Daring Do raised her head to see who had spoken to her. One eye was swollen shut, accompanying the smudge of blood on her muzzle from a split lip. The other though, widened in recognition. "Princess Twilight? I know I said I wanted my lawyer, but I didn't think they'd go that far."

"Actually, we're here for our own reasons," Twilight told her. "I had no idea that you'd be here, or that you'd be the one to break into the Vizier's private property to steal from him."

"You know about that? Then you have to help me! There's a mask Princess. You have to get the golden mask out of here before she comes for it! It's in the evidence locker!"

"Uh... what mask? Who's she? And why should I do that?"

"Because if she gets her hooves on it she'll unleash an army of giant spiders on the world!"

"Hah!" Mayfly laughed triumphantly. "This one told you it was giant spiders!"

"I know," Sunset said in a low, near sarcastic voice. "I'm not entirely sure being right about that is something we need to be excited about."

Mayfly sucked in a breath to argue, then released it all at once as she figured out the point Sunset was trying to make. "Oh, right. Giant spiders are probably bad."

"Exactly."

"First things first," said Twilight, "I want to know something about the Vizier's private collection."

"What? No!" Daring struggled against her bonds, "We don't have time for this!"

"We have plenty of time, actually. While you were in there, did you see a mirror? Lined with gems?"

"Uh, yes? Maybe? I think I saw a mirror in there, but it was kinda broken. There's a lot of other stuff in there too." Daring tried again to free her hooves, "Look, I will help you do anything to get that mirror if you want it, but only if you help me first!"

Twilight considered it for a moment. Having somepony that had already broken into the Vizier's collection would be useful, and having another adventure alongside Daring Do did make her feel a little giddy, even if Daring was acting horribly out of character by being so worried. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to scratch each others backs. "Alright Daring, you have my full and undivided attention."

"Great! Now you just need to break these bonds and help me get the mask-"

"Woah-woah-woah... Maybe you should explain yourself a little first."

"But there's no time!"

"I assure you there is." Twilight sat opposite Daring and crossed her legs on the table before her, indicating that she wasn't going anywhere until Daring had explained herself.

"Alright, fine. Long ago a dark wizard type pony, I forget his name, used dark magic to create a deadly army of giant spiders. He was stopped, but not before he created a golden mask that controls them, the Mask of Terrors. The ponies that stopped him took the mask and sealed the spiders up in a place out in the desert, as they couldn't easily be destroyed."

"I'm sensing a huge 'but' here," said Sunset.

"A unicorn who calls herself Arachiss broke the seal into the spiders' prison, and has taken control of some of them. But to take control of all of them she needs the mask, and once she has it she'll unleash a wave of horror on the world like you would not believe. We need to get the mask and take it somewhere safe before she can use it."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Daring, "And breaking the mask out of the secure vault it was in helped it be safer did it?"

"I got in there easily," Daring retorted, "so it really wasn't that secure. Arachiss could have broken in there and gotten the mask without even trying."

"Mmhmm. Alright then Daring, apart from the fact I have zero proof of what you're saying, I believe you. The problem is that busting you out of jail and re-stealing the mask is going to upset a lot of ponies."

"I'm pretty sure those ponies will thank us when they're not getting devoured by giant-" A loud thud cut her off as it echoed down the hallway beyond the door, followed soon after by screaming. "She's here! I told you there wasn't any time!"

"That... doesn't mean it's what you think it is." Twilight stood and walked over to the door as the screams continued. She opened it and poked her head through, seeing the large black spider at the other end of it tossing ponies around as they tried to fend it off. She quickly withdrew her head and slammed the door shut. Then she opened it again just to be sure. The spider was still there. "Well fuck. I wasn't actually expecting them to be real." She opened the door a third time just to make sure she definitely wasn't hallucinating.

"Now do you believe me?" Daring cried. "Seriously, get me out of these cuffs so we can go get that mask!"

Twilight tore the cuffs off the table with her magic, freeing Daring. "You and Mayfly can go get the mask. Sunset and I will take care of the spider."

"What?" Sunset protested straight away. "Noooo-no-no-no! I am not fighting a giant spider! Not now, not ever!"

"I'm pretty sure it's something you're going to have to get used to if this Arachiss succeeds," Twilight politely informed her. "I don't exactly want to do this either, just so you know. Now come on."

Twilight pulled open the door and marched out, her head held high as her stomach tried its best to escape through her ass. She didn't show it though, and marched stridently up to the massive arachnid, Sunset by her si-

Twilight turned to look back down the corridor, seeing Sunset still stood at the far end while Daring Do and Mayfly sneaked out to retrieve the mask. "Doing great Twilight! You occupy its attention, and I'll attack it from back here!"

"Luna fucking damn it Sunset!" Twilight grunted irritably and turned back to the spider. "You could have brought Trixie," she muttered to herself, "but noooo... you had to insist she stay behind. Idiot." She was fairly close to the spider now, which was more than twice her height at its highest point, which wasn't actually its head. It was also busy wrapping one of the guards in a cocoon, and hadn't noticed her in the slightest.

