//------------------------------// // Explanations and More Questions // Story: Happy Adventuring, Twilight! // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// When Twilight woke up in the morning, she had almost forgotten about the fact that she was so far from home. The fact that she didn't wake up to the sight of filled bookshelves made the fact painfully apparent when she opened her eyes, though. In a flood of memories from the previous day, one that she had been hoping was just a nightmare, she looked over to where Pennington was sleeping. The pony looked deceptively peaceful, and there were few signs of the battle from the night before, with the exception of a blackened singe at the tip of his horn. Twilight hopped out of bed and walked over to inspect him more closely. It looks like he used too much energy at once, and the effort hurt his horn... Twilight cringed. An overflow of output was never a problem that she had encountered before, but most attributed that to the fact that magic was her special talent. What was that spell he used, anyway? I've never seen anything like it... As she thought more about it, more and more questions arose in her mind, all of which she had spared him from last night. "Well, there's one question that I can investigate myself..." She whispered, pulling Pennington's bottle of pills out of his saddlebag. She easily popped off the lid and levitated a single pill into the air, inspecting it closely at eye level. Nothing new seemed to present itself, at first. It was a clear, obviously water-soluble casing around a tightly packed powder. The powder itself was off-white, with occasional small flecks of black and grey. Everything was ground up so finely, however, that Twilight couldn't make out anything more with a visual inspection. She was contemplating slicing one open to check how the ingredients would be effected by a few chemical reactions when a low groan from Pennington stole her attention. "Ugh... So sore..." Pennington muttered as she slowly sat up, propping himself up against the headboards. One hoof went up to gingerly prod at the scorched part of his horn, and the other went down to his ribs. "Note to self: make the armor lighter and better suited for ducking and rolling..." "Pennington! You're okay!" Twilight laughed, putting the pill back in the bottle before he could see what she had been doing. "How are you feeling?" "My horn hurts, I'm guessing that I have a reasonably large bruise on my side, and I've got a headache." He gave Twilight a weak grin. "Just another day in the life of an adventurer..." He moved to throw off his blankets and cringed again. "And probably pulled something in my leg." To Twilight's utter shock, the pony stood up on his own, limped a few laps around the room, and nodded to himself. "I ought to be fine after a few hours of putting weight on it..." "You- you're kidding, right?" Twilight shook her head. "You just slept it all off?" "Well, I've been through much tougher environments and MUCH tougher fights than that!" He gave her a stronger grin, looking bemused by her concern. "Right now, though, I'm just itching for some breakfast..." "Well, first, I'm 'just itching' for a few answers, if you don't mind..." Twilight smiled at the sight that her friend was indeed, okay. "First of all, what was that spell that you used to make that armor appear?" "Well, it's something that I discovered a long time ago." Pennington sat back down on the bed, a little disappointed at Twilight not wanting to eat yet. "If I focus enough, I can take my magical energy and form it into a solid object. Usually, I'll only use it in emergencies, because I can't re-absorb the energy most of the time." He shrugged, trying to downplay the importance of the detail. "It usually takes some time and a lot of focus to form something as complicated as armor, but I managed to do it pretty quickly last night!" "Yeah, just in time to avoid being killed!" Twilight shook her head in frustration. "If you weren't sure you could do it, why did you take a chance like that?" "I was hoping to talk us out of it. Do things peacefully." Pennington lifted a hoof to his forehead, massaging a pressure point between his eyes. "But then... Things got out of hoof. I lost my temper-" "They started threatening me." Twilight interrupted. "That's when you started looking for a fight." "I've been told that I'm rather protective before..." Pennington was glad that she couldn't see his blush through the bright red of his dyed coat. "When my friends are threatened, I get... adventurous." It was just because I'm his friend... For a moment, Twilight could have sworn that she was hoping for something... more. "So, we're friends?" She grinned brightly at the stallion, looking for confirmation of her statement. Pennington rolled his eyes at the question, beginning to see why the unicorn had been so eager to get to know him. "If that was your aim in all of