Match Making (4)
10
It'd gone something like this: he’d crisscrossed over The Bugle building a few times, it must have been more than once because he’d noticed he was going to be late on a nearby clock tower, and had wound up being late because he’d been so worked up he almost walked into Damage Control in full costume.
Did you know Damage Control let you take paperwork home? The domestic kind anyway. He did! Because what he’d been working on was unusable! A cell wall carving of ink blots from where he’d pressed the pen too hard, crossed out sections because he’d started writing Snappy Scoop’s name, and actual tares in the paper.
Also, and he didn’t remember doing this, he’d drawn the buzz saw again for some reason.
So yeah, Employee Resources had taken one look at the three do-overs they’d had to give him, another at his face which must’ve been twitchy, it felt like it was being twitchy, super twitchy, and decided yeah, sure man, next week, whatever’s good for you, please don’t stand so close to the fire axe.
He’d tried to calm down after that but not very hard. Suiting up and trawling Little Mogadishu was the definition of counterproductive, he’d be the first to admit.
A waste of a suddenly free weekend too. Why bust up cart jackings and general store robberies when he could just take a breath, go home, run a hot bath?
***
“SNAPPY SCOOP,” Peter bellowed.
It was a trick he’d learned from years of watching Flattop in action. The genius was that the Bugle’s entire bullpen would instinctively freeze except the unfortunate pony you were looking for. Her hat helped, and there it was, trying to float unobtrusively above her desk.
“Hey-hey-hey!” Snappy grinned in that kinda sorta New Wingland drawl of hers. “It’s our Pete, back on the beat!”
Peter leaned low to the floor like a round locking into a chamber, one pawing hoof practically splintering the floor underneath the savaged carpet. It was this instinctive windup that probably saved Scoop’s life. Also, the look on his face.
“Ruh roh.”
She sprang with Hogan’s Alley cat grace a little ahead of Peter’s own launch, clamping her hat down with one hoof and pedalling her hind legs to build up momentum, inadvertently pausing his rampage as they juddered into his face with speed-bag sounds.
Snappy shot off, over, and under every obstacle between the bullpen and the stairwell, a snarling Peter almost taking the still swinging doors off as he burst through after her.
“Listen!” Snappy panted as she tried to lose him in the insurance agency that rented the 43rd and 42nd floors “If it’s about the other day, surely we can resolve this with the minimum of hay! Whaddaya say?!”
“I say no way!” Peter grunted as he slammed into the railing, forced to use wall-crawling to adhere to the floor and not tip over into the stairwell. “Gyagh, now ya got me doing it!”
“Whatever keeps you at bay, mi compadre!” Snappy tipped her hat as she surfed down the railings, springing off at whatever random floor as he started the gallop after her. “’Scuse me folks! Just another day in the big city!”
No elevator, if she could find a bank she could ride all the way down to the loading dock, hide out in one of the disused trucks until the coast was clear, but this was hardly the first time she’d had to evade pursuit, and the odds were in her favour now!
This was the accounting firm on 33rd, so duck into that supply closet over there, wait for the angry grey blur to shoot past and double back, hop the steps down into the gym on 32nd, cut through the sauna to the other stairwell and she’d have a straight down shot to the mail room on 24th with the express elevator, how did he get in front of the stairs to 25th so fast?
“Dang!” Snappy skidded to a halt halfway between the 27th and 26th. “Wish my dating life had ponies this determined!”
A silent jaguar roar in Trotter’s bugging eyes.
“…oh, right.”
Peter made the mistake of freezing up at the sight of her hat rapidly spinning in mid-air. A grey foreleg, not his, telescoped from out of the corner of his eye to snag it, vanishing through the swaying double doors.
***
The yak teaching the yoga class glared at him as he barged in but continued to seamlessly transition from Virabhadrasana pose to Hanumanasana, her class doing their best to keep up.
