//------------------------------//
// 08: Showdown 
// Story: Demon of the Deep Wood 
// by Argonaut44 
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Readying her spear, Amalza approached the cave entrance, with Shara right at her side.
There was a large sheet of silk blocking the entrance, but conveniently somepony had already cut a hole right through it. Amalza glanced at Shara, who nodded, preparing herself for the fight of her life. 
Shara bent down and squeezed herself through the hole first, keeping a close eye ahead of her for any enemies lurking on the other side. 
The foyer of the cave was empty, though, and Shara could relax a little.
She heard the sounds of muffled cries from up ahead, and the stretching of silky string from deeper in the cave. 	
Amalza joined her in the cave, and Shara nodded towards the source of the sounds. Both made an effort to make as little sound as possible, as they walked on the tips of their hooves deeper into the silk-covered cave. 
Further ahead, they saw it all. Gorgo had just finished cocooning the High Priestess, Cassandra, sticking her next to the other six girls, who were all in the same predicament. 
Shara’s eyes flashed with rage. Amalza raised her spear while Shara charged up her horn, eager to avenge their humiliated companions. 
Shara shut her eyes and focused, drawing energy from her horn and manifesting it into a great ball of blue fire. Without mercy, she flung the fireball straight towards the beast before them, burning a hole through the monster’s chest. Blood splattered across the cave, staining the white silk. Gorgo grunted in pain and threw up his hooves, collapsing to the ground, bleeding out.
There was blood pooling out from Gorgo’s mouth, as the monster took some labored breaths. He gritted his teeth in pain and clenched his hooves, writhing on the ground.
Shara beamed at her success, and turned to Amalza to give a congratulatory high-hoof. 
“We did it!” they said in unison.
Their triumph was short-lived, when the sound of clicking mandibles crept up from behind them.
The duo remained oblivious that there was more than one enemy they would have to deal with, making it a surprise when a net of silk was pulled over Amalza’s face from behind, cutting off air-flow to her lungs. Amalza shrieked and dropped her spear in surprise. 
Shara turned in confusion. 
It was a spiderkin, an ordinary spiderkin, green in color, similar to Gorgo but smaller and weaker.
The creature growled in Amalza’s ear as she desperately tried to breathe. 
Gorgo could hear the commotion behind him, and cracked a half-grin from the ground. He was lucky his minions were nearby to overhear the attack, as now he was in no condition to put up a fight.
Shara charged up her horn again, but lost her focus when two slimy hooves grabbed a hold of her horn, squeezing so tightly she was forced to end the spell early. Shara winced in pain and tried to turn around to face her attacker, before she was swept off her hooves by a large blanket of silk, almost as light as air, that wrapped around her hips and pulled her up towards the sweaty, stinking spiderkin. 
“Let go of me!” Shara cried, squirming in an attempt to break free of his grasp.
The creature bent her right foreleg backwards, forcing her to submit. Amalza, meanwhile, was flailing her forelegs like mad, as the spiderkin grabbed a hold of her left foreleg and held her close. 
The spiderkin handling Amalza, called Gar’gaba, held her up by both forelegs, and began spinning her in circles, forcing her to move her hooves along with the rotations. Amalza tried to push her arms out of his grip, but his strength was too much to bear. Gar’gaba held her forelegs to her side, all while she continued struggling just to breathe. She tired out quickly due to lack of air, and without her spear, she couldn’t put up much of a fight, anyway. 
On the other side of the room, Shara grimaced as the spiderkin held her forelegs up in the air, spinning her in circles as his stream of silk wrapped around her lower-body, covering her hind legs and hooves. She wriggled in the air, desperately trying to loosen herself from his grip. She buckled back and forth, trying to get enough momentum to land a kick at her assailant, but he was holding her too far away. The spiderkin’s name was Dor’khava, who felt the utmost delight in having caught a sorceress, and a beauty besides. 
Gar’gaba laughed through his fanged teeth, continuing to spin the struggling Amalza, who was putting up as much of a fight as she could. Gar’gaba spun the silk past her forelegs, forcing one over the other across her chest. The disorientation of being rotated so fast and so many times, combined with barely being able to breathe, made her energy fall rapidly. Yet, she couldn’t give up, not when they had come so close, and continued to wiggle back and forth, trying desperately to free herself. Gar’gaba spun his stream without stopping, making it down to her knees in no time, the airy silk layering on top of itself and forming a strong, dense coating, that sealed her forelegs across her chest. 
