Shadowed Skies

by Pennington Inkwell

Here's Looking at You, Kid

As a filly, Tempest had often heard the phrase "Many hooves makes for light work!" Though it was most often used to trick children into helping one another with chores, she had to admit it even in adulthood it continued to ring true. With Moonstone's help, they had completed the to-do list swiftly and without trouble. Just as she was about to step off of the ship and onto the dock, however, she was snagged by the ear by Moonstone and dragged back on board.

"Oh, no! Equestria may have forgiven you, but we can't vouch for the hippogriffs! You need a disguise!"

What had followed was another excruciating hour of Moonstone attempting to hide Tempest's true identity with the few materials on board, starting with washing out her hair. Tempest's mane had been unruly even since fillyhood, and she had accepted long ago that she would live her life with her hair nearly always standing on end. She was proven wrong, however, as she looked into the mirror post-shower, seeing her wild locks falling smoothly to either side of her head, finally tamed by gravity. It felt... wrong. However, Moonstone pointed out that it was nearly a full disguise in and of itself, which made it useful. She glanced down at the bottle of conditioner Moonstone had used to tame her unruly locks.

"For the Love of Locks," by Calalily Curl? I'll have to find the NLR's supplier to get more of this...

When Moonstone approached her with a small, purple item in her hand, however, Tempest drew the line.

"I am NOT wearing that."

"Okay, first of all, you're going to have to get a LOT more flexible about your appearance if you're going to be a field agent." Moonstone raised an eyebrow and placed her empty hand on her hip. "Second, your broken horn is an easily identifiable characteristic, and right now you need to NOT attract attention!"

Tempest took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves and get her thoughts straight in her mind.

"Look, I understand. Don't think I'm averse to the idea of it. But right now... ugh." She sat back on her haunches, craning her neck as she tried to find the right words. "I JUST started being able to accept this, to stop thinking about it as being a missing piece of myself! I just- it doesn't- UGH!" Tempest rubbed at her temple as she stumbled over her words.

Moonstone's expression softened, and she walked over, taking a seat beside Tempest.

"Huh... You know, Penn practically leaped at his first prosthesis. I have to admit, a pony turning one down is definitely a new experience for me." She looked down at the item in her claws, then sighed, shrugged, and placed it carefully into Tempest's saddlebag. "How about a hat?"

Tempest chuckled, somewhat relieved Moonstone wasn't going to try to force it on her.

"I've been told that I don't look good in them."

Moonstone jumped up onto her feet, motioning for Tempest to follow.

"Nonsense! As Rarity always says, 'It's all in the presentation!' You just need to be confident in yourself and you could make anything look good!"

Tempest chuckled and rose back to her hooves, trailing after Moonstone with a smile. A smile dampened only slightly by the weight in the back of her mind of what laid waiting in her saddlebag: temptation. She had turned down false horns in the past, insisting that she wanted to be whole, not patchworked back together. Now, however, she wondered if wearing a fake horn might be the first step back down familiar paths to reopening old wounds.

Paths and wounds she had sworn she'd leave behind her.

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Harmonizing Heights was all that its name promised and more, a shimmering emerald field of soft grass and mossy knolls, permeated to the very stone by the resonant sound of the wind passing through the hollows of the mountain.

Tempest wasn't an immediate fan. It was out in the open, exposed, easily compromised. It made her fidgety.

Somehow, her teacher seemed completely at ease in such a place, sitting quietly on a blanket and cheerfully waving to her and Moonstone. Tempest made her way over, taking a seat on the opposite end of the blanket while Pennington levitated over a picnic basket. He quickly reached inside, retrieving two foil-wrapped sandwiches and passing one to her. Tempest eyed the sandwich suspiciously for a moment, only beginning to unwrap hers once Pennington had taken a voracious bite out of his own.

While it DID look delicious, Tempest couldn't bring herself to take the first bite.

"Something wrong with your food, rookie?" Pennington asked, giving her a raised eyebrow.

"I... just have trouble eating when I'm nervous, sir." Tempest forced herself to take a bite. The food was delicious, a juicy grassburger with an unfamiliar sauce.

