//------------------------------// // The Beginnings of Secrets // Story: Happy Adventuring, Twilight! // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// Twilight smiled as she walked up to Lily's door. She had hardly been able to sleep the night before, waiting to see Pennington again. She knew exactly it was that she wanted to say to him, and how she wanted to say it. She raised a hoof to knock, then was surprised as the door swung open in front of her without her even needing to knock. "Oh! Twilight! Hello!" Lily gave her best forced smile, making Twilight sure that she was far more stressed out than she wanted to let on. "What a surprise!" "I told you she was there!" Pennington's voice called from behind the door, obviously close behind her. "Trust the changeling sense!" "I'm not trusting anything having to do with those vampires! I can say that now, because Ace went home!" Lily hissed in return, turning her face behind the door. When she returned to Twilight, she was smiling again, and Twilight could tell that she was beyond stressed. "So... how can I help you? We were actually on our way out!" "On your way out? But... I thought that Pennington was supposed to be resting?" Twilight asked, arching her neck to try and spot him. "Well, you see, our little rendezvous yesterday ultimately served a double purpose!" An almost unrecognizable red-and-orange pony poked his head out from behind Lily. "Penny's little stunt convinced Constant that he was strong enough to attend the book signing today..." Lily rolled her eyes. "So, via a very long and arduous process, we dyed his coat without aggravating his legs, and now we're running late, which would be very bad for his image!" With a short sigh, she pushed the door the rest of the way open, revealing Lily and an eager-looking Scorching Quill, legs still wrapped up in gauze, but now with red fur peeking out. Lily grabbed him by the hoof and pulled him out of the door, yanking him past Twilight. "OW, OW, OW, OW! Lily! Let GO!" Pennington/Scorching cried as they neared the stairs. "Oh my legs don't hurt at all! Do they hurt now?" Lily rolled her eyes as she let go, nodding down the stairs that one had to descend in order to get to the ground floor. "This is what you get for making a hairdresser your manager! You don't have time to stop and chat with your girlfriend, you're already late! If you need to, bring her along!" Pennington winked at Twilight. "What do you say, Sparky? Want to attend a Canterlot book signing with me?" Twilight grinned and rolled her eyes. "Mister Quill, that's 'Miss Sparkle' to you, and I would be delighted to!" The two of them immediately laughed together and followed Lily down the stairs and out the front door, trotting down the street at a brisk pace. "So, where is this book signing?" Twilight inquired as they moved towards the center of the city. "Well, it was originally going to be in a local shop on main street called 'The Page Turner...'" Twilight's eyes lit up with excitement. "I remember that store! I spent hours there when I was a filly! Days, even! I LOVE The Page Turner!" Lily suddenly stopped walking, causing Pennington and Twilight to both stumble and nearly crash into her rear end. She turned around very slowly, eye twitching ever-so-slightly. "Originally? That's where we're headed, Scorching..." "Actually, we're headed there." Pennington pointed up at the castle with a sheepish smile. "I've been trying to tell you, but you've been getting so worked up... Princess Luna said that she wanted to meet with me personally, and offered to let me use the Canterlot Archives for the signing. I already sent a scroll explaining everything to The Page Turner, and they agreed to send all of the fans there, instead..." Lily's left eye twitched three distinct times. Twilight braced herself. "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs, grabbing the attention of several other ponies walking down the street. "Lily! Lily, please! I can get us there in no time..." Twilight thrust herself between the two of them, stopping and enraged Lily from tearing Scorching Quill's head off in the middle of a public square. "I'm so familiar with the Archives, I can actually teleport us there..." Closing her eyes, Twilight let the energy rise and build around them. As it came to a peak, she heard Scorching/Pennington whisper to himself. "She's so cute when she does that..." Twilight didn't know if the flash of heat on her face was from her blushing or the teleport. As they walked into the archives, Lily finally seeming to calm down a bit, Twilight was shocked at the number of ponies who had not only shown up early to the original signing, but followed the instructions and made a detour to the royal archives. Scorching, Lily, and Twilight nearly made it into the library essentially undetected, with him walking behind the two of them like a shield from prying eyes. Twilight was surprised at how opposed Pennington was to being seen as Scorching, most book signings that she had attended had been calm, quiet affairs, especially in Canterlot. "I don't get it... Book signings aren't that bad, even when the fans get a little excited! Why were you so worried?" She asked once they were inside. Pennington looked around, taking a small note of the ponies nearby before lifting up his front leg, which was still well-bandaged. "I make it a personal policy never to come to a signing injured... This is the first time I've ever broken that rule." Twilight shook her head. "I don't understand..." Pennington looked down, then back up at her. "Please, just try to see it... To those ponies out there, there isn't much difference between Daring Do and I. The two of us may as well be the same because we basically are, and all that they have ever seen is a pony who cannot be harmed, a pony who always comes out on