• Published 12th Nov 2013
  • 1,346 Views, 121 Comments

Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo - Pennington Inkwell



On an assignment from Princess Luna, Pennington Inkwell and his assistant, Moonstone, attempt to thwart a dragon with the power to change the weather.

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Meanwhile, In Ponyville...

"I don't know about this, Twilight..." Spike muttered as they both stepped through Pennington's front door. "I mean, didn't Pennington say that you should only do this if you were in a life-threatening or Ponyville-destroying situation?"

"Ponies' lives are being threatened, Spike!" Twilight shook her head as the glow from her horn faded away. "If it weren't for my casting a shield over us, we would have been struck by lightning a dozen times just making this short walk from the library to Inkwell Commissions! Ponies can't leave their homes! Sooner or later, somepony is going to need to try to get outside to go and get food or some other necessity! And then, ZAP!" She took in a deep breath. "I'll have to send Pennington a letter telling him to stay away from Ponyville until this is all over... But he told us that if the town was ever in danger, we could find everything that we needed to fight back here, in his home!"

As Twilight walked back behind the empty counter of his shop, Twilight couldn't help but remember the first day that she had met Pennington. I walked into this shop and stood in front of this very counter, thinking that I was staring at a pony who needed to learn about friendship... Imagine my surprise when we wound up teaching each other more than we could have imagined! She chuckled, taking only the briefest of moments to stand in the same place he had been sitting, praising her for defeating Nightmare Moon and Discord and offering her an "Element of Harmony Discount" on the story she had asked him to write. It didn't take long for the seriousness of the situation to creep back into her thoughts, however, and she returned to the original reason that she and Spike had come: to fight back the lightning storms that would reduce the town to cinders if left unchecked.

Without a word, she walked through his kitchen and into the hall near the back of his house, where she soon found the door to his study with its traditional dozen locks and bolts. Every one of them could only be opened from the inside, with the sole exception of a spell allowing outside entry.

"Man, when Pennington says 'Do not disturb,' he means it..." Spike muttered.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight placed the tip of her horn against the topmost of the mechanisms. During one of his visits, Pennington had taught her the combination of words that acted as the key to his sanctum, allowing her to enter at any time.

"Ostentatious paradigm shift..," She whispered. As soon as the words had left her mouth, the locks moved on their own, each taking a turn to disengage and open the way inside. After only a couple seconds, the door swung open on its own, allowing them inside.

"Ostrich-para-what-now?" Spike scratched his head.

"Penn said he wanted to choose a set of words that would be near-impossible for anyone to guess on their own. That way, no one could get inside unless he wanted them to. They're just fancy words." Twilight smiled. As they stepped inside, Twilight and Spike found themselves entering what seemed to be almost an entirely new world. Pennington's study was the one room that he seemed to have spent a decent amount of money furnishing, including a large, dark wood desk, a wide array of shelves from wall to wall a few feet above their heads, and a massive skylight in the roof that acted as a two-way mirror, allowing them to see out while no one could see in.

Through the skylight, they could easily see a reminder of why they had come here. The sky was completely overcast with dark clouds that refused to leave, raining down lightning on the town by the second, with bolts striking almost anywhere and everywhere, focusing on places where large groups of ponies had gathered. There was definitely something unnatural about it all, and Twilight suspected that it was a deliberate attack on the town. Walking to the only bookshelf that was self-contained, rather than wall-to-wall, Twilight stared up at the spines of the layers of books.

"Now, then... Which ones did Pennington say to pull?" Spike muttered, walking up next to her.

"The three copies of Daring Do and the Dangerous Descent into the Dragon's Den!" Twilight's eyes scanned the tomes with practiced ease, picking out the alliterative title.

"Oh, right... How could I forget that?"

As soon as she had spotted all three of the identical books, Twilight used her magic to try and remove them all from the shelves. As soon as they had all been pulled out as far as they would come, there was a sound of several loud gears turning, and the shelf swung away from the wall like a door, revealing a stairwell downwards into the darkness. Twilight and Spike both glanced at one another in shock, before Twilight's face broke into a large grin.

"I guess he still has a few surprises for me, doesn't he?"

As they both stepped inside, however, Twilight stopped, examining a note on the door/shelf.

My dearest Twilight,

If you're here, then you must be in danger. Ponyville itself must be in danger. This is a safe place, and you can simply shut the door behind you and be locked away where no one can reach you. But if you're here looking to help, then there are a few things that you should know:

1. IF YOU ARE NOT IN IMMEDIATE DANGER, TURN AROUND. THIS IS FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY, NO MATTER HOW GREAT YOUR CURIOSITY.

2. Read everything before you touch anything. I've left a summary of every artifact on its container. Almost nothing in this room should kill you immediately if you handle it properly.

