Pennington looked around his surroundings, somewhat confused. He was in Canterlot, walking down one of the typically busy streets. Deeper in his mind, he knew that he was supposed to be trying to go and meet Princess Luna, and he was even walking in the direction of the castle, but something was off about the city. It was completely deserted.

There wasn't a single pony walking in the streets with him. The shops were all abandoned and closed, and the typical hustle and bustle of the populous city had been replaced with a serene silence. Somehow, the situation seemed acceptable, and Pennington took it as such. The lack of ponies was right, somehow, and he didn't question it.

I guess I should get to the castle... Luna's waiting, right? With a shrug to himself, Pennington took off down the street at a slow trot. The same peace that had settled over the city had settled over his own mind, and nothing was wrong. He was simply on his way to meet Luna.

After several minutes of walking, he drew to a sudden halt. His ears perked up on his head,and he looked from side to side. He could have sworn he'd heard somepony talking.

"Hello?" It felt almost like a crime to speak and break the silence, and he was surprised by the volume of his own voice.

When he didn't receive an answer, the same feeling of silent peace with his surroundings returned. Smiling at the fact that he hadn't actually been disturbed and he wouldn't need to speak again, Pennington resumed his walk to the castle.

As he drew closer and closer to the center of the city, he once again found himself disturbed by the sound of voices. Drawing to a halt, Pennington looked around again. This time, however, he could detect the faintest of whispers. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but they were there.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He trotted in a small circle, trying to determine where it was coming from. When he finally realized that it was coming from behind him, he stared back down the street, squinting his eyes. There's no way I could have passed anypony and not noticed...

As seconds and minutes passed, the whispers grew louder, and Pennington felt a deeper recognition of the voices, though the words still escaped him. Realizing that there was no kindness in what was quickly growing into a mass of hissing, hushed tones, he turned back towards the castle, running as quickly as he could.

No longer did the silent city seem benign, with new voices seeping out of every brick and mortar to join the throng that he was trying so desperately to escape. He didn't understand why he felt so afraid, but he knew that he couldn't let the voices reach him. It was a gripping, instinctive fear that was quickly rising up in his chest, overtaking all emotions: the need to run and hide, to escape with his life, to not let them touch him. The castle seemed impossibly far as his legs began to grow heavy with tiredness, and he was slowly beginning to realize that he would never reach it. The voices were only louder, drowning out the sound of his own hooves as he stumbled down the street, his strength rapidly leaving his body.

Pennington nearly fell flat on his face with surprise as a new voice, crystal clear and easily rising above the whispers, called out to him. Looking to the source, Pennington spotted Lily, standing outside of her shop, waving to him and holding open her door. Veering to the side, Pennington felt relief washing over him as he practically fell through the door, his body barely responding to his commands.

"Quick, you can hide in here!" Lily pointed to the tub where she dyed ponies' coats, filled with steaming water.

"There will be time for questions later! You have to get in there now!" Lily's horn flashed with light and lifted him into the air, tossing him into the warm water. Without giving him a chance to object, she pulled the cover over the top, sealing him out of sight.

There was a brief moment of silence. Sure, Lily had been pushy, but Pennington trusted her with his life. If she knew that these things were worth hiding from and that he would be protected in there, then he wouldn't question her.

He took a deep breath as he stayed silently in the tub, keeping his head in the small area between the surface of the water and the lid that had been thrown over him. He began to feel that same peace settling over him for a moment that he'd first experienced in the city.

And then he began hearing them again, coming up from beneath him. Looking down into the dark bottom of the water, Pennington could see what seemed to be a bottomless pit beneath him. As the whispering began to grow louder, however, he could see green lights staring up at him from the depths, faint and tiny at first, but quickly growing larger and brighter as the hushed voices grew louder.

"Lily!" Pennington pressed a hoof up against the lid, trying to push it off. To his horror, it refused to budge. "Lily, they're in here, too! Let me out, Lily! LET ME OUT!" He slammed his hoof against the ceiling, trying to summon the force to move it aside and climb out again. his efforts were fruitless, only pushing him back down into the water, which was beginning to rise with the voices, which were quickly drowning out even his own voice. Trying to angle his head enough to keep his muzzle above water, Pennington took a final breath as the voices neared deafening levels. Turning downwards, Pennington angled his back hooves against the lid and bucked upwards with all of his strength, but got no response. Looking downwards, Pennington saw the thousands of green lights coming towards him with impossible speed, now, and his body was beginning to shut down without oxygen. After one last desperate-but-fruitless attempt to escape, his lungs felt as if they were about to explode, and he finally released his breath, breathing in the hot water.

Somehow, though his body hung limply in the pool of water and was slowly beginning to sink, he didn't feel any pain. Breathing in the water felt like breathing in air, only thicker... A familiar sensation.

