//------------------------------// // Cats and Mice // Story: Happy Adventuring, Twilight! // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// The double doors were the true entrance to the changeling hive, and Pennington's glee from the trap quickly wore off after entering the populated area. "You follow my every step. Walk were I walk, run where I run, and jump where I jump. Got it?" Pennington had asked her. She had only nodded in agreement. "And what happens if we get caught?" "Bolt back here for the entrance. We run, we jump, we blow stuff up. Create chaos and disappear in the confusion." With these words of inspiration, they entered what was probably the most dangerous situation Twilight had ever been in. In the hive, Pennington was proven to be correct: no one seemed friendly or genial with one another. the air was filled with tension, and Twilight even saw the occasional fight breaking out between changelings. There were plenty of shadows and objects to hide behind, and it was these that Pennington used to their full potential. On occasion. he would wait anywhere from seconds to a few minutes for an opportunity to move without being seen. Twilight was astounded at the suddenness of both his motions and his stillness. He would easily run and leap from one hiding spot to another, but any time that he was trying to hide, he would become a statue, unmoving. Twilight had to wonder at times if he was even breathing during these frozen periods. Their first close call came only minutes after they had entered the main hive. Twilight and Pennington were both hiding together behind a small building that Twilight could only assume was meant for storage. Pennington was taking slow, deep breaths that Twilight was doing her best to mimic. The fear clenching at her heart, however, made her breath occasionally stop and come in a ragged inhalation that she barely managed to keep quiet. Between the two of them, almost no sound was being made. What little sound came from their breathing was covered by the small chatter of conversations and hooves on the ground coming from the changelings all around them. Pennington, though tense, moved fluidly through the motion of stepping forward, leaning beyond the edge of the corner, and leaning back again. "I'm going for it. Don't follow yet." He whispered to her with a smile. The smile helped Twilight to feel a little more secure, but the comfort lasted only a moment as Pennington peeked around the corner again, nodded, and then leaped out into clear view. Twilight's heart came to a stop while he made a dash across the open area, trying to balance between moving quickly and clattering his hooves against the ground. Twilight's teeth were gritted in worry as he made the last few steps and took a leap of faith to his destination: a dark alleyway between what looked to be two changeling dwellings. Twilight hesitated to call them homes, since their designs looked only large enough for a few bedrooms. Probably barracks... Are the Changelings a military nation? Twilight was beginning to understand what life was like here in the hive, bit by bit, but her thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected noise. As Pennington had leaped into the shadows, he had rolled on the landing. This roll, however, had sent him headfirst into the wall, which had been closer than he must have been expecting. With a loud grunt, Pennington came to a sudden stop. To Twilight, this grunt seemed like the only noise in the entire hive, and she heard it with crystal clarity. Her eyes flew wide as she saw a pair of changelings perk up from nearby and begin to walk towards the shadows. Twilight nearly screamed as she watched them squint into the darkness. With almost no effort, she used her magic to push down the night vision goggles, looking for herself to discover what had happened to Pennington. As the world made the small change from filtered green light to night vision, the alleyway opened up its secrets to Twilight. She could see the changelings, both now lighting their horns to see, a large metal trash bin, and Pennington's tail... Disappearing into the wall. She shook her head in confusion, trying to understand what the stallion had done. She knew that he couldn't teleport, that was one reason that he hadn't lasted long against the dune worm, invisibility spells were something that she hadn't even managed to master herself, along with intangibility spells. "Hey! What are you two doing over there?" A gruff voice called out, drawing the attention of the two changelings investigating the alley. A third changeling emerged from one of the barracks, with a slightly larger build than the other two. "Just investigating some strange noises." One of the changelings replied, slinking his way back out of the shadows, followed by his friend soon after. "We thought that there might be an intruder." "Hmmph! Yeah, right." The newcomer rolled his eyes. "I know you've had a grudge against me ever since I beat you in that fight, Scorn. You were sabotaging my quarters just before inspections! Now, get a