Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo

by Pennington Inkwell

Split

Twilight wasn't certain how long she had been running through the snow, it was hard to tell the passage of time with the overcast sky and stark white landscape. Spike had been doing an admirable job keeping the two of them warm as they trekked through the snow, but his bursts of fire breath had been growing less refreshing as the cold settled in on her.

"Are y-you SURE we're going t-the right w-way?" Spike stuttered for the twelfth time.

"Yes!" Twilight repressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"Well, could you TRY to cast that spell again? I'm f-freezing!"

Twilight sighed and came to a stop. Her first few attempts to cast a warmth-retaining spell had failed, but she had to admit that the last of the effects of the "crash" after removing the magic inhibitor seemed to have faded away. She took a deep breath, concentrated, and tried a third time to cast the spell.

The effect was instantaneous, as it should have been. A wave of warmth like a warm blanket wrapped around her, taking the chill from her bones. On her back, Spike let out a sigh of relief as he experienced the same effect shutting out the harsh winds of the mountains.

"Thank you!" he whispered, giving her neck a light hug from behind. "That is MUCH better!"

Twilight smiled, more than satisfied with the results of her spell. Her magic had finally returned to normal, and she was feeling confident in herself.

There's definitely a spell I could use to track down Pennington faster than this! Maybe if I-

Her trail of thought was quickly cut off, however, by the sound of roaring in the distance and a shaking in the earth. Instantly, Twilight was on high alert, trying to spot the source of the noise. Far off, Twilight could see the trees beginning to shake, being knocked aside my some kind of massive creature headed straight towards them.

"Twilight, up there!" Spike shouted, pointing into the sky. Twilight's eyes followed his finger, spotting a familiar form fluttering weakly above them.

"MOONSTONE! DOWN HERE!" Twilight called, waving her hoof to try and get Moonstone's attention. Moonstone seemed to notice, turning her flight down towards them. "I think she heard me!"

"Um, Twilight?" Spike whispered, "I don't think she did..."

Twilight's excitement turned to dread as she realized Moonstone had stopped flapping her wings altogether. "Spike, hold on!" She took off at a full sprint, trying to intercept the falling dragonet. Twilight reached out with her mind, wrapping Moonstone up in her magic and catching her just before she hit the ground. As the moment of panic passed, Twilight let out a sigh of relief and brought Moonstone closer, inspecting her for injury. Moonstone seemed unharmed, just exhausted.

"What happened to you?" Twilight whispered, half-expecting Moonstone to answer. From behind her, Twilight heard Spike swallow nervously.

"P-probably THAT!"

At that moment, the source of the noise in the distance became clear: some kind of gigantic snow millipede reared up over the trees, letting loose a massive roar and locking its stony eyes on the three of them.

Twilight's eyes narrowed and she braced herself for a fight. The creature dove back to the earth, bearing down on them at breakneck speed, and Twilight rooted herself to the ground, ready to make her stand.

"Um, Twilight? Aren't we going to run? Or teleport? Or SOMETHING?" Spike asked, tightening his grip on her.

"As soon as I test a theory..." Twilight muttered, throwing up a magical shield around them.

The giant snow creature finally closed in, slamming its head against Twilight's domed shield and snapping its mandibles over and over at them. Twilight felt a splitting pain beginning to form in her skull as cracks formed in the shield, but she managed to keep her eyes open long enough to get a close look at the creature.

By the time the thing had reared back for a second attack, Twilight already had all of the information she needed.

With a thought, she dropped her shield, wrapping her magic around herself and leaping through space, teleporting herself behind the thing's back and catching herself with a levitation spell.

"HEY, UGLY!"

Surprisingly, the monster actually responded, turning around to face her. Twilight spotted her target, took aim, and blasted at its head. Her aim was true, blowing a steaming hole completely through its head. Twilight grabbed at a small object left behind from the blast, wrapping it up in a sealing spell before lowering herself to the ground and releasing her levitation spell. With a content smile, she trotted back to where Spike was waiting.

"Whoa... Did you just kill it?"

Twilight smiled, holding up the item she'd picked up and sealed: the Ruber Locomotus. "It was never alive to begin with! It was just a golem created by this!"

Spike's reaction was cut short as Moonstone started back into consciousness, grabbing desperately at him in a lucid panic.