Snappy could worm her way into almost any position, he almost admired the talent, but would she seriously go for this? There was her colour scheme for starters, even if the class did feature the standard carnival riot of coats.
The floor was ringed by exercise equipment pushed to the side for now, maybe behind one of those pommel horses? He started poking/stalking.
Maybe it was the soothing music on the stereo or just the general vibe of the class, but he felt an involuntary calming sigh spread through his body. How blatantly had he just shown off his powers? And for what, a flattering article on Twilight he hadn’t even read yet?
Was it really the intrusion or the fact Snappy was a better shutterbug than he was? Okay, that had felt like the time Timber had gotten frisky during a “friendly” sparring match, but even as he tried to hold onto the anger it began to slowly dissolve to Twilight’s mildly puzzled face. You don’t have to tell me what this is really about. Not Yet.
Ah, there it was! The reason. His choices now were either telling her and destroying everything they’d built together or putting it off long enough she’d forget, and he could go back to that classic Spider-Dating move: lying by omission while she told him everything.
As reasons to stave off a decision by drowning himself in apoplectic denial went that wasn’t half bad, even if the anger pounding in his ears felt like a ticking clock counting down. But did good old unctuous, self-satisfied, probably-sold-somepony’s-kidney-at-least-once Snappy Scoop deserve to be the watermelon to his descending F-16?
The stereo switched to Walk Like a Neighgyptain, making Peter jump almost in sync with the class as they assumed the appropriate pose. The instructor sank back on her haunches to clasp her hooves over her head, swaying her hips left to right for a few seconds before spinning around, revealing a blinking Snappy stuck to her back in the same pose.
Was that a question?
***
Snappy gave Peter an abashed grin before disappearing in a cloud of dust. He rebounded off the nearby wall to boost after her so fast his bounce sound effect drowned out her gun shot.
Their chase whipped through the building like a single camera shot flying around an exterior to save money. At least there were many amusing sound effects.
“Okay, there’s only so much attention a mare can take before this gets creepy!”
“You wanna talk about creepy? You snuck up on us at lunch!”
“C’mon Pete, you were in the game! The best shots are the one’s you regret not taking, or somethin' like that!”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you regret this!”
“You’re being a real Princess Luna right now!”
“Nah, you managed to outrun her!”
“Doesn’t say much for your chances of catchin’ me then, huh?”
“Believe me, when I do…!”
“Wait, is this a princess thing? Is that what this is? You’re mad at me ‘cause I caught you hobnobbin’?”
“It was a private moment!”
“Really? Well, well, well! Guess you had to find somethin’ to pass the time once you were out of the Spider-racket!”
“Her bro—…assis—…her friend is in there too!”
“The dragon? Neat! Only had to run from one of those once! Maybe take a second to ask yourself why this isn’t fire drill number two?”
“I’m the only thing you’ve got to worry about right now!”
“Don’t suppose I could convince ya to carry this all the way back up to the bullpen, maybe call Status Quo, talk things out? Into a dictaphone, say! Equine Interest!”
“Keep talking Scoop, it just makes me wanna run you down even more!”
“Y’know if you’d shown this much dogged perseverance for a story back in the day ya might’ve been up for a Pulitzer!”
“We all know what happened to your nomination!”
“Hey, what can I say! It looked like Iron Will at the time! Aren’t you outta breath yet?”
“Could do this all day!”
“Yeah, well, y’know what they say about ventin’! And on that note!”
Snappy jumped off a desk, grabbing a light fixture as he made another lunge for her. The wall of whatever office they’d just careened through shook as Peter crashed through a panel and halfway into the duct, hind legs and tail thrashing furiously.
“Welp!” Snappy saluted. “It’s been a merry dance, but by chance I must away to the south of Prance!”
