"The... uh..." Rainbow Dash trotted slowly forward, eyeing the jumping spider seated amidsts its invertebrate companions. "...the Winter Children of who?"
"Abaddon," Merula reiterated. "The Song-Weaver. The Forever Poet. The Elder of Strings."
"Uh huh, who's—"
"Lyricist of Circles. Ally to the Ancients. Keeper of Shadowed Truths—"
"I got it. I got it!"" Rainbow barked, teeth showing. "Look, no offense to your... uh... eight-legged diva godess or nothing... but..." She gulped. "My friends and I have been stumbling through the niches and crannies of the Dark Side for months and... and you guys are the first things ever to actually sit down and talk to us."
"Except for a friggin' suicide bombing changeling," Logan grunted, fiddling with his silken restraints.
"Big Showwwww..." Ariel grumbled out the side of her muzzle.
"So... like..." Rainbow shrugged. "...forgive me if I've got a million questions."
"As you should, Austraeoh," Merula calmly remarked.
Rainbow squinted at the arachnid arrangement. "Were you actually expecting me?"
"Of course. You responded to the Codex."
"Codex..."
"And you are escorted by Eljunbyro," Merula vibrated. "You are the Austraeoh of Song. You have come to bring the Spark to Ignition and Complete the Circle. Such has has been sung since the days of Abaddon's allies."
"Uhhhhh..."
"What we did not expect was the hour of your arrival," Merula said in an emotionless tone. "So late in Winter. The Song is nearly over."
"Okay... just..." Rainbow ran a hoof over her muzzle, sighing out her nostrils. "...one crazy metaphor at a time, for the love of—"
"Grnnngh..." Seraphimus shook and struggled in her restraints. "Damned... blighted crustaceans..."
Rainbow shook herself out of her lethargy. "Say! Uhm... could you free my friends?" She cracked a nervous smile. "They won't attack you anymore. I promise."
Violin strings scratched the air.
"That's fine. Thanks, I think I got it—" Logan flinched as a hundred hatchlings swarmed noisily towards him. "I said I got it—!" He winced as a thousand tiny legs crawled all over him, then receded. The silk had been cleared; he and his axe had been freed. "Nnnnnnnnngh-yeahhhhhhhh..."
Wildcard stretched his muscles as he too was freed from his restraints. He looked over to see that Seraphimus was still stuck in silk.
"Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow leaned forward. "...her too, please."
Another violin scratch. Hatchlings swarmed over Seraphimus, and at last the seething griffin could relax.
"A thousand apologies, Austraeoh," Merula said, abdomen glistening. "The Song has been echoing your approach to Abaddon's nest for a long time, and from the melody that was gathered we did not interpret her as a 'friend.'"
"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded breathily. "...I can't really blame ya."
"Wait..." Rarity looked at her and the others. "...these dreadful things have been monitoring us throughout our entire journey?"
"Well, duhhhh!" Pinkie Pie frowned. "I did tell you about the music I heard, didn't you?"
"Incredible..." Twilight Sparkle rubbed her chin in thought. "These creatures must all operate under a hive mind... orchestrated through a collective response to acoustic and sonic resonance..." She smiled brightly. "Hey! Rainbow! Ask them if they're the Spindlers that Ranort and the Emeraldinians spoke of!"
"Dang it, egghead, I'm not about to—"
"Ask them!"
"Alright! Fine!" Rainbow turned to face the jumping spider. "Yo. Are you the Spindlers?"
Merula's abdomen shook. "That is our title in Penumbral tongue, as conceived by the Dihmers."
"You don't say..."
"...also maintained by the Penumbral invaders, to Abaddon's detriment."
"Wait... hold up..." Rainbow hovered in place with a curious expression. "...did you say 'Penumbral invaders?'"
For the first time in ages, the other spiders around them shifted, their fangs and hooks clicking cacophonously for a few tense seconds before quieting.
"Yes," Merula's voice scratched before achieving a smooth tone once again. "The Bloodwings. At first, we feared their arrival meant the complete corruption of Penumbra, and the Winter Song became a Dirge of Mourning."
Twilight floated closer. "The Dark Vigil, Rainbow Dash," she whispered. "Sarosians—"
Rainbow angrily phased a hoof through her. "Yes. I'm not an idiot, Twilight." She looked towards her invertebrate reception yet again. "This Penumbra—it's the Light Side, yes?"
"Paradise," Merula affirmed. "The Land of Brightness and Harmony."
"That's where the alicorns are," Rainbow said. "What's left of them—Princess Celestia. Princess Luna." A gulp. "Cadance. Whitemane. I come from their land. But I'm not allied with the Bloodwings. I've met some of them... and even borrowed some of their magic. But I'm no invader. In fact... not all Bloodwings are evil—"
Merula's "voice" scratched loudly through Rainbow's speech: "They certainly haven't shown any goodness in their corrupted hearts. They hunt down all keepers of the Song, whittling Abaddon's Winter Children to the thinnest strand. We can barely project the Song across the surface of this world any longer. The Winter is almost complete, and it is only a matter of time before the Bloodwings or the Flux find the Ancient Poet's nest and end the Song forevermore."
