New rays of light pierced the air, causing Pennaprose to stir. He felt heavy and numb.
Warm... he thought drowsily. Where am I?
The light flashed and flickered behind his eyelids. He flinched, instinctively raising a hoof to his face.
"He's awake!"
The voice was Twilight's. He opened his eyes; they were met by a blurry, white-washed ceiling. He glanced around a little, noting that his glasses were missing.
"Are you feeling okay, Penni?"
He snapped to attention. By his bedside was Twilight and the other girls. "What happened?" he asked.
"Vou made big crater with face. Breaking leg and couple street lamps too, but zat is bed-siding point."
A gnarled-looking teal earth pony strode up behind the gathering, wielding a clipboard like a sword. "Very much lucky, Pennaprose. ...Zen again, maybe zere is something about being human-ness that makes vou resilient like iron horseshoe."
"...Aloysius? Is that you? What–?"
"Ze Queen, boy," Aloysius answered with a twisted smile. "Vou reverted to unicorn-y when defeating Queen, yis? Vat do you think half of changeling army did as vell? Zey are free now. ...I thanking vou for zat, by ze vay. I vas one such victim."
He glanced down in confusion. "...Then... Gosthette?"
His grin widened further, looking as if carved from wood. "Strange coincidences, yis?" he chuckled. "She vas windigo ven Queen vas outness. Ze magic vould haf stuck, unlike army... had you not performed crazy action stunting. She is here as vell..."
The girls parted and pulled back a curtain. Behind it was a window-side cot; Gosthette was there, changeling horn missing and sheets rising and falling like a sea. As he looked on, she turned over in her sleep.
"I haf removed ze last traces of ze seed," said Aloysius. "Ven you cleaved her with Changeré, you removed ze connection between changeling magic and body, though seed still remain then, just in tiny pieces. Like squishy pony princess stuffed in little beeping box, painless revert from magic wispy to floppy pegasai. Best case scenario, yis?"
He looked distinctly proud, despite his wooden features making his smirk into something more bestial. "Ah, yis, of course. That news for last, mweheheh. Lyra, too."
He perked up, ears twitchy. "Lyra? Where is she?"
Twilight poked his side, wearing the look of a child caught in the act of doing something wrong. "She, uh... jumped after you."
It felt like the bottom of his stomach vanished. "What."
"Calming, calming..." assured Aloysius. "Perhapingness zat some of your bouncy-back rubberness rubbered off on her? Her injuries not nearly as severe. Just burns, scrapes, cuts, bruises, broken foreleg. Nozzing unfixable."
Dash flew over his cot and pulled back the other curtain on his left. It revealed Lyra, sitting up and covered in bandages. She was reading a thick, mint-green and black velvet tome, the one he recognized as her diary. Some patches of her fur were burned away completely, and she was only reading her book by grace of her magic; her left foreleg was in a splint and hung by straps from the ceiling. At the curtain's retreat, she looked over, grinning.
"...You look in a right state, Penni," she said. "Are you feeling okay?"
He frowned, looking onward is disapproval. "Me? I feel fine, what about you? Why–"
"Because you jumped after her," interrupted Lyra. "I just followed without thinking about it. And, um... you kinda... cushioned my landing anyway." Her face started filling a crimson hue, eyes averted. "Besides, you should look at yourself first for once. Your fur is missing."
"Yeah, about that..." said Dash. "I tried to intercept her mid-air, but by the time I realized what had happened, she was already behind the flames. I almost got lit on fire myself!"
Fluttershy came from nowhere, carrying a small mirror with her. Pennaprose grabbed it with his magic and examined his reflection.
Of his snow-white coat, there was almost none of it remaining. Aside from the odd patch here and there, he was completely bald.
"...Eh. It'll grow back. But on the topic of missing things... where are my glasses?" he asked.
"No clue," said Twilight. "When we got to the spot where you three landed, your glasses were already missing."
"I'd expect as much..." sighed Pennaprose. "They flew off my face in midair, gods know where they landed. And even then, the chance of them being intact–"
"–are zero. But um... finding them won't be a problem," said Lyra.