"Hey you! With your multitudinous eyes and extraneous legs!" Twilight shouted at it, only to be ignored. "I bet your mother regretted not eating you straight out of the egg sac you ugly excuse of an Araneus Diadematus! That's right! I called you a common garden spider! What do you think of that, huh?" Evidently it wasn't much as she continued to be ignored. Twilight levelled her horn at the beast and shot at it, gouging a chunk out of its bulbous abdomen, which sent it scurrying into the corner, squealing horribly, similar to the noise Twilight made as she almost ran away.

Even though she had done it intentionally, Twilight now regretted her actions as eight beady eyes set on her, sizing her up. The spider crept back out of its corner, suddenly seeming intent on adding her to its collection of ponies. She jumped back as it lunged at her, then blasted it again, blowing through the underneath of its thorax.

Twilight grinned triumphantly, but soon lost that grin as the spider thrashed one of its limbs at her, smacking her away to crash into the hard stone wall. Twilight rolled onto her belly as she landed, shaking her head as her vision swam from the impact. She got some of her sense back just as a dark limb reached for her, and she grabbed it in her magic as she summoned Swordy, bringing the blade down on the leg and severing it easily in a spray of brownish ichor.

"Now why didn't I do that from the beginning?" Twilight swung Swordy down, severing another leg, then another, until the spider could no longer support itself and collapsed to the ground, snapping its fangs at her until she plunged Swordy down through its face and pinned it to the floor. Then she jumped back and did a little dance, her skin squirming. "Grossgrossgross! I feel like I'm never going to be clean again! And thanks for the help Sunse-" Twilight cocked her head slightly at the sight of Sunset, still down the corridor, getting wrapped up in the web of a different spider. "Oh. Shit."

Twilight tore her sword out of the spiders' body and charged down the corridor towards the spider cocooning Sunset, a near feral cry coming from her throat. She hacked three of its limbs off in one go, and dragged the cocoon containing Sunset out of the way as the spider fell, saving her from getting crushed. Twilight stabbed down, impaling the spider straight through the thorax, and holding it there until it stopped moving.

Then she released Swordy and threw up what felt to her like pure adrenaline, but really wasn't. Twilight wasn't unaccustomed to being covered in blood, which was sad enough as it was, but being covered in the blood of the giant spiders she'd slain was something else entirely. Something she could happily live with never doing again, but she'd said that about ponies once.

"H-help..."

"Hmm? Oh!" Twilight jumped up as Sunset's feeble request for aid reminded her that the amber unicorn was suffering some issues. She sliced through the webbing with her magic, pulling it aside to release the pale and tearful pony within, who clasped onto Twilight as soon as she was able to move her hooves. "Uh, I'm kinda covered in spider goo." Sunset just shook her head and squeezed tighter. "Okay then."

Twilight let Sunset have her time, and perhaps got as much use out of it as she could, because despite the calm exterior she was showing, she would've been fine with her and Sunset swapping places, and she was holding onto Sunset just as much as Sunset was holding onto her.

"I really, really, really hate spiders," Sunset whimpered after a few minutes. "I just didn't realise how much until just now. I'm sorry."

"Uh... for what?"

"That spider came straight for me, and I... I panicked, and I-I-I just... froze! I didn't do anything! I could have blasted it, or shielded myself, or just teleported away! But I didn't. I just sat there like an idiot and let it get me."

Twilight released Sunset and smiled at her, ignoring the bit of vomit she could feel on her chin. "Sunset, this is beyond fucked up. I mean, I could face down a lot of other things, but giant spiders is taking the biscuit. All the biscuits. And the milk, and is sitting in the corner giggling over its hoard. Don't sweat it." Twilight wiped her chin and yanked Swordy free, flicking the gooey blood off of him, "Of course, if you happen to remember a lot of fire spells we could use, that'd be just... that'd be just swell."

"Are we interrupting something?"

Both of them turned to see Daring Do, although Sunset quickly turned her head away as it involved looking at the spider again, which Mayfly was poking with a hoof.

"Oh hey guys!" Twilight said with forced cheerfulness. "I have good news! The spiders aren't invincible, or un-killable, or anything like that."

"And the bad news?" Daring asked hesitantly.

"Well... the fact that they exist is the bad news, mostly. Y'know, that whole unfortunate tid-bit of news. I'm questioning my sanity, and seriously considering peeling my skin off and regrowing an entirely new epidermis after touching these things."

"Uh..." Daring looked at Twilight like she'd gone insane, which, to be fair considering the situation... "Wouldn't that kill you?"

"In the short run, yes, but I think it'd be worth it." Twilight cleared her throat awkwardly as Daring continued to look at her funny, "So... did you get the mask?"

"Yep, we got it." Daring held up a golden mask that was mostly like a curved disk with a U cut out of it, which Twilight suspected was for the muzzle of the pony wearing it to fit through. There were two holes to see through, and two smaller ones up and to the sides of the actual holes. Twilight had no idea what they were for.

"Shiny," she remarked casually. "Can I try it on?"

"Oh no, not a chance." Daring carefully wrapped the mask in a piece of cloth, "If my research is correct, putting on this mask causes a transformation. Into what was a little vague, but I doubt any of us actually want to find out.

"I was kind of joking anyway. The Mask of Terrors doesn't sound like something you want to be messing around with." Twilight glanced about at the carnage around them, "Soooo... what now?"

