My Little Pony and all related properties are owned Hasbro. No copyright infringement intended.
Hydia grinned at the sight of Dream Castle before her. Granted, it was a disgustingly beautiful day with puffy white clouds and the air was so sweet she made her want to gag, but she was not thinking of that. She was thinking the pleasant thought of the wasteland that would replace it after they rid the world of the ponies.
"I don't know why didn't think of this in the first place," she said. "Instead of beating around the bush all these years, we should have attacked those insufferable ponies directly."
"But where are they?" Reeka asked. "This time of day you'd think they'd be all over the place. The drawbridge isn't even down."
"They're probably in their cozy, little castle," Hydia said mockingly. "However, its walls won't save them now. Ready the scaling pole."
Reeka and Dragged picked up the tall, thick piece of lumber with pegs sticking out the sides for hand and footholds. The two staggered a bit as they balanced the heavy log on their shoulders. "Why didn't we bring Aahg?" Draggle asked.
"Because he'd draw too much attention," Hydia said. "I want to take them by surprise."
"Actually, it's because we couldn't find him," Reeka whispered. "We went to his cave and wasn't home."
Hydia glowered at Reeka. She was right, but she did not have to say it. "Whatever the case, we don't need him." She pointed forward. "Now CHARGE!"
They broke into a run towards Dream Castle. As they reached the stream separating Dream Castle from the field, Reeka and Draggle planted one end of the scaling pole in the ground and rested the other end against the wall. They actually managed to do something without messing it up. Granted, it was a simple task, but Hydia would take the small victory.
Reeka climbed onto the pole first. Draggle followed, but climbed over her at about halfway up. Her foot landed squarely on Reeka's face as she ascended.
Reeka pulled Draggle foot off her face. "Hey, watch it," she grumbled.
"Try climbing faster, Wide Load," Draggle said mockingly.
"What did you call me?" Reeka yelled.
Reeka grabbed Draggle's leg and pulled her down. Draggle fell off the pole and landed on Hydia. Hydia should have known it would not last.
"I swear." Hydia threw Draggle off. "You two idiots could mess up a one car funeral."
Megan looked out at the courtyard. Spiders and scorpions crowded around the door to the room they were in. A yellow, pony-sized scorpion stood on the stairs in front of the door, standing guard.
She had been looking forward to seeing the ponies again. She begged her parents to let take a three day weekend right after school let out for the summer. She claimed it was a camping trip, which was kind of true. While she knew Ponyland could be a dangerous place and faced some of the dangers firsthand last summer, she never expected anything like this.
The crowd made her nervous, more nervous than she had been since they were captured. Arachnis, the man who seemed to control them, had been gone for hours, and the arachnids seemed to get more anxious every minute. She wondered if he was the only reason they were still alive, and what might happen now that the arachnids were left to their own devices. Everyone else seemed just on edge, staring out the window.
Little Sundance rubbed her head against her and let out a soft sob. "I'm scared, Megan. What are the spiders going to do to us?"
"I don't know, but I can tell you we're all scared." Megan gently hugged the white filly and petted her light pink mane.
"I'm not." Gusty stamped her hoof. "I'm pissed off."
"Watch you language," Buttons scolded. "There are foals present, including your own daughter."
"She's heard me say worse," Gusty replied.
"You know, maybe these arachnids aren't so bad," Surprise said. "There's even one holding a book that says 'To Serve Pony' out there. Maybe he wants to help us out."
"I'm afraid you've confused the meaning of the word 'serve' the title is referring to," North Star said. "I believe what he is holding is in fact a cookbook."
"Oh," Surprise said solemnly.
"That's one cookbook I'd never want to read," Cupcake said.
"Makes me glad I'm a dragon," Spike said.
"Don't give up hope." Megan said. "Paradise and Galaxy managed to escape. Fizzy and Wind Whistler are also out there. I bet they're working on a way to save us right now. However, we need to be strong for them."
"Okay, Megan," Little Sundance said. "I'll be strong."
The others nodded.