She flipped to the very last page of her diary, letting something flop out. "They kinda... smacked me in the face mid-flight. But I still landed on them. Sorry."
She levitated the object to him across the heads of the others. It was his glasses; though the lens were miraculously un-cracked, the temples were bent beyond recognition and the bridge was split cleanly in two. He set it down on his lap, staring at it as if it were a dead pet.
"They can still be glued back together, or fixed or something... right?" asked Lyra. "I feel really bad about it–"
"Don't."
He tried his best to straighten the temples with his magic. After a minute of fiddling with it, he levitated the right lens onto his face; it held, somehow. Then he sent the other lens to Lyra, setting it on her face.
"I can see just fine with one lens," said Pennaprose, smiling. "There are some things I don't even need my glasses to see anyway. Thanks, Ly."
She buried her face in her tome and rolled over into her sheets, seemingly embarrassed. He turned to Aloysius, who was glaring at his clipboard. "So!" he began. "Care to tell me what else happened? What's up, doc?"
"Meh," he said, chewing on the end of clipboard absentmindedly. "Nozzing else, really. Gazzetta does not having same injuries, or none at all really. She has been sleepiness like lazy duck since reversion. But I think she is faking."
He waddled over to Gosthette's cot. "Gazzetta!" he yelled, smacking the foot of her bed with his clipboard. "Wakey! Vou lazy pegasissy, wake–"
The sheets exploded off her cot, covering Aloysius and making him curse and stumble into the wall. He managed to pull the window curtains on his way down, causing even more of a ruckus.
Gosthette stood on her cot, fully feathered wings extended in annoyance. Her ears no longer had holes in them, and her face marks were gone as well. Her mane was still the same colors, but it hung loose and silky. He noted her Cutie Mark for the first time; it was an omega symbol, more or less.
She snorted. "Bah... I bother acting like I was asleep and this maniac can't tell. Ex-member of a group of assassins my left–"
She stopped, noticing that more than half a dozen stares were upon her. "...Um... hi." She jumped off her cot, casually kicking the struggling lump that was Aloysius. Her wings folded themselves up and she seemed determined to not meet anypony's gaze as she tried to get to the window.
"Gosthette? Something up?" Pennaprose asked.
"No. Why would anything be up?" she denied, "...You damn fool."
Pennaprose rolled his eyes. "Something is up. You're being sulky about it," he said flatly.
Rarity, who had been watching silently, trotted up and poked Gosthette's shoulder. "You do know if something is bothering you, you can always–"
She slapped away her hoof. Rarity looked incensed, but Gosthette "Why. Just why," fumed Gosthette. "Why do you even care. Any of you..."
"Why shouldn't we?" answered Fluttershy. "Well... Um... you almost sacrificed yourself for our sake. Your help and information was invaluable in getting into the hive in the first place."
Gosthette snorted derisively. "You thought I was helping you? How optimistic. I merely desired to help Pennaprose. If he was against the operation, I would have done nothing for you. End of story."
"Either way, your help was appreciated, Gosthette," said Pennaprose. "But the portal is useless now. There isn't any way back to the human world now. What are you going to do now?"
Gosthette said nothing, instead electing to hunch over.
"Whether you like it or not, you're stuck as a pegasus now," said Pennaprose. "So–"
"I have no identity, Pennaprose," interjected Gosthette. She turned around, her face lined with tears. And yet, nothing else about her expression was soft; she still glared with the same steel, teeth clenched with the same intensity. "None. Now that you're free to pursue whatever life you want here... I have no reason to look out for you."
"Sorry, come again?" he asked.
She wiped her tears, but her face drooped into fatigue. "I admit... at some point in the last few days as I watched you get stronger, I stopped thinking my job was to guard you for my own sake. Now... you have friends, love, somewhere to be, something to do... you have an identity."
He silently regarded her. She has nopony to call family, he thought. Nothing to do, nowhere to go...
An idea blossomed in his mind. He levitated his half-glasses off his face, placing them on her face. She jumped a little when they settled, but looked at him all the same, confused.
"Then why wait? Twilight, I have a favor to ask of you," he said.
"Yes?"
"Do you mind doing the same thing for Gosthette as you did for me?"
