Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo

by Pennington Inkwell

Washed Up

"And so, if I were to ask you, 'What's up?'"

"Thou wouldst be inquiring regarding one's well-being, rather than what objects currently reside at a high elevation?" Luna muttered, the look on her face pointing to the fact that she thought she had missed something.

"And a short summary of recent events." Pennington nodded and smiled, happy to see Luna's progress. She had long ago reached the point of easily carrying on a conversation with a pony rather easily, but she still had a few habits of speech that would distance her from other ponies.

"Luna, you need to try a little harder to remember..." He chided. "Ponies don't use 'thou' or 'wouldst.' Just say 'you!' And you can almost completely forget the 'st' suffix, it's barely used anywhere any more!"

Luna groaned in frustration, pounding her hoof against the table.

"Perchance, if there were more dignity in this new era, this wouldst- WOULD- not be so difficult!"

Pennington raised an eyebrow, but tried not to take her frustration at face value.

"That's progress, Luna. Interpersonal interaction has come to be considered more important than antiquated traditions or outward appearances."

"Antiquated?" Luna gave him a fierce glare as a surge of angry magic lit her eyes from behind. It was the kind of glare that would send most ponies scurrying away, proclaiming the return of Nightmare Moon. Thankfully, by this point, Pennington had received it so many times that he didn't even flinch at her wrath, simply turning back towards the volume laid before them.

"It was a comment on the mannerisms, not the age of the pony demonstrating them, Luna. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to review the syntax one might encounter in Los Pegasus. Your sister is often asked to travel there for public appearances and engagement with the social elite, and it is likely that you will soon be following in her hoofsteps. A social blunder there could create much more scandal than any amount of correct pronunciations and proper dining habits will ever recover."

Luna muttered something under her breath before turning back to the tome they were studying: an autobiography of a long-time film star by the name of Terra Strong.

"Now, I'd like you to start reading aloud, word for word. Stop at the end of the first page and summarize to be certain that the meanings of the words are coming across."

Luna sighed and began to read, detailing a conversation between the actress and her producer regarding the impossibility of her playing multiple characters in the same production. Pennington watched, a small smile tugging at his lips. As difficult and seemingly unnecessary as it was to her, Luna was trying. If anything, that was one of the biggest signs of her reformation since her time as Nightmare Moon, embarrassing herself and driving herself to complete boredom at her sister's request.

But still, her studies were moving at a snail's pace, at best. He was going to have to change his methods if he wanted her to be ready for interacting with the majority of Equestria within the next year.

He did have an idea. It was the kind of idea that most ponies would call crazy. The kind of idea that would make Lily check him for a fever, then slap him for considering while healthy.

So a pretty typical plan.

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When Pennington awoke, he noticed that he was significantly less warm than when he had fallen asleep. Opening his eyes, he realized that he was now alone beneath his blanket, while Moonstone and Crankshaft were standing near the opening of the cave, staring out into a raging blizzard.

He threw off the blanket, rising to his hooves and quickly running through his morning stretches. As he was stretching, Moonstone turned around and walked towards him. She definitely didn't look happy, but Pennington really couldn't blame her. They were marooned in the middle of a mountain range on the border of Equestria with an injured escort who needed to be brought back for medical attention before her condition got any worse. He still wasn't certain about what to do, himself. They could try to bring Crankshaft back to Canterlot, but doing so would put more ponies at risk of the weaponized weather. If they proceeded onwards with Crankshaft, her health would almost certainly continue to decline. Pennington didn't know any kind of healing magic, and concussions were serious matters. If they split the group, it would be almost certain death for both parties.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Moonstone gave him a weak smile. "Don't suppose you dreamed up some magical cure for all of this, did you?"

Pennington chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Afraid not, Moon Moon."

"Hey, don't call me-" Moonstone stopped mid-sentence as a large belch of fire rose up from her gullet, exploding in Pennington's face.

"YEOWCH!" Pennington stumbled back, waving his hoof up in front of his face to make certain that he hadn't been ignited. "Okay, geez, it's just a joke!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to!" Moonstone snatched the letter from where it had landed on the ground, quickly breaking the royal seal and unfurling it at arm's length so that Pennington could read over her shoulder.