this, then you've accomplished it! I consider you my friend, Twilight Sparkle. Especially after you saved my life last night!" "Well, you saved mine a few times before I saved yours." Twilight laughed. "Okay, next question: what do you need those pills for? I can see that you got them from Zecora, but I can't figure out what they are!" "Sleeping pills." Pennington went back to massaging his forehead. "You didn't need any help getting to sleep! You were about to pass out!" Twilight would have assumed if he was joking if he hadn't looked so serious. "You take cough syrup to cure a cough, you take an anti-depressant to cure depression, and I take sleeping pills to cure sleep." Pennington began using both hooves to rub his temples. "I don't like to talk about it, okay? And I really need something to eat... You smashed your hoof down on the dinner that we were going to share, so I didn't eat, either..." "Well..." Twilight knew that she had more questions that she wanted to ask, especially about what he meant by "curing sleep," but she had been keeping him away from something to eat long enough. "Okay, let's get something to eat!" "YES!" Pennington bolted for the door, so fast that Twilight almost didn't notice a slight limp in his stride. She silently followed him out the door. Maybe he didn't want to bring it up. "Wait up! Take it easy, Pennington!" She caught up to him with relative ease, and the two of them walked down the main street together, with Twilight setting a slower pace for Pennington. Typical stallion, doesn't want to admit when he's hurt... Twilight rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but see his 'tough guy' act as a little cute, like a little colt pretending to be a scary monster. "Why don't you like it?" Pennington asked as he slurped up another mouthful of noodles. "It's not healthy! Too much sodium." Twilight shook her head. "Besides, most ramen I've ever had tastes the same, and I just didn't like the taste." "Well, it's cheap, and I like it. Maybe you were trying a bad brand!" "I tried a bunch of them..." Twilight shook her head. "But, why does it matter if they're cheap? You have all of the money that you need from your books!" "I just like it. Helps me focus on things, like how we're going to get you home..." Pennington looked up at her over the rim of his ramen cup, his eyes showing the seriousness of his statement. "You mean, how we're going to get home, right?" Twilight glared at him as she took another bite of her salad. "The main issue is getting you home in time for 're-shelving night,' or were you mistaken at the train station?" He pulled out a small wallet from his saddlebag to pay for the meal. "No, but I'm not going to just leave you here." Twilight shook her head. "Especially not after last night! There's no way of telling if that gang has any more members, and you probably just made the top of their 'Not Wanted Alive' list!" Pennington's wallet landed on the table with a soft "thud," and he pushed it towards her. "There's enough money in there to pay for one pony to stay here the rest of the week, eat every day (give or take a meal or two), and buy a ticket from here to Ponyville." He gave Twilight one of his grins, a clear indicator that he was about to do something reckless. "I can go without a few pieces of equipment so that you can get home as soon as you want..." Twilight looked down at the gift, unsure of whether or not to take it. "What about you? You'll be stuck here with no money and a dangerous reputation..." "I'm Scorching Quill! I've been from the depths of the seas to the tops of mountains! Don't you think that I can handle Equestria's suburbs for a few days? I go on my adventure, come back to town, sell a few autographs, and I'll be home before you can say 'happy adventuring!'" He laughed and leaned back in his chair. "Wait... Did you just say that you're still going on that stupid suicide mission?" Twilight dropped her fork onto her plate in shock. "You've been attacked, injured, living on a bare minimum of a budget, in all likelihood you've got a street gang after you, and you're still going to try to invade the home of a race that grudges a burning hatred of ponies in general?" "Of course! I don't want to be wasteful! I'm here, so why not do what I set out to do?" Pennington pushed the wallet towards her. "I'll have my things out of your motel room by the end of the day." "No, you won't." Twilight shook her head. "I already had to save your tail once, and I don't want to feel like I just let you walk away to your demise. You're going home. Now." Pennington picked up his wallet, more than a bit annoyed. "Once again, you're refusing to see what I can do." "And you're still being hardheaded!" Twilight groaned. "Well, don't forget who's paying for our room at the motel!" As ponies around them began to once again stare, Pennington's voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "If you had your way, I'd just sit around there and write sappy letters all day!" "And if you had your way, you would probably try living on the moon to write a book about Princess Luna!" Twilight hissed in return, losing her temper. "Honeymoon, or couple's retreat?" The waitress asked with a grin. "You two look too young to be fighting like an old couple..." "We're not a couple!" They both shouted, turning their rage on the waitress. Both ponies paused for a moment, then looked at each other, only now noticing the fact that they had spoken in sync. Both of them held eye contact for a brief moment, then turned back to their respective meals. After finishing breakfast, Twilight and Pennington stormed back to the motel, still fuming at one another. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I can stay with you until you're on the train home..." Pennington finally muttered as he pulled open the door to the motel room. "It won't make me feel better unless you're on that train with me, getting as far from the changelings as possible." Twilight grumbled as she flopped onto her bed. "Well, you can't always get what you want in life, Twilight." Pennington rolled his eyes as he began going through his equipment, once again taking an inventory. "I've got my camouflage tactical suit, night vision goggles, horn dimmer in case I need to use magic..." "Neither can you!" Twilight sat up again, using her magic to pick up Pennington's equipment and toss it in the corner. "Hey! Some of that isn't meant to be carelessly thrown around!" Pennington ran over to inspect his bags, gently picking up each piece and looking it over. A new idea sprung to Twilight's mind. If he doesn't have his stuff, he can't go! With a smug grin, Twilight sent his equipment to the roof, out of sight. "Hey! Give it back!" Pennington spun around, glaring at his roommate. "No!" Twilight grinned, in spite of the fact that she knew she was being immature. "It's for the best if you don't go." "I'm still going, but it will be a lot easier with all of that!" Pennington pointed back at the spot where his bag had been. "But a little setback like that isn't going to stop me!" "You're kidding... Right?" Twilight shook her head in disbelief. "It makes it more of a challenge, actually!" Pennington winked at her, playing off of her shock. "Maybe I'll just let you keep my equipment! You can tell everypony that you stole it from Scorching Quill, you'll make a fortune at an auction!" Twilight couldn't believe her ears. This pony really IS crazy! "Look, the point wasn't to make a few bits or steal your stuff, it was to keep you from going!" She picked him up with her magic, lifting him into the air and pulling him close to that she could look him straight in the eyes. "I'm not going to lose a friend to the changelings because of some stupid challenge!" To her complete surprise, Twilight couldn't get him to look her in the eye. He seemed more concerned with his hooves, which were helplessly flailing and reaching towards the ground. "You're not listening to me!" Twilight tightened her grip, keeping his hooves still and turning his head to face her. When she finally saw his eyes, however, they didn't have their normal, searching look, nor were they locked in a steely, adventurous gaze that she had seen so often. They were wild, angry, and... scared. There was a blinding flash of light, a sound like an explosion, and Twilight lost her grip, dropping him to the ground. In the moments after she let him go, Twilight became aware of two things. One: something was burning, she could smell it. Two: she could feel a cold, metal edge being pressed against her throat. As her eyes recovered from the burst of light, Twilight could see Pennington, singed in places, taking deep breaths and staring at her with a look of absolute loathing. His coat seemed to have lost some of the dye, becoming blue or violet in places, or burned in others. His horn was glowing brightly, releasing a fog that wound through the air towards her, then solidified into an Arabian-looking sword at her throat. "Don't. Ever. Do that again." Pennington growled between drawing in long gulps of air. "I don't deal well with not being able to move my own body... Got it?" Twilight hastily nodded, a bit unsure of what he was going to do at this point. She let out a long breath as the blade faded away into a fine mist that floated back into Pennington's horn. The crazed colt turned his back to her, running to his saddlebag and pulling out his pill bottle. He opened the bottle with shaking hooves and tossed two of the white pills into his mouth. He swallowed loudly, then walked into the bathroom, his knees violently shaking. Twilight rubbed her throat where the sword, which she now remembered was called a "Scimitar," had been. She had seen Pennington form objects out of magic before, but she hadn't imagined what it would be like to be on the other end of those objects. What... Just happened?