top! And that makes them braver, because they can see that Daring isn't just a character, she's real through me! They can see that a normal pony can do anything that he wants to, and that gives them courage to strike out at things that would normally scare them stiff!" Twilight nodded. "So... If they see you hurt..." "They start to wonder what could happen to them when they try scary things..." Pennington nodded. "Fillies and colts, mares and stallions, all lose a tiny piece of that confidence... the confidence that they draw from me!" Twilight was surprised. "Pennington, that seems like pretty deep thinking for somepony so reckless!" Pennington shrugged with a grin, looking over as two pegasi flew in through a skylight in the room. Twilight quickly recognized them, and nearly slapped herself for not checking before calling Pennington by name. One of the ponies was Rainbow Dash, who was obviously doing her best to restrain her excitement, followed quickly by another cyan pony with a dark blue mane: Soarin, one of the wonderbolts. Spitfire must not have wanted to come... "OHMYGOSH!" It took less than a second for Rainbow Dash to find Scorching Quill, and she zoomed over to him with a gust of wind, leaving a momentary flash of rainbow behind her. "You! You're- You're-" "Scorching Quill, at your service!" Pennington winked at Twilight and gave Rainbow Dash a short bow, obviously still sore in his bandaged legs. "Judging by your multi-chromatic mane and obvious VIP access, you must be Pennington's friend, Miss Rainbow Dash!" As Rainbow Dash's face lit up with excitement and she enthusiastically nodded, Twilight did her best to hold back a snicker. "Please, sit down!" Pennington smiled, motioning to a long table with several seats. "I hope that you don't mind sharing the table with Miss Sparkle?" "Twilight?" Rainbow Dash finally seemed to notice Twilight, who had been standing next to Pennington the whole time. "No! Not at all! Whatever you want, Scorching!" Pennington grinned wider. "Wonderful! With our mutual friend, Pennington Inkwell, being gone for so long, she came up to Canterlot so that the two of us could welcome him together, and I invited her to sit with me!" As Rainbow Dash began to nod again, she looked down, finally seeing the bandages on his legs. Her jaw dropped in shock as she immediately dropped lower to take a closer look. "What happened to you? An accident on one of your adventures?" "Just a little accident with some acid! Twilight brought along some of her chemistry stuff to keep herself entertained, but I'm a clumsy oaf, and wound up spilling some on myself! Nothing really serious, just a few burns!" He chuckled to himself, turning to Twilight with a wide grin. "Ironically enough, these wraps are a good look for me, don't you think?" With his smug grin, Pennington lifted up his hoof and examined it, letting Twilight take a closer look. "What would you say, Miss Sparkle?" "Well, Rarity's the one that knows about fashion, but it looks pretty good, if you ask me!" Twilight nearly broke out laughing at his obvious flirting, returning it with a batting of her eyelashes. "Rather heroic..." Pennington grinned in reply, even as Rainbow Dash looked at them with a mix of surprise and horror. "Wait... Are you two- flirting?" "Of course not! Now then, what do you say we get to signing some books! So many ponies, so little time!" Pennington whisked himself away to the table, which already had several copies of his newest book ready for sale. "That's my motto!" Soarin replied, prompting glares from every mare in the room and a snide chuckle from Pennington. "It's darn well about time, you lunatic..." Lily whispered into Pennington's ear after he sat down. "You know you love it..." Pennington replied with a grin as he rolled his eyes. "We've been having close shaves like this since we were foals!" "And they were always your-" "Hello!" Pennington cried as ponies began to walk inside, staying within the area cordoned off by the carpet and velvet ropes. "Welcome, everypony! Please, one at a time, I'll be happy to meet you all!" Twilight looked over at Lily, who was running her hoof down the front of her forehead, then at Pennington, who was already being demanded by a small crowd of ponies. She hadn't picked up on it before, but, the two of them seemed like almost more than just friends... She didn't have time to ask him about it, however, as the ponies filing in refused to let him have more than a few moments of rest. Some ponies asked about what had kept him away for so long, others inquired about the bandages. He stuck to his story about Twilight's "acid accident," though she added a few details over time about how "clumsy" he had been in the middle of her experiment. Some readers were surprised to see him sitting with the Princess's protégé, others asked why he hadn't had such an important guest sooner, making Twilight blush. Pennington's elusive publisher even made an appearance, a busy-looking pegasus in a dress suit. He and Lily talked for a few minutes before he left again, giving Pennington a light pat on the shoulder before leaving again. The hours flew by, though Twilight could tell from Rainbow Dash's stares that she was trying desperately to determine their relationship. It may be a good idea to act a bit more aloof... She was surprised to see Pennington turn towards her before she had even finished the thought and nod. Leaning in close, he whispered in her ear. "I can tell that you're worried... and if you're worried about RD, I think you're right. We'll have to play it a bit more aloof..." Twilight shuddered as she remembered that he still had a few small remnants of the changelings lying in his mind. "Is that 'mind-reading' thing going to go away any time soon?" "Well... It should fade over time..." Pennington grinned. "But never