She looked mildly surprised, but recovered quickly. "Of course! It wouldn't be a problem at all!"
Gosthette was staring with a look of utmost shock on her face. "Wh... wha...?"
"You have nowhere to go, right?" said Pennaprose, smiling. "Why leave though? There's no tragic hero award for riding off into the sunset here. We can help you."
She teared up again, this time planting her face back into her cot. Fluttershy and Dash trotted up to her, putting a hoof each underneath Gosthette's forelegs. "Cmon, you. We're taking a fly around Ponyville, do a little meet and greet with some of the locals," said Dash. "You comin', Twilight?"
"Sure! We'll find a place to get you settled back at my home," she said. "Then maybe do a little traveling around Equestria. Luna still has to tell me about Star Swirl, so Canterlot is our first priority!"
"And ah'll go whip up some treats," added Applejack. "Y'all swing by Sweet Apple Acres later. Get a taste of the hospitality, y'know?"
"I'll go set a welcome-to-Ponyville party at Sugarcube Corner!" exclaimed Pinkie. "And invite the whole town! We're gonna be best-best-besties, Gossi!"
"Do swing by my place as well, dear," said Rarity. "I simply <i>must</i> have a proper look at that mane of yours, there's a dress just waiting at my shop with your name on it~!"
Gosthette said nothing, face still in a state of blank shock, as Dash and Fluttershy air-dragged Gosthette out of the room by her wings. The rest of the girls followed suit.
He could hear their laughter as they left, eventually replaced by the bustle of trolly wheels and low conversation floating from outside. He sighed, relaxing in the silence.
But it didn't last. He scrambled to examine his bedside, curiosity getting a hold of him. Sure enough, his laptop was waiting there for him. He levitated it onto his lap, popping open a document.
3% power left, he noted to himself. It's been on sleep mode for the last few days. He debated for a second to himself, but started typing anyway.
The last few days have certainly been busy. Saved Equestria, slay a magical apocalypse, fall in love, prevent a world war. Smashed my glasses. Of all tragedies, my glasses were the worst of them. But I'll look into getting a new pair later, I guess.
Gosthette is getting mobbed, right now. Out and about with the girls, getting used to Ponyville. And finally being something else then an older sister to me. I wonder if she thinks the same way?
I don't know what's going to happen now, though. Aloysius said half the changeling army reverted back to normal ponies after Chrysalis was blasted through the portal, himself included. Should I feel guilty that I can't do anything about rehabilitating those poor ponies? ...Hm, Luna's in a better position to address that. After Celestia's back in her right mind, so will she as well.
Lyra's alive and well, too. Broken foreleg—I'm no better off, honestly—but we're both alive. Alive and together. I think if Twilight runs into problems of finding a place for Gosthette to stay, I'll suggest I move in with Lyra. ...Actually, scratch that, I'll ask anyway. I love her, and her house is quite well-suited for a little peace to write. ...That is, if we're not doing something else together.
I'll need to find a job first, though. ...Eheheh. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. ...Right?
Though I honestly have no clue if I'll be able to charge this thing. Maybe I'll try and find Krayka; the changelings know electricity at least. Ask him a favor for, you know, helping him out? He was trapped—penned inside a hopeless situation, I suppose—and I freed him. Simple. Gosthette as well, though it may take some time for her to see it that way.But all that aside.
My human name... Gosthette will have to tell me the full of it later. All I know right now is that it's Pembrooke, but it's so oddly close to Pennaprose that I wonder. My briefcase had Pennaprose written on it, so there must be a connection.
Actually, I'll have to do an interview. There's a lot to the human world that I'd like to record. Lyra would probably like to sit in on it as well.There's a lot left to pen in still...
He saved the document, not a moment to soon. The screen flickered off as the battery died. He closed the lid, sighing in content.
Birdsong twittered through the open window, followed by a gentle caress of wind. His eyelids drooped as he let the serenity of it wash over him, lulling him to sleep. He set his laptop back under the bedside table and rest his head on his pillow, letting the clutches of sleep reach further. His final thought escaped his lips before he fell completely to his dreams, said with a smile and a wish.
"I can finally rest..."