It's a Trap!
The changeling hive was quite possibly the most intimidating thing that Twilight had ever seen. It stood as a high, neon-green dome that was rippled into stories, arcing into the sky. The dome was translucent around the edges, showing it to be made of some kind of gelatinous substance, and there were several black shapes that Twilight recognized as changelings hovering around the outside. Two stood in front of a dark opening facing their direction, apparently guarding the door, and the dome seemed to bite into the ground below, making no reservations as it continued underneath the soil for what Twilight could only guess was several more stories.
It's bigger than the Wonderbolts' arena in Canterlot... She thought nervously as she silently gathered all of the remaining moisture in her mouth and forced it down her dry throat. She slowly retreated back into the foliage of the Tigerous Forest, where Pennington had set down his saddlebags and was reviewing their contents.
"Alright... Lucky thing that I grabbed two horn dimmers..." He muttered as he reached into the bag and pulled out two horn-sized black cones, one of which he tossed to Twilight. "Try it on."
Twilight eyed the cone curiously, then slipped it over her horn. It felt as if it were made from some kind of silky cloth, and it made her horn feel cool, as if she were standing in a cool breeze. Out of curiosity, she levitated a pair of the night vision goggles and was surprised to see that, while they still floated up into the air, they lacked her normal lavender aura.
"That's good, it's working." Pennington muttered as he lit a small portable stove and set a pot filled with water on top. With a simple levitation of his own, he unwrapped a package of ramen noodles and dropped them inside. "We'll both be needing them, considering that our horns don't glow green..."
"Are you seriously going to eat at a time like this? When we're about to risk our lives on a stupid thrill-seeking mission into enemy territory?"
"Ramen steadies my nerves." Pennington replied. "Besides, I sneak better on a full stomach, don't you?" As Twilight gave an exasperated sigh, he tossed a mess of black fabric towards her. "Try this on!"
Twilight unfolded the fabric to discover the black stealth suit that Pennington had bought in Canterlot. She gave him a skeptical look, but he was suddenly very involved in stirring the noodles in the pot. "Don't you only have one of these?"
"Well, I would guess that you need it more than I do." Pennington replied as he slipped on a pair of night vision goggles and turned to look at her. "Being more inexperienced and all..."
Twilight gave him yet another skeptical look, but decided against arguing the point. I guess he's right. She slipped her first leg into the black polyester, shivering as the smooth fabric slid across her fur and gripped her like a second skin.
"So, what's our plan? Even a pony as reckless as you has to have a plan..."
"I prefer 'adventurous,' but I do have a plan..." Pennington pulled off the goggles with a confident smirk. "So, essentially, we're spying on the spies. Now, the main problem with a community where no one is as they seem would be trust, correct? Either no one trusts anyone, or everyone trusts one another completely: something that could only exist in a Utopian society."
"You seem to have put some thought into this; I'm impressed." Twilight gave him a grin of her own as she fitted her second front leg into the corresponding sleeve. "Go on..."
"Well, our biggest problem to deal with, therefore, will either be complete openness inside, with no places to hide, or an overwhelming sense of paranoia and distrust, leaving them all on guard at all times. I would prefer the latter." He gently levitated a few strands of pasta from the pot and placed them in his mouth. After a couple thoughful chews, he began pouring in the pre-made package of spices. "Three more minutes..."
"What makes you say that?"
"The noodles are too firm."
"No, I mean about prefering the paranoia." Twilight held back a nervous giggle at how lightly he was taking all of this.
"Oh. Well, it's much easier to dodge paranoid ponies in a place worthy of paranoia than it is to stay inconspicuous in a society where doing so is in itself conspicuous." Pennington rattled off the logic as easily as Twilight could state a complex math equation.
"And how do you know that?"
Pennington gave Twilight a smug grin. "I understand ponies, Twilight. I can see how a thought process breaks down and how it will continue. It's a gift that writers have. You have to understand a mindset before you can convincingly write a character who lives in that mindset, from the bravest of heroes to the most dastardly of villains. Understanding is the key to skill." As Twilight finished pulling up the zipper on the back of the stealth suit, Pennington stood and began to pace around her.
