Cold stone underhoof and pressing against her belly and chest, flickering torchlight insufficient to light the way clearly, frigid breezes nipping at her body, and a lot of ache. Applejack's body did truly ache, more than all the other discomforts she felt in this challenge, that was by far the one most on her mind.
In her life caring for an apple orchard she had known plenty of hard physical work and the aches that came with it, but this left all that far behind. It was like everything had gotten vastly heavier, including herself. Every motion was a supreme effort of will. She had forgone walking in favor of crawling along, standing alone would have sapped her strength in a very few moments, never mind walking.
She pressed on because it was important. Her family needed her to. Her friends needed her to. Her country needed her to. Her princesses – each trapped in a amber-like stone placed on either side of the magical button that would release them - needed her to.
Just go that last few meters and put a hoof on a button. So very easy to describe the task. It belied the difficulty.
Her friends were also trying. Of course they were. That's what they did – helped. Made things better however they could. It was the very best thing about all five of them.
Just a bit behind her she could hear Rainbow Dash grunting with effort. Applejack didn't spare the energy to look, but she knew that Dash would have a look of pure determination on her face. It was comforting for Applejack to know Dash was there and able to finish this task should she falter.
Not too far behind them struggled the lavender unicorn Twilight Sparkle. Just like she had in the running of the leaves, she was making the most of her efforts by being slow and methodical. Applejack was quite proud of her. Despite each attempt to drag herself forward being accompanied by a whimper of pain, she kept on.
Rarity moved without a sound from her throat. Had there been anypony to see, it would have been obvious she was just as exhausted and in pain as Twilight was, she just chose to bear it silently. Dignity was too much a part of her to let it be otherwise.
Had she the energy to look, Applejack would have been surprised to see that Pinky Pie was managing a slow and even pace by allowing her forelegs to drag along, her hind legs shuffling forward, pushing back like an inchworm. It was at once amazing that she could manage it, and just flatly adorable too.
Fluttershy wept. Applejack could hear her easily. Of the six, she was least well suited to adventures of this kind. Still, she did her friends proud. With every fiber of her being she wanted to stop, to turn around and be free of this torture, but she refused to give in, making progress despite it all.
Another excruciating meter passed. Her hooves pressed more deeply into the stone of the long hallway she was trying to transverse. She was sure now, it wasn't just fatigue, the difficulty increased with each move ahead.
This wasn't, of course, part of what was described when Ananzi made the challenge. He was a trickster, a liar, the opposite of everything Applejack valued. It wasn't surprising that he was cheating, it was very annoying though.
It was strange that he suggested this. He wanted control of Equestria, for criminy's sake, why give a physical challenge to five ponies when two of them were considered among the most athletic in the world?
Ananzi gave a hissing peal of laughter (Applejack wondered if the need to laugh maniacally was some sort of bad-guy college requisite) when he spotted Rarity faltering.
He skittered like the spider he was across the hallway to loom over the white unicorn, gleefully appraising her performance as wanting.
Rarity replied by questioning Ananzi's intellect, his bathing habits and sense of aesthetics, and suggestions that his familial line might stem more from molds and fungi rather than arthropods. Much to Applejack's amusement, she did all of that insulting so subtly and with such composure that it took Ananzi a moment to understand.
Rarity's unfathomable need to be prim often drove Applejack 'round the bend. Still, it did make her acidic with that much more sharp when she chose to use it.
Ananzi roared in anger, both at the insults and at the fact that the white unicorn resumed her slow trek with a derisive smirk.
Applejack could have mouthed the words that poured out of Ananzi's mandibular and befanged mouth right along with him. It was like all the bad guys in the universe had the same speech-writer.
They'd never succeed. Stop now and reap rewards under his rule. Ponies were weak and could never manage this challenge. Celestia was actually a despot. Luna was still Nightmare Moon, and success here would free her and cause eternal night. Rainbow Dash was a fillyfooler.
Ok, that last one surprised Applejack. Had she been of that persuasion, it wouldn't have mattered in the least to her friends, and there were so few ponies in the world who still took issue with that anyway.
It made Ananzi sound desperate. A bit stupid, too.
The button was mere hoofsteps away now. Ananzi stood between Applejack and her goal, looking intimidating but not actually blocking the way. He stood tall on his eight legs and Applejack didn't hesitate to crawl right under him.
As her nose touched the wall under her quarry, she paused. The challenge was different now. She had to fight gravity directly and get her hoof up there.
It wasn't a lot different from raising a wagon by shoulder to replace a broken wheel. In fact, it was a bit nicer since no axle would be digging into her back.
Predictably, Ananzi started taunting her in earnest. He suggested all manner of unkind things about her. Weakness, selfishness, being burdensome on her family. Nothing that really got her attention. After her experience with Discord, untruths had become less than nothing to her. Lies rarely hurt anyone when they were just words. And these were just words, as words were all Anansi had left. Proven when he tried to break her concentration by claiming that her elder brother Big Macintosh had and regularly played with a stuffed Smartypants doll. Absurd in the extreme.
She was close. She began the arduous task of extending her leaden foreleg toward the button.
Ananzi stepped on her back and pushed down.
Applejack let loose with a curse and struggled to keep herself upright. This was no longer trickery, but flat-out dishonest, unsportsmanlike childishness.
Which threatened to be successful.
Applejack startled a little when she felt Dash's back press into her chest. Now Ananzi had to deal with two strong ponies.
And he tried. One limb pressed down on Applejack's back, the other tugged hard at Rainbow Dash's tail, trying to dislodge her. The scuffle was a cacophony of curses, complaints, and very rude suggestions of things a pony might do to herself that seemed physically impossible on the face of them not to mention plain uncomfortable.
Ananzi yelped and momentarily took his claw-like foot off of Applejack to regain his balance. An angry librarian had a hold of one of his legs in her teeth and she was pulling on him with all her might, growling in a way that Applejack simply could not take seriously.
A fashionista with an impeccable mane grabbed another leg and leaned into it, forcing it with her amplified weight to one side, compromising Ananzi's balance further.
Soon he was entangled in a morass of weighty but determined ponies. His gravity spell was working against him now, desperate as he was to throw the ponies aside, he could not lift them. Nor was his weight sufficient to do more than slow Applejack and Dash's progress a tiny bit.
Pinky Pie butted her head into his leg repeatedly, rendering it useless for anything but dodging further blows. Fluttershy had her forelegs wrapped around one leg solidly, rooting it to the cold stone floor.
Ananzi raged and stomped impotently. Each of his attempts at insult were rebuffed and answered by a vastly more talented Rarity.
Click.
As suddenly as the button had been pressed, the pony's weight returned to normal. Ananzi stuck to the script and screamed the word no.
A ray of sunshine and a moonbeam tossed the giant and tricky spider out of the construct hallway and into some far away place that (Applejack presumed and hoped) would mean permanent exile.
Scooting off of Rainbow, Applejack settled against the wall, Rainbow settling in against her to rest.
The princesses cooed thanks and praise at the six little ponies. Applejack was simply too tired to pay it a lot of attention, but it made her feel good and accomplished anyway.
Those last moments were hard, but so very worth it. Story of an apple farmer's life.