//------------------------------// // Eye Opening // Story: Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// "I think I see..." Celia muttered, looking down at the surface of the table in thought. "But, why wouldn't Penny have told us any of this?" Applejack glanced back at Princess Luna, somewhat curious, herself. The four of them had been in the conference room for almost two hours, now, as Princess Luna had described Pennington's position as her student to his parents, along with most of his other exploits as Scorching Quill. Celia and Page had admittedly taken it better than she had expected. Her aunt had always been the overprotective type, especially with her son, but she had avoided flying out of control as Princess Luna had spoken. Luna took a moment to ponder the question before answering. "Tell me, Miss Deeproots, what will you do with this information? Now that you know your son's secrets, how will you attempt to protect him?" She pressed her front hooves together, placing her chin on them and staring down Celia. "He will place himself in every danger he can find in order to complete his mission to assemble his new beastiary. Working so closely with me will make him many more powerful enemies than he already has. He will live day to day by only his wits and his heart, with his dragon companion as his only other voice of reason." Celia blinked a few times, and Applejack was almost certain she caught a twitch in her eye. "And it will be exactly the life he has sought so desperately in all his adventures he shared with Equestria. He will not return the same, but I know-" "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?" Celia screamed, slamming her hoof on the table. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY LITTLE BOY? Do you know his favorite color? The songs that used to rock him to sleep each night? Do you know the fears that he bawled over or the victories that reduced him to tears of joy?" Celia's eyes were welling up with tears, now, as Princess Luna remained stoic, unaffected by the verbal assault. "You don't know anything!" Celia slammed her hoof onto the table once more for good measure, and rose up out of her chair, taking hold of her husband's foreleg. "And now you sent our son to go and fight your battles for you? I don't know how you can sleep at night..." Applejack looked back at Princess Luna, expecting her to do something to stop Celia from leaving. Instead, Luna simply looked down at the table, a small pile of papers teleporting in front of her. "Dear Princess Luna... Today, I saw the most beautiful sunset with Moonstone. We've traveled to Griffonstone in the hopes of helping the recover a long-lost cultural relic. Unfortunately, all of our leads resulted in a dead-end, resulting in a rather unfriendly reaction from the local residents. While I'm unsure if the reaction is due to our failure or a cultural divide, the city itself is astounding! The entire city was built on a similar concept to Canterlot, with all structures being built upon large rock outcroppings from a local mountain, but residing at the highest point! Once Moonstone and I had overcome the symptoms of altitude sickness, we found our way to a near-abandoned area of the city and climbed up onto the dilapidated roof of an old house. From there, we watched the sunset, and it was perhaps one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. The entire city is above most cloud cover of the nearby landscape beyond the mountain, and after the sun had fallen below the clouds, crimson rays still managed to break through from below, making it look as though we were staring down at an ocean of glowing coals. When the sun was finally gone and the moon began to rise, Moonstone's body temperature kept the two of us warm and cozy while that same ocean of coals became a sea of cotton irradiated with moonlight, glowing brighter and brighter until it finally burst through! It is all we've been able to talk about since, even as we write this letter, we're arguing over what imagery could draw the closest to that beautiful sight. If you ever have the chance, you must come here. Tomorrow, we resume our search for the lost artifact." "Your faithful student, Pennington Inkwell..." Luna finished, setting the page down and beginning to search for another. Celia had stopped at the doorway, keeping her back to the princess, but seemingly listening to her as Luna shuffled through her papers, plucking another out to read. "Dear Princess Luna... Today, Moonstone and I managed to make our way back to the border of Equestria, as per your request. Your sources were correct, there was an illegal drug smuggling ring operating out of an old changeling spy outpost. In order to confirm it, Moonstone and I had to draw close, closer than was safe. I apologize, but I was forced to violate your instruction to only observe and report. We were spotted earlier than I had thought, I suppose that my stealth skills have suffered since the loss of my magic and my access to many noise-dampening spells. Upon our discovery, I quickly created a lie that I was a potential investor in the business hoping to introduce magical means of transport via dragon mail. They did ask for a demonstration, and