7
Night oozed its way over Equestria.
A grateful Partyerodactyl family slept in their refortified hollow, dreaming of music and their new friends.
Twilight managed to clear out the Village. No invite to the Sanctum Sanctorum, but lots of coupons in the mail from local businesses and an invite to Damage Control’s next summer barbecue! She dreamed of crystal trees and abandoned subway tunnels and cities made of the words of books. And barbecue.
Rainbow Dash was too excited to drift off (Grim Skies!!!), but wore herself out trying to pack as much as she could into her saddlebags. She dreamed of bomber jackets and ropes and old timey wooden crates and limitless skies, slumped over clutter she’d abandon in the morning.
Rarity made one or two enquiries about what had happened while she’d been with Applejack in Canterlot and scared Fluttershy a little with her ‘oh did he now,’ smile. She dreamed of an old house, furniture and doorways covered by beautiful drapes and curtains that wouldn’t part and of the excitement of going to see her father play at Canterlot colosseum and of candlelight in the daytime.
Now that most of the Plunder Seed sites were free, Spider-Pony spent the night stopping that new Inner Demons gang from trying to raid Damage Control’s storage vaults and fuming. And worrying. When he finally collapsed into bed, he dreamed of his uncle. And running.
Johnnycake helped weld a damaged bridge back together and solve an elaborate mystery where three seemingly identical ponies appeared to be murdered on three different airships. He slept like a log, custom hairnet perfectly secured, and had an interesting dream about the centennial episode of Flames and Feathers, unaware that his sleeping mind was inadvertently intercepting events from the Equestria of Universe Theta 629 ½.
***
“Hmm,” said Princess Luna, because she’d used What Fools These Mortals Be to death and ‘Hmm’ was timeless.
What an interesting little tangle. No wonder the night had drawn her in this direction. She would be mildly interested to see how it all wound out, but it wasn’t the sort of thing that usually required her intervention. Well, three Elements were involved, but still.
Then again, the young colt. There’d been love there. And guilt. She knew quite a bit about that, mostly that you couldn’t erase it just like that.
Love, on the other hoof…yes, that ought to do.
In her private study untold miles from where she hovered now, a quill pen, one of those useful modern ones that used cartridges and didn’t have to be dipped every few minutes, was surrounded by a sapphire glow and began to scribble.
Dawn began to slither across Equestria.
8
“He what,” the Phantasmal Pony said coldly.
“He said I’m awesome enough to downgrade to fantastic!” Rainbow Dash bobbed back and forth in the air, her smile the only part of her that wasn’t shaking with excitement. “No offence.”
“I didn’t know there was any to take,” Sue sighed. “It’s nice to see you again too, Rainbow.”
“If it helps Ms. Storm, the paperwork does check out?” Twilight tried, looking up from the documents she was levitating. “And I can assure you that once Rainbow Dash has a mission she never--”
“We’ve teamed up before!” Dash cut in impatiently.
“I helped you sort out your student loans, hon,” Sue corrected gently. “Listen, you were together long enough to realise Johnny just set this up as part of some scheme.”
“Totally, but it’s a scheme where I get to go on an adventure with Grim Skies!”
“Did you know anything about this?” Sue asked, rounding on Spider-Pony.
“Sue, c’mon!” The Web-Slinger waved desperate hooves, leaning back in his crouch on the ledge as if hoping the thirty five story fall would save him. “The only ponies I’m more terrified of than you are my aunt, Twilight, and my boss’ secretary!”
“Aww sweetie,” Twilight cooed.
“Wh-tssh!” Dash hissed out the corner of her mouth with a chopping wing gesture, making Sue smile.
“Yeah, and?”
“At least you own it, man!” Dash winked, then fluttered in front of the Phantasmal Pony, hooves clasped. “Pleeease, Sue? I’m a Wonderbolt cadet now! Soarin’ was only a reserve when you took him along and he didn’t even have awesome laser necklaces!”
“He did have Adventurer’s Insurance, Dash,” Sue chuckled half turning to avoid the excitedly flapping wings. “Though if Johnny went anywhere near paperwork for this, he must’ve known exactly what to fill out, and you girls are covered by the Sisters Sanction…”
“Adventurer’s Insurance?” Spidey’s ears perked up.
“Adventurer’s, not vigilante’s, dear. The crown can’t give it out to just anypony. Oh, Twilight Sparkle, I’m sorry! Congratulations!”
