//------------------------------//
// Nothing Like Electroshock Therapy 
// Story: Happy Adventuring, Twilight! 
// by Pennington Inkwell 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight smiled as she stood alongside her brother at the real wedding ceremony. Planning it had been a piece of cake, with Cadence being absolutely delighted at every idea her friends had. She'd gone to visit Pennington whenever she'd had a spare moment, but he had still been unconscious every time.

Now, however, everything was going according to plan. The wedding had gone off without a hitch, Cadence was walking down the aisle, and she could swear that she'd spotted Pennington and Moonstone hiding in the back of the room, trying not to be seen. She and her friends were all present and uninjured as the bridesmaids. Looking at her brother once again, Twilight frowned and straightened the insignia on his chest.

"So, seriously, I can understand why the queen of the changelings would want to be with you, but how did you get somepony as great as Cadence to marry you?"

"I told her that she wouldn't just be gaining a husband, she'd be getting a pretty great sister, too!" He winked.

Cadence and Shining Armor exchanged a loving glance for a moment as Celestia began to speak.

"Mares and gentlecolts. We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-"

"'Princess Cadence' is fine..." Cadence whispered.

"The union of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor." Celestia smiled. "The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love: undeniable. May we have the rings, please?"

Spike proudly presented the rings to Celestia, who slipped them onto the horns of the bride and groom.

"I now pronounce you... mare and colt!" The crowd erupted into screams of delight as the ceremony was finally and properly completed. As the newlyweds stepped out onto the balcony, Celestia leaned down to Twilight.

"This is your victory as much as theirs. You persisted in the face of doubt, and your actions led to your being able to bring the real Princess Cadence back to us. Learning to trust your instincts is a valuable lesson."

Twilight smiled and nodded. Cadence and Shining were kissing on the balcony as Rainbow Dash took to the air to perform her sonic rainboom. Her interest, however, was on making her way to the back of the hall. It took a good amount of time for her to find Pennington standing in the furthest corner, propping Moonstone up on his back. She almost didn't recognize him in the robin's-egg-blue suit he was wearing, and his darkened hair had been pushed back down against his head in a formal style. It was a far cry from his normal, disheveled self, and the morose look on his face made him look more as if he were attending a funeral. Even Moonstone had a small dress of a similar blue color, and a tiny bow adorning the spines on her head. It was strange to see the two of them dressed up and acting formal (with the exception of Moonstone's gigantic grin at the sight of the couple. When the ceremony had finished, Twilight had spotted her clapping wildly and jumping up and down on Pennington's back).

"Pennington! You made it!" Twilight rushed forward, but quickly caught herself. "Are you okay to-"

"It should be fine. Just don't touch my head." He forced a smile as Twilight moved in to give him a tight hug, then a kiss on the cheek.

"How do you feel?"

"Aside from like I've lost a limb and split my skull down the middle?" He chuckled weakly, and Twilight could tell that his heart wasn't in the joke. "I feel like total and utter fecal matter. On the bright side, though, Chrysalis won't go tempting me any time soon. Whatever is left of the changelings in my body is going to stay an agent unto itself." He glanced down at the floor. "I never wanted to hurt you, Twilight... You know that I'd rather-" He was cut off as Twilight leaned forward, planting a kiss on his lips. After a few seconds, she pulled away again, smiling at the flabbergasted look on his face.

"The only thing that hurt me was that you had to go through all of this." She glanced up at what was left of his horn. It was a jagged stump. She hadn't managed to take a good look at it earlier, but seeing it now, she could tell that it hadn't been a clean cut, like she'd assumed. She could only imagine that the initial striking of the sword had sent a crack through the structure, and any other motion before the sword had dissolved away had simply served to drive the crack through completely. Even as she stared, though, a pair of violet claws came gently down over it, and Moonstone looked down at her. Immediately, Twilight realized that she was being rude, and drew her gaze back down again.

"Luna wants to talk to me about some kind of replacement between the ceremony and the reception tonight..." Pennington was back to forcing his smile. "She should be here any minute."

"I never wanted any of this to happen..." Twilight shook her head. "When I asked you for that story all that time ago..."