Dor’khava, meanwhile, was enjoying how violently his prey was squirming, even managing to kick him in the knee, making him squeal in pain. Angrily, he held her hooves pressed together in front of her, as he continued wrapping around her lower body, making several revolutions and adding more layers than necessary. She was a fighter, and he wanted to make sure a catch as rare as this didn’t get away. Shara grunted in frustration as her kicks got her nowhere, and began to get dizzy at having been spun around in this monster’s arms. The worst part was that she knew if they were captured, they’d all be doomed, as the others were already defeated. Invigorated, Shara again tried kicking at the beast, landing a few nice hits at his legs and gut, angering the spiderkin even more. 
After several vain kicks and having been wrapped up to almost her neck, Shara decided kicking wasn’t working well enough, and time was running out. Taking a deep breath, she brought her head forward and then slammed it backwards, knocking her skull right into Dor-khavva’s teeth, disorienting him enough to drop her momentarily. Shara realized she didn’t think this through very well, as her whole body was already tightly wrapped, and couldn't stop herself from falling forward, right towards the ground. Before the impact, she glanced over and saw Amalza was having just as little luck, the spiderkin already beginning his second layer around her whole body, as Amalza screamed in terror. 
“Please! Stop! Please! Oh my god!” Amalza screamed. 
Shara glanced back down at the ground from a few inches away, and shut her eyes in preparation for a hard crash, but it never came.   





Before opening her eyes, Shara felt something grab a hold of her head, something hot, slimy, and rubbery. Her mane scrunched up at the top before whatever had a hold of her pushed down on top of her entire head. She opened her eyes in confusion and saw a wall of bright pink flesh, stuck right on her face. Horror sunk in as she realized this was the beast’s tube-like mouth protrusion, and it had stuck itself around her head and down to her neck. This beast is going to eat me, she thought, terrified and unsure what to do. Her arms had been crossed downwards along her chest inside her cocoon, and couldn’t be moved, and neither could her legs. She was frozen like this, barely able to put up any kind of fight. She heard the grunt and yelps of Amalza on the other side of the room, and wondered if she too was being devoured. Dor’khava had found Shara’s attempts to escape tedious, and had enough. She was going to be his meal now, no exceptions. Shara understood that too, and tried her best to wrestle free, but it was near-impossible. The organ was wrapped around her even tighter than the silk cocoon, adding an intense pressure on her body as it slowly absorbed her, making its way down her body as it held her in the air. 
Shara could do nothing but scream as the tongue slithered its way down around her body, struggling to extend itself around her massive ass. Her body was utterly immobile, and she was completely at Dor’khava’s mercy. 
Amalza, meanwhile, had temporarily lost consciousness out of shortness of breath, making Gar’gaba’s job a lot easier. He spun her limp body in circles, wrapping layer after layer, almost unable to contain his appetite as he went. This girl was absolutely a stunner, and he hoped that Gorgo would leave him this girl out of all of them. 
Then he saw Dor’khava, who had begun to ingest the sorceress with his own tongue. Gar’gaba stopped momentarily and glanced over at Gorgo, who was unmoving on the floor in a puddle of blood. The cocooned damsels on the wall had been grunting relentlessly after he’d been injured, apparently thinking they’d been saved. He chuckled to himself, as he knew they were all surely mistaken. 
Gorgo appeared to be dead, and the more Gar’gaba thought about it, the more appealing it sounded. With Gorgo gone, he and Dor’khava would take over as the apex predators of this side of the forest, and even better, they would get to feast on this beautiful banquet of mares. All to themselves. 
Yet, before Gar’gaba gave into his urges and devoured Amalza, he considered the alternative, that if Gorgo was alive and saw they were eating his meals, he would surely kill them. Thinking it better to wait, Gar’gaba proceeded and continued wrapping Amalza in silk, her cocoon growing gradually more dense and firm. Escape for her would soon be impossible.  
While Gar’gaba struggled with his decision, Dor’Khava continued slurping down a quivering Shara, hoping to finish her before Gorgo wakes up, if he wakes up.
Shara felt the organ spasm as it finally squeezed itself over top her shoulders, then arms, then down to her hips. She held back tears, as she realized she was going to be digested alive. She screamed as she took in the foul odor of the beast’s innards. The interior of the tongue was smelly and moist, and she could feel herself being coated in a variety of juices and acids. Some got in her mouth, and it was so foul that it made her spit. But her spit landed right against the wall of the organ, and wound up right back in her mouth. Terror began to set in as the beast raised her higher in the air, using gravity to help push her down into his gullet. 
