//------------------------------//
// 55 - Rumination 
// Story: A Penny for your thought 
// by Damaged 
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Penny retreated back to the table where Stick and the six friends sat. "You really killed two ponies?" Twilight sounded saddened but shook herself. "I almost forget how new you are to Equestria. That kind of thing… isn't common."

Stick only had spread hooves that engulfed the mare when she came close. "All good now, right? You help a whole race get on it's hooves, then you learn what to do properly with magic."

Snuggled there, Penny nodded. "Yeah, help them, get training." She looked up at Twilight. "I did, I was so scared and the spell just…" With no more words Penny gripped the changeling back and cried a little more, wanting the tears to just be gone.

Shadow and Dreams were both close, but it was the stallion of the pair that spoke up. "These two scared you so much you went against everything you believe in, everything we have seen you strive for. They were powerful umbrum then, without even knowing what you feared they drove you to do something bad. That was their fault, not yours."

Penny's tear-stained eyes lifted to the umbrum stallion. He looked adorable but his eyes held hers, showing her the truth of his words. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"There is something else I wanted to do." Penny took a few more deep breaths, leaving everypony hanging on her words. Turning her head to Stick, she squirmed from the mare's grip, having to lift a hoof to tap the changeling's mouth to stop her from asking a question.

Penny sat back and looked at Stick, taking in the sight of the changeling. 

She looked at her hooves to start, a few holes in them but mostly solid. Those holes were gained defending ponies.

The changeling's tail and body were next. There were scars there, hurts Stick had taken while defending her. Penny was not sure if she would cry more from the memories they brought up. 

Those wings. They looked so fragile but the times Penny had tended to them, for her 'queen', had proven how tough they were. 

The next was Stick's neck and head. Penny loved to nibble at the former, but she knew that biting it, at least between them, had more than a little significance. She focused on Stick's face. The changeling looked a little concerned now, her mouth curved a little down in worry. There was a hint of a fang poking free from one corner of her mouth and Penny had to fight her urge to move close again and kiss her until she smiled. 

"Stick. I need to ask you something."

"Penny I-" Stick made to move but Penny lifted her hoof again.

"Stick, you are so special to me." More tears came but these were not like the others. "I don't really know how this is meant to go, either here or back where I came from. Stick, do you want to be my special somepony?"

The frown on Stick's snout was banished, her mouth opened in a shocked little 'o'.

"Tell her yes, darling." Rarity was leaning on the table, her hooves crossed, resting her head on them.

"If she says yes we get to have a party!"

There was a moment, a brief one, where Penny's front legs started to shake.

"Of course I do." Stick had gotten her faculties back under control and the two met again, forelegs wrapped around each other tightly. 

The sound of an explosion almost broke the moment, but the rain of confetti and the sudden appearance of party hats reminded the pair that there were other ponies present.

Penny just wanted to hug Stick forever. To never leave her… her special somepony. Even the thought that she had taken this step made her blush. "Took you long enough to ask." Stick's soft words were spoken right by the unicorn's ear.

"What?" Penny pulled back her head, not giving up the cuddle though. "Why didn't you ask me if you were…"

"Yes, silly. I was waiting for you to be ready." Stick booped her on the nose with a hoof. "And now you are, and we are." The hoof lowered to rub Penny's belly from the side. "Now, we need to get these ponies settled with some way to feed themselves… I think Princess Luna is going to help with that. Then we can settle down in Canterlot for a while while you learn magic and grow."

The last bit confused Penny for a moment. "Grow… oh!" She blushed again and nuzzled Stick, suddenly a little overwhelmed by all that had happened.

"Yes my special somepony. You have my foal in there." Stick kissed her on the nose and there was a round of 'awws' from most present.

Shadow cut in a little. "I hate to say this, but while Luna has some of us out and testing some things, the rest of us are…"

"Hungry." Penny kissed Stick on the nose. "Work to do."

Stick sighed and looked to Shadow. "You don't hurt my mare now, scare her a little, but no bruises."

Dreams shook her head and bopped Shadow on the head with a little hoof. "He was heavy hoofed before. I think we might be able to do this a little better, fear isn't the only emotion that can exist. Do you ever get scared and have fun?"

The question had Penny thinking. "I know some ponies like that sort of thing but… I can never just lose myself like that… or at least I haven't in the past."

She got up then and beckoned the two umbrum to lead. "Lets go and see what we can do."





Stick and Penny were cuddled in bed. "How long did Luna say she was going to be?" Penny nuzzled Stick's cheek until the changeling giggled and nuzzled back.

"Princess Luna," Stick always put emphasis on titles, "said, 'when it was done', or something like that."

Penny sighed. "It is a bit of a trial, each time they need to feed. I wish I could get scared easier, or with less intensity. Paying for what I did shouldn't be easy, though."

