//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26: Horizons 
// Story: Penned IN 
// by Qwix 
//------------------------------//

	His eyes snapped open, staring into the ceiling above. His body felt heavier.
"Ah, awaking are you? Good boy, good..."
He tried to roll over, but found the sounds around him to be infinitely more fascinating. He stared at the ceiling as he tried to adjust; whispers from elsewhere penetrated the air around him, even though he could not discern what they were saying. He looked to his left, trying to pinpoint the source; the whispers remained as low and harried as before, but no clue was revealed as to the source.
"Gazzetta."
He rolled his head over to the other side, rubbing his eyes with his hoof in response to the light. "...Mmph... Done already? That was painless..."
Pennaprose jumped off the cot, landing on his new, ebony scaled hooves. "There a mirror anywhere?" he asked as he grabbed his glasses off an ice sculpture in the shape of a nightstand.
Gosthette was leaning against the side of the chamber. "None here, at least. You look fine for being a changeling, however. ...First lesson."
Her horn glowed a deep blue, forming a wall of ice with a single hole in it, just high enough to be out of reach. "Find a way to this side of the wall."
"Gazzetta, vou are jumping ze gun a little, no?" said Aloysius. "Ze boy just woke up from minor surgery, vou could at least–"
"I could, and would, Pane..." interrupted Gosthette. "But we can't afford to waste time. Every moment counts when we are looking to take out the Queen of the Changelings."
He stared at the hole in the wall of ice, just large enough to fit through... His new, scaly wings beat instinctively.
"That's it..." said Gosthette. "You haven't flown before. That is the purpose of this test; flying is going to be important if we need to retreat, should it come to that..."
He began beating them furiously, emitting a low hum. He could feel himself lift off the ground, but began to feel unsure of how to go. He decided to lean forward; in an instant, he shot forward and slammed his face into the wall, cracking it.
"...Heh. I suspected as much," said Gosthette. "Because you are a xenos unicorn changeling, flight is a completely new experience that isn't hardwired into your genes. I came into this land as a pegasus, so as a xenos pegasus changeling... I had trouble learning magic. But I think you'll find that being a changeling offers more than what you know now."
He got up and straightened his glasses, leering at the hole in the wall. It jogged something in his memory.
He let his magic flow into his wings, guiding them as they started buzzing once more. Recalling the ice rink incident a few days ago, he levitated upward on the force of his wings, but let his magic guide a path instead. He did a few high-speed loops before threading the hole, landing neatly in front of Gosthette.
"...Interesting method. Though no doubt an advantage of knowing magic previously... it will work for the purpose of escape, I suppose," she said. The ice wall shattered with a gesture from her. "Step one complete. Let's check in on the war council, they might have come up with a plan by now."
He looked around the chamber. "Where's Lyra?" he asked.
"She woke up far earlier than Aloysius thought she would. She's in the other room with the council; I already told her everything she missed while she was away." Gosthette paused, smirking. "She was rather, er... sentimental when she saw you in the middle of your operation. Why don't you go say hello?"
His breath caught itself in his throat. He rushed past Gosthette, the makeshift curtain doing nothing to impede him.
In the chamber was everypony, arranged in a circle around a massive hologram of a network of tunnels. Twilight was the first to notice.
"...Penni? Is that you?" she asked.
"Yes, it is..." His voice faltered as his gaze fell upon the one pony faced away from him. "...Lyra?"
She did not turn around; rather she remained hunched over the stony table. The entire room fell silent.
"Lyra?" he asked again as he approached her. "...Are you okay?"
He stopped right behind her, waiting for a response.
Without warning, she wheeled around and smacked him in the face, sending his glasses flying across the room.
"...Why... why... just... why... Penni... Why did you risk your life like that...?"
He couldn't see that well, but even in his blurred vision he could make out that Lyra was crying.
"...Lyra, I–"
"No! I didn't want you to almost die coming after me! I didn't even think you'd be so reckless as to face that witch one-on-one! And now... you're a changeling... why...?"
He quelled, feeling hurt. "...Lyra? I'm glad you're safe."
She kept whimpering, tears streaming down her face. Again, without warning, she launched off her seat and pulled him into a hug.
He sighed, patting her back. "I never meant for my weakness to hold anypony back... but for you, I'll be stronger. I'll be your darkness..."
She was still weeping, squeezing tighter. "Penni... oh, Penni... I heard everything you said to me while I was still a changeling, back in the caves... It was as if I was trapped in my own body, a jail cell of ice and scale..."
He fell silent, eyes closed. She was warm; the mere feeling of her body on his gave him a peace of mind that he had not felt for days.
"As sorry as I am to interrupt this reunion that would make even Cadance giggly..." said Luna. "We believe we have a plan for defeating Chrysalis."
He broke away from the hug just enough to look up. "Yes? What is it?" He sat beside Lyra, who leaned against him and nuzzled his chest.
"It isn't to far off from what we originally were thinking," she said. "Your choice to become a changeling was the only key difference. Now that you may soon be able to handle yourself in a battle..."