3. If you find a mask in here, DO NOT PUT IT ON. This is the MOST IMPORTANT note to remember. I've found dozens of strange and powerful items over the years, and I've held on to many of them, both for myself and the general needs of the New Lunar Republic. However, no artifact that is supposed to be in here takes the form of a mask! There is one that may have somehow sneaked its way inside. Especially on the face of a pony as strong as you are, that mask is far more dangerous than whatever is threatening Ponyville.

Follow these rules, read everything you should (just as I know you will, regardless), and you should be able to stop whatever threat you encounter. If all else fails, stay safe, my dear. There is a small switch behind this note that can lock down the Vault in an emergency. Use it if you need to, but keep yourself safe and alive.

I love you,

Pennington.

P.S. If you're not Twilight Sparkle or one of her friends, GET OUT OR I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF.

"Seems a bit passive-aggressive, doesn't he?" Spike shook his head.

"Well, he DID write these the night before he left, and he wasn't exactly in his normal state of mind. I'm not surprised if it reflected in the notes..." Twilight gently tugged it off the wall, walking down into the dark cellar. "Come on, Spike! Let's see what Penn has for us!"

After hesitating for a moment, Spike followed her down, having no idea what they would find in Pennington's "Vault."











Moonstone took a deep breath as she walked into Pennington's study, smiling at the familiar scents of dry paper, wet ink, and the remnants of the smoke from the stove in the corner. She had to admit to herself, she had missed this place while they were traveling. Even the limited view of the sky, usually something that would bother a dragon, was a familiar vantage point that she had missed. Staring up through the skylight, she watched a series of flashes roll through the clouds.

Twilight told us that there were lightning storms here in Ponyville, but it seems rather tame... She thought to herself as she walked over to Pennington's desk. To her surprise, when she fluttered up to the top of the desk, Spike was nestled in Pennington's chair, staring up at the clouds and gnawing at his nails.

"Oh! What's up, kiddo? What are you doing here?"

For once, Spike didn't seem bother by the fact that Moonstone was older than him and treated him as such, simply pointing up at the skylight and swallowing loudly.

"J-just watching Twilight trying to get rid of the lightning storm..."

Moonstone looked up again, and as she did, another series of flashes lit up the sky, this time outlining a figure of a pony with an oversized pair of wings. It only took that brief moment for Moonstone to recognize one of the favorite of Pennington's artifacts: his artificial wings.

"You two went into the Vault? For THIS?" Moonstone gave Spike a wary glance, more worried about him and Twilight than the storms outside.

"H-hey! I tried to tell her it wasn't a good idea!"

Moonstone shook her head sadly. "Penn is not going to be happy..."











High above Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle floated in the midst of the dark storm clouds, patiently waiting for the next bolt of lightning. Despite their painful application, as per Pennington's instructions, the wings had been surprisingly intuitive, relying more on her thoughts for their flight and trajectory than on any kind of flapping motion.

Looking around Pennington's vault, it hadn't taken her long to devise a plan to draw the lightning away from Ponyville's inhabitants, even if it was only a temporary solution. Casting one additional spell onto the wings, she had given them a strong magnetic field that drew in all the thunderbolts within a wide radius. Unfortunately, there weren't the ordinary thunderclouds that pegasi on the weather patrol were used to dealing with. These were what Rainbow Dash had called "feral lightning," much more powerful and potent than what was considered safe for even the strongest of storms.

Thankfully, with a bit of ingenuity Twilight had, just as the note had claimed she would, found everything that she had needed in the vault. So, along with the iron wings, she had taken into herself what Pennington had labeled an "Electrical Symbiote." The note had explained that the creature, which appeared to be some kind of living bolt of energy, would scatter itself along her nervous system and feed off of unnecessary electrical impulses. On the bright side, however, the symbiote would purportedly increase her reflex speed, boosted her physical strength and speed, and even boost the efficiency of the firing of neurons in her brain, increasing her already formidable intelligence.

It also seemed to enjoy gorging itself on any lightning that struck her.

Armed with these two artifacts, she had taken to the skies, flying rapid circles over the town, picking up most, if not all, of the lightning strikes and allowing the ponies of the town to finally move freely. Spike, in turn, had run from door to door, announcing that there had been a reprieve to the onslaught and that ponies could go out to try and collect their needed supplies before retreating back to their homes.

She cringed as three more bolts struck her together, pouring their energy into her body in mid-flight, leaving their entry points on the wings glowing red with heat and sending painful shocks through her body. Still, her focus refused to be swayed, and she remained airborne and flying, feeling the pain dissipate quickly after as the electrical creature she held inside of her body consumed it all like candy.

Still flying in circles and being constantly barraged by lightning at every second, Twilight wiped what felt to be a bucketful of sweat from her brow. One of the unfortunate side effects of the symbiote, her body temperature had been steadily rising, giving her a burning feeling all over her body and what she estimated was a frighteningly high fever. She knew that she would have to stop soon and remove the wings and the creature from herself.

