//------------------------------//
// The Virus 
// Story: Happy Adventuring, Twilight! 
// by Pennington Inkwell 
//------------------------------//

	"T-Twilight?" Pennington's voice was filled with joyous realization as his face lit up in ecstatic recognition.

Twilight's heart leapt with joy, as well. Just to see him here, alive and well, was the realization of countless dreams over the past few months. She was almost afraid to move, worried that she would somehow wake up and find this all to simply be another one of her dreams. Despite this, however, she found herself rushing forward, desperate simply to touch him, to hold him, to make sure that he was real and substantial, and not some kind of illusion that would disappear at a moment's notice. "Pennington! I-It's you! It's really you!"

The two of them rushed towards one another in  glee, until the changeling stepped between them and she felt herself being lifted into the air by another unicorn's magic.

"Hold it, there, lover boy!" The changeling chided as he held Pennington back, aided by Lily lifting him up into the air. "You know what we told you..."

Twilight looked over to see who it was holding her in the air, shaking her hooves in an effort to reach the ground. To her surprise, not only did she see Constant Care, but the pony whom she had seen yelling at Pennington's home, both working to hold her back.

"What are you doing? Let me down!" Twilight pushed herself back down to the ground using her own magic, but whenever she was about to reach the ground, the other two would redouble their efforts and stop her.

"Twilight, dear, you have to listen to me-" Constant began before being cut off by the changeling, who didn't seem to care at all who he spoke over.

"Pennington isn't ready to see you, yet!" He announced as he pushed his glasses up on his head.

"Ace, I'm fine!" Pennington argued, stepping up behind the changeling with a pleading look.

"Is that Ace? What is he doing here?What is all of this about?" Twilight asked, trying once again to reach the ground. "Of course Pennington is ready to see me! He's right there!"

All of the ponies in the room looked nervously at one another, then at Pennington. With a short nod, Pennington stepped forward.

"Twilight... I'm sorry... But not everything is quite as it seems, here. Ace is here because we need an expert on changelings." Before Twilight could ask the next logical question, though, it was answered.

Pennington's body burst into momentary green flame in a near-blinding burst of light, forcing Twilight to cringe and look away. When she opened her eyes again, her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat in fear.

Pennington had changed exactly like a changeling. Where there had once stood a blue unicorn, there was now something... different. His body was still covered in fur, but rather than his typical vibrant blue, it was a dark, dark blue close to black, like the night sky an hour before the sunrise. His hair and tail were jet-black, with a few small holes and ragged edges within the follicles. His teeth sported a small pair of sharp fangs, and his legs were punctured with dozens of tiny holes. It was nothing like the gaps in Ace's legs, but they were numerous and still punctured through to the other side, creating a disorienting array of tiny holes that made him look much less than solid.

"I still think you look like somepony tried to murder you with a crazy straw..." The one pony that Twilight didn't know finally spoke up with a small smirk.

Pennington shot her a frustrated glance, baring his fangs and narrowing his eyes in a silent snarl. "Shut up, you overgrown arachnid..."

"Wannabe changeling!" She retorted, taking an indignant step forward.

"Webhead!"

"Hey, Penn, I always knew you were a saint, but no you're really hole-y!"

"Hey, don't make me get the giant newspaper, because I will swat you like a bug!" Pennington stepped forward, bringing the two of them right into each other's faces.

Twilight cleared her throat from her perspective in the air, drawing the attention back to herself. "Would somepony please EXPLAIN what's going on?"

Both of them blinked and looked up at her, and Pennington's disturbingly fitting snarl retreated from his face.

"Oh, right! Twilight, allow me to introduce..." He blinked and shook his head in a sudden bout of confusion, as if his mind had suddenly slipped away from him. "Allow me to introduce... Spider."

"Spider?" Twilight shook her head, trying to understand.

"My name is Whipstitch..." She replied, shooting Pennington a glance with her tongue sticking out. "It's a pleasure to meet you officially, Twilight."

"Pennington has been struggling since his near-disaster. Struggling with identities." Ace replied, pushing up his glasses as he spoke up again. "It's only predictable, considering that he almost lost his. You're the only pony that he's called by name, actually. I'm still trying to get over the initial shock... The four of us are all here to try and help him on the road to recovery. I'm here because we needed a changeling to understand what was going on."