***
She doubled back a few floors before continuing her journey down to the loading bays. Prance wasn’t really in her budget but anypony who could keep up with her this long would probably be crazy enough to go through the parked trucks, so snag an outgoing one, maybe see if they swung by that place on 2nd street, running for her life kept her in shape but burned a lot of calories--
Her jaunty whistling ground to a halt as the vent just in front of the corner to salvation slammed open, Trotter stalking out of it towards her through a swarm of dust.
“Man, you’re limber!” Snappy backed up as he shook himself like a dog, scattering cobwebs. And grinned even more as she felt nothing but wall behind her. “A-heh, ever, uh, ever think of tryin’ out for the Equestria games?”
“No, but I’m just flexible enough for a nice, high stakes game of Operation, you smarmy little--”
“Game’s over!”
Editor in chief Rocky Roads, big as life and almost as wizened, loomed out of the stairwell. Both ponies were suddenly dangling off the floor, their back fur clamped scruff-like in the Diamond Dog’s cinder block sized paws.
“Rocky!” Snappy wheezed in relief “Oh, thank Celestia!”
Then she saw his face and clammed up. Peter’s rage sputtered as it whipped to him. Rocky might not be anywhere as dangerous as his childhood friend turned psycho Bonestone, but that look. More powerful than any of Bonestone’s punches. And aimed directly at him.
Ruh roh, Peter thought as Robby hauled them back through the first office on what he now realised was going to be a shame-walk.
…shame-dangle? Whatever.
“And that was it, really.” Rarity glanced at her map. “Flash of light and there she was! Sorry, just trying to make sure we’re on the right street.”
“It’s fine,” Johnny smiled.
Rarity raised a brow as she telekinetically tucked the map away. “What?”
“No, you’re just…it’s cute that you can talk about saving us all from freezing to death and giving a princess her soul back like you sorted out getting the wrong package in the mail.”
“Cute.” A slight challenge.
“Yeah!” He nodded. Anything else would tip over into the condescension she was trying to make sure wasn’t there.
“One tries one’s best.” Rarity’s eyes settled into a slightly half lidded position; relaxing Johnny assumed. Not that she’d been tense before, he was just enjoying trying to figure out her body language. “And the post analogy is a little apt, given what poor Princess Luna went through. Imagine, hundreds of years as the wrong person. Sorry if I seemed a little blasé, I’m just in professional mode right now, not pizzazz mode!”
“It’s your story! Tell it however you like. And think of it this way...” He gestured to the nearby park, overflowing with street performers, tourists and foals at play. Thank you, universe. “Everypony gets to enjoy the happy ending.”
“Ooh, I’ll have to tell Twilight and Fluttershy that one, they’ll love it!” Rarity paused to telekinetically stop a filly’s balloon drifting away, tying it back around her hoof with stylish (but reliable) knots. “Of course, I suppose your lot would’ve been champing at the bit if we hadn’t gotten there first. A chance to clobber the legendary Nightmare Moon, hmm?”
There was something about that word in her accent that…warmed Johnny. Maybe the crossing wires fusing in his brain.
“What, bring the sun back? Man, I dunno. If anypony could do it Reed absolutely could, but the amount of magic and math…The stuff in the atmosphere is one of his biggest obsessions.”
“Star gazing type, is he? Twilight’s the same way. Stars aren’t really my forte but they’re such a part of thaumaturgic heritage. When you’re a kid everypony tells you about this huge thing in the sky, and then you get a real job and it sneaks up on you around the holidays. Bit like going to church, really.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Johnny said far more politely than he ever had to any of the geniuses and spell-casters who’d given him similar (and longer) insights. “Diamonds must have a lot of applications as well though!”
“Beg pardon?”
“Diamonds. Your cutie mark?” Maintain eye contact, that’s what a proper stallion does, don’t nod at her flank, that’s what a cattle rancher does. “Magic. Crystals. Diamonds!”
“Sometimes!” Rarity beamed. “Crystals are a more sure-fire thing, but diamonds take a certain amount of finesse. Of course, we’re talking about dipping a hoof into the great mystic waters or whatever, not sailing into a hundred year…thing. Mind you, magic is art, not just a big light! What’s magic if not reaching inside yourself, and what’s fashion if not finding the best way to be yourself?”
