A Tangled Web
"You only need to lift the door halfway," Imre explained as she squatted before Crimson before the thick door. "Once you do, the locks will assume the door is opening naturally, and they'll go loose. The door should then glide loosely within its frame, and then even a dinky unicorn such as myself could blow on it and it'd open all the way. Got it?"
"Yes," Crimson stated, gazing firmly at the door as he nodded.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Just one," he droned. "Will this hurt?"
Imre raised an eyebrow. "Lying to you would be like trying to spit into the wind, I bet. Yeah, it'll sting something awful, assuming your synaptic pathways can handle it. But you stallions are used to pain, aren't you?"
Crimson managed the slightest hint of a smirk. "I think you've gotten the wrong idea about stallions, miss."
"I've been in this spark-forsaken Hold for too long."
"Let's amend that, shall we?" Crimson brushed her aside so that he could have full access to the door. "After I do my little living lockpick trick." He glanced to the left. "Tweak?"
"Just about charged up here, buddy," Tweak said. "Any second thoughts?"
"Second thoughts? I'm already fumbling with my fifth and sixth. Just do it already."
"Very well." Tweak turned towards the seven other stallions. "Boys? We'd better make this count."
They nodded back at him.
Tweak trotted over and stood in the center of the line of crystal ponies. "I've never been much for dazzlement, but I'll give it a shot."
"So long as you give it a shot through me." Crimson tilted his head back so that his horn pointed towards the low ceiling of the chamber like a lightning rod. "Light 'er up."
"Lighting..." Tweak closed his eyes and concentrated. A low glow swam through his body.
Rainbow Dash was figeting the entire time. She glanced between Crimson, waiting at the door, and Tweak's line of stallions. Soon, her vision was growing foggy. Dizziness overwhelmed her, but the usual shivers and convulsions that came with her chaotic affliction were nowhere to be found. This was an entirely different phenomenon, and she nearly stumbled to her belly from the intensity of it. Ironically, it was Imre who caught her, sharing a weary glance with the pegasus. Rainbow Dash could see from the look in Imre's face that she understood what was going on, but she was no less affected than Rainbow Dash. Cautiously, the two huddled in the corner of the place, watching through their dizziness as the glow from within Tweak and his fellow stallions increased gradually, like a lighthouse being lit.
Eventually, the luminescence was also accompanied by a noise. A low hum resonated throughout the place, building up like a deep bass drum being vibrated from within. The metal panels along the wall rattled. The dangling cables overhead swayed. Before Rainbow's and Imre's vision could go out, the light finally pulsed out from Tweak, spreading in two directions. The glow zapped in two directions at once, spreading through the bodies of the stallions on either side of him. Then the energy bounced back, converging within Tweak's figure, and reaching a climatic strobe as he lunged forward.
"Alley oop!" He managed to sharl as a wave of light in the shape of his body surged forward. It immediately connected to a leyline that twisted it about, shrunk it into a pinpoint beam, and channeled it directly into Crimson's horn.
When Crimson absorbed the energy beam, his body nearly fell forward. His muscles took over, however, and suddenly he was standing upright, his horn glowing brighter than the sun.
Rainbow Dash and Imre had to squint towards him to so much as see what transpired next.
With a prolonged growl, Crimson summoned the strength to tilt his horn towards the door. Webs of light swam out from his skull, covering every inch of the frame before him. The door shook, vibrated, but it didn't budge.
Tweak almost galloped towards him, but two of his stallions held him back, shouting something beneath the noise.
Sure enough, the door started glowing even brighter. With a solid jerk, it lifted straight up. Hot air wafted out, sparkling with electricity that was brimming on the other side. There was a snapping sound—like that of metal braces being shattered. The door slid all the way up with ease, followed by a web of sparks dancing between the frame.
Having seen his task done, Crimson smiled—but that expression was something covered in drool. The eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell back in a meaty slump.
The dizziness had cleared along with the light, allowing Rainbow Dash the strength to rocket over towards him. She caught his fall, embracing him like an oversized colt.
"Hey... Hey there!" She shouted, sputtered through her helmet. "Crimson! Say something, dude!"
He was mute, lying in her grasp like a limp ponnyquin.
"For real, now! Give a shout! A war cry! A belch! Darn it, speak to me!"
"I would give him time, Rainbow," Imre said, trotting over at their sides. "His horn is still hot red. I'd be surprised if he could hear anything."