Dear Moonstone,

It troubles me greatly to hear about the tragedy that has occurred, and you are correct. Crankshaft must be brought to Canterlot as soon as possible. I have arranged for a transport to arrive, but it will be difficult for them to reach you. I hate to have to ask this of you three, but you must meet them at the top of the nearest of the mountains. Eclipse will be sending a border patrol to come and meet you, where they will fly Crankshaft back to Canterlot, hopefully able to move above the storm. They should arrive in the early afternoon today, you must be atop the nearest mountain to be seen. This will be a dangerous extraction, but it is Crankshaft's best chance at survival. I wish you all the best of luck.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Pennington's jaw dropped, and he glanced several times between the letter in her claws and the storm raging outside.

"Is... is she joking? I mean, generally, I'm all for crazy, but this... this is..."

"It's Crankshaft's only shot at survival, Penn..." Moonstone whispered. "She's getting worse. About an hour ago, she started throwing up and couldn't stop for almost thirty minutes. Halfway through THAT, she started having dizzy spells so bad that she couldn't even stand up." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes in resignation.

"Either we climb the mountain or she dies."

"I packed for dragon country, Moonstone. I don't have anything to protect us from the cold except THIS!" He reached for the blanket with his magic, holding it up to eye level. "I don't even have any mountaineering gear! If I still had my magic, I could try materializing SOMETHING to help, but... we're not equipped." He stamped his hoof on the ground in frustration, "Speaking of what we could do if I still had my magic, I could just carry her up to the top with levitation! Then we wouldn't have to worry about any of those dizzy spells knocking her off of a cliff or stopping us so long we freeze to death! I could-"

"Stop right there." Moonstone pressed her finger to Pennington's mouth, stopping the torrent of words spilling out of his mouth. "What's going on with you, Penn? Usually, you'd jump at a challenge like this! Or at the very least, you'd be pragmatic enough to see it's our only choice." She tilted her head, giving him a concerned look. "What's going on?"

"S-sorry, Moonstone..." He muttered, turning away and walking towards the back of the cave. "I guess I'm just... angry. But there's nobody to be angry AT, so I just turned it inwards..." His head sunk low, as though a weight had been placed on the back of his neck. "It's been MONTHS, and the best I can still do are simple levitation spells, and even those are weak! And now, when magic could mean the difference between life and death, I'm stuck with this!" He reached up, swatting at the prosthetic horn. "I know Luna keeps saying that there's nothing wrong with it, but that just means I'M the problem! And if I'M the problem, then it means that this scenario, this LIFE..." he pointed towards Crankshaft, who was still sitting out watching the storm. "...is all on me if we fail." He took a deep breath, sinking down to his knees. "I don't know if I could take another life on my conscience, Moonstone. If you had asked me a year ago, I could have gotten her up and down the mountain in time for lunch. But now? I'm so much weaker, I don't know if it's even... if it's even possible." He hesitated before the last word, finally sinking his head down and burying it in his forelegs to hide his tears.

Moonstone fell silent for a moment, not entirely certain how to react. She'd never seen Pennington give up like this. Even when he was under Chrysalis's control in Canterlot, he had fought for his morals to the point of sacrificing his own horn. When Carnival Cat had put him under her spell, she could still see a cry for help deep behind his eyes, even when his actions spoke otherwise. Even when he had been trying over and over again to follow Twilight's lessons to retrieve his magic abilities, every time he had stormed away in frustration, he had returned the next day willing to try again.

She walked to his side, sitting down and leaning against him.

"If you ever think something is impossible, you haven't looked at it the right way. Always see anything as possible, you just haven't figured out how, yet."

Pennington didn't respond, his side simply shaking back and forth from his quiet sobs.

Moonstone thought for a moment, feeling her spines press down against her head as she turned upwards and pressed herself against Pennington.