“I hear what you’re saying, but you’ve seen how people in my line of work dress, right?”
“Yes, but I was trying to be generous and not bring it up.”
They shared a laugh as they crossed the street, Johnny enjoying how unforced it was. “Not to make this all about work, but I’d be up to hear any insights a pro like you would have. ”
“You want me to knock anypony you don’t like.”
“Oh yeah, but I figure that’s, what, date four, five?”
“Say what you will about that Horseshoe Torch, he’s ambitious.” Rarity dissipated her hat but left her shades as they trotted into a small plaza. “I wasn’t aware this was a first date! Why, just because we talked about our cutie marks? Already?”
“First, didn’t say it was a date.” Had they stopped smiling at each other the whole time they’d been doing this? Not that Johnny wanted to stop. “Second, I complemented your mark. Without asking for one back, you’ll note.”
He was enjoying this. A lot of the fun came from getting to know someone, but she was that kind of girl who turned it into more like…fencing? Yeah. She seemed like she’d be into fencing.
“Noted and shoved behind my ear for the moment…”
Rarity timed removing her shades with stepping through the double doors.
“Hello? Rarity Belle! Delighted. Oh, ignore him, picked him up in the street.”
Johnny found an appropriate corner to lounge in (lots of light, caught his mane just right) while she and the estate pony trotted around the space. It was interesting. Nothing about Rarity changed but she was asking practical, very up-front questions, scrutinising things. Business mode, he assumed.
“So, what do we think?” the agent asked.
“Plenty of space and the ceilings are excellent!” Rarity looked around the display floor. “Can I ask, what’s that over there? The other counter. It looks a bit like a café.”
“The previous owners had a thing for in-door dining, yes,” the other mare explained, “but don’t worry, we can have it out no problem!”
“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that, seems a bit of a waste! But, well, that’s the thing. That’s more of a department store idea? And I’m just starting out. This place is lovely, but it’s a bit…cornery, isn’t it? The big chains can afford to be just off to the side like that because everypony looks for them automatically, but I don’t even have a logo or anything.”
“No problem.” Professional smile. Johnny sat up, preparing to get the door for her.
“I’ll tell you what though,” Rarity said, surprising both natives as she conjured her hat and levitated a pen out of the brim, “ this place shouldn’t go to waste and I’ve just the thing! The Cakes have been looking to expand, do you know the Cakes? Oh, you must meet them! Anyway, here’s what we’ll do, do you have an envelope or something? Thank you. What I’m going to do is give you their address, they’ve got some cousins around here, family business you know, bring a bit of charm into the area, here you go!”
Johnny held the door open for her. “That was generous of you.”
“Thank you,” Rarity said absently, checking her map again. “Really? It is Manehattan. Favours and all that. They can’t be that rare, even in these jaded modern times.”
“Yeah, but it’s…” She glanced at him as he swirled a hoof, like a cooling fan or a struggling cement mixer. “Usually it’s little stuff, y’know? Cabs and umbrellas, all that musical junk. That was an entire building!”
“You’re exaggerating!” Traces of a giggle.
“I’m trying to give you your due! A building as a favour! Now that’s a Manehattan rarity!”
“Manehattan Rarity…” Rarity said distantly, lowering her shades for better staring into nothing. “Hmm. Seaddle Rarity. Cloudsdale Rarity. San Foalsisco Rarity. No. Rarity’s! Rarity’s of Manehattan?”
“Sounds like an antiques chain, but you’re thinking big and that’s the important thing.”
“Appreciated. Giddy up!” She pointed to the sky like a bored polymathic amateur sleuth identifying a murder at a debutante ball.
“This relationship's hit a real exploitative patch.” Johnny flamed on, partly because he needed to build up thrust in his hind legs for actual take off and lower his temperature enough to carry her at the same time, partly to make sure everypony on the street saw them doing this.
