//------------------------------// // Explosion Day Special: Monster Mash // Story: The Happy Adventuring Saga: The Bonus Chapters // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// Well, as many of you may know, today is a day very near and dear to my heart: EXPLOSION DAY!!!!!!! Oh, and something about the United States or something... I dunno. In honor of this most glorious of holidays, I've decided to write out a showdown that NO ONE has been waiting for! SPIDERSTITCH VERSUS SNAKE-INGTON INKWELL!!!!! Now, I know that you're all wondering where this reptilian version of Pennington came from, since there hasn't even been so much as a fleeting mention of Pennington being associated with snakes... Well, this actually comes from a crossover that I'm about to be taking a part of on tumblr with two other blogs! Ask Medusa Pony and Lavender Swirl Says! Now, this will not be related to either of those, and the crossover will be exclusive to my tumblr, Pennington's Inkwell, but Gina and I were talking about what might happen if these two fought... And I just couldn't resist. So, in honor of the day that America declared independence from (and, essentially, war upon) what was perhaps one of the greatest empires in history, the fight for the lives of Ponyville shall... COMMENCE!!!! (Side note: It is best to read this whilst listening to Dragonforce, with my personal recommendation being "One Final Stand.") -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Penn! She's COMING!" Moonstone's screech rang through the morning air, waking up nearly half of Ponyville as she streaked across the sky, flying as quickly as she could away from the Everfree forest. Twilight Sparkle, recognizing the voice, looked up from her book and craned to see the tiny dragon out of her window. She knew that Pennington and Moonstone had seen more than their fair share of strange and terrifying creatures, but Moonstone seemed to be more frightened than usual. "Who, Moonstone? Who's coming?" She shouted, pushing open the hinged door. Moonstone stopped for a moment, looking around for the source of the voice. When they finally made eye contact, Twilight could see that Moonstone's fear was real, her eyes open wide and her breath coming in ragged gasps. "Stay inside, Twilight! Just stay inside! It's too dangerous!" Without another word, the dragon was gone again, flying towards Pennington's shop. Spike, who had only just woken up from his afternoon nap, let out a long yawn as he walked up next to Twilight at the window, still rubbing his eyes. "What was THAT all about?" "I don't know... But it sounds like trouble, and where there's trouble, there's Pennington Inkwell... I'm going to go and investigate, make sure that things are safe for Ponyville." She shook her head in frustration. "And make sure that stallion doesn't get himself killed... You stay here, Spike, in case it really is as dangerous as Moonstone is making it sound." "But I-" Spike seemed to want to argue the point, but a quick glare from Twilight resigned him to a sleepy skulk. "Fine... But I'm doing any re-shelving alone." "Deal." Twilight smiled and trotted down the stairs from her bedroom and out of the front door. Moonstone's cry had obviously been counterproductive, since most of the town's population was now out in the main street, murmuring about what, exactly, could be coming. Twilight quickly found the rest of her friends, who were all standing outside of Sugarcube Corner, each reacting differently to the situation. Rainbow Dash was grinding her hooves together, obviously ready for a fight, while Fluttershy seemed to be looking for some place to hide. Rarity was brushing her mane, obviously having been in bed only a short time ago, while Applejack was glancing nervously back in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, which stood on the border of Everfree, obviously split between her sense of duty to be with her friends and worrying about her family. Pinkie Pie was actually the only one not with the group, instead running from pony to pony in the street, babbling throwing a party for whoever was coming. "Girls, what are you doing here?" "Well, darling, if whoever is coming has dear little Moonstone so worked up, then we hardly had a doubt in our minds that it was dangerous!" Rarity smiled at her between tugs on her mane. "And that idiot couldn't handle a timber wolf on his own, let alone whatever kinda monster this might be!" Applejack grinned at the opportunity to insult Pennington when he wasn't around. "So we figured it'd be up to us to defend the town!" "Pfft! You mean, 'up to me!'" Rainbow Dash chuckled as she did a quick loop-de-loop to blow off some of her excess excitement. "I bet that one kick from me will send this thing running! Just like that dragon!" "Wasn't Fluttershy the one who got the dragon to leave?" Twilight asked, rolling her eyes as Rainbow Dash's face flushed. "Well, um, I'm just here to see if we can avoid, uh, violence..." Fluttershy whispered, trying unsuccessfully to hide behind the Cakes' mailbox. "I wouldn't want my animal friends getting hurt..." Twilight nodded. "Not to mention, with tomorrow