Jitterbug sets out on an adventure, without her mother's knowledge. Then, along comes a spider. A Giant Spider. Fortunately, it's the friendly Aunt Nancy, but he has a job for Jitterbug, one only she can do. Hopefully she won't get in to too much trouble...
A story
in The Weedverse by Kudzuhaiku.
This story contains examples of:
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Aunt Nancy is not a spider, but looks like one because Jitterbug Cannot Grasp The True Form.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The narration comes down with a mild case of this, as appropriate for Jitterbug's point of view.
- Big Eater: Junebug is this, as is common for an earth pony and she enforces it on the eternally scrawny Jitterbug.
- Binding Ancient Treaty: A Subversion is plot relevant, as Aunt Nancy seeks out Jitterbug to report the breaking of the Aranea Covenant.
- Call-Back: Jitterbug briefly encounters Conk, Twisty and Knick-Knack, Flicker Nicker's family. The spider spy intends to attack them in retribution for Flicker's actions against the Spider Hag and her eggs in that story.
- Cannibalism Superpower: The giant spiders became stupid and nonmagical after being prevented from eating the intelligent, magical ponies.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Aunt Nancy claims that cutie marks work off this, they are powered by a pony's belief in their skill, and they can be lost if the pony loses faith in themselves.
- Exposition of Immortality: Aunt Nancy tells of how he taught two very special fillies, one of whom had a gift for illusion magic. From his descriptions, they are almost certainly Celestia and Luna.
- Fairy Godmother: Discussed, as Jitterbug asks Aunt Nancy if he is her fairy godspider. He seems amenable to the description.
- Gender-Blender Name: Somewhat Exaggerated, "Aunt Nancy" is distinctly male, being the Equestrian equivalent of Anansi.
- Genki Girl: Jitterbug is rather high-energy.
- Giant Spider: A relatively friendly one in the form of Aunt Nancy. According to him, all giant spiders were once talking and intelligent, but many of them lost the ability after signing the Aranea Covenant prevented them feeding on intelligent, magical creatures.
- Girlish Pigtails: How Jitterbug wears her hair.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Mr Teapot has been on the receiving end of some of this, and isn't keen on having to face Junebug after Jitterbug's adventure.
- Improbable Weapon User: Jitterbug is fond of using the kitchen spatula for her adventures. Her mother is less keen on her smooshing gross things with it. Aunt Nancy transmutes it into a sword.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: A variant. Aunt Nancy draws power from other people's imagination, and lets them wield their imagination, allowing Jitterbug to make herself a powerful unicorn warrior.
- Improvised Armour: Jitterbug takes up a pot lid as a shield.
- It Kind of Looks Like a Face: Jitterbug thinks that finding faces in trees is more meaningful than finding them in clouds, but is frustrated by her inability to communicate why to adults.
- Invisible to Adults: When asked why he can't seek out a responsible adult, instead of, well, Jitterbug:Aunt Nancy: Responsible adults have a hard time seeing me, and even when they can see me, they have a hard time listening to me, because I am a spider.
- Apparently those who do know him struggle to remember once they grow, writing off their memories as vivid childhood imagination. He takes some comfort that Celestia and Luna do remember him, even though it's hard.
- Innocence Lost: Downplayed, but Aunt Nancy knows that by using Jitterbug in the way he is, he'll hasten her own forgetting of him, as she'll be forced to grow up a little.
- I Want Them Alive!: Aunt Nancy needs the spy alive to bring to Princess Twilight.
- Mr. Imagination: Jitterbug is imaginative enough to make Aunt Nancy stronger than he's been for some time.
- The New Rock & Roll: Referenced in that Junebug is not keen on her daughter listening to certain kinds of music.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Discussed, Jitterbug is likely to get into some trouble for returning to town late, covered in ichor, having ruined her mother's kitchen implements, dragging a spider corpse and with a new spider-slaying cutie mark. Mr Teapot is sent along to try and explain things to Junebug, but he's uncertain of his ability to do so.
- Precision F-Strike: After Aunt Nancy is struck down by the she-spider, Jitterbug makes her first anger-fuelled profanity.
- Quirky Town: Jitterbug's post-adventure arrival into Ponyville is not the strangest thing the town has seen, by a long shot.
- Revenge by Proxy: The spider spy in the woods is there to get revenge on her mother's killer by attacking his family.
- Shield Bash: Jitterbug learned a few tips from Mr Teapot.
- Sickly Green Glow: The spider spy's magic is this colour as she weaves spells.
- Sneaking Snacks: The cookie jar is carefully out of Jitterbug's reach in an attempt to prevent this. Unfortunatelynote , her magic's advanced enough to let her (somewhat inelegantly) obtain her prize.
- Stab the Sky: Jitterbug does this with her spatula.
- Stupid Evil: Discussed, Aunt Nancy is concerned because the Giant Spiders are no longer this. In particular, the spy in the woods has been prevented from taking Revenge By Proxy immediately and forced to wait to gather information.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: Jitterbug has some difficulty spotting the "wibbles" that Aunt Nancy perceives, until he gives her a hand.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Jitterbug, to her mother's distaste, is very fond of sour apples.
- Unreliable Narrator: Aunt Nancy claims, amongst other things, to be the source of all knowledge and wisdom in the world. Jitterbug is sceptical.
- Weakened by the Light: As standard for The Weedverse, dark creatures are weakened by sunlight.
- With Catlike Tread: Jitterbug forgets, mid-sneak, that she's meant to be sneaking and begins belting out a heavy metal songnote .
- You Are Grounded!: The usual result of Jitterbug seeking out Mr Tarnish for stories.