"What have you got to be nervous about, Tempest?" Moonstone asked, reaching into the basket and fetching a third sandwich. "Ooh! Sapphire on rye! She knows just how I like it!"

"Well, there's an enemy somewhere close by, close enough to burn down your business and malicious enough to leave a note explicitly threatening you!" She pointed to Pennington, watching him closely to look for a reaction. "And yet we choose to sit out here, totally in the open, completely unprepared for an attack in this secluded area!"

Pennington stopped eating, swallowing his mouthful of food with a serene look on his face. "The perpetrator is a familiar enemy, he left a calling card at the scene, and I know a follow-up this soon would be outside of his M.O.. We're leaving Mount Aris as soon as all of my affairs have been set in order, twenty-four hours at the longest. I know the pony who did this, he'll be waiting to see how I react. If I lose my head and act rashly, I'll be playing right into his hooves." He craned his neck back, stretching it from side to side as he admired their surroundings. "We have time, rookie, just enjoy the view! As my teacher used to say: if you can only admire something while you're digging it up, you're going to spend your whole life in the past! Take in the present, you'll never see this place at this time ever again!"

Tempest sighed, taking another bite of her sandwich.

This is ridiculous. How could he be so naive? This isn't chess, there are no turns! If we don't take action, our enemy will just get the upper hand!

Tempest decided against arguing with him, but subtly kept her guard up, paying attention to their surroundings for any kind of threat.

Her fears seemed to be vindicated as a shadow fell over their picnic, and Pennington seemed to tense up, obviously making an attempt not to move a muscle. Tempest started to rise up to her hooves, only to be stopped by a gesture from Moonstone, motioning for her to sit down.

"It's fine. Pouncing on him makes her feel good."

With no more explanation than that, a sky-blue hippogriff dropped down from the sky, landing with all four of her long legs positioned around Pennington and trapping him in a lanky cage. She giggled and leaned down, sitting her chin on top of Pennington's head.

"GOTCHA!"

Pennington tried to keep it subtle, but Tempest noted him letting out a relieved sigh under his breath. The tense moment having passed, her turned his head upwards, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey there, songbird. I missed you."

"Aww, I missed you, too, my little cuddlebug!" she cooed, blushing and nuzzling his cheek before placing a kiss of her own, crossing her front legs to lock him in place and pulling him tight against her.

Moonstone chuckled and rose to her feet, walking over and casually lifting Tempest's slack jaw back into place.

"Hey, Alto!" Moonstone chirped, interrupting the tender moment between the two of them as she leaned up against Tempest's shoulder. "It's been too long!"

"Ugh, don't I KNOW it!" The hippogriff groaned, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I'm used to you guys leaving on business trips for a week at MOST, but this time you were gone TWICE that long! And, I mean, wasn't like when- OH, HI!" She finally seemed to snap out of her own chatter-filled world to notice that Tempest was there. "Sorry, I was just so EXCITED to see Pen- oop!" she cut herself off, looking at Pennington for reference. Pennington gave a nod of approval, and she began chattering again.

"Okay, so you know what his real name is, too? Good! Well, anyway, my name's Alto Glider, it's so nice to meet you!" She stretched out one of her claws, offering to shake Tempest's hoof. Tempest thought for a moment, then offered her hoof, which Alto shook quite enthusiastically.

"Umm... charmed." Tempest muttered, trying to remember what kind of greeting would be appropriate in hippogriff culture. "I'm Te-"

"Temper! Tempered Steel!" Pennington cut her off. "She's an old friend from Equestria, with some bad news."

"Bad news?" Alto frowned, instinctively pulling Pennington further into her feathers. "Is this about the factory burning down?"

"Well, kind of..." Pennington sighed, carefully extracting himself from Alto's legs and turning around to face her. "When I first washed up on these shores, I was running from something... I thought that, if I came here and abandoned my old life, I could escape all of the nasty things I'd dragged up from the depths." He looked down, and Tempest could almost see the weight settling on his shoulders. "But I can't. Equestria found me, and brought all of the awful things that were chasing me with them."

"I don't understand... Honeybun, what do you mean?" Alto glanced nervously between Pennington and Tempest.