move on, both of you!" With a jerk of his head, they both walked away, muttering incoherently under their breaths. After a couple minutes of inspection, the third changeling left, as well, leaving Twilight in a near-panicked state. The lavender unicorn looked at the strange place around her, not enjoying at all the feeling of being a complete and total stranger to her surroundings. Okay, Pennington wasn't caught... But we're separated, now! Do I move on my own? If I stay here on my own, then I risk being caught! If I try moving on my own, I'll be hopelessly lost! I cant get back through the front door on my own, that trap would catch me like a fly in honey! If I get caught, I'm as good as dead! Oh, I don't know what to do! "Penny... Where are you?" Twilight whispered under her breath, feeling as if she were on the brink of a heart attack. Almost in reply to her question, Twilight caught a glimpse of movement at the back of the alleyway. Straining to see with the goggles, Twilight immediately focused all of her panicked attention to the alleyway again. First a hoof, then a leg, then a familiar head all pushed their way out from the wall again, covered in ooze and gasping for air. He took a moment to re-examine his surroundings, looked back to Twilight with his cocky grin, and motioned for her to come. Counting on the horn dimmer, Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves as best she could, then summoned her energy to a point that teleported her to Pennington. To her glee, it seemed that the horn dimmer even eliminated the signature flash of a teleportation. "Twilight! You're not going to believe this!" Pennington hissed, not even taking the time to greet her. This insensitive reuniting, however, was well-avenged by Twilight's hoof. Without waiting for his excuse, Twilight slammed her hoof down onto the crown of his head, nearly knocking him over. "You IDIOT!" Twilight whispered as loudly as she dared. "How could you leave me like that? I nearly died of fright!" As her hoof rebounded from the impact, Twilight was disgusted to find that some of the slime that had coated Pennington's body was smeared on the sleeve of her stealth outfit. She did her best to wipe it off, and realized that it was already drying quickly. "Well, I had to avoid being seen, didn't I?" Pennington spat his words as he tried to hold back a cry of pain and lifted a hoof to the rapidly forming lump on his skull. "And, I was just about to show you how! Look at this!" He walked carefully back to the wall. Pulling a hoof back, he punched the wall. He cringed as his hoof hit the wall with a resounding thud. "And what was that supposed to prove?" Twilight groaned. "Wait for it..." Pennington smiled through the pain as his hoof began to sink into the wall. "The walls are made of a non-conformity liquid! Solid when sudden force is applied, viscous when constant force is given! It's coated in a waxy substance to prevent any kind of leakage, but it's possible to move through it. I'm guessing that it's some kind of sanitary organic byproduct created in the same style as beeswax." "So... You're covered in a changeling's-" "Sanitary. Organic. Byproduct." Pennington's tone fell flat as he walked past her. Twilight only giggled, feeling a huge portion of the tension melt away with Pennington's humiliation. The hours passed quickly from there, seemingly moving in pace with Twilight's racing heartbeat. Finally, when her yawning nearly gave them away, Pennington made the call for their day to come to a close. "So... We're headed back to the entrance?" Twilight asked with a tired smile. "What? No!" Pennington looked around, then ran to another nearby storage building. He silently pulled the door open, peeked inside, then motioned for Twilight to follow. Rolling her eyes, Twilight summoned the energy one last time to teleport, appearing next to him in the small shed. As he shut the door, they were both plunged into darkness. Twilight pulled down the goggles again, and the world sprang to light again. Pennington, his fur and mane now caked in the dried "sanitary organic byproduct." He had tried walking through walls several more times over the day, but never finding the "shortcut" that he had been looking for. He openly admitted that he probably wouldn't have known one if he saw it, and doubted that there would be one leading to "the core of the hive." Now, he walked back behind what appeared to be several large drums for storing some kind of liquid. Twilight wasn't even surprised when she saw him lay down on the ground behind the drums and settle himself with a foil-like blanket that he pulled out of his bag. He looked up at Twilight with a questioning glance, eyes gleaming in the artificial light of the goggles. "Well, are you going to sleep?" He whispered, motioning to a larger space next to him. "There's enough room behind these barrels to both hide us and provide a place to sleep." "You have to be kidding me..." She muttered as she allowed herself to settle to the cold ground. She took only a few moments to find his second blanket and drape