Penned IN

by Qwix

Chapter 17: Hidden Truth

Morning. The light fell upon Pennaprose's cot, but gave no warmth yet again. If anything, it's fragile touch made him want to recede into the covers, away from its chill. His laptop lie open next to him. Words of last night were typed into a document, unsaved.

I've told Twilight about my situation, save for my decision. But that's only because I don't know yet myself... She just headed up for the night. Spike too.

I can't shake the feeling that what will happen, happen. Neither the feeling that I'm doomed either way. Maybe if I sleep it off, the answer will be clearer in the morning...

I hope to god it will.

65% power remaining.

Pennaprose

He tugged the sheets tighter over himself, positively burying himself in cloth. The laptop fell off the bed and hit the floor, closing in the process. He didn't bother checking it. Instead, he just tried drifting off into a heavier sleep.

Stay for Twilight and the chance to go back to the human world... or leave for Lyra and perhaps never return. To the human world, or even to this place.

The mantra beat a stolid rhythm in his skull. Lyra, Twilight, Lyra, Twilight... He opened his eyes blearily, annoyed that he couldn't focus on anything else.

He looked at the grandfather clock that stood in between two bookcases. It showed 11:40. Damn, I slept in... Where's everyone else? he thought.

A knock at the door made him jump. He hesitated, listening carefully for signs of anypony else in the place. Hearing none, he dragged himself out of bed and trundled to the door, opening it.

To his surprise, he was greeted by the sight of a familiar gray mare. "Derpy, correct? What's up?"

"Twilight's not here? Um, well the message was for you anyway..." she said. "You're wanted in the town square in 20 minutes."

He was resisting a chuckle. He didn't see it close up before, but her crossed eyes was funnier to look at than he thought. He didn't want to offend her, so he coughed nervously instead.

"...Um, all right. What for?"

She raised a salute, looking off towards the general direction of the forest. "I think the mayor said something about an awards ceremony! ...And your name's on it!"

His thoughts seemed to freeze in place, then crack like glass. "Me? For what...? Oh well, whatever. Thanks, Derpy."

She lowered the salute, knocking over a flower pot that was sitting on the doorstep. "Oops. Well, message delivered! Another job, finely done...!" She flew off, upside down.

He watched her go, thoughts thawing. Just as quickly, though, his jaw set as he noticed the sounds of light laughter in the streets. He lowered his gaze; there were ponies strolling past, some eagerly chatting while they headed to the center of the town, but others were following Derpy. They were pointing and quietly laughing.

Just as his thoughts unfroze, he felt as if his heart had flash-frozen in turn. He immediately felt awful about almost laughing at her weird eyes, but couldn't help but scorn the ponies he just saw laughing at her. He headed back inside, checking his laptop and various other things. With everything in order, he brushed his hair with a comb he found on the ground and set off into town—laptop bag in tow—locking the door behind him.

He felt as if a speech was ready-made today.

---

The town square was packed, a verifiable sea of color. In front of the central fountain, there was a stage and podium set up; Pennaprose skirted the edge of the square, darting behind barrels and poles, trying to make it to the back of the stage without being noticed. He had spotted Twilight hovering a little bit over the crowd from a ways away.

He managed, somehow. Behind stage was the mayor, talking to Dash, Twilight, and—oddly enough—Vinyl, who was peering into a bow with wires poking out of it at weird angles. He checked to make sure nopony in the crowd was looking, then snuck up on stage.

"Penni! You made it! I was worried Derpy would get lost again trying to find the library, but it looks like she didn't!"

Twilight trotted up to him, the others following. "Mayor Mare? If you don't mind me asking..." said Pennaprose. "What's this for? Derpy said this ceremony was for me. I haven't done fiddly-squat to earn anything."

"Oh, quite the contrary, Pennaprose!" said Mayor Mare. "Dash reported to me at least three times yesterday that it was you who found most of the missing ponies! Then Colgate just shows up from nowhere with a broken leg at Twilight's, and she just told me that it was you who found her first! I do believe that such a fruitful success from somepony who's not even a native resident deserves recognition!"

