• Published 27th Oct 2012
  • 12,504 Views, 828 Comments

The Legend of the Arachnapony - RaijingtheClockworkPony



Sometimes the craziest legends are the true ones. When Apple Bloom stumbles upon an anceint source of magic she discovers a very ancient creature.

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A Light in the Forest

"Ah don't wanna die."

These simple words were all that Apple Bloom could say. She was trapped and she knew there was no escape. Her back to a huge tree and her eyes glued to the largest and most ferocious looking of the timber wolves surrounding her. She watched as they circled her, slowly getting closer with every pass in front of her. The largest of them crouched low and she closed her eyes. She didn't want to see it happen. Her day flashed before her eyes and she remembered how her day had gone from good to bad to worse.

Apple Bloom was walking along the path to Zecora's. It was starting to get late in the evening but she knew the path by heart and she wasn't worried about getting lost so long as she stayed close to the path. She made it to Zecora's hut without a hitch. The pair of them spent much of the trading stories of family and friends, and making a large variety of potions out of exotic plants that Zecora had gathered in the forest. They both lost track of time and it was well after dark when Apple Bloom decided to leave. Zecora offered to make a bed for Apple Bloom so she could stay the night but Apple Bloom declined.

"Ah know the path like the back of my hoof. Ah'll just hurry as fast as Ah can. Thanks again for letting me come over."

With a smile and a slight nod Zecora bid her farewell. "Hurry quickly little Apple Bloom, for dangerous things come out under the full moon."

Apple Bloom waved goodbye, adjusted her schoolbag, and trotted along the path. She covered the first third of the path like this but something off the path caught her eye. She stopped and move back along the path until she spotted it again. Something was glowing ruby red through the trees. She looked up the path back home then to the light.

"Well... Ah could just take a quick look."

She started moving through the trees getting closer to the light making sure to mark her way with a piece of chalk. She noticed that the light was getting very bright and thought that she was about to discover its source when she ran into a cluster of trees that grew so close together that she could only barely look through the crack between them. When she tried to see what could possibly be making the light all she could see was the light itself. She huffed and started to walk along the wall of trees looking for an opening or gap she could fit through. She came upon a gap after a few moments of walking. She squeezed herself through and was amazed by what she saw.

"Well Ah'll be. It’s a glowing tree."

Indeed it was a tree. Apple Bloom couldn't tell what type of tree it was but it looked just like a full grown tree only it stood barely taller than herself. The leaves moved on their own and with every movement they shimmered and glowed. She walked around the tree studying it. After a few moments she pulled out her notebook from her bag and started drawing the tree and taking notes on what the tree looked like and how it moved on its own.

"Ah bet there are more of these trees in this forest. Maybe if Ah can help Zecora find this tree again we can move it and make an orchard!"

She finished her sketch of the tree and went back through the gap. She looked along the wall of wooden giants both ways and headed back the way she came from but stopped after a couple of minutes of walking. She couldn't remember how many trees she had passed before she found the gap. Panic set in almost immediately as she tried to recall how much foliage she had passed but with no luck. She kept walking around the small grove until she found herself back at the gap.

Now she was panicking into hysteria. She started to run around the cluster until she heard a howl in the distance. This did little to calm her nerves. She started into the woods hoping that she would run into the path but as she started the howls grew louder. Her panic was beyond anything she had ever felt in her life and she sprinted away from the howling.

This only caused the wolves to take notice of her. The noise she made only made it easier to find her and from there it was only all too easy to get her to go where they wanted her. Apple Bloom kept running as hard as her legs could let her. She glanced to her left and saw a timber wolf through the trees. She leaped to the right to try to get away from it but this only made her hit a low laying branch. The limbs of the branch ripped the bow from her hair, but she didn't care. She panicked more due to the stinging that now covered most of her face and upper neck.