"But you've been trying to fix it ever since, and it brought a lot more good into my life than bad!" He gave her a genuine smile, walking forward and kissing her cheek again. "I'd do it all exactly the same if I needed to."

Twilight felt tears brimming up in her eyes.

"Besides, I was the one who did all the crazy stuff! You just asked me for a story." He wrapped a hoof around her shoulders, pulling her in close. "And I gave you an adventure. Don't be sad, because a sad adventure never does any good! Focus on the good, make it happy!" When she slowly let her go again, Princess Luna had appeared next to them, looking on with a smile. "You go on ahead and congratulate your brother. He's a lucky stallion. I have to go and put the finishing touches on this story. The adventure's almost over."

"If you're ready, Pennington." Luna nodded. "I hate to tear apart the tearful reunion, but we need to get your horn tended to as soon as possible."

"Pennington, if you want..." Twilight smiled. "I can help you with your rehabilitation at the library. If you're planning on ever using magic again, you're going to have to put a lot of work into building up your strength..."

Pennington was about to reply when another alicorn joined the group, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Penington! You're alright!" Cadence shouted, running up and wrapping him in a hug. After a few awkward seconds where Pennington didn't seem to know how to react, she released him and made way for Shining Armor, who settled for a firm hoofshake.

"Good to see you turned out alright, Penn. It's nice to see you alive and well again."

"Princess! Captain!" Pennington immediately dropped to one knee, bowing his head. "I got your message saying that you wanted me to come... and I wish to apologize for-"

"Cadence explained everything, Pennington, including who wrote the letter." Shining smiled, taking Pennington's hoof and prompting him to stand up again. "There's nothing to be sorry for. In fact, I should be thanking you. You saved my wife and my sister from being killed by the queen, if my sources are correct. And at a great cost..."

"Are you healing well?" Cadence asked, examining him as best she could. "That injury in your side when you jumped in front of Chrysalis's attack, your horn..."

"The wound to my side is going to leave a scar, but otherwise is going to be cosmetic with a few potions from an old friend of mine. She knows a lot about elixirs for restoring lost and seared flesh." He glanced at Twilight, whose face was demanding answers for later. "As for my horn, I was actually just about to go with Luna to discuss my options for treatment and replacement."

Shining and Cadence both looked at one another, still unsure.

"The wedding was beautiful, by the way!" Pennington smiled again. "I'm certainly glad that my service to the changelings was in vain!"

"And your efforts against them were few, but potent." Cadence smiled, but a look of worry quickly crossed it afterwards. "So... Without your horn-"

"I'm a free agent. They'll never be able to control me like that again." He chuckled. "I'm unfortunately always going to have the potential to give in to those instincts, but they'll never be able to order me around against my will. There's no need to fret on my account, your highness. I won't be hurting you or your husband again."

Cadence and Shining Armor both looked at one another.

"We weren't worried about that, Pennington! We know that you're a good pony, and you wouldn't do anything like that!"

"Well, at least you know that. I'm not so certain." Pennington shook his head. "Thank you for your generous forgiveness, your highnesses, but I'm afraid that I have to leave. You might see me at the reception." With that, he turned and walked slowly out the door, trying to hide the fact that he was still in large amounts of pain. As he left, Moonstone turned around to look at them from his back, giving an apologetic shrug.












"Wow, way to be a stick in the mud..." Moonstone muttered as they walked down the hallway. Pennington rolled his eyes, not saying anything. When he didn't reply, she jumped down off of his back and began walking alongside him.

"Hey, Penn! Come on, chin up! You told me you'd try to be peppy, or at least happy!"

"Would you rather I give a lying smile?" He muttered. "My best attempt to bring any kind of genuine happiness was to go to the ceremony... I was only happy when I first realized that they weren't mad at me." He shook his head lightly, and his pace began to slow. "But it only made me realize just how much I hate myself for what happened."

"So, your self-esteem is at an all-time low?" She asked, receiving a nod in reply. "Penn, what could you have done? Chrysalis wasn't exactly a vampire that needed your permission to come in! She would have found a way to get to you. And even if she hadn't, she was probably crafty enough to get into Canterlot and do all of this by herself! The only difference that you made was to save Cadence and Twilight, and probably hold back the invasion for several days!" She gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. "You were operating behind enemy lines!"