"I was hoping that taking the mask away and keeping it safe would be enough, but between this and the ponies getting kidnapped, I don't think so. We need to take this and use it to reseal the spiders' prison."

Twilight nodded at Daring, "That sounds like an awesome plan. First though, I suggest we get some more back-up."

"From the Sultan? Are you insane? He'd just arrest me again!"

"I think we have some extenuating circumstances going on here, so you might get off with a warning, but no, I was thinking of somepony else actually." Twilight started leading them to the exit, "Trust me, if we're going to be doing this, more back-up is better."

Twilight pushed the large double doors open and walked out into the street, stopping sharply as a spider even bigger than the others stood there, venom dripping off its fangs that clacked together threateningly. Most significantly, although somewhat of an afterthought compared to the spider itself, was the white unicorn mare riding on its back. It didn't take very long for Twilight to notice her curved and discoloured horn, and the smoke wafting from her eyes, hinting at something she recognised all too well.

"I'm guessing you're Arachiss," Twilight said, trying to ignore Sunset as she attempted to hide in Twilight's tail. "I killed some of your pets, just so you know."

"You say that like I should care-"

"You'd be surprised at how much some people do."

"-But I have thousands more waiting to serve me, once you give me that mask."

Twilight sniggered at the pony still riding the huge threatening spider, "You really aren't the best at incentive, are you? 'Give me that mask so I can unleash my army of giant spiders to swarm across the land!'" Twilight tapped the flat of her hoof against her chin, "Hmm, no, I don't think so. That sounds horrible. How about you put that spider back where you found it, and I don't kill you?"

"Kill me? You poor deluded fo-" Arachiss yelped and ducked as a bolt of purple magic whistled past her ear.

"Warning shot," Twilight said cheerfully.

Arachiss leapt off the spider, "Attack!"

Twilight thrust Swordy forwards as the spider lunged at her, stabbing it right in the mouth before twisting the blade upwards and pulling up in a move that neatly bisected the top of the spiders' head. The spider fell to the ground, thrashing its limbs around in its death throes, forcing Twilight to teleport away a few meters before she got hit.

"Well that was easy." Twilight turned to the others, only to find them cornered, with Sunset shielding them from Arachiss' dark magic. The shield couldn't hold though, and broke forcefully, scattering those behind it and making it all too easy for Arachiss to claim the mask.

"At last it is mine!" Arachiss placed the mask on her face and held it there, which was pretty much the only thing stopping Twilight from separating her body from her head, because damaging the mask seemed like a terrible idea. She was also admittedly rather curious as to what the transformation would be like. She wasn't the only one to be disappointed as nothing happened. "Why isn't it doing anything?"

"Maybe you're in the wrong place?" said Twilight. She shrugged and brandished Swordy at the unicorn, "I guess we'll never know."

"Of course! The temple!"

"Yeah, that." Twilight pointedly cleared her throat, and tried to make the blade she was holding more obvious. "You can give that back now."

Arachiss turned to face Twilight, and Twilight suddenly suspected she should have foregone with asking nicely. Her suspicions were proven correct as a dark, vaguely spider-like blob leapt out of Arachiss' body towards her, and by the time she'd hacked at it Arachiss was gone.

"You let her get away!" Daring shouted at Twilight as she struggled to her hooves.

"There's no u in team," Twilight retorted. "I didn't exactly see you jumping in to stop her."

"I was hurt!"

"But you aren't now, which is convenient seeing as how we need to go and stop her. First though, let's go get that back-up I mentioned."

Daring leaned over towards Mayfly, "Are you sure she's not a changeling? She really doesn't seem like the Princess Twilight I met once."

Mayfly carefully considered the question, "I can assure you, she is not."

"Okay, so run this by me again," Trixie said, her eyes fixed firmly on a point in the distance as the ground flew beneath her hooves far below.

"I'm not explaining it again," Twilight growled. "I really don't get what's so difficult for you to grasp here."

"Besides the sheer insanity of what you're describing? I'm just wondering how any of this helps us with our own goal."

"Do you want the world to be flooded by giant spiders?"

"Fuck no, Trixie hates spiders. Almost burnt my caravan down once trying to kill one."

"And that's why we're doing this. That and Daring Do said she'd help us get the mirror if we helped her."

"Seems like a poor trade," Trixie muttered. "Not even seeing Moondancer's mind getting blown by meeting Daring is worth this. And when are we telling Daring Do that we killed that Auhizotl character?"

"Shush Trixie! Don't-"

"You did what?" Daring stared wide eyed at the both of them, her mouth also hanging open. "You killed Auhizotl?"

"Well yeah," Trixie said as Twilight dragged her hooves down her face and groaned. "He was trying to kill me, and wanted to eat Twilight's heart to steal her powers-"

"Which was ridiculous," Twilight added quietly.

"-And he wanted to give Sunset and Moondancer to some tribe ponies to use as..." Trixie rocked her head as she tried to think of a tamer term than 'the tribes' cum buckets.' She failed. "Well it wasn't going to be nice for them anyway. So yes, I killed him."

"But- But-" Daring threw her legs up into the air, "He was like one of my biggest nemeses'! How the hell am I supposed to explain why he never shows up in my stories again?"