being Nightmare Night, anything coming in and causing mayhem to the town would be a disaster!" "THERE IT IS!" A pony from somewhere in the crowd screamed, pointing towards the road leading to Everfree. Immediately, every pair of eyes was staring into the distance, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. When Twilight finally had a clear view, any thoughts of ending it without violence fled from her mind. It looked almost like a pony, and she could tell that there was a pony in the center of it all, but one wrapped up in what Twilight could barely make out as its own hair. The hair seemed to somehow have taken a more solid form, wrapping around her body to form elongated, pointed legs branching off of her hooves, stabbing violently into the ground with every step. Four more elongated legs branched out from her sides, made entirely of hair, hanging in the air as if waiting for something to impale. Jet-black hair was wrapped all around her body, and Twilight could make out a sharpened unicorn horn protruding out from the top of her head. The eyes were dark, is if the pupils had dilated to cover the entire surface, giving the creature a mindless, feral appearance that denied any chance of being reasoned with. "Is that... Whipstitch?" Twilight whispered, trying to recognize Pennington's eccentric pink friend under all of the hair. She knew that Whipstitch tended to go missing around Nightmare Night, but nopony knew why except Pennington, and he claimed to have been sworn to secrecy. In what Twilight prayed was only a coincidence, the creature's head suddenly whipped towards the town, staring at the multitude of ponies. There was a moment of silence at the stares were mutually returned, and then the spider-like creature screamed. The howl made Twilight's blood run cold, grating with both the sounds of an intelligent pony's scream and a mindless whinny. With speed befitting a spider of that size, Whipstitch began racing towards the town, obviously planning on attacking the ponies. "Girls, are you ready?" Twilight asked, turning to her friends. The chorus of grim nods helped her to feel more assured as the ponies around them panicked, running to and fro in an effort to hide and barricade themselves inside homes and behind walls. Even Pinkie Pie seemed to be acting seriously as they all stood together at the head of the road, ready to face down the creature. Rainbow Dash was the first to attack, zooming ahead to meet Whipstitch midway to Ponyville. Before the pony could react, Rainbow had already created a spinning vortex around her, quickly forming a small tornado. If her objective had been to lift the attacker into the air, however, it failed. Looking from side to side, the pony flicked her unnaturally long tail into the side of the tornado. "URRK!" Rainbow Dash was only able to make a guttural grunt as the hair of the tail wrapped around her neck, stopping her short. With another effortless twitch of her tail, Whipstitch flung Rainbow Dash into the ground head-first, knocking her nearly unconscious. In her dazed state, Rainbow couldn't fight as the four legs made entirely out of hair took action, wrapping her entire body into a cocoon of the same black hair from the neck down, all without Whipstitch even turning to look. When the task was completed, the legs delivered her to the front, presenting her bare neck to the fangs. "Hang on, Rainbow! Ah'm a'comin'!" Applejack shouted, jumping into the fray with a strong punch from her front legs slamming into the side of Whipstitch's face, knocking the fangs away. In one fluid motion, the earth pony used her momentum to spin around, revealing her familiar apple-bucking stance. With one kick, she sent Rainbow and her hairy prison flying away to a safe distance. Still balanced on her back hooves, she turned her attention back to their adversary, who had rapidly recovered from the initial shock. As she moved for another, stronger blow, however, the fanged face dodged to the side with near-impossible speed. For Applejack, what happened next came unbearably slowly. As her back legs sailed into now-open air, Whipstitch's jaw opened and her fangs extended, growing even longer. Lunging forward, the monster bit down onto Applejack's left leg, sinking its fangs into her flesh. Applejack would later shudder as she remembered the feeling of the venom being forced into her body. As her bite only deepened, Whipstitch yanked her head to the side, flinging Applejack into the air, where she landed on Rainbow Dash, who was still struggling to try and get out of the wrappings that had left her so helpless. "My- My LEG!" Applejack cried, reaching down to grip at her injured limb, which was rapidly becoming blood-soaked from the bite wound. Even as Whipstitch advanced on her thicker legs, Applejack's eyes rolled back in her head as the venom took effect, paralyzing her body and knocking her unconscious. Twilight turned to Rarity, who gave her a short nod of determination. Twilight closed her eyes, focusing on the spot where Applejack and Rainbow Dash had both landed. In a flash, the two of them disappeared, reappearing beside them. "Hey, get me outta