"Are you sure that this is going to help?" Twilight asked, pulling at a spot where the fabric had bunched between her front leg and her torso. "My tail and my mane still aren't covered..." Indeed, while the majority of her body was covered in the black suit, her tail and mane were allowed to fly free, adding an unwanted splash of color.
"Normally, a pony would dye their mane and tail black if they were going to wear this for additional camouflage, but I think that the low light, your dark lavender will be just fine..." Pennington muttered as he tugged at the fabric and continued examining her. As he did, Twilight got the distinct impression that he wasn't just checking out the suit.
"You just want to see me in a tight outfit, don't you?"
"I think that we're ready to go." Pennington smiled, but ignored the question. He began walking to the opening in the treeline, picking up items as he went. He strapped a pair of night vision goggles to his head, and lowered his covered horn towards the hive.
"What about your soup?" Twilight asked as she put on her own pair of goggles.
"I turned down the flame with my magic, it'll still be warm when I get back!" Pennington gave her a wink, reached up and removed the horn dimmer. "Now then, I'm going to need to be precise here..."
Twilight watched as his horn began to glow. His expression became more concentrated as he looked out towards the hive. With a grunt of exertion, a small blast of magic jumped out and flew across the clearing, striking a guard in the air. Without a sound, the guard dropped like a rock, landing on the top of the dome with a small bounce. Twilight continued to watch as he angled his horn only slightly before firing again and again, knocking every one of the guards unconscious.
"It's a simple spell, one that I learned in Saddle Arabia." Pennington smiled and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "Knocks them out for a few hours. If anything, they're going to feel refreshed and rejuvenated when they wake up! Better off than we're going to be." He didn't wait for Twilight to reply as he trotted into the clearing with complete and utter confidence. "Come on! This is where the REAL adventure starts!"
Twilight's heart was ready to leap from her chest with fear, and she felt as if her stomach had jumped up to her throat when she tried to take her first step. I guess I'm past the point of no return, now. Follow Penny now, or wait to see if he comes back on his own...
"Oh, I know that I'm going to regret this!" Twilight said to herself as she jumped out into the open and galloped after Pennington.
When they entered the hive, a look of confusion crossed Pennington's face: they had entered a spacious room, and it was completely empty. There wasn't a changeling in sight. Twilight's expression mimicked Pennington's: sheer confusion. The room was dimly lit by green light shining in through the translucent dome, and the edges of the floor and walls were all shrouded in shadow. The floor itself seemed to be divided into sections by glowing red lines that stretched from side to side across the room.
"I don't understand, where are the changelings?" Twilight asked, looking around. She went to step forward, but a firm yank on her tail by Pennington stopped her short. "Ouch! What was that for?"
"Have you read ANY of my books?" Pennington hissed as he let go of her again. "This is obviously some other kind of defense! Don't you know an obvious booby trap when you see one?"
Twilight's mind unwillingly flashed back to the gruesome fates of many of the ponies in the Daring Do books who had failed to recognize a trap, and she nearly vomited as she realized that she had nearly become one of them. "T-Th-Thanks..."
"Don't thank me yet, we haven't gotten past it." Pennington placed a hoof to his chin in thought, then reached into his bag, finding a small stone. With a gentle toss, he threw the stone onto the glowing red line, then braced himself for some kind of impact.
Nothing happened.
With another moment of contemplation, Pennington sntached up the stone, then jumped a safe distance away from the line.
Nothing happened.
"Pennington... If you write the Daring Do books about your own adventures... what about the ponies who get killed in those books?"
Pennington paused as he was about to throw again, and gave her a strangely relaxed smile. "I always travel alone when I'm in a place that may have traps, Twilight. That was a case of taking creative liberty. You're the first pony I've had come with me into the belly of the beast."
At this, Twilight wasn't sure whether she should be scared or relieved. She cringed as Pennington threw the stone again, this time landing in the space past the line, barcing herself for anything.
Nothing happened.
"Hm... Well, maybe they're decorative or symbolic?" Pennington nervously chuckled. "Just in case... Stand back." Before Twilight could object, he had jumped into the air, landing on the other side of the line. Twilight held back a scream of terror as Pennington landed firmly on the ground, placing himself straight in the line of fire for some kind of hideous demise.
Nothing happened.
"I feel kinda funny... Must be the nerves." Pennington muttered. "Come on, Twilight! It's safe!"