At the current rate that my body temperature is increasing, the rate at which these wings are draining nutrients and other necessities from my body, and the probable pain of removing the parasite again, I have approximately fifty-seven minutes before I'll be required to stop and rest to remove them.

There was a brief flash out of the corner of her eye, hardly noticeable among the blinding lightning. She didn't pay any mind to it. At least, she didn't until a large blade stabbed through her wing, piercing through it like a hot knife through butter.

"AH!" Staring at the sword that was now lodged in the artificial wing, Twilight tried to understand where it could have come from or why it was there, but her enhanced mind quickly called up the memory of where she had seen it before like a photograph. She could see that blade again, mounted on Pennington's wall in his study.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE! GET DOWN HERE!" From far below, Pennington's voice made its way up to her through the wind and the rain. Though it was much fainter in volume than it must have been on the ground, she couldn't help but cringe at the untempered rage that it carried with it, not at all faded by the distance.

"I CAN'T!" Twilight shouted in return. "If I do, the lightning will hit YOU down there!"

There was a short pause as Pennington took a brief moment to think.

"INKWELL COMMISSIONS. NOW!"

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves in spite of the pain, which she had quickly become accustomed to. Unfortunately, Pennington didn't seem to have become accustomed to much at all over the months. She had only seem him a couple of times since he had left, and his letters had often ranged from detailed accounts of the day to a checklist of meals and essential actions, culminating in the last box reading "still alive." Whenever he came back to town for his mandatory visits, the first thing he would normally do is hug her tightly, holding her tight and close, like a foal would hug his stuffed toy for comfort after a nightmare. Twilight couldn't help but wonder what he may have gone through that he hadn't included in his letters to her.

Not every horror comes from monsters and changelings. Not for him, any more. I just... I don't know whether to describe him as "unsettled" or "unstable." She thought to herself as she dipped lower in the sky, emerging from the bottom of the clouds.

"Spike! Is everypony back inside?"

"The Cakes offered to let ponies short on food stay in Sugarcube Corner, and everypony else ran to Sweet Apple Acres! They should all have enough food and water to last until the storm is over!" Spike shouted from his vantage point in the town square. "Pennington was just-"

"I know! Get back to Inkwell Commissions, Spike, I'm coming back down, and the lightning is going to start striking again!"

Spike nodded and took off running, quickly reaching Pennington's home and running through the front door. As soon as he was safe, Twilight flew downwards, already beginning to cast the release spell on the iron wings. She couldn't help but cringe as she felt the metal that had integrated itself into her body began to retract from inside, gathering in her back. By the time that she had reached Pennington's front door, the wings had almost completely returned to their base state: looking like a large amount of scrap metal piled on her back and held together by a group of chains. With a sigh of relief, she lifted the weight off of her back with her magic

"Okay, Spike! I'm ba-A-A-A-AAACK!" As she stepped through the door, a massive shock rocked through Twilight's body, causing her to cry out in pain. After a few short seconds, she slumped to the side, her physical strength gone. Thankfully, as she fell, she found herself leaning on a familiar blue stallion.

"Sorry for the shock, Twilight. But I've found that it's the best way to get that thing out of a pony's body..." He sighed as he gently took a hold of her hoof, lifting it up and out of a clear-walled container of water. Inside, Twilight could see the small arc of electricity bouncing back and forth between the walls, alive and obviously unhappy to have been drawn out of its host.

"You could have warned me, you know..." She sighed, tiredness washing over her.

"You could have listened to me when I told you not to go in there unless you were in life-or-death situations."

"Ponies were in life-or-death situations! Not everypony keeps three months' worth of ramen noodles in their attic!" Twilight argued, pulling away from Pennington to stand on her own hooves again. "Now, all of Ponyville is either at the Cake's bakery or Sweet Apple Acres, and they're not going to have to choose between starvation or electrocution!"

"Why didn't you just put some kind of shield around the town, or escort them under a protective bubble?" Pennington shook his head. "And what about lightning rods? Your library has one! Couldn't you go and install a bunch of them?"

"We didn't have time! We needed to get everyone in town someplace safe, and I'd exhaust myself holding up a shield that big or for that long! And if you want to go out and install a lightning rod on every rooftop in Ponyville, you can be my guest!" Twilight could feel some of her strength return as she spoke, and she stamped her hoof against the ground in frustration.

Pennington turned his head, staring straight into her eyes. "Twilight Sparkle, you are the most aggravating, single-minded, and stubborn mare in all of Equestria!"

"And you are the most hard-headed, reckless, and institutionally insane stallion in all of Equestria!"