“Well, it is more of a patch than a relationship right now.” Rarity was prepared for the launch and city wind this time, or at least better at feigning nonchalance, unfolding her map and indicating their next stop. Johnny tilted his head back a little to avoid setting it on fire with his chin. “But since you’ve been a lamb: it’s very distinct!”
“Huh?”
“Your cutie mark,” she smiled, turning to properly face him, trying to keep her mane from being whipped into his shoulder flames. “There’s something nicely energetic about a wheel cutie mark. Comes in handy for explorative research, I’m sure. All that rushing about. And on fire too, lucky you!”
“Yeah…” Johnny agreed tentatively. “Just not quite that way?”
“Oh?” She blinked at him. “Oh. Was it…not…before?”
Before.
***
Tac
Tac Tac
Tac Tac Tac Tac TacTacTacTACTACTAC
“I warned ya about ‘em, egghead! I warned ya!”
Light. Air thickening in his throat. Glass breaking somewhere. An odd euphoria. Even as the lurch creeps over all of them, as the old man hauls helplessly at the controls, as the Excelsior, now so much sparking, shuddering junk, begins to tumble helplessly down, down, down--
***
“…Johnny?” She sounded like she was worried he’d crumble to shards if she touched him.
“It wasn’t like that before.” He couldn’t stop himself. “After the crash we just woke up with these cool rings around our marks. Reed thinks it’s our bodies way of coping with the change. Making it more…ours. You have to squint to see Sue’s. Her ring I mean, not her mark. That’s fine. Grimm’s is on one of his plates. What’s left of it anyway.”
Nothing but lower rooftops and something-teen story windows sluicing past them. The city sounds helped but their flight meant they happened in pockets, never entirely drowning out the silence between them.
“There’s a box.”
He blinked at her. She must have been looking right into his face the whole time. “What?”
“There’s a box in the woods.” Big blue eyes. Looking right at him. “In a cave under the castle where we saved Princess Luna. It’s made of whatever our Elements are made of. We don’t know what’s in it and we can’t open it. We don’t even really know if it’s for us. It’s just there.”
Oh. Yeah. He’d known that. Just hadn’t thought about it. What it’d be like for someone else to have this stuff just happen to them. And that made him feel deeply grateful to her for knowing how to reach out.
“Could ask the Thing to open it for you.” He held her gaze until he could work up enough insouciance for a smile. “No, really, he’s pretty dainty once you get to know him.”
“You like that pony a lot,” Rarity managed through the chuckles.
“Don’t tell him!” He bugged his golden eyes at her. “Seriously, I’ll give you anything. En. Eeeth. Ing.”
“Then stop bringing him up!” She swatted at him playfully, either ignoring the potential of burning or being dropped or, hopefully, trusting him. “And you really shouldn’t give me advantages like that. Not before the first date.”
“Y’know, that’s another thing. You have no way of knowing anything I tell you about flight school is true.”
“Ah, but Rainbow will have told Applejack or Fluttershy if she’s told anypony and neither of them are comfortable with lying. Unlike you, apparently.”
“So when you hold something over a date’s head it’s cute?”
“Didn’t say you were a date.” A twinkle in her eye. Maybe just sunlight bouncing off her lashes, but still.
“Bet you’ll still want me to chauffeur you around when it’s official too then!”
“As if you’ll have anything better to do!” Rarity’s grin faltered as she glanced from him to the park below them. “Chauffeur? Oh bollocks! The appointment! Where’s my map?”
The Torch put the breaks on as she conjured and fumbled, craning over his shoulder to make sure they were high enough out of the civilian airspace.
“Um…” Rarity mumbled, eyes darting from red crosses and timestamps. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Gimme a minute, just gotta…” Johnny tried to keep her supported and tap into his utility collar’s comms with his shoulder. “Hang on. H.E.R.B.I.E! Yeah, beep boop to you too, listen, what’s the time? Half noon? Thanks.” He nodded his flaming head at the 1:10 cross. “Half noon.”