here!" Rainbow Dash cried, rolling gently back and forth as she tried to free her wings. "I can still fight!" "Rarity! I'm getting them out of here!" Twilight was nearly shouting as the tension mounted. "Don't worry about me, dearie! I've dealt with many a bad hair day..." Rarity winked at Twilight, despite her obvious unease. "This ruffian won't be a problem..." As she turned to face the monster, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash disappeared. When they reappeared, they were back on Mane Street, only slightly singed from the effort of teleporting three ponies. With a burst of magic, Twilight began freeing Rainbow Dahs. "Rainbow, Applejack needs to get to a hospital. You're the fastest flier in Equestria. You and Fluttershy need to get her there. Now." "But, Twilight! I can beat this thing!" Rainbow protested as she shook off the last few strands of hair and rolled onto her hooves. A dark glare from Twilight, however, silenced the pegasus. Twilight gave a kinder glance towards Fluttershy, who was still trying to hide behind the Cakes' mailbox. "Fluttershy, we both know that pony, if you would even call her a pony right now, isn't going to be affected by your stare. She's just mindlessly attacking. You need to help Rainbow Dash." The cream-colored pegasus took a shivering step out, nodding silently. "Applejack. Hospital. Now. We don't know what was in that bite, but she needs IMMEDIATE attention!" Grumbling under her breath, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy lifted Applejack onto their backs and took off, zooming away in the direction of the Ponyville General Hospital. As Twilight returned her attention to the fight, her heart skipped a beat as she realized that the fight had almost reached the town, itself. They were only about ten yards from the first few homes and shops. While she had been distracted, Pinkie Pie had joined in the fight, as well, somehow having gotten a hold of her "party cannon." That, combined with Rarity's magic trying to immobilize her, had let them begin to force her back towards Everfree. Every time that Pinkie fired a load of confetti and party favors, Whipstitch would lose a little more ground. Twilight grinned and began to run out to them, happy to see that something was finally working. Even as she ran towards them, however, she realized that the victory was short-lived. As Pinkie slammed her hoof down onto the button to fire the next round, nothing happened. The pony paused for a moment, pressing the button again in confusion. "Oh! Outta ammo! Okie dokie!" Without a moment's hesitation, Pinkie shrugged and pulled a lighter from seemingly nowhere, lighting a small fuse on the side of the cannon, then jumped in, herself. As she did this, however, Whipstitch seemed to notice the hole in their defense and struck out with one of her extra legs, breaking free of Rarity's magical grip. The leg reached the cannon just as the fuse burned out, turning it away from herself... and straight towards Rarity. In the split second that it took for her to see what was about to happen, Twilight could only watch the inevitable. BOOM! "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" "PINKIE!" Pinkie Pie slammed into Rarity with rocket-like force, instantly knocking them both unconscious, a blow that had been meant for Whipstitch. "What are they DOING?" Twilight heard a familiar voice cry. Looking up, she saw the small lavender dragonet hovering in the air, obviously having just returned. "They can't fight Spiderstitch!" "You should have TOLD US!" Twilight felt a sudden swell of rage towards the dragon, but she decided to focus on the matter at hoof, getting Pinkie and Rarity to safety. Closing her eyes, she gathered up her energy to teleport again, settling beside Rarity and Pinkie Pie in a sudden flash of light. Even as she opened her eyes again, however, she realized that she had made a horrible mistake. Whipstitch's face was only inches from hers, those black eyes staring straight into hers. Twilight could smell rotting meat on her musty breath, and she could see a disgusting mix of venom and Applejack's blood dripping from her teeth. In those few seconds, Twilight was certain that she was about to die alongside her friends. "Any time, Penn!" Both Twilight and Whipstitch turned to look at Moonstone, who was sounding more annoyed at this point than frightened, standing with her winged arms crossed over her chest and tapping her toes in impatience. "Sorry, Moonstone! It's still takes a little getting used to!" Pennington's voice came from behind Twilight, but she didn't dare turn her back on Whipstitch. Whipstitch, somehow, though, instead turned her gaze up above Twilight's head, rising to her full height. Her full attention was focused on what was behind Twilight's back. Twilight glanced at Moonstone, who was giving her a confident smile, then pointed upwards, indicating that Twilight should look up. Twilight slowly turned her head upwards then finally turned around fully, staring agape at what was behind her. It seemed to be Pennington, but... Not like she had ever seen him before. He seemed to have become half-snake. His