"I suggest we also work on an escape plan," Buttons said. "I could use my telekinesis to get the key or maybe pick the lock when they're not paying attention."
"For once I have to agree with Buttons," Gusty said. "Our 'guests' seem to be getting restless."
Strike stood guard in front of the door to the room the ponies were being held in. Arachnis gave the explicit order nothing was to be done to the ponies until he got back, and Strike would make sure that order was followed.
Just about everyone who stayed behind had gathered around the door. They yelled and complained, but he only stared them down.
A shout made itself discernable over the others. "When can we eat the ponies?"
"When Arachnis says we can." Strike held up his powerful pincer and clacked it menacingly. "Not before."
"How long does he expect us to wait? We're getting tired of woodland creatures." Another shouter made his presence known.
"Yeah," another said. "If I have to eat another woodchuck, I'll upchuck. We came here to eat ponies."
"Yeah. We want ponies."
A repetitive chant of "We want ponies" erupted from the crowd.
The chant was cut short by three thuds behind the crowd followed by cackling. Strike looked up and the crowd turned around to see three very strange-looking human women at the bottom of the wall. The shortest one was the one cackling.
"Quake in fear, ponies," she said. "For the witches from the Volcano of Gloom have…breached…your…de-fen-ses?" She began stumbling over her words when she got a look at the crowd.
"Well this is just great," Magic Star groaned. "Now the witches are here too."
"This might actually be a good thing," Gusty said.
"How?" Shady asked.
"Maybe the spiders will eat them and then get sick and die," Gusty said.
"That's absolutely disgusting," Buttons scolded. "How could you suggest something so morbid, especially in front of your own daughter?"
"Are you kidding?" Little Gusty said excitedly. "That would be awesome."
"I've raised you well." Gusty nuzzled her daughter.
Buttons heaved an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes.
Hydia stared at these strange arachnids as they stared back at her and her daughters. She came over the wall expecting to see brightly colored ponies. Not only was their not a pony in sight, but the courtyard was crawling with these spiders and scorpions.
"I thought this was Dream Castle," Draggle said.
"This is Dream Castle," Hydia grumbled.
"But what are all these arachnids doing here, and where are the ponies?" Reeka asked.
"Shut up!" Hydia said. "I'll figure this out."
Draggle looked at the crowd and noticed Aahg towering over them. The hairy, black, house-sized tarantula cyclops looked away from them as if he was trying to ignore them. "Aahg, what you doing here?"
"You know them, Pledge Aahg?" a spider asked.
Aahg grumbled. It was the best he could do for speech.
"Of course he knows us," Hydia said. "We've been through a lot together."
"Actually, we've just used him whenever it suits us," Draggle whispered in Hydia's ear. "What if he doesn't like that?"
Aahg bellowed a loud roar. It made the castle shake under Hydia's feet and rattled her ribcage.
"It's better than more woodland creatures." A scorpion holding a titled 'To Serve Pony' book darted away and came back with a piece of masking tape over 'Pony' with 'Witch' written in black marker on it.
The others erupted into a ruckus cheers and moved in mass towards Hydia and her daughters. Hydia backed up until her back hit the stone wall. She looked around and saw four story tall walls on four sides and a closed drawbridge. They were trapped.
She glared at Aahg. "Aahg, you traitor! After all I've done for you, you dare treat me like this?"
Aahg nodded with a grin and mockingly waved good bye.
Hydia looked down at the arachnids crawling closer to her. She actually liked arachnids. Their ugly appearance and dangerous venom were admirable. However, she did not want it turned on her.
"Arachnis and Lash are approaching." The shout came from the wall almost directly above Hydia. The arachnids stopped and looked up. "Lower the bridge."
Several arachnids pulled the main lever on the winch. The bridge lowered with a thud. A man and a giant scorpion-like creature walked into the castle.
Hyida watched this unfold in awe. The man was absolutely ghastly looking with his gray skin and black and gold eyes. A witch might consider him attractive. However, she was more in awe of how the mob of arachnids acted as he walked past. They created a path in front of him. Without a single word they did what he apparently wanted them to do.