"The... Flux...?" Rainbow Dash murmured.
"These fellers are good at dishin' out information," Applejack said. "...but I reckon they ain't so good at narrowin' it all focused-like." She looked at the others. "Ya think?"
"Applejack, darling, when did you first realize that these creatures did not want our blood?" Rarity asked.
"Somewhere between the first or second time Discord and the trolls separated us from RD here," Applejack said. "In the midst of all the chaos, they was the only things not wantin' to take us to the woodshed."
"Well, I think it's very nice of them," Fluttershy said with a smile. "We fell in the company of the most exquisite nature." She smiled at the suffocating wall of spiders with glistening eyes. "And—might I add—they're absolutely beautiful"
"Yeccccch with a side of barf salad!" Pinkie Pie wretched. "If you say so!"
As Rainbow listened, Merula's eyes shifted for the first time since arriving. "Is the Austraeoh conversing with Eljunbyro?"
Rainbow and her ghostly friends locked up. She looked at the jumping spider with wide eyes. "How... did you know?"
"Some of the greatest melodies are those Unsung. We expected no less from the Austraeoh, for she was sung to be one who speaks with the hidden flame of the Spark itself. You've come to align the circles in light once more, and as the Winter Children we seek to guide you along your path, as Abaddon has composed."
"Rainbow..." Twilight drifted closer. "...I think these... Winter Children know an awful lot more than anything or anyone you've stumbled across before."
"Yes, darling..." Rarity nodded. "...all of our solitude and suffering here on the Dark Side may finally be showing its karmic reward."
"That... remains to be seen." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Hey... uh... dudes?" She looked over her shoulder, addressing Seraphimus and the Herald. "This might take a while. Think that'll be okay?"
She was answered by the nod of several nervous albeit earnest heads. All except one.
Rainbow craned her neck. "Flynn? We cool?"
"Uhhhhhh..." Flynn had curled up into a little ball... a little ball that was reflected hundreds of times by the surrounding kaleidoscope of marble-black eyes framed atop giant hairy fangs. "Y-y-y-yeah... t-t-t-totally c-c-cool!" He nevertheless whimpered like a puppy while the smell of urine lit the air.
"Alright..." Rainbow turned back around. "...at least we'll be dignified about this."
Even better - friends with knowledge!
Oh boy, exposition!
"Alright..." Rainbow turned back around. "...at least we'll be dignified about this."
I sense an ironic jump cut!
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Hive mind sapient spiders, very creative. More exposition is also great, though I notice they did not mention Ranort and co, or at least not yet, though they did mention that
So something changed their mind, what did I guess we will find out soon.
Oh boy time for stories!
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actually, it was probably a dig at Flynn pissing himself in fear.
Not that I blame him, mind.
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Congrats on becoming a character
Backstory time, from your's truely!
So.. Red backs, orb weavers, tunnel, Wolf, jumping.
If these things are all massive, how big would a tarantula or a bird eating be?
or a Sydney Funnel Web?
...this is fucking terrifying.
Also, Abaddon... all I can think of is the giant mouth thing from Persona.
The personification of the Abyss.
....oh fuck...
I'm beginning to think that all Skirtsian stories are connected in some "For want of a nail" fashion, because I'm beginning to think these Spiders serve The Unsung.
Also, drawing heavy comparisons to Tsuchigumo of Japanese mythology, at least appearance wise.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
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That'll be skirts' magnum opus, a story that somehow connects most (if not all) of his stories into a single cohesive unit.
Japanese King Spider Crab would be the local Kaiju?
Looks like these threads are more the nukacola than burn the house down stuff, especially with the speed and accuracy. Then again, if they are combustible its the best explanation as to Pizzarea and her Bat crew managed to clear them off so effectively, given they are a Global coherent whole with high sensitivity tracking.
Maybe not sensitive enough to detect Bloodwing phasing though? Yet. I think maybe a little discordian 5th element harmonics could be useful there. After all, it seems to easy to lose.
Well, I certainly got Ackbard.
Nopeworthy beyond all get-out, but gaining a modest and willing caravan of spiders for the next leg without the need for a chaos-laden wagon would be grand. Unless Flynn decides he’d rather flee the party than lose bladder control daily.
So .... sing our song and become Spoder Whisperer?
I am confuzzled.
*Purrs.* Me like!
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He'll be fine. We'll call this exposure therapy.
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This will never not be great.
Oh man, this is gonna be good. We'll finally learn something about all this mess!
Also, is Abaddon a god of sorts for them or an important figure from pre-Sundering? They certainly talk about them like the former, but it could be the latter for all we know.
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The Odrsjot runes do empower the Herald's weapons, yes, but Odrsjot is Odrsjot, Frantic Companionship.
Ah, here we go From Utaan 151: Good angels and Bad Angels
Logan all but flat out acknowledged that they aren't Eljunbyro.
Good Spiders!