entire body from the stomach downwards had been replaced with a long, thick snake's body, covered in purple-tinged, night-blue scales. A few scales dotted the areas around his neck and shoulders, along with his knees and hooves, creating an almost bejeweled look on his torso and the tips of his ears. His horn had been replaced by a stony grey branch that was thrumming with his familiar sky-blue magic. The branch as mounted on his skull above his right eye, right on the edge of a huge mass of scales covering the eye itself. He seemed to be staring "Spiderstitch" down with one red-tinged, slit-pupiled eye. A large, grey strap ran across his chest, and Twilight could see a scabbard poking out from behind his back. He had brought his sword, rather than relying on a Twilight's eyes tavelled down his lengthy snake half, which he had lifted himself up on, rearing up like a cobra ready to strike. The long, muscular shape reminded Twilight of a boa constrictor's body, though she could tell that it was tensely coiled. At the far end, a rattlesnake's rattler shuddered back and forth, creating a cacophony that alerted the entire area: Pennington was ready for a fight. "Well, Sparky, are you getting out of here, or not?" Pennington muttered, not breaking eye contact with Whipstitch. He slowly swayed back and forth, and Whipstirch moved with him, her attention somehow caught. Twilight was shaken out of her shocked stupor by the question, and remembered that Pinkie Pie and Rarity were still in danger. Putting aside her thousands of questions for the moment, she teleported the three of them away, landing near Moonstone. The flash of light seemed to snap Whipstitch out of her trance, and she let out a long hiss, jabbing at Pennington with the four extra legs, their razor-sharp tips letting out a low "swish" sound as they sped towards him. A small cry of fear slipped out through Twilight's lips, even as Pennington lifted his front hooves in response. There was a loud sound, like a hammer colliding with stone, and Twilight stared in awe. Pennington's scale-covered hooves were stretched out in front of him, each meeting two of Whipstitch's legs in a climactic stalemate, each seemingly equal in strength. "Relax, Twilight! Penn's got this..." Moonstone chuckled, rolling her eyes, a total change from her earlier panic. "But- But- HOW?" Twilight asked the most prominent of her question as the two leaned back and forth, each one trying to topple the other and gain the upper hoof. "Well, Medusa's actually pretty nice..." Moonstone chuckled. "Long story short... He found a little artifact, and she let him keep it." "Medusa?" "Looong story..." Moonstone shook her head. "Anyway... GO PENN, GO!" She swung her fist enthusiastically in the air, cheering for Pennington. When Twilight looked back at the fight, she could see that Pennington had sprung up into the air, arcing up and over Whipstitch's head, then landing on the ground behind her, slithering away towards the Everfree forest. Not wasting any time, Whipstitch spun around and took off in pursuit, quickly closing the gap between them. Even as Pennington disappeared into the trees, she was right on his tail. "Come on! We've got to watch!" Moonstone took off into the air, motioning for Twilight to follow. After a few seconds of debating, Twilight set out at a gallop, trying to keep up. Pennington had curled his elongated body around a tree trunk, keeping the high ground from Whipstitch. He was barely avoiding her attacks, dodging his body to either side whenever she would try to stab at him. Unfortunately, he was running out of places to go, slowly bringing his body up more and more into the branches. He needed a plan. "Well, how did you get out, then? Did Whipstitch not stack enough boulders in front of the cave before she changed? Did you figure out how to climb out?" He was talking more to himself than to Whipstitch, thinking out loud to fill the moment with some kind of conscious thought. "What if... she changed faster than she expected? And never managed to lock herself in?" His eyes widened slightly at the realization. "If this is just the first day... There's almost another week of Spiderstitch to go!" As his focus momentarily broke, Whipstitch took the advantage, stabbing at the end of his tail, this time reaching her mark and pinning down the rattle. He thanked Luna that the rattle wasn't actually alive, nor did it have feeling, just like an ordinary rattlesnake's, but he was still pinned because of it. "Hey!" Pennington pulled at his tail, growling under his breath as his temper began to flare. Whipstitch didn't care or notice, lunging forward and digging her teeth into the flesh of the end of his tail, her fangs slipping into the crevasses between his scales and grinding into the muscle beneath. "GAAH! Okay, THAT does it! No more 'Mr. Nice Snake!'" Pennington dropped from the high branch, landing his heavy upper body on Whipstitch's back, knocking her flat onto her stomach. His tail was yanked free in the process, but he could already feel numbness beginning to spread in the tip, like a dentist's injection. Hopefully this body has some immunity to