Trixie theatrically tapped a hoof to her chin, "Hmm, I don't know... maybe you could make something up like any other writer would?"

"But I suck at making stuff up! All the things that happen in the books are one hundred percent real! I don't have to make things up!"

"And that's the biggest tragedy here, us interfering with your carefully written narrative of a life. Heavens forbid that stopping evil from succeeding being the bigger and more important goal."

Daring opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again as she found she had nothing to retort with. Stopping evil was the greater goal here, not pleasing her publisher. "Dammit," she grumbled. "In all the years I've been doing this I've never had to kill once. It's just... annoying to find that somepony else came along and killed one of the creatures your life revolves around."

Trixie shrugged lazily, "You must be one hell of a masochist to do everything the hard way."

"Anyway," Twilight sang, cutting into the conversation before it turned any nastier, "not to make things even harder for you Daring, but I will have to ask you to omit our involvement in this."

Daring grasped her head in her hooves and growled, "Oh sure, some other alicorn came along and helped me get out of prison before slaughtering a bunch of giant spiders! That'll look believable!"

"Actually," Moondancer said hesitantly, like she was afraid of disagreeing, "Twilight, as in a princess, helping you sounds pretty unbelievable as it is. Maybe you could say she's a unicorn, and give us all different names?"

"Or at least just change Twilight's name, and alicorn nature," Sunset suggested, not minding featuring in a Daring Do book.

"I guess?" Daring shook her head in irritation and pointed down to a crescent shaped canyon in the desert. "Down there, that's where we need to go," she said, diving towards where she pointed, leaving Twilight to carry the others down in her own time.

They landed outside a temple of some kind that had been carved into the red rock of the canyon wall. Pillars framed a large entrance, while more pillars framed the rest of it, and frescoes adorned much of the areas between. None of it seemed to involve spiders in the slightest though, prompting Twilight to ask if this was the right place.

"It is," Daring assured her as she started up the steps into the temple. She peered in through the entrance, but could discern nothing in the inky darkness beyond until Twilight lit her horn, revealing a small interior space which led to a rough hewn tunnel beyond. "I guess there's nothing for it but to go in."

"Or..." Trixie said hopefully.

"Or nothing," said Twilight. "Come on, let's just do this."

"Actually," Moondancer said nervously, "I volunteer to stay here and... protect the entrance."

"Mmhmm, and what do you intend to do if one of those giant spiders turn up?" Twilight asked.

"How big could they possibly be?"

"Big," Sunset said, her expression haunted. "Very, very big."

"Like... as big as me?"

"Bigger. A lot bigger."

"Oh." Moondancer trotted awkwardly on the spot. "Argh! Why did you even bring me here?"

"Yeah," Trixie said with a sly grin, "Why did you bring her?"

"Because I thought we should stick together, and... because she'd probably moan at me if I left her behind, again. I don't know."

"Gosh, you know her so well Twilight." Trixie kept grinning as Moondancer fumed at the both of them. "Anyway, let's get on with this, Moondancer or no Moondancer. Mayfly, you should go first."

"Me?" Mayfly asked, pointing at herself. "Why me?"

"Because you and these things are pretty much cousins, so they probably won't eat you."

"We aren't even remotely related!" Mayfly protested. "Why would you even think that?"

"Yeah," Daring asked quietly, "why would you?"

"She's a changeling," said Trixie, not even bothering to hide that fact since she assumed Daring wouldn't care. "A nice one, in case you're wondering."

"Huh, haven't met many changelings before. So, do you normally look like this? Or is that just a disguise."

"Trixie is the worst pony," Mayfly hissed, reverting to her true nature. She stared up at Daring, challenging her to do or say something, but Daring only shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't see the resemblance between her and those spiders. Now seriously, we really need to get on with this."

Daring trotted up the stairs, Twilight close behind to provide some light, leaving the others to come at their own pace, except for Moondancer, who trotted on the spot again as she decided whether to follow or not. "I didn't agree to any of this!" she shrieked, charging in after them, following the flash of Trixie summoning her armour and assembling it upon herself.

The tunnel leading deeper into the rock was surprisingly dry, but only because most of them were expecting it to be dank and damp, even though the outside world didn't exactly encourage damp conditions, and as Twilight pointed out, spiders don't really like the wet.

For the most part though, beyond the dryness, was how clean it was at first, with just the bare rock of the tunnel around them. Slowly though, as they went deeper and deeper, the growing presence of spider webs all over the walls, containing everything from birds to rodents to even a pony skeleton, confirmed they were in the right place. There were also normal sized spiders scuttling around, but considering what else was in there, they were being largely ignored, until one dropped onto Sunset, who shrieked as loud as she could as she panicked.

"Shut up!" Twilight ordered, picking the spider off Sunset and crushing it before throwing it away. "Do you want everything in here to know where we are?"

"I don't know if I mentioned it Twilight, but I really fucking hate spiders!" Sunset's ears pricked as something made a noise up ahead, and a moment later eight eyes shone in the light from their horns as a large arachnid crawled towards. "Aww fuck," Sunset whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"You really weren't kidding when you said they were big," Trixie said as she sized the bug up. A moment later her horn bubbled with of dark magic, and a spear of dark crystal burst up from the ground beneath the spider, impaling it through the middle, making it screech louder than even Sunset had. It struggled to move, tearing itself apart more and more as it fought to free itself, then suddenly stopped moving save to curl up as if it had suddenly worked out it was dead.