The organ was now past her hind thighs, and it wasn’t much time at all before it was up to her feet, the organ recoiling as it struggled to balance her weight. Her corpulent rump was on full display from the underside. Her hooves wiggled furiously, her last act of protest as the organ sucked them in. The organ was hot, and Shara could feel the rhythmic pulsating of the beast’s innards further ahead. 
The organ was spasming slowly, each time pushing her body closer to the monster’s mouth. After a few seconds of disgusting noises and discomfort, she was about to enter the monster’s proper mouth. 
Dor’khava, hungry and eager to vanquish this bothersome pest, stretched to open his mouth to unimaginable proportions, anxiously waiting to have this delicious meal fill his stomach. He could taste her, and feel every breath, tear, and whimper she produced. She belonged to him now, she was a part of him. He opened his mouth even wider as her head approached, giving it easy access to slide between his jaws. Shara could hear the crunching and constricting of the creature’s bones, making room for his meal. Disheartened and petrified, she shut her eyes and let the tongue pump her body into his mouth, in jolty, stunted movements that rattled Shara each time. She felt her head press against the bony back of Dor’khavva’s mouth, and could feel the occasional tooth accidentally pinch her, a few times deep enough to draw blood. Dor’khava could taste it, and savored it. Pony blood was a delicacy, after all.  She felt her orientation change as the organ, deriving from the monster’s esophagus, forced her downwards, towards its stomach. Panicking, she again shut her eyes in anticipation. Her cocoon was holding her tightly in place, now unable to move any body part except her neck. 
As the pressure of the esophagus’ walls squeezed her skull, she could feel the rest of her body fold over the bend and begin to head downwards too. Her head poked at some kind of tight orifice, as the esophagus pushed her with greater strength, gravity helping the process. Her head squeezed through the slimy hole, coating her face in a disgusting green goo, that stung her eyes and drenched her mane. She fell into the stomach facefirst, as the rest of her body slowly fell in after her. She found herself lying on her back, her legs still aimed towards the hole they fell out of. She could feel the oxygen in the stomach run thinner, though she could still breathe. Hope had completely disappeared. She had failed, and she knew it. The others were counting on her, and she was defeated easily. 
I failed Amalza. I failed everypony.
Holding back tears, she let her head fall on the wet cushiony walls of the stomach, her whole body wet with stomach acid. It didn’t burn yet, but it was more than uncomfortable. Dor’khava’s mouth-organ retreated into his mouth, satisfied with his meal. 
The only sounds Shara could hear were the sloshing of organs and bones creaking against each other. She was powerless and immobile, and couldn’t help herself at all. She tried to fix herself to sit upright, pressing her legs closer to her chest as she felt the walls of the stomach constract around her. She hoped this all wouldn’t be too painful. 
Dor’khava, triumphantly, produced a loud burp followed by a spout of drool, as he eyed down Gar’gaba, who had just finished completing Amalza’s full cocoon. 
Amalza had woken up from her temporary unconsciousness. Now that the silk wasn’t putting as much pressure, she could breathe slightly easier, though due to the silk solidifying around her, not by much. Dor’khava growled at his companion for not following his lead and devouring the girl, thinking they’d be safer from Gorgo’s wrath if they stuck together. Gar’gaba roared back, thinking of his own needs. In his mind, if Dor’khava was killed for his treachery, Gar’gaba would get twice as much of Gorgo’s surplus. Their petty squabble ended with a new roar, twice as loud as anything the two spiderkin could produce. 
Gorgo was alive, and stumbling over towards them, a raging fire in his eyes. “You little wretch! Have you swallowed my food?! Spit that pony out! Now!” Gorgo, though injured and slurring some of his words, was still intimidating. 
Dor’khava grumbled and cocked his head forward, trying to vomit Shara up from his stomach. Gar’gaba, meanwhile, added the finishing touches to Amalza’s cocoon, who didn’t bother screaming, as it wasted breath. Instead, she only softly cried out for him to stop, her pleas landing on empty ears. 
Shara opened her eyes as she felt the walls of the stomach around her contract again, but this time not around her, below her, as if it was trying to push her upwards. Confused but unable to do anything about what was happening, Shara felt herself rise up through the tight hole again, once more coating her in that sticky slime. The monster choked as he regurgitated her, though she was so large that it took time, and was slightly painful. 
