Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo

by Pennington Inkwell

Misery Makes for a Long, Long Night

Pennington knew fully well that he was asleep.

First of all, the area he was standing seemed to extend infinitely in every direction, disappearing into darkness. Secondly, he seemed to be standing in several inches of what appeared to be blood, lapping at his hooves in tiny waves. The third and most obvious indication was the large pony skeleton pacing back and forth in front of him. The figure was one he had unfortunately grown used to seeing, and he tried to put on a relaxed demeanor, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. The mixed metallic and sickly-sweet scents of the blood filled his lungs and overwhelmed his sense of smell. After several seconds, he let out a long sigh, opening his eyes again. The skeleton was still pacing back and forth, angrily glaring at him. The only difference Pennington would find from any generic pony's skeleton was in the skull, which held a full face and was supple enough to change its expression. The unnaturally wide row of fangs that comprised its mouth and covered the majority of the muzzle were pulled into a taut frown, and the empty eye sockets were narrowed towards him, closing around two orbs of red light.

Taking another moment to sigh, Pennington glanced around his surroundings disinterestedly.

"You've redecorated... I don't like it."

"You preferred the wooden shed with the dissected corpses?" The skull spoke in a low, gravelly voice, seemingly unimpaired by the fact that fifty percent of his mouth was composed of sharp fangs.

"Well, no... But it was imaginative. This is just boring!" Pennington lifted one hoof, staring disgustedly at the blood dripping off of the tip. "This is more something for someone having deep thoughts or a meaningful discussion, not a cursed ex-god."

"I AM A GOD!" the creature roared, stamping his front hooves in rage. Shock waves were sent out through the ground like an earthquake, making the blood tremble and ripple.

"Well then, Cha'Qued, why don't you tell me what you're doing, gracing a mere mortal with your presence like this?" Pennington growled maliciously as he returned the glare, staring straight into the skull's eyes without abandon. Somehow, the shift from calm to threatening was every bit as disturbing as the other creature's shift from tense to enraged. "Because I have had a very. bad. day. There isn't much more I'll be willing to put up with, especially when I'm supposed to be blissfully unconscious."

There was only a brief moment as they both looked straight into one another, and each refused to blink.

"I just wanted to tell you, it's not going to be over until you end her, yourself." Cha'Qued spoke softly, almost able to sound as if he hadn't just gargled with a cup of acid and pebbles. "You need to kill Chrysalis if you want it all to be truly over."

Pennington's brow furrowed with frustration, and he turned away, putting the skeleton pony behind him.

"I got the closure I needed. She's going to suffer in the Crystal Empire, Cadence will see to that."

"You say that as if you hadn't already devised a thousand fitting punishments, yourself!" he scoffed, walking forward until the two of them stood side by side. "You know what she did to you- to Equestria- better than anyone, doesn't that make you the one who deserves to be her judge? Her executioner?"

"I don't deserve that position for anyone other than myself." Pennington turned to look at him, eyes narrowed in a harsh glare.

"You didn't seem to think that while you were fighting..." a raspy chuckle, like somepony grinding sandpaper against steel, shuddered through Cha'Qued as the numerous sharp teeth moved upwards in a smile ten times more disturbing than his scowl. "Fine work out there, by the way! Dismembering them with such brutality, shedding so much blood... Even when they looked like your friends and loved ones, you just kept hacking away. That's one of the reasons I stick around, really. You're my type of pony, deep down..." The skeleton reached up and put a hoof around Pennington's shoulders. "It's a shame most of it was cleaned up by the time I managed to get out there for a quick meal."

Pennington shuddered, shaking his head as unpleasant memories began to resurface, and stepped away, forcing Cha'Qued off of him.

"They made the choices leading them to that fight. It was war, for the lives of the ponies on this ship!"

"Is that why you stabbed the first one that looked like Twilight three times through the heart? Is that why you twisted your blade inside Lily's stomach after you stabbed that changeling? Is that why you didn't even TRY to just knock at least a few unconscious?" The insidious grin grew wider and wider, extending all of the way along his cheekbones, splitting them in half to make way for even more fangs. "If that murder was justified, was your brutal, unbridled, violent rage righteous in your twisted system of right and wrong? And more importantly, was that delicious satisfaction as well-deserved as it felt?"