"See? Back-up," Twilight said, nudging Daring with a elbow.

"Did she just use dark magic?"

"Oh boy," Trixie muttered, "here we go."

"Are you really going to complain when she's helping us?" Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes slightly at Daring, who stepped away and help up a hoof in surrender.

"Not at all. I'm just not used to seeing ponies using dark magic so... helpfully."

"That's because it doesn't have to be used for evil," said Twilight. "I mean, traditionally yeah, evil, but not always. Trixie's one of the good guys, aren't you Trixie?"

Trixie held a hoof up so it was next to her head, "Filly scouts' honour!"

"I very much doubt you were a filly scout," Moondancer said flatly.

"And you'd be correct, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the principals behind it."

"I smell ponies," said Mayfly, her tiny voice cutting through the discussion. "Ponies that aren't you," she added as Trixie opened her mouth.

"How can you be sure?" Trixie asked instead.

"Have any of you recently soiled yourselves?"

"No, I don't think so. Sunset?"

Sunset blushed at the question, "Number one or number two?"

"Number two, I guess?"

"Then no."

"Then it is definitely other ponies," said Mayfly. "Some of them smell like they've been here a while. There also being a lot more than just five of them was another clue."

"It must be the kidnapped ponies," Twilight reasoned. "Can you lead us to them Mayfly?"

"Probably."

"Then lead on."

They all squeezed past the deceased spider, and let Mayfly lead the way further into the nest, the changeling occasionally stopping them to sniff the air, and to warn them about incoming threats. More than once did Trixie take inordinate pleasure in killing the spiders before they got too close, and at no point did Twilight, Sunset, or any of them think twice about her using her dark magic in this situation. They wouldn't dare in case she stopped.

Eventually Mayfly led them to a larger cavern, the sounds of groaning ponies coming from within. Twilight patted her on the back and led the way in, brightening her horn to light up most of the empty space, except for the ceiling which was much too high.

Around the room at various points, either stuck to the walls or hanging from the curvature of the ceiling, were thick cocoons with the head of a pony sticking out of them. Some of the ponies were deceased, the cocoons having burst open, showing the remains inside that had been picked clean. The rest though were very much alive, and there was more than twenty of them.

"Dear Celestia," Sunset whispered. "We have to save them!"

"Do we have to?" Trixie whined. "That sounds like effort." She raised an eyebrow as the others, save Twilight and Mayfly, stared at her with open mouths. "That was sarcasm you heathens. Of course we should save them!"

Twilight walked up to the nearest one, a stallion that was lolling his head about, gurgling in the back of his throat. "Uh, hello? Can you hear me?" The stallion flopped his head towards here, but didn't really see her. She poked his cocoon to get his attention, and jumped back as he started screaming. "What the hell? Why are you screaming?" The stallion didn't answer, his screams becoming more pained and frantic until he started coughing up and choking on his blood.

Not knowing what else to do, Twilight blasted him point blank in the head, ending his pain. She stepped back again, utterly speechless at what happened, watching as his blood soaked through the cocoon, which started squirming even though he was dead. A second later it burst open, spilling a chittering tide of blood-soaked baby spiders onto the ground around her hooves. "Aaahh!"

Twilight quickly scooped them up in a shield and back into the cocoon, trapping them all there. "Aaahh!" She contracted the shield then incinerated its contents, screaming all the while, just as the tiny spiders within did as they were destroyed, but their cries were answered by another from above that echoed around the cavern. "Aaahh!"

"Guess we found momma spider," Trixie said as some of the darkness above detached itself and crawled down to the ground, its bulbous body the size of a small house. "I call dibs!"

"You can fucking have it!" Twilight screamed as the others crowded around her.

Trixie grinned, confident in the fact that there was nothing she couldn't kill. Dropping into low stance, she let the energy of her dark magic flow through her, creating a single blast that would tear the massive creature in two, or so she hoped. She unleashed it, watching as the roiling bolt of energy soared towards her target.

The spider blocked the attack with a leg, costing her half of the leg in the process, but saving its life, even as its shrill screeches filled the cavern.

"Twilight! I need help!" Trixie screamed as she backed up against the shield the alicorn was using to protect the others, getting let in just in time as the spider slammed one of its remaining legs down where Trixie had been. "I may have overestimated my ability to destroy it."

"Ya think!" Twilight studied the situation, trying to think of a solution, but all she could come up with was the tried and tested method that had worked so well before; take out the legs, and the rest would follow. "Take the shield Sunset."

Twilight waited until the shield changed to the colour of Sunset's magic, then teleported upwards, taking flight and blasting the spider with her magic to get its attention away from the shield and its contents. Unfortunately it worked, and the spider turned to follow her, although it could do very little to catch her.

Twilight summoned Swordy as she flew, and stopped, waiting for the spider to stop turning. It did, and with a snap of her wings she dived towards it Swordy held above her ready as she flew beneath one of the behemoths legs near the body, swinging Swordy down, only to feel him get snatched out of her magic as the blade failed to cut all the way through the leg. It cut through enough though, and as the spider put weight on the leg it snapped off, eliciting another horrific screech from the beast.

