Tarnished Teapot whimpered when he heard the sounds of many little metallic spider legs tap-tap-tapping against the stone of the subway tunnel. The sound echoed through the vast empty spaces hidden in the depths of Skyreach, and he knew that it was time to go. He wasn’t the only one to have reached this conclusion, either, as Daring Do was quite vocal about the issue.

“Run!”

The companions bolted, fleeing the station, heading for the arch and the open space of the galleria. Rainbow Dash led the way, the fastest of the four, with Daring Do just behind her. Tarnish took a while to get up to speed, but his long legs afforded him an ease of movement that his companions envied. As for Vinyl, she would have fell behind, had Tarnish not grabbed her and plopped her on his back.

Her legs banged on his saddlebags and for a brief second, she almost slipped off. Vinyl recovered though, gripping Tarnish’s sides with her thighs for a time, and then she turned around to face rearwards. Raising The Army Cannon, she readied herself for anything that might pop up in the darkness. The weapon bobbed up and down while Tarnish galloped, and the thundering of hooves against stone echoed through the length and the breadth of the vast underground space.

Sometimes, the most horrible things in life are those never seen—and Tarnish experienced this now. In his mind, he saw a legion of spiders vomited forth from the blackness, an army of eight-legged horrors with pallid, tumour-riddled flesh, and those horrible darkness emitting crystals that grew from their backs.

Past the arch, in the galleria, Tarnish caught his stride and was really able to stretch his legs. Even loaded down with gear, even with Vinyl bouncing on his back, he kept up with the two pegasus mares and ran in between them. Vinyl kept herself facing rearwards, ready to shoot or cast spells at anything that emerged.

The companions ran until they hit the arboretum.

Choice. The trouble with choice was, offer too many and indecisiveness becomes a problem. The companions were faced with a plethora of choices, as there were so many doors to choose from, so many passages to explore, so many options. And what choice did they have? Aimless wandering seemed to be the only option they had.

Daring Do, being the sensible action-oriented adventurer, chose a doorway at random and led her companions through it. After a short, nondescript hallway, they found themselves in another open area full of overgrown and neglected greenery. Ruined, broken statues littered the space, and the frescos on the walls had all been defaced.

The remains of a map could be seen, but it was so damaged that it was impossible to make sense of. This smaller arboretum had even more doorways and passages leading off from it, presenting even more choices. Now standing in the ruined space, Daring Do examined her options.

“This feels impossible,” Rainbow Dash said as she pawed the ground with her hoof. “I don’t even know what we’re doing here!”

“It beats sitting around in that cave,” Daring Do replied, her voice patient, but firm. “There might be a way to escape Skyreach. If we can turn off the defenses of this place, maybe we can call for help. Along the way, maybe we can get answers as to what took place here.”

“I’m feeling really irritated and angry and hopeless.”

“Teatime.” Tarnish looked down at Rainbow, found her looking up at him, and it appeared as though she was about to say something. “It helps a little,” he said before she had a chance to speak. “I have a decent supply of tea on me, but if this keeps up, we’ll need to get out of this place and head back to the cave so I can get more. I have my compressed bricks stashed away.”

“Maybe it would be best if we got out for a while.” Daring Do began to rub her fuzzy chin with her fetlock while she examined a shattered statue of an earth pony. “But we’re still well-rested… so perhaps we’ll back out later.”

While everypony else was talking, Vinyl was studying what was left of the frescos on the wall, trying to see if she could make sense of them. There was old, faded, ancient graffiti, smeared stains, and sooty smudges. One thing was apparent though, the common theme seemed to be earth ponies, as none of the ponies depicted in this area had wings or a horn.

Vinyl’s curiousity was rewarded when she found an overturned stone block, and she flipped it over. Beneath it was an ancient brass plate, and on the plate was beautiful, flowing script that she couldn’t read. The others stopped talking, came over, and began to examine the sign with Vinyl, who had put on the artifact spectacles.

Much to his surprise, Tarnish was able to make out some of the text, which wasn’t too different than what he read in his books about botany. Peering down, he craned his neck to see over Vinyl, and was able to make out a few words. Not only that, he was surprised by how much he had learned, as well as how useful it might be.

Equus ferus caballus.

Vinyl slipped the glasses over his eyes, and everything shifted into focus. Excited, a little nervous, Tarnish began to read aloud. “Earth Pony Adaptation Wing: Advanced Earth Pony Sciences. Earth ponies, stone ponies, crystalloid ponies, and metalloid ponies. Thaumaturgical geoweapon warfare adaptation labs and peacetime application studies. Biological imperative adaptation labs. Please follow directory listings.”

Glancing at the ruined map, Tarnish realised that he would be unable to follow the directory listings, and he let heave a massive sigh of disappointment, regretting that nothing was ever simple. To cheer himself up, he shared a joke with his companions.

“Do you think the centaurs engineered earth ponies to be sexy?”

The question seemed to catch Vinyl off guard and her pale, pale yellow hide turned pink as a smile spread over her muzzle. She then nodded and gave Tarnish a sly, knowing grin. Daring Do and Rainbow Dash both began laughing, and satisfied that his companions were okay, Tarnish began preparing another round of tea.