"Does that mean he's just asleep?" Rainbow Dash stammered.
"Yes." Imre blinked, then shrugged. "Or that the neurons no longer have a path to run between his ears and his brain. The same could be said about the rest of his spine and his involuntary body functions—"
"Celestia on a unicycle!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Where'd you learn your bedside manner?! At a taxadermist's?!"
"Everypony, quiet for one sec!" Tweak growled. With wide eyes, he trotted into the room beyond. Rainbow watched as the stallion's reflective coat glittered from the brilliance located within.
The Focus Chamber was a wide, circular thing, with a raised dais in the center that almost met a ring of suspended metal coming down from the ceiling. Positioned in the middle of the place, his body braced against four clasps, was an equine body glowing with otherworldly luminescence. Various wires, conduits, and coils were feeding off the energy pulsating from his body. He writhed in tiny, spasming motions, his head jerking from where it dangled perpetually.
"Bro...?" Tweak murmured, his twinkling eyes moistening slightly. With a deep breath, he funneled his features through a jagged frown, snarling, "We gotta get him down from there..."
"Don't just yank him out!" Imre shouted over the crackling electricity in the air. She and the other crystal pones trotted after Tweak, joining him along the inner fringes of the chamber. "With most of the Hold's systems on shutdown, there is no operating failsafe for if his energy output is completely severed!"
"And just how do you know so dayum much about what's being done to him?!" Tweak flashed the unicorn a frown. "Huh?! Did you put him in this thing?! Were you his keeper?"
"Tweak..." Another stallion rested his hoof on Tweak's shoulder. "Ever since the metal mares dragged us here from Aurum and abroad, she's the only one who's showed us mercy."
"She's given us medicine to ease the p-pain of the mares putting us in that thing," another added.
"She's kept samples of our blood in case we needed them later." A stallion managed a weak smile. "Hate her all you want, but I don't think she wants to be here anymore than we do."
Tweak looked at them all. He sighed, then glanced dully over at Imre. "Any truth to what they're saying?"
"For what it's worth," Imre droned. "Look. Ages ago, I made an oath, and I've stuck as true to that oath as much as I can. If you ponies, mares, stallions, pineapples, whatever want to kill each other so bad, I don't care. Do it on your own time. I like to stay away from murder as much as I can. I was born into it, and I'm totally not a huge fan." Imre shrugged. "I just patch ponies together when they're brought to me cuz that's all I'm good at. As for the blood of crystal stallions—"
"Hey, uh... as much as I like us all getting buddy buddy..." Rainbow Dash spoke as she dragged Crimson's limp body into the edge of the chamber. "What say we save the reunion until later?" She looked aside. "Tweak... hey, yo... army guy." She motioned towards the glowing figure. "What are you waiting for?"
"But I thought your unicorn friend just said—"
"First off, I'm not her friend," Imre said, summoning a distant eye-roll from Rainbow Dash. "Second, she's right."
"About what?"
"At this point, it'll take a crystal pony to remove a crystal pony in flux from the pedestal," Imre said. "Are you two really brothers?"
Tweak looked once more at the glowing figure. He shuddered and said, "Yes..."
"Then you should be most acclimated to the resulting energy discharge when he's removed."
"Meaning...?"
"Move your lazy flank and get him off the pedestal already!" Imre growled. Then, with a sigh, she said, "But do it gently..."
Tweak took a deep breath. He trotted up to the pedestal. He braced one hoof against the glowing figure, then a second. Instantly, the coursing energy passed into him as well. He grunted from the overloading sensation, but nevertheless absorbed the flow. With concentrated poise, he literally hugged the stallion, allowing the glow to pass into his own body. He yanked with one fluid motion, snapping the bonds free. Soon, both ponies were sprawling out over the floor. The entire body of Searo's Hold shuddered as if a bomg had gone off—or maybe the opposite. Whatever the case, the glow inside the chamber dissipated, casting everypony into darkness.
Rainbow Dash saw nothing. All she heard was the sound of her own breathing. "Did we do it?" she stammered, still holding onto Crimson's limp body. "Is he out?"
"Brother..." Light returned to the chamber, this time emanating from the crystal ponies within the room. Rainbow Dash looked over to see Tweak kneeling beside the spasming body of the pony that had been rescued from the focus point of the room. The stallions' glow cast a dim spotlight on the reunited pair. "Can you hear me? I've come to get you out of here."