The two stared at one another for a moment, palpable tension in the air. Slowly, however, the corners of Pennington's mouth pulled up into a smile. Almost instantly, the grin became a chuckle, which ignited a fit of laughter from Twilight. The two of them fell into a bout of laughter together that melted away the stress in the air, each one releasing all of their pent-up emotion at once, and stepping forward and embracing each other in a tight hug.

"I missed you so much..." Pennington whispered. "When I heard that Ponyville was being attacked like this, I nearly panicked..."

"I missed you, too." Twilight smiled. "But I always felt better when I remembered that you had left me a way to protect myself and everyone else right here..."

As they finally released one another, Pennington took a deep breath, stepping back again.

"I really needed that. You scared me to death when I saw you out there..." He said quietly, his eyes slightly watery. "Don't ever do that again, okay?"

Twilight looked down, sighing. "But what if Ponyville is in danger again? I can't just stand by and let things happen if that's the case!"

Pennington's smile fell, and he let out a long sigh.

:"Twilight, I left this behind to protect you! If you don't use it for that, why should I leave it open to you?" He shook his head.

"Because it can help ponies! Save lives!"

Pennington remained silent for a moment, as if in thought, then shook his head, dismissing the argument. His attention turned to the container of water, where the electrical creature was still zipping back and forth. Staring at the glass, his horn flashed with light, flickering with a faint blue aura. The water-filled box shivered slightly as he grunted with effort, his eyes screwing shut. One side of the container lifted almost an inch into the air before slamming to the ground again, the water sloshing from side to side inside.

"Penny, I can-"

"Moonstone! We've got the electrolyte parasite! Come and help me out!"

"You've got Twilight! Get her to help you!" Moonstone's voice came back from somewhere in the house.

"Penn, it's no problem..." Twilight tried to reassure him as she picked up the box of water with her magic, holding it in the air alongside the iron wings. "I can carry it back down to the vault..."

Pennington looked up at the box, staring for a moment before quickly turning away again, walking past the counter and into the hall at a hurried pace. Twilight couldn't help but cringe, realizing that the relative ease with which she could carry both the water and the wings may have struck a chord with the once-strong unicorn. Knowing that bringing it up to apologize would only call attention to his disability, Twilight silently followed after him, holding the container slightly lower to the ground.










"So, this is some kind of magical mask?" Spike held the object in question at arm's length, examining it. "What's so special about it?"

Moonstone was several steps away from him, looking at the mask like Spike had often seen Twilight look at the snakes when visiting Fluttershy's cottage: a mix of fear and dread. "Well, Penn says that if a pony puts it on, they'll gain extreme strength, speed, near-invulnerability-"

"Cool! So it gives you superpowers?"

"-a thirst for blood with a particular preference for ponies, the uncontrollable desire to eat flesh of any kind (also with an affinity for ponies), and becomes the vessel of an ancient and sadistic cannibal god called Cha'Qued."

"Oh..." Spike stared at the mask again, slightly appalled at what he was holding. "But, that's just a myth, right? An old ponies' tale? I mean cannibal gods don't exist, right?"

"Maybe not..." Moonstone pressed a thoughtful claw against her chin. "But it doesn't matter, because it's power definitely is. Every time that we've moved from place to place, Penn would try to break the mask with any tool he could find, but it refused to shatter. He would toss it into an incinerator and it would refuse to burn. He tied a stone to it and dropped it down a well, and it appeared on his nightstand the next morning. He even had an old friend of his bury it in a block of explosives and blow it to kingdom come!" She shook her head. "No matter what we do to it, we can't even chip the surface. And no matter how far behind we leave it, it always finds him again. It wants to be worn, and by one pony in particular..."

Spike stared at Moonstone, slowly setting the mask down on the floor and stepping away.

"Penn says that whatever secret there was to destroying it was lost when the temple it was kept in collapsed..." Moonstone continued, staring at the mask. "I never tell him, but... When I look at it with my 'gift,' there's a glow in those eye sockets. A red glow, always angled as if it was staring at him."

Spike felt shivers run down his spine.

"I-I think that's enough ghost stories for one night, d-don't you?"

Moonstone finally looked up at him, her gaze solemn and her face grim.

"Yeah... enough ghost stories. Penn and I aren't here for a friendly visit, after all."

"Then... what are you here for?"

There was a pause as the door to the study swung open, revealing Pennington. He wordlessly walked inside, pulling the triggers on the bookshelf to open the door to his vault. As the thick metal door opened, revealing the dark passageway, Pennington took a deep breath, as if the musty air of the secrets he had locked away over the years brought him comfort.

"We're here to prepare for an adventure... A quest." He trotted over to the two young dragons and snatched up the mask in his hoof, glaring at it for a moment before spinning around and hurling it through the murky entrance, where they could hear it clatter against the ground as it skittered across the floor.

"We're going to find the dragon responsible for this weather, take the magical artifact from him, and put an end to this insanity across Equestria, or I'm going to die trying."