it over herself. "We're seriously sleeping on the floor of a storage shed? In the middle of the changeling hive? Like a slumber party mixed with a deadly game of hide-and-seek?" "Now you're starting to understand my life..." Pennington mumbled, already sounding drowsy. "Fun, right?" "No! Terrifying." Twilight worked in one last argument before allowing him to go to sleep. Twilight was woken up by the sound of harsh breathing in the room. In less than a second, she was wide awake and up on her hooves, eyes glaring into the darkness to spot their intruder. She didn't even notice the fact that her eyes had naturally adjusted to the darkness until she saw the goggles laying on the floor. There was not new intruder, however. Just her, the barrels, and... Pennington. You realize that you're completely paralyzed, a prisoner in your own body... Pennington's words, from so long ago in the hotel, came rushing back to her mind as she looked down to her travelling companion. Your breathing is meant for the smaller and slower needs of a comatose body, not the pounding heart in your chest, and the air comes in shorter and shorter bursts. Pennington's sides were jumping up and down with the sound of the breathing, making it clear that the sound was his own. Twilight turned his body over, trying to get a clear look at him. "Penny? Penny, wake up! Pennington!" She watched in horror as his head turned with the rest of his body. His eyes were wide open and flicking desperately from side to side, but didn't seem to see her, still caught up in whatever nightmare he was having. Twilight gently but firmly punched him in the arm, trying to snap him into wakefulness. Her hoof met only dead flesh, with no recoil and no reaction. Pennington's breathing was shuddering and rasping, and Twilight hesitated to try to wake him up by hitting him any harder. "Pennington! Wake UP! You're having a bad dream! It's not real!" You simply want to breathe, to take long gulps of life-giving air... But you're no longer in control... "I'm sorry, Penny... But I know that this would be worth it for you..." She muttered, cradling his head in her lap. In a last effort, she raised her hoof and slapped him across the face, trying avoid hitting anything more than his cheek. Nothing. Pennington made no reaction, simply continuing his ragged and shallow breathing and laying limply on the floor. Twilight, beginning to panic, felt completely helpless. All that she could do was cradle his head in her lap, steadying him with her front hooves. She felt a very strong protective instinct for Pennington in this moment, one that almost completely overwhelmed her other emotions for the moment. It hurt her more than she could have imagined it would have to see the once-proud adventurer stricken down to something so delicate. "I don't want to see you suffer, Penny... That's why I worry so much. I don't want to see you suffer." She whispered, trying to calm him by running her hoof along his cheek. Without warning, Pennington sprang to life. In a blur, he jumped out of Twilight's gentle grip in a violent explosion of legs. When he was up an on his hooves, he began running in place and shaking his head, all the while gasping for breath, as if air were a delicious luxury. His entire body seemed to be out of kilter, making his movements look more like sudden spasms and occasionally sending a squirm rolling down from his head to his tail. "I-I'm alive! I'm awake... I'm awake." He spoke at a normal speaking level, but in the stillness of the night, it may as well have been shouting. As he talked to himself, he finally slowed to a stop, merely standing and taking deep breaths. "What was it? What did you dream about?" Twilight asked quietly as she walked up alongside him. Her tone was soft and reassuring, trying to calm him down. For the first time, Pennington seemed to remember that Twilight was even there. When he turned to face her, Twilight saw that panic lingered in his eyes, which were as wide as saucers. Like a foal who had just woken up from his first nightmare, he was screaming for help, and his fear seemed to just barely be restrained. Without waiting for his answer, Twilight stepped forward, wrapping her forelegs around Pennington in a protective hug. Pennington returned the warm embrace, pulling her tightly against him. "I died, Twilight... I died again." Twilight felt a warm wetness on her check, showing that Pennington had stopped trying to fight his fear. "I was out in the forest, trying to get a little exercise, when I fell from a high branch and broke my neck. Something was wrong, though. When I died, I didn't leave my body! I was still awake, and I was trapped... A couple of ponies found my body and checked for a pulse. When they decided that I was dead, they dug me a grave and tossed me inside. I wanted to scream, to tell them that I was still alive, but I couldn't even take a breath or form the words..." Twilight felt a shiver run through his body as his hug grew tighter, like a colt gripping his teddy bear. She didn't mind the pressure, though, because she was finally doing what she had been trying so hard to do only a minute before: providing comfort to him when he truly needed it. "The grave was unmarked, and when they threw me into it, they didn't just bury me with soil... They threw rocks in. Heavy rocks. Every time one fell on me, I could feel it, in spite of the fact that I was dead. After a few minutes, I was completely crushed, bones and all, and all that I could do was scream in my own brain and wait for the worms to come." At this point, Pennington finally broke out of the hug, holding Twilight's shoulders at length and staring into her eyes with his own, reddened from the tears. Somehow, the terrified stallion smiled at her. "And that was where I heard it! A voice like thunder. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere at once, and yelled at me, 'Scorching Quill, awaken!' And then I was here, awake and alive." Once again, he pulled Twilight into a warm bear hug, pulling her against his warm body. "Here with you..." Twilight smiled and returned the hug. She had been expecting the voice to be hers, since she had been talking to him while he was asleep, but it obviously hadn't. The fact that waking up where she was had meant so much to him, though, made Twilight feel more appreciated than she had... in as long as she could remember. Somehow, even the celebration of defeating Discord didn't seem to mean as much as this tender moment in the dark. "Twilight?" When he spoke, Twilight noticed that Pennington's voice sent humming vibrations through both of their bodies. She hadn't noticed it until now, when his breathing had slowed to a normal pace. "Yes?" "This is probably just a formality by now, but I want to ask you something." "Go ahead." "Well, now that you've seen what my life is like... and we've been through so much together by now... I want to ask..." Twilight could feel him tense a little and shift uncomfortably, then he broke away from the hug. To her surprise, the stallion who had fearlessly walked into life-threatening situations time and time again was looking nervously at the ground, the walls, and the ceiling, basically trying to avoid looking at her. He was nervous, and speaking in smaller and smaller groups of words. "Would you... want to be... my girlfriend?" The moment that the words were out, Pennington focused his eyes on his own hooves, as if ashamed of himself. The question completely broadsided Twilight, who hadn't really been expecting such a question. She had always seen Pennington as an introvert, even when he had proven himself otherwise outside of Ponyville. Even the romance that had been growing between them had seemed like just another part of the "adventure" until now. But what I just saw was genuine. It was real, it was here, and it was... she smiled as, for the first time, she finally confirmed the intangible in her own mind, and emotion solidified to fact. And it was love. Pennington is totally insane, utterly reckless, always keeps some kind of secret up his sleeve, and... for some reason, I love all of that. I love him, too... I love Pennington Inkwell. The fact didn't strike her the way that most epiphanies did, with a sudden flickering on of a light bulb, but rather like a puzzle piece, finally slipping into place. "Y-you don't need to say yes! I'll make sure that we get out of here either way... I'm not trying to pressure you by asking while we're here in the changeling-" "Yes, Pennington." Twilight smiled, trying to stop herself from giggling at how cute the stallion was when he was nervous. Pennington snapped to attention and looked up at Twilight with eyes full of hope. "Wait, did you mean, 'Yes,' I'm pressuring you, or, 'Yes,' you want to be my girlfriend?" Twilight rolled her eyes and gave him a smug grin. Following her instincts, she took a step forward, bringing her face only inches from Pennington's. "Yes, I'll be your girlfriend. Would you care to seal the deal?" Twilight appeared calm, but her heart was racing. She had kissed Pennington of course, before, but every time felt like the first time again. It was something that had never diminished in its thrill. The second meaning seemed to escape Pennington for a moment, and his face lit up with joy after processing what had happened for a moment. "Well, I would suppose that it wouldn't be official if we didn't seal the deal, now would it?" Twilight smiled, glad that his slightly twisted sense of humor had returned. She closed her eyes and slowly leaned forward, expecting to meet Pennington's lips with her own. Instead, she met only empty air. As she opened her eyes in confusion, Pennington wasn't in the same place anymore. When she opened her eyes, Pennington was up on his hooves in a stance similar to a guard dog ready to attack, staring at the door to the shed with an intense glare. He was taking very slow, deliberate, deep breaths, and energy was beginning to flow off of his horn and around his body in a white mist. "Penny, what's wrong?" Twilight didn't try to hide her disappointment as the moment was ruined. "Twilight, listen. What do