Pennington wanted to deny what he was saying, but the demon was right.

"Say what you came here to say, Cha'Qued. And then let me rest in peace tonight."

From the light splashing, Pennington could tell that he was walking up behind him. Holding up a single hoof, Pennington motioned for him to stop, which he did. "I'll kill Chrysalis for you. I'll go out and slaughter every last changeling in that darn hive, even in the whole world, if you want... You'll never have to lay your eyes on another changeling for the rest of your life. If you really wanted to try and make that contorted conscience feel better, I'll even escort this convoy to Canterlot and kill that stupid dragon changing the weather."

Pennington didn't even bother to look over his shoulder as he walked away, shaking his head.

"If you want me to put that mask on my face, you're going to have to make me a far better offer than that."

Lily hated long nights.

She had been tossing and turning in her bed for hours, now, and rest simply evaded her every time she closed her eyes. Letting loose yet another long sigh of frustration, she turned to stare up at the ceiling. There was an uneasiness in her stomach that gave her chills, and she had a growing suspicion that something was wrong.

With a small groan of defeat, Lily rolled her way out of the bed, landing on her hooves. After taking a few seconds to stretch, she walked to the door to her room and stepped out into the hall.

Maybe I just need some fresh air...

Nodding to herself, she walked to the end of the hall, eventually winding up outside the bridge. After a moment of hesitation, she gently knocked her hoof against it three times, sending the dull thudding echoing through the empty halls. After a few seconds, the intercom on the wall crackled to life.

"Hello? Who is it?"

"Is that you, Sure Shot?"

There was a moment's pause, and then the turning of a lock being opened. After only a moment more, the door slid aside, revealing the sleepy-looking pegasus rubbing at his eyes. Lily couldn't help but smile upon seeing him.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Calalily?" he chuckled, stepping aside to let her onto the bridge. As she walked inside, Lily nodded in agreement.

"I guess it was always Penn who kept us all together as kids, after all..." Lily smiled, knowing that she sounded every bit as tired as Sure Shot looked. "I haven't seen you since you and Constant showed up at my door with Penn, asking for my help to heal him..." She took a deep breath, walking to the frontmost window. "I guess you really did get that ship you always wanted, didn't you?"

"Well, I guess. It's really the NLR's, when push comes to shove!" Sure Shot shook his head, joining her at the window. They were sitting just on the outskirts of familiar territory: Canterlot's suburbs. From the look of it, the Cliffjumper was no longer moving, having reached the final destination. "So... what brings you to my helm?"

"I couldn't sleep..." Lily sighed, looking out over her home. "I thought I'd come visit you on my way to get some fresh air."

"I thought it might be something like that..." Sure Shot sighed, sitting down on his haunches. "I know that we're supposed to be safe inside the bubble the princesses put up around the city, but I just can't shake this... this bad feeling..." He shook his head, as if trying to dispel an unwanted thought. "It's just, after what Penn said, I realized that he was right... I was a moron for thinkin' Chrysalis was a good idea to keep here... I put my crew and passengers in the way of danger, and a lot of them got hurt! Most of all my foalhood buddy..." He pointed down to the front deck, where Lily could barely make out a familiar blue pony looking out over the railing. Pennington didn't seem to mind the rain. In fact, he never had, even as a foal. His mane was matted down against his body, showing that he had been drenched for some time. It was more somber than she was used to seeing him act, simply standing and staring that way into the darkness, but she knew that he was likely doing so for a good reason. If he was willing to drop his confidence and shed his bravado, then it meant he was taking things seriously.

"It doesn't help that he shoots a glare at me about every five minutes... I don't know how he even knows I'm up here!"

Lily giggled quietly, eliciting a bemused grin from the archer.

"Well, at least one of us is gettin' a laugh out of it!"

"Ha ha, sorry..." Lily shook her head, trying to take the idea of Pennington being so angry at one of his foalhood friends seriously. After a few moments, however, a somber memory came back to her mind, putting aside the levity. "He really gave the changelings no mercy... You've known him for a long time, but how often have you seen him honestly and completely lose himself to rage?"