"Alto, they started with my factory, but they're going to start coming for me next. And if they can't get me, they'll come for the things and the people I care about." Pennington sighed, turning away from her. At first, it looked as though he couldn't bear to look her in the eyes, but as he faced Tempest, she noticed him raising his eyebrows, at Moonstone, some kind of secret signal between the two.

"Temper and the organization she works for can protect him while he tries to settle the score, but... he'll have to go back to Equestria." Moonstone continued, turning to Tempest and winking, a signal for her to continue the lie.

"Y-yes! Mount Aris is... outside our jurisdiction. We have no resources out here, there's nothing we can do to protect him... or you."

"Protect ME? Why would I need protecting? Penn, I-"

"Because I LOVE you!" Pennington spun around, racing back to her and pressing his face into her chest, tears mingling with feathers. "I love you, and they'll use that to HURT me! Hurt me in ways that will never. STOP!" Pennington's whole body shuddered as a sob racked through his body, and Tempest could hardly believe her eyes.

This is the same pony who made life so difficult for me in the NLR? THIS is the same pony who nearly broke my neck in an exhibition match? THIS is my commanding officer?

"So... I'm stopping it here and now, before they can do that. I'm not going to let them hurt you just to get at me... I'm going back."

"Back? To Equestria?" Alto glanced between the three of them, pondering for a moment before swallowing loudly and making up her mind. "O-okay. You've spent all this time living as a single pony among hippogriffs, it's only fair that I'd be willing to do the same among ponies!"

Pennington shook his head, not pulling his face away from her. "That isn't... That won't keep you safe, not truly. There's only one way I can be certain you won't get hurt..."

Alto's expression fell, and tears began to well up in her eyes as realization dawned on her face.

"No... Penn, no! I'll come with you! I'll do whatever it takes, I want to help! Please, PLEASE!" She reached down, pulling his chin up to meet her gaze. "Don't do this..." Her voice wavered, begging for what they all knew was coming not to happen. It made Tempest sick to her stomach to watch people beg.

"Listen, inside of us, we both know that you belong here. The blue skies, the open air, they're part of your work, they're what keeps you going. If that airship leaves and you're on it, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

Wait... this sounds familiar... Tempest thought quietly.

"But... what about us?" Alto whispered.

"Alto, you've made me happier than I've ever been in my life. In a time when the whole world was against me, you were my safe harbor, my only star on a moonless night. I'll never forget that... never forget you. I'll resolve this, once and for all, I promise you. And when I do, I'll come back. When this is all finished, and I can be certain that I won't drag you down into the muck with me, I will come back and we will never have to be apart again. Until then..."

I'm certain he was quoting something earlier...

Pennington walked up, planting a long, tender kiss on Alto's beak. Finally, he broke off the kiss, running his hoof down her cheek and wiping away her tears.

"We'll always have Aris."

Understanding dawned on Tempest like a tidal wave.

Why that despicable, rotten little...

Alto wrapped her arms and wings around Penn, drawing him in closer than ever before in a display that made Tempest want to vomit. Luckily, she was distracted from her nausea by Moonstone tapping on her shoulder and nodding towards the way out of Harmonizing Heights.

"If I know these two, they're probably going to be at this for a while..." she whispered. "Come on, let's give them some alone time."

Tempest nodded, eager to leave them to their disgusting display. Moonstone hopped up onto her back, and the two of them quickly made their way out of Harmonizing heights and down the path towards the ocean.

"I can't believe him..." She muttered. "Quoting an old movie to that girl to manipulate her feelings? Disgusting..."

"Casabronco is the first movie they watched together when they started dating." Moonstone sighed. "I would guess that, for Penn, it was a nice break to use someone else's words for once." Glancing up, she gave Tempest a questioning glance. "You really need to give him more credit, that was hard for him, probably the..." She hesitated for a moment, lost in thought. "Fourth hardest thing I've seen him do."

Tempest took a deep breath, trying to center her thoughts. Even if he WAS manipulating her, if Tempest had seen that level of manipulation from one of her own soldiers, she would have praised him, even considered a promotion. She couldn't tell if her outrage was from her newfound empathy or... a continuation of her need to find fault in her instructor.