The man walked up to the pony-sized scorpion standing in front of a door on the building in the back. "I want to see them."
"Of course, Arachnis." The scorpion opened the door.
Megan felt a chill go down her spine as Arachnis entered. Part of her had wanted to see him return. She hoped his presence would calm the arachnids down. However, she still feared the ghastly man. His appearance and demeanor made her skin crawl. There was also the fact that he had the final word on when they would be eaten and could give it at any time.
Arachnis grabbed the key to the cage off the peg. Was he ready to feed them to the others? Megan backed up to the back of the cage as he walked up to it. Everyone huddled around her. She could feel them tremble and Shady whimpered as he unlocked the padlock and opened the door.
Arachnis reached in his jacket and produced four flutter ponies thoroughly wrapped in silk. He threw them in and slammed the cage shut. He slid the padlock back on and closed it with a click.
Megan immediately started tearing the silk off them. Spike spat a narrow stream of flame to cut open the silk while Megan pulled it off in chunks. One by one they freed the four from their silk straightjackets.
"Only four?" Arachnis said. "I thought for sure there were six." He scowled. "Blast those meddling ponies."
"They got you too I see," Megan said.
"We didn't even know they were there," Forget-Me-Not said.
"If you're done, I have something to ask you," Arachnis said. Megan looked up at him looming over the cage. His mouth was a straight line was his tone was nothing but cold. "How many ponies were not here when I cast my spell?"
His asking that question suggested he might have met Fizzy and Wind Whistler, but he did not have them or Paradise and Galaxy. If they did meet him, they must have escaped the encounter somehow. However, the four were still their ace in the hole, and they needed to keep him as much in the dark about them as possible. Despite her fear, she summoned the courage to play ignorant. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I saw a pegasus and a unicorn in Flutter Valley," Arachnis said, a seething rage creeping into his voice as he let his lips peel back to reveal his sharp, yellow teeth.
"Are you sure they weren't a figment of your imagination?" Sundance asked timidly.
Arachnis grabbed Lash's whip and pulled it up to the cage to show them the red welts. "Do these look imaginary?" he shouted.
Lash yelped. "Not the whip!"
Arachnis slammed his fist on the sill, causing it quake enough to throw everyone clear off their feet. "A pale blue Pegasus and a turquoise Unicorn: WHO ARE THEY!"
"Those sound like Wind Whistler and Fizzy respectively," a raspy voice said.
Everyone turned to the voice. Hydia and her daughters stood at the door. There went any hope of keeping Fizzy and Wind Whistler a secret.
Arachnis turned to Hydia and seemed to relax. "Who are you?" he asked calmly.
"I am Hydia, head witch from the Volcano of Gloom," Hydia answered, bowing. "These are my daughters, Reeka and Draggle."
"Why are you here?" Arachnis asked.
"We were going to attack the Little Ponies." Hydia glanced at the cage and grinned slyly. "However, I can see you've already done our job for us. I just want to say any enemy of the Little Ponies is a friend of ours."
"And please don't let those arachnids out their eat us," Draggle pleaded.
Hydia kicked Draggle in the shin to make her bite her lip. "Shut up."
Arachnis laughed loudly. "I suppose I can spare you and even find a use for you. If you join my horde, I will let you live."
"Excellent," Hydia said. "With our partnership, the ponies won't stand a chance."
"Partnership?" Arachnis coughed a laugh. "Hardly. You belong to me now."
"We belong to no one!" Hydia stated angrily.
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear," Arachnis said calmly. He took out his golden flute. "Either you're mine or you're dinner. Take your pick."
Hydia, Reeka, and Draggle slid back a step with a start. "Well, when you put it that way. How can we serve you?" Reeka asked.
Arachnis smiled. "Better."
Megan gulped. It was Magic Star's worst fear. It was now the arachnids and the witches together. The creepy exchange only added to her dread of what kind of force stood against their friends.
Arachnis turned to the scorpion standing in the doorway. "Strike, meet our latest inductees and give them their rite of passage."