"I wanted to do it, Moonstone." He whispered. "If I'd felt that I had a choice in the matter, I would honestly have weighed the option of killing her, just to make Chrysalis happy."

Moonstone paused for a moment, stopping in her tracks. "Then... why didn't you?"

"Because I made a promise." Pennington stopped a few steps ahead of her after he realized that she had stopped walking. "I promised Twilight that there was one thing Chrysalis could never make me do... I promised myself that I wouldn't kill. I drew a line, and I vowed that I wouldn't cross it with my horn still attached to my head... And if I needed to slice myself up, I wouldn't think about what I was doing or why I was doing it. I would have run myself on my own sword before I killed somepony else, most of all Twilight." At this point, his eyes were brimming with tears, and turned back to walking down the long hallway, now dragging his hooves completely.

Moonstone ran to catch up, jumping onto his back. "You know what, Penn? You should be celebrating!"

"Why would I-"

"Well, you're getting a brand new horn, you stopped anypony we love from getting hurt, and we're never going to have to worry about Chrysalis again! Come on, let's treat ourselves once we get to the reception! Pig out on cake, have a little too much cider! For pony's sake, just make this a night worth remembering! Then, when we get home, you can blow your emergency bits on Bon Bon's candy, and we'll see who can eat more!" She quickly pulled her dress up and over her head, tossing it to the side and tugging the bow out of her spines. "We'll get you outta that  suit and have some fun!"

Pennington finally cracked a smile, looking up at her.

"Well, I hope that the two of you will leave some cake for Celestia! She has a bit of a sweet tooth!" Luna laughed as she strolled up alongside them. "Pennington, Captain Armor was hoping to talk to you later about how you and Chrysalis made it into Canterlot undetected... I have to admit, I'm rather curious, myself!"

"O-of course!" Pennington immediately stood up straight, the smile growing wider and less sincere in front of the princess. He was trying to look far less depressed than he was, but it wasn't working well. "We came in through the caves beneath Canterlot! There's an opening in the cliffs that goes into a system leading all of the way to the surface!"

Luna gently tapped her chin, nodding her head. "Those caves haven't been much of an issue for a long time, according to what Celestia told me. We'll look into giving a partition of guards the duty of guarding them." They continued walking, with Luna making the decisions about what turns they took in the halls of the huge castle. There were several minutes of silence between the three of them, with Pennington wrapped in his thoughts and Moonstone and Luna respectfully not asking him to share them.

"So, regarding your horn... What were you thinking?"

Pennington frowned and looked downwards in thought. "Well, an alchemical option seems like the best choice. If I ever get my magic back, I'm going to want to do more than just basic levitation and lighting spells..." He shook his head, looking back up again. "But I don't want to just ask you for some kind of rare agent! I mean, most of them are found by sheer luck, aren't they? Enchanted ores? Mythical beasts?"

"Well, there's one agent that most ponies don't know about, because it's so difficult to take from its source..." Moonstone piped up. She'd been walking between Pennington and Luna, quietly waiting. "But we actually could acquire it rather easily..."

Pennington blinked in surprise. "Really? What is it?"

"You're not going to like it, Penn."

"What do you mean?"

Luna and Moonstone exchanged a glance.

"Look, just tell me! If it'll help me get my magic back, then why not?" Pennington looked between the two of them, quickly becoming irritated.

"Well, one of the reasons most ponies don't know is to prevent any kind of poaching, or murder... depending on your species." Luna looked from side to side, assuring that they were alone. "But, if she would be willing to..."

Moonstone rolled her eyes, staring Pennington dead in the eye. "Dragon's blood, Penn. Dragons are pretty magical! The older the family, like mine, the better."

The two stared at one another for a moment, Pennington processing what she had said.

"No! No way!" Pennington shook his head, backing away from Moonstone. "You're not going to be shedding blood over me!"

Moonstone rolled her eyes. "It's my blood! I'll do what I want with it! I'm old enough to make my own decisions!" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, you're not! Not about something like that!" Pennington shook his head again, looking to Luna for support. "I mean, you're what? Twelve years old? Thirteen?"

