down a bit, but it was a risk they had to take. “I'll get them to the hospital and then meet back up with you.”

Rarity nodded. “Go! Hurry before they... just hurry.” She gulped and watched them fly off, before nervously glancing towards the last guard. To his credit, he didn't even look scared, he looked firm and stoic. Which was comforting, because she wanted to run home screaming before locking her door and crawling under her bed. In the most undignified manner. They gave one last glance towards the spiders, before they started walking, quickly, back the way they came.

Cheerilee stayed at the back, Val at her side. His silence was starting to worry her. She expected him to be raving about the fight, but he wasn't saying a word. Instead he just kept walking besides her, pushed against her side as closely as he could get. She stumbled under the extra weight and glanced down to tell him to move away a bit, but paused when she saw the tears in his eyes, flowing down his cheeks. Slowly she looked back up towards the path.

She supposed it would be okay until they were out of the woods for him to walk close besides her. It wasn't hurting anything.

Comments

[josue]

more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and add minc please buttkicking for goodness

[Cold Spike]

Not through this chapter yet, but I feel like Twilight never asking Val where he woke up in the forest and where it all started is too convenient for her to simply go "Of course! I'm so stupid!"