The lights were growing blinding, but he couldn't even move enough to close his eyes.

As he finally came face-to-face with the source of the deafening whispers, two of the glowing lights hovered in front of his face, like a pair of familiar eyes. He tried to struggle, to even lift a hoof in the water, but his deadened body refused to respond. He was paralyzed.

The lights slowly moved forward, passing through his own eyeballs like a ghost and into his skull.

Pennington's eyelids slid open, revealing his moonlit study. He had fallen asleep reclined in his chair again, and was still behind his desk. He tried to sit up, but found that his body still refused to move. A surge of fear welled up in his chest as he realized that he was still suffering under his sleep paralysis, and his eyes desperately swiveled from side to side, trying to find any kind of help. Moonstone had fallen asleep in the corner, refusing to leave him alone, but was sleeping soundly in the corner. Pennington tried to force himself to speak, to call out to her, but his breathing remained out of his control, only moving rhythmically in and out. His heart was pounding in his chest as he fell into the familiar ritual of trying to wake himself up. Focusing on one of his front hooves, he tried to move it. He strained with all of his strength to even simply lift it an inch into the air, but the limb refused to move. He focused the entirety of his mind on moving that hoof, and his heartbeat was deafening, pounding in his own ears. He could feel the adrenaline beginning to pulse through his veins, and he prayed with all of his might that the episode would simply end, that the immovable weight would be lifted.

And then it was gone. It was like waking up again as he bolted up and out of the chair, practically throwing himself up onto his hooves.

"Ah! AH! I can move..." He whispered as he trotted in place, feeling as light as a feather. His body felt as if it had suddenly been taken from being filled with lead to being made of air. He laughed giddily to himself, in spite of his knees trembling with weakness and fear, and pulled open a drawer in his desk, removing a small bottle of pills. Pulling it open, he poured two of the pills into his hoof and tossed them into his mouth, swallowing them without water. The rattling of the pills inside the bottle finally woke Moonstone, whose eyes slowly slid open and lazily slid over to look at him.

"Nothing... Just getting up for a short walk." Pennington quickly dropped the bottle back into the drawer before she could see it. He hadn't told Moonstone about his paralysis, yet, and now definitely wasn't the time.

Pennington walked across the room, placing his hoof on the door. "I'm not! Look, I got up, and now I'm walking!"

"Penn..." She growled softly, obviously knowing that he was wasn't telling her the real reason. It was slightly disconcerting that her eyes seemed to glow a little, though he knew that it had to be a trick of the moonlight.

"I'll tell you later, Moonstone. It's nothing to worry about, just go back to sleep..."

Moonstone gave him one final suspicious glare, then shut one eye, quickly followed by the other.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a loud knocking thudded through the house, stemming from the front door. Moonstone's eyes flew open and Pennington's grew wide with surprise. Pulling open the door, he stepped out into the hallway, taking hesitant steps towards the front of his shop. Moonstone was quickly right behind him. Together, they walked out into the lobby, each staring at the door. After a few seconds, the knocking came again, forceful and curt. It was the knock of a pony who knew that they deserved to be inside.

But Pennington knew. Ever since Trixie had left, he'd known she was coming. The whisperings constantly in the base of his skull had been growing stronger, and he'd known she was coming.

Luna, I can still feel them... I can still hear them! They're always in the back of my mind, hissing at me... tempting me to come back.

Pennington, I've done all I can. The connection cannot be severed entirely. You'll simply need to remain strong.

For the rest of my life? I don't want to be strong, Luna! I want them gone! And it scares me that, deep down, they've convinced me that I really don't...

Pennington, if there's any pony I can trust to keep his head on straight, it's you.

"Why would I-" Moonstone was cut off as Pennington pulled open the door, revealing a tall, dark figure. Moonstone stumbled backwards in shock, but Pennington remained strangely serene. The stranger stepped inside, and Pennington moved to the side to let her pass.

"You have a nice home..." Her shadow was speckled with flecks of moonlight. Her voice was melodious, and Pennington could feel any resolve he had left to maintain the "sanctity" of his home washing away. She was already inside, and he never could have turned her away to begin with.

"Hmmm... That won't be necessary." A pair of pearly fangs glinted in her mouth in the silver light. "But I will need your services."

Pennington nodded slowly, a small smile tugging his face. No longer did he have the itching at the back of his mind. All was finally peaceful again. It was finally silent again.

"We've all been growing strong again. Yourself included, I see." She cast her glance towards Moonstone, who had retreated to a far corner of the room, looking back and forth between the two of them. She was horrified at what was happening, despite Pennington's newfound solace.

Twilight let out a long sigh as, once again, she found Inkwell Commissions closed.

Sorry to have missed you, but adventure's calling!

Happy Adventuring!