"Yes, Arachnis." Strike grabbed Draggle's arm in his pincers and plunged his sharp stinger into it.
Draggle yelped and pulled her arm away. "What was that for?"
"The venom now coursing through your veins will make you immune to my flute's Diminishing Melody," Arachnis said. "Welcome to the Arachnid Marauders."
Strike plunged his stinger in Reeka and Hydia's arms.
"What about those two ponies?" Lash asked. "We can't let them remain free. There are also the ponies in the rest of Ponyland to deal with too. We've only found females here. That means the males are out there somewhere and possibly more females as well."
Arachnis slouched and rubbed his temple. "Our trip to Flutter Valley was very taxing for just four ponies. The Diminishing Melody is meant to be used against a large group. If the rest are scattered throughout the land, I will not hunt them down personally." He stood up straight again and turned to Lash. "Summon Boris and his Tarantula Hunters."
"The Tarantula Hunters?" Lash asked timidly.
"Yes," Arachnis said. "I have an announcement for them."
"Okay." Lash walked out of the room.
"Grab the cage and bring it outside with us," Arachnis said to the witches. "I want the ponies to see this."
Draggle picked up the cage and they followed Arachnis outside. The crowd parted to make a large, circular area in the center. Megan slapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp. A dozen giant spiders covered in brown fur followed Lash into the circle. They had to be at least as large as adult ponies with long, sharp fangs at the ends of their mandibles and stood on thick, hairy legs.
Lash returned to Arachnis' side and coughed to get everyone's attention.
"My hunters," Arachnis said, "you've often complained about how we've conducted business. You say it's taken the fun out of your lives. If we shrink everything, nothing poses a challenge for you. Well, it's time to have your fun."
A few eager whispers rose from the crowd.
Megan felt something brush against her leg. She looked down to see Little Sundance leaning against her. The filly looked up at her with tears welling in her eyes. Megan bent down and hugged her. "It'll be okay. They won't succeed." Megan said to reassure herself as much as Little Sundance.
"We've captured the ponies in Dream Valley and Flutter Valley, but there are still more out there. The stallions are out there, somewhere in greater Ponyland. We also believe there are other mares out there. We don't know how many there are or how concentrated they are. Using the Diminishing Melody on them individually is impractical and trying to gather them and hold them at normal size is risky. Therefore, I'm leaving the rest of them to you. You are to kill all the remaining ponies on sight. Before the moon has cycled, the Little Pony race will pay the price for imprisoning us with their extinction."
The crowd cheered loudly at this announcement. Aranchis quickly waved his hands to return them to silence. "However, there are two mares who're a top priority, a pale blue Pegasus and a turquoise Unicorn. I want you hunting for them specifically. Bring me locks of their manes when you've taken care of them as proof."
"As well as the Unicorn's eyes," Lash added.
Arachnis shot him a curious glance.
"What? I really want them," Lash said.
"Then you can get them yourself as you're going with them," Arachnis said.
"Might I suggest we go as well?" Hydia asked. "We have experience dealing with those two."
"They stopped our latest plan to destroy Dream Valley just yesterday," Draggle said.
Hydia glared at her. "Can you ever open your mouth without sticking your foot in it?"
"Very well," Arachnis said. "You and Pledge Aahg will join the hunt."
"By your command." Hydia bowed.
She glanced scornfully at Aahg. "It'll give us a chance to discuss a little thing called loyalty."
Aahg looked away from her and grunted in response.
Draggle handed the cage to Strike. She ran after Hydia, Reeka and Aahg following Lash and the tarantulas. Lash took point as the group crossed the drawbridge out of Dream Castle.
Arachnis looked down at them. Megan returned his gaze with a defiant glare along with some of the others. Even if it was just putting on a face, Megan did not want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.
Arachnis grinned. "Abandon whatever hope you have invested in your friends. They and the rest of the Little Pony race will fall to the hunters. We will wipe your kind off the face of the Earth. I assure you of that."
Green. Green and open. Those were the two words that popped into Fizzy's mind to describe the plain she and Wind Whistler were running through.