you hear?" Pennington whispered as the mist solidified into a glowing set of armor and a floating scimitar. Twilight suddenly felt herself coming to her senses as she remembered where the actually were. She closed her eyes, focusing on her sense of sound. "Penny, I don't hear anything. It's silent, we can relax." "Again, Twilight, you need to stop thinking that the Daring Do books are simple, unrealistic works of total fiction." He hissed, eyes darting from side to side in paranoia. "Daring Do and the Dangerous Descent into the Dragon's Den... What tells Daring that Ahuizotl has chased her to a booby-trapped room?" "She... doesn't hear him chasing her any more." Twilight shook her head in confusion. "No one is chasing us, Pennington! Look, stand guard all night if it makes you feel better, but-" "The changelings are always working!" Pennington cut her off, his tone becoming increasingly urgent. "It's like they take shifts for life! 24 hours a day, seven days a week... except now." When he turned back to her, Twilight saw both fear and rebellion in his eyes. "We've been discovered, Twilight, and they're getting ready for a fight!" Twilight was about to blow off his warning and try to go back to sleep, but a chorus of laughter from outside stopped her cold. "Twi, do you remember what I told you about being afraid?" Twilight began taking deep and sudden breaths as she scrambled to her hooves and ran to Pennington. She clung to his side, suddenly more afraid than she had been in her entire life. "You should only be afraid of the immediate danger..." Pennington's horn emanated more mist as he ripped off the horn dimmer and threw it to the ground. "And never let that fear stop you from taking action." Twilight nodded, trying to focus on getting her breathing under control. As the mist formed a cloud around her, as well, Twilight felt a gentle pressure against her body. She looked down at herself and was surprised to see the stealth suit that she had been wearing was beginning to glow. "Pennington, what are you doing?" "Well, making armor is easier with a physical base to work from, if you know what I mean..." He whispered. After a few seconds, Twilight did. The smooth fabric seemed to disappear from where it wasn't needed as the mist formed unfamiliar shapes and solidified. By the time that the process was complete, she was no longer wearing a stealth suit, but instead a set of armor similar to Pennington's. She had protective braces on her forelegs, completely smooth and blank, with only the exception of two hooks near the ends that looped out in the same way that several of Pennington's did. As she turned to continue looking at herself, she noticed that she had plated armor around her neck and sides that overlapped and moved with her. There was a similar set of braces protecting her flanks and the backs of her rear legs. The entire set of armor was topped by a helmet in a style similar to the one that she had seen Nightmare Moon wear, with her mane flowing out of the back. The ensemble glowed a light blue, and Twilight could feel the raw energy that made up the solid objects pulsating within their solid barriers. "Thank you..." She whispered in return, as she noticed that Pennington was breathing heavily. "Don't... Mention it..." He muttered, trying not to show the effort that it had taken. Despite that, Twilight could see that it had taken a lot out of him, and even the armor that he was wearing seemed to be glowing more faintly. "Twilight, you're going to have to run, now. Run fast and run far, got it?" "What? And leave you? Never." Twilight tried to touch her horn to his to give him a small portion of her own energy, but he turned away. "Pennington, I'm not going to abandon you!" She tried again, this time pulling his head towards hers with magic. With a spark of light, Twilight felt some of her magical energy flowing from her and into Pennington. "Twilight, you made me a promise that when I told you to run, you would!" Pennington hissed, growing desperate. "Well, I-I... I lied!" Twilight shook her head, taking a firm stance next to him. "If you're going to fight, I'm going to fight with you!" "Can we come in, yet? We're just waiting until the two of you are ready to go!" A voice called from outside. "They're toying with us, Twilight. This isn't a fight we can win!" Pennington growled. "You need to go!" "We can win, Penny, if we stand together..." Twilight whispered, nuzzling his shoulder. "You know, we're getting hungry!" Another changeling called from outside. "Twilight, there's no way of knowing what will happen to us." Pennington sounded scared, and put a hoof around Twilight's shoulders. "Well, it's going to happen to us together." Twilight gave him a nod. "And the two of us can beat it." Pennington continued to think for a moment, and then stood a little taller. His gaze grew steely and he tensed himself, like a coil ready to spring. "Fine. Let's do this." A chorus of relieved and sarcastic cries made him roll his eyes. ... "Well, time to fight the entire nation of changelings... What an adventure..."