The magic hologram flickered, adding a matrix of lines and replacing the matrix of tunnels with a rendering of a massive city. "Chrysalis is likely going to be in the center building of the hive complex. It is a city unto itself, with many exits leading to the outside; we have Gosthette's memories of the place and a little dream diving to thank for this invaluable rendering of the hive. There is one entrance that is a straight shot from the sky to the palace... but that would also mean flying over the sight of at least half a million changelings, if not more.
"But who said we can't make a use of it?"
A virtual fireball came from the edge, flying through the simulated sky and colliding with the central palace. "Our goal is Chrysalis herself; if we can defeat her before the rest of the commanders can react, we've secured our victory. The only issue is distracting at least two of the three remaining commanders long enough for the main team to complete their mission..."
"Excuse me? We're splitting up?" asked Pennaprose.
"Not fully. There will be two teams... Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and you, Pennaprose, will consist of the main team. Your goal is to either kill Chrysalis in battle or seal her in such a way that she can't go about freely raising Tartarus," answered Luna. "That will require a sufficient distraction, which the second team will orchestrate. Shining Armor, Aloysius, Gosthette, and I will head the B-team. We will launch a fireball into the mouth of the city, raising alarms and drawing the commanders away from the palace."
The city flickered into an image of many changelings running around on fire. "Casualties won't be able to be avoided, however... but so be it. Gosthette's presence in the city, according to her, should draw Sadhiki and Quitangu to the city gates without a problem. According to her, Sadhiki has something of a grudge against Gosthette... and Quitangu can't resist a chance to cut some ponies down. That should suffice if it's the four of us against the two of them..."
The hologram flickered once more, this time replaced by a focus on the palace. "Krayka will be a thorn in your side, so I recommend you seven go after him first. You will be taking the tunnels that connect the hive to the rest of Equestria to infiltrate; between the already thinly spread force over Equestria proper and the planned distraction, you shouldn't have a problem with sneaking in from there."
The hologram zoomed in on a part of the city's central tower. "The throne is located at the top of the central tower, but the control panel for the power grid in the city is halfway up. Krayka is likely going to be there, so I also recommend that after you're done with him to trash the room. A blackout will stall their forces from mobilizing against you, which will buy both teams more time."
The hologram flickered out completely, leaving the room suddenly darker. "It will still take Chrysalis three days to mobilize her forces enough to launch her plans in earnest. In the meantime, we will need to gather some materials discretely in preparation..." said Luna. "What we'll need for the fireball, certainly. But I'll leave Twilight to decide what the A-team needs."
She sighed, walking away from the table. There was a general rustle of movement and activity as everypony turned to discuss the new plans. Twilight walked over to Lyra and Pennaprose.
"Penni? Are you...?"
"I'm fine, Twilight. More than fine, in fact..." said Pennaprose. Lyra seemed oblivious as she continued to snuggle against his chest.
Twilight gave a wan smile. "Well, it's nice to see that half the problem with the world is gone now. Now to erase that other half, am I right?"
He sighed. "Yeah... shouldn't be a problem." The largeness of the task loomed in his mind like a tidal wave; twelve ponies against a million changelings in an unfamiliar city. "At least I hope not..."
"Don't worry, Penni. We've got the easy part! And um... Lyra?"
She stopped rubbing her face against his chest to glare at Twilight. "What."
"Are you fine with sitting this mission out? Or...?"
"I'm not letting my Penni out of sight again, if that's what you're implying. I'm tagging along whether you like it or not," she snipped.
Twilight visibly shrunk. "...That's fine...!" She backed away with a nervous smile. "Hey Luna, I've been meaning to ask...!" she said as she turned away quickly.
He smirked to himself. Maybe it was the closure of finally having Lyra back safely, maybe it was the end of his troubles finally having a game plan, but his apprehensiveness was beginning to be overtaken by a burning anticipation, relaxing him.
Yet his brief amusement faded quickly as he felt another hoof on his shoulder. It was Gosthette.
"Three days... Two and a half accounting for how long it will take to get there by hoof. More time than I was hoping for, but all the better," she said. "We'll be training you for combat as much as we can, so snuggle time will be rather limited, I'm afraid."
"Two and a half days? Why can't we just teleport to the outskirts of the hive, like how Twilight managed to do so with the entire group coming back from Canterlot?" asked Pennaprose.
"That was discussed during the council," answered Gosthette. "She only managed such a large group safely because Luna was assisting and we were teleporting to a safe place. Our destination won't be as safe to teleport to wherever, with the changelings about, plus we will need to be in different entry points before launching the invasion. Luna thinks she can manage to teleport the entire B-Team by herself, but the A-Team will have to hoof part of the distance underground whereas the B-Team will be assaulting from the air."
He grimaced. "Fair enough, I suppose. And don't worry," he added, noticing the look of concern on Lyra's face. "We won't be risking our lives during training. You can watch if it puts your mind at ease. Right, Gosthette?"
She giggled. "I can't guarantee you'll be completely safe... but I'll stop short of needless risk. Wooden training swords and a few whacks to the back of the head is as rough as I can tell it will be. ...At the moment."
Lyra frowned and rolled her eyes. "If you must, I suppose..."
She broke out the hug, letting him follow Gosthette back into the dragon's chamber. He felt a sense of purpose as Lyra trailed closely behind him, mixed with a sense of finality.
The horizon stretched to the ends of his vision, both in his path and in the window to the outside.