Fluttershy's Unexpected Journey

by JesterOfDestiny

Chapter 9 - Fluttershy and the Horse-Eating Spider

It was time to leave. The little town was now far behind. Fluttershy finally had a proper night of sleep. A few people waved at her as she was leaving. They pointed her at the road leading to the Broken Coast.

The road turned into a path, as it ran into another forest. The air was humid and filled with the sounds of animals, the foliage thick with vines. Fluttershy looked at her map, wondering if it was going to be any help. She was getting really close to the Broken Coast and the witch-doctor told her to stop at one of the villages here. She set Memashi as her next destination, the closest village.

The trees soon let in some light in front. Of course they did, because the forest stopped abruptly. The road was cut off by a tall cliff, leading to the sea. Fluttershy walked up to the edge and looked around. She saw many tiny islands covered in jungles, sitting on top of similar cliffs. The sea waved beneath. This was the Broken Coast.

It was a rather beautiful sight, but unfortunately it’s also really hard to navigate in. She needed some help from someone who knows this place. Fortunately she passed by a vulture sitting by a tiny lake. The vulture was holding a fishing rod with its fingers protruding out of its wings. It took a bored look at Fluttershy when she passed by.

“Um, excuse me.” Fluttershy approached the vulture, hoping it could talk. “Do you know how to get to…” she looked at the map, making sure she gets the name right, “…Memashi?”

“Of course!” The vulture spoke with a crackly voice. “Just follow the path and go in a straight line after the cliff. It should be by your right somewhere. You can even probably see it if you fly high enough.”

“Thank you.” Fluttershy thanked the vulture and headed back to the cliff.

The vulture looked back at the lake in boredom, then looked back at Fluttershy. “Oh, just one more thing!” It shouted at her. “Look out for those horse-eating spiders. Because… you know...? You’re a horse!”

She looked at the vulture in slight concern, hoping it’s just a bit crazy. She really didn’t want to meet something, that’s named after its habit of eating horses. She thanked it and went on her way.

She stopped at the cliff again, to look around a bit, then she took off into the air. Hoping she’s high enough to see the village, she looked around. But she couldn’t, so she flew in a straight line instead, right above the tree lines. She was looking heavily to the right side. Maybe she’ll spot the village this way. But all she could see were more cliffs and forests. At least it was rather peaceful, up there riding the humid winds above the forest.

The peace didn’t last too long however. Soon she got some unwanted company. She felt like she was being followed, so she looked behind her. And sure enough, there were three large winged lizards following her. They were flying in a surprisingly relaxed manner, but Fluttershy knew they were bad news, so she sped up a bit. But the drakes sped up along with her. She sped up again, but they sped up even more. They were always flying slightly faster than her. Fluttershy was getting really scared.

Suddenly, three more of them popped up from the trees in front of her and headed right towards her. She knew immediately, she was their prey of choice. She paused for a moment, as the drakes were speeding towards her from two sides. She tried to fall back into the forest, hoping she can lose them between the thick foliage. But the drakes could plow through the branches with ease. Suddenly one of them appeared right in front of her, so she was forced to fly above the trees again. Of course, two of them were waiting for her right there. One lunged at her, but she dodged towards the other and kicked before it could attack. She flew high up above the lowest hanging clouds, but the drakes followed her. She started following the clouds, but the drakes followed her with the precision of a pack of wolves. They surrounded her mid-flight and she seemed to have no escape.

In desperation, she tried a risky manoeuvre. She stopped abruptly, confusing the drakes, who kept going for a moment. Fluttershy finally had a chance of escape and plummeted towards the forest. Once in the foliage, she flew straight with incredible speed and almost managed to lose her pursuers. But the forest stopped and exposed her to them. The drakes resumed the chase. So Fluttershy had no other choice, but to fly to the bottom of the crack between the islands, hoping she could lose them, if she submerges herself in the sea.

She couldn’t reach the sea however. A sticky net stopped her dead in her tracks. She tried to escape it, but the net got stickier and stickier, until she stopped to realize what was happening. She heard a quiet knocking noise. She looked towards a hole in the cliff and saw an enormous spider looking at her, gnashing its jaws together. The spider sure seemed large enough to eat horses.

Fluttershy laid there motionless, thinking it was the end. The spider too, was sitting there motionless, gnashing its jaws. It then grabbed a strand of the net, with two of its legs and started shaking it erratically. The drakes arrived at the crack and saw Fluttershy shaking with the net. But they didn’t see the net itself, so when they flew down for their supposed dinner, they got caught in the web too. The spider used Fluttershy as a bait.

It sat there, while the drakes squirmed violently, trying to escape the web, but they just got tangled even more. They growled and hissed and chewed at the silk, but the spider just watched. Once they were too tangled to squirm further, the spider crawled out of its hole. It creeped up to Fluttershy and removed the strands of silk she was stuck inside. The spider freed her, from its own web. It then crawled up to the drakes and started covering them in more silk. As it turns out, horse-eating spiders, don’t eat horses, when there’s a better meal available.

Of course, Fluttershy wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, so she flew up at the treelines again and began searching for Memashi. Thankfully, she was chased in the right direction, because she could see it in the distance, sitting on the side of one of the cliffy islands.

Comments

[Karan Dash]

This story has a the hobbit likeness to it. I feel its a shame that some issues distract you from the enjoyment