venom... though I doubt it. "One good bite deserves another!" As Whipstitch tried to get up, Pennington leaned down and, wrapping his front hooves around her throat, dug his own fangs into the back of her neck, trying not to shudder at the feeling of expunging his own venom into her blood. Whipstitch, however, seemed unaffected by the amount of his venom that would have knocked an elephant into unconsciousness. The hair on her head and resting on her neck seemed to take on a life of its own, wrapping around Pennington's head and throat and growing tight, trying to choke him. The hair was stronger than he would have imagined, feeling like a thousand piano cords being tightened around him. Instinctively, Pennington's body began to flex and curl, wrapping around Whipstitch and growing tight with bone-crushing strength as he stopped her from breathing, as well. He could feel that he had pinned all of her legs to her body, and several of them were grinding as his scales with sharp edges, trying to break through to his flesh. At the rate that they were going, Whipstitch would be able to slice him into thirds before he could suffocate her. From deep within the hair and fur, the petrified branch that had replaced his horn began to glow, pulling the sword on his back from its sheathe. The shining blade was quickly set to work, cutting through the hair in a matter of seconds, freeing Pennington's head and neck with gentle swipes. Pennington had never fully explored the sword's properties, but it seemed to be able to cut through the magical hair as easily as barber's scissors through real hair, a fact that he was grateful for in this moment, as he sat up, taking deep gasps of air. Whipstitch, however, did not take kindly to her hair being cut at all. Her strength almost doubled, forcing apart Pennington's coils, rather than trying to cut through them, and she let out a near deafening scream. As he unwrapped himself from Whipstitch and slithered away to a nearby tree, Pennington had a sinking feeling that things had just gotten much worse. Whipstitch spun towards him, several strands of her cut hair hanging limply from her head, all life gone from them. Her eyes were now so wide, they looked like huge holes in her face, leading into an empty void of loathing. Immediately, Pennington knew that he was going to have to get out of her reach. Jumping for the nearest tree, he began to climb as quickly as he could, despite the rapid numbness spreading up his tail. The trunk was considerably thick, the tree obviously being very old. Within seconds, Whipstitch was below him, trying to climb, as well. Pennington, however, had already put a distance of more than the length of his body between them, and was able to reach down and flick her spindly body off of the side of the tree with the end of his tail, causing her to become even more frustrated while he took a moment to think. He had an idea, but he didn't like it. Not one bit. However, the moment was rapidly approaching that it would be his only option, especially as Whipstitch was tearing away at the bottom of the tree trunk in her frustration, hissing up at him with a feral rage. Pennington felt his stomach lurch as the tree began to visibly shake and sway, becoming even more noticeable with every second. There wasn't much that he could do, now, except to hold on for dear life and watch what Whipstitch was doing below. At the bottom of the tree, Whipstitch finally reached the tree's breaking point, forcing it to cave in towards her. With a simple movement, she stepped aside to watch the tree fall, and Pennington with it. As the tree fell, Pennington did his best to gather his body together at the top, bracing himself to jump. He waited as his heart pounded in his chest, and he was once again reminded of why he didn't spend much time in Cloudsdale: heights. In this life-threatening situation, though, he managed to keep his head and follow through with his plan. "Annnnd... GO!" With a violent shove against the falling tree, Pennington propelled himself forward and pushed the tree to the side, turning its direction of falling on its axis... and landing the tree on top of Whipstitch. As Pennington landed safely on the ground, Whipstitch was pinned beneath the giant trunk, stopping her entirely and knocking her unconscious. "Pennington!" Twilight shouted gleefully, running up to Pennington from out of the trees, hardly able to contain her excitement. "You did it!" "Never doubted ya, Penn!" Moonstone chirped, landing on his shoulder as he slowly came down onto his front hooves, no longer in the cobra's "reared back" position. At this point, Twilight was finally able to hug him, wrapping her hooves around his neck and squeezing him tightly. It was slightly unsettling that his body seemed to have become cold-blooded in the transformation, and he radiated no heat at her touch, but she was willing to overlook it in the excitement of the moment. "Well, we're still going to have to lock her up for the week in a place that won't crush her to death when she turns back into a normal pony... But..." Pennington beamed, revealing his slightly blood-tinged fangs. "I