"Are you sure?" Twilight still was glancing from side to side, expecting a trap to be activated.
"Yeah, pretty sure!" Pennington's smile seemed to be slipping away as Twilight stepped over the line. "It's completely and utterly safe... Nothing here. No adventure, no excitement... Just like my life." His head began to droop and his shoulders sagged.
When Twilight stepped into the area with him, she felt like a shadow had settled over her heart. She hated to see Pennington sad, it was almost pitiful. In fact, it was pitiful. The whole situation was pitiful. She had followed this thrill-seeker all the way out of Equestria, had faced horrifying odds, and was placing her life on the line, all for some stupid little crush. I really am pathetic if I would go through all of this for the attention of one stallion...
Wait, what? A sudden realization momentarily snapped her out of her unexplained depression. Why am I thinking like that? Why am I so sad all at once? She looked up from the spot on the ground that she had focused on and noticed that something had changed: the red lines were growing brighter.
"Of course! Changelings feed on emotion! Pennington, their security system is an emotion trap! Come on, we have to get out of here!" Grabbing him by the tail, she dragged him across the red lines and into the next area, which was slightly larger.
As soon as he had left, Pennington snapped out of his depressed reviere. "Of course! Twilight, you're a genius! That has to be it!" His expression darkened, though, in a matter of seconds. "You're right... Why are you always right?" His brow furrowed in a sudden fit of anger. "You always think you're right, too! You're so cocky about how smart you are!"
Twilight felt a spark of anger burst into flame in her chest. "Well, at least I think at all! You just run headfirst into danger! It makes me sick how reckless you are!"
"Well, at least I get something done! If you had your way, I'd be sitting back in boring old Ponyville, sipping ramen out of a plastic safety cup!" Pennington rose to his hooves, glaring at her with a look of sheer loathing. "And you would still be in your little library, with your little dragon, and your little books! This is what I get for taking a librarian on an adventure: nothing but constant whining!"
At the "librarian" comment, Twilight gave in to the urge to slap Pennington, leaping forward in a fierce attack. As she jumped forward, Pennington jumped backwards and over the next red line. When she followed, Twilight felt her rage melt away. When she had stopped attacking, Pennington gave her a smug grin and dusted himself off.
"Well, I think that we just passed the 'rage' sector. What's next?"
"You mean, we weren't really mad at each other?" Twilight shook her head as the last cloudy wisps faded away from her mind.
"Yep." Pennington began to slowly walk towards the next line. "When I realized that this place was going to be messing with our emotions, I realized that it's like a sand trap on a golf course: it's trying to slow us down or even stop us. Our best chance..." He paused to let out a long yawn. "...is to try to keep each other..." His slow walk came to a grinding halt as he neared the next line. "...moving." He yawned again and lowered himself slowly to the floor. "You know, this place's ambient light is really... relaxing. Maybe it's time to take a break."
Just watching him was beginning to make Twilight lethargic. She let out a long yawn of her own as her eyelids began to droop. "I was up pretty late last night... A break sounds like a good idea." She began to lay down on the floor when a shocking realization snapped her back into wakefulness. "Penny! This is the trap again! If we go to sleep here, we're not going to wake up until we're discovered!"
"Mmph... Twilight, I don't want to get up... I REALLY don't want to get up..." Pennington mumbled, refusing to open his eyes.
"Heroic Adventurer," my hoof! He can't even get past one measly little- Twilight's thoughts were cut off as she came to the realization that her legs were beginning to fall asleep. The familiar pins-and-needles sensation was traveling up from the ground and into her body. She struggled to stand, unable to feel anything below her knees. "It's some kind of tranquilizer, too!" She hesitantly stepped forward, looking at her hooves to make sure that they had touched the ground before she lifted up her next one. Her eyelids began to droop again as she walked forward, and her tiredness evolved to sheer exhaustion. "I-I think it's growing stronger..." She yawned loudly, then took another few steps before yawning again. "As we get closer to the end..." Pennington was only snoring in response to her now. "And you're almost over the line..." Twilight groaned with effort as she tried to use her magic. She couldn't be entirely sure, since the horn dimmer made her signature glow invisible, but she exerted all of the effort that she could spare to lift Pennington up and over the red line. With a contented smile, she watched him float up into the air and hover across the line. With a relieved sigh, she released her hold on him, allowing him to fall to the ground.