Gorgo stood there, waiting impatiently for the sorceress that nearly killed him to show herself again. He was displeased with Dor’khava, but had already reserved his anger for the girl. He glanced at Gar’gaba, who wrapped Amazla in at least seven layers, her cocoon now a solid, opaque off white, her expression of fear visible beneath the sheets. 
Gorgo felt weak, and he knew he probably wasn’t strong enough to cocoon the sorceress himself. He had immediately decided he was going to eat her first tomorrow, after he found a way to heal himself. 
After making a few disgusting choking noises, Dor’khava coughed several times before puking Shara’s form from his elongated mouth-organ, until he spat her out right onto the floor, disoriented, dizzy, and confused. She was still in her cocoon, preventing her from standing up. Gorgo’s anger turned into malicious glee, as he saw her writhe on the ground helplessly, like a wounded animal. She was crying, begging for mercy, saying things like “Please, stop,” and “I will do anything.” He had heard it all before. 
She was beautiful, he admitted to himself, and she would make a delectable meal. But first, he had to keep her from escaping. “Gar’gaba, put that one with others. And you, Dor’khava...You can make amends for your mistake...Finish this one, I care not to waste my energy,” Gorgo commanded, holding his wounded chest. Shara had missed his heart by mere centimeters. 
Amalza made no effort to resist as Gar’gaba carried her off towards one of the walls covered in webbing, nearby to where her captured companions were, who by now had realized their rescue had failed. Shara, meanwhile, had wriggled around so much she ended up stuck on her stomach with her face on the floor, no longer deprecating herself for her failures, but instead enraged. She was free from that monster’s stomach after all, this was her chance to escape! But, no matter how hard she tried, her cocoon was so tight she knew she would not be going anywhere. Gorgo stared down in disgust as his minion approached her. 
Shara struggled relentlessly as Dor’khava picked her up with two hooves. She shuddered at the thought that she was just in that monster’s stomach a second ago and now she was being wrapped in an inescapable prison, only to be devoured again later. She clenched her teeth in fear as Dor’khava attached his stream of airy silk down on her hind calves, spinning her in circles and wrapping her in the soft, blanket-like fabric. In one sheet, he wrapped all the way up from her hind calf to where her forelegs were crossed, right below her chest, squeezing her body even tighter. The pressure was becoming too much, and Shara cringed from the strain. Dor’khava spun her violently, giving no regard for what should’ve been his meal. He thought about killing Gorgo himself, the old bastard was nearly dead already, why was he taking orders from him? Grumpily, he continued wrapping Shara, as she let the tears flow down her cheeks. 
Shara gave a high pitch grunt upon feeling Dor’khava’s large, leathery, clawed hooves grab her soaked mane and yank her backwards. She was being beaten around like a rag doll, and she was beginning to lose energy from fighting so much. She screamed loudly as he twirled her in his palm, spinning his immaculate stream of flawless silk around her hips and breasts. Her whole body felt sore from the pressure. His tight grip was beginning to give her a headache., and being spun around repeatedly didn’t help. 
Shara, experiencing flashbacks to earlier with the spiders, suddenly felt an impending sense of dread, as she realized the silk was going to wrap around her face and possibly seal her fate for good. She’ll never be able to call for help, or know what’s going on. She’ll be an unthinking piece of meat for an animal to feast on. The thought terrified her, so much that she had to scream and burst into tears, louder than before, as she watched the silky band wrap past her neck and closer to her face. While Shara sobbed hysterically, Dor’khava gave one last scowl at her, the meal that got away, before wrapping the silky sheet around her face, and then pulling it taut. The silk was somewhat see-through, and she could still make out objects in front of her, though they were blurry. She continued screaming and shaking her whole body in protest, though she knew these beasts could not be reasoned with. As Dor’khava finished a few more spins around her face, her vision slowly became consumed by an inescapable white. A sense of doom descended upon her, and she gave one last, quiet whimper before Dor’khava added one last layer of silk across her face, silencing her for good.