“Thank you?” Twilight said automatically, then her wings fluttered as it registered. “Oh, I mean…thank you! I just came along to make sure Rainbow had the right authorisations, please don’t think this is some sort of royal decree to take her along!”
“Wait, you can do that?” Those rose-coloured eyes, alight with the possibilities.
“You’re too cool to need it?” Twilight tried hurriedly for the fate of the Pony Nation.
“You’re getting faster!” That feral grin.
“You must both be thrilled,” Sue smiled at Spidey and Twilight, managing to convey the warmth even though she had to crane around Rainbow Dash to do it.
“Uh, Mr. Spider-Pony has been as supportive as any citizen of Equestria!” Twilight reared on her hind legs slightly to prevent her briefly panicked telekinesis from scattering Dash’s levitated papers. “For which I am deeply grateful! So grateful I asked him along as a fellow defender of their majesties’ peace, which totally explains why an anonymous vigilante arrived with--”
“She knows, sweetie,” Spidey chuckled, crawling a little closer.
“He follows me around like a little radioactive puppy dog!” Twilight blushed but still nuzzled him shamelessly. “It’s adorable!”
“That airship come with barf bags?” Dash muttered.
“You’re assuming we’re going to let you on,” said Sue Storm, romantic and responsible adult. “Johnny used paperwork, Rainbow. He’s planning something.”
“Oh yeah, he’s totally making sure I’m off the board so he can put the moves on our friend Rarity.”
“…the party one?”
“The fancy one,” Twilight and Rainbow said in unison.
“And you’re okay with this?”
“She’ll eat him alive, Sue,” Spidey assured. “Hay, the only reason I’m not going along is I have work and also Rarity’s about, like, number seven on my scare-mare-o-meter!”
“And I’m sure that’s very flattering on some planet Peter, but--”
“The filly who almost fed Prince Blueblood his bowtie?” Dash gambled. “That was her!”
“Oh, that’s different.” Sue used her own powers to accept Twilight’s reorganised Rainbow papers, raising her voice vaguely in the direction of one of the futuristic structures ringing the roof garden. “Reeeed! We’re having a team up!”
The pneumatic doors glowed with Kirby Krackle, sliding open a crack. “That’s nice, dear! Who with?”
“What’s your name, girls?” Sue asked. They blinked at her. “You know, your team name.”
Twilight squinted. “We don’t…really have one?”
“Hey, I showed ya my list.” Dash shrugged. “Could just steal from your beau and tack on a buncha adjectives.”
“Yeah,” Spidey said frostily. “That’s an option.”
“So’s borrowin’ a common phrase from the public domain.” Dash winked at him again as he blinked. Twilight bit her lip, trying not to laugh or take a side.
“Ah, Ms. Sparkle.” Mr. Fantastic’s torso stretched towards them, levitated stationary trailing behind it as he gave Sue a hug. “Sorry, Princess Sparkle! You and your friends continue to astound! Only the two of you today, is it?”
“Just my friend Rainbow Dash, Dr. Rivers.” Twilight blushed, still unable to handle the near meteoric impact of being complimented by one of Equestria’s foremost explorative researchers. And those dashing grey temples!
“Rainbow…?” Reed’s neck squeaked a little as he turned to blink at Sue’s resigned smile. “You know, Johnnycake mentioned a--”
“Hiya, doc!” Dash seized one of his hooves in a vigorous shake that turned his torso into a renegade garden hose. “Nice to finally meet you. I might not be Soarin’, but once ya see me in action you’ll wonder what ya ever did without me. And I’ll do a way better job meeting your team’s Awesome Hair quota than Johnnyflake ever did!”
“Oh,” said Mr. Fantastic, genius extraordinaire.
“Soooo, since we’re Earth’s Actual Mightiest now ‘n‘ all where’d you say the hanger was again?”
“There’s several ways down as a matter of fact. Our silo serves as the major exit but is only accessible to authorised personnel.” Reed chuckled. “Unless somepony was determined enough to squeeze through the vents over there!”
“Mistake,” Spider-Pony managed to get out before a rainbow contrail burst into existence, the slipstream so powerful he had to cling to his perch to keep from being dragged into the air. Twilight flapped her wings to steady herself, Reed’s python body swaying like a hammock as Sue stumbled back into it.
Rainbow’s frantic squealing was muffled by the clattering of the vents as her tail finally pulled itself all the way through.