Sure Shot took a deep breath, shaking his head. "I guess... not much. I was just glad he was on our side today, I wouldn't want that sword poking through me!"

Lily looked back out the window and onto the deck again. Pennington was almost a fixture on the boat, now, like some kind of gargoyle of regret. The only thing allowing her to realize that he was still even alive was the fact that he had leaned forward and placed one of his hooves on the railing, placing his weight on it and resting his chin on his foreleg.

"Well, I have to admit, you'll probably want to give him plenty of space after what he found out about Chrysalis..." she muttered. "If he hadn't lost his horn, you probably would have had a sword made out of magic swinging at your head back when he woke up in the medical bay."

Sure Shot nodded. "Well, I'll apologize later, after this has all blown over. I sent Luna a letter, and she agreed that Chrysalis is gonna be moved to an armed transport to get to the Crystal Empire."

Lily nodded. "And he's just been standing out there?"

"Well Moonstone was with him at first, but he sent her off in the direction of the castle about 20 minutes ago..." Sure Shot put a thoughtful hoof to his chin. "They didn't talk much, though. He's just been staring out into the distance."

With a final nod to herself, Lily rose up onto her hooves, walking towards the door on the wall of the bridge.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm just... getting some fresh air. I can't leave him out there alone like that." Lily shook her head, a melancholy smile spreading over her face. "The things I do for that boy... One of these days, he's going to be the death of me!"

Sure Shot reclined further into his seat with a smile.

"Now, come on, Lily! We both know he'd still throw himself in front of a train before he saw any harm come to ya!" He gave her a wry wink, "Just 'cause things didn't work out for you two don't mean that either one of you gave up on each other!"

Lily cringed at the grim reminder of her past, but did her best not to let him see.

"Well... We each need at least ONE pony to believe in us. We can't afford to give up on each other." She opened the door, allowing a blast of cold, wet air to come in from outside, blowing her hair back.

"Be careful! That ladder'll be slippery!" Sure Shot called out. "Keep a firm grip!"

Looking down, Lily shuddered. It was almost two stories down to the forward deck from the bridge.

"Will do, Captain Shot..."

Pennington let out what had to be his 30th long sigh, tapping the mask against the metal railing and listening to the light ringing of ceramic striking steel. He knew that he was moping, and that standing around and sighing wouldn't do anything to help his situation, but it felt good. The rain beating down on his back was like a cold shower, both tensing his muscles in reaction to the temperature and pounding on them to relax them again.

Releasing his already weak grip, he let go of the mask. The satisfaction of watching it plunge into the darkness and out of sight was hollow, giving him no pleasure because he knew it would be back before he knew it.

"Penn! What are you doing out here?" A familiar voice called to him through the rain, prompting him to look up. Making her way to him through the rain was Lily, already almost completely drenched. Her normally tidy mane was beginning to disintegrate into a mess of individual strands that she was trying to push out of her face.

"Lily, get back inside! I'm just... getting some fresh air!"

"Pennington Inkwell, you need fresh air like a rainforest needs a glass of water!" Lily said as she finally reached him, leaning up on the railing alongside him. "So, why don't you tell me the truth?"

There was a brief moment of silence as Pennington argued with himself about what to do. He knew that he couldn't lie to Lily. Even if he did manage to somehow fool her, his conscience would goad him into telling the truth. But the truth would take time. Too much time.

How does she ALWAYS manage to show up when I'm trying to just get some quiet time to mope and wallow? He shook his head as the sarcasm ran its way through his mind.

"I'll tell you inside."

Judging from her satisfied smile, that had been Lily's entire intent in coming out to meet him.

Leading the way, Pennington opened up a hatch in the deck, leading them back down into the safety of the ship. It wasn't surprising to him that the two of them were leaving a puddle roughly the size of a lake as they walked down the hall, but it was likely that it would dry up before anypony else needed to come through.

"So, care to tell me what you're doing, standing alone in the rain?" Lily asked, her tone carrying only a small amount of scorn with the curious words. "You could get sick out there."

It's like listening to my mom... He rolled his eyes, scoffing at her remark.

"Me? Sick? We both know I have the immune system of a minotaur."