Moonstone performed beautifully considering she only vaguely recognized the address as being from Canterlot! (On a side note, you may wish to investigate 413 Cherry Grove Lane, as that was the address they asked us to send it to.) The two of us have really come to be fantastic partners when it comes to adapting to another's plans on the fly." "Unfortunately, things went horribly awry. Until then, I had explained that my talent was cartography, making me an ideal pony to spearhead this new delivery system. In a case of horrifying serendipity, one of the couriers was a Scorching Quill fan, believe it or not, and recognized my cutie mark! Once my identity was outed, the situation quickly devolved to violence. To make a long story short, I did escape alive, but without dealing any major damage to their infrastructure. Moonstone, however, used the distraction to snatch the map they had selected the delivery location from, and in doing so obtained a list of all their customers in Canterlot, which we have enclosed. I am sorry for ignoring your instructions, but this will hopefully give the Royal Guard the new lead that they need to finally track down these felons." "Your faithful student, Pennington Inkwell." "P.S. Please don't tell Quick Strike that I couldn't defeat them all in unarmed combat, or I'll be called back to the NLR so she can demote me back to a white belt in her martial arts class!" "Celia, I could not pretend to know Pennington nearly as well as his own mother, it would be unbelievably presumptuous of me to do so..." Luna sighed, setting the letter down. "But in his letters, I've learned so much about him. I know that he sleeps best after a day where his life was on the line. I know that he would go to the ends of the Earth of pursue even the smallest speck of the unknown. I know that he never finds his bed softer or his sleep more restful than when he's spent a day proving that he can take care of himself. I know that, while his residence is in Ponyville, he constantly finds himself filled with wanderlust and a need to escape... a trait, I believe, he received from his mother, who showed him the beauty of this world every time he got to follow along on one of her business trips." In the entirety of Luna's reading of Pennington's letters, Celia hadn't moved from the doorway, but Applejack could tell from the sound of her staggered breathing and her shaking shoulders that she was crying. Front Page glanced back at Luna, then at Celia again. "Celia, honey..." "Quiet! Just... be quiet, Page..." She whispered, finally turning back around to face Princess Luna with tears streaming down her face. She took a deep breath, regaining her composure and steeling her expression into one of determined wrath. "And is that why you chose him, Princess Luna? So that you can get a subscription to his weekly travels sent to you in the mail? So you can have a pony willing to die for you doing your work outside of the castle and off the records?" Luna sighed, looking to the side. "I chose Pennington as my student because I saw untapped potential in him. He is still in an early stage of his life, and he has already accomplished more in that short time than most ponies could if they strove and worked for their entire lifetime. I want to see him reach his full potential, and my sister and I are the only ones with enough influence to give him those opportunities. I believe he could be a great hero with the proper guidance. A pony as steeled in their convictions and with a talent as potent as his can change the entirety of Equestria, and much for the better. I chose him for both his own benefit and the benefit of all my subjects." Celia finally seemed to relax a bit, her shoulder sagging with exhaustion. "You know, to him, YOU were always the hero..." Front Page smiled, putting his arm around Celia's shoulders and pulling her close. "I used to tell him bedtime stories about you." Luna blushed slightly, chuckling to herself. "I believe I may have read some of them in one of his published works... They are quite remarkable, but I assure you, I am simply a pony, just like any other. It is how we inspire others that makes us heroes." She finally rose from her chair, walking to join them at the door as Applejack quickly followed behind. "And the two of you certainly are heroic if you raised a pony such as Pennington Inkwell. I am afraid that I must retire for the day, but please, feel free to call upon me again." Waiting a moment to acknowledge Celia and Page's grateful nods, she strolled back into the hallway, disappearing around a corner in a few seconds to leave the three ponies standing alone. "Well, I guess that's the answers to at least a few questions, settled..." Applejack smiled, patting Celia on the back. "But...why would he keep all of this from us?" Page asked, turning to face her. "Ah don't reckon ah know. All I know is, he's gotta keep his secrets for a reason, right?" She shook her head. "The only reason he even filled me in was because the whole gosh-darn TOWN was in danger!" Celia and Page glanced at one another, then back to their niece. "Why do I get the feeling I've been missing out a lot of good... front-page material?