"G-get away! Gotta get away! I c-can't-"

"Wh-whoa! Moonstone, it's okay! You're safe!" Spike gave her a warm smile, and Moonstone finally seemed to realize where she was and return to the present, glancing around her and finally spotting Twilight and the ruby in her magical grasp.

"Twilight? Spike? What are you-" she seemed to catch herself, shaking her head. "There's no time. I need your help! Penn's in trouble! Deep, deep trouble!"

Twilight and Spike glanced at one another, neither looking surprised at the news. Twilight had many, many questions, but only one that she knew she had time to ask.

"Which way?"

Moonstone pointed back in the direction she had come from. "That way! This was a distraction gone wrong, Penn's fighting some maniac with another god-mask like Cha'Qued! When I left, he was beaten into the ground and I hid him under the invisibility cloak!"

Twilight would have been lying if she said she didn't feel some eagerness at the idea of giving Delta Raider a piece of her mind. "Alright, you and Spike just hop on, and I'll get us there as fast as possible!"

To her surprise, Moonstone shook her head, turning to face in almost the complete opposite direction.

"Twilight, I have to ask you for a favor. I know where we can get help, but I'm too tired to make it in time." Moonstone pointed towards the horizon to the south. "I need you to teleport me as far as you can THAT way."

Twilight blinked, trying to process what Moonstone was asking.

"You... want me to just teleport you? Without a DESTINATION? That's crazy! You could wind up halfway inside a boulder, or with your head inside a tree!"

"Which is why you also need to put me high in the air. I can't fly, but I can glide my way to the ground safely if you give me the height." Moonstone gave a couple hesitant flaps of her wings and nodded.

"You literally just fainted and dropped out of the sky trying to fly!"

"TWILIGHT! There isn't TIME to argue about this!" Moonstone shouted, stamping her foot. "Somewhere out there, Penn's slowly freezing to death in a snowbank, waiting to find out who's going to find him first, Lily or Delta! I am NOT the priority here! I promise you it'll all be okay! But you need to TRUST me!"

Twilight rubbed at her head, completely divided over what to do. Normally, this kind of situation would call for her to weigh pros and cons, run the numbers and probabilities to make a decision. This time, however, Moonstone was right: there was no time. She was going to have to go with her gut.

"Fine. But this is YOUR idea, alright?"

Moonstone nodded, closing her eyes and bracing herself. Twilight sighed, focused her mind on the direction Moonstone had pointed, and cast the teleport spell. The fact that she was focusing on a general direction, rather than a definite point, made the spell simultaneously easier and more difficult to cast. Easier because the energy usually used in fine-tuning could be redirected to pushing the limits of her distance. More difficult because Twilight had to overcome years and years of conditioning to never cast a teleport spell without a definite destination.

"R-ready?" She grunted, the magic building up in her horn reaching critical mass.

"Do it!" Moonstone replied, trying to hide her fear with a determined scowl.

Twilight took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and cast the spell. Moonstone vanished with a flash of purple light and a loud pop, and she and Spike were once again alone.

"Are you... sure that was a good idea?" Spike muttered, giving Twilight a questioning glance.

Twilight shook her head, trying to shake off the aftereffects of casting a spell like that. "Penn always says a bad plan is better than no plan at all, right? We just have to trust that Moonstone knows what she's doing." She nodded to her back, motioning for Spike to hop on. "For now, we've got our own mission to take care of!"

Spike gave one more concerned glance in the direction Moonstone had been sent, then sighed and jumped onto Twilight's back. "Right! Rescuing Pennington Inkwell!"

Twilight nodded, taking off at a full sprint in the direction Moonstone had come from. It would be a few minutes before she could teleport again, so running would have to do for now.

"Soooo, what's the plan?" Spike asked, gripping tightly to her mane in an effort to hold on.

"I'm sure we'll think of something on the way! Moonstone said Penn was safe as long as Delta doesn't find him under the invisibility cloak, right? We have to just figure out a way to find him, first!"

"And what if Delta already found him? Or what if he finds US, first? He's got a freaky plant-commanding mask, and we don't!"

Twilight didn't want to admit that Spike was right, but it was a very real possibility that things would go wrong. Silently, she began to take inventory of the contents of her saddlebag, trying to think of some kind of plan.

"W-well, we've got the element of surprise! That's got to be worth something, right?"