"Someone once told me that. I thought it was silly. You can't turn wood to gold or summon gemstones from thin air, no matter how you think about it. A pegasus can't raise the sun, no matter what angle they approach it from." She sighed, a small smile playing at her lips. "But the more I think about it, the more I realize they were right. I was thinking that they were impossible from the start, so they were impossible. But you know, I don't think I've ever heard you say 'impossible.' Never say 'die.'"

Pennington still didn't react to her.

"Another person once said something I thought was pretty great. Well, not 'said.'" She tilted her head from side to side nonchalantly. "I read it, back when Luna and Celestia had me working in the archives. But do you know what they said? It went something like this..."

"I can see it. Right there in your eyes. I can see 'impossible,' living in your brain, like a parasite. Every step you take down life's path with that thing living inside you kills you just a little more. If you keep it there, it'll weigh you down until you lay down and die, never to move forward again. So, I want you to stop. Don't try to go forward, not one step. Not until you kill it. When you take impossible and kill it, I'll be waiting just ahead for you to catch up."

Pennington tilted his head, turning to look at her.

"Of course, you already know that one..." She muttered, casting him a sideways glance. "That was Daring Do and the Dangerous Descent into the Dragon's Den."

"Are you really using my own quotes against me?" He whispered.

"Well, you said that we'd win if we had the you from a year ago." Moonstone shrugged. "Personally, I prefer the you of the present, he's much easier to teach. But, I figure that if you want your past self here, his words are the best we can do."

"Past me was an idiot..." he muttered, burying his face again.

"So is present you, just of a different variety. I have a very strong suspicion that future you will be, as well. Doesn't mean you weren't right. If there's any pony in the world that I would trust to get us to the top of that mountain, it's you." She gave his shoulder a soft pat. "And I think that Princess Celestia believes the same thing, if the letter is any indication."

"Do... don't you think the princesses ask too much of us, sometimes?" Pennington whispered. He could hear Twilight's same words from their goodbye echoing through his mind, but he felt himself starting to believe her, this time.

"Nah." Moonstone dismissed the thought quickly. "That's why they picked you. You don't have those kind of limits, and you know it. You can do anything, because you already killed impossible in your mind." She smiled, rising to her feet again. "Now, I'm going to go and get ready with Crankshaft, we'll have to leave soon if we want to make it to the top in time. When you take impossible and kill it..." She turned and gave him a wink, catching him peeking from between his hooves.

"I'll be waiting just ahead for you to catch up."

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Two things struck Twilight when she woke up. The first was the fact that she was being gently shaken on her shoulder by Lily. The second was that her neck was incredibly sore from sleeping on the ground in the tunnel.

"Twilight? Are you awake?" Lily whispered, her horn casting a low enough glow to avoid hurting Twilight's eyes. Twilight groaned with the pain in her neck, only for Lily to quickly shush her and press her hoof against Twilight's mouth.

"Shh! Don't wake up Delta!" She hissed, glancing over to see whether or not the pegasus had moved from his spot. Delta was soundly asleep, undisturbed by the noise.

"Wh-what is it?" Twilight asked, rubbing her eyes. "Is something wrong?"

Lily turned back to face her, Twilight finally catching a glimpse of her unsettled expression.

"That's what I wanted to ask you, actually..." Turning back down the tunnel, she nodded her head in the direction they had come from. Holding back another groan, Twilight levitated Spike down from her back and rose to her hooves, following Lily as quietly as she could. Lily led the way until they were out of earshot of the boys before sitting back on her haunches, taking a deep breath.

"So, what is it?" Twilight asked, taking a seat beside her. "Something bothering you?"

"I- I think I rushed into this." Lily shook her head. "I mean, things just aren't adding up when you really think about it!"

Twilight nodded. The long hours in the tunnels had given her plenty of time to consider their situation and all of the things wrong with it.

"Well, we ARE following a pony we just met down into the bowels of the earth based on a claim with no proof..." Twilight chuckled nervously.

"No, I'm following him. I just pulled you along for the ride." Lily ran her hooves down the sides of her face, tugging at her cheeks with worry. "But you suddenly losing contact with Princess Celestia at the same time she and Princess Luna uncharacteristically leave their people mid-crisis?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "You're not wrong. It's highly suspect."