“…sure you won’t be coming, Twilight? Peter?” Reed summoned as much cosmic ray power as possible to keep his smile steady and his face panic free.
“Work,” Peter said quickly.
“Magic lessons,” Twilight said just as quickly.
“Wait, really?” Spidey turned to her. “But you’re a princess now?”
“That doesn’t mean I know everything, honey.”
“D'fhoghlaim tú an Gaeilge go tapa!”
“You always know just what to say.” She nuzzled his nose, enjoying how instinctual it was even with the mask on. “But I shouldn’t keep Zecora waiting and Dash is going to—”
“STRETCH.” They all flinched at the Thing’s voice over the roof’s magi-P.A. “There’s some kinda ice cream coloured gremlin tryin’ to breach the hatch, Stretch. It knows my name, Stretch.”
“—enjoy. Herself,” Twilight sighed in resignation. “Um, I understand these excursions rip any kind of scheduling to shreds, but if you can have her back by evening I can pick Rarity and Dash up?”
“You’re sure?” Sue asked as she accepted and secured the saddlebags Reed had retrieved for her, the rest of his body sauntering up to fold his torso back to normal. “The batteries in our ships and skimmers are designed for cross-country flights. Almost halfway to Canterlot and back would be no problem.”
“Oh no, don’t go to the trouble! I set up a personal teleportal spell in Yancy Street powered by the love Peter and I have for each other.”
“Ah, to be young again,” River Reed sighed nostalgically as he and Sue headed for the elevator. “Oh, Peter. I almost forgot; do you still follow The Bugle? You might both be interested in this morning’s edition.”
“Huh?” Peter blinked but reached up to take the levitated copy anyway, realised the mask was in the way of his mouth, and took it by hoof. And felt like he was about to flame on.
“Is that…us?” Twilight squeaked uncertainly, craning for a better look.
So it was! Not a headline, but an 8x10 of their lunch with the Damage Control crew, Twilight in mid-chat but exchanging a look with Peter, Spike’s cheeks bulging from half a double baconator.
“Princess of the People,” Twilight read. “Oh. Wow. That’s…actually kind of flattering!”
“For a total invasion of privacy!”
“Now honey…”
“Stretch, it’s in the co-pilot’s seat. It’s lookin’ right at me, Stretch.”
“OmigoshomigoshomigoshcanItouchyourbricks?!”
The PA howled from the pitch of her voice and died. Sue gave Twilight a ‘teammates’ look before the elevator pad descended into the roof. Reed was trying to secure what looked like a crash helmet over his mane. “See you kids later!”
“We hope.” They heard one of the greatest minds of their time wince over the purr of advanced hydraulics and the thump of his special somepony elbowing him extra hard to make sure he didn’t just absorb it.
***
“Rainbow Dash on a Fantastic Family mission.” Spidey tossed The Bugle into the air. “Feels oddly heart-warming. Like watching your daughter head off to bomb disposal college.”
“I’m sure there’s a Wonderbolt class for that.” Twilight caught it in her telekinesis. “Can I keep this? ...For. Spike. Obviously.”
“Maybe you should ask him,” Peter snorted angrily, managing to send the jets through the mask. “More than that jerk with the camera did.”
“Is everything okay?” He turned at the concern in her voice. “Shining told me about Mr. Flattop. I know you two have a history.”
“He turned a sociopathic swordpony for hire into a scorpion to try and arrest me because, and this is the funny part, he objects to me taking the law into my own hooves.”
“But you’ve always said you try to understand what it’s like for somepony outside the mask. Even him.”
“It was a private moment, Twilight. You and Spike are right there. Whoever took those photos, he signed off on using them!”
“Well, yeah, it’s weird that she didn’t come up and ask us if she could take our picture but, I don’t know, maybe she didn’t want to disturb us. We don’t have the relationship with the press Ponies in your circle do!” Twilight coloured a little. “In fact, um, Cadence thinks the buzz around my…ascension died down as quickly as it did because we’d already saved the world. Four times.”
She’d sounded like using the word was a stitch she’d been trying to pull out for a while now and it made him angrier. Not at the Bugle. Deep down he knew this probably didn’t have anything to do with the old rag. Angrier with himself. Because she was the best thing to ever happen to him and he was still holding back so much.
But how could he even begin?
“Peter?”