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Princess Celestia took a deep breath, trying to steady herself as another wave of dizziness washed over her. She and Luna had been taking protecting Canterlot in shifts since this disaster started, and the constant work was beginning to catch up to her. Luckily, her little ponies in the Solar Empire had collaborated with the New Lunar Republic to assemble a team of elite mages that would be able to take over the task come nightfall and rotate their ranks well enough to continue indefinitely.

A relief Celestia knew would be short-lived as she turned her attention back to the ponies of Equestria as their leader in troubled times. It had been almost five days since the assault on Equestria had begun, and even the ponies safe in the castle were beginning to grow restless and nervous. She knew that she would need to make an appearance soon to assuage their fears before things got out of hoof.

"Celestia..." A familiar voice spoke from just behind her, because apparently teleporting while in sight was impossible for draconequii. She let loose a sigh of relief.

"Eclipse! I'm so glad you're here! I was starting to go crazy from all of this silence! I-" As she turned to face her good friend, however, Celestia was met by an expression she had not seen from him in a long time: an angry, accusatory scowl. She was taken aback at the look on his face, her concentration on the shielding spell nearly breaking. "E-Eclipse? What's wrong?"

Eclipse folded his arms over his chest, then rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Celestia, I've been talking to Luna..."

"Oh? About what? Some new video game? Another attempt at sneaking in legislation to banish zap apples from Canterlot?"

"I know about your plan for Pennington, and I can't let you follow through with it."

Celestia was not one to be caught off-guard easily. When Luna had started expressing doubts about what they were planning, she had considered the possibility that she might go to their Royal Adviser for guidance. She knew Eclipse wouldn't understand, not yet. Luna didn't have her skill for explaining.

"Eclipse, it isn't what you think-" To Celestia's shock, Eclipse rushed forward, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving his face up to hers, forcing her to keep eye contact with him.

"CELESTIA! You do NOT understand the depth of the pit above which you have precariously placed yourself!"

Celestia was actually flabbergasted, this time. Eclipse had never been this aggressive with her, not like this. Eclipse was timid, quiet and reserved. Certainly he made a show of trying to appear smug or powerful around ponies, but it was just a facade to hide his own anxiety. But this time, looking into his eyes, Celestia saw something she had never found there before: rage. Rage and resolve, a determined fire he had never displayed in all her time knowing him.

It shook her, shook her enough to finally break her concentration on the protection spell. Luckily, it was at that moment that the mages below took control of the spell, keeping Canterlot safe. Celestia's eyes glanced upward for a moment, inspecting to make certain the sky was truly safe

"Eclipse, please, let me explain. There's more factors in play than I think you understand!"

Eclipse continued his piercing glare, but wordlessly backed away, a sign that he was going to allow Celestia to explain herself. Celestia took a deep breath, restoring her composure after Eclipse's outburst.

"Eclipse, are you familiar with the legend of the Guardians of Equestria?"

Eclipse's only response was to raise a single eyebrow at her.

"You've been living in Equestria since before Luna and I came to power, Eclipse! You can't tell me you've honestly never heard it!"

Eclipse sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I didn't exactly get out much for the past thousand years, Celestia. Why don't you refresh me on the subject?"

Celestia sighed in return, more in exasperation than anything else. When making a genuine effort, Celestia had found that Eclipse was every ounce as good as his older brother at antagonizing her.

"It's a story that was told to Luna and me as little fillies, even from the cradle. Long, long ago, when the earth beneath our hooves was still young, this land that has come to be Equestria was blessed with four guardian spirits. Whenever the inhabitants of the land were threatened by dangers beyond their ability to fight, four great heroes would rise from the precipice of disaster and save them all. Is any of this sounding familiar?"

Eclipse merely gave a non-committal shrug.

"The Weaver of Fate? The Smith of Destinies? What about the Winter Blossom and the Scribe of Legends?"

Celestia knew that Eclipse recognized the names, especially by the way his eyes widened when she mentioned the Smith, but he still refused to say a word.

"Every time that Equestria was facing certain destruction, the heroes would be reborn among a new generation! They would live their lives as normal creatures, learning to love just what it was they would protect, and when they met their destinies, they would be reborn as the legendary heroes!" Celestia raised an eyebrow, expecting a reaction out of her friend. "None of this is ringing any bells?"