One of the pack members came closer to her and took a swipe at her with its mighty claws. Much to its irritation it didn't score a hit on flesh but on the bag she carried. The strike on the bag launched it from the young filly’s back and into a bush. Not that it mattered anyways to the wolves. They had her right where they wanted her. The other pack members put themselves between her and all possible escape routes. The young filly backed up into a tree, her eyes filled with terror.

The Alpha snarled at the pack letting them know that it was going to make the kill. It rounded the filly not breaking eye contact for a second. Much to the Alphas amusement she didn't look away. He lowered himself ready to pounce, she closed her eyes, and he leaped. He was going to eat well. He was about to strike when something caught him by the back of the neck and yanked hard in the opposite direction. The resulting CRACK was like a cannon going off in the clearing.

Applebloom opened her eyes to see the wolf flying through the air. The other wolves were either looking at the Alpha in the air or up into the trees. She couldn't believe what was happening and before she could even process that something saved her another wolf leaped at her. She screamed and ducked closer to the tree. However like the Alpha this wolf also failed to make it to its target. Something white hit the wolf on the back and threw it into a nearby tree hard enough that the branch it hit splintered everywhere. The terrified filly followed the white, for lack of a better word in her mind, rope up into the higher reaches of the trees. Something was moving up among the branches but she couldn't see what it was. The wolves were also focused on the thing moving in the trees, The red maned filly forgotten as they tried to figure out what was attacking them.

Another rope shot out of the trees and hit a wolf on the back. It was lifted off the ground and flung into another wolf nearby. The pair fought each other as they tried to get back to their paws but they didn't get the chance. A much larger rope that ended in a net covered both of them and lifted them both into the high reaches of the tree. The rest of the pack didn't wait to see what the creature above them would do to them and sprinted away into the forest.

Apple Bloom stayed huddled next to the tree hoping that whatever was up there didn't notice her. After a few moments she heard a rustling of some leaves above her head. Fearing that whatever it was would attack her she closed her eyes and tried to huddle as close to the tree as she could. When nothing happened she opened her eyes and saw that her schoolbag had been placed in front of her. She could only stare at it.

"You are safe little one. I shall guide you back to the path leading to your home."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. The voice came from above her, from the top of the tree. The voice was deep and gentle. She looked up trying to find the creature that was talking to her but all she could see was darkness among the leaves.

"What are you? Who are you?"

A rapid series of clicking noises reached her ears. "That doesn't matter. Do you want to go home or do you wish to stay here in the forest?"

The sharp tone from his question told Apple Bloom that whatever this creature was it was short on patience. "Ah wanna go home..."

"Then follow the hanging strands."

She was about to ask him what he meant by 'hanging strands' but then she got her answer. One of the ropes appeared in front of her. She got up, grabbed her bag and looked for another of the ropes. Another dangled a few yards ahead of her. She followed them through the forest silently wondering what could possibly have saved her from a pack of timber wolves and from up in the trees no less. She spotted the path ahead of her and ran to get to it but stopped a few feet away when a thought hit her. 'No one will believe me.' Her hesitation to go onto the path was not missed by her savior.

"What’s wrong? Home is but a short walk away on that path."

She looked up in the direction she thought the voice was coming from. "It's just... nopony will believe me when I tell them about what happened... and I don't know who or what you even are."

Her savior didn't reply, and for a moment she thought that it had simply left. She took a step towards the road when she felt something drop onto her neck. She placed a hoof on her neck to discover what it was and what she found was a strange necklace made from the same material as the ropes that she had seen. She removed the necklace to study it. It looked just like any other cord that would be used for a necklace but was a bright silverish white. Hanging from the cord was a pure white stone in the shape of what looked like a spiders head, but also had the ears of a pony.

"Now please, leave this forest and go home where you can be safe. I might not be there next time to save you if something like this happens again."

Apple Bloom only looked up to the trees with a smile on her face. "Thank you."

Without another word she stepped onto the road and ran home not stopping for a second. From the shadows of the tree tops her savior watched her run home knowing that she would only come back looking to meet it. This fact brought amusement to it, as did the realization that it had dinner waiting in the clearing.