"Hey! WHOAH!" Pennington scrambled for a moment on the ground, then immediately jumped to his hooves. "I'm awake! I'm awake!" His eyes were wide and darted from side to side. "Twilight?"
"Over here. You're going to have to levitate me across..." Twilight mumbled as her legs gave way again, allowing her to lay on the ground. Her fears were eased as Pennington's magic wrapped around her and floated her across the red line. As soon as Twilight was in the next area, her strength and energy began to come back in waves. When he set her down, Twilight stumbled on unsteady legs. With a yelp, she fell to the side, bumping into Pennington. To her surprise, the stallion held steady, putting a gentle foreleg around her shoulders as she leaned on him.
"Thank you, Twilight. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have gotten out..." Pennington whispered as he slowly guided her forward, taking them across the final section.
"Don't mention it. You got me out of there, too." Twilight blushed, but didn't pull away from the embrace, instead leaning her head on his shoulder. He was warm, warmer than the air in the hive, forcing Twilight to the realization that she had gotten cold in the chilly dome. The two of them walked across the final area in relative peace, bringing Twilight to nervous bewilderment. "I don't get it, this place doesn't seem to be affecting us..."
"Well, we had better stay on guard, you never know when-"
Click...
Without warning, Twilight found herself thrown forward, up and over the line. With a yelp of panic, she stumbled, pin wheeled her front hooves, and landed face-first on the floor. She didn't have time to think about her own injury, however, as a loud crashing sound rattled behind her. Still panicking, she scrambled back into a standing position and spun around, trying to find the source of the noise.
Two pendulum-like panels, both sporting deadly-looking spikes, had swung down from the ceiling and collided where she and Pennington had been standing. The two sets of impalement devices all struck in different places, creating a scatter plot-like assortment that would never miss a vital organ. The sight of several skulls, some animals, some ponies, hanging on them like trophies sent shivers and chills down Twilight's spine. "P-Penny?"
"I'm fine!" Pennington's dark-blue body emerged from the other side, standing to the left of the demonic device. "Well played, I must say! Very nice use of psychology! The moment a pony thinks that they have the system figured out, and they're feeling smug about getting through the last section... WHAM! Dead in ten seconds or less!" Pennington chuckled while he continued looking at the trap as if it were a work of art. "I have to hand it to the changelings, this one was devious..."
"Are you... admiring this death machine?" Twilight blinked in disbelief at his reaction.
"Well... I... Umm..." Pennington looked playfully guilty as he hopped over the pressure plate and over to Twilight's side of the line. "Of course I am! I've seen plenty of traps in my time, and the simplest ones usually prove themselves to be the best, but this may be an exception to the rule!"
"Pennington, if we make it out of this alive... I'm going to take you to a psychiatrist. A professional one." Twilight shook her head in despair and began to quietly walk again, nearing a pair of large double doors.
"You say that as if ponies haven't tried it before." Pennington laughed again, took one last look at the death trap, then trotted after Twilight. "It didn't work."
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
910 users online
1,345,770 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
A friend told me that he saw this in the "Featrued" box for one brief and shining moment!!!
And I missed it.
Oh well, it's renewed my desire to work on this!
Another brilliant chapter! Though I feel as if there should have been more cool down between sections since it feels a little weird for whatever reason. But the trap is actually pretty clever as Pennington explains in this chapter.
1854156 Thanks! A little cooldown may have been nice, but I've had the next few chapters in mind for such a long time, I want to reach the climax on a no-stops roller coaster ride!
I just finished a project for a certain individual that I admire, and it's really put me in the mood to keep going! 
I can't wait to get this adventure moving faster and faster! 
Le gasp! That was a close one!
...
Okay, we go! Allons-y! ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!
Penny: Yep
Twi: Well, i'll just have Rarity make a skintight outfit!
Penny: I am secretly loving this... *Still checking out the suit and not removing his stare*
Me:
Twi: WHAT KIND OF FUCKING QUESTION IS THAT?! OF COURSE I WOULD!!!
Wait what?
Penny:
I just love the title because it's a Star Wars reference!
fciwypsc.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/its-a-trap.jpg