“Herbie,” Rarity said, trying to keep the question out of her voice.
“He‘s sort of like your dragon?” Johnny explained reluctantly, turning towards the correct neighbourhood.
“Spike? He’s his own dragon!”
“His name’s seriously Spike?” Johnny blinked. “Cool!”
“It suits him!” Rarity said, defensiveness and affection vying for space in her voice. “Down there, down there!”
***
They were honestly too early, but it took a while to calm the startled seller down. Once more the space wasn’t quite what Rarity was looking for, even though she’d been interested in the built-in entertainment system for floorshows.
“But we’d need a serious overhaul for fitting and tailoring, which would cut into the storage space. More of a club set up, isn’t it? Listen, I feel terrible for wasting your time like this, no, I simply must make it up to you, especially after my driver scared you half to death like that, do you know Vinyl Scratch? Haha, yes, that one! Got her card here somewhere, let me see…”
“You’re good with people,” Johnny smiled as they left.
“It’s not that hard, really.” She shrugged, conjuring a different hat. “You know what you want, so why not think of what they might want?”
“Very zen.”
“Mmm, sort of. Tapping into the flow of the universe and all that. Or our Elements do. Something like that, at least. It really is just a bigger, louder way of being…nice.”
“You girls ever been to K'un-Lun? Because that sounded like it.”
“Don’t think so, how are their facials?”
“Where to next?” Johnny said brightly but quickly, his inner gentlecolt burying his inner frat bro’s head deep into subconscious water to drown out the laughter that was trying to creep up his throat.
“Um, somewhere in the Village.” Rarity glanced up and down the street while she tucked the map away, as if trying to catch a scent. “Back end of 2.00, though. I didn’t count on having a living sedan chair carrying me around the city.”
“Hope I wasn’t going too fast or anything. It’s a lot asking you to be this close to flames to begin with.”
“Oh no, it’s been fine!” She hadn’t put her shades back on, so he got the full benefit of that sincere, smiling face. “What’s the point of a mane regime that falls apart under a little wind anyway?”
“Right? Good holding should be foal’s stuff!” Johnny felt genuine enthusiasm he normally didn’t associate with, well, normal stuff like walking. All it ever took was the right pony. “And probably mandatory for anypony in this business.”
“This country you mean, given the last few years!” Rarity chuckled. “I almost miss the days when all we had to worry about was something erupting from the Everfree Forest!”
“Oh man!” Johnny almost bristled. “Sue and I got up to a lot before we met Reed ‘n‘ Grim but I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like.”
“Not quite as storybook as you probably think.” Rueful smile that made him wonder what kind of storybook. “We did a bit of travelling when I was a little filly though! Papa’s work, you see. Exciting but with all sorts of warnings about the big cities, so I might have an inkling as to what you and your sister got up to.”
“Doubt it,” Johnny smirked. “Since we’re not from Manehattan.”
Rarity blinked but managed to keep her stride from faltering. “Oh? Well, there goes my ‘Are you from X originally’ quip. Though wherever you’re from I must admit your accent’s charming!”
“Charming,” Johnny deadpanned in mock-challenge.
“Yes. The accent, at least.” Perfectly timed eyelash flutter. “So, did you move here for school or, um…after your…airship?”
She looked embarrassed at the phrasing, how obvious it was she didn’t know how to put the question or if she’d had the right to ask. He instinctively hated the idea that something could make her regret that expert flippancy. It wasn’t like he was going to go fetal. They aired Sci-Fi Channel Original tier re-stages of the crash in every company presentation, for pity’s sake!
“Lil’ of both!” He tried not to sound too Please-Don’t-Cry boisterous. “Reed needed somewhere with lots of space and connections, and the quaint town of Glenville, Long Island wasn’t going to cut it. Our folks were doctors, so we got away a lot in the Summers. Part of what got me into machines, actually! All those zeppelins and liners that could carry you away!”