Pennington Inkwell

The shop had hardly been open at all the past few days, but when she would walk by during the night, she would see lights on inside. The blinds always seemed to be puled over the glass door at the front, as well as any of his windows.

"What is he doing?" she muttered to herself, raising her hoof to knock on the door. She doubted that Pennington had even left his home for the past days, but had simply chosen to close the shop in order to focus on another project. Her knocking had always been met with silence, and she was beginning to wonder if he was purposely ignoring her. She'd considered trying to force her way in to make sure he wasn't doing anything too insane, but then she would remember what had happened every time that she'd tried to force her way in on one of his secrets before: he would shut himself even tighter.

To her surprise, just as she was about to knock, the door swung open of its own accord, revealing a disheveled-looking Pennington. There were deep bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, his mane was a nightmarish, greasy mess of strands jutting in every direction, and his legs were heavily wrapped in white bandages.

"Hi, Twilight... I could sense your concern a mile away. What's up?" His voice sounded hoarse, and it occurred to Twilight for the first time that he might simply have been sick the entire time.

He could "sense my concern?" I'd almost forgotten he could do that... "I was just wondering why the shop's been closed... Are you feeling okay?"

"What? Yes! I'm fine! Fit as a fiddle!" Pennington's posture straightened from its slacked, tired stance, and he did his best to look completely awake. "Why do you ask?"

Twilight blinked in confusion. "Well, you seem nervous, you're a mess, and you sound like you tried gargling some kind of acid!" She shook her head. "Not to mention you locked yourself away, and judging my those bandages, you're having some problems with-"

"Oh, it's just a cold!" Pennington cut her off, startling her with the sudden urgency in his weak voice. "You know, it's actually a funny story! You know how each species is susceptible to certain viruses and bacteria? Well, it turns out that changelings and ponies have very different immune systems..." He turned his head away for a moment, suddenly coughing violently. As his body did its best to expunge whatever it was that was making him sick, a small mass of green slime flew out from his throat and landed in the grass. They both stared at it for a moment, each flabbergasted. After a few seconds, Pennington regained his composure.

"Anyway, I wouldn't want you around, just in case it makes the jump from changelings to ponies! Wouldn't want another epidemic like 'pig flu,' would we? Moonstone's immune and she's really been invaluable, to be honest!" He chuckled to himself. "She's making me some tea with honey right now."

"P-Pennington, that's not normal!" Twilight pointed at the mucus-like substance on the ground. It hadn't simply been like a pony coughing up phlegm when they were congested, it was at least several mouthfuls of a neon-green substance Twilight recognized as the building material that had been used in the hive.

"It's just a little sanitary organic byproduct. You know, like when I accidentally ran through that wall in the changeling hive?" With his voice rapidly deteriorating, Pennington raised a hoof to his throat. "Look, Twilight, I need to get some rest."

"Oh! Of course!" Twilight shook her head in frustration at her own disregard for how tiring it must have been for Pennington to get up and talk to her. She'd had her own share of sick days, and it was usually all that she could do to curl up with a good book and try to sleep off the infirmity. "Get some rest. If you want, I could send Fluttershy over to help!"

"I should be okay... Just give me a week, maybe a little less. I'll be right as rain and ready for adventures!" His smile quickly faded, though. "I'm going to have to cancel our date on Friday, though..."

"You just focus on getting better!" Twilight laughed. "How could I not understand? But you're going to have to do something to make up for it! My parents are coming to visit me at then end of the month! If you're feeling better, I'd like you to come and have dinner with us!"

"Thanks, Twilight..." Pennington smiled again, trying to stifle a yawn.. "I'd love to meet your parents again... I'll see you around, okay?" When Twilight nodded, he slowly shut the door again.

"I love you, too, Twilight!" He whispered, winking as the door finally closed, once again separating them.

Walking away, Twilight still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Pennington never lets being sick or injured stop him... Why would a cold get him to be so complacent? Shaking her head, Twilight took off at a trot. If it's worse than he wants to tell me, maybe he talked to Applejack about it? I'll ask her at the picnic...

"I'm not lying to her, I really am sick." Pennington coughed lightly again, trying to clear his throat. Now that Twilight was gone, he spoke much more easily. There was, however, a duality to his voice, as if there were two ponies speaking at the same time. "And it's because of you."

"Oh, the poor little dear, are you feeling under the weather?" A gentle hoof lifted his chin, looking up into her glowing eyes. "I could spare you the pain..."

Pennington rolled his eyes, pushing her hoof away and walking out of the room she had taken for herself. "You're not the one I trust to take away my pains, so I'm afraid I'll be keeping them." He muttered, his tone strictly business. "Forgive me if I don't take the path of least resistance..."

Happy Adventuring, Twilight!

by Pennington Inkwell

Sickly Nightmares