"Tw-Tweak...?" Lucky Strike wheezed, reaching a trembling hoof up to brush against the stallion's chin. "I had a dream that you and I m-met again..." He gulped, then narrowed his weary eyes. "You were a lot taller..."
Tweak cracked a smile. Clearing his throat so that his voice was steady, he pulled Lucky up by his shoulders. "I've found some friends, brother. Some nice... s-selfless friends who were willing to help me get you out of here... to get everypony out of here..."
"I... I don't understand, Tweak." Lucky gulped and murmured, "How long was I in there? Why is it so dark?"
"Save the questions for later," Tweak said. Pivoting about, he hobbled with Lucky swiftly towards the entrance to the chamber. "We've got a manaship to catch, and tons of flanks to kick between here and—"
"Hckkkkkt!" Lady Pestiferous' masked face loomed in the stallions' way.
"Jeez!" Tweak fell back with Lucky, shielding the gasping sibling as he scooted the two of them frantically away from the looming skeleton of a mare.
Pestiferous's filmy eyes narrowed menacingly. Like a spider returning to the nest, she slithered the rest of the way through the entrance, flanked by four mares stripped to their bare, essential armor. The quartet of guards trained their spears on the herd of trembling escapees as the bloody Top Spear of Searo's Hold took center stage.
"Robbersssssh... pillagersssssh... cowardssssssh...." She coughed, shook her bald, leprotic head, and pointed a pronged hoofpiece towards the assembled group. "I ssssshent my best sssssshisters and daughterssssssh to the hangar to dispossssshe of the invassssshion. I sssssshould have known that everypony of true malice and deceit would be down here...."
"By the spark..." Tweak narrowed his eyes. "What in blazes are you?"
"The righteousssssssh mare who will be eating your bowelsssssh tonight, you insipid breeder." With a scrape of metal hoof-claws, she pointed her spindly limb to the center dais. "Put... the sssssshtallion... back..."
Tweak stood bravely before Lucky Strike, glaring up at the monstrous matriarch. "Not on your ass-backwards life." He shouted over his shoulder. "Brothers!"
All at once, the crystal ponies glowed brightly, casting their energy all about the room.
The four guard ponies reeled in dizziness, yet maintained their position.
Lady Pestiferous, however, crawled further towards the stallions, undaunted. With a swipe of her forelimb, she effortlessly snatched Tweak off the ground and held him up with an opposable metal grip around the throat.
"Tweak!" Lucky Strike weakly shouted from the floor.
"Aaauchkkt!" Tweak hissed and dangled limply from the monstrous mare's grip. "But... b-but how...?"
"What flowsssssssh through your veinsssssh empowersssssh my prostheticsssssh...." Pestiferous vaporously breathed through her mask and into his face, causing him to cough and spit up bile. "I am immune to your ssssssshpineless ploysssssh..."
"The... th-the blood of cr-crystal ponies...?" Tweak hissed, tearing. He glanced down at Imre. "You... you b-bastard..."
Imre took a deep breath, frowning. "I either did what she wanted, or risked eating my own entrails while I was alive. What would you have done?"
"The courageous thing—Haaugh!" Tweak's breath left him as Pestiferous lifted him higher to the ceiling.
"You're a talkative one—Hckkkt!" Pestiferous snarled through her mask as she prepared a sparkling blade with her other forelimb. "I think I will carve you into a toy that will do me more pleasssssshure..."
With rocketing thunder, a blue blur swooped by and snatched Tweak out of her grip.
Pestiferous' diseased eyes blinked. "Buh?" She glanced down.
Rainbow Dash landed in a skid, depositing Tweak's coughing body besides his brothers. "Heh. Never thought I'd see the day where I'd enjoy being a buzzkill."
"Daughterssssh!" Pestiferous pointed at the "half-blade." "Tear her to shreds!"
The four mares ran forward, screaming.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and placed her hooves apart. As the guards approached her, she bucked one in the chest, flipped over her, kicked the skull of another, removed her helmet, used it to repeatedly pummel the cranium of the third, bucked her aside, and rocketed into the chest of the fourth. On burning thrusters, she slammed the gasping mare into the wall, kicked her in the gut, removed the spear with her mouth, and flung backwards across the room so that it collided into the skulls of the first two mares.
In less than fifteen seconds, all of the guards were completely grounded, groaning and curling up into pained fetal positions.
Tweak blinked as Lucky Strike helped him up to his hooves. "Huh... now that's what I called 'knocking 'em out.'"