“Sorry.” He’d been too quiet, the mask too impassive. Sometimes it spooked people, even those who liked him in-costume. “I just…I don’t want people doing that to you. You girls are the reason we’re not all trying to grow crops in darkness or shackled in mines. You should get to just…go to lunch!”
“We do! We spent like twenty minutes arguing about where to eat only yesterday!” She put a hoof to the side of his face gently. It tore through every defence. “Look, you don’t have to tell me what this is really about. Not yet. You deserve your privacy too. Just promise me you won’t do anything rash.”
“Hey on that note, if you want to do something for Spike could you help me pick out a thank you card? That brand of baby powder he recommended works wonders on the outfit!”
“There’s my funny, evasive colt.” A purple glow lifted the mask as she leaned in for a kiss. “Since I’ll be here to sift through the wreckage of whatever those two are planning anyway…want to come back to Ponyville this evening? Just for a bit? You were worrying about missing this weekend, is all.”
Or was I feeling guilty because part of me doesn’t want to be close to you? Because the most responsible thing I can do is tell you WHY. He forced a smile because she could see his mouth now. Sun and Moon, speaking of Escorpión my life’s basically an Andalusian soap opera!
“Would that be okay?”
“Of course! I need a fallback since that Sanctum Sanctorum ploy didn’t pan out.”
“Ray’s?” Peter smirked.
“Don’t insult me. That place next to MJ’s. Uh, her club not her apartment.”
“Jalapeño ‘n‘ magnolia toppings on a bed of greasy cheese and Manehattan tap water dough. Meat Lovers for Spike. Got it.” One last cuddle and smooch before she headed for the elevator. (She’d grown more and more used to her wings over the weeks, but the Baxter Barn was on the 35th floor. What was she, Rainbow Dash?) “Wait, her?”
“Merry Jane?” Twilight squinted. “I guess she could come too, Pinkie liked her!”
“No, her. Uh, she! You said she? The pony who took that photo.”
“Oh right!” She levitated the paper over to him, the creases just happening to magically smooth themselves and the image becoming a tad sharper. “The byline, that’s what you guys call it right?”
“Status Quo?” Peter scanned the name. “Huh, she’s still working for Ferocious. Figured they’d have disappeared in the same mysterious boat explosion by now. She’s great at her society stuff, but she doesn’t do photos!”
“Ooh, Fluttershy and I used to read her hit pieces on the nobility in Hoofbeats!” Twilight shook her head, the paper rustling with it. “Anyway, that’s not it. The little…thing under the photo! I look at those all the time now even though you’re not in that line anymore.”
“Aww, sweetie!” Spidey scrutinised it through narrowing lenses as the tiny name glowed a little more magenta for emphasis. “…Snappy Scoop?”
Twilight levitated the paper to her side, realised she wasn’t wearing a saddlebag, prepared to teleport it to a temporary holding dimension (another benefit of her ascension, she could do that now without anything coming back…different) and then remembered she had wings now and just slipped it into a slight pocket between her feathers her Pegasus friends had shown her how to make. “Haven’t you mentioned her? She sounds familiar. Are you friends?”
“Yeah, I’ve mentioned her,” Peter said carefully, trying to throw her off the scent.
“Peter.” No dice.
“Nothing! Just curious!”
“Mmmhmm, and if I get curious and turn on the radio?”
“There’ll be no trace of Spider-Pony Savages Bugle Buttinski!” The Spectacular Spider-Pony, icon of Manehattan, sat back on his haunches and solemnly dragged a hoof over the spider on his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my--”
“Your eyes are covered, but that’ll do.” Twilight smiled ruefully as the mounting glow of her teleportation sheeted off her mane and coat. “And don’t skimp on the Gruyere! Just because Spike’ll eat practically anything doesn’t mean I can’t have standards.”
“Yes dear!”
He waved, waiting until the last sparkles had faded away and the traffic noises had come back.
“…as in yes dear, not only are my eyes covered but you won’t hear anything about Spider-Pony feeding Snappy that pretentious hat of hers.”
He back-flipped onto the ledge, using it to springboard into web-swinging, lenses narrowing as he curved towards the East Side.
“Peter Trotter on the other hoof!”
9
“Bwahahaha,” the Horseshoe Torch said quietly to himself from his perch on a Diamond District roof, watching his roommate fling himself past Rockhoof Plaza through a pair of binoculars.
Pity they couldn’t be a flame construct, but a) he’d tried that, and it had never worked b) he had to stay unlit to avoid detection anyway. He wouldn’t even have checked on the old place if that thing with Volcana and Titania hadn’t gone down during his morning jog and he’d wound up in the neighbourhood.
