Last time on 'I Sure Hope It's Not A Giant Spider' Quest:
>Worked with Applejack and Applebloom in the orchard for some free food
>Made better friends working and talking with Applebloom
>Took a break to eat and talk with the Apple ponies.
>Suddenly, Scootaloo showed up, warning that another monster was in town
>Applejack ran off ahead, you followed shortly after with a branch as a club
>went into town: deserted. No sign of monster nor pony
>Found mysterious white sticky silk on a bunch of houses.
>Followed strange tracks to Applejack, who is encased in the silk
You are currently trying you best to cut Applejack out of her cocoon with your simple pocket knife. Now that part of her head is free and can see you, she's stopped struggling, but shes still mostly stuck in. She seems to be trying to say something, but her mouth is still covered, so all you can hear is "Hghered. Heeeegere."
In the distance, you hear someone shouting and a loud crash.
Whatever is going on, you feel that it would be best to have Applejack with you. Besides, you think its best not to just leave her helpless like this. You focus on cutting her whole head free.
"Pffflah!"Applejack spits out the last of the sticky silk. "Blah! Rusty, it's a big spider! Don't waste time on me, go help who haollarin'!"
"No! I'm going to need your help!"
"Dang it, Rusty!" Applejack retorts back at you, but starts helping you free her, biting and ripping at all the silk. It still takes a good while to get her free even with her help.
"Right, let's get moving!" Applejack says, flipping on her hat. She runs off down the deserted street, you trailing behind her.
As you turn the corner, you finally come face to face with whats been terrorizing Ponyville; a giant spider. A HUGE spider. It stands just under the full height of one of the houses on long, elegant looking carapaces legs. Its body is a bit larger then yours and its head sports a fearsome pair of dripping incisors.
It doesnt notice you and Applejack when you show up. Instead, it seems to be trying to get at something under an over turned market booth. You can clearly hear a pony yelling from under it.
"That's Applebloom!" Applejack yells and charges forward.
Inventory check:
"I thought we told Applebloom to stay put!" You tell Applejack.
Applejack doesn’t reply, as she is in the midst of fighting a giant spider. She charges forward and bucks it in the nearest leg with full force. It screeches loudly and turns on her. It swipes at her with another leg, but shes able to just dodge it.
You decide to play things smart for once. You take a moment to pull out your lighter and set your makeshift weapon on fire. The wood and little twigs catch light easy enough, giving you a decent flaming torch.
You rush forward next to Applejack and swing the fire around wildly, trying to keep the big monster back. You aren’t able to hit it, but it seems reasonably deterred by the flames. It backs up from the over turned booth slowly, giving Applejack a window to rush in and gets not only Applebloom but Scootaloo as well from under the wreckage.
You and Applejack ore or less yell at the two fillies in unison about how you told them to stay put back at the farm.
"We're sorry, we're sorry!" Applebloom yells, nearly in tears. "We'd thought we could help an-"
"Shush!" Applejack interrupts, stomping her hoof. "Go back home. NOW!"
The two little ponies take off in the opposite direction down the street.
The spider, seeing Applejack momentarily distracted with the little ones, ferociously charges forward to blind side her. But, for whatever reason, it misses and you drive it back again with the fire.
"Applejack! What should we do?"
"We need to get my friends! This thing is too tough for us!"
You and Applejack try to do a fighting retreat. You keep on driving it back with the fire, but the spider is ferocious and snaps at the two of you every chance it gets. Luckily it never gets a good hit on either of you and you hit it it with a good counter and set it partially on fire. It only seems to make it more mad.
Slowly, you and Applejack kite this thing half way across town until you get to that tree library from before. Keeping the spider back as best you can, Applejack tries the door but it won't open.
"Twilight!" Applejack yells, pounding on the door hard. "Spike! Open the door!"
There’s no immediate answer.
"Applejack,what should we do?" You ask, frantically trying to keep off the spider.
Applejack answers you buy promptly bucking down the door off its hinges. You take the hint and run in after her. Just as you pass the threshold, the spider dives forward and nips your pant leg, tearing it slightly.
The two of you are now inside, relatively safe. The spider is simply too large to get in, though its not through lack of trying. It keeps banging around the door way, loudly clicking its huge mandibles inside.
"Twilight! Spike!" Applejack calls out. "Where the hay are you?"