In fact, this was the first time in her young life she had traveled outside a valley. She had spent all twenty-two years within the confines of Dream Valley with occasional trips to Flutter Valley. However, she was now out on the open plain east of Dream Valley. There were no mountains in the distance and the sky came right down to the horizon.
However, it was the green of the plain that was the most eye-catching. Thick grass about knee high covered the ground completely. There were no trees, flowers, or even other types of grasses. It was the same dark green grass as far as the eye could see ahead and to the sides. Like the lack of mountains, it was something she had never seen before.
She wondered how far this plain went. The one thing about the lack of mountains was she could not figure where the plain would end. Her legs were starting to feel heavy. Since going after the witches, she and Wind Whistler had been on the move almost constantly. At least her belly was full of the sweet grass from Flutter Valley.
She tried to get her mind off it. She focused on the ocean. Obviously she had never been to the ocean before either. She had heard about it and read about it, but this would be her first time seeing it in person.
"Don't the sea ponies swim up a river to get to Dream Valley?" Fizzy asked. "Why aren't we following that?"
"The mouth of the river is too far north," Wind Whistler said. "Where we are headed is a better jump off point."
They came over the crest of a hill and the grass abruptly ended for a sandy beach to begin. Fizzy's hooves sank into the powdery sand when she leapt from the embankment marking the end of the grass and landed on the beach. The air suddenly seemed much more moist, and the itchy smell of salt wafted through the air. Several hundred feet ahead was the ocean, blue like the sky with white caps washing ashore with whooshing crashes.
Fizzy looked down either side of the beach. It extended to the horizon in both directions, a wide strip of pale tan separating the blue of the ocean and green of the plain. Aside from some cawing sea gulls gliding above them, it was abandoned.
A wall of gray sat over the water several miles offshore. It obscured almost everything, but Fizzy could just make out the ghostly image of an island in the distance. "What's that island?"
"It's the closest of the Mangrove Islands," Wind Whistler answered.
Paradise poked her head out of Wind Whistler's mane. "It's where the stallion pegasi live. The sea ponies also live in the coral reefs surrounding the archipelago. This beach is the jump off point between the Mangroves and the mainland."
Galaxy joined Paradise. "Now that you mention it, the Mangroves do instill a strong feeling. I'm pretty sure the rainbow piece is there. However, I also sense something's wrong."
"Are the stallions in trouble too?" Wind Whistler asked.
Galaxy shook her head. "No. I sense something is wrong with the rainbow piece itself."
"What could be wrong with it?" Paradise asked.
"I'm not sure," Galaxy said.
Fizzy walked down to the water's edge. "A better question is how I'm supposed to get there. It's way too far for me to wink to and I can't swim very well."
She thought about it and Surf Rider in the bubble came to her mind again. "Wait, I think I have idea."
She looked around for any calm water. There was a nearby tidal pool well removed from the ocean at the moment. She pointed her horn at it and concentrated as hard as she could. She had never made a bubble big enough to hold her. The bubble she made around Hydia yesterday was about as big as she had gotten. However, there was a first time for everything.
The bubble formed in the pool, practically taking up the entire depression in the sand. She lifted it up and closed her eyes as she brought it down over her. The membrane slipped around her and she was enveloped. She relaxed and opened her eyes when her hooves left the ground and saw she was floating above the beach. "I did it. I can float over."
"That was excellent thinking, Fizzy." Wind Whistler leapt into the air.
"It's hard controlling a bubble this big, though." Fizzy concentrated on steadying the bubble, but it tumbled in the wind.
"Simply concentrate on maintaining the membrane's cohesion. I will push you to the islands." Wind Whistler carefully placed her front hooves on the membrane of the bubble and gently pushed it forward.
"Thanks, Wind Whistler." Fizzy watched as they flew over the ocean. It was nice to be able to get somewhere without running for once.
She looked back to Wind Whistler. "Have you ever been to the Mangrove Islands before?"
"No," Wind Whistler said. "This is actually only the second time I've been to that beach. My mother took me there to see my father off when he returned to the islands with my brother."