Good to know how the day was shaping up though! Sue and Dash out of his hair, Peter on some self-righteous crusade, Twilight Sparkle off the roof…presumably headed back to the apartment to ‘port back to her admittedly cool treehouse.
That was the only real wrinkle in Johnny’s plan so far (the only one he’d acknowledge anyway): he wasn’t certain he could use that portal the lovebirds had set up. Even if he could, he’d be leaping into her living room. Hard to surprise Rarity if he surprised Twilight first. Also, she was dating Peter, stars only knew what she got up to in her downtime!
One of the cruisers, a mini, stream-lined version of the Excelsior Reed had developed for the more far out expeditions, was drifting over the city. Tentatively Johnny adjusted the signal-sorcery settings in his utility collar, trying to tune into the cruiser’s private channels without hailing them.
“...as that time Princess Celestia stuck us foalsittin’ her niece!” Grim was rumbling. “No offence, kid!”
“It’s totally cool, Mr. Grim!” Man, he could see the grin on Dash’s face through the radio waves. “You’re a veteran of the Corentine Crisis! Everypony’s a newbie compared to you!”
“They still talk about that?” The old man actually sounded nonplussed.
“It’s been part of the history curriculum in most of Equestria for a while now, old friend.” Reed’s voice. “Seems like only yesterday we were shipping out, eh?”
“You were there too, doc? Cool!”
“First time I’d ever set hoof on an explorer-class airship. Would have been the last too if not for our pilot here.”
“Rainbow,” Sue said in that firm tone that made Johnny want to rebel and apologise all at once, “, seatbelt. In fact, Reed, should she be up front?”
“Ah, I’ll keep an eye on her Susie, no problem!” Why did Grim sound tolerant? Happy? “Right, squirt?”
…he’d given her a nickname? Already? A plucky but cutsie wootsie one? And did that clicking sound mean Rainbow Dash was strapping in? Rainbow Dash?
“No promises Mr. Skies, I’m too in awe of you to lie. Can I put the radio on?”
Johnny flinched so hard from the burst of NO! SLEEP! TIL BROOKLYN!he flamed on. And that sound. Like one of those Father Hearth’s Warming toys with the annoying ‘Ho-Ho-Ho!’ recording, falling through every floor of a condemned building and sped up.
That was the Thing’s Ponyacci Live at the Applewood Bowl laugh.
“He let her touch the radio,” Johnny said hollowly, watching the cruiser arc towards the city limits, where it would really open up for its journey into the beyond. “What have I done?”
Oh, right. Removed every potential obstacle and obligation that would get in the way of a fun day with the most beguiling Pony he’d met in a while!
And if Peter ‘n‘ the Princess’ portal (good title, not Flames and Feathers good, but put that on the back burner, maybe a kid’s book) didn’t work for him then what the hay, the flight over would give him plenty of time to work on conversation. The last thing he wanted to look like was some condescending big city pony.
He glanced over his blazing shoulder as the rooftops of the Lower East Side grew closer, trying to make out the glint of the cruiser’s thrusters igniting. Dash would love that, he was surprised her whooping didn’t carry over the traffic.
***
Halfway through preparing a series of questions about Rarity's music preferences, since he could absolutely engage about fashion but that felt more like something she should bring up, he realised he was over Yancy Street and whipped around back towards the apartment.
Not the most discreet way to begin and end the day, admittedly, leaving a blazing contrail from your roof, but it was honestly weirder to Johnny that the neighbourhood had immediately accepted this. Peter had, typically, nagged him about it, honest to Celestia taping up a map of the area to try and find “alternate approach avenues”. As if a) the old Bugle gig wouldn’t have explained anything even if he hadn’t landed the Damage Control one, or b) anypony was going to notice him with Johnny around.
Pete’s paranoia also hadn’t stopped him enjoying a little moonlit perch time on the roof’s Pegasus statues and the few Spidey-sightings this must’ve generated had yet to bring the Stampede Six or Frightful Four knocking.
…so far. The balcony doors were wide open. Both sets.
Johnny never locked them, but always made sure to shut them if he was using that way for take-off. Kept the street smells and pigeons out. He’d done it this morning. Peter was headed for Flatiron and Princess Girlfriend and her Dragon (‘nother great title) would have no reason to touch them at all.