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight was trying her absolute hardest not to panic, but she could practically feel the air growing thinner and the walls of the tunnel closing in on her. She had been wading through belly-high water for hours, now, and she was growing exhausted from carrying Delta's unconscious body. "Is... he going to be okay?" Spike asked, glancing up at Delta's hovering body. "I gave him a quick once-over while you were coughing up the last of that steam," Twilight said, only having to speak up slightly to make herself heard over the sound of her hooves wading through the water. "He doesn't have a concussion, and the gash in his head isn't nearly as deep as it looks. He's going to be out for a while, but he should be fine when he wakes up..." Her face deepened to a scowl. "And he's going to have a lot of questions to answer when he does!" "And what about Lily?" Twilight stopped in her tracks for a moment, taking a deep breath to try to steady herself. Unfortunately, she failed. Tears she prayed Spike couldn't see began streaming down her face. "I-I don't know, Spike... There's no way we could track her through these tunnels! We're just going to have to hope, okay?" Her terribly unscientific answer seemed to unsettle Spike enough to send him into quiet contemplation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pennington was sitting someplace warm. He was on a blooming mountainside. It was springtime, and he was sat up against the outer edge of a red-and-white checkered blanket, with a spread of delicious treats laid out before him. Sandwiches of flowers he'd never seen before, fruits of exotics lands brought from a personal garden and hay of a quality that could only be achieved with loving care and time. "Well, honey?" a familiar voice asked. Looking up, Pennington found himself staring into Lily's eyes, questioning him with a soft confidence. "It looks like... a feast one would not forget in a lifetime." The words slipped out of Pennington's mouth without his own thought. Lily giggled and picked up one of the sandwiches with her magic, taking a large bite and humming with pleasure. "Dif yoo know-" Lily paused for a moment to swallow her mouth full of food. "Did you know that these flowers..." she paused to nod her head at the blooms filling her sandwich, "Only bloom perennially in this mountain range? This is the only place AND time you can get them fresh!" Pennington involuntarily glanced down at the sandwich and picked it up with his own magic, taking a bite of his own. It was surprisingly tasty, zesty and with a citrus accent he couldn't place. He wasn't in control of his own actions, watching the memory as only a passive observer. But it wasn't even his memory. All that he could do was think, and the more that he thought, the more he knew that he had never been to this place before, never been on this picnic. Even Lily was off, she was acting unusually confident, her anxiety gone completely, and while she'd always had a knack for plants and flowers, she didn't usually enjoy cooking nearly this much. He knew that the two of them had never come to the Macintosh Hills together, not even on their post-graduation trip across Equestria. As he finished chewing, his head turned over his shoulder, instinctively checking for anything behind them. There was only the rest of the mountain and a small, dark opening nestled under an overhang that seemed to beckon him with the unknown. Lily's annoyed sigh drew his attention back to the picnic. "Aren't you EVER able to go someplace without checking over your shoulder, dear? Please, we're safe here, there's no sign of the war for leagues, no wild creatures for you to fend off, nothing that can hurt us!" "Well, you know me, Ixi... I'm never comfortable unless I have the high ground..." he muttered, the words once again not his own. Lily rose to her hooves, stepping over the picnic and over to where he was sitting, where she pressed her hoof against his chest. Still against his will, Pennington surrendered to her touch, slowly tilting backwards until his center of gravity finally shifted enough to send him toppling to the ground. Lily kept her hoof on his chest, pressing down into him and towering over him with a smug grin and a half-lidded stare. "You know, I can think of ONE time you don't mind losing the high ground..." Pennington had to admit, he would very much have liked to take back control of his body, right now. "Well, why not come down here and... press your advantage?" his mouth said. If this was a dream, he was really hoping to wake up. Admittedly, this wasn't the first time he'd had a dream like this about Lily, but... Finally, relief came as his vision grew cloudy and the rest of his senses faded, slowly fading into blackness, again, and he muttered a quick thanks to Luna, just in case she had been the one to free him. Lily was like a sister to him, and having THAT kind of dream about her... didn't appeal to him, any more. It was only just before the last incorporeal wisp of the dream had faded that he finally put his hoof on what had bothered him: The cave, the one he had spotted behind him when he had been looking over his shoulder, had been something he'd seen before, only with a more pronounced overhang and a wider