Lucky glanced aside. "I love you, brother. But I also hate you."
"Heh—"
With an enormous thud, Pestiferous' limb landed in front of the two siblings. The stallions ran aside as the Top Spear stood tall, glaring down at Rainbow Dash. "Hckkkt—Imposssssshible! The enemies' energy pulsssssshes should have paralyzed your paltry armor!" Pestiferous' sickly eyes narrowed. "Unlesssssh..."
"That's right!" Rainbow Dash smirked devilishly. "I bet you didn't count on the fact that I... that I..." She fidgeted, then muttered, "Just how am I doing this, anyway?"
"Not all of the stallions blood went to Pestiferous."
Everypony glanced over at Imre.
She took a breath and muttered, "I stashed some away. And, with the help of a persistent friend, made good use of it elsewhere."
Rainbow Dash blinked. She glanced down at her armor, her mouth agape.
"You..." Pestiferous hissed through her mask. "Snkkkkt—You are a disssssshgrace to the womb of Sssssshearo..."
Imre's lips showed the hint of a smirk. "I don't think anypony's given me a better compliment..."
"Hah!" Rainbow Dash pointed with a hoof. "Eat that with your parmesan cheese, ya overgrown mantis! Now, how about I squash you... for... good....?" She blinked awkwardly.
Pestiferous was stretching up, up, up, her body tilting at an angle so that she stood before the group like a gangly biped. "You think I haven't anticipated treachery like thisssssh?! Hckkkkt—For yearssssssh, I knew a day like thissssssh would come! I did not become Top Sssssspear through politicsssssh and pretenssssshe!" Her torso quivered as rivulets of blood poured out of her pale ribs. "Hckkkkt—I am the murderer of motherssssh... the devourer of infantssssssh. Ssssshearo's anger empowersssssh me... ssssshtrengthenssssh me.... and now... it ssssssshall transsssshform me! Hckkkkkt!" Two crimson wounds splattered open along her sides as metal prongs slipped loose. Curtains of red juice poured out from her neck, arms, and legjoints. "And now... hckkkt—All blood sssssshall be one... in the crucible of wrath! Hraaaachkkkkt!"
Her head twisted to the left with a snapping joint. The metal ringlets spread apart, and soon her cranium was lunging forth like a viperhead at the end of a titanium serpent. The same happened between her leg joints causing her limbs to bloodily extend to four times the previous length. The titanium hooves converted to three-pronged feelers, armed with sharp claws and electrical nodes. At last, a pair of crab-like appendages ripped out of her ribcages, extending forward like feelers equipped with every barbed weapon imaginable.
With streams of vapor pouring out of her mask, Pestiferous clung to the walls of the chamber like a gigantic daddy-long-legs. She easily took up a third of the room, her body a quivering spectacle of bloodied metal stalks as she hovered ravenously above Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow gave her one lasting look and sighed. "Uh, yeah. Nope." She turned around and rocketed out of the room.
"Hckkkkt—Raaaauchkkkt!" Pestiferous scrambled after her, each scurrying limb producing sparks as they scraped across the floors and walls of the place. She threaded through the exit like a black widow sliding through a crevice, and soon Rainbow Dash was leading the clattering monstrosity away from the group of breathless stallions, up through the winding corridors of Searo's Hold and into the darkness beyond.
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Well then...
I've never heard of a bomg before, is it similar to a bomb?
Nope'd right out of there!
could somepony do an art for this please...?
my imagination of lady spider's "final form" is creeping me out...
Yeah, Pestiferous definitely didn't become Top Spear by being intelligent.
memeorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ony-nope-nope-nope-gif.gif
Twenty-five wide-arm push-ups for giving me the willies, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Well...that's certainly potential nightmare fuel there...
"fidgeting"
2491866
A bomb!
Red War - Probot
Well, that was disturbing. But it's okay; it's not like I was wanting to sleep tonight or anything. Oh well, at least we know how Roarke's and Dash's armor still work, I guess. And on that note: Crystal ponies have blood?
I think I literally gigglesnorted.
And finally:
This mental image brought to you by Imploding Colon ©
It would appear Roarke was wrong when she said Pestiferous was weak. Go get her RD, squash that spider like the creepy giant metal mare she is.
Does anyone have a giant shoe? Those things are effective against giant spiders.
This is Australia...