She tittered. "Well, if nothing, that dragon that was sleeping in that cave might have caused Ponyville problems. It almost did once before, in fact! And Dash tells me that you singlehoofedly drove it away? You're a hero, Pennaprose!"

"But–!"

"Tut-tut! I have to go begin the event, you just get a few words ready for the crowd!" Without further heed, she strolled off towards the edge of the curtains. "Vinyl? Is the sound system ready to go?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's plugged and amped. Wait..." said Vinyl. She bent down to fiddle with something in the box; a burst of electricity shot out, charring the wood and making her mane stand on end. "Yep! We're good to go!"

She rolled her eyes and strolled out to the crowd. A tapping of a mic shot a painful feedback through the square. Vinyl giggled nervously, then fiddled with the box again. The feedback stabilized.

"Sheesh. I thought you got over that hay-over?" asked Dash. "What made you think that was a good idea?"

She shrugged. "Eff. They checked me out as sober last night, but I've still got a major headache. Nothing that can't be wubbed out of existence."

Dash shrugged and walked through the curtain. The mayor's voice echoed clearly throughout the square now.

"Citizens of Ponyville! I thank you for taking time out of your days to come here now! As you might have heard, this event is to honor a single pony who had gone above and beyond the effort yesterday, finding 6 missing ponies relatively unharmed and nipping a dragon problem in the bud singlehoofedly!

"I call the effort a success, and insist that the pony that led it all receive recognition for it! He is from Canterlot, originally to inspect the housing standards of Ponyville, and to that end, Princess Twilight has been housing him for time being! A business trip turned to a rescue mission!"

Pennaprose twitched in a mix of annoyance and apprehension. He forgot about his cover story, but she was making it sound like he didn't want to at the start.

"So please, clap your hooves for our hero today, Pennaprose Lochflow!"

"That's your cue!" said Twilight, shoving him from behind towards the stage. He glanced back at her expectant face, then nervously walked out onto stage.

A lump seemed to form in his throat. The square was filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of eyes, all upon him as they cheered and clapped. He trotted up to the podium, determinedly not looking at the audience. Dash was waiting beside the podium, swaying side-to-side on the spot in seeming nervousness.

"Pennaprose Lochflow, we of Ponyville would like to thank..." began the mayor.

He tuned her out. His eyes were trained to the sky; Derpy was skimming the edge of the crowd in the air, flying sideways. It may have been his imagination, but the sound of laughter was mixing with the cheering. He saw hooves pointing to the sky; suddenly, without warning, he knew exactly what he needed to say.

"–in finding all the missing ponies by himself and thwarting a dragon, I, Mayor Mare, would like to present this golden award to Pennaprose Lochflow! If you please, Princess Twilight."

Twilight popped out of the backstage curtains with a grin on her face, a gilded statue of a pony floating in the air behind her. The mayor stepped off the podium, ushering him onto it in her place. Only one word of her speech had manage to pierce the air in his ears.

All.

He looked out onto the crowd, the sounds of clapping and cheering dying down in anticipation. His earlier terror had subsided, given way to a sense of certainty.

He opened his mouth as Twilight set the trophy on the podium beside him. "I disclaim any honor you give me."

The anticipation broke, replaced by a murmur of curiosity. Twilight herself looked confused, while the mayor looked nonplussed.

"I may have discovered the lead that eventually found 5 of the 7 missing ponies–"

"Seven?" said the mayor. "I had only reports of 6 missing ponies."

His feeling of certainty grew, adding a tinge of burgeoning distaste. "–But their rescue was neither my intention nor my doing. The pegasai were responsible for returning them to Ponyville, and my finding of them was a pure fluke. I was following a single lead of one pony, likely the one that... didn't get reported.

"Lyra Heartstrings."

The murmur grew in strength, now mixed with a definite titter of laughter. His feelings of distaste exploded past it's boundaries. "What!? Do someponies find her funny?! I may not be from here, but Lyra is another life! Why should she be forgotten now?!"

Dash suddenly tried to push him off the podium. They wrestled for the mic for a few moments, until he managed to pull it off the podium and away from her. "No! Just because the residents of this town doesn't seem to consider the existence of others as just as worthy as their own!" He looked at Derpy, who was right-side up this time. He could see a few gazes turning upwards with his, the sound among the crowd completely dying out now. Only his voice rang in Ponyville.