"Some might say that you have to die to be reborn, Celestia."

The statement caused a hiccup in her train of thought, and Celestia stumbled for a moment to pull together her thoughts.

"I know you're planning on sending Pennington to go through the Adelind Trials. Luna told me everything." He leaned down, placing a clawed hand on Celestia's shoulder. "The magic of the old dragon houses is ancient and powerful, powerful enough to drive any single pony out of their mind!"

"Tia, I know that you worry for Equestria's safety day in and day out, but you can't honestly tell me that you think these fillyhood fairy tales are TRUE, do you?"

"Can we afford NOT to believe in them?" Celestia urged. "If the Guardian Spirits WERE to come back, think of the peril Equestria would have to be facing! If they were ever reborn, it would mean that Equestria faces a threat so great, it is beyond Luna, myself, even the power of the Elements of Harmony!"

"Celestia, there's good reason these stories haven't been told in more than a thousand years! Because they're just that: stories!" Eclipse stepped forward, trying to wrap his arms around Celestia in a reassuring hug. "There aren't any Guardian Spirits, just an entire kingdom full of brave and strong ponies who can face any danger that comes their way! Ponies like you."

Celestia pushed him away, shaking her head.

"Every legend starts somewhere, Eclipse. There's a nugget of truth at the heart of this 'fairy tale,' and even when I was just a filly, I was determined to find it!" Walking to the door, Celestia stepped back into the castle, motioning for Eclipse to follow. Eclipse seemed to hesitate for a moment before sighing and walking after her.

"Now, it hasn't been easy, but being a princess does have certain advantages when it comes to gathering information!" Celestia smiled as she paced her way down the hall. "There are records everywhere, if you know where to look!"

"Celestia, please! These are bedtime stories, meant to help fillies and colts not be afraid of the monsters under their beds! At least, until Luna came along!"

As Celestia rounded the next corner, she trotted her way over to a seemingly blank wall. With a smug grin, she cast a familiar spell. One by one, the bricks in the wall began to separate and shift, revealing a hidden room.

"Are you sure about that?" Celestia asked, lighting the torches in the room.

The room was small, hardly the size of her closet, but it was more than large enough for her purposes. Scrolls and maps lined the walls, marking the places she had managed to find evidence over her years of searching. Ancient texts laid upon custom pedestals crafted with the finest of preservation spells, and ancient artifacts stood under glass domes, testaments to the legacy of their former owners. It was every scrap of information about Equestria's guardian spirits that Celestia had gathered over her long life. She lovingly lifted away the glass of one dome, tenderly picking up the item inside: a small blanket, carefully embroidered with the mark of the Weaver of Fate, a silver needle trailing iridescent thread. Even after all of this time, the family heirloom her parents had given her still gleamed with a comforting glow.

"I never stopped believing, Eclipse. Not in 'fairy tales,' not in the heroes I never got the chance to meet, and not in the idea that they'd return one day, in Equestria's darkest hour..."

Eclipse stood agape, peering into the room from the hallway.

"Which is why we can't afford to waste time! We have to guide the new incarnations to their destinies, to their memories of their true selves! All of Equestria could depend on it!"

"Celestia..." Eclipse whispered, breathless and in awe.

"Look, I can even identify their last incarnations! Quill the Scribe was actually the Scribe of Legends, obviously, but did you know the Winter Blossom was his wife, Ixia? And the Weaver of Fates was actually-"

"CELESTIA!"

Celestia was cut off as Eclipse shouted her name, snapping her out of her excitement. As she turned back to face him, she could see tears flowing from his eyes. He rushed across the room, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Celestia, look at yourself! You're OBSESSED!" Eclipse gestured to the walls, trying to illustrate his words. "You've slipped so far into this narrative you've created over all these years, you've lost your grip on the boundaries of reality!"

Celestia felt her hopes falling out from underneath her.

"But look! The Sixth Trial of Clover the Clever! The enchanted gypsum sewing needle of Threadmane! Even the undying coal from the forge of Ember Glow!" She reached out, magically retrieving one of the books from their pedestal and turning to a familiar page.

"Look at this! It's supposed to be the mark of the Scribe of Legends! Two scrolls flanking a compass rose! It's Pennington's cutie mark! And look at the beastiary! Pennington's and Quill's are EXACTLY alike! Right down to the hoofwriting! It's irrefutable! He's writing it from MEMORY, even if he doesn't realize it!"