2492269
I don't think any pony besides Applejack really even wears shoes. However, thinking back, the giant rolled up newspaper hanging in the landing bay was probably a chekhov's gun.
No machinery? I'm on one hell of a roll.
Dreaming about tall ponies. Don't that sound familiar.
Well this explained a lot. And yet again, I find I'm the worst at predicting how the storyline will continue.
Hey, we've been lacking a giant transforming boss monster for some time now! Rainbow, it probably has a weak point on the back of its head. Don't let it touch you, or you'll be seeing 9999's!
Wheeee! Spiders and battles and crystal blood oh my!
Freaky metal spider mare boss battle incoming! Oh, and
I rarely see errors on the chapters you post, so I'm not sure if this is intentional.
THIS ISNT EVEN HER FINAL FORM YET!
Man...why can't I thumbs up this story twice?
I fucking hate spiders
I hope there is a "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!" coming up.
2493118 I know the feeling!
KICK HER ASS RAINBOW DASH!
I almost want to see Lady Pestiferous win just to read three chapters of her attempting to turn back to normal.
Well, that escalated quickly.
Fuckin' spiders.
Meaning that if it doesn't hurt, you'll die. Have fun.
Unexpected plot twist: before any kind of fight breaks out, Pestiferous dies of a cough.
2492046 Roarke has proven that in Searo, intelligence will only make you an outsider.
Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse.
Am I the only one who noted that Pestiferous sent the other metal mares to exterminate the other attacking crystal ponies?
I feel like a big ass can of Raid could be effective here.
Am I the only one here who isn't bothered by spiders?
Still, though, crush that bitch with a cleated boot.
2495495 Well of course you aren't. You are a Sloth Marine.
You so silly, Scolon.
i was kinda expecting Terra to fight before Pestiferous. that's usually how it goes right? have the semi-boss fight first, then have the major boss fight next for the grand finale?
also, why in the world did Pestiferous's transformation remind me of Cho'Gath?
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100113183236/leagueoflegends/images/e/ee/Chogath-Render.png
I'm getting weird today
BOSS BATTLE!
Did Pestiferous ever think about what would happen after she turned into a bug monster? If she won?
What a strange and terrifying chapter to end a strange and terrifying day in my world. Pestiferous was hiding something - I shoulda seen that coming...
B*ch be all like...
Dude holy sh*t! You just took that crab claw out of your torso!
But seriously, dem chest-bursters suck!
Pestiferous now reminds me of the U8 from Resudent Evil 5. Big spider-looking thing with four spindly legs clinging to the walls of a wide circular room? Next thing you know, she'll be spewing out baby sentries from her abdomen.
On second thought, I don't want to picture that...
Holy crap. Do not want. Go go gadget Final Form?
IIIIIt's Dashie's Kentucky Derby Special Evaluation time!
...
Well then.
Imploding...you've thrown a lot of weird stuff at us.
But this?
This - This - spider thing?
This takes the cake.
Bravo.
Also, I'm pretty sure that Crimson survived. Can't wait to read the showdown between Dash and Pestiferous. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. One..left...
2491866
'tis obviously a misspelling.
There were bongs going up all over that fort!
Ew. If I knew how to properly link images you would be witnessing a disgusted Yao Ming face as well as a "nothing to do here" jetpack-er. Hopefully Dash can keep her occupied long enough for the others to escape. Well, no way I can quit now - onward!
So she tuned into a 6 legged giraffe
>"Alley oop!" He managed to sharl as a wave of light
What is "sharl"?
>The entire body of Searo's Hold shuddered as if a bomg had gone off
OMG A BOMB
2492002 I've been thinking about commissioning art for the story when I get some more money
This spider transformation scene reminds me of a similar scene at the climax of Coraline
Amazing description.
Now, go Dash! 
Distract Pestiferous so the others can escape! 
-SPirit
You know, despite my arachnophobia, this chapter really didn't creep me out. In fact, for some reason, giant spiders never seem to scare me in fiction, but smaller ones almost always do. I wonder why that is.
Also, the chapter title immediately made me think of this:
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130409012918/sly/images/7/7e/A_Tangled_Web_Title.png
Whenever I read Pestiferous's lines I always imagine them in Darth Vader's voice. Anyone else?
2495495
You obviously didn't watch the Sci-Fy channel at a young age and thought you could watch a scary movie about massive spiders. That's the main reason I'm terrified of them.
So that was crazy. Kick her ass, Dash!