The next few minutes were spent trying to conjure a cool flame weapon for the occasion, but he kept defaulting to the cliched baseball bat and decided being on fire was enough.
He drifted inside, chastising himself for not checking the place out with his thermal vision first, even if it wasn’t quite as effective during daylight, and looked around. The intruder had done…something to the living room, he just wasn’t sure what.
“Cleaned it,” said a lyrical, dignified voice from the kitchen.
Johnny whirled, one blazing hoof raised to conjure a fireball, the other embarrassingly flung up in a pointless attempt to defend himself. There was a startled squeal to compliment his startled yelp. He was under attack by…a coffee cup?
“What?!” he demanded of the universe in general.
“I cleaned it!” The same cyan glow around the floating cup surrounded a box of kitchen wipes he didn’t remember buying and levitated one into the air as a white flag. “And helped myself to some of your Neighponese blend, which is the bigger liberty if you ask me!”
“Rarity?”
“You were expecting maybe the Grundle King?”
Rarity smoothed her mane back into shape, not that it needed it, rising from behind the counter like a kaiju who thought it had missed its cue.
“No wonder there’s so many Starbits in this city if this is what homebrewing gets you!”
“Uh…” Johnny looked at the pulsing fireball in his hoof and hid it behind his back like he used to do with Sue in childhood winters. “Mind if we start over?”
“Should I?” But she was smiling.
“Ms. Belle!” Johnny spread his blazing hooves in greeting, still glowing and hovering inches off the floor. “Welcome to my humble (co-rented) abode! This is the best kind of surprise, the unexpected! I was just about--”
“To give me the third degree and take my eyebrows off in the process?” She raised one as she sat on the couch. Still smiling! Like an alligator playing with its food.
“I was gonna say offer you some coffee, but somepony seems to have taken the liberty of helping themselves to the pantry.” He smiled back, forelegs folded. “For real though, I’m sorry. For what it’s worth I was startled, couldn’t get much temperature together. That thing would’ve felt like a ball of lukewarm bathwater.”
“Assuming it even landed.”
“I have impeccable aim and indubitable modesty.” The Horseshoe Torch morphed back to Johnny Storm, dropping to the floor. Even though Rarity had dealt with talking to a burning pony with considerable cool, there was a point where it just wasn’t polite to be on fire in front of a guest.
“Impressive taste in tea, too.” She took a sip. “Mmm, thought so, this is the brand Princess Celestia uses! Makes those after-crisis stayovers in Canterlot just melt away.”
“I know, right?” Johnny beamed. “And those en-suites! Just the thing when you’re trying to wash battle dust out. Been saving up to re-do our bathroom just like them.”
“Oh, so that’s why your living room was such a shambles.” She could tease for Equestria, they should make it a Games category just for ponies like her. “I mean what you two have done to that poor wall alone!”
He stared at it, ice suddenly in his veins. “You touched the trophy wall?”
“No, I just cleaned these hooves.” Rarity raised her other eyebrow. “Trophy wall?”
“Peter calls it the knick knack wall.”
“Trophy wall it is.” She took another sip. “I’m only playing, Johnny! I had to do something to pass the time while you were ‘burning out’ or whatever.”
“About that, how…?”
“Twilight said it wouldn’t be a good idea to use her personal portal spell without her.” Rarity’s smile became a little more of a smirk. “But she was using her ‘Don’t do that, you’ll crease the spine!’ voice and not her ‘Don’t do that, you’ll rupture the space time continuum!’ one, so it didn’t take too much convincing to let me come along, while she tried to soften the impact of Rainbow foisting herself on your family.”
“Rainbow?” Johnny went for casual more than confusion before letting his eyes bug, it was always more convincing. “Rainbow Dash? Here? In Manehattan?”
“Yes, just like you planned.”
She put the cup down on the table. It was empty and Johnny couldn’t help but wonder if that was the universe’s timing or all hers.
A beat of nothing but traffic noise.
“So, after this you were going to…?” Rarity prompted. She was still smiling but there was a target locking quality to it. What the hay, Johnny decided.
“Drop by and see if you’d like to come up today. You name-dropped the street a few weeks back, so.” He shrugged. “Was hoping it’d be a surprise. If it’s any conciliation, not a Unicorn and complex magic can get weird around us cosmically irradiated types, so the surprise probably would’ve been me arriving with my mane and tail back to front or something.”