“I’ve never heard of nor seen a metallic earth pony,” Daring Do said while she held a steaming camp cup between her front hooves. “The only crystal ponies I know are in the Crystal Empire. They’re still very mysterious and they are hesitant to be studied.”

“Maledico called Maud a ‘stone pony’ during our time together. She’s not like other earth ponies.” Tarnish pulled a few granola and dried fruit packets out of his saddlebags and set them down in front of him. “It amazes me how a pony as tough as Maud can also be so fragile. She sunburns so easily, and if she sunburns, she won’t move. She’ll just stand there, like a statue, because sunburn really, really hurts her.”

“We all have our weaknesses.” Daring Do eyed the foil packets of granola and took a sip of hot, still steaming tea, slurping it so she wouldn’t burn her tongue. The drink seemed to help—already she looked somewhat relaxed—and she didn’t seem so jittery. Holding her cup below her nose, she breathed the rising steam and let out a satisfied sigh.

With the mention of weakness, Tarnish thought about Maud giving birth. He couldn’t help it, and he almost laughed. Almost. She wandered around, making tiny, shuffling steps, saying, “Ow.” There wasn’t any shouting, or crying, or screaming, or threats of harm against his body, just the words, “Ow.” After so many bored-sounding utterances of the word, “Ow,” Maud had blessed him with a beautiful baby abomination.

Looking around, Tarnish hoped that he might learn something positive here, something he could share with his wife and daughter. Something that would make this trip meaningful. Skyreach had secrets, and it stood to reason that not all of them could be bad. Beside him, the Bellringer made the sounds that hot metal was prone to make.

Vinyl, perhaps sensing an opportunity for mayhem, or just wanting to prey upon Tarnish’s relaxed state, pulled out her slate and a piece of chalk. She wrote down five words and then held up her slate for Tarnish to see. Want to see something sexy?

Shrugging, Tarnish replied, “Sure, why not?”

Pulling out one of her recovered books, Vinyl opened it, and then she flipped the pages around until she found just the right one. Holding the book open, she revealed a picture of earth ponies as they were, before they were modified. She wheezed with silent laughter at Tarnish’s disgusted response.

Having almost dropped his teacup, Tarnish recoiled in penis-shrivelling horror, not liking what he was seeing. “Gaaah-aaah-uuuh—what the fronk is that?” Blinking, he had himself one good look—an act that he regretted—then turned away again. “Put that away, Vinyl, that’s hideous.”

“Hey, Daring,” Rainbow said, while she nudged her fellow pegasus with her wing.

“Yes?” Raising an eyebrow, Daring’s eyes moved to look at Rainbow beside her, but her head did not.

“This is gonna sound weird…” Rainbow lowered her camp cup just a bit, while her browline and jawline tightened. “Sometimes, when I watch those two”—she nodded her head at Tarnish and Vinyl—“I can’t help but wonder if ponies see the same thing or make the same assumptions when they look at Twilight and I.”

Now, Rainbow had the attention of three ponies focused upon her. Licking her lips a bit, her orange tongue darted in and out, and Rainbow squirmed a bit. Tarnish was sitting across from her, and she found herself focused upon his face while he gave her a strange look, a look that made her want to explain herself.

“It’s just… I found myself on the outside looking in,” Rainbow began in a somewhat hesitant manner. “It’s pretty obvious that you two love each other, like, a whole lot, but, your not in love with one another. It’s just a deep and abiding friendship.” Her tongue darted out once more when her lips went dry, and then she continued, “Ponies make up a lot of stuff about Twi and I. Ugh, I mean, you nap on a cloud together with one of your friends and all of a sudden everypony just loses their mind and starts making up gossip. There’s the downside to friendship, if ever there was one. Ponies just make assumptions based on what they think should be true. A lot of ponies seem to have this vested interest that Twi and I should be lovers.”

Tarnish said nothing, but slurped some of his tea. Vinyl put her book away, looking thoughtful, and sneaking furtive glances at Tarnish. Her face darkened a bit and her smile was an embarrassed one.

“Of course, I’m guilty of it too,” Rainbow confessed. “I think that Shy and Twi would be perfect for each other.”

“Really?” Tarnish blinked once in surprise, and a second time from thoughtful curiousity. “Why Fluttershy?”

Blushing a bit, Rainbow shrugged with her wings. “Twi is slow and cautious with everything she does. It takes her a long time to adjust to new things. It scares me… it scares me that Twi might find herself in a relationship with somepony who isn’t patient and decides to hurry things along, whether Twi is ready for it or not. If that were to happen, Tarnish, you and I would have to redefine our friendship, ‘cause I’d need the special sort of friend that would help me hide a body.”

Tarnish gave a slow, reluctant nod.

“Flutters is all about slow and cautious,” Rainbow continued, she didn’t look anypony in the eye. “Twilight could take all of the time in the world until she decides that she is comfortable and was ready to take the next step. The only problem with my perfect scenario, I’m not sure that Twi is gay. Or anything really. I can’t tell if she has a sexual preference at all.”

Lapsing into amicable silence, the companions finished their tea so they could continue their search.

Author's Notes:

Don't worry, we're not done with the spiders.