"And then there was the passphrase to open the tunnels..." Lily whispered. "I've never heard it, before. Penn always kept me up to date on the security phrases! It might be some kind of emergency one for situations like this, or one just for the tunnels, but it still gives me a bad feeling..."

Twilight nodded. "Not to mention, I'm not certain that I believe Delta's story about Pennington and that mask. He'd never do something like that!"

"Actually..." Lily's eyes narrowed. "That was the other problem I had. When he told the story, there was something he got wrong. Something big."

Twilight narrowed her eyes, looking back towards Delta's sleeping form.

"What was it?"

Just as Lily was about to speak, however, a massive sound shattered the silence, nearly deafening them. It sounded like when Twilight would snap her chalk in half, but ten thousand times louder. Both girls jumped into the air, the lights from their horns flickering as their concentration was broken.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Lily shouted, trying to make herself heard over her own deafness.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Twilight shouted back, her mind racing with images of cave-ins, rocks and dirt raining down on them from above, their bodies crushed in an unmarked tomb.

Their was another crack, this one sounding closer. Twilight's heart skipped another beat.

Delta and Spike ran up behind them, searching the tunnel walls frantically.

"What's going on? Was there a cave in?" Spike asked, grabbing onto Twilight in fear.

"It's the weather up above!" Delta shouted. "It must be crushing the tunnel!"

There was a deep rumbling, now. Twilight could feel it shaking her bones, a rolling force that rocked the very earth under her feet. Delta's eyes widened in fear, and he rushed back towards the campsite, diving to his bags.

"Get back! Girls, GET BACK!" He screamed, waving them towards him. Twilight and Lily didn't bother to question him, rushing back to where they had made camp and standing at the far side, staring down the tunnel to try and catch a glimpse of what was coming.

"What is it? What's going on?" Lily shouted, the light from her horn growing brighter to try and extend her sight.

"I thought that there was enough bedrock here to keep us safe, no fault lines or anything!" Delta pulled something from his bag, tucking it under his wing. "But there must be too much water! It's coming down!"

"WATER?"

Twilight could feel a strong breeze beginning to blow down the tunnel. She began to summon up her magic, ready to put up a barrier. She watched Delta rush past her, back towards the source of the breeze and out of her reach.

"What are you DOING?" Lily shouted, pressing herself close to Twilight.

"Just TRUST me!" he retorted, pulling the mysterious object out from under his wing. Twilight couldn't quite make out what it was until he pressed it to his face. When she did realize, her breath caught in her throat.

It was a mask, mottled green with wide, circular holes for the eyes. It was almost blank of other features, smooth, but not polished. As Delta placed it on his face, tendrils reached out and wrapped around his head, fixing it in place. More vines grew out from the helmet, reaching down his neck and wrapping around his body. After a few short seconds, he was entirely encased in a suit of living armor. As the last of the vines fused together, an overwhelming aura of power radiated off of Delta. Twilight had never felt anything like it outside of the princesses or the Elements of Harmony.

Her attention was drawn away from Delta as the danger finally came into sight: a massive wall of water barreling down the tunnel at breakneck speed. She raised a barrier around herself, Lily, and Spike, praying that her own magical power would be enough to keep them safe. Delta would have to fend for himself.

Twilight felt Spike's grip on her leg tighten as the water was about to overtake them, and she gritted her teeth in preparation. She had no idea just how much pressure the water would bring down on them, but she would put everything she could into keeping herself and her friends alive. She closed her eyes, focusing her mind.

She focused.

And focused.

And focused.

Twilight opened one eye, wondering where their watery grave was. Her jaw dropped in shock at what she saw.

Delta was still standing, a glowing green barrier holding the flood back from overtaking him. His hooves were firmly rooted to the ground, bracing himself against the obvious strain on his body. Twilight felt her jaw drop.

"How is he doing that?" Spike whispered.