Twilight summoned Swordy back to her side, finding the weapon to thankfully be undamaged, which was more than could be said for the spider as it backed up against the side of the room, waving two of its legs threateningly at her. She removed them, the massive limbs tumbling to the ground with bone shaking thuds. Unsure of where to go from here, Twilight tried to think of a solution, only to get beaten as a spear of black crystal was fired at the spiders' face, ending its miserable existence.

"My kill!" Trixie shouted happily.

"I really don't fucking care," Twilight said back as she drifted back to the ground, watching the spider as it curled up. "When I woke up this morning, this was not how I imagined my day would go," she said, before letting her stomach do whatever it wanted to do, which was mostly dry heave since it was still empty from last time. "How are you not terrified? You said you hate spiders!"

Trixie shrugged happily, "I don't know. They just seem silly to me being this big. I mean we just killed the mother of all spiders, so everything else seems laughable in comparison."

"You're insane."

"Also a possibility," Trixie admitted. "I'm just happy to know it's not just Equestria that has to put up with this kind of shit. Anyway, what about all these poor fuckers in those cocoons? What are we going to do about them? Barring the fact that they've been impregnated with spiders."

"No we haven't!" the nearest pony, a light green mare, shouted in heavily accented Equestrian. "That thing only laid the eggs around us! We're just food for the hatchlings!"

"Oh, well, that's less horrific than I imagined," said Trixie. "Still pretty horrific though."

"Get us out of here before they all hatch!"

"Okay, okay." Trixie stood before the cocooned pony, humming to herself as she tried to figure out how to release the mare. A moment later there was a purple flash, and the mare stumbled on her hooves next to Trixie as Twilight teleported her free. "Works for me."

"Go get Sunset and tell her to start doing the same," Twilight said as she made her way over to the next pony. "Then start figuring out how to make lots of fire."

"Can do." Trixie sauntered over to the still erect shield that Sunset had set up over herself, Moondancer, Mayfly, and Daring. She was unsurprised to see it was opaque as she tapped a hoof against it. "Spider's dead, so you can come out now."

"And how can I be sure that's true?" Sunset asked a little rattily. "How can I be sure you're not a ghost?"

"Come on Sunset, everypony knows ghosts aren't real."

"And this morning I would have believed you, but I've seen a lot of things since then!" The shield dropped and Sunset squinted at Trixie with one eye, like she was afraid of seeing something else. "Oh thank goodne-" she began, before spotting the massive body of the spider and nearly losing her own lunch.

"If you're quite done, Twilight wants you to start teleporting these ponies out of the cocoons-"

Moondancer cocked her head, looking slightly green herself. "But aren't they, you know..."

"The eggs were laid around them, not in them," Trixie told her, "although I don't blame you for thinking that, since I thought the exact same thing."

"What should the rest of us do?" asked Mayfly.

Trixie shrugged at her, "Keep an eye out for more visitors I suppose. Come on Sunset, let's get to work."

Sunset nodded and followed after Trixie, who stayed close because she felt like Sunset wanted somepony to protect her as she worked. When Twilight had brought Sunset into this, she'd been expecting somepony with a little more backbone, but given the situation, she supposed she couldn't blame Sunset for being a little put out.

"So, Trixie," Sunset asked as she focused her magic, teleporting a pony free of their cocoon. "I can't help but notice you seem particularly calm about this. Have you done this sort of thing before?"

Trixie snorted a laugh, "Fuck no! This has got to be the single most weirdest thing I have, and will ever do. I mean, really, this whole situation is literally the dumbest shit I have ever come across."

"Oh, okay. I was just, y'know, wondering." Sunset teleported a stallion free, and was about to ask Trixie something else when the stallion screamed and charged at the wall, dashing his brains out on the hard rock. "Aah! What the fuck? Why would he do that? I didn't mean for him to do that!"

"And what does that have to do with him doing it?" Trixie said, completely nonplussed by the stallions actions. "After what he's probably been through, I can't say I blame him."

"How could you possibly say that?"

Trixie shrugged, "I'd probably have killed him myself if he'd asked. For all we know he could have been asking us all along, but we couldn't understand him."

"But- But-" Sunset stared at the crumpled remains of the stallion, her stomach in her throat. "I hate all of this so much."

"And I can appreciate that," said Trixie, giving Sunset a patronising pat on the back. "But there are ponies here waiting for you to save them from getting eaten alive by hundreds of baby spiders. Perhaps it would be best to just focus on that."

Sunset rubbed a hoof back through her mane, "Right, yes. Is this some kind of soldier mentality? Focus on what you're doing rather than the horrible stuff around you?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"What do you mean maybe?"

Trixie smirked at Sunset, "I mean maybe in that I was usually the cause of the horrible stuff, so I was fully aware of what was happening at all times, and I turned out fine." Trixie patted Sunset on the shoulder this time, "Keep working on trying to figure me and Twilight out though."

Twilight's horn sparked, freeing the last of the ponies from their cocoons as Daring walked over to her. "I think I've discovered something to put at the top of my 'fates worse than death' list. Getting perpetually devoured by spiders, unable to properly die to escape it." Twilight shuddered, "Fucking nasty."