Luna and Moonstone each smirked at one another for a moment, trying to contain their giggles. After a few seconds, a loud snort pushed it's way past Moonstone's efforts to contain herself, and she fell backwards with laughter, and Luna began to laugh, as well.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You- you really don't understand how dragons grow up, do you?" Moonstone sat up, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Well, I know that they grow up much more slowly than ponies do, and can remain at a mature age almost indefinitely..." Pennington muttered.

"Do you know how old I am?"

"Well, I did, until you started laughing at me..." Pennington sat down, his face twisting into a frustrated pout.

Moonstone stood up, walked over to Pennington, and quietly whispered in his ear. As she did, his eyes grew wide with surprise, and he stared at her as if seeing her for the first time, prompting another fit of giggles from Luna.

"You're kidding. You've GOT to be kidding!"

"Nope!"

"But that-"

"Yes, Pennington." Moonstone placed a reassuring claw on his shoulder. "It means I'm the older one in our partnership. Now, then, as the older one, I am willing to sacrifice a little blood when you've essentially hacked off a limb! Agreed?"

There was a brief moment of silence as Pennington thought to himself.

"But... Don't dragons mature more slowly, too?"

Moonstone and Luna both rolled their eyes.

"I'll make all the arrangements, Moonstone." Luna smiled. "Would tomorrow work for the two of you?"

"Well, yes..." Pennington sighed. "Are you sure about this, Moonstone?"

"Ponies donate blood all the time! How bad can it be?"

Pennington and Moonstone stared at one another for another moment before wrapping one another in a loving hug. Luna looked on, admiring her good pairing of the two as protege and assistant.

"Now that we've gotten all of this sorted out, We have some down time before the reception, which is taking place later tonight..." She opened the door that they had stopped in front of, revealing a darkened room. "I would like to discuss your punishment, Pennington..."

Pennington and Moonstone finally let go of their hug, each peering into the darkness. Moonstone, who seemed to be able to see inside with ease, rolled her eyes and smiled. Pennington, of course, could only see inky blackness.

"You're going to be my punching bag for today, Pennington!"

"What?" Pennington's eyes grew wide with surprise.

"Relax, Penn." Moonstone chuckled as a large headset floated out from the darkness and onto Luna's ears. "She means in video games."

"Tia and I can't seem to find anypony who can give me any real competition, so I tend to run through opponents pretty quickly..." There was a hint of maliciousness in her smile. "Tia thought that it would be sweet justice, since Scorching Quill was the one who told me to 'acquaint myself with the times' and 'get some online interaction.'" She grinned. "So, I made myself this little 'gaming den!' Now, I realized I'm pretty good at it, so I can't find anypony who can play against me for very long! We'll play hooves-only matches."

Pennington looked up at the Princess, then smiled. "So... Your punishment for me is to play video games?"

"Well, there's a small twist, but you'll figure it out the first time you lose." Luna nodded. 

"Only if Moonstone gets to be on my team!"

"Fine... Maybe her claws will give you an advantage!" Luna chuckled. "We'll start simple: Space Invaders. After that, we'll work our way up to the more complex stuff. Let's see if you can survive until the reception!"














"Hello, everypony! Did I miss anything?" Luna asked as she fluttered to the ground, looking on at the bride and groom dancing together.

Twilight and her friends rolled their eyes as Pinkie ran off to start the more exciting music.

"Did you take my advice?" Celestia whispered.

"He seemed pretty surprised when he realized we were using the 'punishment headsets...'" She whispered in reply, trying to restrain herself from laughing. "I think he'll recover from the electric shocks in a few hours."

"Did you turn it up the voltage for him?"

"Oh, all the way! I was having so much fun, I lost track of the time!"

The two princesses laughed together periodically through the rest of the night, and burst into laughter when a frazzled-looking Pennington Inkwell arrived at the party almost an hour late, leaning on Moonstone again. He refused to admit why he was late, which only made the princesses laugh harder when nopony was looking.






Final Score:
(In shocks given to other player)
Princess Luna: 104
Pennington Inkwell: 1