"I'm here because we needed somepony who understood pony biology... and I couldn't bear to see him like he was." Constant Care took her turn to speak, with a melancholy smile. "This is actually much better than when the changelings came to me for help... He hardly knew his own name!"

"And Whipstitch and I are here because he needs support, and the two of us are practically his sisters!" Lily motioned to Whipstitch and herself with a smile. "I'm letting him stay here in my home until he recovers, and Whipstitch came here from Ponyville to help!"

"Penn's an idiot, so we're doing our best to help him out of his own mess." Whipstitch grinned as she gave Pennington a friendly punch on the foreleg.

"Well, if he needs help and support, why didn't you call me? I'm his girlfriend, for pony's sake! No pony could support him like me!" She looked down at Pennington, who was seemingly shamed into looking down at the floor, examining the holes in his legs. "Why wouldn't you want me here?"

"Because I couldn't!" Pennington stomped his hoof in frustration, finally looking up again. "You don't think that's what I wanted more than anything in the world? To see you again?" Twilight watched as his breath came in short shudders and he began to blink rapidly. A smile broke through his grimace. "I- I still can't make tears. Isn't that the biggest joke of them all? Ponies can cry, changelings can cry, but in between? When you lose yourself and want to mourn the most? No..." He stepped forward, gently pushing Ace aside and motioning for Lily and Whipstitch to bring Twilight lower. As her hooves touched the ground again, Pennington raised a perforated hoof and ran it down the side of her face. "You don't think that I wanted to see you? To let you know the truth, to put myself out of this living nightmare without you? You mean more than the world to me, Twilight... I wasn't simply trying to ignore you! I've been abandoned before, and I would never wish that on anypony... Most of all you."

"The problem is, medically, we need ponies who love Pennington platonically." Ace stepped between them, giving Pennington a wary glance. "True there's no pony who could support him better than his girlfriend, but the same applies to loving him. Your being here, simply even knowing that he was alive and well, is completely counterproductive! Your love feeds his inner changeling, causing it to grow and take greater control!"

"Compare the inner changeling to a virus..." Constant picked Ace up with her magic, removing the barrier between Twilight and Pennington. "A virus invades the body cell by cell, replacing the DNA being replicated with its own." She stood next to Pennington, putting a comforting hoof around his shoulder. "If it grows stronger, the conversion process starts again, and he turns into the rope in a pony-versus-changeling tug of war... He knows this, and it's taken every ounce of self-control that he has left not to get back in touch with you again so that he can heal..."

"And come back to you in one piece." Pennington finished the sentence on his own, head hanging towards the floor. "There are definitive risks to us being together... First and foremost being-"

"Your health." Twilight whispered, finally beginning to understand. "To love you is to cause you pain and suffering..."

"Your safety."

Twilight blinked in surprise, and she saw that this hadn't been the answer that the other ponies in the room had been expecting, either.

"Well, let's face it! From most ponies' perspectives, I'm the monster that they look for under their bed at night! No offence, Ace." Pennington put on a large smile, and Twilight had trouble telling whether or not it was real. "I always thought that there was a lot of story potential in changelings, but never imagined that I would wind up being a main character in a story about them! But, to be honest, it's still a challenge for me to always control myself... And your... delicious love... is not helping..." He rolled his eyes in some kind of invisible pleasure before snapping out of the trance. "So... and let me assure you, this is the most painful thing I could possibly say right now... you need to leave." He gripped at his stomach, which was beginning to growl loudly.

"But- But I just found you again!" Twilight stepped towards him, heart pounding with fear in her chest. "This is the first time that I've seen or heard from you in three months! You can't just ask me to leave after all of this! And you still haven't explained why you could send a book to Rainbow Dash but nothing to me!"

"Old habits... I always get a copy of my books to Rainbow Dash. Old habits help me feel like myself, instead of... this." Pennington looked up again, letting go of his stomach as whatever problem he seemed to be having passed away. "I wish that I could stay and talk, Twilight... But you're making me sick, now..." He turned to walk away, taking deep breaths.