"Well, since getting sick obviously wasn't your intent, I'd like to know what was!"

Pennington instinctively felt the urge to argue with her, to say that she didn't need to know, but there was the greater urge brought on by years of trust to simply confess his strife to her. The two of them had always shared everything with one another over the years, ever since they had been young, and Lily had always been there for him whenever he would arrive back home, battered and broken from his previous adventure, with a fresh roll of bandages and a warm bed.

If anypony deserves the truth out of me, she does...

"I... I was just thinking about what happened today, with the changelings." Pennington forced the words out, as hard as they seemed to be for him to say out loud. "I practically slaughtered them, and all totally in anger and hatred. I didn't care about fighting honorably or who I was fighting. I could feel every light of life die as I butchered them... right here." He prodded at the center of his chest with his hoof. "I had to shove any feelings aside out there in order to keep fighting, and the anger made it easy. I-" His voice choked in his throat as tears began to build in his eyes. "I- I just didn't care that they were dying! I reveled in it! And now, I look back, and I'm every bit as much the monster that Cha'qued is-"

Pennington was cut off as Lily threw her front hooves around his shoulders, gripping him tightly.

"Don't say that. Don't you dare say that!" She shook her head, her chin rubbing against his shoulder as she refused to let go. "You did what you had to. You always do. If you needed to kill to protect all of us here on this ship, then you knew you would! I know you, Penn, and those feelings aren't you! That's the pain and the suffering you've been through, turned right back on the ones who gave them to you, and it's only right! You hate them for what they did! And so do I! And you used it! You put that into what was right-"

"And it made it 'not right!'" Pennington shook his head, stepping back from Lily, forcing her to let go so that he could look straight into her eyes. "Lily, all those years ago, I picked up that sword and promised myself I would only use it to fight for what was right! And that was hatred and anger and revenge! It was everything that's boiled and churned inside of me for the past two months, whipped into a froth by guilt! I broke my promise, and murdered them! I murdered them brutally!" He shook his head, turning away and pressing his damp forehead against the wall, his false horn making a light scraping sound against it. "I crossed a line! A line that I never should have! And there's no way that, in my heart, I can try to tell myself that it was right! There's blood on my hooves again, and more ghosts waiting to stand as witnesses against me when it's my time to go!"

Silence fell as Lily didn't seem to know what to say, and Pennington waited for her answer.

"It was war, wasn't it?"

"It was a rescue mission." Pennington gritted his teeth, only opening them enough to make his words intelligible. "I could have just freed Chrysalis and let everyone go home alive..."

"And put Equestria back in danger of invasion! Not to mention her wrath if she got free-"

Pennington gently tapped his head. "Trust me, she would have liked nothing more, but even Queen Chrysalis wouldn't have put the hive in danger through fighting in this weather..."

"But if they had gotten inside-"

"The queen was literally the only thing on their minds! All they could think about, all they could do, was try to reach her! Every single pony would have been perfectly alright if they had just stayed out of their way!" He slammed his hoof against the wall.

"Penn, we both know Sure Shot wouldn't have let her go!"

"Then I should have fought him for it!"

"YOU COULDN'T HAVE!" With surprising strength, Lily grabbed both sides of his face, tearing him away from the wall and forcing him to look straight into her eyes, the tips of their horns gently brushing against one another.

"You need to get over yourself enough to look at what was happening, Pennington Inkwell! And if I have to slap the sense into you, you know for a fact that I will! The entire ship was mobilizing for a fight! It was an all-out war with Equestria's most wanted criminal on the line! It wasn't just a question of one prisoner, this was the defense of justice and the memories of the ponies who were lost because of her!" Lily pointed down the hall, in the direction of the brig. "You were one pony acting under Sure Shot's orders to defend the ship! If you had stepped down from this fight, there would have been five more to take your place, but the ponies inside would have been in greater danger! And the Pennington Inkwell I know and love never steps down when his friends need him! But there was no way of solving this peacefully! Even if you had done everything you possibly could to avoid the conflict and explain what was happening, every single pony on this ship would have fought you as fervently as the changelings! This was war, and there was only one way you could bring yourself to do what needed to be done! That rage wasn't wrath, it was coping! You put aside your own mind and feelings to help every pony in Ponyville! You were fighting for me! For Moonstone! For- for Twilight! Do you understand?" She placed a gentle hoof on his cheek, tears filling her aqua-green eyes. "That was all in your head, not your heart. You were a soldier today, fighting for Equestria, itself. But being a soldier isn't easy... That's why they're heroes. So please, stop thinking that you're anything less than... than magnificent. You were so strong, you just collapsed under the pressure after the danger had passed..."