This is the coolest thing ever!!!!
Goddamn I wish I could just reread these past few chapters over and over with no knowledge of them, this is friggin awesome!
Like I said before
The SpindlersThe Winter Children of Abbadon are just your friendly neighborhood spider oracles.8576842 I live in hope that one day skirts will tell us what Innavedr and Odrsjot actually mean. I also live in hope that skirts stops misspelling the word "smooth".
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Well we have translations by commenters, so Innavedr is Accomplish Wind and Odrsjot is still Frantic Companionship.
The chapter the Herald reveal themselves to Dash is even called "Birds of a Frantic feather" so I'd say that Odrsjot is right on the money.
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I would say the Austraeoh Saga is his magnum opus.
What is another name we could call the whole?
Going with the old Norse portmanteau theme, how about Hvirflundrǫk?
It could mean "circle until the end," or maybe something more poetic.
Green or purple text anywhere? No? Then we're fine.
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How can an oversized spider use a keyboard?
Well this is probably about the best possible outcome to the scenario that the group could have hoped for, short of finding the complete, intact, and functional Starship Enterprise to ferry them straight to the Midnight Armory.
So, utterly terrifying appearances aside it looks like these Winter Children are exceedingly helpful and can probably bring Dash and company up to date on a lot of things going down on the Dark Side. At least they seem very familiar with the Bloodwings. And is it me or is even more horrifying to think that the Bloodwings are so dangerous that they're capable of hunting these awesome giant spider dues to the point that they've effectively whittled their numbers down? Like, how insane are the Dark Side bat pones that spiders that can curbstomp hundreds of trolls all at once and have fangs that can bite metal rods in half are being hunted down by them?
Do the batters have guns and power armor or something?...
...
The batters have guns and power armor, don't they?
Anyways, continuing the count until Sera caves in.
Seraphimus Solo Quest Chapter Counter: 17
Singing, smart spiders with batpony baggage. Fascinating.
Also, I'm pretty sure the name Abbadon has very, very strong ties to darkness, but I can't recall for certain. To wikipedia!!
--
Correction - originates from Hebrew, referring to either the Land Of The Dead, or the Angel of Death, referred to as "king of locusts"
So, while it's possible the name is chosen just for it's buggy connection, and as excited as I am for SINGING JUMPING SPIDER FRENS it's still probably wise to be cautious. They may not be evil, but they also may not be good.
Well then, the NOPE brigade turns out to be allies.
Ooooo lore spiders lets go
I'm completly fascinated by this last chapters! So often smart spiders are reflercing as something evil, it's utterly refreshing to see them as a benevolent force! And to think they may lived along the ponies in the original ring! And they may have been allies, even, watchmen, of the allicorns, protecting the dark side until the other evil forces pushed them to the deep of the ruins. And so many information we are going to get!
(wich, kinda, start's to be a good point to get it, considering we are after all in the last books of the series, even if there's still a good time to go)
Love this!
This kind of things made you remember why ones loves this saga so much.
Poor Flynn.
It's OK to be scared of spiders. Intelligent spiders even more. Giant spiders even more. Organized spiders even more. Intelligent, organized, giant spiders are fine.
Flynn is my spirit animal.
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I want to say I've read the name before in something skirtsian, but I'm not sure. The Last Tears in Tartarus?
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From the Demonic Compendium of Power
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Spoder magic :3
That spider does sound like she hasn't talked to anyone in centuries.
...imagine her, Camellia, Verlax, Mortuana, Ilrifa and Whitemane in a conversation. All the ominous exposition matrons in one room. Everyone just talking past each other.
This is gonna be good.
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You could call it the Matron Meetup I guess.
...wait a sec, that's a good idea for a spin off fic!
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Gr8 b8 m8. 8/8 well memed
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/d/d0/Changeling_classes_S2E26.png
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unfortunately no, when I tried to get to said userpage I got a whole bunch of errors and invalid addresses, not sure what was going on their. could you try adding the link without any inbedded components?
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Alright. One moment.
Top View - Ancient Pegasi Variant 1
Side View - Ancient Pegasi Variant 1
I'm currently working on a 'fleshy' version, and I'm already considering creating an improved, even more accurate variant.
Despite Skirts choosing what I believe to be an incorrect interpretation of the meaning of Abaddon, these spiders could be really helpful. Just wish that they were named as children of the light, and not named for darkness.
...Religious comment is religious. Dangit, where's Jake's marathon plan for when you need to think about the nature of reality?
...Anyways, I wonder just how many spider species the 'Spindlers' are composed of. Can't be easy to feed such a large population that hunts with such a massive variety of hunting methods.
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The name spindlers makes sense when you think about it. A spindle is a device used to spin fibers into thread.
8578274
Let me read through Revelation and the Church Doctors again, and I'll get back to you on that.
EDIT: The Book of Revelation in the passage involving Abaddon makes it clear that he's not one of God's loyal servants, because a fallen angel is the one who opens up the place where he's imprisoned.
And if you want another source, here's Wikipedia's two cents: