//------------------------------//
// And Carry a Big Torch (11) 
// Story: Super Pony Roomies 
// by TheManehattanite 
//------------------------------//


38?


He was riding a kart at full throttle, lighting up the Breytona speedway. It looked strangely like Yancy Street, the stoplights and windows too green. They flicked past, making him feel strange, but he had to keep his eyes on the road. He had somewhere to be. 

He passed the other racers effortlessly, one’s radio blaring recriminations at him in Danni’s voice, and sped under the shadow of an overpass. A feeling of relief washed over him, the intrusive cerulean light gone for the moment. 

He was standing still but the feeling of motion and mechanical perfection still racing through his blood. Crystal smiled at him almost sadly, her mane curling like smoke. She smiled politely waiting for him, but his mouth wouldn’t open. He was on the point of screaming pure silence at her when she held up a hoof with her communicator in it. The one she’d given him if he ever wanted to talk. 

“Maybe it isn’t,” she said without moving her lips, “because you’re only really asking that one question.” 

Then he realised where they were. Rarity’s boutique. 


38


The shock jolted him back to consciousness, though there was the strange sensation of opening his eyes and the lights staying off. 

“Oh thank gosh,” somepony sighed. “No, stay there! Hang on…”

Twilight Sparkle illuminated her horn, trying to give off just enough light so they could make out their surroundings without putting her patient’s eyes under even more strain. “Can you see okay, Johnnycake? Hear me?”

“Mpgh,” Johnny grunted, dragging a hoof down the side of his face. He champed his lips a few times then gave her a winning smile. “Ngh, had a harder time shaking off Friday nights, Princess.”

“Just Twilight, please. We’re who knows how far underground, I think we’re way past formalities.” 

“Point,” Johnny agreed, trying to sit up. He squinted as Twilight increased her light, adding to it by flicking on his collar’s spotlight. The lilac and lavender radiance revealed miles of piping. 

He followed Twilight’s gaze up into the shadows. A sluice-gate above them seemed their most likely entrance, but it was a few miles up and clogged with rubble. No going back, not that they’d want to with Queen Mean up there. 

“Wow,” Johnny settled, since whistling would’ve made his headache worse, “how’d we…?”

“My field,” Twilight explained, placing a hoof on his shoulder to help him back down. The archway he’d come to against felt warm, so it must’ve been where she’d propped him while he was out. “We were definitely in running water at some point, but I’ve no idea where we are now.”

“Crystal and the Web-Head?” 

She shook her head, making the shadows dance. “Hopefully they’re together. What?”

“…concussion,” Johnny lied, wiping that terrible alternate universe from his clearing mind. “Here, I’ll--”

He held up a hoof but remembered. He couldn’t. “My powers! Chrysalis turned off my powers!” 

“Calm down!” Twilight said, placing her hooves on his shoulders to keep him from sitting up too fast. “I’m…not sure she did. I’ll explain in a bit, but do you have any idea where in Attilan we are right now? We have to warn Equestria! I don’t know how, but Chrysalis is absolutely going to find a way to weaponize the colony.” 

“My compact.” Johnny shrugged her off and got to his hooves. Anything not to feel totally useless. “It’s not perfect but Reed worked up a positioning spell on our first stay. As for help, it’s a longshot, but…”

He adjusted the ring of his 4 logo, extending his collar mic. He and Twilight winced as the logo glowed blue but spat out alternating decibels of static. 

“Yeah,” Johnny muttered, curtly twisting it off, “figures. Maximus will be jamming every frequency going in and out of Attilan so the rest of the Fam doesn’t get in the way. Of course, Black Bolt hit us so hard he might’ve cooked something important.” 

“And we’ll still have to deal with him when we get to the surface,” Twilight said grimly. “I’m guessing Maximus will’ve shown the changelings all the ways out of Attilan and how to barricade everyknown in?”

“I’d put a couple gems on that, yeah. Especially now four…” Johnny looked down at his hooves. “Three new players are on the board.”

“You’re not out of the game yet,” Twilight assured, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “But I want to find Peter and Crystal first. Is there anywhere you think they might go to ground?” 

“…maybe.”  Johnny nodded to himself and tugged one of his mass-shifting collar pockets open. “Maximus knows how to block frequencies, but only the ones he knows about! Crystal should still be…packing…her…”

He stared down at the fractured communicator. The way its curves drooped in his hoof put him in mind of a baby bird with two broken wings. The ring that had connected it all had sprung open, spilling at least four wafer-thin under rings full of cracked circuitry. 

“Wow, that’s some advanced stuff!” Twilight said before she could stop herself. She looked up apologetically into the Torch’s face, but he was just staring at it. “Um…that’s a radio, right?”

“She said if I ever needed to talk,” Johnny said, not to her. 

“But if Maximus is jamming every signal…?” 

“Huh?” Johnny looked up and shook his head. “Eh, nah, that’d be fine, it’s…what did she call it, bio-metric? Like, yeah, it’s basically a radio but it runs on our…auras or something. It runs on us. As long as our hearts are beating, Triton said.” 

“Then we can work with that!” He blinked at the smile on Twilight’s face. Her horn lit up the tunnel even more. “May I?” 

“Reed probably wouldn’t ask, so…” 

Johnny passed the tangle of angles into the purple field and watched as Twilight’s eyes glazed over, purple light leaking into different lines of circuitry. He blinked as they gently traced geometric patterns towards him, then into his chest. There was no sensation, but it felt like it should be intrusive…

“Okay,” Twilight said distantly, eyes almost completely white, “say, well, pretty much anything.” 

“Like what?”

Both ponies flinched as Crystal’s communicator pounced back into itself, once again a flowing collection of angles and lines. “—or shock’s sake!” it said. “Johnny, come in! Please let me know you’re okay, this isn’t funny!”

“Crystal!” Twilight and Johnny cried simultaneously. She levitated it into his hooves and they crowded around it together. 

“Oh thank gosh!” Crystal’s relieved voice sighed. “Are you guys alright?”

“That’s what we should be asking you!” Johnny grinned. “Yo, webs for brains! You awake yet?” 

“He’s fine--”

There was the sound of hooves landing on metal. “Yeah, nuts to you too, Sad Snot Chili Peppers, Twili—Princess, are you okay?” 

“Sad snot.” Johnny shook his head. 

“Just woke up from getting curb stomped, sue me.”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Twilight cut in. “What about you two? Do you have any idea where you are?” 

“We got flushed into the west side tunnels,” Crystal replied. “I think you guys might have too, you’re coming in really clear.”

“Any way we could find each other?” Twilight asked. 

A beat. The hum of distant, nebulous machinery. 

“Johnny,” Crystal said eventually, “you remember the spot?”

“Yeah…?” Johnny blinked. “I mean, yeah! Good thinking! So if I can find a marker…”

“Exactly! Then we can figure out how to take these things on.” 

“Keep your eyes open,” Spidey cautioned, “we’ve found gunk and since Princess Crystal--”

“Just Crystal. I mean, we’re hundreds of miles under my home, why be so formal?” 

“Okay, cool, point is Crystal’s pretty sure this green stuff’s not coming from the city. And the changelings had to be hiding somewhere.” 

“And I’m burned out,” Johnny grumbled, “maybe permanently.” 

“Not if I can help it,” Twilight said, nodding grimly, “but I’ll watch your back. They’d have to stash the Unknowns they were replacing somewhere, too, so icor’s a potentially good sign. See everypony and every Unknown soon. We’ll…talk.” 

“Okay,” Spidey said carefully. 

“Good luck,” Crystal said, though Twilight and Johnny could hear the gears turning in her head as she thought about who that had been addressed to. The communicator fell silent. 


***

“Markers?” Twilight asked as Johnny they set off. 

“Unknown smugglers sometimes used these tunnels to sneak surface contraband on board the colonies,” Johnny said, leading her down the nearest tunnel as he scanned the walls. Using his collar’s floodlight was nowhere near using his flames to light up the joint and live up to his namesake, but it made him feel a little useful. “And like any great civilisation, the Unknown nation has two things: signs in seemingly random places and the urge to draw on the walls!” 

“Ah!” Twilight nodded as she trotted along beside him. “So they’d leave clues for their fellows to find their stashes?” 

“Right on the first guess! There’s thousands of little niches and disused tunnels in every colony, so all they had to do was get a job in maintenance and hide signs in some random political statement. Hay, by the time Crystal showed me how to do it Black Bolt had lifted the ban on surface goodies. We weren’t even the first kids to use one of those old caches for some private time.” 

“So,” Twilight said, hoping he wouldn't notice her blushing, “why’d Black Bolt decide smuggling was okay all of a sudden?”

“If I had to guess? He probably wanted to neuter it. Like, if it’s not a crime anymore where’s the serious money? For a guy who can’t help living out loud, he’s pretty sneaky. But also, Equestria’s greatest team had just helped his family take back their capital!” Johnny buffed his chest. While still walking, which was impressive. “Kinda hard to stay mad about Unknown foals swapping old records when your new best friends come from down there.” 

“I see! Aren’t they still worried about discovery?” 

“Black Bolt and Medusa always are, yeah.” Johnny rolled his eyes. “But Unknown collectors grab most of their stuff in desert settlements these days. Every creature in there is from all over, so, sure, maybe an aqua-stag or a mantis-Pegasus is weird, but, like, compared to who, y’know? Not everyone’s wearing those cloaks to keep out the sand.” 

“Interesting,” Twilight mused. “Maybe they could start a land colony in the Everfree or something? You know, wander out one day, attend a few town fairs, get everypony used to the idea, and then a few years later just mention in passing that they happen to come from floating cities in the sky, no biggie!” 

“Huh.” Johnny smiled at her. “Because you’ve already accepted the Everfree thing, so…”

“Yeah!” Twilight smiled, looking abashedly at the tunnel floor. “Just a random thought.” 

“I’ve had way more random,” Johnny assured, “and I make approximately 44,000-bits every year.”

Twilight stared at him. 

“You’re doing fine, is my point.” The superpony looked up at a tangle of Unknown runes on a pipe but it didn’t seem to be what he had in mind. “Hay, probably more than fine! What’s the take-home for a princess? Cadence was always nagging me to save.” 

“I’m a librarian…?” 

“What, still?” 

Twilight’s wing flared defensively. “Yeah!”

“Okay, cool.” Johnny quickly held up placating hooves, then squinted at something behind her. Twilight turned, her slightly more illuminated horn mixing with his floodlight to reveal another thistle briar of Unknown graffiti. “Aha!” 

“Good sign?” Twilight asked, cautiously following him down a tunnel. 

“Yeah!” Johnny waved at the red runes. “See that splatter mark at the edge? Way it’s coming out of that last flick? That means this-a-way!” 

“Fascinating.” Twilight blinked as they began climbing a staircase. “So we just follow…splatter marks?” 

“Little easier than that.” Johnny gestured gallantly for her to climb onto the balcony they’d reached before he began checking the edge of some docked hover-platforms. “See, each marker is for a landmark where another marker is. In this case, the trail’s taking us to the local water processing plant. We find the same colour splatter mark there, we follow it to the next utility station. Basic, but so low-tech no Unknown not in the know would think of it! What, the fancy self-cleaning sewers couldn’t be bothered with some paint, so they’ve gotta risk their necks? And who other than sanitation’s gonna know?” 

“The ones who sprayed the markers, presumably,” Twilight smiled. “Here, Crystal showed me how to do this!” 

Johnny watched, impressed as she used her telekinesis to pop open the small slot he’d been searching for and rework the wires inside. Orange lights flicked on at a terminal and their new ride coasted seamlessly out of its slot to wait for them. 

“So,” he began tentatively once they were gliding through a maze of Attilan piping, “Chrysalis.”

“Please don’t start that again,” Twilight sighed. “Listen, I’ve been polite about it but Rarity’s spoken for basically all of us. It’s nice that you’re fond of her for…whatever reason, but we aren’t. In fact, Princess Celestia passed on a respect for the sanctity of life as much as any other magic but if this entire city crashed down on Chrysalis I wouldn’t feel too bad!” 

Johnny blinked. 

“She sunk her fangs into my family!” Twilight seethed suddenly. “You understand? My family. And what makes it so much worse is she didn’t even know she was doing it, and if she did she wouldn’t have cared. And the next time I saw her she was talking about turning me into a weapon! And now she’s doing it to an entire people! We’re going to have to think very hard about how to fight something as powerful as she is when we get to the surface, and if we can’t hold her then I’m not sure I’ll have any choice but the obvious alternative!” 

“Whoa--” Johnny began. 

“I don’t want to be anything like that, of course I don’t! I also want to pour all this-this-this…poison she brought into my life out my horn and right into whatever she has for a heart! And I have to spend every day knowing I feel this and wonder if it’s bad that I don’t feel bad about myself for it, so if you want her, you know what, you can take her! Just as long as I get to snap her horn off first! At least!” 

Johnny let her breathe for a bit. “I meant how do you think she turned my powers off.” 

“Oh.” Twilight hastily smoothed her mane down. It had been rising like angry mist. She tried to fold her wings back in. “Um, y-yeah, probably the same way she mesmerised Shining. In your case that sounded like a post-hypnotic trigger. Have you been under her spell at any point?” 

“Once,” Johnny agreed, nodding. “She was trying to start something with Monster Island and Aqualusia. Don’t remember most of it, but she got the drop on me as this relief worker and I spent a while as her zombie spy/bodyguard. Grim smacked it out of me, though. Or so we thought.” 

“Hmm.” Twilight squinted at him as if trying to X-ray his face. “Do you have any idea how long?” 

“A week maybe? I was just supposed to be helping this E.U.P. camp get set up for flood relief and then…it’s mostly green.” 

“Then that’s long enough for her to come up with a contingency,” Twilight said. “I take it Dr. Rivers looked you over?” 

“He made me the world’s most uncool hat out of a salad bowl, but yeah. He seemed satisfied!” 

“He didn’t have to watch a leech with his sister-in-law’s face pouring a spell into his brother’s horn,” Twilight muttered, eyes narrowing. Her expression genuinely lightened as she put a hoof on his shoulder. “Maybe I’ve thought about it too much, but, well, I have been preparing for running into an enthralled pony again. I’ve been working on dispersal magic ever since Discord first showed up, just in case, you know? So I’m fairly certain I can find whatever she planted in your head and…uh…”

“Light me back up,” Johnny supplied with a grin. “Awesome! So what’s the hold up?”

“Well, we’ve got to rendezvous with the others first.” Twilight looked down. “And there’s no floor right now.”

“What, you need a gurney? Red carpet? Cosy fireside? C’mon, make with the lightshow!”

“Actually,” Twilight said patiently, “yes, a quiet, stable environment would help with something this complex. My test subjects so far have been three bunnies. One of them tried to take over Ponyville. Another still thinks it’s a dog.”

“…but like a cool dog, right?” Johnny said eventually. 

“Just saying you probably want some ponies who know you very well, just in case you forget…a lot of stuff, alright?” 

“Ten four.” 


39


“And those pylons! Manehattan’s got some beauties, but if I’m reading these walls right then you guys make at least twice the length, but on a tiny scale! For real, these should be in the Glitzernheim!” 

“Don’t you just hate these awkward silences?” Crystal smiled, floating her cloud around another wire strung pillar. 

“Sorry!” Spider-Pony chuckled, bounding from pillars and pipes beside her. “Guess these kinda places are just a little off my beat. Usually I don’t see something this intricate unless it’s a metal octopus arm aimed at my head.”

“Just promise you won’t be so busy admiring Maximus’ cables you’ll forget to punch him in the head,” Crystal smiled. She held up a hoof crackling with sparks to examine some graffiti on a sign and nodded to herself. 

“Clocking mad scientist is a Spidey speciality.” The Web-Slinger swung after her around a corner, crawling along the underside of a walkway to keep up as she lowered into a nearby tunnel. “Man, wish I had my camera…” 

“What, is there an Equestrian market for foreign sewer stills?” 

“You’d be surprised.” 

Crystal snorted. “You’re pretty funny.”

“I’m no Element of Laughter but I try!” 

“You’re also nervous.”

“…sorry?” 

Crystal squinted up at him, dispersing her cloud and daintily dropping to the tunnel floor. “You were near-feral not too long ago and I think this is you coping. You’re following me through sewer tunnels for Hala’s sake! I don’t care what kind of engineering geek you are, nothing’s that fascinating. You just don’t want to think too hard, so your mouth’s on auto-pilot.” 

“I can see why Princess Celestia had you over for tea,” Spidey muttered. 

“See, at least snippy is something.” Crystal tapped Triton’s access rune against a panel, unsealing a door hatch. “We’re fighting an invading army here! I know it’s stressful, but I don’t have time to play tour guide to somekno…pony in denial, okay?” 

Spidey squinted as he flipped off the doorframe to ceiling-crawl after her. “You offering to play therapist?”

“Hey, miles to go. Gotta pass the time somehow.” Crystal looked up at him in concern. “And being totally serious, that didn’t strike me as normal. Johnny and Twilight know you pretty well, I’m sure, and you caught them completely off guard. I mean, I’m pretty ready to shove Chrysalis’ horn up her spinneret—”

“Not sure she has those…” 

“—but she was disguised as Medusa and you went what Johnny would probably call ‘full beast mode’ just from eye contact.”

They emerged onto some kind of junction, water flowing up and down transparent tubes. 

“And got my butt kicked if you’ll recall,” Spidey said, bouncing off the floor to perch on a railing. 

“You’re not mad about that.” Crystal shook her head, using her powers to trot across the surface of the water in a storage tank. “I just need to know if it’s going to happen again. I want to know I can rely on you, because Attilan is relying on the four of us.” 

“Put like that,” Spidey sighed. A couple more parkour moves allowed him to follow her to another chamber and buy some time to think. “Honestly? I dunno. That’s never happened before. I mean, I get…tense around changelings, but I’ve never felt like…”

Crystal looked up at him from rewiring a platform.  

“Like I was more…spider than pony.” He shut his lenses. “I know that sounds like some kind of cheesy tagline, but…”

“Could you control it?” 

“No idea.” 

“Maybe we could use you to smoke out other changelings, then.”

Spidey squinted. The platform began to rise so he flipped off his perch to balance on the edge of it. “You’re benching me?”

“Anything but,” Crystal smiled. “I’ve seen you fight, remember? But fighting is thinking. Or, well, sensing according to Karnak, but back there you, uh...”

“Did not seem sensible,” Spidey agreed. “I get it.” 

“Chrysalis just doesn’t seem like the kind of creature we should underestimate, is all.” Crystal winced, rubbing one of her still bruised forelegs. “And taking her head on didn’t work.”

“Dunno about that.” 

She waited for him to elaborate. 

“She was shielding a lot.” Spidey shrugged. “And at least two of you pack literal heat. That tells us she’s not confident she can physically take what you can dish out. My bruised ribs and, okay, ego to the contrary.” 

“There are tricks you can pull with a forcefield…” Crystal mused. “The problem is Black Bolt.” 

“Sure, if he’s there. And no offence but your…brother-in-law?” She nodded. “Didn’t seem to be home. If the Thing tells you somepony can’t be clobbered, you listen. No way he outmuscles Grim Skies and a small airship put him down for, what, ten, twenty minutes?”

“Huh. When he was chasing me and Twilight he had no finesse,” Crystal mused, nodding to herself. “Maybe if we can separate him from Chrysalis long enough her influence starts to--“

Spidey tensed up. “Chasing Twilight?”

Crystal considered him, then smiled. “You’re one hay of a patriot.” 

“She’s…” Spidey let some piping and wires and tunnels go by, but the Unknown just sat there with that patient expression on her face. “She’s a good person.” 

“I hear that. You’re close.” 

“Maybe.” Spidey looked down into the shadows, half admiring the intricate maze of walkways and pipes, like looking at a map of Canterlot secret passages. “She…might not wanna be for much longer. Sun and Moon knows I’ve given her enough reasons not to.” 

“She’s the Princess of Friendship,” Crystal smiled, putting a hoof on his shoulder so he’d look at her. “If she wants to fix it, she will. Whatever it is.” 

“Thanks,” Spidey said. Eventually he coughed, rallying. “So enough about me! What’s with you and Johnny?” 

Crystal raised a brow. “Are you and Twilight like me and Johnny?” 

“Now who’s evading the question?” 

“Uh, I already had this conversation last week and nopony was wearing a mask.” 

“Right, so you have a blank canvass to vent to! And! You know I’m good at keeping a secret.” Although…at this point, what were the odds she could take a fairly educated guess at his real identity? 

“So am I,” Crystal smirked.

“C’mon, you said this’d take a while. Gotta pass the time somehow! Alright, how about the first time I met Johnny?”

“He had a lot to say about you back in the day,” Crystal chuckled, leaning on the handle of the platform, but really to settle in. “How do you know he didn’t already tell me?” 

Spidey winked. “How do you know either of us is telling the truth?” 

“Will you tell me how you get your mask to do that?”

“Maybe. It all started with a prototype Fantastic Inc. adamantine vault…”


40


“I don’t believe you,” Twilight Sparkle said. 

“No, seriously,” Johnnycake persisted, “we had nothing to do, so--”

“Not that!” Twilight scoffed. She’d have playfully elbowed him but they were crossing a walkway, and if Alicorn strength knocked him over the rails, well, he couldn’t fly right now. “That joke about the archbishop and the Super Apes! What did that have to do with anything?!”

“Just adding some colour.”

“Your sense of humour’s a lot more…blunt than Peter’s.“

“Blunt?! I’m a finely honed instrument!”

“Okay, okay.” Twilight rolled her eyes, still smiling. “You make those kinds of jokes around Crystal?” 

“Sometimes,” Johnny chuckled. He paused as they came to another graffitied wall and indicated a stairwell on the right with a jerk of his head. “She and a lot of the younger Unknowns are way into our weird little surface stuff. I think you’ll really like her movie collection.” 

“Ooh, any classics?” 

“Sure, maybe,” Johnny said neutrally. “You two are getting on pretty well, huh?”

“It’s a princess thing, I suppose.” Twilight shrugged. “I wasn’t born to it or anything but, well, you know what it’s like for something to just…happen one day.”

“True that,” Johnny smiled. “And if you wouldn’t mind some advice?”

“By all means!”

“It’s the days after where things start getting better. Crystal would probably have some better way to say it, but she’s better at basically everything.”

“Is…that how you feel?” 

“That’s how it is!” Johnny smiled, shrugging. “And by the way? She and Medusa married into the royal line. And! She’s got plenty of people between her and throne. You don’t have to worry about coming up short. Things do just happen.”

“…thanks,” Twilight smiled. She hesitated. “I know you must feel strange with your powers, uh...”

“They won’t be ‘uh’ for long, so I’m feeling pretty good, actually!” Johnny did a little skip-dance to demonstrate. 

“Right. Uh. But do you ever miss normal?” 

“Dunno. I co-rent, is that not normal?” 

“Oh, I-I didn’t mean anything by it!” Twilight stammered. “Just, that is, I guess...” She sighed. “Do you ever wonder if life would be better if you were just a little pony?” 

“No, but I’m pretty great.” Johnny finished examining his mane in a shiny panel. “Besides you guys got your laser necklaces out of a tree of whatever, right? Sounds pretty naturalistic to me.” 

“…that’s actually a good way to look at it,” Twilight said. She qualified it with, “I suppose.”

“You’re Princess Celestia’s student, too! C’mon, even if you didn’t earn your wings you’d probably still be hocks deep in the business by now. Magic doesn’t have anything more to do with who you are than Terrigan Mist does with Crystal. Just think of it as a radioactive spider.” 

“Okay,” Twilight said coolly, smirking as they boarded another platform to whatever utility station was next, “so what would you do if you’d never heard of cosmic rays?” 

“Super modelling,” Johnny said immediately, checking his teeth with a mirror from his collar. 

Twilight blinked. “So you’d…work with Photo Finish maybe?”

“I’d probably still be banned for life from her pool parties,” Johnny grinned, “and her secret weapon to liven up garden parties. But that’d just be the day job.” 

“There’s layers to this plan then?” Twilight smiled despite herself. 

“What? It’s a paycheck. And it’d go into some for real super modelling: custom airships! My special talent, Reed’s know-how, Sue’s business savvy, Grim’s snoring, we’d still be a force to be reckoned with! That’s not cosmic rays either, there was magic in that hanger.” 

“Friendship is magic,” Twilight agreed. 

“Wait, for real? I was just trying to sound awesome.” 

“You were doing a very good job!” Twilight chuckled. “But yes. Seen it with my own eyes. I don’t understand all of it yet, but you’re right. If six strangers could find out they had a special connection before they knew what Harmony was, then why couldn’t four ponies make one amazing family with no cosmic influence? Maybe you would’ve found the Elements before us or something!” 

“Now there’s an interesting parallel universe,” Johnny mused stroking his chin. 

Twilight smiled. “It’s complex, but so are people, and friendship can’t happen without them. That’s what my studies are. I think they always will be, because there’s no end to the possibilities. If anything, the most valuable lesson my friends have taught me is that there’ll always be more to learn.”

“Ever think of going into marketing?” 

“No, why?” 

“'Cause I dunno that I’d subscribe to your newsletter, but I’d sure read it!” 

“Oh. Uh, well, I still write papers if you’d be interested?” 

“Do they come with any gold braid? Maybe some of those fancy red ribbons? Those always look good on a shelf!” 

“My budget doesn’t really…? We can use some town hall stationary?” 

“Rustic chic, huh?” Johnny nodded to himself. “Well, maybe for a sunset shoot.”

“You’d shoot rustic sunsets in your Lower East Side apartment?” Twilight squinted, wondering why she was encouraging him. 

“Pete’s still got his cameras and I always look good! Why not?” 

“…you do you,” Twilight allowed. 

“Always do! You guys got a plan yet?” 

“We’ll talk strategies once…” Something about the way his smile didn’t change set off her own Spider-Sense. “Not what you meant.”

“I mean after,” Johnny clarified, holding up a hoof. “No pressure, but there’ll always be evil queens. You find them in every mall and behind every desk in Equestria, and that’s just Equestria. Whatever you guys have, that has to be stronger. It’s got the harder job. It has to work.” 

Silence. 

“Look, feel free to turn me into a toad or whatever--”

“That’s a hurtful stereotype,” Twilight sighed. “No, I know where you’re coming from. You’re being a good friend.”

“I’m an amazing friend,” Johnny agreed without a trace of irony. “But Pete was just your friend once too, right?” 

“He was…” Twilight rubbed her mane for something to do. “I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. I didn’t even know his name at first. His real one.”

“But you wanted to!” Johnny beamed. 

Twilight nodded slowly. “And now we’re fighting. Or we were. I’ve never been through a week like that!” 

“And now you’re in the middle of a changeling invasion,” Johnny agreed. “Lot on your plate, I get it. But you’ve gotta know that’s still gonna be there when the dust settles.”

“I said we’d talk after I got back from this exchange,” Twilight sighed. “Does that sound like the right move? I’ve never had to make this kind of decision before.”

“No, totally the right move.” Johnny put a hoof on her shoulder. “And listen, bro code, Team-Pete all the way, but that doesn’t mean I’m not on yours. Trust me, the problem isn’t talking, it’s getting him to pull his head out of his webs and listen. It’s all that inner monologuing, weighs on the ear canals or something.” 

“The Journal of Equestrian Medicine thanks you for your contribution.” Twilight rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Thanks Johnny, that means a lot.” 

“Hey, real fights, they’re tough. It’s okay to feel beaten up or whatever. And I’m rootin’ for you two, believe me, but it’s your choice if you get back in the ring. You can fight because you care, too.” 

“You’re actually pretty good at this.” 

“Multifaceted like a diamond,” Johnny agreed, nodding solemnly, putting a hoof over his chest. “Seriously. It’s a burden.”

“So how’d you and Crystal deal with, uh, differences of opinion?” 

“Dunno,” Johnny said, shrugging. Twilight flinched as he hopped off their platform, but it was only because they were inches from docking. “We never really fought. You coming?”

Twilight trotted after him, joining in the search for more graffiti. But she was distracted. 

“Yeah, party in the back,” Johnny said eventually, running a hoof along the stylish back of his mane, “but that’s not the reason you’re eyeballing me.” 

“No!” Twilight flustered, wings flaring. “I mean, that’s not what eyeballing is! Shining showed me, it’s kind of gross! Just, uh…”

“I’m fascinating, I know.” Johnny found another piece of graffiti and led her through a forest of futuristic power transformers. “I’ve had to make peace with it.”

“I’m just trying to figure you out, I guess. Brag all you want, but yes, you are a very interesting pony, powers or no. Dragon and the egg situation, I suppose.”

“My biographer’s in international waters right now,” Johnny said, and Twilight wondered if she should be worried that things like this were becoming less surprising to her, “but I could fill in any blanks? Seriously, we’ve got a-ways to go, what kind of host would I be if I let you be bored stiff?”

“It’s not your colony!” Twilight giggled. “I don’t know. It ties into the Magic of Friendship, kind of. Different people making something different together. You’re my boyfriend’s best friend but your ‘day jobs’ are very, very different—”

Johnny smirked, raising an eyebrow. “So he’s still your boyfriend?”

“—you’re part of a close family but you’re way more open than I ever was,” Twilight pressed on to avoid getting tongue tied. “Hay, on that note, our callings are a bit similar, too! We keep getting called all over Equestria, we value our friends, but we’re not identical. For starters, Great Pony in the Sky do I wish I had your budget! But for all that we even have friends in common, you know? Even if you and Rainbow Dash are fighting--”

“Okay, time out!” Johnny lashed his tail. “Rainbow’s fighting with me. I washed my hooves of the whole thing.”

A beat, nothing but the hum of Attilan’s electrical processes and running water echoing from somewhere. Twilight knew he wasn’t mad at her, but she had also put her hoof in it. 

“Rainbow was…not in a good place,” she sighed, “and she shouldn’t have said what she said. But Rarity told me about how you were willing to try and rekindle…something. Would you have done that if there was nothing there?”

“Got enough to fill the void,” Johnny muttered. “New apartment, new job, and I can make more friends.” He shut his eyes. “Look, I know she’s yours and Rarity’s. But if she doesn’t want it to happen what am I supposed to do?” 

“Then I guess my question is if you want it to happen,” Twilight said gently. She smiled. “Feel free to melt me down for scrap if I’m speaking out of line.” 

“That’s a hurtful stereotype,” Johnny smiled. He mulled something over. “Right. Crystal doesn’t hear a word of this, okay? Last thing I wanna do is make her worry. Ever.” 

“Uh, alright.” Twilight held up a hoof. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” 

Johnny watched as she held the pose for a little too long with a smile that was a little too sincere. 

“…yeah, okay,” he decided. He sat against some railings. “What do you know about Galactaurus?”

“You pushed back an entity even Discord doesn’t dare cross,” Twilight said diplomatically but still curious. “No easy feat.” 

“It is if you’re the Fantastic Family,” Johnny said but without much customary swagger. He looked up at the maze of pipes and tiles and walkways and lightstrips and shadows that made up the ceiling of Atillan’s underside. “What the news reels don’t show you is what I had to do so we could beat him. Did the Princess ever mention Uatu to you?”

“The Watcher,” Twilight breathed. “He’s real?” 

“As real as giant owl in a toga can be,” Johnny smiled. “Anyway, old big eyes shows up, skies of fire, storms, asteroids, the herald comes, yadda yadda. This was before the Surfer was on our side by the way, and while I’m not giving any of those medals back you should really thank our friend Armarilla.” 

“Armarilla Masterpeice?! The sculptress?!” Twilight clapped shocked hooves over her mouth. “Sorry, I’ll stop doing that, think it’s all those years I worked without a lab partner, had to take my own notes, go on, sorry.” 

“Anyway,” Johnny smiled, “even when she brought old Norrin ‘round, nothing we threw at his boss was working. The Watcher steps out of the shadows to tell us there might be a chance to grab the one thing he’s scared of…” He gestured to her, but she was keeping her word, which he could respect. “The Ultimate Nullifier. But it’s so crazy shielded it doesn’t even need to be guarded. Y'know, on account of being on some other plane of existence the mortal mind can't comprehend. Only one of us has the speed to fly through the crazy and bring it back before they go irreparably insane. Guess who.” 

“That’s…” Twilight didn’t have the words. “That was a lot to ask of you. And I’m speaking as somepony who had to go into the Everfree Forest to prevent eternal night. Weren’t you, uh…terrified?!” 

“Didn’t know to be.” Johnny shrugged then looked down at the floor. “But I was a quick study.” 

Twilight couldn’t do anything but let the silence stretch for a while. She’d heard about the Nullifier of course, mostly legends used to introduce her university studies into different planes of existence. Every single one had come with the same warnings. 

“What did you see?” she managed eventually. 

“Dunno,” Johnny said simply. 

She could have slapped him, but realised it wasn’t obtuseness or facetiousness. Well. Not more than usually. 

“I just know it was big,” Johnny decided. “Bigger than big. So big that you know little pony doesn’t really cover it. A secret so big that it isn’t really a secret, we’re just nowhere near whatever it is. Only reason I can still stand upright and eat solids is my brain apparently erased all of this in self-defence. Y’know. As you do.” 

He looked up at her and smiled. “But I hung on long enough to get the Nullifier to Reed. You wanna understand me, Twilight Sparkle? When I was fourteen years old, I survived a rocket crash. When I was fifteen, the world was going to end.” His eyes glinted. “And then it didn’t. Galactaurus backed down. If I treat every day like it’s a party, sure, I get how that can be a lot but…”

“But nopony could really blame you,” Twilight said gently. 

“Not for lack of trying!” Johnny winked. “But yeah. If nothing matters then everything does, I guess. I dunno, I never really put it into words. But I think you get it. You guys have stopped, what, four apocalypses and counting? It’s just hard not to enjoy being alive!” 

“Chrysalis is a lot more apocalyptic than she was in Canterlot,” Twilight mused, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Yeah, and she’s not taking Crystal’s home on my watch. And what I’m saying is even if this whole situation wasn't going down I’ve still got bigger problems than Rainbow Dash.” Johnny sat up. “Sorry, but there it is.” 

“No, you feel how you feel,” Twilight agreed. “Thank you for sharing all of that with me. It was a lot.” 

“I contain multitudes,” Johnny breezed. His smile flickered slightly. “Again, Crystal doesn’t need to know this. You coming?” 

“Yeah, of course! Lead on.” 

You’re  a good pony, Johnnycake, she thought ruefully as he led her to another platform dock, but you tell me to fight, then that you’ve given up on Dash. And you don’t fight with Crystal, but you’ll keep secrets from her that you just told a complete stranger.


41


“And we know times have been hard,” Queen Medusa said solemnly into a camera, “but as always Attilan has persevered.” 

She bowed her head sadly. “And it pains me that we must ask you not just to continue doing so, but to also endure betrayal by those we thought closest to us.” 

Behind her footage was being edited. Security pictures of the Horseshoe Torch, Twilight Sparkle and Spider-Pony battling Chrysalis and Thorax. By the time Maximus was done there’d be no sign of a single changeling, just plenty of juicy shots of ponies ravaging the capital of the Unknown nation. 

“Which regretfully,” Medusa continued, making sure the camera caught her eyes fighting not to shed a single, magisterial tear, “include my…our royal sister, Princess Crystal. These outsiders have turned her, and in her betrayal I feel that I have betrayed you all. From the bottom of my heart I am sorry and swear that we shall make amends.”

Footage of Crystal riding a cloud before unleashing green lightning was already cued to play as she started this bit. 

“If you see any of these dangerous creatures, please, do not put yourself at risk, but do not stand idle while Equestria tries to seize our home, your home, as they have the spirit of our sister! Only together can I finally run Celestia through with her little school filly’s own horn—Bleh, no, wait, that’s not right.” Medusa shook her head and cleared her throat. “From blah blah blah sister.” 

The changeling behind the camera, wearing a beret and ascot, nodded and hoofwaved her down from three. 

“Only together can we defend Attilan from those who would see her brought low. Report any sightings of the invaders to your guards. Do not risk yourself by attempting to reason with the fallen Crystal, as she has already released everyknown in the Maze onto our streets. Should she attempt to trick you, defend yourself!” 

Medusa fought to keep a sneer off her face, turning it into grimly narrowing her eyes, a nice touch though she said so herself. “Be especially wary of this purple pony, an agent of chaos the surface princesses have sent to corrupt our very way of life. We still do not know if it is this Twilight Treason’s honeyed words or freakish magics that have turned our sister against you, but her minions have made Equestria’s intentions plain.” 

She held up a hoof, tracing a lighting bolt in the air before clasping it with her other. “Until all are Known. Aaaand…” She smirked, dropping her false form in a burst of green sparks. “Cut.”  

“Excellent stuff, my little battely axely!” Maximus beamed as his cables manipulated a console to edit a few last changelings out of the footage. “Hopefully this is the last address you need make before all of Attilan bows to your true face!”

“I won’t miss your sister-in-law’s hair, that’s for certain!” Chrysalis simpered. The special wall Maximus had told her would somehow host their edited images slid back into the floor, allowing her to admire the Attilanian throne room “Hmm, you know, this really isn’t bad. Plenty of sharp metal bits, good scale. I could even live with the banners! Perhaps some ichor here and there…”

She bared her fangs in triumph, marching towards the enormous lightning bolt themed window, changelings hastily shifting out of her way as she looked down on the towers. “And best of all, it’s got a view.” 

It wasn’t Canterlot Castle, but it would be worth looking down on it like a cake decoration as her new weapon closed in on it. Celestia would be nothing more than a paper swan and Chrysalis would relish every second. (Until the scale allowed the swan and her various allies to swoop among the buildings and come crashing through her new window, but if she could plan ahead for inevitabilities like that she wouldn’t have been hiding in a wasteland for decades.) 

“We shall certainly be on the lookout for those little pests,” Maximus agreed. He made the final adjustments by hoof and stamped a rune with a gloved hoof. “And done!” 

Chrysalis watched contentedly as every billboard screen began playing her message with Medusa’s voice. Her brow creased slightly as Maximus slithered some cables around her shoulders. “Hmmm, and you’re sure you can track down all those Maze escapees?” She put on a concerned pout as he turned to her. “I’d just haaaaate it if they went and formed a rowdy, widdle resistance now we’re soooo close to our happy ending!”

“Tracking systems already in place, my chitinous cherub!” 

“Oh, you’re so clever!” Chrysalis endured yet another nuzzle. The 20th of this day alone. She was starting to think there might be something to her partner’s constant tales of parental neglect. “What about your, oh, I’m so scatter brained today, the farming beams?” 

She made sure to blink innocently. 

“The tractor beams?” Maximus blinked back, then chuckled. “Almost there, almost there!” 

“Almost?!” Chrysalis gasped, clasping his hooves, trying to maintain the lilt. “Oh, Maxie! How almost is almost?” 

“Well, I wanted your big broadcast to go perfectly, so I set up a sub-routine to--” Something in the Unknown’s collar chimed. He retracted a small rectangle of plastic Chrysalis had seen him use a few times and checked its screen. “Finish the task! All we need to do is insert this into the Hyper-Helm and Attilan is ours!” 

“You mean this?” Chrysalis reached out with her telekinesis to manipulate mechanisms woven throughout the room. 

With a pleasing swish, sections of the walls and floors reorganised themselves, lightning and diamond patterns streaming aside as insectile arms glided out to assemble a frame. Tiles from the surroundings interlocked, spreading glass sheets to complete the assembling of a complex console.

Chrysalis buzzed over to take her place behind it while Maximus used a cable to delicately slide his little gewgaw into a crown shaped slot. She flinched as it let out a piercing drill whine, but it was instantly drowned out by exhilaration as every light on the Helm and around the room turned either green or cerulean. 

Tentatively, the queen placed her hooves against two sliders. Her lip curled in triumph as map and compass holograms flickered out of the consoles on her left, while a series of green and cerulean lights lit up on her right. 

“Attilan is now mobile, though still only equipped with defensive weaponry,” Maximus smirked. “But with your ingenuity and my genius, the colony’s tractor beams have been considerably increased. With but a flick of a hoof and an eye on the gauge over there, no, that one, we can pull apart entire swaths of enemy territory!” 

His wide eyes were growing as his pupils shrank, forming unsettling wrinkles on his forehead as if his own skin were trying to get out of the expression’s way. “We can pull apart entire mountains!”

“Then I don’t need you anymore, do I?” Chrysalis smiled to herself, never taking her eyes off the instruments. A hologram of Canterlot rose out of the map as she almost caressed its slider. 

Maximus blinked. A contingent of changelings began to crawl across the walls towards him like leopards in long grass. “Come again, my little battely axely?”

“Maximus,” the queen sighed, pushing one slider towards herself so Black Bolt’s throne coasted up to her and allowed her to sit, “sweetheart. I am an invader. You are one of the rulers of the place I am invading. Let’s think about this.” 

“But…” One of Maximus’ cables reeled out of his collar to stroke his chin as he tried to concentrate. “You love me!” 

“I never said that!” Chrysalis beamed. “I did, however, take advantage of your rather obvious need to be loved. And now that you’ve given me these nice and simple controls to turn your colony into my personal fortress, I’m giving you to Pharynx as a chew toy.” 

“He looks soft,” her lieutenant snarled from the ceiling, “but what the hay, he also looks like a squealer!”

The rest of his goons cackled. Without turning around Maximus shot two cables into the ceiling, electrifying it. Pharynx and the other changelings jabbered and writhed as the current coursed through them, crashing to the floor like the Unknowns’ hopes and dreams. 

“But then…” Maximus’ brow wrinkled with confusion so much his eyes were being pressed down. “Who’s love have you been powering yourself with, by the One Below All?!”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Who’s do you think?” 

A black gloved hoof wrapped around Maximus’ still crackling cables, hauling him off his hooves. 

“Oh, come on!” the mad genius gagged, struggling with his collar. Black Bolt gripped it with his other hoof and tore it apart, letting his brother drop to the floor. “Alright, alright, fine, I’m Un enough to admit when I’ve been outmanoeuvred. You wouldn’t happen to be in the market for a grand vizier, would you?”

“The plan doesn’t really need much more,” Chrysalis sighed contentedly as she sank back into her new throne. “Attilan crashes into Canterlot, devastating as much of Equestria as possible along the way. ‘Queen Medusa’, or maybe 'Princess Luna' depending on my mood, emerges miraculously unscathed and rallies her surviving subjects against those treacherous outsiders! Bonds are forged, passions run high, and I sit on both thrones with my new all-powerful secret weapon, slowly picking both sides off until they run out of love or bodies. Whichever comes first.” 

“Oh.” Maximus blinked, realising he was still quite taken. “But what about the Fantastic Family?”

“What about the Fantastic Family?” Chrysalis muttered, although she did rub her jaw at the memory of that one incident with the Thing. She waved an irritable hoof, still not looking at the brothers. “Look, just go hang upside down with your cousin and the dog, won’t you?”

“You’ll regret this!” Maximus yelled, shaking a clenched hoof as Black Bolt floated them out of the room. He squawked as his thrashing inadvertently banged his head off the doorframe. 

“You’ll still be on board when we crash,” Chrysalis trilled, waving after them, “so no I won’t.” 

“Loser,” Pharynx muttered as the other changelings cracked up. 

“Oh, I know,” Chrysalis sighed, slumping into Black Bolt’s throne. “He’s made me all cross now! I need to destroy something right this instant!” 

She spun the globe again, pulling up a hologram of the castle of the Crystal Empire. It flickered with static thanks to all the wild magic up north, but Chrysalis chose to see that as a glorious sign of things to come. 

“And it may be the long way around,” she sneered, engaging the helm, “but it’ll be worth it.” 


42


Spider-Pony squinted. “…the hay was that?” 

“What?” Crystal pulled up short on her cloud. “Your sense thing?”

“No, something…deeper…” 

They flinched at their surroundings shook, air shattering under the sound of grinding machinery. Spidey leapt off his current perch before he was thrown clear, firing twin web-lines to secure himself to the ceiling until it passed. “Did I ask what the hay was that already?” 

“We’re moving,” Crystal snarled, speeding her cloud into a tunnel mouth. 

“Uh, where?” Spidey had to abandon swinging to gallop along the tight tunnel’s floor after her. “You said those markers--”

“Attilan is moving,” Crystal clarified.

“Something tells me you’re not referring to the Unknown FM hit single.” 

“Oh!” The warrior princess left Crystal’s face as she looked over at him. “We actually enjoy a lot of pony music up here! Picked up some stray radio signals a few times, then Knowns just had to have more. There was a whole black-market thing, that’s what these tunnels are.” 

“For real?”

“Yeah! I mean sure, it used to be weapons for coups and stuff, but after our houses stabilised things it was all about surface goodies. Before Chrysalis played her hoof my biggest worry was my collection was going to be too outdated.” 

“Competitive field?” Spidey chuckled, twisting between beams and conduits. 

“No, for Twilight.” 

“Oh.” He swung along in silence for a beat. “I’m sure Johnny helped you pick out some timeless stuff. Guy might be full of himself, but only because he knows he’s got a good eye.” 

“He does,” Crystal smiled fondly. “Though maybe I should be asking you for tips on Twilight, hmm?”

“Why’s Chrysalis moving the city?” Spidey asked, taking a swing over a walkway more sharply than he’d intended. A wall panel clanged, half buckling as he stuck to it. “Uh…sorry.” 

“I feel like I should apologise.” Crystal waved it off, eyes narrowed. “As for Chrysalis, I can guarantee it’s for nothing good. We’re almost to the spot. All we can do is hope Johnny and Twilight make it in time for us to come up with something before she and Maximus hit Equestria. Any advice on changelings?” 

Spidey shrugged mid-swing. “You should ask Twilight.”

“I’m trying to be considerate here but, well.” Crystal made a face. “You’ve run into them before, right?” 

“Twice,” Spidey said simply. “All I know is I freak them out. Had to help the Elements solve some mystery in a tomb a bunch of them were using as a hive, but I’ve never run into Chrysalis until now. Twilight went on a big research kick after what they did to her brother, all I remember is creepy bedtime stories. Hay, that’s all changelings were to us until last year.” 

“Hmm. Anything about weaknesses to mistletoe or animal noises in those stories?” 

“Just some stuff about true love and magic mirrors, and Princess Celestia says that last one’s based on when Chrysalis tried to crush her with a vanity mirror, sorry. You guys pack any pesticides?”

Crystal raised a brow. “Yeah?” 

“Then if they’re anything like me a couple blasts of ethyl chloride should make them feel like a bad day after Hearth’s Warming.” Spidey winked at her from the upside-down apex of his latest swing. “Appreciate it if you’d keep that under your crown, my rouges have this on again off again thing with forward planning.” 

“I don’t wear a crown outside of state functions,” Crystal scoffed. “Hala, if Medusa and Black Bolt hadn’t been so into each other my family would’ve probably been a sidebar in the history files when Father’s ministerial term wrapped up.”

“Sounds like you wouldn’t have minded,” Spidey noted as they both landed on the steps of a water processing plant to catch their breath. 

“Sometimes.” Crystal shrugged, smiling as they sat on their haunches. “Didn’t have too long to think about it before Maximus’ big coup. And without that I might not have seen as much of your world as I have.”

“Hey, way Dr. Rivers tells it you guys were born here,” Spidey pointed out. “That makes it your world too.” 

“Thanks,” Crystal beamed. 

“Did I ever thank you?” Spidey put his head on one side as she blinked. “That thing with Dr. Gloam's golem a couple years back. You made it punch itself in the head, saved my tail?”

“Oh right!” Crystal’s own tail lashed at the memory. “Eh, just hit it with a lightning bolt. Throws off their systems. Wasn’t planning on it punching its own head off but it looked cool, so I’m not complaining.” 

“Same here!” Spidey chuckled. “A lot of this business is looking like you know what you’re doing.”

“Tell me about it.” Crystal smoothed down a strand of her mane even though it wasn’t in her face. “Would it be cool if I…showed up more? Kinda?”

Spidey squinted. “You’re asking for permission?” 

“Okay, seriously, that’s so creepy, how does it do that?” 

“Do what?” Spidey waggled his lenses. Crystal formed a warning snowball. “Alright, alright! You’d do fine in Manehattan. Hay, you did fine when you were rolling with the FF. We’ve had worst tourists.” 

“I meant if I maybe showed up with Johnny,” Crystal’s said in a voice that sounded like it was taking a lot of self-control not to bite her lip. 

Nothing but the whisper of outflowing water for a beat. 

“Uh…” Spider-Pony said for something to say. He stood up. “Sorry, sometime this just helps me think better.” And backflipped until he was perched on the side of a storage tank. “Okay, you and he are talking, so if you’re happy then everypony’ll be happy.” 

“Can see why you’ve lasted so long,” Crystal scoffed. “Seriously, that’s some Neighlympian tier dodging.” 

“So we’ve established you maybe don’t think you’d be happy,” the Web-Slinger noted thoughtfully as his tail pointed at her. 

“…yeah, ‘kay, that was pretty good,” the Unknown muttered, sullenly folding her forelegs and glaring at some grinding turbines a few walkways over. 

Spidey decided to drop the act entirely. “Do you want to get together again?”

“He says he’ll accept whatever I decide,” Crystal sighed. 

“Yeah, but that’s not the question. Manticore to your head, what do you want?”

“I…” The Unknown mulled it over. Or, if Peter’s own experience had taught him anything, stopped putting off an answer. “I love Johnny. It’s why I gave him that communicator. I mean, ‘in case you need to talk’? C’mon.”

“But?” Spidey prompted gently.

“Okay.” Crystal took a breath. She’d been fortifying for what felt like a tidal wave but it  was surprisingly simple once she committed. “I’d like to be with him again, but I want options.”

She shut her eyes and scuffed the metal floor. “That sounds awful doesn’t it?”

“Hey, that surface you’re so eager to visit?” She looked up as Spider-Pony tumbled off his perch to look her in the eye. “Everyone down there wants options too.”

“You Equestrians and your soliloquies,” Crystal rolled her eyes, but she was filling the air with silent gratitude.

“Yeah, my uncle was way better at this. So, ah…what’s ‘options’?”

“Everything else,” Crystal said before she could stop herself.

A beat.

Spidey rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, Johnny’s my best friend in this crazy business, got a roof over my head thanks to him. If you both want it, it’ll work. But I think the question you should ask yourself now is if he wasn’t an option…does that mean you wouldn’t have any others?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Crystal admitted, nodding to herself. She smiled. “Thank you.”

“You realise I’m obligated to be twice as rascally now?” Spidey noted, cartwheeling after her as they began to head further into the facility. “Y’know, overcompensate, bury the awkwardness?”

“There’s something our races have in common,” the Unknown smirked, “boys and their feelings.”

“Whatcha gonna do, make it illegal to talk about sports and monster trucks instead?” He perched on a wall, shaking a hoof at her. “Not in my Equestria!” 

“This isn’t Equestria.” Crystal began searching for more graffiti. 

“I dunno, imperilled, dependant on princesses to save us all, a monster trying to steal all the love for themselves…”

“We could forge a relationship over better things than Chrysalis, but I see your point.” 

“I was talking about Johnny.” 

Crystal shook her head as she chuckled. She found a splatter marked slogan and beckoned to follow her through a row of tanks. “Still not buying that’s how you guys became friends.” 

“Yeah, one of us tells only truths,” Spidey noted idly, casually hopping onto a conduit connecting the tanks and tightrope walking it, “the other only--”

“Or that there’s not something going on between you and Twilight.” She smirked as he almost toppled off. “C’mon, we both know friendship is a different wavelength from whatever this is. You just did me a serious favour and we’re not that far off being hocks deep in bug monsters. Unload!”

“She’s dating that guy who takes all my photos,” Spidey countered.

“Yeah, but he’s not here,” Crystal parried. Her follow up was casual but she was looking at him a little too hard. “Is he?”  

A beat.

“I’ll accept whatever she decides,” Spider-Pony said, hopping off the tanks. “If she just wants to be friends after everything that’s happened, that’ll be more than I deserve. I…”

He frowned and held up his left hind leg in disgust. “…just stepped in something gross!”

Crystal stared at the glistening green strand trailing from her travelling companion’s hoof to the floor. Still hopping, Spidey slapped on his spider-signal to get a better look at it. “Ugh, is this what being webbed up is like? I feel so bad now!”  

“Quit moving!” the Unknown sighed. He didn’t but she still nailed the goop with a thin stream of sub-zero air, flash-freezing it. A simple chop and Spidey’s leg was his own again, allowing him to turn with her to light up a row of towering panelled archways over the tanks. With a trail of ichor curling across the floor towards one. 

“So we thinkin’ nest,” Spidey ventured, “or…?”

Crystal lit up her own flashlight in her sigil collar and trotted up to the archway. Once you knew you were looking for it the patches of stale green were easy to make out between seams. “They’d have to stash the guards somewhere…” she muttered, sending small streams of wind into the seams to see which were hollow. 

Five spaces in just that one arch, it turned out, Spidey confirming it was reachable only by crawling. The arches had been designed as pillars of collapsible platforms, allowing non-flying maintenance workers to form bridges as needed, which also necessitated throughways and storage spaces. Crystal speculated some of the out-of-use storage tanks would be a good place to search as well, since while the first and second one they tried were empty the rest were crammed with cocooned, comatose Unknowns, some half armoured. 

The real shock was who they found at the top. 


43


Johnny and Crystal’s spot wasn’t exactly what Twilight had been expecting (which to be honest had been some kind of sci-fi malt shop) but the appeal was obvious. Part of Attilan’s defunct navigation systems, long since replaced by machines on the surface, the spot consisted of an ornate chamber, several shelves and packing crates, and the crowning glory of a glass observation port that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Crystal Empire. 

