//------------------------------// // Chapter 32 - Penance // Story: Pony-Z // by Black Light //------------------------------// Penance Pete, Jay, Discord, Pinkie, and Shining Armor all sat in front of three mares, who were looking down on them annoyed. "Just what in the world possessed you all to pull the stunt you just pulled?" Luna asked them. "Boredom." Pete answered bluntly. "That is not an excuse." Twilight told him. "I believe we beg to differ." Pete said. The four around him nodded. "You five need to learn more restraint." Luna said. "You four I can understand, but even you Captain Armor? How did you get roped into this?" Luna asked. Shining Armor was silent for a moment. "...Well, I suppose it's because I respect Pete enough to follow him on the plan of his?" He answered. "Dear, is that really all it takes?" Cadance asked with some disappointment. "What? He's good at what he does." Armor responded. "You do realize that there's going to be some punishment in store for you now correct?" Luna asked. "That implies that you can catch us." Pete told her. Luna glared at him slightly. "Are you underestimating our ability?" She asked. "More so overestimating our own more likely." Pete told her. "And why would you be doing that?" Pete just looked at her. "Have you seen our results? We built a working Pie Gatling Gun. Do we really need to do anything else to prove ourselves?" Pete asked her. "Considering what you used it for yes." Twilight told him. "I'd say it was a really nice cause." Discord responded. "You can be quiet. Just to set the record straight, I still don't trust you." Twilight said to him. "Oh, now that hurts Twilight." Discord said feigning sadness. "If only I had a true friend to comfort me, maybe my bad habit would just flow away." "Right." Twilight said sarcastically. "Oh, give him a break. I trust him." Pete said. "How can you trust Discord?" Twilight asked. "Well, he just likes to have some fun. If the world dies, then there's no more fun. He wouldn't let that happen." Pete told her. "See, Petey here gets it." Discord said wrapping an arm around Pete's shoulder "Don't call me Petey." "I can't believe you. We're dealing with the most serious danger that Equestria has ever seen and you are going around playing pranks. Do you not see how dire the situation is?" Luna asked with some anger. "Of course we do." Pete told her. "Which is exactly why we did it." "W-what?" Luna asked. "It's certainly obvious that Jay and I have more experience dealing with this type of world, so believe me when I say if you try to take this life too seriously, you're going to hurt yourself or those close to you." Pete told them. The mares sat there with a look of shock. "You remember the stallion I went and met with some time ago?" He asked. "How could we forget?" Luna answered. "He took his survival too seriously. You can't always stay in survival mode. Every once and a while you need to calm down and be creative. You need to have fun." Pete said to them. "...You need to forget some of the pain." "I've never seen you act like this." Luna said. "You always seem so...well, cold and calculating." "Only when I have to be. Outside these walls, death could be around every corner. I try to let myself relax as much as I can inside the walls, but with training and how long I've been conditioned to be vigilant it can be hard." Pete told them. The room was silent for some time as everyone took in what was said. Luna finally broke the silence with a sigh. "Though your reasoning is a bit more understandable now, I don't like being hit with pies so there's still going to be a punishment for all of you." She said. "Which is?" Pete asked. "To start you're going to clean up every mess you made throughout the castle." Luna told him. "Simple enough." Pete responded. "And you can't use magic to clean it up either." Luna added on. "That includes you, Discord." "But that will-" Armor started. "Accepted." Pete interrupted. Everyone stared at him. Luna's gaze turned into a small glare. "You're planning something." She said. "Not really." Pete said. The princess looked at him for a few moments more. "You can't have Pinkie eat any of the messes either." She said. Pete was silent for a moment. "...Get us out of here quickly!" He said turning to Discord. With a snap the five were gone leaving the mares starting at the now empty floor in front of them. "It's going to be hard to catch them isn't it?" Cadance asked. "Nigh Impossible." Luna answered. "So what are we going to do?" Twilight asked. "We'll just have to lure them out." Luan told her. "Best case scenario we get either Pete or Discord. Is there anything we could get to bring them out?" She questioned. "You mean like a hostage negotiation?" Cadance asked. "In a sense." Luna told her. "So anything?" "...Pete has a fire knife." Twilight said. "A what?" Luna asked. "Pete enchanted a knife to light fire to anything it cut. He's quite fond of it, but he keeps it in a drawer for safe keeping." Twilight explained. "How did Pete enchant a knife? He's hardly been able to use anything beyond levitation." Luna responded. "Don't ask me how, I still don't know." Twilight said rubbing her forehead with a hoof. "Any way, It seems we have our bargaining chip." Luna said. ~~~Meanwhile~~~ "So your plan is to just hide?" Armor asked. "Yes, it's a very good plan." Pete responded. "Won't they find us?" Armor asked. Pete looked to Discord. "I've warded the area, they won't be able to scry on us." Discord told him. "This is the best game of hide and seek I've ever played." Pinkie said happily. "And no matter what happens, we are not leaving this place until the princesses decide to get the mess cleaned up." Pete said. As he spoke a green smoke suddenly flew in front of his face and a scroll materialized there with a pop. Pete jumped back slightly and stared at it. "What just happened?" He asked. "It seems you've received a letter from little Miss Twilight. I've seen here letters before, sent by dragon fire." Discord said. "Are they tracking us with it?" Pete questioned. Discord leaned down and picked it up. "Hmm, no magic coming from the scroll. Looks like it's just a letter." Pete took the letter and opened it. He read it slowly and his eyes widened. "We're going back and cleaning up the mess right now." He said. "Wait, after all that you're just giving up? What does the letter say?" Armor asked. "Not for you to know." Pete responded. "Dear Pete." Discord started. Pete turned quickly and saw Discord holding the letter, his own hand now clutching a black napkin. Discord continued reading. "We have your fire knife. Now clean up your mess already. Sincerely Twilight." "This is all about a knife?!" Armor asked annoyed. "...It sets things on fire." Pete said quietly. "That's not an excuse." Armor responded. "I don't know, it's a pretty cool knife." Jay said. "See." Pete added on. "Well fine you can go, but I'm not wasting my time cleaning up that mess if it's just you they're bargaining with." Armor said. Pete looked at him then turned to Discord. "You won't have to do any work. Just teleport us all back." He said. "Don't you-" Armor started to say. "Deal." With a snap the five were gone again.