"What were the first three?"

Moonstone pondered the question for a moment, sucking in air through her teeth.

"It's really not my story to tell, but... Turning his back on Equestria, a classified event, and losing his horn. But you didn't hear ANY of that from me!"

"I thought you ranked higher than him? Don't tell me you're scared of him!"

"I'm not scared of HIM, I'm-" Moonstone cut herself off, shaking her head. "I just don't want to go telling any secrets that could be dangerous for you to know."

"Dangerous for me to KNOW? What could be dangerous for me to KNOW?" Tempest craned her neck around to stare at Moonstone.

Moonstone shuddered, and Tempest felt her grip tighten.

"You would NOT believe some of the things I've seen."

"Well, from what you're always saying, I'll have to get used to unbelievable things if I'm going to be a field agent, right? Why not get me started? Tell me a story or two." Tempest tried to sound friendly, ease the tension in the hopes to get more out of her tight-lipped friend.

For a moment, it seemed to work, Moonstone's grip relaxing and a satisfied chuckle slipping out under her breath.

"I'm not a storyteller, Tempest... but I think I might be able to set you up with one."

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This is the end of it, huh? My happy days...

Pennington was shaking on his hooves, feeling unsteady and weak... and hungry. Glancing down, he examined the blue fur of his legs for any signs of blood. There was a runny, dark-colored substance on his hooves, but he couldn't properly identify it in the semi-darkness of the nighttime street. The whole world was spinning around him, a mess of stars and dark shapes and dim candlelight.

I suppose it's only fair... I deserve this...

Finally, the imbalance reached a peak and the ground came up to meet him. Pennington didn't fight it, closing his eyes. The streets of Mount Aris was far from the worst place he had ever spent the night.

Instead, a strong wing reached out and caught him, spread across his chest to keep his balance. A tongue clicked quietly, tutting with a condescending air.

"I knew changelings were capable of getting drunk off of love, but I never thought I'd see you like this, old friend."

Pennington weakly craned his head upward, trying to get a better look at his savior. As realization dawned over him, he let his head hang limp again, now out of hopelessness.

"You couldn't let me have one... last... hurrah?"

The stranger chuckled. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world... you had to walk into hers."

"You..." Pennington backed away, shaking his head and trying to gain his faculties. "You... you leave her out of this! Issover! She's got nuuthin' to do with us!"

"Oof, slurring your worlds? Stumbling around like the town drunkard? Look how far you've fallen, Inkwell." The stranger tutted again, shaking his head. "You're addicted, aren't you? This... little people life. Don't think I didn't hear you back there!" He raised his wings up to his face, squishing his cheeks into a false smile. "Oooh! Don't worry, I'll come back! I'll come back and we'll never have to be apart again!" He retched for a moment, then spit onto the sidewalk.

"By the stars, you should KNOW better! We had a DEAL!"

"Well, DO IT, THEN!" Pennington snapped back, stumbling forward on his hooves. He was starting to fully reclaim his senses, now. "Come on, put an end to this, fill your end of the deal!" Walking towards him, there was pain, growing stronger and stronger, radiating off of him like heat. Hatred.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST KILL ME!"

He walked up, slowly reaching back and ramming a fist into Pennington's gut. There was a rush of blood, and the world went dark.

The last thing Pennington heard was a whisper in his ear.

"I will kill you at your best, and all that is yours... will be mine, by right of conquest. Until then, you're not Pennington Inkwell. You're a pathetic waste of potential. I am going to bring back the REAL Inkwell. And then, I'll kill him."

"Here's looking at you, kid."

Author's Note:

So sorry for the delay, everyone. I'm afraid the last couple weeks have been a real trial, I've been rushing from one task to the next, trying to keep things under control. I finally got a little time to rest and breathe, so hopefully I can start getting updates out regularly again!

Comments

[Grekoy]

Just got done reading these chapters. I am loving this. Inkwell's past, his relationship with Alto, and more.

[SilverDiamond]

More?

[Pennington Inkwell]

9550216
Yes, soon! Sorry, I probably should have marked this story as being on hiatus. I'm maybe two or three chapters away from finishing "Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo," an older project of mine that comes before this chronologically. Once it's finished, I'll be focusing my efforts on finishing this story ASAP!