"I've been to the islands once," Paradise said. "They're a tropical haven and the stallion pegasi are just the nicest group of guys you'll ever meet. It's peaceful and laidback."
"Though, none of them have come to Dream Valley in more than a year," Wind Whistler said. "I wonder why."
The question suddenly popped into Fizzy's head. "Why do the stallions live outside Dream Valley?"
"They just do for some reason," Wind Whistler said. "Since the fall of the Pony Kingdom, they stay in the regions where their species settled when Dream Valley was flooded. They visit Dream Valley and stay when it is time to raise a family, but they leave with their son once the foals are strong enough."
"Some mares also live outside Dream Valley," Galaxy added. "It's just how things have developed since the destruction of our civilization."
Fizzy mulled over this for a second. It did not tell her anything she did not know already.
She turned her attention to what was in front of her. Wind Whistler pushed her closer to the island. The veil of clouds seemed to pull away from it. She could see that the mound of land was a tropical paradise. It was covered in palm trees and other tropical plants and a sandy beach made up its shore. Fizzy could not tell from inside her bubble, but she knew the air must have been very warm.
She then noticed one clump of low, gray clouds was not backing away. If anything, it seemed to be coming towards them. It spread around them until everything was completely obscured. Wind Whistler quickly looped around the bubble and stopped it.
"Fog?" Fizzy asked.
"It is the wrong time of day for fog like this," Wind Whistler replied.
A shape emerged from the obscurity. It was a massive galleon headed straight at them. Wind Whistler shoved Fizzy out of the way in time to avoid them being struck by the long bowsprit. She hovered to the side as the galleon slowed to a stop.
Several seals flopped across the deck of the ship to the facing them. Many wore striped shirts and bandanas tied around their heads.
A huge walrus with long, yellowed and cracked tusks that curved in so they crossed each other flopped to the side with the seals. The seals moved aside to give him room at the deck railing. He eyed the two and then grinned. "We be havin' a two fer one deal today, maties."
Wind Whistler planted her hoof on her face and shook her head. "You cannot be serious. Pirates?"
"That we be, lassie," the Walrus replied. He pointed to the top of the tallest mast. It was hard to see in the fog, but Fizzy could make out a black flag with a white walrus skull above crossed tusks.
"I be Captain Snaggletusk, leader of the dreaded Pinniped Pirates," the walrus said, "and ye be our prisoners."
"I think not," Wind Whistler replied sternly.
Snaggletusk's large upper lip sank, probably what a frown looked like on him. "Ye think differently after ye witness the power of the Drab Arch." He reached into his heavy coat and produced a gray, heart-shaped locket.
"Is that what I think it is?" Honeysuckle asked.
Galaxy gulped. "If you think it's a rainbow locket, I think you're right."
"Have at ye, equines." Snaggletusk opened the locket and a steam of gray light slithered from it. It flew at Wind Whistler but bounced away harmlessly before it could reach her.
"Arr." Snaggletusk grimaced. "Yer protected from magic too? Fine. We'll do this the old fashioned way." He turned back to a seal next to a cannon. "Snag 'em with a capture shell."
Seal saluted and trained the cannon on them. Wind Whistler got behind the bubble and pushed Fizzy away from the galleon. The cannon fired with a thunderous boom and belched a cloud of smoke. The shell shot for them but exploded into a net. The heavy net burst Fizzy's bubble and dragged them down into the warm, salty water. A hook came down and grabbed the net.
Snaggletusk looked over the railing and let out a thunderous laugh. "Ye will fetch a fine price in some port, or we'll use ye as a bargainin' chip against yer kin on the islands. Either way, yer the catch of the day."
Fizzy struggled against the net, but it was too strong and she could not wink through it. She could not even reach the rainbow locket around Wind Whistler's neck. "What do we do now?"
"I suggest we voice our dire need of assistance at maximum volume in the hope someone is within audible range," Wind Whistler said.
"Huh?"
"I said we should scream for HELP!"
Frizzy screamed "HELP!" with Wind Whistler as the hook pulled them out of the water.