"I'm sure that would only happen if you can't die." Daring raised an eyebrow as Twilight gave her a look, "You're really telling me you can't die?"

"Not permanently. It's an alicorn thing. We die, we heal, we come back to life, with absolutely no choice in the matter."

"Huh, sounds kind of useful actually, apart from the bit where you mention fates worse than death." Daring cleared her throat, "Speaking of, I really think we ought to get on with stopping Arachiss, before she does whatever she does."

"Yeah, I know. Sunset?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Can you, Moondancer, and Mayfly get these ponies out of here? Just take them outside and stay there."

"And if you don't come back?"

"I don't know. Improvise!"

"Helpful. Come on guys, let's go."

Twilight watched for a moment as Sunset, with the help of the Equestrian speaking mare, ushered the ponies out of the chamber, and hopefully to freedom. She had to wait until they were gone before she could do what she planned to do next.

"Trixie?"

"Yes Twilight?" Trixie asked sweetly, having anticipated what Twilight was going to ask next.

"Burn it. All of it." Twilight focused a fire spell on the wall of the cavern that smouldered for a moment before setting fire to the webs all over them, a which quickly spread. A second later a jet of purplish flame joined it as Trixie contributed her own efforts. The fire spread up as webbing on the walls caught fire, as well as the cocoons, which started to pop and sizzle as the eggs burst in the heat.

It wasn't too long before most of the chamber was aflame, and they were forced to back out of it as the heat grew too much, as well as the amount of smoke. Twilight stopped casting the flame spell, letting the fires in the chamber do the rest of the work, and watched the flames for a moment.

"You can stop now Trixie. It's time we went to pay a visit to Arachiss."

"Sweet! I've been looking forward to this!"

Twilight was aghast, "How could you have possibly been looking forward to meeting her?"

"You said she uses dark magic right?" Trixie smirked as Twilight said she did, "Well that got me curious. If she uses dark magic she's possibly gained the attention of those things that claim to own me, and I was wondering if they'd let me kill her, or stop me somehow? It'd be nice to know if Trixie's will is truly her own."

"That's what's driving you here? Not the inherent need to stop all this crap being unleashed on the world?"

Trixie levelled a hoof, "Eh, it's kinda fifty-fifty. Come on Twilight, wouldn't you be curious if you were in my position?"

"Probably, but I wouldn't consider what you're doing a priority, now come on, it can't be that much further until we find her."

As Twilight had hoped, it wasn't too much further until they came across a large open chamber, illuminated by the light from a series of crystals. In the middle on the ground was a large pyramid with an altar at its peak, where Arachiss could be seen doing something. That something was being ignored because the rest of the cavern was rippling with the movement of hundreds upon hundreds of oversized arachnids.

"I sure as hell hope you don't expect us to kill all of them," Trixie whispered to Twilight. "We'll be here all day if you are."

"Not if I can help it." Twilight glanced around the cavern, trying to figure out a way to stop Arachiss before she finished what she was doing, and breathed an angry sigh as she couldn't think of anything. "We need to get closer."

"Okay," said Daring, pointing to a ridge of rocks below. "It doesn't look like there's any spiders that way. Come on." Daring kept low as she walked over to the ridge, the others close behind her, then followed the ridge to the pyramid until they were as close as they could get.

From their new vantage point they could see a set of stairs climbing up the rear of the pyramid, and they crawled towards it, hoping to ascend without being noticed. It wasn't to be though, as before they were even a quarter of the way up their hooves were locked in place by a dark force that spread up around them, even blocking Twilight's and Trixie's magic.

"Tut-tut-tut, all you ponies, ever so predictable." Arachiss stepped into view at the top of the steps and smiled smugly at the three trapped ponies. "I'm guessing you were hoping to sneak up on me, grab the mask, then attempt to use it to reseal the temple?"

"Something like that," Daring muttered as she strained to free her hooves.

"And yet, even with help you failed."

"And now you're going to make us watch as you put on the mask?" Trixie said sceptically. "Force us to pay witness to your moment of triumph?"

Arachiss narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at Trixie, then used her magic to turn Trixie's head to the side as if to inspect her. "You too serve the masters?" Arachiss turned Trixie's head the other way, "No... you serve only yourself, but you have their interest at least. Unfortunate, as I do hate to disappoint them by killing you."

"And my friends?"

"What interest do you think I have in them? They are food for my army, nothing more." Arachiss waved a hoof and two of the large spiders descended from the roof on strings of silk, grabbing both Twilight and Daring and wrapping them in cocoons.

Trixie ignored their screams as best she could to glare at Arachiss, "I'm curious. Who are these so called masters?"

"Ancient creatures that transcended death itself. They are no longer with us in this world, but their influence can be seen in so many things, such as this temple, and my servants."

"Last I heard, this temple and these creatures were here long before you. You're just taking them for your own."

Arachiss smirked at Trixie, "And is that not the way of the world? The living taking the achievements of the dead and using them for their own ends? The pony that built this army is long dead, yes, but his legacy lives on to be used by me, unhindered by the likes of you."