opening from decades upon decades of erosion... The same cave that he and Moonstone had hidden inside of. And then we got Crankshaft inside...and then there was an avalanche... Even as the darkness overtook him, he was also losing his ability to keep a train of thought. The rockslide... Moonstone... Moonstone! MOONSTONE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Moonstone..." The name barely slipped through Pennington's lips as a whisper. With it came a rush of intense pain, causing his body to tense and seize up. His chest was full of stabbing pains, his legs and hooves throbbing with each pulse of his heartbeat. His head felt as though someone had attempted to bash it in with a hammer, and every one of his muscles ached more than even his most brutal sessions with Quick Strike. He didn't move for almost a full moment, focusing only on keeping his body as still as possible until the sharpest of the pains had faded. After another minute, or so, he attempted to crack open his eyes. There was resistance, at first, some substance having glued them shut. With some effort, he felt the adhesive crack, then give way, allowing him to finally see his surroundings. He had been laid down in a bed, with a massive and heavy blanket weighing down on him and keeping him warm. He slowly and deliberately turned his head to the side, trying to see more of the room. There wasn't much to see, but they were in some kind of furnished cave, with the door to the next room carved out of the stone walls carved smoothly and cleanly, definitely by magical means. Whomever lived here didn't seem to care much for decorating over functionality, with only two other pieces of furniture in the room: A stove in the corner warming the room, and a single chair. Sitting in the chair was Moonstone, having seemingly dozed off at his side. Her head was pressed against his stomach like a pillow, and she was snoring softly. Pennington felt a wave of relief wash over him as he noted that she seemed to be unharmed. Was she just...waiting for me to wake up? Pennington's eyes welled up with tears, his vision blurring and tracks of tears making their way down his face. Not being able to move enough to wipe away the wetness bothered him, but it felt trivial compared to everything else. Moonstone stirred in her sleep, murmuring unintelligibly as she turned her head and pressed her face into the warm blanket. After another mumble, her eyes cracked open, blurry and unfocused for a moment. Of course... my breathing was probably steady and regular until I woke up... It didn't take long for her open eyes to lock with his, and she immediately snapped to attention, jumping out of her seat and rushing to the top of the bed. "PENN! Oh, thank the STARS you're alive!" For a moment, she looked as though she were about to leap up and hug him, but quickly reconsidered. "What... happened?" Pennington forced the raspy words out through his throat. "Where-" "Shush, shush, hush!" Moonstone pressed a talon against his lips. "Don't force yourself too hard, right now. After you saved me from that rockslide, you nearly got yourself killed. Luckily... it turns out these hills aren't quite as empty as we thought." She glanced around the room with a smile. "There was a unicorn living up here who found us and offered to help. We're in his home, right now, and he's been helping take care of Crankshaft." Crankshaft! I almost forgot... How could I have forgotten? "We... missed the..." Moonstone nodded before he could finish the sentence. "We missed the rendezvous a few hours ago. You've been out for almost 12 hours..." She sighed, shaking her head. "You idiot... you're not supposed to get yourself killed for me!" Pennington forced out a weak chuckle, grimacing at the pain in his ribs from the action. He wanted to blame the pain for the second round of tears beginning to overtake him, but he knew that wasn't the truth. "That's what we do, partner. We can't save ourselves, so we save each other..." Moonstone smiled, her own tears beginning to roll down her face. "G-geez, Penn...Well, don't ever scare me like that again!" She folded her arms across her chest, giving him a halfhearted scowl. "If you hadn't gotten your magic back when you did, I'd be writing a eulogy for Luna to read, instead of an APOLOGY!" "My... magic?" Pennington blinked in his confusion. He tried to grasp a memory of magic in his mind, but there wasn't a memory to find after the rocks had fallen. "But, I thought it wasn't coming back..." "Well, you certainly did SOMETHING magical!" Moonstone ducked out of his sight for a moment, only to return holding a shriveled and mangled twig, looking as though it had been roasted to a crisp. "You completely burned out your prosthetic horn! We're going to have to get a new one from Luna!" She folded her arms over her chest, once again trying and failing to muster up an angry expression. "Heh... sorry?" "Well, the best way you can make it up to me..." she climbed up onto the bed by his head, crawling under the blankets and gingerly moving up against him. "Is by getting better, and fast." Pennington closed his eyes, Moonstone's warm body doing more to make him feel warm and protected than any blanket. "I'll give it my best, Moon Moon."