“I know what you mean,” Rarity smiled enthusiastically. “I love Ponyville with all my heart, but flipping through all those magazines, seeing all the places fashion could go, knowing it could carry you there if you just tried! Though if I ever did go through with moving to Canterlot or, well, here, I know I’d just wind up living in the suburbs if I couldn’t get somewhere in the country.”
“Hey, look at that.” Johnny kept the relief out of his smile with practised ease. “One more thing we have in common.”
“If you’re about to say ‘Adven-ture!’ but husky and a bit too fast like in those stupid Smash Fortune pictures I shan’t be held responsible for my actions.” Rarity’s smile was wryly intrigued, but her eyebrow was raised like a readying javelin.
“He hasn’t made a good one since Princess Cadence had a ponytail.”
“Proceed.”
“I was gonna go with small towns and big dreams, but honestly it’s nice to meet somepony who has what you do with fashion. I have fun with it when I can, but somehow I almost always wind up talking about it with mares who have to write about it or something. It’s cool hearing stuff from somepony who actually makes things!”
“Bit like machines I suppose.” She nodded at his flank like a cattle rancher.
“Generous of you.” A fountain they were passing caught his eye and he suddenly realised: “Uh, sorry, where are we going?”
“I’m going to get something to eat.” Rarity pointed at a nearby hay dog stand under a park tree. “We’ve got a bit of time to kill, might do some window shopping. I assume your forelegs aren’t tired, you pat yourself on the back more than Rainbow, but you should probably take the chance to cool all four heels.”
Johnny raised a brow. “Something to eat?”
“Yes,” Rarity said, patience creeping into her accent. “Fuel for my own fire, you might say.”
“I’m sorry, no.” Johnny folded his forelegs sternly. “A pony of your calibre, in my city, right in front of me, settling for hay dogs. Not happening.”
“This isn’t a date,” she reminded singsong sweetly.
“No, this is an intervention.” He pointed at a row of trees like he was psyching her up for a brisk jog through Skull Island. “Somewhere on the other side of these is this place I saved a few months back. Always a table waiting if I want it, and I want you to have it.”
“Well…”
Rarity fidgeted her hooves a little as he ignited, offering his own. The stand was right there, and she’d had some of that stew the Apple family always had around, designed to keep you going during, say, a trek all over Manehattan and every inch of empty storefronts.
“Pranceisian/Istallian fusion!” the Torch wheedled.
“Oh my.”
“And.” That flaming face, leaning in conspiratorially. “This means when it’s official you get to pick the venue.”
Rarity’s hat almost fell off as she clambered into his grip. Johnny arced them over the trees and streets, ignoring the fact his forelegs were starting to cramp a little.
“They even do hay dogs if you like.”
Rarity swatted at the 4 logo on his chest.
To be Continued
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That's not unreasonable, Rarity; maybe don't sneak up on people who set themselves on fire.
That is so cool.
They're... probably interesting.
Great chapter, but you might want to be careful how many times you re-submit a chapter. At least finish the whole thing before you re-jigger things.
9628123
I've gotta keep an eye on that, yeah. The ring idea came from a friend because it is a cool idea!
Why the "Horseshoe" Torch? Why not the Equine or Pony Torch?
9628285
Equine sounds awkward, pony is kinda basic. Horseshoe both fit Equestria, sounded closer to the name it's based on and is a symbol of good fortune, which is the kind of thing a cocky punk who survived a rocket crash would like to announce. Think of it like "the lucky Torch".
Also briefly considered "Horsepower Torch" but since there's two Human Torches I gave it to the older guy to better tell them apart. Johnny is luck, old man Torch is power.
9628373
What about Living Torch?
9628486
Not bad and if that'd been the comic name I'd have stuck with it, but I'm attached to Horseshoe at this point.