Twilight suddenly comes up from a stairway leading downwards. She looks awfully disheveled with dirty curled hair and a slightly vacant expression, like she just woke up.
"Apple... what?" She says, squinting around the room. Her eyes land on you and she immediately snaps out of her stopper, running towards you. "PUT OUT THAT FIRE!"
You try your best to throw the flaming stick away, intending out the door and at the spider. Unfortunately, an apparently crazed Twilight tackles you mid throw. You fall to the ground and the stick goes flying from your grasp. It tumbles end over end and lands on a stack of books, that immediately go up in flames.
"NO!" Twilight screams and runs over to fire, trying to stamp it out.
"Twi! There’s a giant spider!" Applejack yells over all the commotion, trying to get he friends attention.
"Wha-" was all Twilight was able to get out as the window next to her exploded inwards. One of the spider's legs blindly gropes around and pins the purple pony down, near the still burning books.
Pull out your knife, you dive in to help the purple pony. You stab it with the blade as best you can... and it snaps off the hinge. You stare dumbstruck at the broken handle for a good second and a half. The leg spasms around blindly, releasing the pinned pony. Applejack runs over and pulls a dazed Twilight out of danger by her tail.
"Usty!" She yells with her mouth full. "Et a ire!"
You take that to mean to put out the fire. You'd rather not be stuck in a burning library. That’s in a tree. You stomp down on the burning pile of books.
Your leg is now on fire.
This is probably the most painful thing that’s happened to you in your whole two days of memory. You fall over, scream and frantically trying to put yourself out.
"Twilight!" Applejack yells. "Do somethin'!"
There's a flash of purple light and your leg, the books and the branch are no longer on fire. Your leg is badly singed and you can clearly see through it to your burnt skin. It hurts really bad. You crawl over to the two ponies, out of reach of the spider legs, which are still wildly scratching around the room. Spike comes up from the downstairs.
"What the?" He says, clearly confused, looking all around the room. "Oh no."
You crawl over to Twilight.
"Twilight, do you think you could so something about the spider now? Please?"
The purple pony looks like shes trying to focus, but she's clearly dead on her feet. Her magic horn sparks and fizzes and nothing happens. She lowers her head and looks like she's about to fall over. Spike runs over to hold her up.
"I can't." She whimpers with her eyes closed. "I'm just so tired."
"We've been up all night." Spike adds.
"Oh" Applejack huffs. "That’s fantastic."
You and the others back up to the far wall by the stairs, way out of the spider's reach. You pull a table cloth from a near by table and wrap up you leg. It hurts really bad, but you feel you do something rather then leave it alone.
"Spike," Applejack says, nudging the dragon. "Take a letter. We outta at least ask for help from Celestia!"
"Uhhh," The little dragon hesitates. "That... might be a problem."
"No answer." Twilight pipes up, on the verge of passing out.
"What?"
"Celestia... hasn’t been returning our messages lately." Spike answers tentatively.
"What?! Why?" Applejack asks, shocked.
"We don't know!" Spike says, shrugging. "That’s why we're so tired. We've been trying to get a hold of her for the last few days, but there’s been no answer!"
"Uhh, excuse me." You say, joining in on the conversation. "What are you all talking about?"
Applejack and Spike briefly explain to you that Celestia is the ruler of Equestria and Spike can magically send and receive letters to her.
"Twilight." You crawl over and start nudging the drowsy pony. "Twilight. Do you have any books on giant spiders?"
"Wh-" Twilight mumbles, clearly a bit out of it. "Giant...t op shelf, third one up. Blue cover."
You look over where you think she means. The book case is only a bit taller then you, so you could probably reach top self books if you stand. But you're not sure of your leg. Plus, that bookcase it fairly close to the door.
You ask Twilight if she could get the book with her magic. But she's out cold. Spike rushes over to her, looking worried. He shakes his head up at you.
"Guess I'll have to do it. Applejack, help me."
The orange pony help you to your feet. You leg screams in pain but you bare it. You hobble over to the shelf and quickly search for the book in question. Giant Rats: Do's and Dont's, Giant Frogs: A Rippiting Read, Giant Spiders: A Beginners Guide, that’s it! You grab the book and rush back, just as the spider sees you and snaps at you hungrily. You make it back, fall forward as soon as you can.
"Got it!"