[SilverDiamond]

9550458
At least you ANSWER. You anwser and apologise. FAR more than some other authors I've seen. Check my blogs. You'll see what I mean.

[SilverDiamond]

9550458
Just one thing, keep creating. =)

[SilverDiamond]

Pen, you might want to mark it as on hiatus. I'm going through staff, and yell at people, who ignore their readers. X) As in, years of ignoring. If you want more info, message me, I can drop a few links here and there.

[Pennington Inkwell]

9576120
I'm not worried about changing the status of any of my stories, and I actually took a look at your account and blog posts the first time you commented, as well. Please rest assured that I haven't been ignoring anyone, and I'm sorry if my rate and priority of updates hasn't been to your liking. Please understand that this story is still next on my list once I've finished "Penn and Stone: Dynamic Duo."

In the spirit of honesty, I must say that I find the idea behind your blog posts rather distasteful. Fanfiction creators and other content producers don't work on the schedules or requests of others, and usually receive little to no compensation. Disseminating negative reviews and promoting callout culture in these circles simply because someone was unable to finish their work (usually for very good reasons, having myself been someone known to take long breaks without warning in the past) is not going to change things for the better, only the worse. Passive-aggressively threatening authors with being yelled at or put on your "list" really demonstrates an attitude of taking their free work for granted. The work they put dozens-if-not-hundreds of hours into.

I understand that dialogue between authors and their readers is very important, but it's a two-way street. Authors don't write angry emails to people asking why they haven't read their story or demanding traffic be redirected to them. They know their readers have choices and their own lives to lead. The same applies to authors, especially fanfiction writers. This is, again, something we receive almost no compensation for and takes days and weeks or, in some cases, even years of our lives. Turning around and speaking ill of them simply because their time was needed for survival or more valued elsewhere while ignoring the work they DID give you without any kind of expectation of reward is cruel and entitled. It is exactly the kind of attitude that drives away these creators and leaves stories abandoned.

[SilverDiamond]

9576220
Anger tends to bring the worst. But here's the thing. There are quite a few people who did not anwser my POLITE questionts. Many times over. If you anwser and explain, I have NO PROBLEM with you. Two way street you say. You cannot expect two way, when it's actually one way. Ignoring and lying to readers tend to quickly turn any street int one way. Do you want examples? I'd rather sent them in pm's, but I can do it here also.

[Pennington Inkwell]

9576290
I'm sorry man, but no amount of politeness and pleasantries Justifies your callouts and smearing creators for simply not finishing things or taking time off. Especially ones who work for free.

[SilverDiamond]

9576391
So what you say that it's ok for authors to ignore readers, and not update stories or make blogs when they are online? And I START polite. I drop it if people continue to ignore or lie to me. You don't seem to understand my argument here. I REMAIN polite to authors who respond, make blogs and update the status of the story(hiatus/cancelled). I start swearing when they were online in recent weeks, but the story was left as "incomplete" for years. No blog, no update, no comment. Or lies about why or what they are doing.

If you cannot understand WHY I'm swearing and cussing, then... Well, you missed the whole point.

It's exactly that they are not SIMPLY taking time off or not finishing. They ignore or lie to my questionts.

[Pennington Inkwell]

9576409
What I'm saying is that people who provide things for you for free aren't beholden to you for anything. There's no quota for fanfiction writing, and they don't need to write to justify logging on. You're not a moderator of any kind, you're just trying to police authors because you seem to be under the impression that they owe you something. They don't owe anyone an explanation or content, and you aren't entitled to their reasons or the details of their lives. They're within their rights.

Your blog is dedicated to lashing out at the objects of your frustration when you find an unfinished fic, rather than learning to deal with disappointment in a healthy way.

[Meeester]

9576409
You know where the door is then. Don't try to use staff as a threat to persuade users to do what you want.

[Pennington Inkwell]

9579000
Thank you, Meeester. Good to see you, btw.

[BeautifulHorse]

Can't wait for more :) this instantly became one of my favorite stories

[Starlight Nova]

Why did you stop writing this story?