"Wait! Penny, please... Just one more thing?" Twilight begged, stepping forward and grabbing his shoulder. Under her touch, Twilight felt Pennington's tension melt away and he came to a stop. She smiled at the silent signal of affection, and slowly turned him around to face her. "I don't care what you look like, half-changeling, whole changeling, or even just a normal pony... But I love you. Do you still love me?"

Pennington gave Twilight such a look of melancholy bemusement, she knew that she shouldn't have even felt the need to ask. She could see every ounce of pain in his eyes, even without his ability to cry.

"Well... If you love me... I want one last thing." She leaned in closer, turning her head slightly.

"Twilight, I don't think that's a good ide-" Ace was cut off as Whipstitch, Lily, and Constant Care all shushed him loudly.

Pennington blinked, then slowly leaned forward, hesitantly meeting Twilight's lips in only the faintest of brushings, creating a gentle, fearful sensation that somehow drove Twilight mad, as if he were trying to tease her after so long. With a small advance, Twilight increased the pressure, bringing them even closer and intensifying the kiss slowly in a way that made her entire body tingle with delight. As the blissfully drawn-out seconds continued, Pennington seemed to overcome his fear, leaning forward and exhaling through his nose, creating a dizzying blast of heat between their faces. 

Twilight moved to pull away as she realized that the dizziness and tingling were becoming tangible symptoms, starting to make her weak in the knees, but Pennington moved with her, breaking away only when he found himself to be ready. His front leg had snuck its way around her shoulders, placing her within his complete power as her strength waned. When they finally did separate again, it was only by less than an inch, and Twilight could see Pennington's pupils beginning to narrow and morph as the fangs in his mouth extended. A thrill of horror ran across her chest as she realized that he had lost control of himself, and was now feeding freely on her.

"Just come a little closer, my dear..." He hissed as his head moved down towards her neck, seemingly preparing to take a large bite. She could see the bright green venom dripping from his fangs, and she realized that she was completely helpless in his grasp, now.

And I brought this on myself... and on him. It's my fault.

"CODE RED!" Ace shouted as Pennington was yanked away, wrapped in a light pink aura of magical energy. Lily, Whipstitch, and Constant Care were all working together to hold him back as Ace rushed to her side, supporting her as she swooned from side to side with the exhaustion and wooziness of the attack. When Twilight looked up, Pennington had changed entirely. Where there had once stood a pony well on his way to recovery, there was now come kind of feral creature pinned magically against the wall. His pupils were nearly gone, now only the thinnest of catlike slivers, and he was screaming and snarling against the hold on his body. The holes in his legs were now the size of bits, more than doubling in radius, and his cutie mark seemed to be fading into his darkened fur. He was thrashing and screaming like an animal, trying to reach her.

With a quick nod to the other two girls, Constant Care stepped away, taking Ace's place supporting Twilight and walking towards the door to Lily's apartment.

"Twilight, that was as reckless, if not more, than most of Pennington's more recent stunts! You completely put aside safety and common sense, and now Pennington is in horrible condition! I hate to sound like my sister, but I hope that you learned a good lesson from this..." She opened the door with a quick magical turning of the knob. Spike was still waiting outside, though the look on his face was both one of shock and of fear. "I mean, a peck on the cheek, a quick brushing of the lips, that probably would have been fine! But you just had to full-out kiss him, and now look..." She set Twilight down in the hallway, letting her lay down next to where Spike was standing. "Don't call us, we'll call you... There will be no visiting hours. Pennington will be back to see you soon... hopefully." With that she gave Twilight another frustrated look, a long sigh, and a shake of the head. "I would have done the same thing if it were Sure Shot, though. I can't blame you for trying."

With that, she shut the door, and Twilight heard it lock behind her.

"Twilight! What happened in there?" Spike asked, running up to her and doing his best to help her onto her hooves.

"Well... Apparently... Pennington is half-changeling and I kissed him... And that wasn't healthy for either of us..." She mumbled, doing her best to get up and walk down the hall. "I got what I needed, Spike. Let's go home..."

Spike scratched his head in confusion, then shrugged. "Fine... But you're going to have a lot of explaining to do on the train. That wasn't nearly enough information!"

As Twilight looked back at the door that had so unceremoniously separated her and Pennington, she felt a sincere sense of longing to go back, and a great sadness at the knowledge that, if she did, it would be even longer before they could see one another again.

"I don't think that it was enough, either, Spike..."