Pennington couldn't help himself. Taking his turn to return her earlier hug, he took a firm hold of Lily as all of the barriers and gates that he had erected to keep his despair at bay crumbled away, and a flood of emotions came flowing out through his tears, bursting out through his choking sobs, and slowly ebbing out into the bandages around his legs in his own blood.

"If you think what you did was wrong, Penn, then become better... Let it go so you can become better and rise above it! Learn from it, but don't lock it away in your heart forever..." Lily whispered into his ear, gently stroking down the back of his neck as he sobbed. "Because nothing can stop you from becoming every bit who you want to be... The only thing holding you back is yourself..."

"He asked you to get what?" Luna stared disbelievingly at Moonstone.

"Every record Canterlot has on Quill the Scribe." Moonstone nodded. "Hidden archives and all."

Luna turned away, her brow furrowing in frustration.

"That's a lot of material."

"He wants a lot of answers, and he just went through a real ordeal. No thanks to you, might I add, your highness..." Moonstone folded her arms over her chest, giving Luna the critiquing stare she usually reserved for Pennington's harebrained plans. "If he loves Quill half as much as he says he does, he's probably looking for some kind of solace in the records of his hero's life."

Luna nodded, lost in thought for a moment.

"I'll allow access to the restricted areas of the archives, but he'll need to come here, himself."

Moonstone nodded. "Thank you, Luna."

"But I will be keeping the Royal Records off-limits, for now," she added, turning back to Moonstone. "He's still my student, and there are some things that he isn't ready to know..."

Moonstone nodded again, though her eyes shifted uncomfortably to the side.

"Luna? Do you think we're right to not tell him everything? To keep secrets? I mean, you just tried that on the Cliffjumper and-"

"The Cliffjumper was a mistake... This is worth too much for us to have made a mistake. If you, Celestia and I are correct, Moonstone, we're not keeping anything from him. He'll learn everything we're hiding and more in due time... And when he does, Equestria will be all the better for it. We're simply allowing him to take his own time to discover, rather than simply giving him everything without working for it. It will be better for him."

"And what if we're wrong?"

Luna paused for a moment, looking outside at the rain splattering against the window of her bedroom.

"I sincerely doubt that we'll need to worry about that..."

Author's Note:

So, I'd like to thank everyone for your love and support the past week following my diagnosis with what is most likely clinical depression. While I'm afraid that this chapter is not a formal return from my April hiatus, I felt that, as Pennington continues to work out his own problems and heal his own psychological damage, I feel a little weight come off of my own shoulders, as well.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to help and support me, especially to my dear friends who take Lily's role in my own life, reminding me of the difference between our "true" selves and what we can't control in our lives.

Comments

[Lexomancer]

Well done sir. Good job.

[PC]

I'm happy to see that, no matter what, Lily's always there for Penn. She always seems to know when he needs her help and how she can help him. (Looks like she has a Penn's-in-Trouble Sense .)

But, if Penn's been through so much already, it frightens me a little that this is only the beggining... Now I wanna give him a hug.

Anyway, the hiatus is still not over? That's completely okay, take as much time as you need. I hope you get better soon.

~Your Very Faithful Fan, PC

[AltGrendel]

Thanks for the new chapter. Good luck.

[Pennington Inkwell]

4244359 Actually, you're not far off with Lily's "Penn's-in-trouble" sense...

I would really compare them to the Doctor and Amy. Best friends since day one, she always knows what he needs when he's in trouble, she always knows how to defuse a him when he's unstable, and she always has the guts to tell him what he needs to hear.

Without Lily, Penn would likely have been reduced to nothing but a quivering mess by now. In many respects, he literally owes everything to her.

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