"She was mocked. She was belittled! And for WHAT?! For believing that her dream was worthwhile! For believing that humans truly do exist!"

There was a few scattered laughs in the back. "And that's just it! They do exist!"

The crowd's silence gave way to a wave of oblivious laughter. He felt his head grow hot; beside him, the podium lifted into the air and crumbled to dust. He dimly realized that his magic was on autopilot.

"Lyra has EVERY RIGHT to life and love that you so easily share with each other! Why should she be denied! Her dream!?! Her very BEING!?! She is a nuisance to you all, ADMIT IT! As if she is no different from a fucking ROCK! No one but those who have had the upmost honor of knowing her had even realized or bothered even KNEW she was missing! It's as if you are GLAD she's gone! A pebble in your shoe, removed and forgotten in a heartbeat!"

He paused, letting the echo of his words ring across the now-silenced crowd. "Disgraceful. I came to this town, seeing a town full of ponies so utterly and remarkably content that I had felt it was too perfect. And I was right."

The crowd was now hushed, all eyes upon him, but not all eyes filled with happiness. Some looked on derisively, others were unmistakably scornful; he ignored them for the microphone he held in his magic. "I was once a human. I was told to keep it a secret, for today I see the reaction to the mere mention of humans to ponies. And it disgusts me.

"Hands, and feet. A nose smaller than a ponies, walking ever onward to the future despite the challenges they may face. What, pray tell, makes them so different from ponies? What, gods above, prevents her wishes of something as real as the ground I walk on to be treated equal to any other wish or dream?

"I have seen the shadows of Ponyville, the deepest part where the light of truth cannot reach. You would hide her existence, forget about it, until a day like today would come to deliver you from your darkest secret. Lyra, the town disgrace. Lyra, the fool. Have any of you perhaps stopped, just once in your utopian lives, that she too has dreams as crushable and feelings as valuable as you do your own?

"She weathered it all. An entire town of mockery and denial for as long as she might remember. And she withstood that test of character, embracing the darkness you have foisted upon her. ...Until now.

"And if she is gone, what other pony will you mock? Who's feelings will you break, who's dreams will you crush, just for your own feelings of superiority? The darkness is never gone. It never will be. Now that Lyra is no longer here, it will surely fall to somepony else to bear it. ...And I already have seen who may be given that role."

He raised his head to the sky, leading the gaze of the masses with him. Derpy flew content and carefree above the crowd; when she noticed most ponies below were looking at her, she gave a friendly wave and a smile.

"Admit, if nothing else, that had you been in Lyra's hooves, you would have been left a shell of an existence long ago. Admit, if nothing else, that the brightest of smiles come from the ones who have suffered the most. She did not blame you. She never once thought ill of you, comfortable in believing the value of her own dreams.

"Her's is a being greater than the mountains I've climbed in pursuit of her, stronger from the fires of hell you have forged her with, more valuable than any amount of gold in the world anypony could buy.

"If you would see this truth it in your hearts, then rise."

He waited, breath heaving in exhilaration. He could see heads turn in apprehension, low uncertain whispers filling the air. He waited for a minute, but no pony rose.

"...I see. Then that is all I need to know." He turned to the mayor, who seemed shocked in place. "You can keep your damn award. I have done nothing to earn it. Maybe when I find her on my own, I'll be worth this honor. ...Actually."

He picked up the golden statue from the podium's rubble and tossed it to the mayor. "Just melt the thing down. I'm sure there's more than enough bureaucratic mess in your inbox to sort through, that pile of lies is the perfect paper weight for it."

He stormed off the stage, catching a glimpse of the looks of shock on Twilight and Dash's face as well. Sorry Twilight... but I think I know what to do now.

He galloped at top clip out of the square, laptop bag in tow, towards the Everfree forest. A single mantra, not unlike the one he was beating in his skull this morning, echoed in his mind. This time, however, it rang clearly as if echoed in a tunnel, empowering him.

I'm coming, Lyra. Wait for me...

Comments

[Amethyst Blade]

welp, that happend...let's move on to next chapter...