Eclipse sighed, pushing away the book. "You're seeing connections where there aren't any, Celestia, and now you've set Pennington on the path to a test that will drive him to madness to try and vindicate it! And you're never going to be able to take it back!"

"Eclipse, I've always trusted your judgement, can't you just trust ME, for once? Look at all of this, really look at it!"

"I am, Celestia, but I'm also looking at YOU! Not only are you putting another pony's mind on the line, but Luna's trust in you, as well! She cares about Pennington!"

Celestia was beginning to feel indignation welling up in her chest. All of this proof, all or Equestria hanging in the balance, and Eclipse STILL refused to listen to her.

"Oh, so you DON'T believe all of this, Tumult? Your actions have certainly spoken otherwise."

Eclipse backed away slightly, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, you thought I didn't notice YOUR student?"

"Celestia, Whipstitch came to ME, not the other way around!"

"Oh, and it has NOTHING to do with her heritage? Nothing to do with the fact that she's the spitting image of Threadmane, the last incarnation of the Weaver of Fate?" Celestia rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You know I'm right!"

"Why else would YOU, of all creatures, take a PONY as a STUDENT?"

The moment the accusatory words had left her mouth, Celestia regretted it. Eclipse's expression shifted instantly, from pity to pain. The comment had cut deep, and Celestia could see it by the tears in his eyes. Suddenly, the indignation was washed away by sorrow.

"E-Eclipse, I'm sorry! I lost my temper! I-"

Eclipse didn't reply, simply disappearing with a snap of his fingers.

"WAIT! I... I didn't mean it..." Celestia whispered. She looked around the room, then back down at the ancient blanket that had once laid alongside her in her cradle. Her parents had always told her that the Weaver had made it and given it to her mother, promising her that their family had been blessed by fate to "watch over the heavens themselves, ensuring the safety of all those beneath them."

Am I wrong? All these years of searching, making contact with the Adelind bloodline and countless expeditions based on hunches and whispers of rumors? Could it all be wrong? Am I just...

Celestia stamped her hoof, setting the blanket back in its place and replacing the glass dome.

"No! I can prove that I'm right! The Adelinds can prove Pennington is the next Scribe, and that the Guardians are back! I just need to buy Moonstone a little more time..."

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Luna smirked as she made her way through another successful boss fight of Blackened Spirits. She had been occupying most of her "free time" sleeping and recovering from protecting Canterlot. When she couldn't sleep, however, she spent her time on the most soul-crushingly difficult games she could find, if only for the sheer satisfaction of grinding them into the dust. It gave her confidence that the seemingly insurmountable threat facing Equestria could be defeated with equal diligence.

"Now, let's see what's behind door three..." Luna whispered, her character struggling and straining with the massive stone doors on the opposite side of the boss area.

The doors revealed a wide open expanse of ivory towers and paved cobblestone: the lost dragon city of Radian.

And, sitting on the steps leading down into the city, what appeared to be a very put-out draconequus. Reaching over, she plugged in the headset she usually reserved for multiplayer and placed it over her ears.

"Eclipse, is that you?"

The draconequus nodded.

They had talked multiple times about the effects of chaos magic on save files, but Luna knew that now was not the time or the place.

"I presume that your meeting with my sister did not go as well as we had hoped?"

"Certainly worse than we predicted..." Eclipse muttered, his voice creeping out of the speakers of her headset.

Luna sighed, shaking her head.

"Then I suppose that we have no choice but to act of our own accord to save Pennington Inkwell from his trusted assistant... But I am certain that Celestia will try to delay us. Are you prepared to fight that battle?"

In the game, Eclipse rose to his feet, and Luna could see the aura of his magic beginning to spread across the lost city as pixels jumped about and changed colors erratically.

"I made the mistake Celestia is risking, even if she means well. I once thought that I could save many through the sacrifice of one... Not only was I wrong, but I have regretted it every day since." He turned to face out of the screen, locking eyes with Luna's true self, burning with determination. "I will NOT let her live with that same guilt!"

Luna nodded approvingly.

"Then our course is set. We must rescue Pennington from the trap we've sent him into, and save Celestia from a millennium's worth of delusion."

Comments

[Love able chaos]

But the Lost Dragon city.