Seething with despair, Shara remained in Dor’khava’’s strong grip as he added some extra layers over her body, bending the angle of his stream down across her chest. Shara’s mane was forced down over one of her eyes, making vision even more difficult. She continued to struggle, though she knew she had already lost. She reeled her head back as Dor’khava wrapped the stream around her rump, longing for her to be back in his stomach. Despite his resentment of Gorgo, he knew even when injured, he wouldn’t stand a chance, and continued wrapping the girl that should have been his. Eventually her cocoon began to solidify under its numerous wrappings, and turned to an opaque, solid white color. Dor’khava pulled the sheet around her rear and back around her chest, all the while she groaned in frustration. This was not only a defeat. This was humiliation. The beast even began a second stream of silk starting at her hooves, spinning them simultaneously until they met in the middle, sealing around her belly button. 
With Shara’s cocoon finally complete, Gorgo could at last relax a little. Nine pesky brats tried to stand in his way, and now they were just trophies on his wall, waiting their turn to be devoured. After shooing away his minions, Gorgo picked up the wriggling Shara, looking at her with scorn, and placed her right next to her best friend Amalza on the wall, surrounded by her squirming accomplices. 
“I’m going to eat you first, sorceress…” he said into her ear, before leaving her to squirm and cry in her cocoon prison. 
Gorgo limped away to heal the hole in his chest, having already lost a good amount of blood. Those girls had gotten pretty close to killing him, and his own minions even tried taking advantage of it. But he couldn’t be mad; he had just won, after all. He had nine girls imprisoned in his Cave, and he planned on making them last, for all the trouble they caused him. He would give Gar’gaba one of them, as appreciation for his loyalty, while that runt Dor’Khavva could starve. This injury would take time to heal, but the pain would all be worth it. Taking one last look at his squirming damsels, he smirked. “Keep at it, my sweets. This is your home now.”





Clair de Lune awoke to the sound of screaming. 
In her silky prison, Clair had given up trying to escape two days ago. The fabric over her eyes was so dense that Clair could hardly see, especially when the cave was at its darkest. Shara had been devoured the same day that Princess Morgyn had, after Gorgo had healed his festering wound. Val and Raquelle had been next, and Amalza too, though she had been given to one of Gorgo’s minions as a gift. Merigold was still alive; Clair could feel her chest contract with every breath, as they were stuck on the web right alongside each other. Zo’Lara, Cat Claw, and Cassandra were nearby somewhere, though Clair only knew as much by the muffled moans and whimpering cries.
While her hearing was hampered and was rendered blind, her sense of smell had not been affected, although she wished it had been. All of the remaining survivors had all pissed and soiled themselves already, unable to stop themselves after two days of confinement. Gorgo only cared when he was about to eat them; with Raquelle he had made his minions clean her up and rewrap her prior to him ingesting her whole. The cave stunk anyways, though, with Gorgo and his companions frequently vomiting up their rancid mucus onto the cave floor, or worse, when they belched up the bloody remains of their friends. The skulls of Morgyn, Val, and Shara were poking out of the pile of feces in the far corner of the cave, and the stench was a waking reminder of what horrible fate awaited them all. 
While some of the ponies, particularly Shara and Raquelle, were blubbering messes right up until the end, Clair had run out of tears to shed. She had failed to protect her princess, her captain, and her friends, and as far as she was concerned, she deserved to suffer and die in that monster’s stomach. 
Though she had first suspected Gorgo’s selection process was purely random, Clair had since changed her mind. He seemed to favor the taste of unicorns - Shara and Raquelle were both early choices. Val had been chosen because of her prowess as a warrior; perhaps Gorgo really was afraid of her, and wanted to be rid of her as quickly as possible. If magic was what appealed to him the most, then Merigold and Cassandra, both unicorns, would be next. Clair, the only pegasus of the bunch, would come third, and then the barbarian and the thief would be the last supper. Since Gorgo ate two mares per day, she supposed she had at least one day remaining before she would embark on a one-way trip into Gorgo’s gut. 
She held out hope for a rescue, despite her better instincts. Morgyn’s family was rich and paranoid over her safety; they would not delay sending out a rescue party once they noticed the faintest sign of something having gone wrong. But it was a long shot that the rescue party would be able to find them in time, and even if they did, what chance did they have against Gorgo? Clair almost wanted to laugh; if she was somehow rescued, she expected to be court-martialed, expelled, possibly executed, for having failed to protect Morgyn. That’s what I deserve. She wasn’t like all the other academy students. She wanted to be my friend. Clair began crying softly in her cocoon, helpless but to wriggle and writhe and regret. Merigold gave her a gentle kick as if to comfort her. Clair went limp, defeated, and shut her eyes. Soon this nightmare would be over. She had failed, and now she would have to face the consequences.