Adjusting his stance, Delta lifted one hoof off the ground. The same green glow holding back the flood gathered around his hoof until it became nearly blinding. After a moment, he slammed it back into the ground, shaking the ground beneath them. Just like the ones that had covered his body, vines and roots sprung out from the walls of the tunnel, weaving themselves together into a sturdy wall. More vines crept their way up, filling the last cracks and reinforcing the seams. Finally, he seemed to relax, stepping back and admiring his work.

"Whoa..." Spike whispered.

Twilight and Lily could hardly add anything more than that, both stunned into silence.

Delta walked back, forcing them to stare at the featureless mask over his face. Looking more closely, Twilight could see that it wasn't a single color, but mottled with a wide array of greens and browns, as though an entire forest had been shrunken down into the tiny space. Twilight still couldn't see through the wide eye holes, instead peering into only a dark void. Slowly, the vines pulled back from his hooves, peeling away as though they were growing in reverse. By the time he had reached Twilight and Lily, he was wearing only the mask again. Reaching up, he pulled the mask from his face, revealing his normal visage underneath. He took a deep breath, sighing with relief as a shudder ran through his body. His body finally seemed to go through one more release, leaving his shoulders sagging and him panting for breath.

"Phew! That... was a close one!" He looked up at them with a smile. "You can go ahead and relax, that wall should hold."

Twilight took one last look at the wall, examining it. It looked sturdy enough, alright. She slowly lowered her shield, but not her guard.

"That was AMAZING! How did you do that?" Spike ran up to Delta, staring up in admiration. "I've never even seen Twilight use plants like that!"

"Heh, if I told you my secret, buddy, I'd be in deep trouble with the NLR!" He gave Spike a pat on the head. "Let's just say that they gave me a couple old relics to make sure my mission was a success!"

Twilight blinked, tilting her head.

"That mask..." Lily whispered. "Does it remind you of- WAAH!"

She was cut off as a jet of water blew out of the wall, striking her and washing her down the tunnel. Twilight spun around to try to block the hole, only to be struck by another stream from a widening crack. Even Delta was caught off-guard, unable to return the mask to his face before he and Spike were washed away after her. More cracks formed before finally joining together and exploding into a massive hole, flooding the tunnel halfway to the ceiling and creating a fierce current.

Twilight couldn't get her bearings. The entire tunnel was pitch-black, and when she tried to light her horn, it would only let her see that she was being washed away at breakneck speed. Finally gathering her strength, she seized upon her own body with her magic, levitating herself up and out of the water. By the light of her horn, she spotted two silhouettes being washed down behind her, and she quickly grabbed them, as well. When she was finally out of the water, Spike coughed and retched violently, clearing the water from his lungs and throat in a cloud of steam. Delta hung limp in the air, a large gash near his temple revealing that he had been knocked unconscious. Twilight felt a wave of relief at saving her number one assistant and her guide, but her heart skipped a beat as she realized that somepony was missing. Spinning herself around, she stared down the tunnel, fruitlessly casting her light as far as she could.

"CALALILY? CALALILY CURL?"

"LILY!"

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay on this one, everyone. I've been having trouble getting myself to start working again. My best friend of four years, BlackThunderAceAttourney (AKA "Ace the Changeling" in my stories) has left for the Air Force. It's been a bit difficult to get back into the swing of things since then. One of the last conversations we had was about my writing, and he encouraged me to work on my passion projects, rather than things I simply felt obligated to do. So, here I am. I'm going to be putting a lot more of my time writing into this story, because it's what I love, so hopefully the frequency of updates will increase!

Also, thank you, PC, for this chapter's art!!! (She's probably going to kill me for putting this here since it was just a rough sketch, but I couldn't resist!!)

Thanks for being patient, everyone.

Comments

[PC]

AAAAAHHH, that's my sketch!! Heck no, I don't mind! I'm so glad you liked it!

Wow, do I love this chapter. Sure, it hurts a lot, hah, but the best ones do! It's structured very well, from a peaceful and happy memory, to a sad and seemingly hopeless situation, then some edge-of-your-seat action, and finally a cliffhanger! A perfect emotional roller-coaster, heh.

Great work, and thank your for featuring my tiny little sketch!

[AltGrendel]

Love it. Glad you're working on this again.