"That depends doesn't it?" Trixie retorted with a smirk of her own. "Your masters already saved me from death once, so we'll have to see which one of us they deem the most useful." Trixie wasn't about to say that she really, really hoped it was her and not Arachiss.

"I guess we will," Arachiss hissed back, her horn coming to life with the dark magic Trixie knew so well. She pointed her horn at Trixie, and... did nothing, her magic fading, refusing to cooperate. "No..."

"Oh yes!" Trixie said gleefully as she easily lifted her hooves free of Arachiss' grip, her own horn coming to life.

"No! Masters?" Arachiss shouted up into the air. "Have I not served you well? Have I not given you every fibre of my being?" She was answered with silence, not that Trixie expected any different, and she screamed up into the air, "Masters!"

"Guess I'm the favourite!" Trixie sang, ignoring the knot of worry building in her stomach over why that might be true.

"No! Maybe this just means they wish for us to be allies instead!"

Trixie conjured a small slither of crystal, and slashed it across Arachiss' chest, creating a shallow cut that sent the mare recoiling. "Nope, I guess not. Not that it would matter anyway since I don't exactly need dark magic to kill you. I guess they know only one of us is walking away from this, and we don't need to know which one they're backing."

"No! This isn't how it ends!" Arachiss turned and sprinted back up the steps to the altar, grabbing the mask and placing it on her face. The mask shone with a dark power that spread from the mask and coiled around Arachiss, changing her body with obvious agony if her screams were to be believed.

Her tail grew in size until it started to form an abdomen, and her back legs spilt into three, lengthways, as they grew and turned into the legs of a spider. Mandibles forced their way out of the corners of her mouth in a spray of blood, and her teeth became pointy as fangs developed rapidly. The flesh on her forehead split as two new eyes opened behind the mask, and glared balefully at Trixie.

"Now we shall sssssee who their favourite isss," she hissed in a raspy, sibilant voice.

"Nope!" Trixie fired a single crystal at Arachiss, punching through the mask and hitting her square in the forehead, right beneath the horn, splitting her head open in a spray of gore and viscera. A dark form tore itself away from the body, screaming in a voice that was felt more than heard as it faded to nothing, leaving behind the unchanged body of a pony, save for the massive chunk of her head that was missing.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!" Trixie reiterated. "There'll be no spider-ponies on my watch!"

There was a crack from above, and a spider fell to the ground with a tremendous splat. At first Trixie thought it had just died, but when a large rock followed it, she figured that the place was collapsing. Her theory was further confirmed when the pyramid trembled, almost knocking her off her hooves.

"Okay! Time to go!" Trixie didn't hold back, tearing limbs off the two spiders that had Twilight and Daring until they had no choice but to give up their prey. She didn't even bother to start unwrapping them until she'd left the cavern, which was starting to rain spiders and rocks as she left. Once she was into the tunnels she quickly tore the webbing off them and set them on their hooves without even stopping.

"What the fuck's going on Trixie?" Twilight screamed, still rather freaked out by getting wrapped up by a spider.

"Arachiss put on the mask and turned into a freaking spider-pony, so I killed her a broke the mask doing so. Then everything started to collapse."

"But the mask was indestructible!" Daring panted as they kept sprinting, following the largest tunnel towards the exit, ignoring all the others that branched off.

"Then I guess you were trying to destroy it with the wrong thing!" Trixie stopped talking, saving all her breath for running as the tunnels started to collapse behind them. Daylight showed up ahead, and they exited the temple as the last of the tunnel collapsed behind them, spitting them out in a rush of air and dust that tossed them onto the ground.

All was quiet for several seconds until Trixie started to laugh, "Could we never do this again? Adventuring like this is way too dangerous."

"There's no way in hell I could put any of this in a book," Daring sighed. "My publisher's going to be seriously pissed at me."

"We might have bigger problems," Twilight said as the dust cleared, revealing the semicircle of soldiers surrounding them. Sunset and the others were sat nearby with their forelegs behind their heads as the soldiers kept them under guard.

"No problem," said Trixie. "Do you want the two hundred on the left, or the two hundred on the right?"

"We aren't fighting our way out of this," Twilight told her. She hauled herself to her hooves and cleared her throat, spat out a glob of snot and dust, then tried again. "Sorry. Ahem. Can we help you?"

The semicircle split, allowing the Vizier to walk up to the three ponies. "I'm not sure where to even begin Princess Twilight. You aided in the escape of a criminal from custody, stole already stolen property, and caused considerable damage doing so, but you also saved some of our city guards from a terrible fate, returned even more ponies than we knew were missing to us, and, well, the bodies of those creatures you slew speak for themselves. Since you saved our country from a terrible affliction, you will be given a chance to explain yourselves to the Sultan."

"All of us?" Twilight nudged her head towards Daring Do.

"All of you," the Vizier agreed.

Author's Notes:

I have literally no idea what I was thinking when I wrote this chapter. Literally. This is the dumbest piece of tangential rubbish I have ever written, and it was really fun. Next week will be much more on it, I promise.

Anyway, I was watching the season 6 opener the other day and noticed Sunburst mention these spells: Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, and Somnambula's weather abjuration. I guess they were being a lot more subtle with their foreshadowing than we thought. Good job DHX, you can have some precious internet points. More than I earned for this stupid chapter.