"That's my mare." Stick seemed a little worked up and Penny rose to the challenge she soon posed. 

A gentle knock brought them both from their relaxation. "Penny…" The voice sounded just like Shadow.

"Time to work again." Penny kissed Stick, barely noticing the changeling was still a stallion. There was the briefest moment of 'ugh' from her past. It was easier to crush now, so much easier. This was still Stick. Her Stick. Penny leaned in and kissed the changeling again. "Love you."

"I know." Stick certainly didn't know why Penny started laughing, but she giggled too. "What?"

"I'll explain later, something to relax me after I feed them."

Stick nodded and leaned up, showing that although she was presently a stallion, and looking quite a bit like a lunar pony, she still had feminine lines. "Do that, and I might even need a bath…"

Penny gulped. Baths, she had decided, were a lot more fun with Stick involved.

With the pair gone, Stick sat up in bed and shook herself. "I fell so hard…" She flopped back on the bed, her wings spread and legs wiggling in the air, expressing her delight with the situation. "I don't think life could ever be better!"

She laughed out loud, feeling the object of her love slowly walking out. She could feel Penny at quite the range now, not as good as she knew her queen could drink, apparently… "Wait, princess… I must not forget that." 

Flopping out of bed and onto her hooves, Stick flashed her form, settling back into her carapace and feeling so very good about it. "Now, what do I have for today, maybe court, maybe. I need to say an official goodbye there and make sure Princess Cadance is introduced to Perfect Poise."

The feel of Penny's mind flicked from love and relaxation to a mix, the love never left now, which made Stick feel particularly good, but there were other emotions that the changeling couldn't nibble.





Penny felt as the last of the fear was drained, Shadow himself leaving her with barely a hint that any emotion had been felt at all. It was better than drinking it completely, and she made sure he knew it. "Thanks." She kissed the little stallion on the nose. "It is definitely better to feel a little, at the end."

The blushing umbrum shrank back a little but was smiling too. "You are getting used to it?" He was intrigued. This mare was somehow able to really push her magic into emotions and it surprised him.

"A pony can get used to nearly anything. Smiling faces while I do it helps a lot." Penny certainly had a lot of those. The umbrum around the pair, who remained after their little meal, were all certainly happy. 

Shadow blinked at this and looked around. "When we are… when you are channeling, I am too focused on keeping you at just the right amount of afraid. I don't want to hurt you, or make this all for naught."

Penny looked serious a moment and then sighed. "If I wasn't spoken for you would totally get another kiss on the nose right now. Dreams is a lucky mare."

Shadow blushed hotly at the compliment and turned his head to look back in the direction of the castle. "We should go." 

Liking this new-found power she had discovered, Penny didn't challenge him at first. She started walking back, the little umbrum fluttering beside her. "Your wings get tired?" 

"Wasn't so bad when we were in the… trap. We never got tired, never really felt anything."

"Hop on then." Penny moved a little sideways, giving Shadow the idea.

"It… I shouldn't." But the umbrum felt the mare's magic lift him from the air and settle him down on her back. He could have fought against it, but that would have not been polite.

"There. Now, lets get some food. I am betting Stick is going to be hungry as well and I know I am, even after eating… all that." Penny referenced, of course, the amount of food she had eaten while the umbrum fed. 





Stick was already waiting for Penny in the kitchen, she had felt the mare stop with her… feeding, and head back toward the castle. "Found you! Come on, sit right here." 

Penny's mood brightened at seeing Stick and she galloped right across the room, nearly upturning the plates of others eating on the way. 

The unicorn didn't land on the chair as instructed, instead she caught up Stick in a tight hug. The moment their embrace started a surprised Shadow fluttered across the room and decided to silently excuse himself.

"Missed me did you?" Stick landed a kiss on the other mare's nose.

Penny giggled at the feeling. "Whenever I am not with you, I miss you."

"Well, thankfully that doesn't happen often." The first bite of food floated up and popped in Penny's mouth, the unicorn used to Stick's ways by now. "Oh, and we are going for a ride soon, Princess Luna has invited the umbrum to the town of the lunar pegasi."

Penny chewed obediently, pulling the second chair over with her magic so she could sit close to Stick. "Mmm, what is that? Oh, wait, is there a train to this town?"

Stick filled her mouth again. "Of course there is, I don't think there is a single place in Equestria that doesn't have iron tracks running to it. Oh, and it is creamed cauliflower."

Leaning in close to the changeling, Penny thought on this information while she chewed, now getting no chance to talk thanks to her marefriend… her special somepony.

"Oh…" Stick paused in her feeding. Penny had begun to channel and caught her off guard with the intensity of the love radiated. "You do know other changelings are going to be so distracted whenever you do that?"

Penny grinned and kissed Stick.