guess I did! I beat Spiderstitch..." "Good job, Penn! And you didn't even have to use that 'stone stare' of yours!" Moonstone grinned. "I thought that you'd have to petrify her, for sure!" "Wait... you can WHAT?" Twilight's jaw dropped as Pennington's hoof collided with his face. "No, I can't... Moonstone is just blowing things out of proportion." Pennington shot her an exasperated glare. "I can work that kind of magic on small things, and it's only temporary, maybe a couple of hours, tops..." Pennington let out a long sigh, trying to wave off Twilight's questions, as he turned back towards Whipstitch's unconscious body. "Now, what do you say we get a LOT more unicorns to move Spiderstitch to a place where she'll be safe for the rest of the week, and then we can all go-" Whipstitch was gone, the space under the tree branch now empty. "...home?" Pennington's last word sounded more like a whimper. "Okay... nobody move..." Moonstone whispered. "Maybe she just went home to lick her wounds..." "Really?" Twilight asked. "No, but I was trying to let us die with a glimmer of hope in mind..." "Great! Because that's really helpful!" Pennington hissed. Suddenly, from the trees, one of Whipstitch's long legs of hair sliced at Pennington's face, knocking his head to the side and sending him tumbling face-first onto the ground. "Pennington!" Twilight cried, looking first into the forest, then down at the fallen stallion. "Are you okay?" "Umm, Twilight?" Moonstone whispered, picking something up from the ground. As Twilight looked over, she recognized it as the cluster of scales that had been over his right eye. "We need to run... Now." "What? Why? We can't just leave... him..." Twilight took a moment to finish her sentence as she realized something: Pennington was laughing. Cackling quietly as he began to stand up again, both eyes screwed shut. "We need to run because Medusa only uses one eye on a day-to-day basis... Now Pennington has his second available." Pennington's laughter grew louder and louder as he rose to his full height, eyes still shut. An obvious change had come over the stallion, his laughter becoming mocking and sadistic. "If that's how you wanna play, Whips! LET'S PLAY!" Pennington suddenly spun around, both eyes opening and glaring at the impaling spike of hair that hadn't been there only moments before. Pennington's eyes cast their own blood-red light on the impalement device, and black hair turned to grey stone, breaking off from the rest, which retreated into the trees again with another one of Whipstitch's screeches. In this brief moment, Twilight caught a glimpse of his second eye, and it chilled her to the bone. It was pitch-black. An inky darkness with only the glowing purple-and-red iris as any sign that it was truly an eye. She stared for only a moment before she felt a clawed hand tugging on her hair. "Twilight! RUN!" With this cry, Moonstone took off above the trees, flying back towards Ponyville as fast as she could. Twilight looked back at Pennington one last time. The ground underneath his body was beginning to turn to stone as he slithered into the bushes, and a long forked tongue had worked its way out from his mouth, licking at the air. At this point, he seemed more snake than pony, and was obviously losing control of himself. So, following Moonstone's advice, she took off running in the opposite direction, desperate to get out of the forest and back to Ponyville. The last thing that she heard was Pennington's sadistic, sing-song tone. "I see you, Whips..." Neither Pennington Inkwell nor Whipstitch were seen for the next 9 days. When they were finally seen returning from the Everfree forest, both were ordinary unicorns, neither wishing to talk about their experiences in the forest. What transpired in the remaining battle will apparently be a secret that they have sworn to take to their graves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, there you have it, everyone! I hope you enjoyed it! I will be posting this to both Happy Adventuring AND Whipstitch, simply due to the fact that both protagonists (Antagonists, in this case?) are so deeply involved. The canon of this story is still largely undecided, so please take it for what it is: a bonus chapter. Good-natured fun. And please, comment about whether or not you enjoyed the new take on Pennington! I'm considering using it for a later story arc in Happy Adventuring! Until then, I want to thank you all for reading! It's been an amazing journey over the past year, coming to love you all and know you well as my friends! This bonus chapter officially pushes me over 250,000 words published on fimfiction.net! (This is, if you include my later-revoked first story, "My Little Ponybots" and/or the later-deleted-for-rewriting chapters of Daughter of Chaos.) This is a huge milestone for me, along with over 3,500 story views! Seriously, I love you all so much, I cannot thank you enough! I never imagined I could become this popular in a year! I'll try to think of something else to do to celebrate, as well. Until then, I wish you all the happiest of adventures! Sincerely yours, my loyal adventurers, -Pennington Inkwell