“I’m sure you could’ve made it work,” Rarity said, sitting up and walking over to him like an expertly coiffured gunslinger. “It’s not that I don’t want to play Johnny, it’s just that this little game of ours clearly needs to have some rules. And boundaries.”
“Got it,” Johnny agreed. “I’ll make sure to drop you a line before just blazing into Ponyville airspace. If you still want me to set hoof there.”
“You costumed types do have an odd habit of passing through and overstaying your welcome at the same time. At least the parasprites couldn’t make bad jokes.”
“…parasprites are real?”
“Oh, don’t tell me the Element of Generosity has more experience than the renowned Horsepower Torch!” She pantomimed a shocked hoof to her chest. A whole array of smiles and excellent teeth into the bargain.
“Can one of the rules be you ‘confuse’ us only once?” He was using the standard smirk he saved for fellow Attitudes like Peter and Bobby, but it fit.
“Per day,” Rarity said with knife thrower speed and precision.
“As in you think there’ll be more than one?” Johnny said as he felt the smile on his face become a little more genuine.
“Darling, you almost let my home and at least half the capital become a smoking crater just to trick your ex…classmate into a playdate with your family, all so you could make sure there’d be nopony around to tell me this would be a bad idea.” Rarity smiled, conjuring a wide brim hat and sunglasses for herself. “I’m dying to see where this goes, aren’t you?”
“Little bit.” He took her hoof. “Ms. Belle.”
“Mr. Storm.”
“Will you let a foolish, overbearing—”
“Overconfident. Overly glossy. Over his head.”
“—stallion take you out for a day in this, the greatest city in Celestia’s kingdom?”
“Hmm,” she pantomimed, cocking her head and her eyes flitting to the side under the dark lenses. “Say something nice about Princess Luna and I’ll think about it.”
“Her mane’s almost as fabulous as yours?”
“That might have done it!” Her telekinesis gently but firmly removed his hoof as she headed for the door, swinging that open with her mind too. “In another life. Some of us have work to do.”
“Oh come on!” Johnny laughed, injecting just enough mock-whine. “You come all this way just to mess with me?”
“Nooo,” Rarity smirked, half turning and letting her shades lower just right. “I came all this way to tell you that I will let you come along with me to look at potential sites for my new store.”
“Oh, you’re good.”
“Provided.” She held up a hoof in perfect time with her rising pitch. “You tell me what it is you did to poor Rainbow Dash to make her attack you on sight. Total honesty!”
“You mean the scandalous stuff so you can gasp a lot, then hold them over everypony’s head forever.”
“Oh, absolutely, what am I, a monk?”
“You’re certainly divine.”
“Bit too hard there, darling.” She’d clearly loved it.
“Then this is just gonna be obnoxious.” Johnny smirked, Flaming On and holding out a hoof. Rarity took her shades off to quirk a brow at him. “C’mon, a pony like you? Stairs and sidewalks?”
“You’re serious.”
“Rainbow’s taken you flying, right?”
“A few times.” A fond smile. “Sometimes I’ve even been able to make out the scenery. Did you know once there was even no falling wreckage?”
“If it’s about the flames I’ve got total control.” It was strange to see a genuine, reassuring expression through the Torch’s brick like skin and sheeting flames. Rarity understood why he action-smirked so much. It suited the effect, made it more of a cartoon. “It’ll be like being carried by a seat warmer.”
“Tempting, buuut…” She was trailing off because there were no real reasons to say no. Even this close she could feel his flames as more the reassuring warmth of a radiator than the searing her instincts expected.
“Okay, picture this. In a few months when business is booming, you’ve made your mark and everypony knows it’s you in the photos I guarantee are gonna be taken, what do you think Under the Sun’s gonna say? That Johnnycake was carrying just another girl, or that Rarity can make a super pony do whatever she wants?”
“And it’ll save on cab fare.” She slid the shades back into place.
She held out a foreleg as if asking him to dance. He took it, gently cradling her in both his own Lois ‘n' Clark style and put on just enough speed to make her spontaneously laugh as they shot out the still open balcony doors.
What the hay. Let Pete clean up after the pigeons.
“East Bridleway and don’t spare the horses, Jeeves!” Rarity called loudly enough to make the pedestrians and civilian fliers notice them and pay attention to her.
“They warned me about you Canterlot fillies.”
“I’m from Ponyville, darling.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
“Keep it up, Storm.” He could see his own smile reflected in her sunglasses. “See what happens.”