completely..." "Wonderful... That's going to be fun..." She mumbled, crossing her hooves in front of her. "Well, even with the ability to sense your emotions, you're still a mystery to me, Twilight..." He muttered in return, his smile growing. "I'm just good at guessing what you're worried about..." It took almost the entire day for Pennington to finish talking to all of his fans, only taking a short break for lunch between signings. Lily seemed to finally relax over time, even laughing at some of the joking comments he told his fans. But, as the day slowly wound to a close and the last of the ponies had their turn to shake his hoof and have their book signed, Pennington let out a long sigh. "That went better than I expected..." He said, breaking the silence that had settled over the library. Rainbow Dash, who had essentially spent the day stifling yawns and occasionally going for a short flight, hovered into the air. "So, the VIP invitation said something about a personal visit after the signing?" Pennington nodded with a small smile, putting his hoof up to his mouth in a large yawn. "Well, yes... I suppose that now would be as good a time as any for that! Go ahead, we can have an exclusive interview right now, if you like. Ask me anything." "Well there was one thing I was wondering about, Scorching..." Rainbow Dash flew closer, looking him straight in the eyes. "Would you ever think about taking somepony on an adventure with you? Somepony strong, fast, loyal... You know, a pegasus! Like Daring?" Rainbow Dash gave him her biggest smile while both Soarin and Twilight smacked their foreheads in frustration. Pennington chuckled to himself, gently pushing Rainbow Dash backwards and out of his face. "I'm afraid that I work alone, as much as I appreciate the offer... I'm not a tour guide." Twilight tried not to grin. That was exactly what he had been when he had taken her with him, having to explain everything that was going on and where they were, along with what they were doing there. Rainbow Dash floated back down to the ground as her spirits sank. "Well, Scorching, I've been hearing rumors on the Wonderbolt tours that an old artifact called the Alicorn Amulet was recently stolen..." Soarin quickly changed the subject from Rainbow Dash's disappointment. "Do you know anything about that?" Twilight thought that she caught Pennington stiffen a little at the mention of the rare artifact. She had hardly found much information about it at all in her studies, and was surprised that Soarin would even know about it. "I haven't had anything to do with that particular artifact ever since I donated it to the Museum of Magical History... Probably just some black-market thug desperate for some cash." Pennington easily waved off whatever it was that had been bothering him. "But, in the wrong hooves, that could cause some real problems!" "Please, using the amulet is much more complicated than it seems! You can't just put it on and suddenly have massive powers! There are rituals one must go through to prepare, a frame of mind that allows you to wield such power, and even an ancient chant of which only a select few ponies know about! The idea that the amulet could be used is far-fetched, and the concept of it being found and used by somepony with malicious intent is even more remote. It's just going to be stuck under a glass display in somepony's 'private collection.'" The ponies in the room almost didn't notice his spiel, however, and were quickly taking the time to bend at the knee. Pennington blinked a few times, then immediately turned around to see the imposing figure of Princess Luna standing behind him. "In hindsight, I should have noticed that..." He muttered before dropping to one knee, bowing his head nearly to the floor. "Your highness! It is an honor!" Luna rolled her eyes and motioned for them all to stand again. "The pleasure is mine, Scorching Quill. If your official business here is done, I would like to ask you to join me on some... off the records business? It is of great importance..." "O-Of course!" Pennington immediately rose again with an anxious smile. "Twilight Sparkle, I would like to ask you to come, as well..." Luna asked, motioning to the door that led into the main castle. "Certainly, Luna!" Twilight smiled and stepped up alongside Pennington as Luna led them both away. "I'll be back to help clean up, Lily!" "Don't worry about it, Scorching, it's already done..." Lily rolled her eyes as she levitated a stack of books into a large box. Once again, Twilight noted how well the two of them seemed to have come to understand one another, and how much Lily was willing to put up with from Pennington. A few seconds later, Twilight and Pennington were walking down an empty hall in the castle with the princess, even as the sunlight was fading from the sky. "So... You wanted to talk to me, Luna?" Pennington asked as he looked around. "I can tell that you're feeling a little anxious..." "Well, this isn't unprecedented, but it is a new experience for me..." Luna gave him a small glance out of the corner of her eye. "But this isn't the place to speak, yet." With a sly grin, she reached around a hanging tapestry and made a strange motion with her out-of-sight hoof. Pennington and Twilight both watched in surprise as a doorway in the wall swung open, revealing a dark passageway. "If you would please be so kind as to follow me..." She grinned wider and stepped inside, her mane beginning to glow faintly in the dark. Pennington and Twilight looked at one another, and he motioned for her to enter first. "Pennington! I want you walking alongside me!" Luna called, making Pennington slap himself in the forehead and Twilight shudder to a stop, returning the sweeping motion that he had given for her to move first. He nodded and trotted past her, trying to catch up to the princess.