“Huh.” The Torch frowned as Twilight used a quick spell to disintegrate most of the dust it had acquired. “We’re moving. Check those clouds. Not good.” 

“Gorgon mentioned their relocation protocol,” Twilight winced, “and how noknown was happy about it. Guess we know why Attilan’s so close to Equestira now.” 

“With Maximus at the wheel,” Johnny smiled wryly. “Good news is he and Chrysalis won’t be able to keep the Fam from noticing them. Bad news is it’ll probably be because they’ve used Attilan to do something terrible.” 

“Attilan’s armed?” 

“More to keep Kree or Skrulls out than zapping random ponies, but they don’t call him Maximus the Mellow. He’s probably turned the theme park into a death ray as an engagement present.” 

“Attilan has a theme park?!” Twilight boggled. 

“Did Crystal not tell you?” 

“I was saving it, you blabbermouth!” 

The two spun to see four shadows making their way down the ramp used to ferry supplies into what had become a lover’s point. Crystal stepped into the sunlight, smiling. 

“Crystal!” Johnny galloped up, taking her by surprise with an embrace which she enthusiastically returned. He smirked over her shoulder as Spider-Pony leaned in the archway. “Lockjaw! What’ve they done to you?!” 

“Taught me to get into real estate instead of slap bracelets.” 

Crystal squinted. “You what?” 

“I was misled!” Johnny protested. 

“By what?”

“His reflection, probably,” Spidey cut in. “What’s this about your flames? You back in the saddle yet?” 

“My new favourite princess has a plan, yeah.” Johnny indicated Twilight. “Of course she does, what’s she gonna do, rely on you?”

“Need a nurse?” Spidey asked. “What I lack in experience I make up in enthusiasm and an implacable bedside hammer!” 

“You mean manner,” Twilight chuckled. 

“No I don’t.” 

“You sound better,” Twilight smiled. 

“Uh, yeah.” For something to do, besides looking into her eyes, Spidey crawled up the rim of the arch.  “How, ah, how about you?” 

“I’d like to talk,” Twilight agreed, “just after, you know?”

“Totally.” Spidey quietly nodded back. “And hey, we brought you a lil’ war council!” 

Twilight blinked. Crystal grinned, standing aside so the two shadows behind her could join the conversation.

One was a koromiko Unknown that resembled an Earth Pony but had something of a mountain goat or eastern Unicorn about him, dressed in a viridian sash and strange headdress dome. His face was emotionless under the black domino mask he was wearing, the simple line of his mouth framed by a neat black beard. He was uncomfortably lean, but his long legs had a strange impression of weight, his forelegs wrapped up a little past the knee in black and white wraps. The other…

“Look out!” Twilight sprang back, horn glowing, then caught sight of Crystal’s stunned expression. “Oh! Oh, so this is…this is…?”

“I’m afraid so,” Triton smiled, stepping forward and bowing. “Triton Mander-Azur, Minster of Exploration at your highness’ service. I believe we have some…catching up to do.” 

“Um…” Twilight blushed but smiled in relief and returned the bow. “How about we just say it’s a pleasure to meet you?” 

“Fair,” Triton chuckled. Twilight understood why Crystal would have begun to suspect something when Pharynx replaced her cousin. His features were a perpetually serine smile, almost Celestian. “And may I also introduce my brother?” 

“Karnak Mander-Azur,” the bearded Unknown said as he bowed. “Magistrate and Minister of Defence to the house of Boltagon. We both regret this meeting cannot be under better circumstances.” 

Twilight bowed back. “Likewise, but I’m glad you’re safe!” 

“You’ll forgive me,” Karnack said with the same languid professionalism he apparently said all things with, “but our home has been invaded and turned into a siege engine aimed at your shores. Even if circumstances were not so, the natural rate of industrial and domestic accidents in Attilan alone--”

“Brother,” Triton smiled as Crystal rolled her eyes. Twilight could only blink. Karnack sounded a bit like one of Peter’s favourite Star Trot actors, the one with the cute catchphrase, and she wasn’t sure what to do with that. 

“Better to be accurate, brother,” Karnack replied, apparently unruffled. 

“Oh, right, Crystal mentioned,” Twilight smiled politely. “Your gift is to see…perfection?”

“Imperfections, your highness,” the Unknown corrected with a gentle smile. His blue eyes glistened behind his mask. “Everything in the universe is imperfect. My order sees no point in pursuing perfection, and thus our needs are simple. We need not know all for everything is imperfect, so we observe as much as we can. Thus we may come to know it’s flaws and so know it’s beauty and truth. For it is within our irreconcilable differences that we find a living, breathing harmony beyond ethereal, stagnant perfection. How can one be the best one can be if one seeks to be something one can never be? You see?”

“He’s a real knockout at parties, lemme tell ya,” Johnny smirked. 

“Spidey and I found them along the way,” Crystal explained, “and they know these tunnels well enough to have a good idea where the changelings are storing our missing people!” 

“So we might have enough help to take back the city?” Twilight beamed. 

“No,” Karnack said simply, “even if we find everyknown we shall simply have enough to outnumber these invaders and to provide a big enough target for the king.” 

A beat as Crystal squeezed her eyes shut at the pure embarrassment of family. 

“Huh,” Spidey said, because somebody had to. 

“He didn’t say it wouldn’t work, mind,” Triton smiled, “just that we need a bit of…finesse.” 

“Let’s see what we can do then,” Twilight decided. She turned to Crystal. “Agh, sorry, your colony, didn’t mean to take charge--”

“Saving our home always goes better with help,” Crystal assured. She and Johnny shared a smile, though he couldn’t help but notice the way Karnack raised an eyebrow. 

“Aren’t there some maps around here?” Triton was looking around at the packed shelves. “Karnack’s right, even if we round everyknown up we’re still going to need an approach…”

“Uh, somewhere, yeah.” Crystal began to loot the shelves, throwing up dust. “Blegh! Johnny, didn’t we leave some blankets down here last time? It’s been a while, but it shouldn’t be this mouldy!”

“Think those, ah, are the blankets,” Johnny winced, prodding something fibrous and dark with a hoof. He shook it rapidly, expecting to burn away any infection, but then remembered. He glanced meaningfully at Twilight as Crystal spread some old charts of Attilan out on the floor. 

“You guys go ahead,” the Element said as she nodded, indicating a space between two crates. “Just gotta…deprogram Johnny first.” 

“Anyknown got a pen?” Crystal asked, patting at her collar. She blinked as Johnny held a ballpoint out to her. “Oh. Thanks!” 

She gingerly took it from his mouth with her own. There was a moment of…almost, but not enough. 

“Do I wanna know?” Spidey asked from his current wall perch. 

Johnny just shrugged. “Autograph book.”

Spidey widened his lenses as far as they would go. “You can read and write?!”  

“I believe we have just found our distractions for Black Bolt,” Karnack said without taking his eyes off Crystal’s charts. 

“Be nice, brother,” Triton smiled. 

Johnny made a rude tail gesture at Spidey when he was sure Crystal wasn’t looking and trotted into the alcove with Twilight, who had been looking and was worrying about what her mother would say, even though she had no intention of bringing this up outside of a report to Celestia.

“So what’s the prescription, doc?” Johnny beamed. “Chanting? Pentagrams? Yoga?” 

“Not a doctor,” Twilight said absently as she focused. Johnny felt a telekinetic grip gently take his right ear as a purple magical construct formed, hovering between them. It looked like a sponge. 

“Y’know what, I take it all back.” They looked up to see Spidey draped on the shelf above them, resting his chin on his hooves and one hind leg idly kicked up. “Magic is a fascinating field worthy of close study.” 

“There’s hope yet,” Twilight smiled. Briefly. “Oh, hold still you big baby!” 


To be Continued